X-Andrew-WideReply: netnews.rec.crafts.metalworking X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Received: via nntpserv with nntp; Wed, 1 Jun 1994 13:17:55 -0400 (EDT) Path: andrew.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!convex!news.duke.edu!eff!news.kei.com!ub!csn!roper.uwyo.edu!jimkirk From: jimkirk@news.uwyo.edu (Jim Kirkpatrick) Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking Subject: FAQ part 1 of 4 Message-ID: <1994Jun1.092645.2430@roper.uwyo.edu> Date: 1 Jun 94 09:26:45 MDT Summary: Metalworking FAQ part 1 Keywords: FAQ Expires: 30 Jun 94 09:26:45 MDT Distribution: world Organization: University of Wyoming - Laramie, WY Lines: 916 This is the FAQ for rec.crafts.metalworking. It currently is in four pieces to keep the overall size of each part below the limits imposed by some news systems. This is part 1 of 4. A tiny bit of history: there exists a group trial.rec.metalworking, but few sites pick up the "trial" feed. Also, the trial method of group creation sort of died of neglect, so this group (rec.crafts.metalworking) was created to take its place and become an official wide-spread group. Many thanks to those who have contributed (in no particular order): Matthew Jones, Bill Brown, Phil OKunewick, Tim Eisele, Steve Gaudio, Stu Friedberg. Also, I've been grabbing bits from postings and copying them into the FAQ, such as book reviews and more addresses, so thanks to many more! Generally, units below are United States dollars, degrees Fahrenheit, and all the other silly backwards units we Americans still use. Sorry. The questions being answered in part 1: 1. The original rec.crafts.metalworking charter. 2. The CLOCKS bitnet mailing list, and other related lists. 3. What are some good books and/or video tapes on metalworking? 4. Who makes good lathes/mills/etc? 5. Where do I buy a machine? 6. What are good magazines to subscribe to? 7. Where might one take classes or get instruction? 8. Where can I get raw material for my projects? 9. Where can I get tools, drill bits, etc.? 10. What are some of the related professional/hobby associations? 11. How do I harden/temper metal? The questions being answered in part 2: 12 How do I wire up this strange motor? 13. How do I deal with mail-order suppliers? 14. How to sharpen knives, chisels, and other tools? 15. Some safety reminders. 16. How do I drill round holes? 17. What's TIG and MIG? 18. MIG welding technique. The questions being answered in part 3: 19. Which MIG welder should I buy? 20. Books on welding. 21. Soldering/brazing topics. 22. What are bolt grades? 23. What is XYZ made of? 24. How do I build a furnace or forge? 25. What is Damascus steel? 26. How do I repair/replace this old leather belt? 27. Can I use a drill press as a cheap vertical mill? 28. What is involved in building a steam engine? 29. How do I anodize aluminum? The question being answered in part 4: 99. Names and addresses of publishers and suppliers (OK, so I got tired of re-numbering it every time a new question was added!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The following is the original rec.crafts.metalworking charter, for reference. Charter ------- Charter -- REC.CRAFTS.METALWORKING The USENET newsgroup, rec.crafts.metalworking, is a newsgroup which discusses various aspects of working with metal, such as (but not limited to): machining, as on a lathe, milling machine, grinder, etc.; numerical control of such machines; welding, whether by gas, arc, mig, tig, thermite, or other methods; Metal joining, whether welding, brazing, soldering, riveting, screwing, folding, etc. (this section was added during the discussion) casting various metals by various methods; hardening/tempering various metals; blacksmithing/forging; spinning and hammer work; sheet metal work; jewelry-making; purchasing and/or reconditioning metalworking tools and machinery; interesting projects; books on metal technologies and history; Example areas of interest: knife/sword making; automotive repair; steam engine (model/scale, though full-sized discussions are welcome!); art work, such as bronze castings and sculptures; gunsmithing; toolmaking, such as for woodworking, further metalworking, etc.; While the bulk of the discussion will probably be directed towards small-scale "home" shops, industrial/production discussions are also quite welcome. 2. The CLOCKS bitnet mailing list, and other related lists. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you have access to Bitnet and are interested in clocks/watches, there is a CLOCKS list. Send mail to LISTSERV@SUVM on Bitnet, containing the command "SUBSCRIBE CLOCKS your name". Their "charter" is: Welcome to the CLOCKS Listserv list. This is a new attempt at communicating information about clocks between those interested in ANY aspect of clocks. To quote from the header text for CLOCKS: > * Clock/Watch Repair, Collecting, and Construction > > CLOCKS is a discussion list dealing with any and all aspects of > clock and watch work. > > The list's primary goal is to discuss the collecting, > construction, and repair of both clocks and watches. Included > also are topics on the history of time keeping, wooden movements, > water clocks, antique and modern clocks, etc. Of great interest > is information about suppliers of repair and construction parts > and techniques, information, books, newsletters, national and > local associations. Another interest is the use of clock/watch > tools, such as the watchmakers lathe, bushing replacement, time > regulation, etc. > > The list welcomes the participation and contribution from anyone > interested in the subject area, whether an amateur, beginner, or > professional. I can't give you a cookbook approach on how to get to Bitnet if you aren't on it. This varies from site to site, so you should ask your system administrator "how do I get e-mail to/from Bitnet?" As one example, at our Internet site, we add ".bitnet" on the end, so for us the address would be LISTSERV@SUVM.BITNET. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is also a Usenet newsgroup rec.woodworking that may be of interest to people who read rec.crafts.metalworking. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Usenet newsgroup was created around March of 1994, called rec.crafts.jewelry. Some of the questions on rec.crafts.metalworking have been jewelry related, such as casting small pieces; these might be more appropriate on the new group, or at least you might get more answers! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A mailing list for knifemakers, knife collectors, and people interested in edged-weaponry martial arts and techniques is the "EDGE" mailing list. Requests to be added to this list should be sent to: EDGE-owner@HICOM.LUT.AC.UK Submissions to the list itself should be sent to: EDGE@hicom.lut.ac.uk Topics on this list have ranged across topics like discussions of the types of steels used in knives, and why select one over another; the qualities and selection of different types of pocket tools [such as the Gerber Multi-Plier, the Leatherman, the SOG Toolclip, etc.]; current sales on knives from mail-order or discount-house sources; why Japanese swords are made the way they are/were, and how to take care of such a sword; selecting modern reproduction swords for martial-arts purposes; and many other edged-weapon and edged-tool subjects. 3. What are some good books on metalworking? - How to Run a Lathe South Bend Lathe 400 W. Sample Street South Bend, IN 46623 This book is available from South Bend distributors, such as Blue Ridge, and/or Lindsay. It was originally printed in 1914 and last updated in 1966, I believe. - Machine-Tool Work, by William P Turner and Halsey F Owen. 1932 and 1945 (hence no ISBN number). Some libraries may still have a copy, though you're probably out of luck for a purchase. Moderately good text, very good diagrams and pictures, especially of huge special-purpose machines like railroad wheel grinders. Suffers a bit from age, and seems intended for large industrial shops, but a good read if you find it. - Machine Shop Theory and Practice, by Albert M Wagener and Harlan R Arthur. 1941 (hence no ISBN number). Some libraries may still have a copy, though you're probably out of luck for a purchase. Fairly good text, more specific techniques than the Turner/Owen book. Suffers a bit from age, but still a nice instructional book. - Lathe Operations, by Richard R. Kibbe. 1985, ISBN 0-471-89023-5. Adapted from materials originally prepared by the Engineering Industry Training Board of Great Britain. Also in the same series: Milling Machine Operations, and Grinding Machine Operations. A step-by-step text with about 2 photos and lots of simple but usually-clear drawings. Shows how to do most any common lathe operation (and a few uncommon ones) in as few words as possible. Check page 90 for what seems to be a man with two right hands. - Machine Tool Practices, by Kibbe,Neely, Meyer and White It's the first year machine shop text used by some community colleges. - The Making of Tools, by Alexander G Weygers Prentice Hall Press, 1973, ISBN 0-671-60924-6 A modern book about doing things the old way. How the artist/craftsperson can design, make, sharpen and temper tools. May be available from Centaur Forge. - Machinery's Handbook A standard reference book for machinists, available from most distributors of machines or tools. - Clockmaking & Modelmaking; tools and techniques by W.R. Smith Mr. Smith has published other books on clockmaking, but this one covers more than just clocks, and is thus of interest to more than just clock-makers. This is a collection of articles from the British Horological Journal, Timecraft, Model Engineer, and Horological Times. The articles have been updated and expanded for inclusion in this 112-page coil-bound book. For a complete review, see HSM Jan/Feb 1992, page 14. Available from Gateway Clocks (see names/addresses section), $27 post-paid within USA (overseas buyers add $5 for postage). - Elmer's Engines, by Elmer Verberg available from Modeltec Has many very nice, and fairly easy to build stationary steam engines. - Model Locomotive and Marine Boilers [Argus Press, 1988, ISBN 0-85242-923-1] by Martin Evans (well known in the Model Engineering field, at least in Great Britain) - THE MACHINIST's BEDSIDE READER Guy Lautard 2570 Rosebery Avenue West Vancouver, B.C., Canada V7V 2Z9 (Guy's books are also available from other suppliers, such as Village Press, I believe. J.K.) Contains: Working drawings and detailed instructions for making 15 useful and practical machinists tools and lathe accessories; dozens of hints, tips and tricks to help get things done faster, easier and better in your shop; a collection of 2 dozen machine shop anecdotes; 2 highly readable machinists short stories. Projects include: a sharpening jig for drill from 1/8 to #60, a swiveling base for a 2" Wilton vise, a graduated handwheel for the lathe leadscrew.........and many more THE MACHINIST"S SECOND BEDSIDE READER Similar in format to the first book; projects include: a small pantograph engraving machine, a tool maker's block, poor man's jig borer and a kerosene-burning blowtorch....... also a short story titled "The Bullseye Mixture" which details the method for barbon pack color casehardening. And there is now a third volume as well. Other books and plans by Lautard (not a complete list): "Hey Tim, I gotta tell ya....' a mini Bedside Reader" "A Brief treatise on Oiling Machine Tools" "3.75' Diameter Ungeared Rotary Table" "Universal Sleeve Clamp" Lautard's targeted readership seems to be the home machinist. I'm sure that much of what he has to say may be "old hat" to a skilled machinist with many years experience. I confess that I am a rank amateur in machine shop practice (my only professional experience was as a part-time helper in a gunsmith shop where the machine I got to know best was the polishing wheel). The flyer I quote from is available from Lautard at the address I gave with my last posting. [reviews and typing courtesy of Michael Gordon] It has also been reported that Guy sells an index of some sort, either of all projects or all articles, in the back issues of Model Engineer. However, the index is reportedly hard to use. See the description of Model Engineer, elsewhere. - Machine Tool Reconditioning, by Connelly Covers reconditioning of machine tools, including figuring out what's off on lathes and such. Also a good section on scraping (i.e. removing small areas of metal by scraping, such as making a plate very flat). - The Surface Treatment and Finishing of Aluminum and its Alloys, Edited by S. Wernick, R. Pinner, and P.G. Sheasby. Published 1987 by ASM International, Metals Park, Ohio. 2 volumes. Mentioned in sci.materials in response to a "how do I anodize aluminum" question. - Electroplating for the Amateur, by L. Warburton. Model & Allied Publications Available via Argus (see names & addresses section) Also mentioned, in rec.crafts.metalworking, regarding anodizing. - Machine Tool Practices, fourth edition, John Wiley and Sons. Covers a lot of ground and is the first-year book at DeAnza College. - Watch Making, by George Daniels. - De Re Metallica (Georgius Agricola, 1556) translated by Herbert Hoover - Pirotechnia (Vannoccio Biringuccio, 1540) translated by Smith & Gnudi These two are Dover reprints, and were state-of-the art from renaissance through perhaps 1850 or so. The first is on mining, and the second on metalworking. An interesting historical look at how things were done in earlier times, and why they thought it worked. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The following suggested books pertain to jewelry-making, per Sherry Lem. The Complete Metalsmith Tim McCreight Davis Publications, Inc. Worcester, MA, 1991 Excellent, easy to follow techniques for beginning to intermediate levels, this is the revised edition which is much improved over the original. Contemporary Jewelry Philip Morton Holt, Rinehart & Winston NY, 1970, 1976 Interesting design philosophy, techniques. Design and Creation of Jewelry Robert vonNeumann Chilton Radnor, PA, 1961, 1972 Form Emphasis for Metalsmiths Heikki Seppa Kent State University Press Kent, OH 1978 Perhaps THE book on anticlastic raising/forming, though difficult to teach yourself from the pictures and instructions. Jewelry Concepts and Technology Oppi Untracht Doubleday & Company Garden City, NY, 1982, 1985 Most comprehensive guide on jewelry making techniques, also contains gemological data, info on setting up a workshop . Jewelry: Contemporary Design and Technique Chuck Evans Davis Publications Worcester, MA, 1983 Especially good sections on mixed metals (mokume gane, etc.). Jewelry Making and Design Augustus F. Rose and Antonio Cirino Dover Publications, Inc. NY, 1949, 1967 Decidedly English flavor, very inexpensively priced. Jewelry Making Manual Sylvia Wicks Brymorgen Press Cape Elizabeth, ME, 1986 Beautiful color photos, good technique instructions. Jewelry Manufacture and Repair Charles Jarvis Bonanza, NY, 1978 Metal Sculpture - New Forms New Techniques John Lynch The Viking Press NY, NY Basic art metal techniques. Metal Techniques for Craftsmen Oppi Untracht Doubleday & Company Garden City, NY, 1968 -------------------------------------------------------------------- How about video tapes? - New Life Video Productions P.O. Box 175 Traverse City, MI 49685 Several tapes with Rudy Kouhoupt, frequent author in HSM and other magazines. Titles such as "Fundamentals of Machine Lathe Operation," "How to Cut Spur Gears," "How to Cut Threads" and others. Price varies from tape to tape. Production qualities seem poor (based on viewing the first title), such as poor and inconsistent audio, including a radio playing in the background. But you can safely ignore this and concentrate on what Rudy is trying to show you. Seems reasonably priced for the material covered. - Baily Craftsman Supply P.O. Box 276, Dept HSM Fulton, MO 65251 One tape so far, "Greensand Casting Techniques" from David Gingery's workshop. HSM seemed to like it. - Colonial Williamsburg P.O. Box C Williamsburg, VA 23187 Tapes are also available from: KVC Entertainment P.O. Box 40276 Indianapolis, IN 46240-0276 CW produces several tapes on blacksmithing, silversmithing, gunsmithing, and so on. They show the "old time" way of doing things, but are reported to be excellent. 