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Viton is a type of filled Teflon. Either can make wondrous sealing products. I happened to work for a well-know sealing products manufacturer, which had great laboratory and testing facilities. The longest-lived shaft seals we ever made were of Teflon. One thing about the stuff we learned...

Can someone explain why, every time I attempt login, it indicates redirecting to be logged in, then the new screen indicates I am not. I repeat the process again, and usually it "takes". This time it took 4 tries. This is aggravating, but if I'm doing something wrong, I will rescind my...

"I ran my first lathe directly from the wall socket for many years." Me, too! Bought it at 14, I'm 72 now, lathe still runs, but I don't!! If we're talking about a small motor here, and it's single-phase, many have overload thermal switches contained within their windings. These open the...

Machine Tom got it on the button! The 2-foot wide by 10-foot long pieces were hooked together by the ears at either end, to form what was then (1940s) called "landing mat". The Island of Tinian in the Pacific was virtually covered with landing mat, to the extent that the big B-29s took off...

In 1970, my co-worker and I embarked upon the design and construction of an automated oil seal molding machine. I had proven that, setting aside the traditional huge molding-press method, and simply "locking" the mold with it's inserted metal case and uncured rubber "hunk" under the indicated...

Daryl, a steam locomotive "build" is a daunting task, especially if the monster is "basement" designed and built, with little to follow in the way of blueprints. My "scratch-build" took about 8000 hours, and 6 years of effort. Oh dear, perhaps I am so outdated and aged that "blueprints" is...

Early in my own experience on my own lathe (I never worked as a machinist, always my own hobby work, I mistakenly allowed the toolbit to do exactly as you suggested, running in "back gear", slowest possible spindle speed, outside diameter thread, and the bit, a 1/4" X 1/4" H.S. bit, broke off...

Very nice work! There is always difficulty in copying faithfully a part originally produced by casting. You did a beautiful job! Here in America, it is typical for a newcomer to machining work, in employment, to enter a tradesman's Apprenticeship. The Apprentice follows an experienced...

Well stated! jack

Your interest is to be commended! FWIW, 'way back when, talking maybe mid 1950s to 1960s, as A/C came into common use in vehicular building, most makers opted for plain old piston pumps, which were actually nothing more than basic air compressors now squeezing Freon gas. General Motors began...

"Actually you don't want to measure TDC of #1 because that would be to late. You would never be able to have advanced ignition timing, it would be like try to predict the future." Actually, Ford's EEC-IV, using the old mechanically-driven distributor, did not "measure" crankshaft location...

A good thing! Most hydraulic pumps in general use are of the simple, constant volume design, meaning each revolution of the input shaft produces a fixed volume of fluid flow, such fluids being for practical purposes, incompressible liquid. This means that since the pump must be sized to meet at...

As I understand it, FWIW, precise matching of tapers is difficult, and usually accomplished using precision ground masters, both internal and external. The final cutting is done using Prussian blue, and may require many very light cuts. That was the traditional way. Today's technology might...

Tim, perhaps it is I, and not my neighbor, who is full of sh-t! jack

Lathe, 100 times over! Just MHO. jack

Beautiful! I got my 12" Atlas, bought from Sears Roebuck, when I was 15, that being 57 years ago! I bought a Craftsman 1/2HP ball bearing motor for it at that time (motor was not included). In all those years, I replaced the motor bearings once, the on-off switch maybe 4 or 5 times, no other...

"The main catch is that there are no plans that exist for this engine, that is the challenging bit " I had none either, but did use a line drawing giving rudimentary overall dimensions. Chicago Burlington & Quincy Northern # 5632. Long story, ask for more if so inclined! 9 years, 8000 hours...

My neighbor, usually full of B.S. to assure his own position and rank remained #1, told me once of a guy who, back in the 1930s, built dozens of working live steam locomotive models, using NO machine tools, only hand tools. I told the neighbor he was full of sh!t. It took me 8000 hours to build...

Fascinating! And, humbling! Even given my Engineering background, it's a bit bewildering! Nice! jack

bmt, much obliged for the history facts you wrote! Anyone who was actually involved way back then, must be almost as old as I am! Dickey, thank you, too! jack