An Early Christmas Present

[Kludge]

I have been given some 140 pounds of brass, 12L14 and stainless mostly in short pieces, few longer than 4" or so. Aside from some mild rust on some of the steel which put it into its own container, I haven't separated it further than Brass and !Brass. I don't know what flavor the brass or stainless are but I'll figure them out someday. There is also some 1/8" aluminum plate around 2-1/2" wide and 10" long that I'm sure will become useful with time.

At the same time, I've been corresponding with a metal vendor I've bought from before about slicing down his wares (usually 4' lengths, sometimes 8') to fit a USPS Priority flat rate box then fitting all the stuff I want into it to save postage. He seemed receptive to the idea and will do so without any cutting fees. He's got hex and square brass rod down to 3/16" which will make a lovely addition to the round stock I already have for doing things like making bolts etc. He's also got similar steel stock which is even more so gooderer since steel makes a nice contrast against brass.

I guess it's time to get serious about tap & die sets, reamers and maybe a drill set or two.

Happy Holidays, all, and may you be as blessed in so many different ways as I have been.

BEst regards,

Kludge

 

[Cedge]

Kludge
NICE SCORE!!! For some reason good steel has proven harder to find than other metals here. Now to get you building something...LOL

I was thinking as I read your comments on being blessed. You've made no secret of the demons you fight on a daily basis. When you can feel so favored, no one on this board can help but feel blessed, right along with you. Accept my best personal wishes for a wonderful Christmas season and a peaceful and prosperous new year. You've proven to be an admirable example to more than one of us.

Best of life's blessings
Steve

 

[shred]

Sweet! There's something about a nice pile of raw stock.. all the potential enclosed within it. Bar ends and cut-offs are especially good.

 

[Maryak]

Bloody hell Kludge, or should I say scrooge :

I just paid $80 for a couple of bits of ally and some bronze

Good luck to you my friend and all the seasons greetings

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Kludge]

NICE SCORE!!! For some reason good steel has proven harder to find than other metals here. Now to get you building something...LOL

That time will come. Honest! At the same time, I still need to get the drills, reamers and tap & die sets. While I would like to make a sweep of everything I want all at once, I have to figure out what I can use up front and what can wait.

In taps & dies, right now I have .6 to 2.0mm in .1mm steps and #6 up to 3/4" NC & NF covered. In taps alone, I have "the usual suspects" from 00-90 up to 8-32 and M1.6x.35 to M4x.70 (all with their tap drills) but no dies. While I could buy screws to match the taps I have, they wouldn't match what I want to make so dies are also needed to make the screws. I also need a 6-40 die to make some tool adapters for a milling attachment that matches my Wolfe Jahn compound cross slides.

At the same time, I'm light on clearance drills and reamers that will allow me to create tight and "locating pin" fits (- and + .005" or so respectively) as well as countersinks for the heads. (They're not the tapered countersunk heads usually found but more squared like watch bridge screws.)

After that ... who knows. I don't, to be sure, though I know what I'd like to do. Sadly my pension doesn't allow for that.

I was thinking as I read your comments on being blessed. You've made no secret of the demons you fight on a daily basis. When you can feel so favored, no one on this board can help but feel blessed, right along with you.

This forum is one of the ways I've been blessed, Steve. I'm always in good and understanding company here which is a delightful new experience. At the same time, Noelle is an on-going blessing - far more than I believe I deserve, to be honest - and is the center of my life. Despite a great number of things I wish I could forget, God has been good to me in that regard. I'm not wealthy by any stretch nor am I particularly good looking and my brain sometimes goes on vacation without me but I'm still alive and that in itself is a blessing.

Accept my best personal wishes for a wonderful Christmas season and a peaceful and prosperous new year.

Thank you. And to you as well.

You've proven to be an admirable example to more than one of us.

EEEEK! Who put that in the script? I do my best serving as a bad example. ;D

Best regards,

Kludge

 

[Kludge]

Sweet! There's something about a nice pile of raw stock.. all the potential enclosed within it. Bar ends and cut-offs are especially good.

That's what all this is. The only place I can think of on the island that has machine shops that would handle anything like this is at Pearl Harbor, and I thought they recycled all their scrap. Hawaii doesn't have much of a manufacturing base (Sad when you think about it - open air machine shops would be pretty neat other than during a storm!) as I found out when I tried to find scrap to make things from.

Side note to Brian: I haven't come up with anywhere that actually repairs electric tools, cordless or otherwise. Everywhere I've found that takes in used tools, working or not, sends them back to the mainland for repair and resale as refurbished. As a result, pawn shops and swap meets (flea markets) tend to be heavy in them.

BEst regards,

Kludge

 

[Kludge]

Bloody hell Kludge, or should I say scrooge :

Why scrooge? It was completely out of the blue! Scrooge would be out of the red and into the black. Let's get the colors straight here.

I just paid $80 for a couple of bits of ally and some bronze

Good grief! Okay, wait. Was the bronze the heavier part of that bill? Seems anything with copper in it has become off-colored gold even with the slight downward trend in market prices. Since I like to work with brass, I get hit pretty well when I buy stock.

After brass is nickle-silver then the rest of the steel flavors. Aluminium's nice, I suppose, but I never could quite get a cozy relationship with it. I've never played with bronze and the only experience with copper is home plumbing so I guess I'm a bit of a virgin in some respects.

Good luck to you my friend and all the seasons greetings

And to you as well.

Best regards,

Kludge

 

[Maryak]

Why scrooge?

Because it rhymes with Kludge :

Good grief! Okay, wait. Was the bronze the heavier part of that bill?

2nd, the dearest bit was 7lbs of aluminium in weight as well as price.

And thanks for the seasons greetings

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Kermit]

I can document a 300% difference in prices for residental versus commercial addresses with FedEx and UPS. Try as hard as you can to convince a friend or family member with an address considered as commercial to agree to play host to your mail order packages.

$7.21 vs. 22.89 For the exact same small package(voltmeter) in delivery charges should be criminal!


Kermit