ShopTalk Sunday: Drilling and Scoping

by

Two important topics on our agenda today.

Small Drilling & Dremming Problems

As you know, we look at Making very seriously and methodically.  To us, there are only four general shop operations you need to master: Note the subcategorization by species of tool is important.

  1. Measure
    • Tape
    • Caliper
    • Sticks
    • Angles
  2. Cut u under this heading are:
    • Saws
      • chop
      • miter
      • table
      • hand
        • draw
        • push
      • Rotaries
        • circ
        • band
      • Knives
        • Pocket
        • Draw
        • Pushers (includes scrapers)
    • Drills  (Holier than thou, lol)
    • Sanders and Dremel-likes
    • Routers and shapers
  3. Join
    • Screw
    • Bolts
    • Toggles
    • Glue (many categories, not displayed)
    • Nails  (ibid)
    • Dovetail and box joints
    • Dowel and pins
    • Wedges
  4. Finish
    • Paints
    • Varnishes
    • Oils
    • Weathering
    • Combinations

A nice semi-Darwinian approach to building of things.

Which makes shop work very accessible, teachable, affordable and very enjoyable.  If you do simple second grader kinds of things.

Thing is, as your skills go up, and your range of handiworks spreads all over Creation, then your Tool appetite increases and first thing you know, you have either ALL the tools, but none of the time, OR you have all the Money you saved (not buying tools) and now you have to hire someone else because you’re too busy paying for other people, plus commutes, sitters, yada, yada.

Not pretty.

Most people haven’t taken Ure’s Pledge of Sanity.

“I am in charge of my Life. I am here to have fun and do good works. I respect there is a head-time and a work-time balance.  And that there is physical work and mental work and they benefit each other by fertilizing the brain; expanding its capacity through experiential learning.”

People who can’t wield hand tools properly generally can’t think straight.  (The Freemason’s figured thus out hundreds of years ago. Their whole deal in life is taking “rough stone” (ashlars) and hewing it to the Great Work as called by the Grand Architect of the Universe.

As luck would have it, you probably don’t have the budget to hire a Tyler to stand outside the east door of your shop (or have any idea what I’m talking about)  But we are all workmen in this Life, and in my twist-up on it, we’re also each a whole video crew – recording in our brains every indelible second of breaking in order to cobble up a decent Game Film to show at your Life Review Experience when you die.

It’s easy, then, to understand the global fascination with “head work” because it’s all highly transportable.  (However! Why any sane people would want to replay their moment of coding breakthrough of some obscure Java library, in their afterlife review experience, just boggles me.

The Point of being on Earth seems to me to be a combination of both enjoying the place (avoiding war zones) and also working on learning how to be a Co-Creator (as an understudy of God or Universe) which/Who has an unlimited capacity to sign up stumbling bumbler apprentices with good hearts.

Or, you love the drugs but the Archons are lurking?

“Wait!!!”

What? You mean this isn’t the philosophy lecture?

To the Shop then!

We can get into measuring another day, but for this morning let’s assume we have cut some number of “small thingies” and we need to drill or shape them.

Got a couple of Big Tools for removing lots of material (and body parts if not careful).  A couple of table saws, miter saw, band saw and jointer and router-shaper and…

But let’s say you put in a storm door last winter. (Which I did_). It worked fine, of course, but the damn latch wasn’t fully engaging.  What I needed to do was make a couple of incisions (shop doctor talk for slicing) and then been the aluminum frame about 3/16ths of an inch.

The two straight cuts were easily done with the 20V version of a baby Sawzall.  But the bigger problem was how to cut off a 1/16th inch aluminum lip.  The “right tool” was the Dremel.  So, I went to the hobby shop workstation and eyed the biggest, meanest 1 HP shaft drive tool in the inventory:

These are great tools.  You can do anything with them, especially die grinding and down to fine woodcarving (wear a mask and cut proof gloves). But it is not the right tool to lug over and set up at the top of the stairs outside the screen porch. There is a whole genre of tools with variants of the world “portable” included in their birthnames.

For that I would need something really like a, well, Dremel.  Which was on hand, but I was feeling lazy early this week and the Dremel would mean running an extension cord.,  Hmm… not very efficient. Because in “Deluded George Land” we like to spend zero time in set up, zero time in clean up, and only do the real fun shit.  (Running extension cords which I can then trip on is not on this list, understand.)

So, I ran down to the Shop-Clickery (Amazon) and ordered a cheap battery powered rig.  Got here the next day.

This is a “Enventor Mini Cordless Rotary Tool, 8V Power Rotary Tool Kit with 80pcs Accessories, 5-Speed 25000RPM, USB Charging” and they only run $28-bucks.  (To my shame, I have pissed that much beer recycling in a single night in my youth…)

Review?  Very happy with what it is.  Mine didn’t come with a cutoff wheel, but I had those for the Dremel.  Scared the hell out of the feral cats when it wound up full-tilt and engaged an aluminum frame.  (Worth buying for the entertainment value of ad hoc cat racing and flying…)

Dremel’s are Great

I have had the “regular” Dremel for ages (10+ years) and they have come out with a zillion add-ons.  And so have accessory makers.  Some of the options?

I think this is a Milescraft drill press wannabe kit for it.

I’m sure it will work just fine when needed,  but in the meanwhile, I decided the “right tool” which wouldn’t require any set-up besides installing a bit, would be one of those “baby hobbyist drill presses.”

