8-Bit Hack

One of the first projects I decided on when I bought my lathe was a brass hammer.  There were several reasons for this choice.  First, a hammer has a fairly simple profile and seemed apt for a first project.  Second, I gave me the opportunity to learn/improve several different skills in one project.  Third, I wanted [...]

I’ve been learning all kinds of new things over the last two weeks since getting my laser table up and running under computer control.  Working out a good workflow for going from drawing to tool paths to gcode to finished project running on the table is not the easiest thing in the world.  I am currently [...]

When I bought my mini lathe, one of the first things I noticed is that there is a port on the control panel for a tachometer.  Unfortunately, the official tach costs about $127 and looks like this.  I decided that since the port was already there and the tach just plugged right in, the signal must [...]

I recently decided to upgrade my home shop a bit with some metal working tools.  I bought a 6″ bench grinder, a metal-cutting band saw and a 7×16 mini lathe.  I’ve also been looking around at all the various options for mini lathes and I’ve mostly decided on one particular brand.  Unfortunately, it isn’t in stock [...]

Mechanical!

Finished up the mechanical part of the cutter.  The X/Y/Z table is done and everything is moving great.  It went together really well other than a few small issues.  Once I got the gantry on the y-axis rails, I noticed it started binding up about halfway up the rails.  It took a lot of tweaking, loosening, [...]