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Fist may I say any damage to a model or tooling is hard to bear. Its S*ds law. And unfortunately these things will happen. Over the years I have dropped things. But I now seem to be doing it on a regular bases. Blaming failing eyesight and lose of finger dexterity, I have taken measures to...

Artie May I say what s fine job you are making of your engine. Being a home foundry man I know the fun that can be had from producing your own patterns and castings. I hope you don’t me mind adding my bit to your thread. The problem of a dropout (where the sand drops out of the moulding box)...

Pete Well done! A fine engine. You will soon get used to steaming your small engine. They are a lot harder than 5” gauge and bigger. A friend of mine fires both of his 2” scale Fowler ploughing engines on propane gas, when he is doing his ploughing demonstration at steam rallies. What we have...

Peter I’am not sure about using bentonite as a furnace lining. I used ganister, which is cheaper than some of the refractory linings available. As You said the bentonite can be used to make up your own molding sand. Dave Bick

I'am lucky to have a large industrial bandsaw with high and low speeds. I cut Alum with the high speed and it also seems to cut brass O.K. But steel dose require a slower speed. I also have one of the bandsaws shown in the picture and can also reccomend them for bar stock and for use in the...

U tube has a lot of short clips on most subjects and its free. Dont believe all you see on it though. Many of the contributors on here have film clips on photobucket. Dave Bick

We all do things like that at some time. The old leather flat belt drive on my 4 ½” Southbend lathe is good for slipping the belt off the pulley if you jam things up. It in affect removes the driving power to the chuck, so protecting the user. Dave Bick

Tom Its good to see you can still enjoy machining. I’ve done work for a charity in the U.K. called REMAP which call on engineers to modify or make items to help people with a disability. In their case history book many of the ways in which a problem was solved. Could indeed help some of the...

Simple but effective. What a Great tool I use a similar top and bottom tool but I have a large fly press to provide the down force. What I have found when lining up a bend line with the top tool is to take a measurement from the metal edge to the side of the top tool before bending. Half of the...

As said a lathe can be used for milling using a vertical slide. I used the topslide mounted on a angle plate fixed to the cross slide to give me the up and down. In the days before I had a mill. I will add this photo of a friends mill who you can see has a large mill but this set up used to...

The cast alum wheel is 4 ¾” diameter and is for a pattern. Two of these are required and will be pinned back to back. It will be the rear wheel of a small freelance traction engine. Dave Bick

Melting The metal Dave Bick http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwMrVEHuOZg

This is my home foundry I have built the foundry building out of 1 ½” x 1 ½” steel box covering it in galvanized corrugated sheet steel. The idea is to keep things that may burn down to a minimum. The area where I pour the molten metal has a covering of dry sand about 2” deep this is important...

I’ve just posted this short clip of me doing a bit of sand molding (moulding for the U.K. readers) for a friends rear traction engine wheel. We are going to make a split pattern by casting two of what you see me mold. The sand used is clay bearing red sand from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire...

Perhaps they have bought to many spray bottles :). Seems daft. You can understand other products that come in spray containers. We engineers are likely to put all sorts in them after the original contents are gone. On the WD 40 cans they used to ask you what the best use you had found for...

Colchester lathe cross slide dial indicator. I have fitted a dial indicator to my Colchester lathe. Some of the features to look for are the dial is mounted on a moveable block adjusted by a knurled wheel which moves the dial back and forth by a rack and pinion. The cross slide cannot damage...

Artie I’ve owned a shaper like yours (called a New England) for many years. Sadly it’s had a lot harder life and is a little worn. But is still very useful. I’ve done key way slots with it, but found the clapper box needs to be fixed. A grub screw took care of that. Before I had carbide cutters...

A guy stuck his head into a barbershop and asked, "How long before I can get a haircut?" The barber looked around the shop full of customers and said, "About 2 hours." The guy left. A few days later, the same guy stuck his head in the door and asked, "How long before I can get...

Welcome wEc1 th_wwp Always lots to see and read on this site Dave Bick in the Black country U.K.

I have been known to cut firewood from old pallets on my bandsaw and just know the blade will never be as good when sparks fly as I cut through a nail. :( When the need to cut steel, which may be a little hard, or a stainless steel I use an angle grinder with a 1/16” thick cuttting disc. They...