4. Who makes good lathes/mills/etc? Who makes good cars? This is almost purely a personal preference, though in general the imported machines (Grizzly, Jet, Enco) seem to rate lower than US-built machines (South Bend, Bridgeport). However, the imports are usually MUCH less expensive, offsetting some of the quality issues for home shops. It has also been reported that South Bend has been going "downhill" lately. There is some indication that Grizzly equipment is slightly better than other "Taiwanese" machines. One of the main complaints about Taiwanese machinery is the lack of replacement parts and service. Grizzly claims that they keep a supply of parts on hand for all their machines. The same factories appear to turn out Grizzly, Jet, Delta, and the "no-name" machinery. A few years ago Fine Woodworking magazine published an article on this subject. Unimats are sometimes considered "toys" rather than real machines, though they may do just what you want if you don't push them hard. The Unimat PC may be a nice small CNC lathe; any experiences? Unimat, Sherline, and Taig are "micro lathes" in that the swing over the bed is less than 5 inches, and the bed is about a foot long. Sherline and Taig are made in the US, and Unimat is made in Austria (and hence uses metric threads, e.g. in the spindle thread, which may be a pain to US buyers). Sherline and Taig both use 3/4 inch x 16 threads in the spindle and can thus interchange accessories*. The Taig cannot cut threads, while the Sherline and Unimat can (with accessories). Sherline and Unimat sell a milling add-on. The Taigs come in unbundled kit form where you have to buy everything; they claim an overall accuracy of .0004 inch and have excellent parts and service, and also sell a watchmaking headstock. Taig is the cheapest at about $250 to get started, about $450 for Sherline. It appears the only Unimat now being sold is the CNC "Unimat PC", at about $750. Unimat seems to charge quite a bit more than normal for accessories. Just keep in mind that these are not as rigid or powerful as full-sized lathes. * It has been reported that although the Taig and Sherline use a 3/4-16 spindle thread, the threads on Taig chucks and faceplates are recessed far enough that a Sherline lathe will only grab about 1.5 threads, not enough to be usable. However, one reader bored out the back of a Taig faceplate to 1" diameter for about 1/4" depth, and reports it threads on his Sherline quite well now. So, be careful if purchasing a Taig accessory for use on a Sherline lathe! Harbor Freight sells a "precision 4x10" mini-lathe for around $700 with autofeed, change gears for most english threads at extra cost. It is actually a 7" lathe which takes standard 2MT tailstock tooling and 3/8" cutting tools, and has Electronic Variable Speed (EVS) instead of changeable belts. This is larger and sturdier than the Unimat/Sherline/Taig, and sounds similar to the 8" Grizzly except for the EVS. What can you do if you have little money? Aside from looking at used equipment, you can actually build a lathe and other machine tools. Dave Gingery wrote an excellent series of books on building your own machine tools with just hand tools. While it's a lot of work, you can learn a lot. First you make an aluminum charcoal foundry, then a lathe, and finish up with a dividing head (five or six books later). Other authors have published detailed plans for making lathes. See the publisher's catalogs from Lindsay, Cole's, Power Model, Tee, and Argus. A very thorough discussion of vertical mills and what to look for was in Home Shop Machinist, July/August and September/October 1993. ........................................ The following comments, regarding the Central Machinery (Harbor Freight Salvage) "Precision 7"x10" Mini Lathe", were originally sent to John Kopf in response to a query of his, asking the opinions of this versus the Grizzley 8x18 lathe. Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 09:40:15 CST From: I own a 7 x 10 mini-lathe offered by Harbor Freight. First, the good points. Compact size useful for relatively large turnings...easy to move/store....tight headstock bearings....nice 3-jaw Yamakawa (japanese) chuck....good cross-feed and compound feed...good accuracy overall... Mt2 tailstock compatability...fun to use...3/4" hole in spindle.... quiet without feed engaged....relatively easy to set-up tooling... cuts threads.....has chip tray...uses cheap 3/8 tooling. Now for the down side....motor on mine with a Dremel speed control substituted for the factory setup has good high-speed power but is lacking in low-speed torque....my set-up produces surges of rpm occasionally... newer version appear to have 2-speed setup that may help... HF parts supply is limited....I could not get jaws for the chuck (I need inside gripping because they were missing..used equipment!)...feed screw is poorly mounted/designed and uses up a lot of available power.....split nut on carriage is prone to disengage...the motor is 120V DC fed by a rectifier and that may be part of my problem.. manual carriage feed wheel/mechanism is not smooth and perhaps needs bushed. Overall, I love it because I bought it used needing some repairs for $95. Enco in Chicago now offers it for $1000. They are more reputable than HF IMHO. They also cannot provide my jaws or a specifically designed 4-jaw. If I paid $800 I would want the split-nut and RPM/POWER problems completely eliminated. After my initial $95, I have spent about $65 for a live center and tools from Enco. I use it weekly and am learning a lot. A friend who is a lathe operator has used it and is impressed. I hope this helps. If you buy one and find solutions/parts, keep me posted. Gordon Pari Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 14:48:23 -0800 From: Greg Saville Just one comment, if you end up ordering the Harbor Freight one, DON'T order the $43.00 threading gear set. Though it's not clear in the catalog, it already DOES come with the lathe (unless you order the ~$550 version that says same as above, but without threading capability.) Thinking I needed it to do threads, I ordered it too and now have two sets of threading gears. I suppose I could have returned one set, but didn't bother. I've enjoyed the lathe, have been pretty happy with it, but have no other experience to be able to compare it to any other like the Grizzly you're also looking at. gregs Date: Tue, 30 Nov 93 14:18:01 EST From: fisher@gaas.enet.dec.com I purchased one of these mini-lathes this summer. Since then I have read a few books and learned much about lathes. If I had to do it over again I would purchase the Grizzly "8"x18" Lathe you mentioned. I kinda like the mini-lathe for 1) the size and 2) the variable speed motor. What I don't like is 1) Support (I had a bent shaft on my cross slide and called them back within 48 hours after receiving the lathe and I still haven't received the replacement part - I think they ordered it from Korea.), 2) It is sufficiently non-standard that Nobody makes a 4 jaw chuck for it or any other bolt on accessories such as a steady rest or a follow rest. But it seems to work and I have been having fun with it and learning. The size is great - I just finished cutting about 50 brass port holes for a model tub boat. 5. Where do I buy a machine? Check out the Yellow Pages, the ads in the magazines, and catalogs from the "names and addresses" section elsewhere in this FAQ. For example: Blue Ridge Machinery and Tools, Inc Alley Supply Company Enco Grizzly 6. What are good magazines to subscribe to? - The Home Shop Machinist (HSM), "dedicated to precision metalworking" Published 6/year by Village Press (see addresses section), $24.50/year. Note that many back issues are not available, though most of the projects are available in the "Projects" book series. Mostly techniques, no steam, some gasoline engine projects, many tooling projects. Probably the best of the US magazines. Some projects will span several issues. - Projects In Metal (PIM). Published 6 times per year by Village Press, $19. Only projects, no advertisements! Each project is complete in one issue. A "weak sister" to HSM, apparently started in part to handle overflow projects from HSM. Earlier back-issues have been combined into a new book series called "Metalworking". - Live Steam Magazine. Published 6 times per year by Village Press, $31. Mostly trains, some techniques, some stationary engines, lots of history and club information. Usually each issue has one stationary engine and two locomotive construction projects in various stages. - Model Engineer's Workshop Published bimonthly by Argus Described as the British version of HSM, and similar to the tool-oriented writing in Model Engineer. U.S. subscription rate is $38. More "packed" than HSM, and features the uniquely English way of doing machining (e.g., spending hours to make a cutter to make the cutter for gear cutting, when many of us in the US would just order the gear cutter and be done with it). - Modeltec. "Machinist Projects of Beauty and Usefulness" Published by George R. Broad, 12 per year. P.O. Box 1226 St. Cloud, MN 56302 Phone: (612) 654-0815 $31 per year ($38 in U.S. funds if outside U.S) Similar to Live Steam but not restricted to trains. Lots of projects for railroad cars. - Strictly IC (IC stands for Internal Combustion) Published 6 times per year $24.25 (+$2.00 US foreign, WA residents add $2.00 sales tax) Robert A. Washburn, editor 24920 43rd Avenue S. Kent, WA 98032 Concentrates on construction of miniature internal combustion engines, and has a few classified ads, usually for engine castings. - Gas Engine Magazine P.O. Box 328 Lancaster, PA 17603 (717) 392-0733, (717) 392-1341 (FAX) - Model Engineer Published biweekly, about $80/year Argus Specialist Publications Ltd. The king of model machining magazines it has been around for about 100 years. Varied construction articles, lots on trains. Some projects can take years to complete! Extensive back-issues are available from Tee (q.v.), and we presume from Argus since they publish it in the first place! An index to back issues is available from: G.V. Wilkinson 129 Springside Road Hillcrest 3610 South Africa The index used to cost 30 pounds sterling, and is reportedly much better than Guy Lautard's. A computer-readable index is apparently available from Henri Larose, covering about 30 years (growing as he gets time to do more). Cost is 30 UK pounds if in the UK, or $30 US if in the US. Contact the author vie e-mail at 73114.3203@compuserve.com. Or, his mail address is 211 Lanitos Ave, Sunnyvale Ca 94086. - Engineering in Miniature Published monthly, about $30/year. Tee Publishing Similar to Model Engineer, more steam traction engines. Has an extensive collection of back issues of this and other model magazines. - Clockmaker Published 6 times per year, around $30/year Tee Publishing Discusses how to build mechanical clocks, with many projects spanning several issues. Big names like John Wilding write in this magazine. Classified ads for clockmaking supplies. - Workshop Masters Published by Tee, ceased regular publication in 1991. - Horn & Whistle Richard Weisenberher 2655 North Friendship, Lot #8 Paducah, Kentucky 42001 $18 per year. Low budget, in that they publish anything people send in. Some technology, some nostalgia, lots of stuff on meets where they get together and have "steam blasts." - Traction Engine Magazine - The Anvil's Ring This is the publication of ABANA (see below, associations) published 6 times a year; cost is $24 per year, or you get it as part of the $35 dues for joining ABANA. - Anvil Published monthly, about $30 per year See Centaur Forge, elsewhere. - American Craft (bi-monthly) (jewelry) published by the American Craft Council 40 West 53rd St. New York, NY 10019 (212)956-3535 Current work in metal, clay, glass, wood, textiles, mixed media; featured artists, calendar of events. - Metalsmith (quarterly) (jewelry) published by Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) 5009 Londonderry Drive Tampa, FL 33647 (813)977-5326, (813)977-8462 fax Jewelry, techniques, featured artists, current exhibits - Ornament (quarterly) P.O. Box 2349 San Marcos, CA 92079 Jewelry (metal and beads) and textile/fiber art 7. Where might one take classes or get instruction? This depends on several factors, mostly where you live. Good places to check out include community colleges (universities sometimes will have classes in metalworking, but perhaps only for already-enrolled students or faculty/staff). Sometimes a high school will offer night or weekend classes to the public, funding permitting. Also look for vocational/technical schools, and possibly even art schools since some metal sculpturing requires a firm background in welding. In a few cases there may be specialized schools in your area, so check your yellow pages or ask around. Some examples: John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown NC (800) 562-2440, Craft Center in Ripley WV. Some schools also offer room and board and/or campground hookups. 8. Where can I get raw material for my projects? The Yellow Pages are often a good place to start. Also, the advertisements in magazines like Home Shop Machinist. Another way is to go find your nearest junk yard and/or metal recycling business and scrounge around. Make friends with a machinist at the nearest mining operation and ask for their throwaway "scraps". Order from a supply company (see ads in the magazines, and/or the "names and addresses" section elsewhere in this FAQ). Sometimes you can discover a creative re-use. For example, buy a few old aluminum automotive pistons, perhaps from your junk yard or a garage that rebuilds engines. Cut off the top and clean it up on your lathe. Now you have a nice round blank to start some project with. Similar discoveries should be posted to the newsgroup! Some of the magazines have ads for small "garage" shops that produce specialized castings. 