From: jimkirk@news.uwyo.edu (Jim Kirkpatrick) Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking Subject: FAQ part 6 of 7 Date: 1 Sep 94 10:13:44 MDT Organization: University of Wyoming - Laramie, WY This is the FAQ for rec.crafts.metalworking. It is in several pieces to keep the overall size of each part below the limits imposed by some news systems. This is part 6 of 7. 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: 0. Where is this FAQ kept, and where are archives of the newsgroup? 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? The questions being answered in part 2: 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? 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? The questions being answered in part 3: 18. MIG welding technique. 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? The questions being answered in part 4: 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? The questions being answered in part 5: 28. What is involved in building a steam engine? 29. How do I anodize aluminum? 30. Rust! How do I deal with rust? The questions being answered in part 6: 31. Are there any machinery museums? 32. How do I cut metal? 33. What kind of oil should I use on my lathe/mill? The question being answered in part 7: 99. Names and addresses of publishers and suppliers (OK, so I got tired of re-numbering it every time a new question was added!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 31. Are there any machinery museums? Maine: Owls Head Transportation Museum, just South of Rockland, Maine (about midway up the Maine coast). Many airplanes, but also bicycles, static and cutaway aircraft engines, automobiles, and early steam and gasoline engines. In summertime they do car shows and regular weekend flying shows, and run some of the other equipment such as a Buffalo Springfield steam roller and a one-cylinder Mogul tractor. Occasionally have auctions of engines, model and full-size, and other mechanical stuff; these are consignment auctions that benefit the museum, not "overstock" of the museum itself. Phone (207) 594-4418. American Precision Museum P.O. Box 679 Windsor, VT 05089 (802) 674-5781 On display are mostly metalworking tools which date from the early 1800s up through some of the first numerically controlled machines. In addition there is some woodworking equipment. The museum is located just off U.S. route 5 or South Main St. in Windsor, Vermont and from May 20 to November 1 it is open 9 to 5 on weekdays and 10 to 4 on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays. The Smithsonian Museums, Washington DC. Boston Computer Museum. Lots of computers of course, if you are interested. They also have a mechanical "computer" that plays tic-tac-toe made from tinkertoys and string. Also a robotics display which should be enjoyed by metalworkers. Cambridge, Massachussets: the Science Museum has several mechanical displays and a full machine shop in the basement. National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis TN. (901) 744-6380 Los Alamos National Lab (New Mexico) has a museum, including things like the Beryllium-Copper tools used in early atomic bomb work. Henry Ford Museum, and/or Greenfield Village (adjacent to the museum), near Dearborn/Detroit Michigan. Very large, described as a paradise for mechanical engineering nuts. The museum is 12 acres, and the village is 93 acres. One day is inadequate for a full visit! Old cars, steam engines, restored 1880s factories, Thomas Edison's workshop and Henry Ford's. Future: In Greenfield, Massachussets, they are trying to put together a cutting tool museum. As of this writing (6/15/94) they are still trying to find a place to house it, so it may be mid-1995 or so before it opens. May have early steam/gasoline engines when open. (8/26/94: plans are to put it in the old Greenfield Tap and Die plant). Around central Massachussets, there is also the Springfield Armoury, LS Starrett, Old Sturbridge Village (a colonial "theme" village), Charles River Museum of Industry (154 Moody Street, Waltham, MA 02154 tele (617) 893-5410), a textile museum in Lowell with machinery and lots of displays of cloth, and the American Precision Museum (mentioned earlier); all within an hour and a half of Greenfield. Nantucket Island (off Massachusetts) has a 1740 windmill grinding corn (maze) when there is enough wind and it's wooden works are a fine example of the tech of the time... they also have machinery for manufacture of candles from whale oil in the Whaling museum there. At Saugus (North of Boston), the iron works is a fine example of a 1650 iron works right down to a replica of one of only 8 rolling and slitting mills that existed in the world at that time. Connecticut Electric Railway Museum at Warehouse Point (2 miles from I-91, about 20 miles north of Hartford) has a repair shop with the usual machine shop tools for its fine collection of trolley cars. Another trolley museum is forming now in Shelburne Falls, Mass., about 10 miles west of