Thanks for the very generous offer.I have a bench metal lathe probably manufactured in the late 30's or early 40's (it's on its 4th electric motor I think) that you could stop by and use. I have no vertical mill though.Although there are tricks you can do with a lathe that you can do some vertical milling stuff with it.
Should I fire up the grill next Saturday?Thanks for the very generous offer.
Umm... I have to change gear wheels for cutting Imperial threads (no neat selectable gearbox). And for metric, I guess I would need a whole set of gears which probably has to be manufactured from scratch. I looked for a model number, but this is all I found.Why are you not making BB bridges and keys with it?
That sounds a lot like Soft Annealed 302 Stainless Steel.
It appeared to cut like regular steel.That sounds a lot like Soft Annealed 302 Stainless Steel.
Is it magnetic? 302 has 10% nickel I believe. But 10% isn't probably enough to be magnetic.
Yes that sounds about right.
There is a substantial ledge in there and it's stainless steel.
I've made replacement 510 pins by spinning a 3mm pan head SS screw in the hand drill before, using a file to reduce the diameter of the head. Even managed to put a hole through one for wire trapping to fix the broken pin on my Origin MK2.
What I wouldn't give for a small metal lathe and vertical mill.
View attachment 831355
Should I fire up the grill next Saturday?
Umm... I have to change gear wheels for cutting Imperial threads (no neat selectable gearbox). And for metric, I guess I would need a whole set of gears which probably has to be manufactured from scratch. I looked for a model number, but this is all I found.
View attachment 831373
Should I fire up the grill next Saturday?
Umm... I have to change gear wheels for cutting Imperial threads (no neat selectable gearbox). And for metric, I guess I would need a whole set of gears which probably has to be manufactured from scratch. I looked for a model number, but this is all I found.
View attachment 831373
Gosh... I just love your stories Willy.I inherited my Father's drive for tinkering, Dad gave me kids tools when I was in 1st grade. I loved figuring out how stuff worked and nothing was safe in the house, I'd take stuff apart just to see what was inside. Back then Dad was a machinist and of course I wanted to follow in his foot steps, I went to two schools, the first had an actual machine shop in the school, the second offered Machine Shop as vocational classes, I ate that stuff up! I was second in my class in the vocational classes, the teacher told me I was a shoe in to get a job in a machine shop when I graduated in the next year. After graduation I applied at all the machine shops within driving distance but I had a chip on my shoulder thinking I was above starting out sweeping floors and cleaning metal shavings, I took it as an insult rather than seeing the opportunities and refused, rudely.... After a year of looking for work while still living at home I took a job washing and detailing cars at a auto dealership, boy I regretted being strong headed and burning bridges at those machine shops, humble pie... I made my way from washing cars to changing oil and tires, from there I put my nose to the grindstone watching and learning everything I could. That's how I ended up being a mechanic most of my life and not a machinist, but I've always longed to get my hands on a mill and lathe, just to expensive new for any that are worth while and I've never been lucky enough to find a deal on used smaller machines.
I too went to a vocational high school and I signed up for every course they had: auto, machine, electronics, and drafting. Well they had sheet metal shop too, but I didn't have enough time for that one. I ended up with a career in electronics. While electronics was my favorite, I could have taken off in any of them really. Well not drafting, I didn't care that much for drafting. 
It was my uncle Bill's lathe. He was a machinists in Chicago. When he passed away, my aunt sold it to my dad. Since I knew how to use a lathe from school, I had to teach my dad how to use it. So he had it until he too passed away. Now I have it in my shop.
I have no idea what happened to it. I probably haven't seen it in 50 years. I just pulled it out to take a picture of it. Gosh, what a rush job! I only had a short time available on the lathe and I had to make the best of it. Both ends are threaded and the handle has rings of plexiglass sandwiched together. They were sheets that I had to cut and drill. I was so scared that I would crack one, but it never happened. Plexiglass sure cuts like butter on a lathe. 
Nope, I never watched them before. I'm going to be busy now. Many thanks Willy.
Ah thanks. But isn't the thread pitch totally dependent on the tool bit? In school, we had blank tool bits and we had to grind them to the shape that you wanted. I guess you can purchase them precut too. But school wanted us to learn how to grind our own. Grind for a few seconds and then dip in water. Then repeat for what seems like 2000 more times.
