Hallo everyone,
Just found this site and already seen quite a few things of interest. I clearly am not in the same 'skill' league as some of you who are posting here and I think it's true to say my "Shed" has grown more like Topsy, rather than under any grand design.
I guess my metal bashing started about 15 years ago after hearing about an old lathe (in a greenhouse) someone wanted to get rid of. It was a very old s/c Lorch (about 90mm centre height) one of the larger ones I think. It was in bits and a very sorry sight when first retrieved but she has now been cleaned up and repainted (at least twice). She's pretty worn but has served to teach me some basic lathe work.
From there things sort of escalated and I now have a collection of machine 'orphans' who wanted to come home with me over the years. These range from the Adept No 2 hand shaper up to the Victoria Horizontal Mill. Somewhere along the way I also purchased a Myford Super 7 (possibly my youngest machine tool) from Myford, but which was so beaten up and abused that even they didn't want to go to the trouble of refurbishing it. I like to think that the cheesy bit missing from the cross-slide table is her smiling up at me. I try to be kinder to her than her previous owner(s).
Oh, and when I've mangled enough mild steel, I sometimes hack wood up too with a Coronet Minor. Circular Saw, Jointer, Mortiser etc all in one place - much better than all these electric hand thingys, and built to last!
My most recent orphan is a Rollo 'Elf' hand cranked lathe. A friend gave it to me for the price of a few pints (he neeeded an excuse to part with it). I've tried using it as designed and concluded she needs to be motorised - as I clearly lack the required dexterity!
So I'm afraid that's me and my adopted mechanical family.
Ian
Just found this site and already seen quite a few things of interest. I clearly am not in the same 'skill' league as some of you who are posting here and I think it's true to say my "Shed" has grown more like Topsy, rather than under any grand design.
I guess my metal bashing started about 15 years ago after hearing about an old lathe (in a greenhouse) someone wanted to get rid of. It was a very old s/c Lorch (about 90mm centre height) one of the larger ones I think. It was in bits and a very sorry sight when first retrieved but she has now been cleaned up and repainted (at least twice). She's pretty worn but has served to teach me some basic lathe work.
From there things sort of escalated and I now have a collection of machine 'orphans' who wanted to come home with me over the years. These range from the Adept No 2 hand shaper up to the Victoria Horizontal Mill. Somewhere along the way I also purchased a Myford Super 7 (possibly my youngest machine tool) from Myford, but which was so beaten up and abused that even they didn't want to go to the trouble of refurbishing it. I like to think that the cheesy bit missing from the cross-slide table is her smiling up at me. I try to be kinder to her than her previous owner(s).
Oh, and when I've mangled enough mild steel, I sometimes hack wood up too with a Coronet Minor. Circular Saw, Jointer, Mortiser etc all in one place - much better than all these electric hand thingys, and built to last!
My most recent orphan is a Rollo 'Elf' hand cranked lathe. A friend gave it to me for the price of a few pints (he neeeded an excuse to part with it). I've tried using it as designed and concluded she needs to be motorised - as I clearly lack the required dexterity!
So I'm afraid that's me and my adopted mechanical family.
Ian
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