Christmas Day 2012 a hot job came in; the dollhouse kit lacked screws. Made the screws with a box tool and die head, sawed the screw slots using the Nichols mill. Got the dollhouse built same-day.





Optical system accessories for two 2016 skunkworks projects at work.
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2016 shop space was crowded and the 1936 12“ ATW was working out very well, so I gave away the 1912 American lathe to a fellow from Ohio who drove out to pick it up.








Making a silent chain sprocket for a friend. Here, roughing in the teeth with an involute cutter. They were finished with a single tooth form cutter in the next operation.





2017, turret toolholder base for the Wade lathe. The 60 degree teeth at 5 degrees each are symmetric on both halves and mate from circumference to the center bolt hole, providing easy positioning of the turret.





Experimenting with flood coolant, this is Habcool 318 diluted with spindle oil. On all four machines, the coolant drains into a shared covered sump which incorporates a recirculation pump & filter on a timer that runs it for 15 minutes once a week. As advertised, the Habcool does not evaporate noticably, though I'm sure the spindle oil will gradually do so. Its provided a big improvement in finish and tolerance on all the machines, though controlling spray on faster ops can be a learning experience. On the ATW lathe I bought a length of conveyor belt to drape over the splash guard and back down between the ways to manage spray off the chuck- it is effective but messy. Keeping the coolant flooding the tool instead of the workpiece is generally preferable.





New rotary table with 4-jaw Craftsman chuck installed. This is a Japanese manufactured table of unknown vintage, the crossed T-slots slots are distinctive. The vernier goes down to 1 minute increments, though I don't anticipate great accuracy at that level of precision. All fasteners are metric, dimensions look like standard metric T-nuts will fit, though I made a couple sets to take various UNC bolts. The design of the body casting is almost right to control coolant flow, thus the addition of the rubber strips. We will see how effective they are when a job needing flood coolant goes onto the table.



The 3-jaw chuck adapter plate is machined from an old barbell plate. The cast iron machined suprisingly well, no white iron or slag inclusions and little graphite. The rim and hub on the bottom are faced to a plane so the chuck is well-supported, and a register for the chuck is machined on the top. Button-head screws fasten it from beneath. The lettering showing weight, manufacturer is still present on the underside of the web between hub and rim.





Volume knob out of 6061 for a Kenwood integrated amplifier. The insert is pressed into a reamed hole and secured with the dutchman screw.














Making a volume knob out of 2“ acetl plastic for a Sansui AU-D7.





Input selector button caps for a Sansui AU-4900 amplifier.





2018, a jig to support mounting stainless dust guards onto the fork brace brackets for my Suzuki Bandit. The pvc pipe needs support down to the mill table or it will deform and squeeze out of the chuck jaws under the pressure of the drill.





A new addition to the shop- a Tsudakoma rotary/tilting table purchased for scrap price at a swap meet. Its beautifully constructed and though its somewhat too large for the Bridgeport, I couldn't pass it up.





Some plumbing upgrades to my father's air compressor/vacuum pump, depending on which way you connect the tubing.



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