# Hey All.......



## EPaxx (Apr 30, 2019)

I'm a born and raised Southern Alberta boy living about a 1/2hr from Waterton National Park. I go by Paxx but have been called lots of different names over the years. I tell folks they can call me anything but late for supper!!  I've been a maker all my life and am really more of a Jack-of-all-trades kinda guys than a true machinist, and I dabble in all avenues of being a maker from welding to wood working projects to 3d printing to laser etching and then a few years ago I finally acquired a Standard Modern 11X20 toolroom lathe in excellent condition. Every Christmas since I have made all 8 of my sons/sons-in-laws some kind of gift using my new found enjoyment/passion. Replaceable tip hammer to Brass click pen to a Fire Piston this past Christmas. I also get called on to make things for people in the community as gifts or repair items and such. I sooooo enjoy a good lathe in the shop. I use it almost daily and have made some very needed unusual tools to complete a job I've been in the middle of and found I don't have the tool needed to get it done. What a blast that is!!!!






So now I've been on the prowl for a small milling machine of some sort. Something bigger/stiffer than the Mini-Mills. Not a round column RF-30 type mill, but something more along the BusyBee CX600/601 / King KC-20VS / or RF45 type machines. Not sure what it will end up, but I'm trying to be patient and find something I'll be happy with for all the tinkering that I do. 

So there you have it. Looking forward to gathering tidbits of info here, along with awesome project ideas and a good joke or two!!


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## DPittman (Apr 30, 2019)

Hey welcome neighbour! (I'm out in Warner) 
It sounds like you have lots of fun in your shop and that a milling machine would be a great fit.  I'm sort of looking for one myself but not real serious as I really can't justify one yet.  Your lathe looks like a great piece of machinery....looks hefty but still nice and compact, obviously not asian made.

I don't know what a "fire piston" is...can you enlighten my ignorance please.


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## Bofobo (Apr 30, 2019)

DPittman said:


> Hey welcome neighbour! (I'm out in Warner)
> It sounds like you have lots of fun in your shop and that a milling machine would be a great fit.  I'm sort of looking for one myself but not real serious as I really can't justify one yet.  Your lathe looks like a great piece of machinery....looks hefty but still nice and compact, obviously not asian made.
> 
> I don't know what a "fire piston" is...can you enlighten my ignorance please.


Its a Fire starter, using heat from air pressure to ignite a cloth that has been previously charred “charcloth” in a piston/cylinder device.


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## DPittman (Apr 30, 2019)

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Bofobo said:


> Its a Fire starter, using heat from air pressure to ignite a cloth that has been previously charred “charcloth” in a piston/cylinder device.


Well that is just too cool!  For the first moment of that video I was sure that I had never seen or heard of such a thing but then I began to faintly recall learning of that device a few years ago.  Memory loss and confusion is a terrible and scary thing....anyone have any plans for machining a memory booster device, preferably out of aluminum?  (Haha, come to think of it, I believe aluminum has been linked to memory loss and Alzheimer's ).


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## PeterT (Apr 30, 2019)

Welcome to the group. Nice to see your lathe pics & hear about your projects. 
Re mill, I had a Taiwan RF-45 style (dovetail) mill for a quite a while & it served me reasonably well. The quality varies by manufacturer & vintage and of course some more potential variables if its used. They are kind of in hobbyist middle zone, not real big like a Bridgeport & not real small. Of course its all relative to what you want to do & how much you want to spend. Anyway if you ever contemplate something like that a few of us have lived with them & can tell you a few things. Or feel free to use the search bar & some posts will pop up.


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## ducdon (Apr 30, 2019)

Welcome. Nice score on the lathe.  If you have the space and can swing it go for the Bridgeport type. I was in the same situation as you. After looking at various mill drills and Busy Bee stuff I went for the Modern Tool 7X35 Bridgeport clone and have never regretted the choice or the extra dollars. Good hunting.


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## Everett (Apr 30, 2019)

Welcome to the bunch, sounds like you fit right in! Having a round column mill, I will second what ducdon said, go for a knee mill if you can at all afford one. My budget didn't allow for one a few years ago as I was getting my most recent shop set up and there have been numerous times when a knee would have been, well, 'the bee's knees.'


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## EPaxx (May 1, 2019)

Thanks for the welcome here. Its nice to find a "local" group of like minded folks!!!