9. Where can I get tools, drill bits, etc.? Many of the places that sell equipment also sell tools but there are also outlets that only sell accessories such as lathe bits, drills, taps, and so on. Scan the "names and addresses" section elsewhere in this FAQ. 10. What are some of the related professional/hobby associations? ABANA - Artist Blacksmiths Association of North America PO Box 1181 Nashville, Indiana 47448 (812) 988-6919 Dues are $35 per year, which also includes their publication "The Anvil's Ring" (see earlier, magazines) 11. How do I harden/temper metal? This is a *huge* subject, and depends on the metal, and intended use. Most of the time, this question is asked regarding steel, so we'll give a brief description of that, based on an article in Home Shop Machinist (Sept/Oct 1991, "Heat Treating Basics" by Steve Acker). [Also thanks to Steve Gaudio (?) for his post of 18-Sep-1992, and clarification by Tim Eisele] Iron will, at common temperatures, organize itself into an atomic structure that is called "body centered cubic." This consists of overlapping cubes with an atom at each corner, and one more in the center of the cube. But above roughly 1400 degrees F there is a change in structure to "face centered cubic" and the central atoms migrate to the faces of the cubes. This latter form is not magnetic. Steel is basically iron with some carbon mixed in, though modern alloys have various other metals and substances as well. When steel is heated to the critical temperature (about 1400 degrees F), the iron will change to face centered, and the carbon atoms will migrate into the central position formerly occupied by an iron atom. This form of red-hot steel is called austentite. Since it is not magnetic, a magnet may be used to determine when the critical temperature has been reached (though the magnetism may be lost before the transition, so this is only approximate). Complete migration of the carbon atoms may take a minute or two. If you let this cool slowly, the iron atoms migrate back into the cube and force the carbon back out, resulting in soft steel called pearlite. If the sample was formerly hard, this softening process is called annealing. If you cool (quench) the sample suddenly by immersing it in oil or water, the carbon atoms are trapped, and the result is a very hard, brittle steel. Too brittle for most uses. The structure is now a body centered tetragonal form called martensite. So, the next step is to heat it back up, to between 200 and 800 degrees F or so, depending on the desired end hardness. This allows some of the hardness to relieved and is called tempering. The amount of tempering that is desirable depends on the final use. Cutting tools are very hard, knife blades less so because they must flex under use rather than break. Tempering is a trade-off between hardness and flexibility. Accurately measuring the tempering temperature is important. A nice, expensive thermostatically-controlled oven is great. Or, some special compounds can be applied that melt or change color at the right temp, such as Tempilstik and Tempilaq. If the steel is clean to start with, then you may notice that it goes through certain color changes as it heats up, with understandably vague descriptions such as "light straw" indicating about 440 degrees F, and purple=520. These colors are not incandescence colors, but are viewed in normal room light. The colors are due to types of surface oxidation that are temperature dependent. When quenching, it is often very important to avoid stirring a part because this will cool one side much more quickly than the other, and might cause warping. For knife blades, as an example, move it strictly up and down during the quench. Case hardening is a bit trickier, and involves heating the object in some sort of agent that promotes hardening at the surface. Liquid cyanide works well but should be out of the question for the home machinist. Luckily there are substitutes available from suppliers, one being called Kasenit, for example. Note that hardness is often measured using a "Rockwell C" scale, with 63 being very hard and 35 being fairly soft. A type of steel called "drill rod" is especially useful for home/hobby use. As its name implies, it is the type of steel used for drills, and is available is round or square form (square drills?). Drill rod is also very useful around the shop because it is usually made to very accurate dimensions. Some types of drill rod are formulated for hardening via heating then quenching in oil, while others are quenched in water. The difference is that water will cool more quickly because it's a good conductor (though it may also form a steam "jacket" that moderates this effect), while oil will cool more slowly. Since rapid cooling may warp a part, this could make a difference in the final product. There is also an "air hardening" steel, though it seems to be quite a bit more expensive than other steels. It has been reported, by way of example, that you can make springs out of hacksaw blades by annealing, bending, hardening, then tempering by heating to a "metallic blue" and quenching in oil. I suspect lots of experimenting may be in order before you get things just right. Remember the steel must be clean (no paint etc.) to see the colors. Quenching in oil may be a fire hazard. Take proper precautions, such as removing flammable materials from the area, wear proper clothing, and have an extinguisher handy. Even quenching in water presents the risk of scalding from steam or splattered water. As one newsgroup reader pointed out, not only are there a gerbillion alloys, but zillions of treatments to choose from, and this is just for steels. Other metals, like brass, can be hardened by "working" the metal, by bending, hammering, peening, etc. Brass is usually annealed with a quench, which is the opposite of steel. It's best to carefully research your particular project first, especially if it's something that is valuable. A recent book, "Simplified Tool Steel Heat Treatment and Selection Guide" by Bill Bryson, may be of some help. $31.95 from Bill Bryson, Dept. HSM, RR 1, Box 4243, Union, NH 03887. I purchased this, and was surprised to spend $32 on 100 pages of loose-leaf pages. The information is geared more towards the small commercial shop than the home shop, and thus deals with issues such as atmospheric control (using stainless-steel foil) and using accurate temperatures. In the home shop, we usually read about methods like "hit it with a torch then drop it in a bucket of oil." Bryson goes beyond this, discussing accurate methods that might be out of reach for some of us, but just barely. He also has a chapter on cryogenic treatment, that can also be used in the home shop via dry ice. Power Model Supply recently (December 1992) listed two small heat treating ovens in an HSM ad. 2000 degrees F, 4x4x4 inch $330, 6x6x6 $435. Write them for more info or see the ad. X-Andrew-WideReply: netnews.rec.crafts.metalworking X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Received: via nntpserv with nntp; Wed, 1 Jun 1994 13:17:55 -0400 (EDT) Path: andrew.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!convex!news.duke.edu!eff!news.kei.com!ub!csn!roper.uwyo.edu!jimkirk From: jimkirk@news.uwyo.edu (Jim Kirkpatrick) Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking Subject: FAQ part 2 of 4 Message-ID: <1994Jun1.092651.2431@roper.uwyo.edu> Date: 1 Jun 94 09:26:51 MDT Summary: Metalworking FAQ part 2 Keywords: FAQ Expires: 30 Jun 94 09:26:51 MDT Distribution: world Organization: University of Wyoming - Laramie, WY Lines: 561 This is the FAQ for rec.crafts.metalworking. It currently is in four pieces to keep the overall size of each part below the limits imposed by some news systems. This is part 2 of 4. A tiny bit of history: there exists a group trial.rec.metalworking, but few sites pick up the "trial" feed. Also, the trial method of group creation sort of died of neglect, so this group (rec.crafts.metalworking) was created to take its place and become an official wide-spread group. Many thanks to those who have contributed (in no particular order): Matthew Jones, Bill Brown, Phil OKunewick, Tim Eisele, Steve Gaudio, Stu Friedberg. Also, I've been grabbing bits from postings and copying them into the FAQ, such as book reviews and more addresses, so thanks to many more! Generally, units below are United States dollars, degrees Fahrenheit, and all the other silly backwards units we Americans still use. Sorry. The questions being answered in part 1: 1. The original rec.crafts.metalworking charter. 2. The CLOCKS bitnet mailing list, and other related lists. 3. What are some good books and/or video tapes on metalworking? 4. Who makes good lathes/mills/etc? 5. Where do I buy a machine? 6. What are good magazines to subscribe to? 7. Where might one take classes or get instruction? 8. Where can I get raw material for my projects? 9. Where can I get tools, drill bits, etc.? 10. What are some of the related professional/hobby associations? 11. How do I harden/temper metal? The questions being answered in part 2: 12 How do I wire up this strange motor? 13. How do I deal with mail-order suppliers? 14. How to sharpen knives, chisels, and other tools? 15. Some safety reminders. 16. How do I drill round holes? 17. What's TIG and MIG? 18. MIG welding technique. The questions being answered in part 3: 19. Which MIG welder should I buy? 20. Books on welding. 21. Soldering/brazing topics. 22. What are bolt grades? 23. What is XYZ made of? 24. How do I build a furnace or forge? 25. What is Damascus steel? 26. How do I repair/replace this old leather belt? 27. Can I use a drill press as a cheap vertical mill? 28. What is involved in building a steam engine? 29. How do I anodize aluminum? The question being answered in part 4: 99. Names and addresses of publishers and suppliers (OK, so I got tired of re-numbering it every time a new question was added!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. How do I wire up this strange motor? (with thanks to Bill Brown) The following describes how to deal with an AC/DC "universal" motor that has 4 unmarked wires coming out. Be sure you don't have some other motor, such as a 3-phase unit. Other motors are covered in an FAQ for the newsgroup rec.woodworking. The FAQ postings (six of them) for rec.woodworking are normally posted around the first of each month, and possibly also posted to the newsgroup news.answers. I can't say how long *your* news system will choose to keep these around! Look for "Frequently Asked Questions about Electric Motors." Also, the "Electrical Wiring FAQ" may be of interest. The universal motor is called that because it can run on AC or DC. Older units might have been designed this way because very early power distribution had not settled on AC or DC, or with 50 or 60 cycles. Thus, such a motor could be used universally, in all locations provided the voltage was within reason. This still may be a concern with some on-site jobs feeding power tools from DC sources such as portable welding rigs. Another nice thing about these motors is that they are easily reversible. They are also easily speed-controlled, such as in hand drills, whereas induction motors prefer to run at or near synchronous speed. The first task is to determine which two wires go to the armature, and which go to the field winding. If you can't tell by examining where the wires go (or the nameplate), get an ohmmeter and connect it to the wires until you find two that show some continuity. Rotate the shaft slowly by hand and note if the resistance changes as you turn it. If it does, you probably have the armature, and the fluctuations are due to the brushes making and breaking contact with the commutator. The other winding (field coil) should show a steady resistance. Presuming you want the ability to reverse the motor, find a switch that can handle the rated current, in the double-pole-double-throw configuration with a center-off position. The suggested hook-up is (as usual, a bad ASCII graphic): +-------------------+ 1 | | 2 ----------FIELD-------o<--O o A 0 white \ / R \ / M V X A O / \ T L black / \ U T ----------------------o<--O o E S | | +-------------------+ NOTE: no connection at "X"; Include a green-wire frame ground if at all possible Avoid reversing the motor while it is moving in the "other" direction as this could severely stress the switch and motor (particularly the brushes). Move the switch to the center (off) position, and continue on to the other direction after the motor has stopped. Please, always be careful when dealing with electricity. If you don't feel comfortable and safe doing such a hook-up, find someone who can do it for you, or at least who can check what you're doing. 13. How do I deal with mail-order suppliers? The following suggestions were offered by Stu Friedberg -- Get the catalogs and know what you want. There are often many sizes, models, and sources of an "X", so you need to know which particular X when you write and especially when you call to place an order. Even the smallest industrial supply houses deal in tens of thousands of items, which means even very knowledgeable order-takers can't always give you the information you need over the phone. Reserve queries about details for stuff that you couldn't figure out for yourself. Many of the order takers are very helpful and knowledgeable. At *SOME* sources the order takers can actually go look in the stock bins, take a micrometer to measure a shaft diameter, etc. I have had people at three different companies do something like this for me. However, some companies have computerized centralized order taking at a location completely separate from their stocking locations, so don't *assume* people can tell you anything that's not written in the catalog. I've had one company tell me to just order a set of change gears and return them if I couldn't use them. This wasn't crazy, the order taker simply had no relevant information available. Get the catalogs and shop around. Very often there are *big* differences in price between identical items, and even more often one source will have a unique or slightly different item at an excellent price compared to the "standard" item. There are lots of reasons for this. I have seen 2 to 1 price ratios on things like shim stock (from the same manufacturer) and "can't twist" clamps (from different manufactures but of equal quality). Occasionally, you will find 10 to 1 price ratios on things like boxes of hose clamps. Great deals if you look around. If you can, examine a tool at a local store (where the prices may be higher) to see what the quality is like, before placing the order by mail or telephone. You can also learn a great deal by perusing the catalogs, both about tools in general, and about specific details of specific tools. There's seldom enough room in a catalog to print all the manufacturer's data, but different sources will select different stuff to print. I have many times used one company's catalog to select the precise thing I wanted, then bought it from another company because the price was better. Most suppliers ship quickly if they have a credit card authorization. If they don't ship within two working days on a routine basis, shop somewhere else in the future. One full working day is quite common. I have had only one bad incident in the 4 or 5 years I've been buying industrial stuff by telephone, and came through with no losses. A supply company (which entered bankruptcy proceedings just a little while ago, by the way) charged my credit card for the full amount of my order, didn't ship for a month, and was completely clueless as to when they would ship my order. That is intolerable, and protection against abuse like that is one good reason to use a credit card rather than sending a check. You don't need to sue to get your money back if the merchant doesn't come through. (If it's not obvious, I got my money back and started to throw out that company's catalogs as they arrived.) Some industrial suppliers don't do back orders because it slows things down. The stock pickers send what's in stock and mark out of stock items on the invoice. This may be a little different from retail mail order sources you've dealt with in the past. Contact them about what's in stock and when it's expected to be available. Be prepared to return an item. Having to return an item because it was misshipped, defective, or of unsatisfactory quality is *NOT* an indictment of the supplier. If you do enough shopping for industrial supplies, you will find that you have to do a partial return maybe 1 time in 5. Don't get mad; don't get upset. It's routine. Industrial supply and consumer retail have different expectations about quality control. When you return an item, follow instructions. Many, but not all, suppliers require you to contact them for a "return authorization" number, which you must write on the outside of the package. You should include a copy of the invoice in the package. This is *NOT* an opportunity for the supplier to screw you over. This is a routine matter, and most of them just ask you to note on the invoice what was wrong and if you want credit, a refund, an exchange for something else, or whatever. 