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Kory is a big deal; the social media thing is a good bit of PA, but he's done a lot for smaller circles. Played a big part in revitalizing a local foundry and plays a hand in many engine restorations. The Case 150 is impressive; unfortunately their marketing made Google useless for detailed...

I was on tour with the Army in Poland. The locals recommended we stop in at a flea market, and I went with the colonel as we had similar interests. Going through some boxes, he picked out a wrench and said “Do you know where that’s from?” Best 1 Złoty I’ve ever spent. One of these days; It’ll...

Steam it. Blow the whistle, run a saw mill, run an ice cream maker, pull some hay rides, etc. Teach the boys how to do all sorts of stuff. Location is Vermont. I thought I put it on there… anywho. There’s only two “operational” steam engines in Vermont, and mine's one of them. My local club...

Classic. I need to make the kids sit through that one.

You absolutely can. Unfortunately, you need volume. I’ve got several hundred feet of 3/8 hose, but the boiler isn’t air tight at the moment, so I’d need some sort of accessory tank. Otherwise it would just push the engine to dead center and stop. I used a winch on the flywheel with a bracket...

Howdy, I’ve flashed photos of this thing a few times. She’s a Port Huron 19-65 HP steam engine made in 1917. Each wheel weights a few tons each. The engine empty is 17,300 lbs. I moved it into its current position 8 ft at a time with a winch, about 200 ft across the yard. It took me several...

Weight is indeed a wonderful thing with lathes, but we do parts larger than 2” on south bend 9” lathes all the time. It’s a pain, but not impossible. Good, well oiled spindle bearings and solid clamping are a must. There’s guy’s who have made entire miniature locomotives on those little things...

Yikes this thread blew up quick… I paid less than that for my Hendey 14-40. I have a big static three phase converter, but if I didn’t I’d get a VFD sized for this application: infinite spindle speed adjustment and does the 3-phase conversion.

I *almost* liked peg boards. I had a wooden one that grew mold, and I’ve got a few metal ones on the wall now. I change things around a lot, and while it would seem like they’re easy to change, they’re more of a picture frame deal; you put it up, look at it, once in a while it’s crooked and you...

Ooh… you’re onto something there.

I have a 3D printer and all the know how and experience to do it… but I hate 3D printing. I would rather pay someone else to print my **** than do it myself. That was a great plan until I found no one makes the… what the heck is it called… Greatly Over Engineered Wall Storage System? It’s mini...

Like everyone, I’ve got too many wrenches. When I bought a steam engine, I realized I need big ones and got a whole set from a hardware store closing: Looks fancy. I hate it. They rattle every time I close the door. They’re stores way far away from where I need them, and I use them often...

I’ve got a husky mill I use as a drill press. I swapped the old motor for a new one paired with a VFD from another project. If your drill press is VFD compatible, I totally recommend it. No more belt changes, and drilling in metal requires a slower speed. But that’s not a universal...

Back in search of more ideas. Different project. That weird 3-D printer looking thing on one of my benches is called a Renishaw Equator. It measures parts automatically. It’s expensive, incredibly accurate, and does not like instability. It also doesn’t like complete rigidity: if say the...

Jeez… that’s like the government, the military, the ASME nuclear commission, NASA, and MI6 got together to design a bench vise…

I keep running into Fireball. Excellent marketing; Who wouldn't look up their website to see who makes the biggest commercial made vise in the US? Project farm did a nice lineup of testing on bench vises, though not including Fireball. He tested things like slop, backlash, ultimate strength in a...

It's all a lie. The limits of a camera frame are a wonderful thing. There was a reason nobody wanted that coffee maker at the auction it came from...

Howdy, I’ve made a few benches in my time. Here’s #1 made from scraps snagged while working as a tractor mechanic: Here’s #2 that I built in a dingy basement and it’s never coming out again, also overbuilt: Here’s 3 and 4 that I over-built for use in the machine shop. I have 100%...

4 bags. I bought a cement mixer for $250 at Home Depot. It functions, and does a better job than I would have without it. I did several projects with it, now it’s for sale. By the time you need more than 20 bags, you need to just order concrete from the plant. Fun fact: quickrete in bags is...

I put that in the garage. It was a whole project just to move it…