# Surprised to see this sub-forum



## KenErickson (Dec 27, 2012)

I recently joined HMEM as I purchased a set of plans and hope to build a Sterling engine. Really nice forum here;D. 

As I was getting familiar with the layout of the forum I stopped in here. I broke my back in 1979 and have used a wheelchair ever since.  Went to gunsmithing school, spent 21 years in the trade.  I have owned 3 different lathes , Bridgeport, and various other machines. 

The biggest challenge for me working on the lathe is being able to get my chair and legs under the chip pan. Here is a picture of my current lathe and you can see that I have a set of heavy channel risers between the cabinet and chip pan. This gets me just enough room to get my knees under the pan.






My current milling machine is a 6 x 26 HF knee mill.  I purchased the stand and ended up cutting about 4 inches of height and rewelding the stand.  This gave me the ability to change speeds and work the draw bar without much trouble. Sorry for the bad picture of the mill, but you can see it in the backround and it sits a 4 inches lower than stock.





Everyone's disability is different but the main thing to remember is that there is no right and wrong way of modifying your equipment. If it works for you that is all that matters!Thm:


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