The Making of a Soulcraft

 

Here’s another video I really like because it shows a skilled craftsman doing machining, metal fabrication and welding.  Those are skills that I’m trying to get better at so I’m always interested in seeing how someone with much more experience does it and the tools they use.  This beautifully shot and well edited video has almost no dialog. … Read the rest

Free Plans: Jeroen Jonkman’s “Stirling 60”

Jeroen Jonkman built this Gamma type Stirling engine for his father’s 60th birthday.  He also drew a nice set of plans for it and is very generously sharing them.  You can download them here from MachinistBlog (PDF) or from HMEM if you’re registered there and logged in.  I asked, but Jeroen didn’t tell me much about himself. … Read the rest

Shop Light Upgrade & T12 Phase Out

Shop lighting upgrade: T5 vs T8 fluorescent vs LED

 

I have about a dozen 4-foot fluorescent shop lights in my basement and garage.  They’re all hanging from chains and plugged into ceiling-mounted electrical outlets that are controlled by wall-mounted switches.  They frequently have to be replaced because the cheap magnetic T12 ballasts in them go bad. … Read the rest

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