DPittman said:


> Hey welcome neighbour! (I'm out in Warner)
> It sounds like you have lots of fun in your shop and that a milling machine would be a great fit.  I'm sort of looking for one myself but not real serious as I really can't justify one yet.  Your lathe looks like a great piece of machinery....looks hefty but still nice and compact, obviously not asian made.
> 
> I don't know what a "fire piston" is...can you enlighten my ignorance please.


Thanks DPitt......... I am in the rocking metropolis of Glenwood. Have lived here for all but a couple of wandering years of my life. The lathe I scored is a Standard Modern that is made in Canada!!....... and is actually still a healthy lathe manufacturer. They even still have parts available for their older machines!!! Mine came from a High school in Medicine Hat and a 1970's era. I felt very lucky to nab that one from kijiji a few years back!!! It IS a nice hefty piece of machine. 1300lbs!!! You should have seen my Nissan Titan settle down when it was set in and pushed to the front!!! It was great...... It was even more fun getting it unloaded at home!!!! But with a chain hoist at the big door of my shop I got her up, truck out, and set down on transport dollies to wheel to where I wanted her placed. Then used an engine crane to lift it off the dollies and settle her in place.

Ya, I have a princess auto 4x6 bandsaw that actually when properly adjusted does really well, along with a nice 70's era Rockwell floor stand drill press, an older Craftsman bandsaw as well as numerous wood working saws, planers and some sort of milling machine is now calling my name!! 


Bofobo said:


> Its a Fire starter, using heat from air pressure to ignite a cloth that has been previously charred “charcloth” in a piston/cylinder device.


Bofobo..........That is the actual article I saw that inspired my christmas gifts builds. I made a few changes, but the finished gifts are very similar and actually work as well!!!!


PeterT said:


> Welcome to the group. Nice to see your lathe pics & hear about your projects.
> Re mill, I had a Taiwan RF-45 style (dovetail) mill for a quite a while & it served me reasonably well. The quality varies by manufacturer & vintage and of course some more potential variables if its used. They are kind of in hobbyist middle zone, not real big like a Bridgeport & not real small. Of course its all relative to what you want to do & how much you want to spend. Anyway if you ever contemplate something like that a few of us have lived with them & can tell you a few things. Or feel free to use the search bar & some posts will pop up.


Peter.......... That is what I have seen about those RF-45 mills. I saw one a while back that would have been in $$$ range but it was gone before I could go see it. A good condition one looks like it would be quite up to what I think I will have in mind for it.


ducdon said:


> Welcome. Nice score on the lathe.  If you have the space and can swing it go for the Bridgeport type. I was in the same situation as you. After looking at various mill drills and Busy Bee stuff I went for the Modern Tool 7X35 Bridgeport clone and have never regretted the choice or the extra dollars. Good hunting.


Ducdon......... I really did score on that lathe!!! As mentioned above I saw it on kijiji and called the fellow. Turned out that he had bought 2 of these from the high school that he had gone to and they had been sitting in his machine shop for years and he finally needed to get them out for the space they were using. He had already got rid of the 13" version that he had and I saw the ad for this one. After a few good long talks and a 1000 questions with the fellow about it, and realizing that I couldn't make it to the Hat anytime soon, I actually purchased the lathe sight unseen........ well in person....... and then went and picked it up a couple of weeks  later . Got it for $800 including the cost for a neighbouring business to lift it into the back of my truck. I was very very stoked!!!

I would LOVE a Bridgeport type mill.......but I'd have to find a skinkin' incredible deal for one to meet my budget. Also I've seen tonnes of knee mills on kijiji, but most in Ontario, Quebec or Vancouver, making it a tough sell.......... especially for Mrs. Paxx. 



Everett said:


> Welcome to the bunch, sounds like you fit right in! Having a round column mill, I will second what ducdon said, go for a knee mill if you can at all afford one. My budget didn't allow for one a few years ago as I was getting my most recent shop set up and there have been numerous times when a knee would have been, well, 'the bee's knees.'


Everett.......... I would LOVE a knee mill......but it's also a budget thing for me, yet I'm trying to b patient.......been watching kijiji on an hourly basis for almost a year now........ and now I'm getting really ready to have one sitting across from my lathe. I feel my resolve slipping a bit and may buy a BusyBee type with the thought of upgrading down the road if a great deal comes along.

Again......thanks all for the welcome. I'm gonna spend some time searching the forum and finding great info here.


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