Shop Truths, Phrases, Tales; and Outright Lies

[C-Bag]

It is a little scary what a good team we are. I get the feeling Frank's wife is integral to his TAS too. I have to be careful what I bring up because my best half will take it on as a priority. While some would see this as great(and it is) it makes it very hard to stay in my lane and not get carried away. Where we live the housing is just ridiculous so there have been several places come up that have incredible shops but the cost is just not within reason. Especially when I factor in how old we both are. It's sad to realize there less road out front than behind. So much to do and learn still.

These crazy estate sales seem to run in spurts. There was another old guy sale we went to this morning. It seemed he was a brake and suspension guy with a great shop behind his house. Several great heavy cabinets for $25ea! And one cab had a brake shoe grinder mounted on it, $25. When was the last time you saw a shoe grinder? Last one I saw was probably 20-40yrs ago. The cabs would have been great, especially for the price, but i just don't have the room which is by design. I know it doesn't make sense but I'm too that point of going in all these old guy shops and seeing the poor widow and family dealing with us old guys looking for deals trying to keep from turning into hoarders ourselves. The one that was killing me was a shoe riveting station with built in grinder. I knew it would be $25 too and I'd HAVE to have it as there might be room and I could mod it for something I'd use......so I didn't ask Dodged the bullet, backed away from the hoarder intervention.

[Frank S]

C-bag Brake shoe grinders sadly have fallen by the wayside about as much as the riveting machines have. Just about the only riveted shoes seen any more are the ones on large trucks and trailers. Last year I must have replaced shows and drums on at least 10 transport trailers. With all of the new safety regs now, it doesn't pay liability wise to replace shoes without using new drums as well. Before you could take your drums in for a regrind then have the new shoes radius ground to match. But with the advent of auto-slack adjusters then the addition of anti lock brakes on big rigs all drums and shoes need to be a very close match or the stupid systems go nuts. Add in the documented fact that today's truck drivers are less qualified, poorly trained and only holding on to the steering wheel for a paycheck. With absolutely no knowledge of how to preform any sort of emergency repairs to get to a repair facility, couple all of this with the fact that trucking companies are not owned or run by trucking managers or persons with much to do with the trucking industry,but rather are run by BEAN COUNTERS and lobbyist.
Now when it comes to making big machines the question was how to make something that big without a bigger machine to make it.
Well a Man by the name of letourneau once needed a big machine that did not exist to make his even larger equipment so He poured tons and tons of concrete then embedded railroad rails to become the ways then poured more concrete as a solid tower to hold the turning head the carriage was so large that the operator road on it that is how big gets bigger

[Toolmaker51]

Thread Hijacks? Meandering? Lack of Focus? Too much Information? Shameless Grandstanding?
No. No. Obviously not,. Not likely. Sharing isn't self promotion.
A brief impression of why HMT.net forum is more than just successful. Here is kind of a little story, much like a physical discussion, but in a dozen time zones.
From general tool-building forum on turning MT2 tapers; related accuracy issues and one on lapping vs. scraping. It is known we comment freely, hovering over projects that round up stray ducks into a row. These aren't hijacks, jobs should be considered as faceted processes. Looking at the angles raises everyone's abilities.
To whit; and not quotes, just brief notes on a set of reactions.
Christophe Mineau initiated with a template hack for setting tapers.
Captainleeward concurred, offering remedy for errant crosslides.
Metric-taper commented on lapping; concerned with the residue and negative effects of SiC2 [silicon carbide] particles. Next, link posted to CNCZone forum on the scrape/ lap controversy.
C-Bag related improvements attained from his first such leap on his 9 x 20 Asian lathe.
Hemi lamented his Unimats require swiveling headstock to accomplish tapers.
C-Bag related investment in time & tools following a CD book, was far less satisfying than THE bible on fitting and professional scrapers.
Toolmaker51 laid down what makes lapping work, and the more suitable effects of scraping. Both have their place, rarely the same place. A logical start doesn't always produce results anticipated. An aside was how toolpost grinding could contaminate union of ways and carriage without proper cover.
Metric-taper recalled he hadn't done such for years, and shielded even more extensively than "proper". His concern has lowered, in relation to 'time he has left'.

