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I rough out my lathe tools on the grinder because it is faster but finish them on the belt sander. I bought a belt from Lee Valley Tools that is designed specifically for sharpening. It does a great job, especially on the diamond tools that I have come to like a lot.

I am 90% electric with my RC models but still love IC engines, especially multi-cylinder 4 strokes. Sadly many clubs are banning them. I can still fly them around the farm but I suspect that the day is coming when those of us with meth(anol) addictions will have to run our engines on the bench.

We are fortunate to have a local bakery that grinds their own flour. They grind wheat, barley and spelt, all sourced from organic farms in the area and sell bags of flour for home bakers. Wonderful flour for baking. With all the natural yeast floating around the bakery the flour makes great...

I suppose I represent those of us who come to this hobby from non-technical backgrounds. I have always been fascinated by anything with gears and motors. As a kid I tore apart toasters and radios to see how they worked. But university and married life sent me in other directions. Retirement has...

As you say dwell time is critical. The torch is very fast so I (mostly) avoid damaging the plastic parts. I have done far more damage holding a soldering iron to a pin waiting for the solder to soften. Everything gets hot, except the solder. Not sure I could get a large tip on a soldering iron...

The curse of the battery connector. There are too many of them. My battery collection has 4 or 5 different non-compatible makes. The battery has to connect to the motor controller in the airplane and manufacturers refuse to get together on any sort of standards. Thus the constant soldering...

I had drawing sets and castings from Bruce Satra years ago. I believe I have the drawings and instructions for the R 985. Seems to me that there was a constant speed propellor design in that bundle too. Don’t know about legality though. The familes may retain the rights to the plans. Welcone...

I have had a round column mill for years and am finally able to get rid of it. For work that involves and lot of up and down movement like drilling holes and then tapping them it is a pain in the neck. It is fine to say “just reposition the head” but try and drill and tap an eight hole bolt...

I would think that this engine would share the problem of tip seals with Wankel engines. The pistons have to seal against the engine case. The size of the piston head contact patch with the engine case is large and would produce a lot of drag. Their must be a seal or piston ring that does the...

Crazy way to make drill rod.

I struggled with threading the rod held in a vise with a hand held die holder. Gave up and ordered a tailstock die holder from India. Holding the 1/8” rod in a collet chuck and turning the chuck by hand while feeding the tailstock die holder into the work made the threading much easier. I will...

I am working my way through the book “Making Simple Model Steam Engines” by Stan Bray. Simple wobblers to start. The first set of engines are pretty small, which makes turning drilling and threading these wee little parts kinda hard for beginners. I think it would be easier to start with...

I used 1/8” drill rod for my first steam engine conrod but am having a struggle to find a die to thread it. The tables show a #5 die as “closest fractional” for 1/8” but that doesn’t seem to exist. All the sets go from 4-40 to 6-32. Mc Master Carr shows 5-40 and 5-44 dies online but none of my...

Your close up of the gear box showing the cam drive also shows a gear you label as the magneto drive. Is this how you are driving the distributers? You must have Hall sensors on a shaft somewhere.

Wow. Impressive work. I hope you succeed in getting the plans out. What did you do for the ignition? You mention making spark plugs.

All the power lines in the new developments locally are underground. We live in the country and I insisted everything be installed underground when we built the house. Expensive but worth it for the reliability. The right materials and installation make the difference. In the 40 years we have...

Wow. Hope you have a chain saw. I have always been a fan of underground power lines. Some years ago a plough wind took out both main power lines for the province. These were mostly for export so we weren't affected in the city. It cost millions to fix them. They put the third one on the other...

My adventures in machining began in total ignorance. As a result I bought the wrong machines for the wrong purposes. Great learning experience but I can’t correct the problem by buying new machines since I am now retired and don’t have the income anymore. I’m stuck with what I have. My...

I think resin prints need to be fixed with UV light. There are UV chambers with a turntable you can buy or make your own. Leave in sunlight? It seems to be a good process for small detailed prints but most of my printing is large objects and this is not possible with resin. Small engine parts...

Having 3D printed for years I am curious about resin printers. I have seen amazing quality in very complex prints. It seems gamers use them for creating figurines and many of these are incredibly complex. It would seem ideal for small engine parts and I have seen resins advertised for casting. I...