14. How to sharpen knives, chisels, and other tools? This is actually a tricky subject, and beyond the scope of this FAQ. However, an excellent book on sharpening knives and similar tools is: The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening, by John Juranitch. 1985 by Warner Books, ISBN 0-446-38002-4, $12.50 This book can sometimes be found in the larger knife stores, such as frequently found in USA malls (e.g. Cutlery World). It is a bit biased in that John also sells sharpening equipment, but the techniques are fundamental and can be used with competitor's equipment such as Lansky's. Another source for the book is Knife World Books, (800) 828-7751 Ext 71. Sharpening drill bits has never seemed easy. If you have lots of money, Darex makes drill and mill sharpeners, and Glendo's Accu- Finish line addresses simpler cutting bits (and they even re-sell some Darex tools in conjunction with their grinders). Black and Decker reportedly make a decent drill sharpener (1/8" to 1/2") for around $250. Some of the magazines will print articles from time to time on sharpening, and/or building sharpening equipment. 15. The following text on safety was donated by Gary Preckshot: The forces involved in metalworking machinery are far higher than most people expect. You can either be struck by shrapnel or pulled into a machine by being caught by a moving part. There are several rules that reduce these hazards: a) Don't wear loose clothes, ties, unsecured braids, or jewelry. b) Turn off machines and *WAIT* for rundown before approaching the working area. You'll spend a lot more time in an ER than you'll ever save by jumping in right away. c) Don't snap chips using a shop towel. Use a brush or air. d) Don't mess with long chips curling off a turning. If you get build up, stop the machine and remove the chips wearing leather gloves and using pliers. e) Keep power transmission belts of any kind isolated and guarded. Flat leather belts are especially hazardous because they tend to be unguarded on crowned cone pulleys. If in doubt, add more clamps. If in doubt, chuck more deeply or use a collet. A turning that comes adrift can damage both the lathe and you. A workpiece that shifts can damage both the mill and you. Stuff gets hot when cut. Let it cool before picking it up. Metal cutting generally leaves a sharp burr. Break the edges with a file or a de-burring tool before you release the work for general handling. Don't let kids, wives, husbands, girlfriends, or boyfriends close to metalworking operations without training or close supervision. Chips are extremely sharp. Long, curled chips from lathe turnings are especially dangerous because kids, wives, husbands, girlfriends, or boyfriends see only how pretty they are. You can get a very deep cut by handling such chips with your hands. Have a system for removing and storing chips. Use it regularly. Use eye protection - ALWAYS. Beware of fascination. Metal cutting tools flash and glint as they spin. An unwary person may reach toward the pretty, shiny tool. This is no joke. It happens. Then you take a trip to the local ER. Don't watch welding without adequate dark glass filters. You can get a tan in 2 minutes and a burn in five on any exposed skin close to arc welding. It doesn't hurt for about 3 hours, but then it hurts for days. Cover up. Don't play with air. Not only can it inject chips (by blowing them) into your body, but it can inject oily air as well. Sometimes right through the skin. Air is no joke. In general, no horseplay in the shop. Banish anybody who can't understand this simple rule. This is one place where absolute dictatorship is better than democracy. Take your time. You'll save on rework time, machine repair, and medical costs. 16. How do I drill round holes? In May 1993 the following question was posted. This brought a lot of useful suggestions for a problem often seen ... Subject: I can't drill round holes I am trying to drill 1/4" holes in 3/32" mild steel with a H/S twist bit in a 12" Delta bench press. The holes are not round. They tend towards the triangular. The piece I am drilling has a 1 1/4" square cross section. The distortion is worst in the exit hole through the bottom of the member. What is going on? Is there anything I can do to correct the problem? Morgan Hall gave the following shot as to how a simple twist drill manages to create a non-circular hole: Hint -- look at the rotor and housing of a Mazda rotary engine You can model the working end of a drill bit as a single straight line of finite length. If you fix one end and try to rotate it, the opposite end of the line sweeps out an arc. (the drill flexes) After about 1/3 revolution, the stuck end breaks free and sweeps out another arc while the formerly free end sticks. With alternate ends sticking, then breaking free, the arcs will form a kind of polygon with arcs of radius equal to the drill's diameter. After the first cuts, the "corners" of the polygon tend to stop the sweeping cut for each drill flute. The most common I've seen is the triangular hole, but other polygons are definitely possible. I suspect that this occurrence is related to some sort of resonance in the drilling setup. The suggestions that followed may be useful to anyone trying to drill holes. Some of them may qualify as 'obvious' but they're still worth bearing in mind... * Ensure the drill is sharp. * Make sure the work is firmly clamped * Don't try and run the bit too fast for the drill size and work material. * Don't force the feed rate; as with *any* cutting process, let the cutter do the cutting. * Keep as much of the drill in the chuck as possible. The more flexibility there is in the drill, the more likely you are to have problems. * When drilling thin material, it is often useful to provide some form of backing clamped to the work. This has the added advantage of keeping the burrs to a minimum. * The drill tip may need to be ground to a different angle, depending on the material being worked. * An undersize pilot hole is often a good idea. If you are drilling using a mark made with a centre punch and the tip of the drill is larger than the mark, you are unlikely to get accurate placement. * Don't forget to use a cutting lubricant * The quality of the hole is only going to be as good as the machine you are using will allow. If the drill spindle is sloppy, there may be nothing you can do about it. As a final comment, if you really want a round, accurately sized hole, you are unlikely to get it with a twist drill. Drill undersize and use a reamer if it's important. 17. What's TIG and MIG? TIG - Tungsten Inert Gas A small torch with a tungsten electrode is used to make the arc inside an envelope of an inert gas, usually argon or some argon mixture. A filler rod is manually introduced to complete the weld. The resulting weld is very pretty and usually requires no further finish. It is used mostly for welding sheets of mild steel, stainless steel or aluminum. The better machines have a foot control and a high frequency arc starter. Any sizable stick welder can be retro-fitted to do TIG welding, but without the foot control. MIG - Metal Inert Gas MIG and wire feed are the same thing. In this process, a consumable wire electrode is fed from a spool to the torch where the weld occurs inside an envelop of pure carbon dioxide, pure argon or a mixture of both. The weld continues as long as the operator has the trigger depressed and there is something to weld. This process is very fast, easy to learn and results in fairly good looking (better with argon) and strong welds. Most production welding of mild steel is now done with MIG welding. There is no slag to chip, but there is a slight thin coating of a glassy material that probably should be wire brushed off before painting. MIG welding can be used for thin or thick materials and is commonly used on mild steel, stainless and aluminum. Some common features of MIG machines are spot welding and stitch welding of sheet metal. There is a special wire called flux core that can be used in a MIG welder without the shielding gas. This process leaves a slag coating that must be chipped off. For most people on this group there isn't much use for flux core, as it was developed to reduce cost for large- scale welding where the cost of Argon starts piling up. There are fairly cheap 120 volt MIG welders that will only weld thin sheet metal. A more practical 240 volt machine that will weld up to about .25 inch is about $1500-$2000 new, $800-$1200 used. The machine I have will do MIG welding and stick welding, but most are MIG only. A machine that will weld .25 inch in a single pass will still weld thicker materials with multiple passes. 18. MIG welding technique. (The following was submitted by James Swonger on May 4, 1993) The quality of a MIG weld is controlled by gas flow, the qualities of that gas, the "heat" and feed rate settings. While getting a quality weld is less dependent on "touch" than gas or arc welding, it does depend on the right combination of the settable machine parameters. There are three modes of material transfer in a wire feed machine. One is "blob mode", where the wire sticks, then melts locally, then breaks. This occurs at the lower end of the heat/wire feed range. I say heat/feed rate as a ratio, because this pretty much determines which deposition mode you will see. Blob mode welds are the lowest penetration and lowest transferre heat, because there's almost no real arc action, just mostly resistive heating of the wire and contact point. The second mode as you move up the range is a soft arc with the metal being pushed through it. You'll recognize this mode when it happens; there's no more "wire push", the sound changes from a random snapping to a more uniform sizzle and everything just gets smooth. This is what I consider the ideal mode. The arc is stable but most of its energy is transferred into melting the fed wire and a localized area of the workpiece. In this mode I see about 1/4" of heat affected zone around the weld (automotive sheet metal thickness), and by proper setting I can get perfect penetration which I define to be some backside protrusion but no sag or burn-through. The handpiece ("gun") in this mode may have a buzzing feel to it but none of the bucking you get in blob mode. The third mode is when heat is much higher than the wire feed rate needs. This mode is akin to traditional arc welding, except with a fed wire. The arc energy now is biased more into the workpiece, with attendant heating and penetration. The wire still adds filler but there is more tendency to undercut, eat back and blow through especially on thin pieces. In this high heat/feed mode the buzzing/sizzling sound is replaced by a more purely electrical arc sound (whispering/crackling). This mode is desirable when welding pieces much thicker than the wire, especially when you haven't taken the bother of grinding proper chamfers and need to get penetration. Gas flow provides an important cooling effect. This is one reason why flux cored wire is harder to use on sheet metal; there's no place for the weld heat to go except the workpiece. Argon, A75 and CO2 have different welding characteristics. Argon will make the weld "sit up" higher, CO2 gives the most penetration and A75 is in the middle somewhere. Only Argon is suitable for aluminum; A75 is sort of marginal for stainless (leaves some carbon) but pretty ideal for general mild steel use. An adjustable regulator provides more latitude in balancing arc heat/feed and cooling. A high flow of gas can reduce warpage while allowing faster material transfer. I have a cheap preset flow regulator which is a compromise setting, compromise price type deal. To minimize panel warpage you must apply some technique as well. The MIG machine does not eliminate the need for skill; it just lets you apply your attention to more important things and lets you slide on some of the basics. Warping results from too much differential heating and expansion in the workpiece. By understanding the material and equipment you can keep this from being a problem. Duty cycle is one simple way of further reducing overall heat input. By welding in short, spaced beads you can join panels without overheating any large areas. First the piece should be "tacked" every few inches, with bead lengths of 1/2" or so. Make several passes after that, filling in the gaps bit by bit and not working any one region for long. The workpiece's thermal spreading will cool the small HAZ (*) pretty quickly if the total heat deposited remains small. A spot cools much more rapidly than a line. The edge of a thin metal piece presents a special case, a "boundary condition" which behaves differently than the bulk. With half the heat dissipation ability of the bulk, the edge will tend to burn back, distort and so on. This can be addressed by reducing heat (although this may force you into running blob mode), by different choice of metal overlap configuration and by carefully running the arc. A true butt joint in thin material is difficult to make. A -perfect- butting is hard to do on formed sheet metal, and any gaps will tend to enlarge in the welding process. For this reason a lapped weld is often preferred. A panel can be flanged to let the two pieces overlap but keep the final surface flush. The flange provides a backup as well in case of erosion of the edge on the top piece. =========\\W++++++++++++ \\==== A second sort of joint is a butted-V which protects the edges as the weld hits the sidewalls without necessarily reaching the bottom of the groove. --------\WW+++++++++ \+ Places like Eastwood sell specialty tools for making both types of flanges on sheet metal. Of course, you need to be careful not to cause deformation from the flanging process itself. I have made my own flanging tool for the first form out of an extra pair of Channel-Loks with extra jaw material brazed in and ground to shape. The Eastwood tool is Vise-Grip based and looks like it's a bit better as far as force required to make the flange due to the compound action. I think a pair of beat up sheet metal shears might be a better basis for making a new one. (*) HAZ = Heat Affected Zone; the area where you see thermally-induced material changes in the workpiece. This is basically the extent of any visible surface discoloration when using the MIG, although if you run the gas after stopping the arc you may not even be able to see anything because oxygen is excluded. If you remove the gas and arc together you will get the normal thin oxidation layer like you see when grinding or heating to temper. The outside of the blue oxide region is the periphery of the HAZ, although the material effects there are probably negligible. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following was submitted by mrehmus@cup.portal.com Use of MIG for body work. A bad idea fostered on us amateurs by our ignorance. If you look at the available wire for MIG, you don't find anything much softer than S60 or higher wire. In general, the higher the yield strength of metal, the harder it is to work. (Try forming tool-steel as a test). The weld bead left by a MIG is very hard relative to the body sheet metal and is almost impossible to work. It also cracks very easily even if one trys to anneal the metal in the weld. In restoring a 1967 Mercury Cougar I finally had to teach myself hammer welding using a welding torch. The results were much better!! 