Plans, projects and How-to's for Home Machinists and Other Makers
A problem with the Sieg X2 mini-mill [HF 44991, Grizzly G8689, Micro-Mark & others] is that the head can suddenly drop down while you’re milling. Everything will seem fine until the head suddenly drops a bit, which causes the end mill to try to cut too much metal at once, causing the table to start shaking as much as the play in the gibs allows. … Read the rest
Jan Ridders is a talented machinist and prolific designer of model Stirling, flame-eater and internal combustion engines. As you can see from the video he has some good-looking and nice-running designs. You can build them if you want because he generously shares his plans for free.… Read the rest
Machine Shop Essentials by Frank Marlow, PE
This is one of the best and most useful books in my library of machine shop and metalworking books. It clearly and concisely describes almost every machine shop tool and procedure, except for computer-controlled tools (CNC). As a novice machinist, I used it constantly because I kept coming across words, tools, and procedures that I had never heard of.… Read the rest
It has been more than a year and a half since I bought my 7×12 mini-lathe and I finally decided I needed to get serious about building or buying a cam-operated tailstock lock for it. A lever-operated lock is probably one of the most popular modifications for the mini-lathe because it increases your productivity by eliminating the need to find a wrench and turn a nut every time you want to move the tailstock.… Read the rest
