Metro Detroit Metalworking Club

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March 2005

President’s Message

Greetings. Its still Winter and getting through it without going crazy(er) is spent in the shop making chips. When people ask what I make with my machines, I say "mostly chips." But I just found a way to make less. I need sleeves with 1.5"OD, 1"ID and 1" long. I could drill them out of solid bar, but the fun goes out of that - fast. Instead, I starting leafing through the "Materials Reference Guide" I bought from Metal Mart U.S.A. in Warren . There was a big section (39 pages) called "round mechanical tubing." It comes in sizes from 1/8" to 16" OD. There are over 1,000 variations of OD and ID. For the 1.5" OD piece I needed, there are 20 different wall thicknesses available. I bought a 2 foot chunk, and saved a lot of time. 

I checked out our club website a few days ago. Its very, very nice, but only about 4 of us have registered. The forum section is a way to ask questions of the group without waiting for the next meeting. Or, its a way to pass on what you know. Either way, its a valuable resource, but we are not exploiting it. Give it a try.  See you at the meeting.  John Osborne.

Minutes.February 9, 2005 meeting brought to order at 7:55PM with Prez John Osborne presiding. Even with inclement weather 16 Members and 2 first-time Guests were present.

-Prior to others arrival, Don Foren popped in to be sure the MDMC meeting was on, and then dropped off some of those special white-board felt tips in case we needed to “sketch out” anything during the meeting. Thanks Don.

-John O. asked the Guests to identify themselves with a bit of history and interests.  Joe Esseichick works at GM as an Environmental Auditor, lives in the Ann Arbor area but originally from Boston , was a machinist in his early work years. His hobby and great (2^nd) love is his re-built ’69 Harley, and he’s getting started turning with a 6 X 18 Atlas lathe. Karl Peters works at Cobra as a Machinist, mostly on building auto-industry checking-fixtures, lives in Clinton Twp. His hobby is building engines for HO model railroading, but is also building a Stuart 10-H engine.  I believe both gentlemen said they “found” us through the MDMC website.  Welcome to both.

-The 2005 Club Questionnaires were handed out by Al Campbell, which Members & Guests were asked to complete during the meeting and return to Al before the evening closed. No signature is required, but nice if you do.  More are available for anyone not present, and given to Al at any time.  Everyone, PLEASE complete one to help give the Club direction in the future.

-Al said the Club was financially solvent again.

-Brian apologized to Al and the Members for the incorrect Treasurer’s Report in the February, 2005 Newsletter.

-John O. announced that four of the Club Officers had completed Word 101 earlier in the day, and diplomas will be handed out on satisfactory completion of the course. Efforts here will (hopefully) influence Newsletter quality.

-After some enquiry by Emil, a discussion ensued about “where” the tapes were that used to be available for loan at the meetings might be. Brian pointed out that most, if not all, had belonged to Bob Lorenz personally and were never “Club Property”. Many were never returned to Bob either!  In fact, Brian had coffee with Bob earlier in the day, and Bob mentioned that he wouldn’t mind getting his coffee maker back too, now that there is no coffee provided at the meetings.  Use it or Lose it!!  Ummmm….does Anybody know where it is???

-This discussion also prompted a mention of a video rental service through < http://technicalvideorental.com>.  They mail the videos to you for a week, and you mail them back. Lots of subjects shown on the web-site, in particular help and how-to for various aspects of metalworking. While some did make comments about the price charged, others suggested that videos like these most often cost a minimum of $50, and many are priced well above that.

-There were some very brief comments on global warming….or was that a heated discussion on the local cold weather and the methods, objectivity, and veracity of  reporting same. No definitive conclusion drawn at this time. Round 2 next month.

-Emil mentioned again that he appreciated the advice from new Member Earl Austenberry, on the suggestion to use Stress-Proof steel as the material of choice for a project needing threading. Earl also suggested Fracture-Proof as another good alternative if the material is to be used as say a shaft with heavy axial wear.  Emil obtained his Stress-Proof material by phoning ASAP in the Ann Arbor area, and they mailed it to him. ASAP is the vendor at NAMES that has supplied MDMC with free materials for the annual hand-outs, and it’s nice if we can patronize them when possible.  Earl did go on to say that most any good steel supply house would have the product.

