Hello all,
I am new to the board, I "came over" from Practical Machinist sorta.. or possibly Steve Bedair's site.
Im married with two teen boys, and too many cars for my house. (no im not giving them away)
Been making and building things since... well I made a biplane from 4x4s and 2x6s at 6. Models, R/C aircraft, rockets the works from there. College for Aviation. Commercial Pilot. BUT work as a Network Admin. (Thanks Eastern Airlines for Closing right before I graduated)
When not doing my "Real" job (mon-wed) I work on the cars, and or projects in my small garage. 28x32, and two stories. My wife (love her forever) let me build it, and its actually TWICE the sq ft of our house, and towers over it.
I also do fabrication, and one off work for a local race shop that manufacturers F500 race cars, and takes in special projects that I do for them. (Engine swap in a Lotus Motorsports Elise with a modified K20 Honda)
I always had been fascinated with Lathes and Mills.. but never had either. SO I was forced to make do with files, hack saws, sanders, drill press, the works. Made some really interesting thigns over the years, and then started using the mill and lathes of the race shop I work at on weekends.
Couple years ago I finally bought my own Lathe, a
http://www.wttool.com/product-exec/product_id/14795/nm/11_x_26_Lathe_With_Stand_WT_Import_ Wholesale Tool 11x26. Which I found to be lacking in a LOT of features the 1950s lathe I had been using had. But didnt know I was missing them.
Upgraded a couple things.. quick change tool post that it came with "swapped" out for a Phase II style.
Made a ball turner
Made a variety of stuff on the lathe and realised I was lacking a Mill.
Convinced my wife that waiting for TWO WEEKS to get a bellhousing milled slightly, and drilled precisely, was retarded.
So she let me buy a Mill
Bought a used Acra Bridgeport Series 1 clone. Fixed up a little of the stuff that was not quite perfect (other than paint) and started making stuff
Found the site here, and am happy to see this seems to be exactly what I was looking for.
I know there are sites with people building all sorts of thigns for a living, using high dollar machines, and ripping out incredibly complex items from a CNC machine. But honestly.. I "play" with the tools for the artisan factor. An thats what Im teaching my boys as they actually still want to hang out with me. Its not about ripping out a part. Its about crafting something. And I see this forum seems to be tailored for people who are crafting things.. not just ripping out a load of parts for an order.
Soon as I can get things up to Imageshack, and make sure I know how to upload pics.. I will put some up.
Thanks!
Scott
SPiN Racing
PS: I have also got the MIG, bandsaw, drill press, hydraulic press etc etc etc.
PPS: Still Missing a tubing bender of my own.
PPPS: and missing a lift.. but that will need to go between the house and garage.. where the race trailer is. And the cieling in the garage is not high enough.. there is an upstairs.
