On 2008-12-22, Michael Koblic wrote:
DoN. Nichols wrote:
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.

When you say "turn", you don't mean....?!

A "lathe" -- yes. :-)

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.

I guess my 10-ft scarf is right out, then... :-)

As is my 30-foot "Dr. Who" pattern scarf.

The Taig probably doesn't have the power to be a serious risk,
but I'll bet that the Mini Mill does.

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.

They are in plastic and triple-wrapped.

Good.

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).

Ferric chloride has never given me problems. No fumes to speak of.
Unimpressed wife if you wash the bowls in her sink. HCl is a different
kettle of fish...

Well ... not when it's cold, but I've experienced FeCl solution
in a printed circuit board spray etcher. Someone else (I actually know
who it was) left the lid up and the heater on overnight, so there were
fumes (not much but there were). And there was a Gerstner lathe-bed
style optical bench with several optical bench slides on it, and those
were rusted beyond recovery. At least the thing had a safety switch to
keep the spray pump from running while the lid was up. :-)

When we moved the PC facility to another building, and and added
a thin film integrated circuit facility, I designed a plexiglass housing
to go over the new spray etcher, with a sliding front door, to keep
*everything* turned off except when the sliding door was closed and the
exhaust fan on the roof was running. It was also located as far from
anything with rust potential as possible -- and that was a *large* room.

Enjoy,
DoN.

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