-Karl Gross made us all jealous by telling us of a “good deal” he got on some machinists hand tools and two wooden tool boxes.  One of the boxes is a Gerstner, which is in nearly new condition and even had a 1924 catalog with it.  The box Karl stole..whoops!!..bought… was the highest price item shown in the old catalog at $24.  Today, that same style and size Gerstner goes for about $800.

-Al Campbell reported that he has received some of the tools that Rick Mammel is donating, and noted there were quite a number of 30 and 40 taper tool-holders, and some sort of a weld-tester.  When he has most of it in and catalogued, a decision will be made on the best way financially for the Club to dispose of the items.

-Leonard Kopich asked for suggestions for an economical drill press for his daughters use.  She got a new one from Sears that has excessive run-out in the spindle/chuck, and no apparent way to disassemble to correct it.  He thinks the chuck end of the spindle is bent.  Many comments were made about the poor quality of many tools now-a-days, and the fact that no company supplies any drawings useful to repair them with the product.  Someone suggested going directly to the Sears Repair Depot and ask for a micro-fiche  of the exploded view.

-Bert Campbell mentioned a sales site that has some good deals at <http://www.woot.com>

-Brian made a motion that the minutes of the January meeting minutes be accepted as published.  Carried.

Business portion of the meeting closed about 7:50PM .

Business portion of the meeting closed about 7:50PM .

-Karl Gross showed a really nice dividing head and center he is making from George H. Thomas plans.  Castings and a book of plans are from Hemingway Kits.  It is nice small size, suitable for a Myford, but Karl has beefed up the baseplate to get the center height up to the required for his Maxi-Mat. Workmanship to this point is excellent. The gears and lead screws that would be impossible to make without this tool are supplied with the kit.  Karl says that with an auxiliary worm the head is capable of achieving 1/1000 of a degree division, which on a 3” diameter gear would be approximately .000026” travel at the periphery!!  Or, look at it this way… a 3” gear with 100 teeth would have a total error of less than a thou!  Accurate!! Yep!

-Adam Hermann brought a “gadget”, for help in identifying its purpose.  Bearing expander maybe?? Anyone??

-Adam also brought in a plier thingy that looked like it was a hand punch of some sort.  Anybody got a clue on this?

-Jerry Harmon brought a sample of a rifle sight he’s reproducing.  It’s only about 1” wide by ½” high and maybe ½” thick, with a T-slot.   He said that Bill Huxthold, the Toronto Master Craftsman, had once advised Jerry that when working on small parts, once the stock is fixtured, do not remove until completely machined.  Following that advice, Jerry had to come up with a workable method of doing just that. 

His solution is simplicity itself.  Instead of starting with a little thin strip to machine which would be very hard to hold, Jerry figured out that he could make two parts at a time if he made them from a piece of 1” round stock. He held the material in a 5C collett block, milled each of the opposite sides of the round material to be the “peeps” and ramps, and in the 2nd photo you can see he has scribed on the end where to mill to form the rounded finger grips, then cut a T-slot through both, and part off the two pieces in nearly finished condition. Very clever!! This guy thinks in 3-D!!

-Leonard Kopich gave a very visual explanation of two examples of a common philosophy he practised one day. It’s the old “If a little bit is good, a little more is better!!” Leonard told us of a self-winding wrist watch he had for many years that began running poorly, so he opened up the back of the case and carefully oiled a number of key points. The watch ran quieter, and kept time again, but “If a little is good, a little more is better!”. So he oiled it some more.  It quit altogether. He reasoned, quite correctly, that he had applied too much oil, and that maybe he could sling some of the excess out.  He held it by the expansion bracelet and began flipping it like he was fly-casting. Sure enough, as some of the oil came out, the watch started to run again. But his wrist was getting sore from “fishing”, so he reasoned that if he were to stretch the band around the outside of a 3” chuck in the lathe, centrifugal force would sling out a bit more. Sure enough, it worked quite well. Of course, if a little is good, a little more is better. So, he set the spindle to a higher speed, and turned on the lathe. After he swept up the floor, he got a nice new digital watch, and it is better!!.  Sorry, but no photos of that. See graphic.

Meeting ended about 9:00 PM , with table discussions following for some time.

FLASH----FLASH----FLASH Your intrepid reporter has it from a reliable but unnamed source that Bill Huxthold has recently completed his latest project, a milling machine.  He will have it on display at NAMES.

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