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Does anyone here have experience with the (astonishingly) affordable rotary tables from India? Yes, I know that one tends to get what they pay for but are these good enough for the occasional hobby job? I saw some 4" units that were ~$100 cheaper than a comparable Grizzly table. Is a Grizzly...

I have considered buying a larger x-y table and installing it on my mini-mill. I realize that little machine shop offers one but it is only 30% larger and seems to be rather pricey. I have found this one on Grizzly http://www.grizzly.com/products/6-x-18-1-2-Compound-Slide-Table/G8750. I know...

Ok, the title did not do a good job of explaining my question but I had to fit something into that little box! I am wondering how one determines how large to make a piston for a steam engine bore if you want to incorporate an o-ring in the piston. Here is an example that should make things...

I bought a box of random machinist tools at a flea market and a handful of these things were in there. Could someone out there tell me what they are? They have stamped on them: TRK and then a size, 7/16, 3/8, etc. However, the size stamped on them cannot be found on the tool. In other words, the...

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Is there such a thing? I am not a beginner but in no way would I call myself experienced. I am close to finishing my third steam engine now (an Elmers engine). I have also never built a IC. Is there a set of plans for a hit/miss that someone without a ton of engines under their belt could...

I have long wanted a small rotary table for my x2 mill. It is something that I will use only very rarely so I did not want to spend an enormous amount to get one. I have looked at the 4" table at Grizzly for $129 that I am guessing would be adequate for my needs but then ran across a (new, not...

Here is a video of my Elmers #13 running. Sorry about the sound kind of BLASTING when I go in for the close up. I did not think about the exhaust ports blasting straight at the camera. Chris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJp0KnI2NWc

Here is my version of Elmers #13 twin with poppet valves. Whew, I never thought I would finish this one!! Chris

Is there an easy way to drill holes in the the jaws of cheap-o digital calipers? I have mounted a set or 2 to my machines to make a poor mans DRO and have had good results from them. But the last set I used seemed to be as hard as glass. I ended up heating up one of the jaws in order to draw...

Hi Guys, I have started work on elmers #33 mill engine. I am having a lot of trouble making heads or tails on the cylinder portion of the plans. The cylinder is a little bit oddly shaped, it appears to have 2 flat sides and each end is circular in order to accept the round heads. My questions...

I have never before seen one of these built so I decided to try it. Plus I love twins. Sorry I did not take picures earlier in the build but here it is as it now stands. The crank and base assembly is finished and assembled for the last time (I hope!!). Much of the rest is built but needs...

I needed a cork/bulletin board in my shop to post plans that I was working on. I looked around and had absolutely no suitable wall space. Suddenly it occurred to me that I had a lot of space that could pull double duty as a bulletin board. I went to Walmart and found 4 12"x12" cork panels for...

I have not long had my mill (X2) and am beginning to amass tooling for it. I feel that I need a fly cutter to surface large swathes of metal but have heard negative comments on this tool. The fact that it is not constantly in contact with the workpiece is hard on the mill (so I have read here)...

I am looking for a fairly simple 2 cylinder engine for my second engine build. I looked at the elmers twins and they appear to be a little advanced for me not to mention big. Some of them look like they would require some really big lumps of stock (that I dont have!). I dont want to build a...

This is my first steam engine FINALLY completed. As you can see it is quite large and yes...crude. It was started and mostly finished before I ever discovered this forum and saw plans for engines like this. I wanted a double acting engine that operated off of a spool type valve, basically an...

Not that long ago I aligned the tailstock on my minilathe. It has since lived in the cabinet under the lathe. Maybe it got bumped or something but...I was turning some small pulleys yesterday and it eventually came time to bore the axle holes. I started with the center drill and could tell that...

I would love to have DROs on my mini lathe and X2 mill (who wouldnt?). However, spending more on the DRO than I did on the actual tool is unfortunately out of the question for quite a while. I have seen people make their own out of digital calipers. My question is: can suitable DROs be made out...

Why do some pics in people's posts appear fullsize in the post while others are only attachments at the end of the post?

Yeah yeah I know, another X2 mod post. Well I never get tired of reading them!! :) Got my mill about a month ago and exercised almost supernatural patience by first disassembling the thing into about a million pieces and cleaning out all of the red shipping gunk. While it was apart I lapped all...