1. The seam is the same thickness as the parent sheet metal. 2. The seam is as soft or softer than the parent sheet metal. 3. The seam and the surrounding sheet metal are easily worked to remove any defects caused by the welding process. Should anyone want to equal the hammer welding process but with an electric source of heat, TIG is the only way to go. The filler metal selection is much, much wider and the TIG can be run way down to 10 amps or so which would probably let you weld aluminum foil if you wished. Oh yea, in the professional welder's world, the common opinion is that a TIG weld is superior to MIG. So why do the professional body shops like the MIG? It is necessary for the welding of high-strength steel that is commonly used in the structural parts of the modern automobile. Not, I repeat, NOT for the external sheet metal. The external sheet metal (the part we can see) is still mild steel because of the expense and difficulty of making sheet metal forming dies that would last and give good results with high-strength steel. Remember that body shops replace whole panels, they rarely "patch" a panel. The high-quality restoration shops use TIG or (usually) a torch and hammer welding. GOOD video tapes to know about: "Learning MIG Welding" by SIP "Hammerwelding Techniques" by Car Guy Videotapes "Patch Panel Installation" by Car Guy Videotapes I have watched these tapes many times, always learning more at every session. The tape on MIG welding uses a good visual filter technique to show every type of weld puddle. After viewing the tape, my MIG welding has been much better. X-Andrew-WideReply: netnews.rec.crafts.metalworking X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Received: via nntpserv with nntp; Wed, 1 Jun 1994 13:17:57 -0400 (EDT) Path: andrew.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!godot.cc.duq.edu!news.duke.edu!eff!news.kei.com!ub!csn!roper.uwyo.edu!jimkirk From: jimkirk@news.uwyo.edu (Jim Kirkpatrick) Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking Subject: FAQ part 3 of 4 Message-ID: <1994Jun1.092705.2432@roper.uwyo.edu> Date: 1 Jun 94 09:27:05 MDT Summary: Metalworking FAQ part 3 Keywords: FAQ Expires: 30 Jun 94 09:27:06 MDT Distribution: world Organization: University of Wyoming - Laramie, WY Lines: 1141 This is the FAQ for rec.crafts.metalworking. It currently is in four pieces to keep the overall size of each part below the limits imposed by some news systems. This is part 3 of 4. A tiny bit of history: there exists a group trial.rec.metalworking, but few sites pick up the "trial" feed. Also, the trial method of group creation sort of died of neglect, so this group (rec.crafts.metalworking) was created to take its place and become an official wide-spread group. Many thanks to those who have contributed (in no particular order): Matthew Jones, Bill Brown, Phil OKunewick, Tim Eisele, Steve Gaudio, Stu Friedberg. Also, I've been grabbing bits from postings and copying them into the FAQ, such as book reviews and more addresses, so thanks to many more! Generally, units below are United States dollars, degrees Fahrenheit, and all the other silly backwards units we Americans still use. Sorry. The questions being answered in part 1: 1. The original rec.crafts.metalworking charter. 2. The CLOCKS bitnet mailing list, and other related lists. 3. What are some good books and/or video tapes on metalworking? 4. Who makes good lathes/mills/etc? 5. Where do I buy a machine? 6. What are good magazines to subscribe to? 7. Where might one take classes or get instruction? 8. Where can I get raw material for my projects? 9. Where can I get tools, drill bits, etc.? 10. What are some of the related professional/hobby associations? 11. How do I harden/temper metal? The questions being answered in part 2: 12 How do I wire up this strange motor? 13. How do I deal with mail-order suppliers? 14. How to sharpen knives, chisels, and other tools? 15. Some safety reminders. 16. How do I drill round holes? 17. What's TIG and MIG? 18. MIG welding technique. The questions being answered in part 3: 19. Which MIG welder should I buy? 20. Books on welding. 21. Soldering/brazing topics. 22. What are bolt grades? 23. What is XYZ made of? 24. How do I build a furnace or forge? 25. What is Damascus steel? 26. How do I repair/replace this old leather belt? 27. Can I use a drill press as a cheap vertical mill? 28. What is involved in building a steam engine? 29. How do I anodize aluminum? The question being answered in part 4: 99. Names and addresses of publishers and suppliers (OK, so I got tired of re-numbering it every time a new question was added!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19. We frequently see "What should I buy" questions; one example is "What MIG welder should I buy?" There is no definite answer, and the prospective buyer should read the other entries in this FAQ regarding welding. What follows is an example of such a question and the answers received (June, 1993). We claim no responsibility for correctness or liability for your money! Keith King asked: I'm looking at the purchase of a MIG welder for auto body repair and other light welding jobs around the homestead and I don't have much background on this type of equipment. The models I'm looking at are the Lincoln SP-100 and the Miller 130. Both models are 110v portables. The Miller has a higher rating but I'm not sure if that's critical for my applications. The Lincoln has the advantage of having infinitely variable power output vs. stepped output for the Miller and the salesman said the gun on the Lincoln was a "Tweako?" whatever that means. Both units are similarly priced/warranted etc. Century has a bunch of lower priced, shorter warranty, cheaper looking, MIG welders. Does anyone have any experience/opinions on these welders or other MIGs to help me make a more informed purchase. Jim Narem answered/asked: I'm also interested in MIG welders for sheet metal and roll bar work. I've used the Italian made SIP 110V MIG unit. It works; it was worth $100 (purchased at some close-out sale) but not the $350 that places want retail. It's tough to get parts; even the tips have to be ordered. The wire feed mechanism sucks. I've seen some new Lincoln's on the market; both are wire feed welders with optional MIG kits as opposed to the SP-100 and SP-130 which are purpose build MIG units. Lincoln Weld-Pak 100, 88 amp, 18V @ 20% duty, 110V, $354 w/MIG kit. Lincoln Weld-Pak 125, 130 amp, 20v @ 30% duty, 220V, $556 w/MIG kit. (Prices are Connecticut Home Depot, tax bandit not included) The MIG kits are about $80 each, they have a gas flow regulator, solenoid and (I think) a different gun. Does anyone have any experience with these welders? They seem cost effective compared to the SP-100 and SP-130 but I'm nervous since Lincoln seems to be releasing some home/consumer grade equipment (like their new AC arc welder with the cheezy variable amperage control). There are also several Century MIG units commonly available at large home improvement shops (yup, WELD on that new addition). I've used their AC/DC arc welder and was impressed with its cost/performance. Has anyone used any of the Century MIGs? Ken Clarke answered: I took an evening welding class at a technical high school (10 weeks) and got to try various types of welding (stick, MIG, TIG, and oxy/acetylene. Also got some good tips on safety, and on how to by a MIG welder. The instructor spoke of the "big three" in the welding business (Miller, Lincoln, and Hobart). He was a confirmed "Miller" man, but we used Lincoln (and Airco) welders in the tech. school. I now think that it makes sense to buy whatever you decide to buy at your favorite welding supply store. The guys there have lots of good advice and if you go with one of the big three, you will not have any problem getting parts and consumables for your welder. I looked around for a while and compared the 110v portable welders by Lincoln and Miller and Hobart. My favorite welding supply house was having a "package deal" that included the Hobart Handler 120. Included in the package was the welder, a 2 lb. spool of .024 wire, a Jackson welders mask with the 4x5 face plate (get a number 10 shade), a *good* pair of welders gloves, a 55 cu. ft. tank of shielding gas (C25 which is 25 percent CO2 and 75 percent Argon), a dual-gauge regulator and connecting hose. This was about 1.5 years ago and I believe I paid $625 for the package. The Hobart has been great. It works fine on auto body panels and I have also done work on exhaust systems, mailbox posts, minibike mufflers, lawnmower parts, and am finishing up a trailer axle for a friend this weekend. So, I guess I'm advocating the Hobart, but if you can get a good deal on the Miller or the Lincoln, those would probably be fine, too. A few of the features on the Hobart that I liked were: 1. A "purge" feature, that allows you to set the flow rate on the shielding gas without spooling out wire. 2. The wire feed mechanism that lets you set the tension on the drive wheel but also lets you change wire spools without moving the setting. 3. The ergonomics of the unit, the way the wire spool goes in, the way the lid hinges down (not up like the others). 4. Five year warranty on power diodes and SCRs, three years on major components and one year on parts and labor. I would stay away from the Century welder. I don't think it has the quality of the "big three". I think you would have trouble getting parts, probably would have to order them. All parts for the big three can be had at local welding supply houses, in-stock. Also, the "Tweeko" comment is referring to the gun end of the welder. I hear that it's supposed to be a very common industry-standard type of part. Parts for the Tweeko handle/gun should be available at any welding supply house. Jim Swonger answered: "Tweako" is actually Tweco, a manufacturer of MIG and TIG handpieces and such. What this means is that parts are pretty readily available; they're everywhere. For sheet metal welding you'll run nowhere near the maximum heat setting on any machine. On my 160 I'm down on "2" for heat. The higher current machines of some of the cheaper brands need to be looked at carefully; some of them have -very- low duty cycles, leading me to believe that the critical parts are not much, if any, better than the cheaper models. The "purge" feature is good to have; however if you do not find a machine with it you can add it pretty simply. An auxiliary control switch for the solenoid valve is all it takes, in parallel with the relay that runs off the gun trigger. For serious sheet metal work spot and stitch modes are very nice amenities, allowing you to tack up a large piece with spaced short beads, minimizing distortion and allowing a fast, even hand motion. You can get by without it, but if it comes free or cheap... Quite a while later (26-Sep-1993), mrehmus@cup.portal.com wrote -- I've owned a Century 90 amp MIG welder for 4 or 5 years now. Never a problem with the unit and I've put three large reels of 0.024" wire through it. The one time I thought I had a problem the people at Century were very helpful. Century may not be one of the "big three" but they have been around for a very long time (mainly they make many of the professional battery chargers sold in this country, so I'm told). ------------ Other comments that have come up from various sources, especially Ken Clarke: Arc welders are often rated for a particular duty cycle, such as 30%. This means you can weld for about 3 minutes at full power, then you have to let the welder cool off for 7 minutes. The cheap units are typically low duty cycle, where the professional units have a high duty cycle. Also, units are often rated at a certain lower amperage where they can safely be operated at a higher percentage; for example, a 200 amp unit might be rated at 50 amps @ 100%, 100 amps at @ 60%, and 200 amps at 30%. Look for some sort of automatic cutoff to protect your investment in case you get carried away. DC systems are nicer than AC systems, especially if you can reverse polarity. AC systems splatter a bit more. DC doesn't as much, and makes a nicer weld as a result. Reversing polarity apparently can direct heat away from, or to, the workpiece; directing it away from a sheet metal weld can reduce warpage. Inverter models run off DC, or rectified line current. Their portability is the main selling point, for field welding where 220V isn't available. For the home or small shop, they are probably overkill. Large spools of wire, or other welding supplies, may corrode before they get used up in a hobby environment. Dry storage is important to preserve them. 20. Books on welding. Courtesy of kenm@daffy.cac.washington.edu Here's a source of good and inexpensive welding books. A catalog is available from: Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation PO Box 17035 Cleveland, OH 44117 They list a couple of dozen titles. Here are nutshell reviews of the ones I've seen: Metals and How to Weld Them, 400 pg, $5.00 A great book on the metallurgy of welding. It's not a how-to-weld book, but instead answered the Why? type questions I've had for years. Principles of Industrial Welding, 384 pg, $6.50 Your run-of-the-mill textbook. Design of Weldments, 464 pg, $7.00 A text on the design of welded machinery etc. There is a different book on welded structures. Well worth it it you are designing your own projects. New Lessons in Arc Welding, 528 pg, $5.00 Hard to describe - kind of a lab manual for a welding tips. Certainly worth the $5. Arc Welded Projects Vol 2, 272 pg, $5.00 Arc Welded Projects Vol 3, 170 pg, $4.50 Full of short (couple of page) descriptions of all kinds of rather ambitious projects - a tractor snowblower, log splitter, chariot, sailboat, woodstove, .... These are good books at any price, and great books at these prices. 