These are very nice for punching in circuit board holes.  (If you have a secret sauce to make copper plated through-holes, send me the secret!)

Dremel makes a dandy drilling rig, but they also have a neat tiny router appliance you can add on.

For reasons only a psychiatrist could imagine, I seem to have a “thing” about routers.  If we count the Dremel as (1), there are a couple of Formica/laminate trim routers (2, 3 and 4).  A Bosche handheld (5) mid-sized and then a Big One.  After that, we move up to the mint 1/2-inch bore shaper table.

Amazon says I have 38 orders with the word “router” in ’em. Including bit sets, I’d interject.  Because that really overstates the seriousness of my affliction.  Besides – as one example – there are four small CNC machines listed.  Two we have given away, and one is waiting for me to put the burning laser in it.

See It’s not really as bad as it sounds…

Hell in the Shop

Where God himself and the Devil have some kind of deal going. Shop stewards who can’t get along.

I picture God saying “OK, if George buys the 12-inch miter saw, that will handle his 4-by-4 work, right?”

To which the Devil nods and says (with fingers crossed) “Whatever you say, Boss.”

Then I go to sheet goods and I can’t find any way to put a sheet of plywood up – by myself – onto the table saw without reinjuring my arm.  As the Devil laughs “You fool – the miter saw wasn’t the right tool. And I’ve hidden your extension cords….”

Smug bastard thinks he’s got me, but then I hold up two battery-powered circ saws “Say what, lizard breath?”

Ham Radio Grownups: Scoping Out Life

Couple of weeks back, reader Hank announced his purchase of one of those fancy new 3-in-1 meters with a 3.5 inch oscilloscope on it.  It also included a signal generator.  The prospect of downsizing the electronics bench in my office (from a sprawling collection of test gear to a tiny one-handed unit was more than slightly interesting. “Space, the final frontier” right?

I asked him for a review – telling him I just bought an on-sale 7-inch LED lab type scope.

“Review my new multimeter/scope, sez George.   Well frankly, anything I could say would be the department of redundancy department after the fine video from the TRX Lab YouTube channel that started this all:  #293 Scope Meter 3in1 for our projects? (youtube.com)

It is a fine gadget, and it even came with two new O’scope probes that I needed anyway.  George is ahead of me in disposing of the CRT scopes, though.  I still have two Tektronix blue-screens on the shelf next to the ham rigs.  I may couple them to the antenna feeds and use them for RF envelope monitors.  That always looks cool.

I have several ‘spare’ meters stashed everywhere in tool kits and vehicles, but my ‘go to’ meter has long been my Fluke 87 for decades.  Even kept it with me at work… before I retired.  Accurate, reliable, and sturdy for floor-bounces.  But it’s a monochrome LCD screen that requires good light to see clearly for me.  Like George, I have a minor vision problem.

I have ‘elongated eyeballs’ which means I was severely nearsighted when young.  20/300  and 20/400 eyes.  I suffered thru contacts and glasses when young.  In 1986 (the days before Lasik) a local eye surgeon offered ‘radial keratotomy’ where he ‘pie slices’ the edges of the cornea to let it flatten.  Done freehand with a micrometer diamond scalpel, he did a marvelous job.  After healing I had combined 20/10 vision for many years afterwards, and it was a godsend for me, working in broadcast TV construction and maintenance.  But eyeballs age and eventually I needed reading glasses.  But I didn’t know what else awaited me until one morning in the shower one eye went dark with a spider-blotch that looked like the back of my retina.

An emergency trip to the ophthalmologist revealed I had PVD… posterior vitreous detachment.  The vitreous gel in the eyeball shrinks and pulls away from the retina in the rear.  It irritates the retina at first, but fills in with liquid and the retina ‘blotch’ fades, but the eye is now filled with inconsistent optical fluids, which leaves me with lots of ‘floaters’ in my vision.  I was warned this would likely happen to the other eye, and it did about a year later.  Getting used to the ‘floaters’ is a damn nuisance, and many times I see a dark speck in my peripheral vision that looks like a fleeing cockroach!  Like George, I would not want to be piloting an aircraft while seeing little specks in my ‘sky vision’.   So… to the point… I need a good light to read the black specks on my Fluke 87.

The first thing I love about the Gochifix meter is the larger, full color screen!  Even in the back of a dark rack I can read the glowing numbers.   Look at the difference here!

The second thing I love about the new meter is that it is rechargeable from a USB port.  No more having to disassemble the Fluke to replace a battery.  No more having leaky batteries in the meter if unused for a period of time.  I have USB power ports now at the workbench and at the ham operating position.  That’s about all the original thoughts I have about the meter/scope. It does what it says, and does it very well.  I’m sure George will expound even more on the visibility aspects of his “mine is bigger than yours” display.  Thing is, mine is a bit more portable for getting into the back of equipment, where his is a shop-shelf sized instrument.
Aloha from Hank in Hawaii.”

The P.S. to this is pretty near woo-woo-ish:  Hank gets his new meter and I see a Vevor scope on sale on Amazon.  $169 scope marked down to $99 so I bite.

Scope arrives and there is a small 1/2 inch rip in the upper right corner of the display.  So, I sent it back.  A day later, the same unit comes on with a $40 off coupon and this is ON TOP of 41 percent off list.  Now we’re into the $59 scope range which with tax was a a shade over $64.

