I've only been cutting uncoated steel and deoxidized copper, but it doesn't seem to matter which one of those. I'll try wearing a respirator and see what happens. After a while of cutting, there is always a strong, lingering smell of ionized air, the type of smell that you get after a nearby lightni...

I've been doing a lot of plasma cutting lately and I've noticed that when I do, I have to go take a leak about every 10 or 15 minutes. No other type of shop work does that to me. I can usually go about 8 to 10 hours a day without taking a leak doing any other type of work even if I'm drinking water ...

Here's a spec sheet on this lathe. The only thing I ever really had to complain about on this model is that it only has a #2 morse taper on the headstock. A #3 would be a lot more useful I think, but whaddya gonna do? Chuck mount is D1-3. The lathe is 3 phase and if you don't have 3 phase available,...

Anyone living near Phoenix Arizona that needs a really good precision metal engine lathe should check this one out on a government surplus site. http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucbdupd/?sl=91QSCI15239601 I have the same model, a 1943 Model 10EE and can testify that these are awesome lathes. This...

My schoolwork.

That looks awesome!

Problem solved!

Very Nice!

Not by GQ yet, anyday now I'd imagine, but I did once get my picture taken by Popular Mechanics magazine. We were doing a museum install and they just happened to be doing an article about museum work. I don't know if it made it in there or not, I never saw the article.

I couldn't find my last set of mug shots, so you'll have to take your pick from these two.

Other Steve

Thanks Len!!

I told the other guys about Oprah, they got a good laugh out of it!

Other Steve

Here's a picture of the finished project under show conditions. Can't see what I made? Good! That means I did my job right

Steve,

C'mon up anytime you want! You have an open invitation to stop by whenever you want.

Other Steve

Here's some more pictures of other, non steel, scenery..the first couple are some of the painters elevations. These are what the painters use when they mix up their colors and this tells them what the designer wants to see.

These are some of the other things that involved steel, they are tree branches, leaves and some blood veins. The veins and branches were made out of a frame of 1/2 inch steel hydraulic tubing that was bent and rolled to shape and then welded together. it then had Styrofoam mounted onto the frame pie...

Because the flats were so wide and hinged in the middle, there was always a chance that they would try to close up due to any number of factors, the most likely one being because they can. And you want the flats to be nice and flat and even...so I had to make up sets of stiffeners that would cross t...

Thanks! There's more... I had to weld all of the hinge barrels onto the flats and match them up to the support jacks so they would line up right and let the hinge pin drop in and remove easily. There were several hundred barrel pieces to weld on and it would drive me crazy to hold each one on, tack ...

Support jacks for the walls, these are made out of the same tube steel. They loose pin hinged onto each wall. We couldn't find a hinge big enough without having to alter the h*ll out of it, so we made our own. The barrels are cut 1/2 o.d. inch black pipe and the pins are 1/2inch hot rolled steel rod...

oooops, sorry, I didn't mean to put in the pipe threader picture. That was supposed to be for later!

Here's some pictures of the 5 x 22 flat sections on the table. These were made out of 16 gauge 1x 2 rectangle tube. I think it was that gauge, it might have been lighter. The 3 short upright pieces welded onto the back were for support jacks to mount to. Since I mostly worked by myself, I had to use...

In January our shop got the bid to build the set for a brand new opera, Frida, based on the life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The set consisted of many elements...stairs, upper levels, masking flats, projection screen surround and many sculptural pieces. About half of it was built out of wood and ...

That would work just fine. Thanks Mick!!

Thanks!!! I'm not sure what he grade is, I'd have to go back and check the paperwork.... But, since it sounds like if I don't do this exactly right there is too much room for a major eff up, so I think I need to find a different material. There is a lot of torque on this pivot, I can't take the chan...

What is the best process/way to weld water hardening drill rod to 1/4 " plate steel? The drill rod is 1 and 7/8ths inch diameter. I'm using it for a turntable pivot point, there will be a lot of torque on the pivot point..... I would normally machine a sleeve for the rod to slip in and bolt int...

1/0 refers to the gauge, or size of the cable. This chart gives you an idea of the various sizes available...

http://www.directwireusa.com/resources/ ... -chart.pdf