21. Soldering/brazing topics. There sometimes seems a fine line between soldering (several types, at that), brazing, and welding. Here we try to shed some light on soldering and brazing. The following was contributed by Tim Kirby around 3/3/93 when the newsgroup was discussing the "true meaning" of silver soldering and the distinction between hard and soft solder. : Can anyone remember the "official" difference between : Hard & Soft solders ? While browsing for something else entirely, I found my copy of 'Model Locomotive and Marine Boilers' [Argus Press, 1988, ISBN 0-85242-923-1] by Martin Evans (well known in the Model Engineering field, at least in the UK) from which I have gratuitously (and without prejudice) stolen the following extract for your contemplation. As an aside, this is a useful book for those interested in designing and building boilers. Chapter 3, page 55: Silver Soldering and Brazing Soldering and brazing are processes which involve the joining of metals by the addition of molten filler metal of substantially different composition, at temperatures well below their melting point. An important difference between silver-soldering and brazing or welding is that the brazing alloy or filler material must be drawn by capillary forces right through the mating joint surfaces, and not merely deposited at the edges. Soft Solders are generally accepted as including the alloys of low melting point up to about 400 deg. C. They are usually based on Tin or Lead with small additions of antimony and sometimes silver. Hard solders, or silver-solders, are those alloys suitable for soldering which have melting points from 400 deg. C. up to about 800 deg. C. (see BSI 1845/1964) [for those who don't understand that reference, BSI is the British Standards Institute, similar in function to (for example) ANSI. BSI 1845 probably details this stuff in excruciating detail ;-) ... Tim.] Brazing alloys are alloys suitable for brazing (sic) which have melting points from about 800 deg. C. up to about 1000 deg. C. It should however be understood that there is no definite line of demarcation between silver-solders and brazing alloys. The former always contain a proportion of silver, while the brazing alloys generally contain copper, zinc and sometimes tin. Brazing alloys containing copper and phosphorus are also available but these are not recommended for boiler work. 22. What are bolt grades? We frequently see questions regarding bolt grades, so here's a partial list. Please note that just because a bolt is grade 2 does not mean it will break easily. Grading only refers to the minimum strength, not the maximum. Thus, if a machine uses a soft bolt as a safety shear pin, and you happen to replace it with a grade 2 bolt that was actually manufactured to grade 8 specs (but was marked down because too many of the bolts in the lot failed, so the whole lot was marked down) you could create some serious problems. Replace safety-related items with proper stuff! Also beware of improperly-marked forgeries. If your application is critical, test some samples or get certified hardware (not that readers of rec.crafts.metalworking are likely to be building interstate bridges or spacecraft, but it's worth saying). John M. Peterson kindly typed this in on July 20, 1993: Taken from Machinery's Handbook 23 , page 1286. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTM and SAE Grade Markings for Steel Bolts and Screws ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grade Marking Spec. Material ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAE - Grade 1 Low or Medium Carbon Steel No ASTM - A 307 Low Carbon Steel Mark SAE - Grade 2 Low or Medium Carbon Steel ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | SAE - Grade 5 Medium Carbon Steel Quenched and Tempered ASTM - A 409 / \ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | SAE - Grade 5.2 Low Carbon Martensite Steel \ / Quenched and Tempered ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ASTM - A 325 Medium Carbon Steel Type 1 Quenched and Tempered A 325 Radial dashes optional / \ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ASTM - A 325 Low Carbon Martensite Steel \ / Type 2 Quenched and Tempered A 325 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTM - A 325 Atmospheric Corrosion (Weathering) Type 3 Steel, Quenched and Tempered A 325 ----- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTM - A 354 Alloy Steel, Grade BC Quenched and Tempered BC ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | SAE - Grade 7 Medium Carbon Alloy Steel \ / Quenched and Tempered, Roll Threaded After Heat / \ Treatment ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | SAE - Grade 8 Medium Carbon Alloy Steel \ / Quenched and Tempered ASTM - A 354 Alloy Steel, / \ Grade BD Quenched and Tempered | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- \/ SAE - Grade 8.2 Low Carbon Martensite Steel \ / Quenched and Tempered \ / ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTM - A 490 Alloy Steel, Type 1 Quenched and Tempered A 490 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTM - A 490 Atmospheric Corrosion (Weathering) Type 3 Steel, Quenched and Tempered A 490 ----- 23. What is XYZ made of? Metals 1. What is Brass made of? Brass is a combination of copper and zinc, in approximately the ratio of 2/3 to 1/3, respectively. Sometimes lead (about 3%) is added to improve machinability. 2. What is Bronze made of? Bronze is usually made of copper and tin. However bronze describes any bronze colored alloy even if it doesn't have any tin. Various bronze alloys include silicon, manganese or phosphorus. Mostly bronze is used for bearings. 3. Steels Steel is a refined iron where the impurities carbon, silicon, sulphur and phosphorus are removed and then the iron is combined with carbon and/or chromium and/or nickel. Various other metals may be added to create a nearly infinite variety of steel and steel alloys. A few common steels are discussed below. a. What is CRS? Cold Rolled Steel. b. What is HRS? Hot Rolled Steel. c. What is HSS? High Speed Steel. d. What is stainless steel? Stainless steel is low in carbon but has about 20% chromium. Stainless has a beautiful finish but it is very hard to machine. Both CRS and HRS are mild steels. Mild steels have a low carbon (<.3%) content and therefore can't be hardened. CRS is formed (into bars, rods or angles ...) "cold" and therefore has internal stresses inside. Because of these stresses, an intricate part, like a one piece crankshaft, or a heat treated part may distort. CRS has a smooth surface, which requires no additional finishing. The steel stock found in the hardware store or home improvement center is usually CRS. HRS is formed hot so it does not have any internal stresses but it has a rough black scale surface. HRS is a little cheaper, but CRS is easier to find. HRS is used for welding, so a welding shop with steel stock would be a good source for HRS. HSS is a carbon steel (0.3% volunteered his experience: --- I have only machined soft materials (copper, plexiglass and other plastics). I would not recommend using anything but very light cuts (if at all) in anything harder. As you would expect, I had a number of problems. Fine vertical depth adjustments are difficult. I set the quill stop at the desired depth and held it in place by hand. You could move the table up, but most drill presses seem to use a fairly coarse rack and pinion for the table. I used an endmill, which worked fairly well. Any backlash in your x/y table will get you into a load of trouble. This may not be too serious if you're facing off a surface, but will cause lots of problems if you want to make slots or cutouts with any precision. Backlash may also cause chatter. In summary: this works if it's absolutely the only way you can do it, you don't need a lot of precision and you're working with soft materials. I got around these limitations by buying a real mill. --- Alternatives: If you have a lathe, consider buying/making a milling attachment, if your work size and lathe will allow. Consider buying an inexpensive mill/drill machine if you can't quite afford a mill. In general, some of the same comments apply to buying a mill/drill or other combined unit as opposed to a dedicated machine for each purpose. Mill/drill machines are not as rigid for milling as a pure milling machine, but may be the only alternative before the money runs out. Combinations seem to work adequately for many woodworking applications but metalworking generally requires a lot more force. 28. What is involved in building a steam engine? (with thanks to Tim Kirby and Ian Kirby (no relation)) The creation of working steam engines, be they stationary engines, road engines, marine or rail locomotives, is quite a common hobby throughout the world. Many people who would like to get involved in such modelling are, however, frequently at a loss as to how to start. What follows is a set of simple pointers to get you on board. - Magazines and Journals There are four (English language) magazines that specifically deal with this subject: "Model Engineer" and "Engineering in Miniature" from the UK "Modeltec" and "Live Steam" from the USA (they may be available from a local worthwhile model store; alternatively, check the FAQ book list for the publishers) Reading any of these magazines will quickly give a feel for the hobby. - Clubs and Associations They are all over the world. Look through the magazines listed above for club addresses; most if not all of them have the names and addresses of clubs all over the world. If you can't find a club remotely near you, here are a couple of suggestions: Try posting a request on the net! It can be a remarkable resource. Try writing to the editor of one of the magazines. - Scales and sizes Stationary engines are most often tabletop sizes; they can be very decorative and interesting exercises in machining but are not often "used" once built. Marine engines are often built as decorative or "stationary" models, however you may also find some installed in model boats. Some of the suppliers in the magazines listed above may provide more information about marine engines. Road locomotives are usually referred to purely by scale, most often somewhere in the range of 3/4" scale (3/4 inch to the foot) to 4" scale (4":1') A farm traction engine in 3/4" scale will probably be around 12" or 14" long - quite handleable by most people. A 4" scale model is 1/3 full size - big, heavy and arguably no longer "Model Engineering", at least with respect to the resources available to the average mortal. Rail locomotive scales can be a little more confusing because of a tendency to refer to them by the rail gauge that they run on. Unfortunately the gauges are not completely standardized for some scales (although one might expect that they would be.) The following table lists the most common "larger scales" and the gauge lines they run on (based on a nominal 4' 8.5" so-called standard (USA) gauge track): 3/4" scale (0.75":1') = 3.5" gauge 1" scale (1.00":1') = 4.75" or 5" gauge 1.5" scale (1.50":1') = 7.25" or 7.5" gauge There are 10.25" and 15" lines as well as smaller (2.5" gauge, Gauge 1) that are modelled in live steam. Availability of land, track and facilities will often affect a builders choice of scale. Note that the modelling of narrow or broad gauge models introduces another confusion factor - a 1.5":1' scale model of a prototype that ran on 3'6" gauge track in real life would result in a track gauge of 5.25". This would commonly be adjusted to fit on a 5" or 4.75" gauge line. - It must cost a fortune and take forever Not necessarily. There are many suppliers in this hobby who can provide as much or as little as you need, from a set of original blueprints for a prototype, through those who can provide scaled drawings of proven models, books giving detailed operation-by-operation procedures on how to create a model, sets of castings that need machining or even ready machined kits that can be assembled on a kitchen table... or they will sell you a complete, ready-to-run model. The amount of money spent will vary typically as a function of how big the model will be, how much work the builder does (as opposed to buying ready-built parts) and what resources the builder has in his/her workshop. Needless to say, the amount of time spent building such a model will be a function of the same things. As a rule of thumb, the more you do yourself, the cheaper it is and the longer it will take you. Reading the classified advertisements in the magazines listed you may be able to pick up a part-complete or secondhand model for less than the cost of the parts new (though you are at the mercy of the workmanship of the builder. Let the buyer beware). - What about boilers? The subject of boilers is complex; each country has its own rules and regulations - which could never be justly covered here. Some pointers, though: + If you build a 'published plan', there is probably a published boiler plan to go with it. This usually means it is a proven design, which is *good*. + Steam clubs will have some sort of regular boiler inspection and test requirement. Talk to the appointed boiler inspector at your club. + If you are in the slightest bit wary or unhappy about building a boiler, *get some help from someone who knows what they are doing*. Some companies will sell you "standard" boilers for published designs ready made; there are others who specialize in building custom boilers. You may be able to lower the cost by doing all the preparation work and getting someone else to (braze/weld/whatever) the bits together. + Remember... this is a pressure vessel full of very hot water and steam. You *really* do not want it to fail. You will probably be closest to the boiler if it does... - What's a good book on the subject? There are many, many books available on this and associated subjects; some are general texts, some specialize in particular aspects. A good place to start is (unsurprisingly) read through a couple of issues of the magazines mentioned; most of the publishers (Village Press, TEE, Argus) publish and/or sell a number of texts; writing to the publishers should elicit a list of currently available books. Also try some of the suppliers catalogs found in the magazines; A.J. Reeves Ltd., Power Model Supply and Coles Power models all carry books on general topics and specialist areas such as boilers, valve gear etc. - Do you have any other advice? Reading the magazines is all well and good, but try to find someone to talk to who has had some experience - this can not only save lots of frustration but can also lead to lots of very useful shortcuts and even material help. It may mean finding and joining a club, which, if one is considering building a rail vehicle, at least means that there will be somewhere to run it when completed, without then having to build a track too! The first-time builder is strongly recommended to consider choosing a published *model* design (from one of the magazines or plan suppliers) where all the scaling is done, and the finished article will work if built according to the plans. Converting full size prototype drawings to a working scale model is not recommended for the "normal" first-timer! As you might expect, the published plans cover some models suitable for the beginner and others best attempted by an experienced builder. Again, we cannot recommend strongly enough getting advice from a club of some sort if you can find one. Ask the supplier if the design was ever serialized in any of the magazines and if the text is available, either as copies, back issues or as a published book - blow-by-blow instructions can be very reassuring, even if you know what you are doing in a machine shop. Choose wisely, so that interest is maintained. In particular with rail models, you need some rail to run it on. Unless you are fortunate enough to have plenty of land and money, you will probably want to run on a club track - find out what your local club has before you build or you may spend several years creating a beautiful working model with nowhere to run it. If there are several gauges available at your track of choice, consider carefully which track you want to be able to run on. 29. How do I anodize aluminum? (pieced together from various sources, including the newsgroup. JK) First, this is only meant to apply to aluminum. Other metals, such as titanium, niobium, and possibly magnesium and others, can also be anodized. Aluminum oxidizes very quickly, and rapidly forms an aluminum oxide coating that inhibits further oxidization. This coating is useless as is, in terms of protecting the metal, because it is so thin. A thicker coating can be produced by immersing the part in an electrolytic solution and passing an electrical current through it, similar to electroplating. The resulting film is nearly colorless, and can be easily dyed because it is very porous at the molecular level. Then, by placing the part in boiling water, the film's pores can be sealed; the oxide changes from one form to another as a result. To be more specific, parts should be very clean and grease-free. Commercial plants will first clean and etch the surface in a caustic solution, such as lye (sodium hydroxide), followed by a thorough wash. The parts are placed in an acid solution, such as 15-25% sulphuric acid, and connected to the positive source of a power supply (use only aluminum hardware to make the connection; no copper in the solution!). The part(s) comprise the anode, and the cathode is lead (lead sheet, or the whole tank might be lead). Appropriate current is applied, e.g. 1.5 amps per decimeter (3.4 square inches). This lasts 15-25 minutes if no dying is planned, or 45-60 minutes for dying. Dying is the next step, if desired. Since the pores are extremely small, many common dyes will not work. Some wool dyes are known to work, or you can purchase commercial anodizing dyes from an industrial supplier. Typically this involves immersion in the dye solution, which may have to be heated to be effective. Sealing is then done by putting the part in boiling water, which changes the film from "gamma" aluminum oxide a hydrated form called boehmite. Boil for about 20 minutes. Another anodizing process involves using chromic acid. This is not suitable for alloys with more than 5% copper. The film is thinner, but very durable. The very thin film is also a benefit when very close tolerances must be maintained. However, because chromic acid is a very nasty chemical, its use on an "amateur" basis is discouraged, and is commercial use may be closely regulated. Anodizing is sensitive to the type of alloy. For example, alloys for die casting have a lot of silicon, which makes it pour and mold well, but it makes anodizing almost impossible. By all means, find a few references and read them carefully before attempting anodization. If at all possible, try it out on scrap pieces before attempting it on your masterpiece. Be sure to flush the part completely to remove remaining acid. An alternative is to use a commercial firm to do the anodizing. Some net folks report they can be a bit rough to deal with, as they may be more used to dealing with large jobs and may not appreciate a home machinist with a single 5-inch part. Look in the phone book under anodizing, or [electro-]plating. References: 1. There are two books mentioned earlier in this FAQ that deal with anodizing. 