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I've been working with carbon fiber (CF) for a recent project and needed to bore out a hole of about 1/4" diameter. CF can be really hard on tools so I bought some diamond cut burrs for my CNC router. When I needed to more accurately bore the final hole dimension, I found that not only did I not...

Somewhere I read that far too many of us hate pegboard storage in our shops. That might be a bit strong but for those of us who do use it, the holes are often in just the wrong place, not enough holes, and not enough of the right hangers / hooks. And rearranging the board can be a major pain...

Over the past few years, I have built a number of wooden clocks. In many respects they are similar to engines; somewhat complex, multi-dimensional, a bit fiddly to access some parts at certain times. I started out by hanging a piece of plywood from the ceiling in my shop and using that as a...

I am near the end of building Jan Ridders' Atkinson MK II engine "Wouter" and am at the point where I need to address the igniter and spark plug. The plan suggests a piezo igniter. It appears that the best source is a BBQ igniter. When I looked at these, the push button would seem to require...

I really didn't need another lathe. I already had three. But, I did want a small lathe that I didn't have to stand up to use. I have a Sherline and it's just fine but I wanted something else with a bit more mass and a few other improvements. ( Improvements are in the eye of the beholder in this...

If you have an old Atlas lathe like a 618, I have an old manual that may be of interest to you. The title is "Manual Of Lathe Operation And Machinists Tables." The last reprinted date inside says 1954. It doesn't appear to be specific to a 618 but that size lathe seems to be featured...

I'd like to make a new Sherline lathe cross slide and that will require milling a pair of T-slots. I would have thought this would have been pretty straight forward but, the Sherline T-slot seems to be at the smallest end of the T-slot world so cutters do not seem to be readily available. I...

I'm taking another motorcycle trip eastbound this summer and plan to pass through Vermont. A quick google and I found the American Precision Museum (APM). A little more googling for images showed that this appears to be well worth a detour from my route. https://www.americanprecision.org/ Has...

After tapping 170 holes in my new tooling plate, I decided that my hand tapping machine could be a little better. All I really need was a proper collet set but a more robust machine wouldn't hurt. A tapping head is out because I almost never tap more than a 5 - 10 holes at once. I watched a...

I've milled no end of aluminum and brass on my Sherline CNC mill but pretty much avoided steel until now. Especially stainless steel. The Sherline is pretty much a flyweight among mills and I always thought that the tougher materials should be avoided. I needed to make two cam lobes for Jan...

I know this is an engine forum but we all need other tools occaisonally and this time it was a hydraulic press. My girlfriend is also very active in our workshop and we have a small arbor press which is turning out to be too much of a lightweight for some projects. She asked me about a hydraulic...

I'm building Jan Ridders' Atkinson engine "Wouter" and need to make a flywheel - 6" diameter x .750" thick and the plan calls for steel or brass. Due to equipment and material issues, I'd like to use aluminum. My question is, with aluminum being lighter than either steel or brass, will this...

Youtube has a wealth of documentary videos. One series that I watched years ago on TV was "Industrial Revelations". I've been watching them again on Youtube. Episode 10 is particularly interesting as the host spends a lot of time with huge Victorian era engines - some of which appear to be the...

This may already be obvious to some of you, but when I made my last graphite piston, I came up with a somewhat different approach to boring out the center. I used a Forstner bit which is normally used for woodworking. Graphite is so soft that the Forstner bit cuts through it like butter and...

Having made three Moriya Stirling fan variants, I thought I was finally getting the hang of it; I really was understanding where my mistakes were being made. So, around the end of the first week in December, I decided to make just one more. This would be a Christmas gift for my brother Roger. He...

I finally got around to finishing my Moriya double sized variant fan. I doubled all the dimensions and then just used my imagination making the parts. I have a regular sized variant which runs, sort of, and a 1/2 size that doesn't run. They will be next on the list once this one gets its...

I sort of enjoy dialing in a four jaw chuck but it drives me crazy pulling out the key, spinning the chuck ( if necessary ), reinserting the key, and adjust some more, repeat, etc... I had an idea and did a bit of Googling but did not find anyone else who had the same thoughts on the matter...

I did a lot of reading about the merits of various types of lathe cutting tools - high speed steel, carbide and inserts. Lots of info and opinions on sharpening too. Having used them all, I found that I still wanted to sharpen ( pun intended ) my skills in creating and sharpening my own lathe...

I thought I'd put this topic here instead of the CNC section as someone without a CNC mill may be able to track down someone who did to help make a problem gasket. Anyway... I haven't made a lot of gaskets but the ones that I did make were just usable, and not works of art by any means. I'm in...

I had a bit of time on my hands today waiting for some materials for my Double Sized Moriya Stirling fan. So, I decided to start my next project - a half size Moriya. Sitting with the Double Size Moriya :