On 2008-12-22, Michael Koblic wrote:
Jim Wilkins wrote:

[ ... ]

A trick that's claimed to work is to drill a slightly undersized hole
between two hardwood clamp blocks and sprinkle in powdered rosin, like
baseball players use for grip. Or scrape some off a tree.

I use it for soldering. Maybe that is the answer. That would mean having the
gnomon stationary and some sort of die-holder chucked in the drill press.

Or -- turn a piece of aluminum to a sliding fit on the gnomon,
slit one side, and clamp it in the lathe chuck or in a vise to clamp the
aluminum down on the gnomon. This should be a good grip. (It could
even be used in the drill press chuck if the total diameter is small
enough to fit the chuck.

[ ... ]

Right now it is 3.5 degrees C in my "workshop" and I do not really
want to be there :-).

Mine is twice as warm, 7C. It serves as my winter refrigerator.

Anything below 10C and the enthusiasm for the hobby begins to fade. Even
with a triple layer of clothing, woolly hat etc.

Be warned -- *don't* use machine tools while wearing gloves.
They can catch on the chuck jaws or on a dog or whatever and wrap your
arm around the workpiece or the mill spindle. If you can't keep your
hands warm enough with a close space heater, *don't* work there.

[ ... ]

Most household chemicals seem to freeze without bursting the
container, becoming a slushy mix of small ice crystals rather than a
solid rigid block. They do have to survive warehouse storage.

As long as the hydrochloric acid and ferric chloride stay in their bottles
all will be well.

Neither of those are common household chemicals, both have lots
of water in them, and so the question of what is the freezing point is a
function of how much of the other things are in there with the water.

I would bring both into the warmed house if I were you. Or at
least put each in a soft plastic container surrounding the glass one, so
if the glass breaks, the plastic keeps the fluids away from other
things.

Normally this is not an issue locally, but this year our
temperature has been consistently below the seasonal average. Must be the
global warming I suppose...

Be careful with both of those substances.

BTW -- *don't* use either near your machine tools They *will*
rust like mad. Go outdoors to use either (unless you have a fume hood).

Good Luck,
DoN.

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