Hank and I are speculating whether the new one will be as advertised (and I have concerns because of the deep-deep discount.)

Should arrive this week – and even if a corner of the display doesn’t work, will that be a deal breaker at this price?  We should know by next weekend.

Which gets us to a reminder:  Monday a week from now will be Memorial Day. Get your materials lined up this week so you can actually knock out some projects next weekend, right?

Last Thing

Didn’t anyone find a used Hallicrafters PS-500 at the Dayton Hamvention this weekend?  I haven’t seen one yet but if I can’t find one by Labor Day, I will change-out the pinout on the connector on my Swan PSU-3 which according to Walter Cates site is merely a pin-change for the SR-400.

Last Last Thing

If you don’t already have a kick-ass shop in your home, your homework assignment this week is to study 11-vcc-how-to-create-layout-for-operations-flow.pdf (rolls-royce.com)

Write when you get rich – and no shop project worth doing happens without bloodshed.  Try to keep it under butterfly bandages and QuikClot!

George@Ure.net ac7x

69 thoughts on “ShopTalk Sunday: Drilling and Scoping”

  1. Quick note for Ure shop talk adventures, all youse prolly on board already, BUT, Super Glue is the #1 Go To for Stopping the Bleed . Throughout 3rd world countries, go into a market and ask where the Super Glue is. Usually find the proprietor hopping to and asking if you need it for Bleeding.

    It simply works – till you can get Ure accident prone ass to a clinic/emg.med facility.

    There – did a good deed for the day, now I can proceed with filling the rest of my Sunday with R&R (rape&revenge).

    Hildebeast or Don, Briben or Don – these ARE NOT CHOICES of competent people, but popularity contests of career LIARS (at best).

    Demonrats and Repugnicans – 2 Fucking choices makes a DEMOCRACY ???????????????????? AYFKM, no really there should be like 11 or more political parties in a Real Democracy.

    Calling BULLSCHEISSE on the WHOLE F-ing thing, ALL of IT !

    • BCN. Youse are right and not just third world countries.

      I had a hernia repair 3 months ago. Told the doc, I didn’t see any stitches. No, he replied, it’s Super Glue. Then explained how he used it. Amazing. I asked if I should be careful to not undo it. He said No, that baby is not coming undone.

      • Goo for you BIC. ;-) I have had hernia operation before super glue some 60 years ago. 20 years later I consulted the ER because a sudden pain in the same area. The ER established the fact that there were NO traces of me ever having had hernia operation. Nothing, but gas. As far as old age is concerned, there are NO tricks. Eating 2 meals a day instead of 3 meals was a personal choice. But, and this is the issue, I am subject to depression, and since 11 years of age suicide was too often on my mind, 2 weeks before X-mas 22 it got so bad that I walked my ass into the local ER hoping to get a prescription. They established I had been walking around with a bad case of COVID.
        I was treated in the adjoining hospital for a whole week, before transferring to a rehab facility for the next 8 (eight) month. Everyone had given up on me when the ‘Infinite Wisdom’ decided WE will teach this dude something about suicide. Now I will probably have to stick it out on this planet to complete my sentencing. I have easily adjusted w/o pain for maybe >100. As you see, NO planning on my side is involved. Except my life & concerns are of a different nature than what I read here, be it as is: Blessings and peace to all.

        • Stick around choices. You are the senior poster on this site. The ‘Infinite Wisdom’ kept you on this earth for a reason. Continue to share your wisdom.

        • Wondering if you have dental fillings of mercury-amalgam. Mercury poisoning from dental fillings is insidious and masquerades as many different maladies. Among them is suicidal depression. I won’t go into my personal details, but I’m experienced! Since my fillings were removed/replaced with biocompatible resin-ceramics, my life and health and outlook have improved immensely.

        • Hank, this Carbon 60 , when I first started taking it, I did it everyday for 3 months, for arthritis, woke up one morning walked out on the front deck and felt a calmness and at peace with the world, it was a HOLY MOLY moment and I just had a bad tooth pulled about the same time, back a few months, mercury filled and rotten
          Mercury, actually makes one ‘mad’
          I had anger issues getting worse,,,
          this C 60 saved my butt, this is from eastern Europe, takes a little longer, I ‘ve ordered from her 6 or 8 times now, get 6 or 12 at a time
          https://owndoc.shop/Antiaging/
          I el-believo, it bonds with the Hg and removes it. I do not know how, I just know that, I am very pleased that I found it and still take maint dose when I remember to , and have given multiple bottles away to a few folks, there are claims about liver protection, and cancer treatment. I say research to learn.
          Not all C 60 products are same quality and there are many.

    • “Hildebeast or Don, Briben or Don – these ARE NOT CHOICES of competent people, but popularity contests of career LIARS (at best).”

      ALL IN CAPS + maximum font, imo. ;-)

    • Trump is competent, and honest. Sorry your side can’t find any competency within its ranks.

