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I, too, have an arrangement with the local scrap yard. An advantage of this is that, as well as finding neat scrap, I can also find useful steel things at very little per pound. I found one of these expensive rotary gasket cutters last year:

Really nice! I'd like to be a machinist like that when I grow up.

Sounds very interesting. I'd love to know how make one of these.

Still looking for plans. Can anyone help?

Why not make one? https://www.pmmodelengines.com/shop/pipe-fittings/globe-valve-kits/

Slot car gears worked for me too. Mine have a 3:1 reduction ratio, but then I'm not out to beat the Spirit of Australia.

Just a thought, Wesley: you don't need to buy a length of expensive brass bar stock if you can find a small square or rectangular piece of sheet brass to make round....

A while back, someone squirted Super Glue into the ignition switch of my motorcycle. Fortunately, he was in a hurry, I guess, because it just became a wad of dried glue right at the top of the keyway and I was able to flick it out with the key. Nasty trick!

While reading this thread I just realized that "small taps" seems to mean #4 or #6 to many people here. However, there are much smaller taps in use (#2,#0, etc.). Does anyone have advice on removing broken very small taps? I seem to use 2-56 and 0-80 a lot, but I have never broken one, not...

Love the pressure cooker! Why, it almost looks like a still....

Great idea! Advice on removing broken small taps (say, 4-50 down to 0-80) would be really welcome (not that I personally have ever broken one:-))).

How apropos! This is exactly what I did yesterday with a 6-32 tap in a piece of aluminum (very sticky material). Fortunately, I had room elsewhere on the piece, and the broken tap hole will be hidden when things are assembled. I did, though, have to go to a 4-40 tap to accommodate the bolt head...

Here's my Sun Motor, a commercial offering from Phoenix, Arizona way back when, now available in modifed form from PM Research. I ran it for the video in a Canadian February; the sunlight was still more than sufficient to run it.

Side shaft, counter-balanced flywheels, unique moving-cylinder design--this engine has it all! And to think you scaled it from a paint brush that I couldn't even see at first, even when I was looking for it! Excellent craftsmanship!

I use a Cameron precision drill press that I found at a yard sale. Maximum RPM IS 30,000.

Brian, You could always bop on over to Busy Bee tools and ask around about hobbyists with similar interests. When I lived in Barrie (until about 10 years ago) there was a transplanted Englishman (name escapes me entirely now) who used to go into Busy Bee regularly to buy tools and sundries...

Congratulations on a fine project.

Not a flea market, but a yard sale this summer: $CAD20.00 for a $2000.00 Cameron precision micro drill press. It came without the clear plastic guard, so I had to order one, which, with exchange, shipping, and customs duty, cost about six times what I paid for the drill press.... The sacrifices...

Well, what's 5 1/2 years in the greater scheme of things? You got pretty far along the first time, and it looks just fine. Let's hope you finish it now!

Good advice! I wondered if that was how it was done. I made a small brass stop-cock that way a while back and was pretty sure that that was how to proceed, but it's very reassuring to receive your description. Thank you.