Collaborate Disseminate
Beginning metalworkers are often surprised at just how cheap steel can be. It’s a commodity made by the gigaton, and there are always plenty of extra pieces and scraps left over from big projects that are available for pennies a pound. But what you’ve got is often not what you …read more
Continue reading Shop-Made Tools Turn Cheap Steel into Telescoping Tubes
Getting into machining is hard. From high-speed seel versus carbide to “old US iron” versus “new Asian manufacture” to simply choosing which drill bits to buy, many hard decisions must be made before one even has a chance to gain experience. Fear not, [Quinn Dunki] has created “a roadmap for how to get involved in this hobby.”
We saw [Quinn’s] first entry in her lathe series back in January, and now the series is complete! Starting with the definition of a machine tool and ending with the famous Clickspring scriber and a multi-material pen, [Quinn] leaves no stone unturned. [Quinn’s] …read more
Milling machines can be pretty intimidating beasts to work with, what with the power to cut metal and all. Mount a fly cutter in the mill and it seems like the risk factor goes up exponentially. The off-balance cutting edge whirling around seemingly out of control, the long cutting strokes, the huge chips and the smoke – it can be scary stuff. Don’t worry, though – you’ll feel more in control with a shop-built fly cutter rather than a commercial tool.
Proving once again that the main reason to have a home machine shop is to make tools for the …read more