      BTW, there are typically between 37 and 42 political parties in the United States which field Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates, every Presidential Election. You don’t HAVE to write in that vote of yours for Mitt Romney…

  2. (wear a mask and cut proof gloves).
    Also, EYE PROTECTION, way more important than the gloves and mask, I put mask down on the list,, till ya generate a quantity of dust or is a bad dust that is a hazard in itself, crap, I breathe dust every day, dirt roads and western Nebr.
    folks with known lung/breathing issues will mask up as needed,,, always have, but that is a medical issue more than just normal safety precaution.
    but I have to admit that a couple of responders to ure column reQuire a full face respirator with a scba bottle, when perused. Then again I realize it is a two lane hiway, and they feel that way about my viewpoint.
    I repeat my self
    WEAR EYE PROTECTION I am glad the company I was employed reQuired it and provided free prescription safety glasses every 2 years, photogrey and vari-lens, all we had to pay was for the eye exam, came with removal side shields. Side shields required at work PERIOD.
    Get out the 4″ side grinder, or small air-powered die grinder you get a face shield also.
    https://www.amazon.com/Ingersoll-Rand-3101G-Angle-Grinder/dp/B000VYZ1HW
    Happy Sunday, have a funday, give thanks and be happy

    • The pandemic is over for another hundred years (or until people forget that societal withdrawal is more-deadly than an epidemic). I bought pallets of American-made N-100 surgical-grade masks and Lexan face shields last week, for $2/pallet…

    • (“folks with known lung/breathing issues will mask up as needed,,, always have, but that is a medical issue more than just normal safety precaution.”)

      I hear you on that one.. I carry a face mask in my car and in my coat pockets etc.. have for years.. mine is because of dust allergies though.. and living next to a grain elevator there is dust..
      https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Reusable-Washable-Protection-Breathing/dp/B08LC163QL/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?
      those are the ones I swear by.. use them all the time.. for painting..I have these..
      https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYDW8KMY/ref=sspa_dk_hqp_detail_aax_0?

      I have others to.. the grandkids came over they were going to make something .. so out comes their gas mask I don’t want them to have the issues I do with their lungs.. so everyone wears a mask if working with dust or paint.. and tyvek coveralls.. their mother would shoost me if they came home covered in paint or I would have a horrible ass chewing LOL.. LOL

  3. George,
    I know this isn’t shop related but damn, I think I saw a Leprechaun last night. I sleep on my left side pretty close to the edge of the bed. At 4 am. I woke up because someone poked me in the nose. I opened my eyes and saw a little man peering at me. He was maybe four inches away from my face. I jumped and moved my head backwards and he winked out, just disappeared. He was short, like a midget or dwarf, with dark eyes, a dark mustache, and a black flat top hat. I swear I saw him!!

    I’ve never seen a dwarf man in person in my entire life, except for extremely disabled children/adults in a state run facility. I didn’t take any drugs yesterday or alcohol. I haven’t been reading or thinking about Ireland or magical creatures.

    It was the weirdest experience.

    • You know, if you could have grabbed him by the scruff, collar, or clothing, you could have gotten a pot of gold in the deal – and with that being over $2400 now, that would have been a hell of a pile!

      Don’t tell anyone I copied this from Wikipedia, but John O’Donovan’s supplement to O’Reilly’s Irish-English Dictionary defines lugharcán, lugracán, lupracán as “a sprite, a pigmy; a fairy of a diminutive size, who always carries a purse containing a shilling” My thinking on this is it is golden alrigfht, but likely a small time machine or dimensional transition device.

      See, people didn’t always have science around and absent that, it was easier to speak of high strangeness in terms that people could understand. When you specifically said “he winked out, just disappeared.”
      Although markets may get noisy this coming week, as we bump against an over head trend channel, there is a very interesting framework that I don’t think I have written up before that would make a kind of “ultimate woo-woo” Peoplenomics report which will give subscribers some brain-stretching ponders on the lighter side for the coming 3X weekend.
      Up for that?

      • See Vaticans spewed bullscheisse this week regarding ufo’s, aliens and apparitions and how to think about them…bwahahah

        No one talks of the FAY these days…cept the BCN, recall Hiraeth cited last week.

        Eleanor – you know why He poked you in the nose .

        What were the 4 “magic” Treasures the Tuuatha De Danann brought with them to Ire ?

        1 – The Sword of Light (Claiomh Solais)
        2- The Stone of Faal
        3- The Spear Lugh
        Last but not least, Dagdas Cauldron.

        Dagdas was nephilim -Giant, and acted as Horus-Heru’s right hand Man during final conflict with Enlil-Setes on giza plateau.

        PS – confirmed today in Science of the Underwater Nile I told youse all about – the river that drove the Turbine that powered The Mir- Great Pyramid and the DJED Towers of Power in grand/main hall..

      • If he comes again I’ll grab him. He didn’t scare me, more startled me having his face so close to mine and his quizzical gaze.

        A time travelor ,huh? Maybe he came to visit after my time travel Opiate induced “letters ” and hallucinations
        post surgery.

        • Eleanor,

          That’s lovely / spunky :

          “If he comes again I’ll grab him”
          You go girl.

          Maybe he wasn’t here … for a moment, you were there?
          E

    • If you are paralyzed and can’t move, it is probably a sleep disturbance. If you can grab him AND collect, he’s real.

    • was it a lucid dream.. I have lucid dreams from time to time and usually this small impish blonde comes and gets me up.. then takes me on a dream journey .. it seems so real that it is hard to consider it just a dream.. but for years its always been the same blonde impish girl .. now I don’t get startled if she comes to take me on the mental dream journey.. they are not always bad dreams or dreams of crazy stuff.. sometimes they are just a nice journey to see sunsets and green grass.. or to build or fix something I was curious about when I went to bed that night..

