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Measure twice, cut once -- but which measurement should you use? It's a special feeling when you go and make a tool, do a bunch of work, and then find out the tool is wrong. It's not good special, but it is special.

Not quite on topic -- I ordered a 5" 4-jaw chuck from Little Machine Shop. I reworked the back for my Taig chuck into a back for the new chuck. It fits. I messed up the interface to the lathe slightly -- the cavity in the adapter is about 0.001" too big, so it won't go back on perfectly...

I'm working today, but thinking about all the veterans and active duty personnel out there. Along with wry thoughts about how we thought that the Great War was the War to End All Wars -- we kinda missed on that prediction. Need to keep working on achieving that, or at least achieving as...

I have the lame excuse for a mill on a Smithy Midas 1220 "3-in-1" machine. I shop for milling machines occasionally, but I've never had that much mad money all in one spot. Besides -- the jaw is obviously precision ground as a last operation, and I definitely don't have the resources for that.

Not right now -- for the moment, my milling machine just doesn't cut it.

I just got an email from them this morning. They're being very helpful, all for what will end up being a $24 sale. They've just been bumped way up on my list of folks to buy a micro-mill from, if that's the way I go.

I really should have thought of that -- whatever I've done to it I've probably done to all four jaws. Taig actually answered my email, although I'm not sure the person on the other end has their head wrapped around "it's a 40 year old chuck" yet -- they were asking me which part number it is...

Actually I found out that the Taig brand is still alive, and the chucks they sell on their website look like the same design to the one I have -- so I just sent them an email asking if they might have spare parts that would fit. I expect the answer will be "no" -- but, nothing ventured, nothing...

Killjoy! It's a 3-inch chuck, and now that I'm getting a bigger one it would only be used for small, light jobs. And besides, if it breaks again in the same place it'll jam in the slot the same way.

T'oh! Yes -- I've edited my post. I'm just assuming I can't get parts for a 40 year old chuck.

A file just skates on it -- so I'm guessing it's really hard steel. Or something weird like white cast iron - but you're probably right.

It sure broke like it's cast. I didn't see any sign of plastic deformation, just a brittle break. Which doesn't mean it's not steel with a rather high carbon content, I suppose.

These are two of the four jaws from an old Taig (I think) 4-jaw chuck that I've been abusing by using it on a much larger lathe than it was intended for. As you can see, I broke the tab off of one. I've got a new four-jaw chuck on order, but before I repurpose the chuck adaptor for that chuck...

It's actually up on Google Books, if you want to try to plow through it on your 'puter (I need real books, myself). It looks like you can order a paper copy, too. I've read the thing cover to cover, a couple of times over.

Per "Gas Engine Construction", you pre-assemble the crankshaft assembly (flywheels, shafts, and pin), get it all hunky-dory, and tighten everything down. Then to install it, you remove the side rods and main bearings, slide the main bearings onto the shafts, install them onto their bearer, and...

Hmm. Do you have the book? I'm sure they go over that. I'm going to have to look, once the Last Outdoor Steaks of The Year are done.

I can't help you (but I'm interested in this thread). Have you stuck chunks of metal of your casting into your lathe, and seen how well they cut? I dunno about bronze, but I know that aluminum alloys have a wide range of machinability that depends not only on the alloy, but on the post-casting...

Not that you were asking, but in Roman times there were only military engineers and -- civil engineers. That was it. Military engineers took out targets, civil engineers built them, if you needed something mechanical you went to a blacksmith, and electronics didn't exist.

Cool! I can enjoy the build vicariously. I'm probably never going to find the time to build one, but if I do my first dilemma is going to be go full scale or sized to fit my lathe. Full scale means getting my brother's ginormous lathe working, or otherwise borrowing equipment to machine the...

It might have been nitromethane. The best answer I've seen to "why can't we get cheap nitro anymore in the US" is "because they used to use it to clean printing presses and don't any more". Model airplane shops sell "glue remover" that's basically nitromethane in little bottles -- you could...