On May 28, 6:27*pm, "Michael Koblic" wrote:
I see I managed to filter off Jim's post inadvertently, so I guess I have to
respond "second-hand".

"Robert Swinney" wrote in message

Bob Swinney
"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
... cold chisels...

***Never thought of chisels. Will they work on 5mm thick plate?

Mild steel plate? Sure, as long as you clamp it solidly to something
heavy. You can practice on wood across the grain to get the feel to
cut a constant depth. Chisels are "Armstrong Milling Machines". The
last steel I chiseled was rivet heads on a truck frame, the last wood
was a new transom I fitted onto a neighbor's boat last week. In
neither case did machine tools help. It's a useful skill.

Grind the teeth off one edge of a file to make it cut sharp inside
corners and only work one surface at a time. Coarse files are better
for long cuts because the teeth don't fill with chips halfway through
the stroke.

***See, this is the sort of thing I would not have thought of and that makes
perfect sense

You can buy files with a safe edge for finishing inside corners. The
common types are "hand" and "pillar".
I use them a lot for custom cutouts in electronic control panels.

***I am hoping to join the 18th century sometimes next year. The time
value - at present little. That may change.

This crazy guy is a good source of technical books from the early 20th
century, which is about the state of the art for many of our home
shops today. He has had a better selection in the past but Elements of
Machine Work and Advanced Machine Work are good.

http://www.lindsaybks.com/

I am sure you are right. I am in fact looking. The 9-12" in the lathe
department would be the swing-over-bed? There is a slew of small lathes on
the EBay, 7"x 8-12", all under $600. The bigger machines are out of my
league. The other issue is space.
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

US practice is to specify a lathe by maximum work diameter over the
ways and length of bed. My 10" x 42" lathe can hold a 10" pulley blank
on a face plate but it's limited to stock a bit less than 6" diameter
over the carriage and about 20" long.

If I had the space I'd own a Bridgeport. I passed up a Monarch 10EE
for $2000 because I had no room for it.

Jim Wilkins