  4. Being a cheap tool slut myself, I tend to make tools as needed. Brought home half of a garage door spring yesterday from the blacksmith club meeting. Great material for small punches, screwdrivers, gravers, chisels, etc. Just heat it to orange, secure a rod in a vise, drop the spring over the rod and take off with the end of the spring. It’ll uncoil and leave you with a long piece of 1/4″ high carbon steel rod.

    • I think when we talked the other day, you mentioned you did a lot of forging work.
      If you ever feel like writing (or just sending a few pics) it would be useful to have a quick into to forge work. You do charcoal, coal, propane, or??

      • I do propane for small stuff (under 2″ X 12″) and coal for anything bigger/heavier. Like everything else, coal has doubled in cost over the past couple of years, but I try to keep enough onhand for a few projects.

        Now that we’ve established a (somewhat) reliable email link, I’ll be happy to send you some pics.

        • I would think that wood, waste oil, or a combination would make for the most economical forge or casting furnace. Just my opinion though. I’m super interested in these topics too, though time seems to be shrinking in availability. Too many stupid things happening by random others that affect my property, like people driving into fences, etc. There’s something to be said for owning less, but then where would you put your stuff? My entire house seems to be turning into a workshop along with the outbuildings, and there’s still outside work to be done when the weather permits!

        • @NM Mike

          “I would think that wood, waste oil, or a combination would make for the most economical forge or casting furnace.”

          Economics is worthless, without results.

          It is nearly impossible to get a forge hot enough to cast steel, using oil or wood — even using super energy-dense woods like hickory. Blacksmiths use coal because it gets there easily, and anthracite is the preferred brew, because it burns even hotter, and with very little soot or other air contaminants. Coal is also a very cheap energy source. (Anthracite is more expensive than the much more common bituminous, or “soft coal.” When they can get it, people with home-heaters or forges will always opt for the hard stuff…) The expense of coal is in its transportation. Search “coal and oil distributors” and see if there’s anyone in your area who’d transport it in for you.

  5. Small brass grommetts exist — installed with a pop-rivet sorta thingy. (Plated through-hole simulator: solderable.)
    They aren’t teensy. The smallest ones might be fine for coarser work. SMD level, they are NOT.

    Maybe in a good fabric store…

    • the small brass gromets can be used to make bright betties to.. got the kids making them now to give away for xmas card gifts..
      https://bettylamps.blogspot.com/

      easy to make.. a 45 shell cartridge does good for making hobo candles.. get the reloadable ones.. the wick go’s through the hole.. the edge of the shell fits nicely on a small bottle put the wick in the shell fill it up with oil or alcohol and then put the cap on.. great little candle..

    • And that’s a MUCH better solution than ‘thru plated holes’ that fracture at the slightest flex of a circuit board. I can’t tell you how many pieces of equipment I’ve had trouble with thru-plated holes. When I find them in new gear, the first thing I do is go thru the entire circuit board and fill the holes with fresh hot solder to securely connect the pads on both sides.

    • Or online. Search for “copper rivet” or something similar. Stumbled across them a few years ago, using a similar search…

  6. Hi, George,

    If you use a Dremel tool hand piece too long, the vibration will hurt your wrist and hand. I would recommend a high speed hand piece that does not wobble like the Dremel does. These high speed hand pieces are used by jewelers and gem carvers, and they may be purchased from dental supply houses and jewelry supply companies, like Gesswein, to name one such company. These items are not cheap, but if you use a Dremel tool for any length of time, it might be worth investigating,

    • I have a dentist chair and his carving gear on my “some day” list.
      This being an off econ day, I will pause long enough to tell you this Dentist Chair (and carving set) had its genesis with a Scrap Yard visit with Pappy to a ship breaking outfit called Zeidel’s in Tacoma, if I recall right.
      They had all kinds of things off scrap WW II ships that we still being dismantled into the late 60s.
      One thing I remember were Navy watch mugs. These would hold about 12-14 oz of coffee but what made them remarkable was the thickness of the mug was incredible – fully 3-quarters of an inch.
      These were going for a nickel each – and Pappy got six-bits worth and handed them out to his platoons at the firehouse. Made the best shaving mugs in the world – one will last you a lifetime. Provided you are not shipboard at Eniwetok or in the one the “test zones” back when.
      Anyway, to make a long story longer, Pappy and I were walking through the yard and there was a Captain’s elevated chair fresh from the windows of a ship.
      At which Pappy and I launched into a grand educational discussion about where the idea for such a fine Cap’tns chair had come from. I supposed that it had come from a Dentist chair because it had a similar look to it. Pointing out other details, he insisted that it was a spin on a barber’s chair. We went back and forth on this for some weeks of my childhood. Finally, pappy acquiesced to and electric razor and I lost track of that super-heavy Navy coffee mug.
      Still, getting back to the point, we then decided that if we couldn’t find a cheap enough barber chair (they became “campy” in about 1965 and all disappeared, along with used cabooses from railroads which were neato cabins – anyway we decided the Dentist chair would be great. Then Pappy (who dabbled in a bit of soapstone carving, just to say he did so – decided that a dentist’s tool setup would be great too.
      We never got around to that – I was off into ham radio land adventures by then, but he found a couple of deals on the old-school wire belt type of dental drills. Times were then at the end of the pulley drill systems as the new high-speed (and water cooling types, used today) were on the replacement and upgrade circuit.
      Somewhere, I should stop and ask the question:

      Were you talking about the old-school pulley type dental drill of the new high speed nearly supersonic versions? And a question back, do you jewelers/designers use water cooling when you’re doing cuts nowadays?

