Hello All! My name is Cole and I live in the Denver metro area in sunny Colorado, USA. I am a mechanical engineer by school and I work in the R&D department of a company that builds custom microscopy systems. I do the design of the metal parts for the custom hardware we make. I've spent a decent amount of time work in various capacities in different machine shops.
I have a CNC mill in my garage and just recently picked up a small Enco lathe (9"x20", I believe) as well as a Enco mill-drill. Both of the machines are probably 30 years old but I obtained them from an elderly gentleman that ran a business making accessories for musical instruments out of his home. He told me that both machines had only cut brass or plastic their entire working lives...so barely broken in if you ask me! The bracket that holds the hand wheel on the cross slide on the lathe is broken, but I should be able to machine a new one on the CNC mill. The manual Enco mill appears to be in immaculate condition. I also have an old Clausing Colchester lathe, (13"x40, I believe) that I purchased. It was the first used machine I'd ever purchased and I got took for a pigeon. It wasnt under power when I looked at it and upon getting it into my garage, I discovered most of the gears inside the gearbox were stripped. I've got it mostly torn apart and most of the replacement parts are on hand but I am unsure of what I will do with it. I'd much prefer to spend my free time making things rather than fixing equipment. Anyway, some time is needed to get the shop into a usable state but I look forward to making my first model engine.