'Time left' doesn't come up often. I suppress it, 20 years after first deciding to create a shop that still needs lighting. Sure that many have equal thoughts.
Well, Rome wasn't built in a day. Even with near infinite resources to buttress those plans. And clear evidence stands 2000+ years later.

With any luck at all, this collection [HMT.net] of ideas will stand long enough to fuel a new wave of craftsmanship.

[Frank S]

Excellent summation, Another INMHO of the value of HMT.net is the wide varied range of projects posted each with their own often vivid descriptions serve as springboards which conger up long since forgotten memories of days gone by bringing life long experiences back to the forefront. By sharing these experiences with others expands the ever growing pool of universal consciousness, hopefully in some way will preserve knowledge for future generations of millennia to come when homo sapiens becomes sentient enough to eventually one day join with the possible vast collective of advanced beings thought to inhabit the universe.

[mklotz]

Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description.

[Frank S]

Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description.

yes and currently the species which calls itself human in the grand scope of the cosmos is probably only slightly further advanced than homo erectus. Which is more probably one reason why we have not been invited to petition for acceptance in the league of sentient beings. Through out history "my opinion only",there have been gentle and not so gentle nudges offered or imposed to a select few however since the rest of us low forehead class have not been exposed or privy to these nudges from their sources everything from fear , hate, envy, superstition and most likely some religions have grown and allowed to fester into suppurating boils.
Jules Henri Poincaré formulated a theory, sorry Mr Einstein but his paper was published before yours only it was a much longer and more complex therefor due to the low foreheads limited ability to grasp the context of the time, Your's became the renowned catch phrase of all time. I believe you were both only half correct, rather it would be the inverse cubed to the nth But since I am one of the lower foreheads inhabiting this planet barely able to grasp the concept of 7 dimensional existence with a total lack of mathematical skills to even begin summarizing my theory I am perfectly content to cobble out crude implements which assist me in my daily tasks.

[Frank S]

Jeesh after re reading the previous post today, I knew I shouldn't have watched a marathon of ancient aliens yesterday I can sometimes really get out there philosophically sorry guys

[mklotz]

Jeesh after re reading the previous post today, I knew I shouldn't have watched a marathon of ancient aliens yesterday I can sometimes really get out there philosophically sorry guys

When I read it, I thought...

Who are you and what have you done with Frank?

[C-Bag]

Jeesh after re reading the previous post today, I knew I shouldn't have watched a marathon of ancient aliens yesterday I can sometimes really get out there philosophically sorry guys

Please don't appologize Frank, I think there are several of us who totally agree. I have to admit I was stunned not that it was you, but that this thread took this turn. My favorite aspect of this whole thread is getting to see "under the hood" of the different folks who have shared. I too am a big fan of sci-fi and have aspired to the higher ideals that scientists, mathematicians and philosophers have tried to lead us to. Especially in light of present threats of a new dark age where the hard fought gains of the last century are trying to be negated with the all too familiar rise of fear and loathing of the "other" it's especially insightful to ponder how far we've really come.

[Toolmaker51]

Please don't appologize Frank, I think there are several of us who totally agree. I have to admit I was stunned not that it was you, but that this thread took this turn. My favorite aspect of this whole thread is getting to see "under the hood" of the different folks who have shared. I too am a big fan of sci-fi and have aspired to the higher ideals that scientists, mathematicians and philosophers have tried to lead us to. Especially in light of present threats of a new dark age where the hard fought gains of the last century are trying to be negated with the all too familiar rise of fear and loathing of the "other" it's especially insightful to ponder how far we've really come.

Well, I was very lucky to apply a descriptive, broad, and inviting title.
"Shop Truths, Phrases, Tales; and Outright Lies"
By the way, it was 04-23-2016, 03:24 PM! Sure pulls a lot of traffic.
It's YOU guys that make it generate. Gems, one and all.