      • High school friend struck it rich in a franchise business and became financially independent at about age 30. Some years back he got into business tutoring on the web. His ‘office’ was a dental chair with an array of six computer monitors in front of him so he could lay back and relax while doing his classes.

      • George, the diamond burrs that are inserted in the sleeve of the high speed hand pieces are cooled by bees wax. The cost for high speed hand pieces can run around $5K or so. The electrical units for these are small and fit nicely on a desk. The actual hand pieces have a long electrical cord that is attached to a foot pedal. The electrical cord can be supported by a metal u-shaped brace attached to the top of a pole.

        The carving stations, like my Genie or an older Diamond Pacific, will have six wheels arranged in a horizontal line with a thin hose underneath that squirts water directly on the wheels. The user can change out wheels or change out the belts that fit on the wheels of these machines. The belts come in different diamond grits and polishing compounds, and you can add extra polishing compounds to the polishing wheels if need be. These machines are available from jewelry supply houses like Rio Grande of Albuquerque, just to name one.

        There is another carving machine I have that uses water to lubricate a small metal wheel that is inserted on an Albright chuck, which is part of a motorized spindle that is oriented horizontally. The metal wheels come in different diamond grits.

        Carving machines are available in small and large sizes, depending upon what you wish to carve. The high speed hand pieces are dedicated for small closeup work, like engraving on metal, carving gemstones, and rendering reverse intaglio carvings on gem material, like scenes of fish, animals, flowers, or people. Check out carving scenes by famous intaglio carver Susan Allen. The larger machines can carve different gem materials to be assembled into objects of art, like tall vases or ornamental clocks. Check out the objects of art done by Lew Wackler.

        There is a large and absolutely amazing carving machine that you would love to have. It is an ornamental carving machine composed of an intricate system of interlocking wheels of different metals. The first use of the ornamental carving machine was to impart elaborate designs on the edges of paper currency. The use has evolved to allow elaborate and complex designs carved upon metal and gem material. These machines run about $50k or so and can render some spectacular work. The only limit is your imagination. Not sure how these are cooled or lubricated, as I do not have one. However, I know two people in my area who do have one.

  7. Your Ureness:

    I have most of the tools on the planet. My friends have the ones I don’t. I’m ready to launch a hive, a collective, to swap and borrow. Probably a “millions and millions” micro-pay in there somewhere. But, I have enough.

    Around here we hire the heavy lifting. If it’s my own stuff that needs moving I get totally Egyptian. Used some 10′ steel bars yesterday. Though old, and despite back problems, I moved my end.

    Repeated uphill cycles in AG has me wondering where those couple rounds are. Bought one at $14 and another, oldster, at $5? We’re golden Jerry. Stay tuned. Watch Dr. Copper.

    ATL: awesome WX, dreamy stuff. Two more sailboats to launch and rig. Due to impending visit E2 (and my Grandling) this will do a bizzaro flop and go from 2 weeks ahead to 2 weeks behind.

    There’s something wrong with the Matrix.
    No there’s not.
    E

  8. ancient philosophers are a favorite read.. I do believe that Socrates and plato need to be read and reflected on every year.. who would have known that they had the answer to all things going on today.. way back then.. the bible and all other religious writings.. if you take the crap out that is injected into their writings and keep the rest it boils down to two simple laws.. have no other god and do unto others.. today we have many gods.. MONEY… POWER… GREED… etc.. the list is huge.. we value a number and things more than the people..

    https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-ancient/

    (“For reasons only a psychiatrist could imagine, I seem to have a “thing” about routers. “)

    LOL LOL LOL LOL.. I hear ya on that one I had six at one time.. I had one of these…
    https://youtu.be/Y29sZ43PwhA?si=bXRm-hiTHTv3_LFF
    https://youtu.be/7ZrQhmNmlqU?si=mPFtz-EGFQCGftOH

    I had it for years and years.. never did make bed frames.. I got it because I had been given a thirty by thirty foot old one room school house that had sixteen foot ceilings.. the plan was to make a nice big one bedroom below and two bedrooms above and a garage coming off the front with a work shop above it.. the community I live in said no.. you had to add onto the existing structure.. anyway I was going to make all the spindles.. and the cost of the ornamental mill would have paid for itself..

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/166606748886?

    then the plan was to make four poster beds.. with the inside roping.. when the community shut me down on my plan the mill ended up just sitting there.. what disturbed me is when I sold it..I gave away my best plunge router..

  9. OMG! Ordering (and waiting for) a cordless tool to avoid running an extension cord? Laziness is the mother of… something here. Not just a tool slut. A full blown ‘Stormy Daniels’ tool WHORE.

    “See It’s not really as bad as it sounds…”. It’s actually WORSE! Hank’s law #42: Tools expand to fill available shop space, then double.

    • see now if I can.. I get the corded.. the cost of a new battery excedes the cost of a new piece of equipment.. of course that is just my personal preference..