2. "Anodizing Aluminum in the Amateur Workshop", in Ham Radio Magazine, January 1979, pages 62-69, by David W. Hembling. Sadly, this magazine is out of business, but should be larger libraries, or available via inter-library loan. This article lists several other references, including addresses for dye makers. 3. "Passivating Aluminum Alloys" in 73 Magazine, September 1965, pages 74-80, by Robert A. Kidder. 4. Some jewelry-making suppliers deal with anodizing. 5. The magazines Strictly IC and Model Engineer allegedly have discussed this, but I don't have exact references. 6. Argus Workshop Practice Series, number 11, by J Poyner. (see name/address section for Argus' address). X-Andrew-WideReply: netnews.rec.crafts.metalworking X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Received: via nntpserv with nntp; Wed, 1 Jun 1994 13:18:05 -0400 (EDT) Path: andrew.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!godot.cc.duq.edu!news.duke.edu!eff!news.kei.com!ub!csn!roper.uwyo.edu!jimkirk From: jimkirk@news.uwyo.edu (Jim Kirkpatrick) Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking Subject: FAQ part 4 of 4 Message-ID: <1994Jun1.092714.2433@roper.uwyo.edu> Date: 1 Jun 94 09:27:14 MDT Summary: Metalworking FAQ part 4 Keywords: FAQ Expires: 30 Jun 94 09:27:15 MDT Distribution: world Organization: University of Wyoming - Laramie, WY Lines: 866 This is the FAQ for rec.crafts.metalworking. It currently is in four pieces to keep the overall size of each part below the limits imposed by some news systems. This is part 4 of 4. A tiny bit of history: there exists a group trial.rec.metalworking, but few sites pick up the "trial" feed. Also, the trial method of group creation sort of died of neglect, so this group (rec.crafts.metalworking) was created to take its place and become an official wide-spread group. Many thanks to those who have contributed (in no particular order): Matthew Jones, Bill Brown, Phil OKunewick, Tim Eisele, Steve Gaudio, Stu Friedberg. Also, I've been grabbing bits from postings and copying them into the FAQ, such as book reviews and more addresses, so thanks to many more! Generally, units below are United States dollars, degrees Fahrenheit, and all the other silly backwards units we Americans still use. Sorry. The questions being answered in part 1: 1. The original rec.crafts.metalworking charter. 2. The CLOCKS bitnet mailing list, and other related lists. 3. What are some good books and/or video tapes on metalworking? 4. Who makes good lathes/mills/etc? 5. Where do I buy a machine? 6. What are good magazines to subscribe to? 7. Where might one take classes or get instruction? 8. Where can I get raw material for my projects? 9. Where can I get tools, drill bits, etc.? 10. What are some of the related professional/hobby associations? 11. How do I harden/temper metal? The questions being answered in part 2: 12 How do I wire up this strange motor? 13. How do I deal with mail-order suppliers? 14. How to sharpen knives, chisels, and other tools? 15. Some safety reminders. 16. How do I drill round holes? 17. What's TIG and MIG? 18. MIG welding technique. The questions being answered in part 3: 19. Which MIG welder should I buy? 20. Books on welding. 21. Soldering/brazing topics. 22. What are bolt grades? 23. What is XYZ made of? 24. How do I build a furnace or forge? 25. What is Damascus steel? 26. How do I repair/replace this old leather belt? 27. Can I use a drill press as a cheap vertical mill? 28. What is involved in building a steam engine? 29. How do I anodize aluminum? The question being answered in part 4: 99. Names and addresses of publishers and suppliers (OK, so I got tired of re-numbering it every time a new question was added!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 99. Names and addresses of publishers and suppliers (with special thanks to Stu Friedberg). Note also that a potential source of manufacturers/suppliers is the Thomas Register, found in most public libraries. -- Special entry: Not a company or anything, but for more info on crafts supplies, send e-mail to info@crafts-council.pe.ca and put "WANTED:" at the beginning of the subject line. This is a non-profit service of PEI Crafts Council in Charlottetown, Price Edward Island, Canada. They maintain a list of crafts suppliers and can answer questions like "give me a list of ceramics suppliers East of the Mississippi" or "who sells ConeArt kilns?" (per a post 9-Nov-1993) - Allcraft Tool & Supply 666 Pacific St. Brooklyn, NY 11217 (800)645-7124, (718)789-2800 Tools for jewelry-making, perhaps more. - Allied Devices Corporation 2365 Milburn Ave P.O. Box 502 Baldwin, New York 11510 (516) 223-9100, (516) 223-9172 (FAX) "Standard Precision Mechanical Components" such as small gears. Reputedly not cheap, but Small Parts Inc isn't either. - American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute (AWI) P.O. Box 11011 Cincinnati, OH 45211 (513) 661-3838, (513) 661-3131 (FAX) Membership is around $45 or so per year. They have an excellent magazine, Horological Times. Their orientation is more towards watch/clock repair. They offer many courses along those lines. The "Project Extended" courses are given in Cincinnati, but they have many other courses (around 5 days) given around the country. They have at least 100 videotapes on various aspects of lathe work and clock repair. - ARE, Inc. Box 8 Greensboro Bend, VT 05842 (800)736-4273, (802)533-7007, (802)533-7008 fax Tools for jewelry-making, perhaps more. Catalog is $4. - Argus Books P.O. Box 35 Wolsey House Wolsey Road, Hemel Hempstead Herts HP2 4SS England Telephone: Hemel Hempstead (0442)66551 Publishers of Model Engineer in England. Heavy on live-steam model trains, mostly machining topics, some interesting plans. - W.M. Berg, Inc. 499 Ocean Avenue East Rockaway, NY 11518 (516) 596-1700, (516) 599-3274 (FAX), (516) 599-5010 customer service Very similar to Stock Drive Products (q.v.). Separate catalogs for metric vs. english parts. They undoubtedly have a few items that Stock Drive does not carry, and vice-versa. - Blades & Stuff 1019 E. Palmer Ave. Glendale, CA 91205 Catalog $5 - Blue Ridge Machinery and Tools, Inc. PO Box 536 2806 Putnam Avenue Hurricane, WV 25516 800-872-6500, 304-562-3538 in WV, 304-562-5311 (fax) Credit cards, COD's up to $200 M,W,F 9-5 EST, Tu,Th 9-9 EST Lathes, milling machines, presses, brakes, from puny to industrial. Accessories and parts for popular machines from Myford, South Bend, Atlas, Sherline, Emco-Maier, etc. Hand tools and books of interest to hobbyists and professionals. Woodworking power tools Steel, brass, aluminum, tool steel in small quantities. 110 page catalog - J. C. Boegeman 1464 S. Warner Dr. Apache Junction, AZ 85220 (602) 982-8436 Discontinued parts for Atlas, Craftsman, Clausing lathes. Quadrants, reverse gear boxes, lead screws, half-nuts, spindles, steady rests, and so on. No catalog, so call. - Borel and Frei 712 S. Olive St., Suite 318 Los Angeles, CA 90014 (800)654-9591 (national), (800)252-9392 (CA), (213)689-7007, (213)488-0485 fax They also have a Kansas City office: Jules Tools (Jules Borel & Co.) 1110 Grand Ave. Kansas City, MO 64106 (800)776-6858 orders, (800)776-6865 customer service, (816)421-6110, (800)776-6862 fax Jewelers' tools: main 172-page catalog "T" is color, slick paper, no prices (separate price list is enclosed). Also catalog "J" for jewelry, "H" for horological (watchmaking) supplies, and "F" of jewelry findings. Specialty tool catalog "TS" is 50 pages B&W and does have prices. - Bourget Bros. Lapidary and Jeweler's Supplies 1636 11th St. Santa Monica, CA 90404 (800)828-3024 - Brownells Route 2 Box 1 200 South Front Street Montezuma, Iowa, 50171 (515) 623-5401, (515) 623-3896 (FAX) Brownells is a fine firm that specializes in gunsmithing, though a lot of their merchandise is great for general-purpose metalworking. Catalog is $4.00, refundable with first order of $40 or more (but if you can convince them you are a dealer, then it is free). They have lower prices for gun dealers, "enciphered" in the catalog in a manner similar to the following -- Item: Foo Bar Grips an9xx20dd Price: $19.95 means list price is $19.95, dealer price is $9.20. However, in recent catalogs they have changed the coding on some items. While some people have apparently convinced them they are a dealer, the usual requirement seems to be an FFL (Federal Firearms License) before they sell for the dealer price. - Campbell Tools, Inc. 2100-H Selma Rd. Springfield, OH 45505 (513) 322-8562 A machine supplier attuned to the hobbyist metalworker. They carry Sherline, Emco, Jet, and other machines. Also books, hardware, raw materials, etc. Highly recommended by one net reader. - Cardinal Engineering Inc RR #1, Box 163 Cameron, IL 61423 (309) 342-7474, (309) 342-3182 (FAX) Supplier of various metals, but they also can supply CNC mills and/or kits to convert existing milling machines. Also some CNC lathe work. Several articles in recent years in HSM regarding CNC conversions were written by the folks at Cardinal. - Centaur Forge Ltd. P.O. Box 340 117 N. Spring Street Burlington, WI 53105 (414) 763-9175, (414) 763-8350 (FAX) Publications concentrate on forging, blacksmithing, though all aspects of metalworking are covered. A good, well-organized collection. They also publish a magazine, Anvil (see earlier section). Centaur Forge is the source for blacksmithing supplies from tongs to furnaces. Also a source of horse shoeing supplies. - Coles Power Models, Inc P.O. Box 788 839 E. Front Street Ventura, CA 93002 (805) 643-7065 Castings, books, supplies, accessories. For trains, stationary steam, gasoline engines. The catalog costs $4. - Condar Co. 10500 Industrial Drive Garrettsville, OH 44231 (216) 527-4343 They sell a pyrometer (high-temp thermometer) for gas forges and such, Unit 9-85 which comes with a 6-foot 2200-degree probe for $60. They also have a high temp probe (3000 degrees; Unit 14S4-1, $17). Probably lots of other related items, but this came up in discussion on low-cost pyrometers around 3/25/93. - Darex Corporation 220 Hersey Street Box 277 Ashland, OR 97520 (503) 488-2224, (503) 488-2229 (FAX) Precision drill and end-mill sharpening equipment. Some of their complete systems are very expensive and intended for large production shops (around $2000). They also sell fixtures for use with existing grinders (about $250) and sharpeners for taps, reamers, and countersinks. - Eastwood Company (800) 345-1178 Metal fabrication equipment, welding supplies, etc. Reportedly, the prices are rather high. - Enco Manufacturing Co. 13 stocking locations, main site in Chicago, IL (addresses not handy now) 800-860-3400 (24 hr orders, automatically routes to closest location) 800-860-3500 (fax, also auto routes) Credit cards, COD's up to $500, discount for pre-pay by check $25 minimum order Customer service & Chicago showroom M-F 7-midnight CST, Sa 8-4 CST, Su 9-4 CST Lathes, milling machines, etc, from small to large NC machines. Hand tools, cutting tools, storage cabinets, shop supplies Maker (not just distributer) of turret bed lathes. However, many net folks have reported that quality and service are between awful and terrible (this author included), and that Enco is to be avoided. This is not a unanimous opinion, but close. 