Hey y'all from Fresno, CA

[FSG]

It all started innocently enough. I needed some spacers to mount a larger than stock headlight on a motorcycle that I was overhauling, but everything I could find that might fit was just wrong. The setup that was close, but not quite what I wanted was outrageously expensive. Then I ran across a deal on a 9X20 lathe in distress, which was slightly less than the cost of the not-quite-right mount, and I figgered that I could buy and freshen up the lathe, turn my spacers, then sell the lathe for a tidy profit when I was done. Cue the organ music, in a minor key.

The lathe still had the cheesy ring type compound clamp, which was good enough to bore the socket for the compound post, but my dadburned drill press was insufficiently precise to get the four holes exactly where they needed to be. I could go on, but I suspect that many of y'all sing a similar song. Fast forward to the present, five years down the road. I've just completed the move from my former 175 square foot 3/4 car garage into the newly born hacker space/community workshop in a 1935 brick former agricultural pump manufacturing facility with the most beautiful 3 ton bridge crane over our 12,000 square feet of naked possibility. I make short runs of low material cost/high labor cost machine components for a couple of local manufacturers, tooling for various printing and machining processes, and the odd one-off parts for motorcycles and antique make & break engines. I built a version of the LMS wobbler for show and tell with the hacker group, and now I'm teaching basic machine shop practice to a group of enthusiasts with widely varying backgrounds. I'm really looking forward to digging into the archives here, and I believe I'll just listen attentively until I have something meaningful to contribute.

 

[stevehuckss396]

Welcome Goat!!!!

 

[Tin Falcon]

First of all welcome, thanks for the introduction.
the hacker space sounds exiting I love it when old buildings are used rather than left to fall apart or torn down to save on taxes.
Sounds like life is treating you well and an hour from Yosemite
And tell us what you would liked to be called.
Tin

 

[FSG]

Hi Tin Falcon:

I go by Patrick, and yes it is a definite advantage to be able to ride the motorcycle in any one of three National Parks any day I choose. The 1935 building is a fine setting for the ongoing restoration of the 1928 South Bend lathe, and the recommissioning of the 1945ish Clausing 111 that was donated to the Fresno IdeaWorks group since it is going to be used for education. I built a new bench for assembly and demonstration, using a fine laminated maple top that had been removed from one of the local high schools, when they disassembled the wood and metal shops to turn the classrooms into a mock courtroom. I disagree with the concept that we don't need any more carpenters or machinists because we need more lawyers, so I'm doing something about it. Although I've only been making chips for a few years, I've been in manufacturing for over 30 in various engineering positions, and I have had the fundamentals of machining explained to me in short, easy to understand sentences at somewhat elevated volume by exasperated machinists, toolmakers, and assemblers at regular intervals. I'm glad to have the opportunity to share some of that education with others.

 

[Herbiev]

And a big welcome from down under . Love the name Flying Steam Goat Machine Works

 

[Tin Falcon]

Ongoing restoration of a 1929 south bend ??? What model and size ? I have a 1937 that retired from the Univerity of Penn. I am the second owner. There are sources for some parts and accessories.
So I will address you as Patrick then.I love the title senior executive janitor but just way too long to type and a bit formal.
It is great you have the time ,space and machines to teach.
Tin

 

[FSG]

Hi Tin:

The SB is a 13" X 5', it was a barn find hibernating under a generous layer of fossilized lubrication, with what I believe to be a layer of khaki paint from the Big One over the factory black. The apron is having a nice long soak in the solvent tank, the bed, headstock, and legs in a safe corner. She wants a couple of new teeth on her bull gear, and one or two on the back gear engagement linkage, and the steady rest has one of the hasp ears broken cleanly off, but otherwise she's in pretty good shape. During the disassembly, I was kind of surprised to find virtually all of the fasteners were slotted head - it wasn't until I got well into the research that I found out that there were neither the metallurgical knowlege or the technology to make socket heads until several years after this lathe was built.

Space and machines for teaching are the easy part, I'm still a wage slave working 40+ hours a week at my day job so teaching and doing my own business operations makes me a busy boy, but I have convinced she-who-must-be-obeyed that it keeps me out of trouble. I am very lucky that my home is a 5 minute drive from the hackerspae, and my day job is another 5 minutes beyond that, so I can be anywhere I need to be at a moment's notice. Which is sometimes a good thing, sometimes, not so much.