    • George’s attitude might make sense when the power is 1/4 mile away, but there are generators and power stations(more stuff to buy). I’ve been told that I’m a slut for angle grinders!

      My personal annoyance is when a skipped size in a tool package is absolutely necessary, like an 18mm combination wrench! It was cheaper for me to buy two full sets than to buy the two 18mm wrenches that were needed for my front end work! Of course, I was swimming in 17 and 19mm sizes. An alternative might be to grind out a 17mm for the open end part, but what about the box end? Filing forever is not my ideal choice in life.

  10. peanut butter sauce..
    1/4 cup of cream ( give or take someti.es I use a little more the same with the sugar)
    1/4 cup of butter
    1/4 cup of sugar ( you can use Karo syrup or maple syrup how much you use is totally up to your taste buds )
    1 tbsp vanilla extract
    1 cup of peanut butter.

    on a low temp heat up the cream sugar and butter until the sugar is totally mixed in.. then add the peanut butter.. mix it in completely then put in your vanilla..
    use this sauce over ice cream or use it to make a peanut butter shake..
    I make this stuff all the time. after you make your peanut butter shake top it off with whipped cream

  11. oh when heating up the cream sugar and butter stir continuously..exactly how you make Alfredo sauce.

  12. Geez LOOB. I put on weight just looking at your recipes. You are living proof that all my theories about too much sugar are wrong.

    • Sugar feeds cancer, prediabetes, excess butter and cream clog your arteries…

      Most recipes can be altered with stevia, heart healthy margarine, coconut/milk or creamer.

      Make friends with your BMI (Body Mass Index)! Health is wealth!

      • Margarine isn’t particularly healthy. Small amounts of quality fat are needed for head health. Angry, violent, radical anorexic fire-bug crazies need more fat in their diet, and less leftist rhetoric. Several of the other readers swear by cold pressed coconut oil.
        Liquid monkfruit-stevia is my preferred sweetener combo these days. Cane sugar is not healthy. Corn syrup is worse. I cured myself of gout by cutting off the corn syrup. I am also trying to limit sugar-alcohols. Sweet drinks are the worst offenders. Get used to drinks without sweetener.
        I don’t ever cook with cream. Every few weeks I go out for a breakfast entree with a cream sauce, but that’s about it. Maybe an alfredo TV dinner once a quarter.

        • I have made margarine to.. easy to make…
          margarine gets its name from the margaric acid in coconut oil..
          1/2 cup of coconut oil ( you can put in a little more.. it totally depends on how hard you want your margarine..)
          1 cup of olive oil ( there again.. you can add a little more depending on how soft you want your margarine)
          1/2 cup heavy cream
          1 tsp. salt.. (up to you on how salty .. you can add garlic or honey or just about any flavoring that trips your triggers.. your the boss on you taste buds..)
          for the yellow coloring.. you can use a drop or two of the cheese color..
          1 tsp of lemon juice
          https://shop.greatfermentations.com/product/cheese-coloring-2-oz-bottle/cheesemaking?

          or you can use an egg yoke.. I just use the coloring.. I have used food coloring to..
          heat up the coconut oil.. then add the olive oil and beat it like you would making mayonaise.. ( another spun oil product..) once you heat it up.. blend it.. then add the cream.. food coloring.. pour into your molds..
          https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Container-Pudding-Chocolates-Cheesecake/dp/B0936VGKVH/ref=asc_df_B0936VGKVH/?
          Chill until solid then wrap it up.. you just made your margarine.. wrap them with wax paper.. you can get any variety of molds.. super hero’s if your going to give it to a little boy.. nothing better than superman or batman butter… or little flower or pony molds..

        • OMG… we go through a gallon a month here.. of heavy cream… I always have cream butter and margarine on hand.. sugar.. I also have stevia .. and of course cane sugar… the debate on whether or not it is good for you … yes no.. you drink to much water and you will get drunk and could kill yourself.. abuse alcohol and you can get drunk and hurt yourself.. like everything moderation..

        • “c May not know this, or have taken the time to read this:”

          George, I doubt anyone else on this site has read it except health nut bags like me that took an hour to read it this morning. I would point out that while it contains a lot of good information, it is quite dated at 2006.

          Scientific instrumentation and analysis has progressed so far in the last few years that there is now no shortage of proof that it is not red meat that is killing us or causing debilitating cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, etc. but processed sugars and polyunsaturated fats.

          The important thing to me is that while we consumed food out of ignorance for many years that was destroying our health, we no longer have that problem. We have good scientific data and excellent resources to explain it. We can now make informed decisions, if we choose to do so.

          I continue to read, learn and practice what I believe is in the best interests of my health. It wasn’t always this way for me. It is one reason I encourage @choices to continue to comment here. At 94, he has had to make a lot of health choices and his rollator is continuing to log miles.

        • Wer all stand in awe of our write brother Choices, for sure.
          The problem with “health lobbies” is they ask us not to see what is right in our faces.

          Ever-presents have included Ubiquitous Tobacco in the past, Unbiq sugar, and now anything from cow, except the leather and then only in certain clubs…

          I have been blessed with enough lead-time on our APOE4 alleles to get out and read a big swath of “the lit” and in addition to the other things, we will try another round of C60 mentioned by another reader this morning.

          The problem with “subtle energy medicine” is that it’s tough to get right. Like with the light crown and light pads we use. Use work yourself around into an almost frenzied level of high energy and – over the course of some weerks – you drop the routine. A month, or two, goes by and you ask “WTF? Where’d my NRG gto?”

