Category Archives: quinn dunki

The Precision Upon Which Civilizations Are Built

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If you’re interested in making things (particularly metal things), you’re on a road that eventually leads to machine tools. Machine tools have a special place in history, because they are basically the difference between subsistence farming and modern civilization. A bold statement, I realize — but the ability to make very precise things is what gave us the industrial revolution, and everything that snowballed afterward. If you want to build a modern life filled with jet airplanes and inexpensive chocolate, start here.

Precision is more than just a desirable property. It’s a product. It has value, there is competition to …read more

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New Wisdom on Old Practices

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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

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How To Have an Above Average Time With a Cheap Horizontal Bandsaw

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[Quinn Dunki] has brought yet another wayward import tool into her garage. This one, all covered in cosmoline and radiating formaldehyde fumes, is a horizontal bandsaw.

Now, many of us have all have some experience with this particular model of horizontal saw. It waits for us at our work’s machine shop, daring us to rely on it during crunch time. It lingers in the corner of our hackerspace’s metalworking area, permanently stuck in the vertical position; at least until someone finally removes that stripped screw. Either that or it’s been cannibalized for its motor, the castings moldering in a corner …read more

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Likely Everything You Need To Know Before Adopting A Drill Press

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Oh sure, the thought of owning a happy whirring drill press of your very own is exciting, but have you really thought about it? It’s a big responsibility to welcome any tool into the home, even seemingly simple ones like a drill press. Lubricants, spindle runout, chuck mounts, tramming, and more [Quinn Dunki], of no small fame, helps us understand what it needs for happy intergration into its new workshop.

[Quin] covers her own drill press adventure from the first moments it was borne into her garage from the back of a truck to its final installation. She chose one …read more

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