Greenfield, which will restore the original trolley car which served that town and may have a small workshop/carbarn by 1995/1996(?). (That is c/o Shelburne Chamber of Commerce.) Ohio: The museum of the early industrial revolution is located in Coalbrookdale (AKA Iron Bridge Gorge), has a lot of early steam engines -- walking beam, etc. The last working producer of wrought iron in England donated the complete factory when they went out of business. Future: the National Inventors' Hall of Fame due to open in 1995 in Akron OH... the PR says that it will allow "Visitors to tinker with wind tunnels, lathes, molds and other engines of creation" Tennesee: Dixie Gun Works, in Union City. They demo how gun barrels were forged around the time of the American Civil War. Lots of machinery, automobiles, nostalgic junk, photos, and of course guns. Colorado Springs, Colorado: just north is an excellent museum dealing with hard rock mining, including working examples of machinery. The Museum of Western Mining is just off I-25 at exit 156 (North gate of the Air Force academy). Colorado Springs is about 60 miles south of Denver. They even have blacksmithing classes. Denver has one of the US Mints, where they stamp out coins (not printed money). Tours; kind of boring, but it doesn't take too long. Denver also has the Forney Transportation Museum, which I think is a real dump *except* they have a Big Boy locomotive on display you can walk right up to and look over (world's largest steam locomotive ever built). East of Denver is the Georgetown Loop, a small historical railroad that also has a hardrock mine tour. Just east of Denver, near Golden, is the Colorado Railroad Museum. If you are in Durango, Colorado, the Durango & Silverton railroad (a nice narrow-gauge mountain scenic tour) has tours of their steam engine shop, including the only known remaining engine-wheel "quartering" machine (sets loco wheels at 90 degrees on the shaft). Santa Monica Flying Museum. Santa Monica, CA. Don't know much about it except they have on display a "rotary" engine where the crank and pistons are stationary, and the case revolves. California: the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum, run in part by the California Early Day Gas Engine & Tractor Association. 2400 North Santa Fe Avenue, Vista CA 92083. Call (619) 941-1791 or (800) 5-TRACTOR. Steam, gas, tractors, blacksmith shop, farm implements. Twice a year for two consecutive weekends they start engines, run tractors, and such (apparently the last 2 weekends in June and October). Canada: Museum of Steam and Technology, in Hamilton, Ontario. Built around the original City of Hamilton waterworks plant and contains the two original Gartshore compound rotative beam pumping engines from the 1850s. These engines stand about four stories high. The museum also contains quite a bit of steam model oriented exhibits. In England, the museum at Iron Bridge (or Ironbridge Gorge) deals with the history of the metals industry. Black Country Museum in Dudley (West of Birmingham, in the Midlands). This was in the heart of small-scale Victorian engineering, and it's now a restored canal basin & canal tunnel (boat rides available) together with a number of small terraced houses and manufactories. Most of the houses have an outbuilding in their back yards with the workshops of nailmakers, chainmakers etc. Also in England, the Hunday tractor museum (just off the A69 Newcastle-Carlisle road). A farm museum with tractors, implements, stationary engines, etc. They reportedly also have a grass landing strip for airplanes, but you'd better call before landing! There's a museum in Bath (walk up-hill from the Assembly Rooms) which has an interesting collection of old workshop machinery (and an old fizzy-water bottling plant). If you're in Bristol then visit the Industrial Museum which has a good collection of aero engines. The Amberley (?spel) Chalk Pits Museum, Sussex. Perhaps not too relevant to this group, as there's more besides old metalwork-style engineering. But their narrow gauge factory railway is still running, along with a couple of stationary engines. Also, a good collection of old radio sets and related equipment, and for some, the prize exhibit, a UAX13 telephone exchange, still operating, which runs the museum phone system. Add to that a small collection of old domestic electrical appliances, demonstrations of old crafts, printing presses, etc. The Cambridge (or is it Cambridgeshire) Museum of Technology, Cambridge. The old water pumping station on the River Cam, and they still run the horizontal oscillating steam engines. These were replaced by single-cylinder gas engines which they also run. There are a couple of other engines to see, the original boilers, a small collection of electrical stuff, a collection of printing presses, and a few other things. This museum only opens occasionally, so check opening times before visiting. The Hove Engineerium, near Brighton. There are about 3 or 4 stationary steam engines that are run at some