Just showing off another Lathe Picture

I have built a bench and everything for my lathe.  I just need to get around to uploading the new stuff.  Grrrr.  why do I have to be so busy.

My new old South Bend Lathe

Well, I finally found one.  It took over a year of searching, but I finally found a nice lathe within my budget.

Its a model C9W 9" South Bend.  Made in in 1938.  The catalog number is 415-YA

Many more pictures to come within the next two days.  I'll be working on a real bench for it as well.

Stop Online Censorship

Congress is about to vote on the SOPA bill.  Known as the "Sop Online Piracy Act," this bill is like usual misleading.  In reality, it carries an extremely dangerous potential for abuse, letting an overbearing government have access to another corner of your life.

Please go to this site and sign the petition.  I urge you to research this bill and find out what its really about.  Flex the muscles of democracy and fight against this bill.

http://stopcensorship.org/


Sign some other petitions to.  Google this bill and see whats wrong with it, or one day, you might never have that ability again.

Several months ago, I stumbled across a machined steel cannon barrel at a yard sale.  I quickly made it mine.  Just, recently, I have overcome the main stumbling block that prevented any work- the hardness of the steel.

As I bought it, the steel the cannon was turned from was incredibly hard.  None of the drill bits I had on any speed would even bite the metal.  I decided it was time to try and anneal the steel.

I built a fire in the forge and put the cannon over it, with firebicks all around.  The polished surface readily showed the temper colors that appear on steel heated to a few hundred degrees.  The point is not to make the steel glow, but to blue it.

This was successful.  With the steel annealed, I was able to drill the vent hole and two shallow divots that provided support for the trunions, which were later welded in place.

The steel has turned a nice dark color.  I like it.

 This is one of the wheels in progress.  I turned some wood "hubs," drilled holes and inserted wooden dowels.  The next part will be the actual rim.

 This is the carriage propped up slightly.  It will actually be about 2.5x higher.  The wheels will be about 7" in diameter to give a sense of scale.

 You can see the vent in this photo.

More to come!  The carriage will be completed and stained soon.  Come back and check soon.

Cannon Casting

I've been working on trying to cast a cannon on and off for a few months now.  Today, I cast one that looks nice, but unfortunately, didn't turn out hollow.  The steel pipe core filled with aluminum.

The resulting cannon.  It looks great, but wound up being solid!  Bummer.  I'll try again.  Stay tuned!

Inside An Air Regulator~ Because you don't trust the one on the compressor

Ah those magical devices!  They regulate your air feeding into some contraption.  Ever wonder how one works? You didn't want to take apart your $50 tool though, so you lived in ignorance.  Until now.

I have an air regulator.  I bought it for a quarter at a yard sale.  It worked great, but then started leaking along the gasket in the middle.  I figured I could fix it easy.

My Regulator hooked up.  

without screws

Big spring

That is the screw in the top that puts pressure on the screw.

Gasket thing.  It wasn't sealing against the metal well.
I puts some hylomar on it and that did the trick.

Button that is pressed on by the dimple in the piece above.

Input.  Unfortunately, you can't see the gizmos in there.  Not anything significant though

You are enlightened.  Remember, you heard it on Maniac Mecahnics first.

My Cannon Pattern

I made this pattern on my lathe a few months ago.  Since then, I have given it several coats of polyurethane.

Eventually, it will be cast in brass or bronze, however until  then, I will practice casting it with the core with aluminum.

Here it is now.