brainwagon

As part of my experiments with telescope making, I’ve been exposed through the efforts of some of my friends to the world of metalworking. i did some minimal metalwork (fabrication of some aluminum bearings and C channel using Paul Zurakowski’s lathe and mill) for my “Australia scope”, and that gave me the bug to learn more about metalworking. A bit of research ensued, where I found Lindsay’s Books, a small publisher that specializes in publishing books of interest to metal workers and other technical pursuits. One of their best selling series is
the collection Build Your Own Metalworking Shop from Scratch by Dave Gingery.

This seven volume series is an absolutely fascinating introduction into the world of metalworking. In volume one, The Charcoal Foundry, Dave shows how to construct a furnace for melting aluminum out of a metal bucket, some fireclay and an old hair dryer to
serve as a blower. He then goes on in the remaining volumes to show
you how to build a small metal lathe, a shaper, a milling machine, a drill press and all sorts of metal working accessories.

Dave claims that he did this because he wanted a metal lathe, but that he was too cheap to buy one. I think that besides the cost, the books are excellent at showing how to bootstrap your own skills in metalworking at very low cost. The books are great, and someday when I get a block of time I’d love to make these projects.

Some people have shown considerably more initiative than myself: a quick Google on the web revealed a number of great websites with lots of pictures (photographs are somewhat lacking in Dave’s books, perhaps to be expected because of their low cost). For fun, try looking at:

• Backyard Metal Casting

• 
  Using Gingery’s “Big Bertha” Aluminum Foundry
  

• 
  The Fonly Lathe
  online directions for a lathe and milling machine that you can
  build.

• 
  Yahoo! Discussion Group on Ginger Machines
  

Very cool stuff. Worth looking at.