Subject: Building Tools..

From: [email-masked] (Randall Semeiks)
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 03:41:44 GMT

Has anybody built the machine tools from the "Build your own Metal
Working Shop from Scrap" series by Dave Gingery offered by Lindsay
Publications?  I have these books but have not started construction
yet.  I was wondering how difficult they actually are to build.  And
if anybody else has seen these books, what is your opinion on them?

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From: Paul Pierce <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 23:00:56 -0700

> if anybody else has seen these books, what is your opinion on them?

Haven't tried any YET...  The books sure make GREAT reading.  Doubt that
I will be able to pour metal, given my location.  BUT--(see attached)..

I did see a Gingery (type?) shaper runnning powered with a hit'n'miss
engine at the Jerome AZ engine show last spring.  Chips alll over the
place.
Sure seemed to do the job.

-- 
Paul in AJ AZ  NRA Endowment Member

Checkout the Metal Web News at:
new address (11/23/96)

http://www.ten.k12.tn.us/~wgray

Checkout the FAQ at:
http://PLAINS.UWYO.EDU/%7Emetal/index.html
OZARK PRECISION COMPONENTS
P.O. BOX 1100
MOUNTAIN VIEW AR  72560
1-501-269-2770

Offering castings for Dave Gingery's projects.  

Lathe castings        $175
with ground flats     $250

Shaper castings       $175
with ground flats     $250

Mill castings         $175
with ground flats     $250

Drill Press castings  $175

Saw a Gingery type shaper in May-powered by a hit-n-miss engine-at a show in
Jerome AZ.  It sure made chips fly.

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From: "Ron Reil" <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 Dec 1996 02:05:28 GMT

You will have a lot of fun doing the work, and you will be able to do some
interesting work with your shop when finished. Don't expect the tools you
build to compare with good commercial tools though. For a home project I
think that the whole series would be a great project. I am a blacksmith,
but do foundry work too, and that is what Gingery bases all his designs on.
I would suggest you try some foundry work to see what you think of it
first. There is more to it than first meets the eye.
-- 

                          *** Golden Age Forge and Foundry ***
                  Primary:         [email-masked]
                  Secondary:   [email-masked]
                  Home Page:
http://www.sd01.k12.id.us/schools/west/teachers/reil/index.html

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From: [email-masked] (niels jalling)
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 23:41:31 -0500

> if anybody else has seen these books, what is your opinion on them?
Not yet, but I'm on the way :-)

The  "Build your own Metal Working Shop from Scrap" series is my 
favorite reading and has been for the last 3 months now. I enjoy every 
minute can spend in my workshop (having a normal job and 4 small kids
and a wife to take care of too.)
 
This weekend I finished the last casting in chapter IV, The Carriage
Assembly. and started modelling the headstock parts. 
So mow the learning process of the "Art of Hand Scraping" has started. 

Today the outdoor temperature was around 0 deg Celcius (32 deg F), 
rather cold for the fingers when handling the sand. 

For the future I definitely will make the miller too. The shaper is 
a fun machine to operate (tried in the high school days), but  
my shop is too small for the whole series of machines :-) 

/Niels

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From: [email-masked] (Terry McCreary)
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 05:15:30 GMT

>I will be able to pour metal, given my location.  BUT--(see attached)..

With an electric furnace, non-oil bonded sand, and very clean scrap
you might get away with it almost anywhere.

>Sure seemed to do the job.

I finished only the lathe and don't know if I'll go farther (now that
I have some access to a machine shop at my university).  I scaled it
up to 10x24" which was not a good idea.  I'd guess a year and a half
of spare-time effort.  It runs fairly well, and one of these days I'll
replace the spindle and bushings so it runs smoother.  Still, I was
able to take a 0.1" thick chip off a piece of (leaded?) steel in one
pass.

I used square hotrolled steel tubing with .25" wall for the bed.  Less
work than making a special flask and pattern for one casting, though
it was a bear to file flat.

If you want to start the series, I'd suggest you dive in.  Pick the
easiest part (apron), make the pattern, and cast that sucker.  And
enjoy yourself!

Terry McCreary
If I knew what I was doing, it wouldn't be research...