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Paul135

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Hi, I’m Paul, I live in the countryside of Normandy. The 135 on my username comes from my Massey Ferguson 135 tractor (another on going project, though still usable in the yard and fields). Like quite a few people here whose posts I have read, I am retired. I am here for learning and sharing ideas with like minded souls.

Retirement has allowed me to pursue my workshop interests at a deeper level, having bought the lathe, mill and 4 x 6 bandsaw to restart learning to machine metal, something I last really did when I was an apprentice. Despite my career having been in engineering at a professional level I have always been hands on and built up an extensive range of tools to cover many aspects of life, restoring houses, building barns, LandRovers, tractors, farm machinery etc. I even do some welding of plastics. Being a tooloholic is just one of those things I suppose, one can never have enough and they do get used.

Living on a hobby farm with horses means there is always loads to repair and make. A lot is in wood, for which I have worked in at home most of my life. One of the challenges when not being able to have separate workshops is having wood and metalworking machinery in the same shop. My workshop leaves a lot to be desired being a post-war concrete block constructed cow-shed (cows long gone before we were here) complete with sloping floors and slurry gutter. That is quite useful when torrential rains flood the yard and overcome the ditch. The water flows down the gutter and out again!

The lathe and mill are Chinese of course and unlike many western branded Chinese machines mine had the makers name left on, Sumore Machinery. My machines are very similar to those I see when I look up references to Precision Mathews to understand what some US members are discussing. Think Blondihacks type machines. I went for the biggest I could afford and fit in the shop, the lathe, a SP2129 being 290mm dia x 700 between centres and 38mm through the bore. The mill is an SP2217-IV with a table of 840x210mm. Neither have DROs and the mill has no auto feed (another project to come). Welding gear is AC/DC Tig from Rtech Welding, an Rtech plasma cutter, an Italian MIG set I have had for years and oxy/acetylene. The TIG I am trying to relearn. When my business was young I used to do the TIG on small stainless pressure vessels with a massive old Lincoln. Until I started to relearn I had forgotten how much I hated TIGing mild steel! Aluminium is on the to learn list as I only had a few gos at that.

The 4x6 bandsaw has been invaluable, its not the first I have had; that would have been about 40 years ago. Though very similar, the current one is way better, it cuts straight and the blade stays on. I have started doing mods to this, Frank Hoose/ Mike’s Workshop type mods.

On the CAD front I was an AutoCad user, 2D only, leaving the 3D to my design team. These days I am bit by bit getting to grips with learning solid modeling in FreeCad. I don’t want to go the Fusion route as I am Ubuntu based and have had too much of AutoCad’s pricing over the years. Opensource suits retirement budgets much better.

Machining projects at the moment are centered around tool making/machine upgrades and mods. Serious lathe work is out of the question at the moment as I need to finish some mods to the shop and then get the lathe’s stand reasonably level (the sloping floor problem) and do the alignment. Most turning I have done so far has been making repair parts so precision has not been a big problem; but it will be! The mill however is on a very solid bench I constructed for it and runs great.
 

Bentwings

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Welcome to the great group . I to did machinist apprentiship all the way to tool maker. I then went back to mech. Engineering school I had the scant age of being able to design and make what was designed or instruct how to make it . Also did psychology which helped in relations with the shop and mgmt. automation was my main line but I got into R&D and military projects. TIg weldingbutv was a sideline but I did some very high level stuff there in retirement . I did teach it as a project at work. My vision has deteriorated so it is very difficult to just type here as I see double as a therapy I’ve practiced “ welding” lines on graph paper sketches . It means selecting the right line and staying focused on it. I’m not supposed to set foot in the shop let alone operate rotating machines. anyway welcome to the group .
Byron
Hi, I’m Paul, I live in the countryside of Normandy. The 135 on my username comes from my Massey Ferguson 135 tractor (another on going project, though still usable in the yard and fields). Like quite a few people here whose posts I have read, I am retired. I am here for learning and sharing ideas with like minded souls.

Retirement has allowed me to pursue my workshop interests at a deeper level, having bought the lathe, mill and 4 x 6 bandsaw to restart learning to machine metal, something I last really did when I was an apprentice. Despite my career having been in engineering at a professional level I have always been hands on and built up an extensive range of tools to cover many aspects of life, restoring houses, building barns, LandRovers, tractors, farm machinery etc. I even do some welding of plastics. Being a tooloholic is just one of those things I suppose, one can never have enough and they do get used.

Living on a hobby farm with horses means there is always loads to repair and make. A lot is in wood, for which I have worked in at home most of my life. One of the challenges when not being able to have separate workshops is having wood and metalworking machinery in the same shop. My workshop leaves a lot to be desired being a post-war concrete block constructed cow-shed (cows long gone before we were here) complete with sloping floors and slurry gutter. That is quite useful when torrential rains flood the yard and overcome the ditch. The water flows down the gutter and out again!

The lathe and mill are Chinese of course and unlike many western branded Chinese machines mine had the makers name left on, Sumore Machinery. My machines are very similar to those I see when I look up references to Precision Mathews to understand what some US members are discussing. Think Blondihacks type machines. I went for the biggest I could afford and fit in the shop, the lathe, a SP2129 being 290mm dia x 700 between centres and 38mm through the bore. The mill is an SP2217-IV with a table of 840x210mm. Neither have DROs and the mill has no auto feed (another project to come). Welding gear is AC/DC Tig from Rtech Welding, an Rtech plasma cutter, an Italian MIG set I have had for years and oxy/acetylene. The TIG I am trying to relearn. When my business was young I used to do the TIG on small stainless pressure vessels with a massive old Lincoln. Until I started to relearn I had forgotten how much I hated TIGing mild steel! Aluminium is on the to learn list as I only had a few gos at that.