230 page catalog - Gateway Clocks 7936 Camberly Drive Powell, TN 37849 Gateway Clocks is apparently a one-man business, in the person of W. R. Smith, author of several clockmaking books and one on clockmaking and model-making (see earlier section in the FAQ). Gateway also sells all of John Wilding's books, and John Wilding (in England) sells all of Smith's books, through a reciprocal agreement. - Gesswein 255 Hancock Ave. Bridgeport, CT 06605 (800)243-4466, (203)366-5400, (203)366-3953 fax Jewelry-making tools, perhaps more. On the 800 number, there is a voice mail system, and if you just want a catalog you have to wait for the last prompt when they let you speak for a longer period without being cut off. - Glendo Corporation 900 Overlander Road P.O. Box 1153 Emporia, KS 66801 (800) 835-3519, (316) 343-1084, (316) 343-9640 (FAX) Their Accu-Finish line of "advanced sharpening equipment" includes grinders and fixtures for lathe cutting bits and similar tools. Also, most affordable for the home shop, the Grind-R-Table for use with existing grinders. They often run ads in the magazines, or you can call for information. - Grizzly Imports, Inc. West of Mississippi: P.O. Box 2069 Bellingham, WA 98227 (800) 541-5537, (800) 225-0021 (FAX) East of Mississippi: 2406 Reach Road Williamsport, PA 17701 (800) 523-4777, (800) 438-5901 (FAX) Imports a wide range of power tools and accessories. Metal lathes, milling machines, as well as lots of woodworking tools. They also sell a belt sander called the "Knife Belt Sander/Buffer." Among the importers of Taiwan-made tools, Grizzley seems to rank fairly well compared with Enco or Harbor Freight, though some consider Jet to be a bit better (at higher cost). - Harbor Freight Tools 3491 Mission Oaks Blvd. Camarillo, CA 93011-6010 800 423 2567 They mostly sell cheap tools. Usually cheap = inexpensive, sometimes cheap = junky. All (or most all) imported. They are best for items which have a lot of metal in them and for which fine/precision is not your main objective. They have really great buys on anvils, cold chisel sets, screwdriver sets, tinsnips, crowbars, ... and free shipping (other than a $2.95 handling fee) for orders over $50. - High Quality Tools, Inc. 1327 E. 289th St. Wickliffe, OH 44092 (216) 944-0144, (216) 585-2265 (FAX) Replacement parts for Bridgeport milling machines. Reputedly the quality is excellent. They have a catalog with exploded views of all assemblies. Cheaper than Bridgeport. See also Lee's. - Industrial Pipe and Steel Co. 9936 E. Rush Street South El Monte, CA 91733 800-423-4981, 818-443-9467, 818-579-4602 (fax) Credit cards, COD's M-F 7:30-4:30 PST, Sa 7:30-1 PST Cutting tools, hand tools, air tools, lathes, milling machines, you name it. Shop supplies, tool and die maker supplies, you name it. Metal of all sorts, you name it. New and used press die sets. Surplus rounds and plates. Buy by the foot, buy by the pound. Most of their metal stock is not listed in the catalog(s). Call and ask what they've got. Definitely oriented toward professional users, not hobbyists. Full line distributors for most instrument makers, Starrett, Mitutoyo, etc. Quality ranges from ultra-classy, great deals, garbage-at-any-price import. Small catalog several times a year, 200 page catalog once or twice a year, and a 750 page full-line catalog once every five years. They came out with a full-line catalog in 92. Get one if you can. - Lee's Machinery 4089 N. Ridge Road Perry OH 44081 (216) 259-2222 Bridgeport and South Bend parts, new and used. The owner, Lee Zinn, does used machinery rebuilding of all kinds and has many new and used parts and accessories (chucks etc.). Will also make parts if unavailable, or parts that are better than original if needed (e.g. South Bend back gears like to break). See also High Quality Tools. - J. I. Morris Company 394 Elm Street Southbridge, MA 01550 Phone: (508) 764-4394, (508) 764-7350 (FAX) Tiny screws, nuts, washers. Sizes 0000-16 to 2-56 and popular UNM sizes stocked in many head styles and lengths in both brass and burr-free stainless. Matching taps, chasers, and gages available. Write/FAX for catalog or send for prompt quotation. - J. Malcolm Wild (Clocks) 12 Norton Green Close Sheffield S8 8BP England Telephone: 0742 745693 Supplies and accessories for clockmaking. - The Jeweler's Loupe 1625 Crenshaw Blvd. Torrance, CA 90501 (310)320-7005 - Kitts Industrial Tools 22384 Grand River Avenue Detroit, MI 48219 800-521-6579, 313-538-2585 in MI, 313-538-6499 (fax) Credit cards, COD's $25 minimum order M-Sa 9-5 EST Cutting tools, hand tools, air tools, supplies Quality ranges from ultra-classy, great deals, garbage-at-any-price import 150 page catalog, but you have to mail a $2 check (won't accept phone orders for catalogs!). - Klockit P.O. Box 636 Lake Geneva, WI 53147 (800) KLOCKIT (i.e. (800) 556-2548) Books, kits, plans, tools, parts for clocks and watches. - Lasquad Metals 419 N. 13th Street San Jose, CA (408) 294-3686 Hours: 10-5 M-F, 10-2 Sat. According to John Kopf, LASQUAD stands for "Loose And Sloppy, QUick And Dirty". Mostly aluminum ($2.60/lb new, 1.50 surplus), some brass (2.75 new, 2.00 surplus), some copper, stainless steel, etc. Its a couple of miles from Enco. Didn't sound like they'd take phone or mail orders but I haven't tried. - Lindsay Publications Inc. P. O. Box 538 Bradley, IL 60915-0538 (815) 935-5353 Lindsay publishes books for the home shop, covering casting, forging, machining, and a few plans for building engines and such. It has been reported that their catalog is "a bit bizarre" but the service is fast. Their electrical catalog has cross-over projects that include light (pun intended?) metalworking. - Little Engines 13486 Carapace Court Manassas, VA 22111 (703) 791-5322 Plans, castings, accessories for model rail motive power. - Mason & Sullivan 210 Wood County Industrial Park Parkersburg, WV 26102-1686 800-225-1153 (orders), 800-535-4486 (technical advice), 800-535-4482 (customer service), 304-428-8271 (FAX) Supplier of clock kits, plans, parts, and tools. In business since 1947, they recently went out of business, and have re-appeared owned in part by the employees, though they also appear to be affiliated with the Woodcraft company (same address!) - McMaster-Carr Supply Company PO Box 440 New Brunswick NJ 08903-0440 USA 908-329-3200 (Sales), 908-329-6666 (Other Departments), 908-329-3772 (FAX) Also has stocking sales centers in Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Note that they apparently only deal with companies. Jim Harres reports that they refused to send him a catalog. Prints an annual 2600+ page catalog. Very complete supplier with tools, screws, shelving, wheels, lamps, heaters, air conditioners, plumbing, electrical supplies, plastics, metals, pumps, containers, motors, gauges, paint brushes, hooks, door hardware, pH testers, microscopes, etc. Metric and english threads and sizes, too. Small bits of information, reference charts and advice are scattered throughout the catalog. No minimum order. Satisfaction Guaranteed, whatever that means. No problem with returns, but they ask that you get specific return instructions before shipping anything back. All prices subject to change. Visa and MasterCard accepted. Prices are quoted plus actual shipping. Experience with McMaster-Carr is very good. They do update (read: raise) their prices frequently, so don't believe catalog prices. Get a quote before buying. Expect the catalog to be 10% low. Shipments have been prompt, complete, and accurate. Prices seem high, but they make up for it with "one-stop" shopping. - Merritt's Antiques, Inc. P.O. Box 277 Douglassville, PA 19518-0277 (610) 689-9541, (610) 689-4538 Clocks, clock parts, clock reparing tools, etc. - Metal Buyer's Mart, Ltd. (formerly Metal By Mail) N-15 W 22218 Watertown Road, Unit #3 Waukesha, WI 53186 (800) 657-0721, (414) 547-3860 (FAX) $2 catalog, which contains decent descriptions of what they sell (hardness, machinability, etc.). Ferrous and nonferrous metals, fasteners, and a few nonmetallic materials such as nylon and teflon. - Micro-Mark 340 Snyder Avenue Berkeleyheights NJ 07922-1595 (800) 225-1066, (908) 665-9383 Miniature tools & things, including Sherline lathes and mills. "Weensy" nonferrous tube, rod, sheet. Everything sold in small quantities. Prices not superb, but some of the items can't be found elsewhere. Sometimes have sale catalogs with some items marked down as much as 50%. - MSC Industrial Supply Co. 151 Sunnyside Blvd Plainview, NY 11803 (800) 645-7270 (AT&T), (800) 753-7900 (MCI), (800) 255-5067 FAX Their 93/94 catalog is 1971 pages, and their selection has been described as "dumbfounding". - Nordex, Inc. 50 Newton Road P.O. Box 1956 Danbury, CT. 06813 (800) 243-0986 Usual range of precision components. Spur gears down to .25" O.D. - Norm Larson Books 5426 E. Hwy 246 Lompoc, CA 93436 (800) 743-4766, (805) 735-2095 "... books on just about every subject about metal working there is." - Omega Engineering P.O. Box 2669 Stamford, CT 06906 (203) 359-1660 Mentioned as a source for pyrometers and/or materials for making thermocouples and other process-measurement stuff. - Penn Tool Company 1776 Springfield Ave Maplewood, NJ 07040 (800) 526-4956 A very-well-stocked supplier with a very large selection of drills, taps, reamers, and other machining tools. However, in some cases their prices seem outrageous, so check around first. On the other hand, they may be the only source for that odd-sized spiral-flute reamer you need, or that #00 tap. Their catalogs are free; there is a small (196 pages in 1993) one and a large one (410 pages, catalog no. P-912 as of late 1992), so ask for both (they may only send you the short one if you say you're a hobbyist). - PIC Design P.O. Box 1004 Benson Road Middlebury, CT. 06762 (800) 243-6125 Usual range of precision components. Gears down to less than 3/8" O.D. - Power Model Supply Rt 1 Box 177 NW Cor Hwy 67 & Lond Rd Desoto, MO 63020 (314) 586-6466 Similar to Cole's but heavier on the trains. Detailed engineering drawings for about 15 different engines. They also carry various metals. - Production Tool (800) 366-3600 Lathe tooling and such, fair prices, and often have the same item at different quality levels (more quality means more money, of course). - Reactive Metals Studio Box 890 Clarkdale, AZ 86324 (800)876-3434, (602)634-3434 Niobium, mixed metals, for jewelry and perhaps other purposes. - A.J. Reeves & Co (Birmingham) Ltd. Holly Lane Marston Green Birmingham B37 7AW, UK Plans and parts for stationary, marine, rail and road steam engines and a number of IC engines as well. Associated parts, materials and books (will ship internationally). - Reid Tool Supply Company 2265 Black Creek Road Muskegon, MI 49444-2684 (800) 253-0421, (616) 777-3951, (616) 773-4485 (FAX) Prints a 350+ page catalog twice a year. Very complete assortment of knobs, screws, clamps, springs, air hoses and couplings, drills, mills, taps, machinist's tooling, and books. No minimum order, 30-day return with full refund. Offers rework and specialty items with special conditions and terms. However, they want a company name before sending a catalog. - River Gems and Findings (formerly Rio Grande) Dept T1 6801 Washington NE Albuquerque, NM 87109 (800)545-6566 orders, (800)533-3299 service, (505)344-9671 fax Jewelry-making tools, perhaps more. Apparently a wholesaler, as they want a state tax ID or business license number before sending a catalog. - Rutland Tool & Supply 16700 E. Gale Avenue City of Industry, CA. 91745-0587 (800) 289-4787, (818) 961-7111, (800) 333-3787 (FAX) (courtesy of Jon Bork) Rutland is a general machine shop supply house, with a good selection of tools, machines and accessories. They primarily deal with professionals, but I have dealt with them in person and by phone and they have always been helpful and quick. They send out several catalogs yearly including a new safety equipment supply catalog. Their prices are reasonable and they stock both top of the line and "quality import" selections for most items. (Will Martin reports they ask for a company name before sending out a catalog) - S. LaRose, Inc. 234 Commerce Place, P.O. Box 21208 Greensboro, NC 27420 (919) 275-0462 Watch and clock movements, repair parts, supplies, tools, equipment. - Scanlon American Reprints P.O. Box 379 Modesto, CA 95353 (209) 667-2907 Scanlon sells many books on clocks. - Secs, Inc. 520 Homestead Ave. Mt. Vernon, N.Y. 10550 (914) 667-5600 General line of precision hardware, gears, pulleys, clutches, etc. - Servo Products Company 433 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Box 90370 Pasadena, CA 91109 (818) 796-2460, (818) 796-3845 (FAX) Small precision drill presses and milling machines, including a whopping expensive CNC mill ($15,000). Power feeds for mills. CNC small lathe, CNC add-on for large mills. - Small Parts, Inc. 13980 N.W. 58th Court P.O. Box 4650 Miami Lakes, FL. 33014 (305) 557-8222, (800) 423-9009 (FAX) Nicest line of supplies and hardware for prototype builders. Specifically targeted for small quantities. Catalog includes prices. More fun than the Sears catalog. - Stock Drive Products 2101 Jericho Turnpike Box 5416 New Hyde Park, NY 11042-5416 (516) 328-3300 The catalogs are actually published jointly by Stock Drive Products (SDP) and Sterling Instruments (SI). Both are divisions of Designatronics (DSG). These folks make all sorts of gears, drives, bearings, couplings, and related stuff. Small, not hydroelectric-sized. Ask them for their free publication "Handbook of Gears." They also publish "Handbook of Shafts, Bearings & Couplings," "Handbook of Timing Belts, Chains & Friction Drives," "Handbook of Design Components," "Aluminum Extrusions & Accessories." They also package the whole set (I asked for just the handbook of gears and got all five). See also W.M. Berg for a similar product line. - Swest, Inc. 11090 Stemmons Frwy Dallas, TX 75220 (800)527-5057, (214)247-7744, (214)247-5307 fax Jewelry-making tools, perhaps more. They ask for a company name and business license or tax ID, but may be willing to send a catalog without them. - Tee Publishing Edwards Centre Regent Street Hinckley Leics. LE100BB England 0455-637173/616419 From England, they publish Engineering in Miniature and other magazines. Similar to Argus, they have clockmaking books as well. They state they are the world's only company specializing in back issues of Model Engineer. - Texas Knifemakers Supply Box 79402 Houston, TX 77279 Catalog $2 - Travers Tool Company, Inc. 128-15 26th Avenue P.O. Box 1550 Flushing, NY 11354-0108 (800) 221-0270, (718) 886-7200, (800) 722-0703 (FAX), (718) 886-7895 (FAX) Prints a 500+ page large catalog once per year, and also sales flyers. Very complete line of tooling for machinists, including micrometers, mills, drills, reamers, broaches, taps, collets, tool posts, lathe tools, grinding wheels and stones, files, gages, vices, indicators, precision steel pieces, glops and goos, books, and some power tools. $25.00 minimum order. Visa, MasterCard, American Express accepted. Replace, refund, or full credit within 60 days of purchase (buyer's choice). Prices are subject to change without notice. Experience with Travers has been good. They are less expensive than McMaster-Carr and other full-price dealers. They sell premium and no-name lines of many similar tools so that you only buy the "quality" that you need. Their performance on orders was once imperfect, but they stand behind their merchandise, so correcting the error was easy, fast, and painless. I have ordered from them many times, so "one minor error out of many" is a good grade. - Vigor, sold by FDJ 2221 Lee Road, Suite #1 Winter Park, FL 32789 (800) 323-6091 (orders) (407) 629-6906 (407) 645-0707 (FAX) (FDJ is the company name, and sells the Vigor line) Jeweler's tools, video tapes, books, retailing supplies, and many universal tools being targeted at jewelers. Tweezers, ring forms, molds, forges, files, small lathes, loupes, calipers, torches, solders and brazing material, mountings, etc. An informative catalog. Very wide selection, but prices seem very high. - Village Press P.O. Box 1810 2779 Aero Park Drive Traverse City, MI 49685 (800) 447-7367, (616) 946-3712 Publishers of Home Shop Machinist, Projects in Metal, and Live Steam. Some back issues available; older ones are available as parts of several book series. See the individual entries in the "magazines" question. They also publish other books such as "So You Want to Build a Live Steam Locomotive." - Wholesale Tool (Stu Friedberg's favorite!) PO Box 68 Warren, MI 48089-0068 12155 Stephen Drive Warren, MI 48089-3962 800-521-3420, 800-521-3661 (fax), 313-754-9270, 313-754-8652 (fax) Broader selection of hand tools, fewer large machines than IP&S. Fork lifts. No bulk metals, but tool steel, shim stock, threaded rod, etc. Vast selection of cutting tools and grinding wheels. Scattering of interesting surplus items. Definitely oriented toward professional users, not hobbyists. Full line distributors for most instrument makers. 500 page full line catalog twice a year. You have to order by 8 digit stock number, so copy carefully. :-) 6 locations, main site in Warren, MI. Most items at most locations, some items in Michigan only, very few at other locations only. Credit cards, COD's with some payment restrictions $25 minimum order The other locations: PO Box 481 Stoughton, MA 02072-0481 1234 Washington Street (Route 138) Stoughton, MA 02072-3345, 800-343-1008, 617-344-0338, 617-341-0617 (fax) PO Box 700 Brandon, FL 33509-0700 9212 Adamo Drive Tampa, FL 33619-2631 800-237-4689, 813-623-3099, 813-623-5816 (fax) PO Box 470952 Tulsa, OK 74147-0952 9909 East 55th Place Tulsa, OK 74146-6404 800-331-4075, 918-627-2240, 918-627-2044 (fax) PO Box 240965 Charlotte, NC 28224-0965 4200 Barringer Drive Charlotte, NC 28217-1512 800-438-3580, 704-527-4071, 704-523-7960 (fax) 8100 Pinemont Drive Houston, TX 77040-6522 800-231-4585, 713-895-7777, 713-895-8113 (fax)