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I never said a chinese iron owner is "less" and I certainly never said I was better than anyone else. I think you've all got me wrong. I am glad that the chinese machines are on the market and open the possibilty of lathe ownership to people that could not afford greater machines. I own a lot of...

Sorry for the confusion. We might have different definitions of accuracy... One time I had to make 200 parts with a bore that was +.0002" -.0000". On the best lathes, you can set the dial to zero, take the part out, take the tool out, put them back, run both axis all the way down and back, turn...

You guys talk about southbend like it's a great lathe. It's not, but it's a good lathe. Accuracy is about on par with a modern chinese lathe. Chinese ones have a lot of swithces that break and handles that fall off, so it is a little better in that regard. The southbend I have at work is a good...

I've use Harris Stay-Silv 45% and 56% extensively. I would not prefer the 45 for work on brass. The melting temp is about 100F higher than the 56 and it leaves a very narrow temp window to work in. Even the 56 may be too hot for thin brass, it works at about 1200F. I normally only use the 45 on...

If you've never used a Hardinge lathe, you really cannot appreciate how bad the chinese machines really are. The difference is literally as big as the price difference, a new Hardinge is currently $70,000. Obviously the memebers of this forum and thousands of other people have proven that the...

It's true that some spoke engines are the same, but that one is not. It has a 2 piece water hopper (it's 2 pieces on the real engine, it only looks like 2 on the model), and a throttling governor. Somewhere I've seen a model of a hit & miss version, but I don't know who makes that kit. I don't...

Designing "an engine" is easy, you can whip one up out of scrap bits without ever making a drawing. It probably won't be very powerful, or light, or last very long. If your engine needs to meet any specific need (particularly low weight or high rpm) it gets more complicated. Most of the engines...

I used to have the plans for an engine I made several years ago, I'll see if I can dig them up (there's no copyright). It has a single flywheel and is about 7" long as I recall. It's all made from simple bar stock. I never actually got mine to run, I should find it and try again.

If you're only making 2 of them you should have no trouble drilling the .093 holes through both before slicing. That's the best way to ensure that the holes match. Making a truly parallel disc is one of the most difficult things to do. One very handy tool is an "emergency collet", which is...

No, it does not burn. I've made crucibles out of it for people at work to melt metals in. Temp should be no problem.

A long time ago in machining school one of our projects what a flame eater engine. One student tried to make a graphite piston for his, but I believe it ended up breaking before he finished. It was about a 1.25" bore and the piston design is very thin. I bet you can do it with your small bore if...

Is there anywhere I can find a casting kit for a Fairbanks Morse 1-1/2 or 2 HP model Z with the dishpan flywheels? I haven't seen one yet. I used to have one of the real engines and it would be fun to make a model of it.

Look at the last picture, the governor is down below the connecting rod and is driven by a 3rd gear just below the cam gear. When the weights swing out, they push a pin through the center of that gear which pushes on an S shaped rod that latches into the pushrod. You can see the latching rod in...

You were running way too fast. I would run about 350 rpm on a bridgeport (not sure if your mill has the torque at that speed). Very few metals actually require carbide or coatings, they just allow faster speeds and longer life. If you can't cut it with a plain uncaoted endmill, you're doing...

I always run 1000 rpm. It's true that the speed is not so important, but I feel like you get better accuracy from always using the same speed.

Not a bad stone there, just a little small ;D Check out this one I had to move out of a small room at work this week. Weight is estimated at 7000lbs... that's a 6000lb chain hoist.

Hello everyone, I just recently found the site and am enjoying seeing all the cool engines here. I was inspired to post my own after seeing Metal Butcher's very nice Upsher engines he built. I built this one in 2003 when I was attending technical college for machining. I turned out to be the...

I did a similar thing by trying to use a cummins diesel wrist pin as an anvil. The wrist pin is a solid chunk of very hard steel about 2-1/2" diameter by 5" long. It shot a small chip of the edge into my hand and I decided to give it up and get a softer anvil.