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Great looking parts so far but I bet that the moment you noticed the Boring Head starting to unscrew was a heart stopping one Will follow with interest Per
Per, I have been using lathes, mills, drills etc for fifty years or so and I still make stupid mistakes.
The one thing I have improved on is how fast I can hit the STOP button.
I have a friend, Kevin Moreau, who is a wonderful whitesmith. He specializes in making locks and keys. They are truly amazing examples of craftsmanship. http://antique-padlocks.com/pc_moreau.htm Anyway, I asked him one day if he would show me forge brazing, which he did over a blacksmith forge. The amount of wide area heat available there is very intense, yet very controllable via the draft. Brazing a fairly substantial pair of iron blocs together took less than a minute. The seam was perfect. I know It would have been very difficult to do the same with even a big torch (at least on my part). I've often wondered since about the applicability of coal forge (or furnace) brazing at least some parts of a boiler's construction. I do know that in past ME issues and older print reference works sometimes coal (or coke) was used as a bed for brazing when using paraffin (kerosene) torches. The bed apparently added heat, and reduced oxidation, even though a torch was being used for local heating. Might this facilitate single operator brazing for parts presently needing two torches? I don't know, but something I've thought about.