The 4x6 bandsaw has been invaluable, its not the first I have had; that would have been about 40 years ago. Though very similar, the current one is way better, it cuts straight and the blade stays on. I have started doing mods to this, Frank Hoose/ Mike’s Workshop type mods.

On the CAD front I was an AutoCad user, 2D only, leaving the 3D to my design team. These days I am bit by bit getting to grips with learning solid modeling in FreeCad. I don’t want to go the Fusion route as I am Ubuntu based and have had too much of AutoCad’s pricing over the years. Opensource suits retirement budgets much better.

Machining projects at the moment are centered around tool making/machine upgrades and mods. Serious lathe work is out of the question at the moment as I need to finish some mods to the shop and then get the lathe’s stand reasonably level (the sloping floor problem) and do the alignment. Most turning I have done so far has been making repair parts so precision has not been a big problem; but it will be! The mill however is on a very solid bench I constructed for it and runs great.
 

GreenTwin

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Welcome Paul-

I can relate to many things you mention.

I have chinese machines, and they are fine for the hobby work I do.

I use a Lincoln tombstone welder with a 2013 all purpose rod, and it does pretty much anything I need to do, except aluminum.
I use nickle rods for stainless, and that works well too with the Lincoln.

I am definitely a "toolaholic".
When my wife goes to the hardware store with me, she will comment on every tool that I look at, and often say "Do we really need that?".
Best to go to the hardware store by myself.

My wood shop is on one side of my metal shop, and so even with a partial separation wall, there is some dust migration.
It is what it is. Once can only do a lot of shop vac'ing to keep it under control.

And my foundry shed is full of sand, and so that also has to be contended with.

I used 2D CAD for many years, and finally learned 3D (Solidworks) in 2012, with much anguish and pulling of hair.
3D work is such a mental change from 2D work, and one has to learn a totally different and much more universal approach when designing with 3D.
3D modeling is pretty easy once you can get the concept down.
It took me about a year to learn 3D concepts.

Foundry work can be rather challenging, but it also opens the door to a much wider array of projects, and is very useful for replacing one-of-a-kind broken castings.

Good luck.
As I tell everyone , we need photos; words are good; photos are better.

Pat J
 

SmithDoor

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Hi, I’m Paul, I live in the countryside of Normandy. The 135 on my username comes from my Massey Ferguson 135 tractor (another on going project, though still usable in the yard and fields). Like quite a few people here whose posts I have read, I am retired. I am here for learning and sharing ideas with like minded souls.

Retirement has allowed me to pursue my workshop interests at a deeper level, having bought the lathe, mill and 4 x 6 bandsaw to restart learning to machine metal, something I last really did when I was an apprentice. Despite my career having been in engineering at a professional level I have always been hands on and built up an extensive range of tools to cover many aspects of life, restoring houses, building barns, LandRovers, tractors, farm machinery etc. I even do some welding of plastics. Being a tooloholic is just one of those things I suppose, one can never have enough and they do get used.

Living on a hobby farm with horses means there is always loads to repair and make. A lot is in wood, for which I have worked in at home most of my life. One of the challenges when not being able to have separate workshops is having wood and metalworking machinery in the same shop. My workshop leaves a lot to be desired being a post-war concrete block constructed cow-shed (cows long gone before we were here) complete with sloping floors and slurry gutter. That is quite useful when torrential rains flood the yard and overcome the ditch. The water flows down the gutter and out again!

The lathe and mill are Chinese of course and unlike many western branded Chinese machines mine had the makers name left on, Sumore Machinery. My machines are very similar to those I see when I look up references to Precision Mathews to understand what some US members are discussing. Think Blondihacks type machines. I went for the biggest I could afford and fit in the shop, the lathe, a SP2129 being 290mm dia x 700 between centres and 38mm through the bore. The mill is an SP2217-IV with a table of 840x210mm. Neither have DROs and the mill has no auto feed (another project to come). Welding gear is AC/DC Tig from Rtech Welding, an Rtech plasma cutter, an Italian MIG set I have had for years and oxy/acetylene. The TIG I am trying to relearn. When my business was young I used to do the TIG on small stainless pressure vessels with a massive old Lincoln. Until I started to relearn I had forgotten how much I hated TIGing mild steel! Aluminium is on the to learn list as I only had a few gos at that.

The 4x6 bandsaw has been invaluable, its not the first I have had; that would have been about 40 years ago. Though very similar, the current one is way better, it cuts straight and the blade stays on. I have started doing mods to this, Frank Hoose/ Mike’s Workshop type mods.

On the CAD front I was an AutoCad user, 2D only, leaving the 3D to my design team. These days I am bit by bit getting to grips with learning solid modeling in FreeCad. I don’t want to go the Fusion route as I am Ubuntu based and have had too much of AutoCad’s pricing over the years. Opensource suits retirement budgets much better.

Machining projects at the moment are centered around tool making/machine upgrades and mods. Serious lathe work is out of the question at the moment as I need to finish some mods to the shop and then get the lathe’s stand reasonably level (the sloping floor problem) and do the alignment. Most turning I have done so far has been making repair parts so precision has not been a big problem; but it will be! The mill however is on a very solid bench I constructed for it and runs great.
Welcome to the group

Dave
 

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