weekends, together with a very nice collection of model engines, etc. Science Museum of London has a recently-built "difference engine", as designed by Charles Babbage (see February 1993 Scientific American). An amazing machine. Kew Bridge Pumping Museum just West of London, across the bridge from Kew Gardens. Lots of steam engines working each weekend, including a 90-inch beam engine. Also internal combustion engines. NRM (National Railway Museum) in York, England. A great place to go look at Railway stuff in general, lots of nice big steam engines. The NRM is expanding their workshop/restoration area and opening it up to the public (from behind a barrier, obviously) so you can go and watch them rebuilding and maintaining their "stock". National Railway Museum (NRM) Leeman Road Voice: +44-904-621261 York YO2 4XJ FAX: +44-904-611112 32. How do I cut metal? Jim Driscoll posted a list of cutting methods, ranging from simple to exotic. There were several subsequent suggestions and additions. - Snips These things are scissors that will cut light gauge metal [up to 23-18 gauge, depending on type] and are comparatively inexpensive [$15-$42, W. W. Grainger (WWG)]. The lighter the material the easier they are to use, and the more likely it is that you can cut a curved shape successfully. There are electric versions of these, called electric shears, that will cut up to 12ga mild, cut down to 1in radius, and cost from $204-$612. I have no experience with these. - Knock-out Punches Sometimes what you want to cut is a circle, or a slot for a computer connector. In these cases there are standard punches that will cut these shapes accurately. You first drill a pilot hole and put the cutter on one side, the die on the other, and then draw them together by turning a threaded bolt. The larger sizes require a hydraulic driver. The manufacturer claims that these are good up to 10 gauge mild, but I have managed to cut holes in 12ga stainless (a tad thinner, but stronger). These things cost $17-$66 (WWG) for up to 2in, considerably more for the larger sizes ($309 for 4in). - Hack Saw You probably already know about this, but don't forget it. Its portable and cheap, but can be tiring. Use both hands, and buy the best blade you can afford. Any blade can break, so be careful. Cutting fluid reportedly helps, just as it does in lathe/mill cutting. The right number of teeth per inch (tpi) can also be important; as a rule of thumb, you want 3 teeth in the work, so for example you'd want 6 to 12 tpi for 1/2-inch stock. - SawzAll Sawzall is a trademark of Milwaukee for a reciprocating saw, more or less a jigsaw on steroids (And don't forget the jigsaw!). These cost $136-$187 and with enough patience and blades can cut fairly heavy material in complex shapes (well, at least curves of 3in radius). One metal fabricator I met cuts the patterns for his stainless cones with a Sawzall. He has just broken down an purchased a plasma torch (q.v.). - Band Saw upright/cutoff These come in every size from the tiny to the unimaginably big. They come in two basic styles, an upright version that is better for trying to cut shapes, and a cut-off version that has the throat arranged so that an arbitrarily large length can be cut off of an arbitrarily long piece of stock. These things, for a reasonable size for a home shop cost from $150-$5000. I have a version of the cheesey cut-off saw sold by Enco and others for about $200. It has its limitations, but I am happy with it. - Grinder with Cutoff Wheel With an angle grinder or a die grinder equipped with a cut-off wheel, you can cut pipe, tube, rounds, flats, sheet, and maybe even plate, but only in straight line, or maybe a very large radius curve. If you already have a grinder, this is a very inexpensive solution ($4 for an abrasive wheel). There are also cutoff wheels designed for use in circular saws. - Chop Saw This is basically a mitre saw with an abrasive cutoff wheel. It's the kind of thing a contractor users to cut metal studs or rebar, but I use one to cut pipe, tube, rounds, and flat stock quickly. They cost $233-$502. - Nibbler These look a bit like a jigsaw, but instead of a blade, they have a punch and die assembly. They work by punching out material 1-2000 times per minute along the cutting path. Some are designed with a round punch so that the tool can be turned in any direction and the cut continued for cutting intricate shapes. These cost from $318 (16ga mild) to $1060 (8ga mild). You can rent these at my local tool rental store. There are also small hand-powered nibblers from Radio Shack and the like, useful for odd holes in small chassis and the like. - Lathe/Milling Machine Don't forget that you can use a lathe to cut off material to a precise length or to finish a crudely cut piece to a more precise dimension. A milling machine can be used to mill slots for connectors as well as other crazily shaped holes in heavier material. - Shear A shear is basically a giant pair of scissors that is designed to cut sheet or plate