Milling and Lathing

Recently my friend Phil Oles came for his first visit to the Grant St. Garage. Phil is a talented machinist who has been a big help as I've floundered around, trying to reach minimum proficiency with my little mill and lathe. He started about the same way I did, with small machines of limited capability, but has gone a lot farther. See this link for some videos of engines he built from scratch.

Phil dropped by to have a look at my lathe, because I am unable to make a clean cut unless I take at least 0.005" off at a time. Since it's often useful to take off 0.0005" I was clearly not doing well. We decided that the problem was excessive play in the carriage of the lathe - the bit that carries the tool and moves along the work.

Wine Rack, Part 4

Mary Ellen and I went to The Fridge for supper the other night. It's a very good pizza place, with what is being called "artesanal" pizzas. You know, all local and natural ingredients, odd combinations, etc. The also have a large refrigerated case filled with interesting beers, hence the name.

When we walked in, who should be there but our friend Matt Sware! You can see Matt's picture in this post, holding a Bilstein shock absorber. Anyway, we ate together and had a great visit. But in the conversation, Matt said, "So, this wine rack is going to be done, like, 10 years from now?" Ouch! So here's a project update, just to prove it isn't stalled.