Author Topic: Greetings  (Read 3914 times)

Offline superc

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Greetings
« on: January 27, 2014, 04:37:52 PM »
I am a 60ish dude with a background of city life and office work.  Regardless long, long ago my parents ran a bunch of rooming houses in NYC and I helped dad with repairs of everything tenant's televisions to plumbing and carpentry.  Dad had many many tools and skilled enough at what he did to build his own lathe from scratch and WW2 surplus tools (fairly common stuff back in the 50s and 60s).  A few decades ago I fled city life and moved to a rural area and a cheap farm property.  Although well grounded (thanks to good parents) in the basics of home repair and carpentry I quickly realized my knowledge was insufficient for large acreages and the machinery, vehicles and tools required to maintain such.  I therefore, at the local community college, took classes in welding and machine shop which introduced me to lathes and mills and gave me some hands on time with both.    Picked up a little MIG welder and an oxy acetylene (soon dropped in favor of Mapp for safety reasons) rig and eventually reached a stage where I would describe my skill as low to fair.  One of those from China 6 inch jaw bandsaws was a must have especially when I realized both hacksaw type and wood type blade bans were available for it.  Vises, grinders, cheap drill presses and assorted wood working stuff also followed.  Sadly most metal work was still done either with hand tools, or hire someone, or just go buy a new part.  Last year I discovered Micro Mark and acquired their 9x16 mini lathe and their  500 Watt mini-mill.  LoL, 4 ton Bridgeports they ain't.  But still for the projects I find myself doing here they are more than adequate.  The Lathe is up and running (currently, as a lark, turning out a knurled cocking piece for an old Stevens .22, but made of brass instead of the original steel,  Sounds simple I know, but to me, not.  3rd attempt underway.  I am learning that reverse engineering is more than just looking at the piece and making a few cuts to match.  I have learned which operation needs to be done first is very important to think about before starting the first cut.).  The mill was set up okay and does a good job on aluminum and plastic and brass, but hard steel still gives me rigidity problems.  I am working on that and acquiring such accessories as I can afford as fast as I can as the need arises.  I have joined several groups like this one and anticipate bothering many with questions as I encounter mill and lathe issues my old textbooks don't address.    Hopefully as time goes on I will also be able to start reporting successes. 

Offline superc

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2014, 04:44:28 PM »
This is my machine setup for now.  I may add some mass to the mill's table as when I mill hardened steel even though the mill is bolted down, the table itself bounces around.

Offline krv3000

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2014, 06:58:21 PM »
hi and welcume

Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2014, 09:34:12 PM »
Hi SuperC

Welcome to the collective :borg:

What kind of projects do you plan on doing? Running a project log is a great to get help or suggestions... or even encouragement!

Eric
Science is fun.

We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.

Offline SwarfnStuff

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2014, 11:01:20 PM »
Welcome to us Superc. Hope you enjoy making swarf like the rest of us, have fun and remember, questions are always welcome here - Someone will most likely have the answer,  :smart: and if not, probably point you the where the answer might be found.  :zap:

John B   :mmr:
Converting good metal into swarf sometimes ending up with something useful. ;-)

Offline superc

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2014, 02:10:06 AM »
Right now my focus will be parts for my old tractors, bolts, levers, etc.  But maybe later on stuff for me.  Not sure what it will be yet, but I wish to acquire more skill with the mill and the lathe before jumping at the moon with them.

Offline micktoon

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2014, 04:29:25 AM »
Hello and welcome to the forum , I look forward to seeing some of your projects on the old tractors.

 Cheers Mick

Offline Meldonmech

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2014, 06:26:53 AM »
Hi

         Welcome to MadModder, I am sure you find the forum interesting.

                                                                                                               Cheers David

Offline Manxmodder

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Re: Greetings
« Reply #8 on: January 28, 2014, 07:48:41 PM »
Right now my focus will be parts for my old tractors, bolts, levers, etc.  But maybe later on stuff for me.  Not sure what it will be yet, but I wish to acquire more skill with the mill and the lathe before jumping at the moon with them.
Welcome superc,
I think you'll be in the right company here for gaining knowledge on techniques and certainly there are members with experience of tractors,diesel engines and hydraulics etc,had a few years working with agricultural machines myself.

Trying to answer questions for you is no bother at all,the worst that can happen is we all say dunno(that's not very likely though)  :nrocks: ....OZ.
Helixes aren't always downward spirals,sometimes they're screwed up