Recent content by vanapplebomb

A vote for 3M 90 spray adhesive. Works great for things like that. Spray it on both parts, let it dry a bit, then push together.

A slight tweak in the carbide insert geometry resulted is this, which I like better. I think I may reduce the radius a little more yet.

This machine way was beat to ****. You can see where I took a carbide burr in a die grinder on the right hand side to it. There was a ~.040” step on that edge from wear. This machine is over 100 years old, and has some bad scoring still visible in the ways. Going to take several more passes...

A filter/regulator setup is not going to separate vapor out. You need it to condense before going to the filter, and even then, particulate filters are really average at separating fine mist. They only help if the air has a chance to cool considerably, first. Your best bet is to add a...

Just to clarify, are comparing air to electric, or new tools vs antiques? Keep in mind the 231 series is a 40 year old design… It was top dog in its day, but it has only had minor changes along the way. Stronger now than 40 years ago, but doesn’t really keep pace with other modern air impacts.

In my garage, I have 5 air drills, two corded drills, and no cordless drills. I almost always reach for the air drill. Last time I used my electric drill at home was last year when I had to use the hammer function to put a few holes in concrete. Honestly, if you are drilling a lot of holes in...

Resharpening taps is very common in industry. Especially larger sizes where it is more economical to resharpen than the buy new. Normally I am all for cheap tools to get you by, but taps/dies are a total pain if you get cheap sets. If the organizer box is good, and you like it, throw those...

Rubber hose is pretty insulating, and the air won’t cool too much with that. But solid plumbing helps condense vapors. Do you have a plumbing system, or are you direct to the compressor? If you are direct to the compressor, you are pretty much stuck with it near the compressor. If you have an...

I highly recommend bypassing the regulator on your tank, and going directly to a proper regulator. The cheap little ones that come built in are a huge bottle neck to flow. There is zero point in running any hardware bigger than 3/8 with the stock regulator. It just won’t flow that. Also, keep...

Wells-Index in Michigan rebuilds milling machines. Very nice shop to work with.

Fowler is their own thing, and has a massive range of metrology products. I get their catalogs and flyers in the mail. They have everything from cheap import products, to state of the art top of the line equipment. It’s a little odd they have such a wide spread of products. Good support though...

Depending on the operation, I quite like them. Sometimes they don’t quite cut it for absolute precision, but when I only care about centering up on features within a few thou, coax indicators are awesome. The numbers on that style of coax don’t mean anything, it’s just a relative gauge, and you...

It’s fun to lean the basics by hand. I still **** at flaking in a straight line with a hand scraper, but it is a lot better than it used to be.

I have been looking for a weather proof switch to put in there. I might end up using a toggle switch with one of the rubber boots on it. I plan on running flood coolant, and didn’t want water on a regular switch. Haha, those mix so well, you know.

Anyone have a closeup shot of the original switch?