About time I introduced myself.

Having been a member for almost 300 days I thought I'd better say hi.

I'm an Aussie (from Tasmania, look it up) which may explain my English way of spelling, please allow for it. I have been greatly inspired by many of the ideas and suggestions on this forum and it's so good to know there are so many thousands of people out there doing exactly the same sorts of things as I'm doing. We all share a common bond.

I've been mainly into metalwork, turning, milling welding etc to make and modify things for over half a century, and I get a great deal of satisfaction finding easier and more efficient ways of getting things done. I have quite a few good ideas to share with you, which I promise to do soon, now that I'm retired

On an unrelated but somewhat relevant matter, can anybody please explain why the US (and UK for that matter) hasn't yet adopted the metric system for measurement ? (like the rest of the world). After Australia having metricated 50 years ago I find it's SO much easier (although I'm ambidextrous).

Tony Beard (Bony)

Hi Bony - welcome to HomemadeTools.net :welcome:

Sounds like a lot of experience, at some hobbies that are very well liked around here. :)

I can't explain the US measurement system, but we were actually just discussing this here: https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...inferial-27892 , and mklotz posted a good trick for metric to inferial conversion.

Hi Bony,

Welcome! :welcome:

No need to look up Tasmania - Errol Flynn was from Hobart! :cool:

You've got some great experience; I'm looking forward to seeing your tools and projects.

What are you working on at the moment?

Ken

Thanks for the welcome Ken & Jon.

I'm currently making a slipping "half nut" for the vice on my abrasive wheel cut off saw, so that I can simply push the vice closed and it will automatically lock when I want to tighten it, a simple idea which is hard to explain and a good case of a picture is worth 1,000 words. They are now fitted to almost all good chop saws, but as I bought mine long ago there wasn't one fitted to them then.

It's so frustrating winding in 200 mm of thread when it's so simple push the vice jaw closed that I thought I'd make one, and it works so well I should have done it years ago when I first saw the idea. Anyway it's just a copy of one of the commercially available types you can see in any tool shop. But it's a bit tricky to make.

Some of my other ideas to share include the use of coloured nail varnish in the workshop to show "this goes with that", a steering wheel replacement handle to more easily wind and accurately locate the mill Z axis table, a low profile crank handle for really fast opening and closure of chuck jaws, a power feed ring roller, indexing head for small lathe chucks (eg Myford), quick fix dial indicator holders to show lathe feed, etc, etc. Nothing eligible for a patent, but may give someone an idea.

Have other more urgent things to do for 10 days or so, and it's still summer down under, so I'll start posting soon when I have time to take some photos.

Is that your car in your profile shot Ken, or on your wish list? Looks very desirable what is it?

Tony

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bony

Is that your car in your profile shot Ken, or on your wish list? Looks very desirable what is it?

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That was a placeholder image used while I built my car. I've now updated my avatar to show my actual car. It's an Ultima GTR.

Here's a larger version of the photo. I still need to get the wiper installed at some point… :rolleyes:

Ken

http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/c.../2016/03/2.jpg