along a straight line into two pieces rather cleanly and somewhat precisely (+-1/32). A small 30in combination shear, brake, and roll, that is manually powered and can shear 20ga mild costs $1095. Shears, however, are made unimaginably large, and if you go to a shipyard, you can probably get your 2in plate sheared there. It is probably outside the budget of most to actually buy a shear for anything but very light material. Your best bet is to find a welding shop in a cheap part of town, that has operated for generations, that seems to have nothing to do, and that has a shear. - Flame Cutting The idea behind flame cutting is to heat up ferrous metal until it starts to burn, and then direct oxygen at it in the direction you want to cut to continue the burn in that direction. When I was on a tight budget I successfully got my job done with a $20 hardware store oxygen/propane outfit, but for about $200-$300 plus the rental/deposit on the tanks you can have a nice welding/cutting rig that will cut 6in plate. You can cut fairly intricate shapes with this, and depending on your skill and dexterity and the thickness of the material they will have a fairly clean edge. One drawback of this method is that it is material specific. It will not cut stainless, for instance. (Well, actually I have seen the results of someone ``severing'' stainless with a burning rig [``cut'' would be a bit generous considering the results], and I am suspicious that what really happened was that the stainless was melted away.) - Plasma Cutting A plasma torch transfers an electric arc from the torch to the work piece which heats up a stream of gas (usually just compressed air) to a plasma. The thin stream of plasma is so hot that it will cut any known metal (That is, according to my manual. I am suspicious that it will cut all the unknown ones too.) A hand held torch that can cut 1/8in mild costs about $1000 and you need a compressor or an air cylinder too. The quality of the cut is very good if you have enough power for the thickness of the material and if you can move the torch smoothly. I have a 30amp plasma torch from HyperTherm that I am very pleased with. I use it to cut stainless and use nitrogen for the cutting gas. If you are considering buying one of these, you should know that 30 amps from one manufacturer may not cut as much or as well as 20 amps from another. Also, when one manufacturer claims that their machine will cut 1/2" plate it may not be the same quality of cut as another machine that claims to cut 1/2": the closer you push the machine to its limit, the worse the cut. - Laser Cutting A friend of a friend in the Netherlands has one of these that looks like a scroll saw and cuts thick material cleanly, rapidly, and intricately. I have no knowledge of small units like this in this country despite modest attempts to find them. There is no particular reason why these should be terribly expensive. Warning: Many of the cutting methods above utilize tools with which it is quite easy to injure yourself. It is important to lean and follow the proper precautions in using tools and equipment. I know this because, for example, I burned myself with liquid propane out of ignorance of the proper safety precautions for handling fork lift propane cylinders. 33. What kind of oil should I use on my lathe/mill? This is certainly a frequently asked question! The first answer is to use whatever the manufacturer's manual suggests, presuming you have a manual for your machine. Feed-screw threads, half nuts, back gears and similar are usually lubricated with a heavy oil such as Vactra 2, or grease if protected from chips and swarf. Some suggest a mixture of oil and STP oil treatment. Beds and "ways" are often treated with special oils, called "way oils". ISO 68 (light to medium weight). Examples: Exxon Febis K 68, Shell Tona T-68, Sun way lub 1180, Mobil Vactra No 2, Texaco Way lube 68, Gulf Gulfway 68, Cheveron Vistac 68X. Spindle bearings call for "spindle oil" such as Exxon Nutto H32, Shell Tellus V32, BP HLP32, Castrol Hyspin AWS32, and Mobil DTE 32 (in this case the 32 is the ISO VG32 spec, about the same as SAE 10-weight, and is what Myford recommends for their lathes). ISO grade 22 is also used. All three types are available from the better supply outfits, such as MSC. Remember that the money you spend on proper oils will be a lot less than the cost of replacing the machine! A suggestion I've read is to oil lathe ways before using, to clean off dust/grunge that may have accumulated since you last used it. After work is finished, wipe off but leave a film for rust prevention. Multigrade motor lubricants are not recommended. They are full of all sorts of stuff to make the oil work inside an internal combustion engine. Use a straight 30 or 20 grade oil with no detergent if you can't find anything else. A transmission oil might be OK in an oil-filled gearcase. Elsewhere we mentioned the book "A Brief treatise on Oiling Machine Tools" (Guy Lautard) but nobody's posted a review yet.