          A check of the life logs and we forgot 4 times a week or specific slight for a half-hour each time. A?nd we forgot the two half-pipettes of C60 in EVOO. And where’d the light crown go?

          See energy is universal but it’s like trying to tickle a wild pig. Gotta be done just so and you need to sneak up on the desired results with carefully measured steps and thoughtful measurements each step of the way.

          People don’t do well with self discipline. A check of Torotten or the District of Corruption ought to make it clear. We are an attention deficit country held nuclear and bankster hostages to their programmed messages which are based not on love of health, but of money

          Sheesh, huh?

        • Regardless of political persuasions, saturated (found in fatty meats and full fat diary products) and trans fats (found in packaged desserts) clog your arteries:
          https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/symptoms-causes/syc-20350800#:~:text=With%20high%20cholesterol%2C%20you%20can,a%20heart%20attack%20or%20stroke.

          How many miles did you walk or run today?
          How many minutes did you exercise at all today?

          Obesity Prevalence and Voting Behaviors:
          https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30688638/

          Republicans have higher death rate:
          https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/study-finds-widening-gap-in-death-rates-between-us-areas-that-vote-for-democratic-rather-than-republican-party/

          Democrats live longer than Republicans:
          https://hospitalmedicaldirector.com/do-republicans-live-longer-than-democrats/

      • That is true….
        but my theory is.. cooking without butter or sugar or salt and rich cream is sort of like watching porn… the visual is there but none of the experience..
        I have used stevia .. and coconut milk..

        • a favorite drink is the white chocolate starbucks for a friend of mine..I like one once in a while..
          First you’ll need to make 2 ounces or shots of espresso coffee.
          Then you’ll need to heat and froth your milk of choice.
          In your 12oz mug of choice, you’ll add your white chocolate chips and condensed milk. Microwave on high for 1 minute.
          Pour your hot espresso into the white chocolate mixture and stir til combined
          Finally, pour in your hot frothed milk.

          1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
          2 ounces of white chocolate chips
          2 ounces espresso coffee
          1 cup milk of choice
          whipped cream optional
          Place white chocolate and sweetened condensed milk in your 12 ounce mug and place in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir until white chocolate dissolves.
          Brew your espresso coffee and reserve 2 ounces ( 2 shots of espresso)
          Warm your milk to about 150° If you have a milk frother or steamer, froth/steam for about 30 seconds.
          Add your hot espresso shots to the white chocolate mixture and stir until we’ll combined.
          Add your steamed milk to the coffee.
          Garnish with whipped cream if you like.

  13. Speaking of carving tools- I am a wood carver for a gallery in town (ok a felted to). I long ago ditched the dremel because of too much vibration in the hand. I couldn’t do fine details with a piece that moved. In comes the micro motor built by Foredom. The motor sits in its control box and the tether connects to the hand pieces. It is also quiet with lots of power, when you need it. Life changing https://www.foredom.net/product-category/micromotors/

    • (“Speaking of carving tools- I am a wood carver for a gallery in town (ok a felted to).”)

      I always wanted to learn how to carve… I took care of a guy.. he was amazing.. he carved.. he had working tools the size of a quarter.. like a cresent wrench.. did birds and just about anything his stuff was beautiful.. he would do statues for churches.. did one of christ on the cross that I was amazed at.. the one that tripped my trigger was an apple..he did an apple with a worm coming out of it and leaves stem and an arrow that went through it.. with a perfect hole.. the whole thing was made out of a log..
      another guy.. ( he was my insurance agent) he did his woodworking all on a metal lathe.. some amazing stuff there to.. his card table that you could turn up and adjust the height with one finger.. most places have a thirty second of an inch leeway to a sixteenth of an inch.. his was a thousandth of an inch..amazing things.. he carved a rocking horse out of a tree.. there was a sawmill here and he got one chunk of a tree.. he said he wouldn’t ever do that again.. the weight of that trunk of a tree made it really hard for him.. its a real talent that is worth learning how I had hoped they would give lessons in the local city but they never did.. ..

  14. president Raisi, the foreign minister and other officials crashed from a helicopter and are missing … is it time for the war to expand?

  16. “Didn’t anyone find a used Hallicrafters PS-500 at the Dayton Hamvention this weekend?”

    I was thinking about going, but made Western Ohio on Thursday instead of Friday, and couldn’t work back around.

    I tossed you a link to a PS-2000, which you could use for the small cyclone, until you could get your hands on the big cyclone…

    I suggest you call the guys at Fair Radio.

    Also, I met a man this last week who bought a silent key station up in Minnesota. It took two semis to move it and he has it stored in six warehouses, pending a one piece at a time selloff. I separated him from a nearly new SX-115 while I was checking out all the Johnson, Collins, and Heathkit stuff he had in the two warehouses he opened up for me. The dude had racks of Johnson KW linears and matchboxes, Collins broadcast transmitters, National everything, and when he opened the first door, the first thing that said “hello” to me was a brand new Collins 75A-2.

    George, I will E-Mail you his contact info, just in case you need a boatanchor or power supply or something. If anyone else is interested, he gave me permission to pass out his info, but I won’t post it in public. No point making the spook’s jobs easier than they already are…

Comments are closed.