• Spring 2024 meetup in Calgary - date Saturday, April 20/2024. discussion Please RSVP Here to confirm and get your invitation and the location details. RSVP NOW so organizers can plan to get sufficient food etc. It's Tomorrow Saturday! you can still RSVP until I stop checking my phone tomorrow More info and agenda
  • We are having email/registration problems again. Diagnosis is underway. New users sorry if you are having trouble getting registered. We are exploring different options to get registered. Contact the forum via another member or on facebook if you're stuck. Update -> we think it is fixed. Let us know if not.
  • Spring meet up in Ontario, April 6/2024. NEW LOCATION See Post #31 Discussion AND THE NEW LOCATION

Recent content by StevSmar

  1. StevSmar

    Hobby Machines!?

    Machine like a Samurai does have a nice sound to it…
  2. StevSmar

    Shop executor?

    Most of my tool manuals are in a binder along with their receipts. If I go before my wife, she’s going to be very surprised when she starts adding up the costs…
  3. StevSmar

    Stick Welding- what’s your favourite rod?

    I never had troubles with the breaker tripping. The cable was sized correctly for a 30A breaker but I don’t know if it was sized for voltage drop. My welder is a multi tap transformer type, so it would be pretty easy to pull the covers off to see what voltage it’s got under load. I’m unlikely...
  4. StevSmar

    Stick Welding- what’s your favourite rod?

    I gave up using 7018, even dropping down to 3/32 I couldn’t get my 100A welder to consistently keep the arc lit. I’ve got a nice big box for when I get a welder with more capacity…
  5. StevSmar

    Stick Welding- what’s your favourite rod?

    Most of my welds were about 1” in lenght. The large ones 2”. I wasn’t concerned with stopping and starting on a weld since the project was also a “start learning to weld”. I did find that cold rods were harder to strike and sometimes I’d heat a rod up on a test piece before doing actual welds...
  6. StevSmar

    Dabblings

    I’m sorry to hear that. More times than I would like, I too have the dogs of depression biting at my heels. What’s really great is that since I started buying metalworking tools (Lathe, Mill etc…) the excitement of that has kept the dogs at bay over their usual winter appearance. Better to buy...
  7. StevSmar

    Tips/Techniques Workshop Organization- things that have made a difference for you

    He must get some work done? It appears he’s running a business? But I agree, the level of ”decoration” does seem to suggest that running a successful business would be difficult. I was wondering if the business was just a way to get a tax write off on his tools? Of course there is the saying...
  8. StevSmar

    Radon gas mitigation in our home.

    Below are our radon levels for the last year. If I recall correctly before I installed a fan our levels were over 300 based on a certified 3 month test. Two things I don’t like about the AirThings Wave is that: - It detects when I’ve used VOC’s in the workshop… - There isn’t a mode to hide...
  9. StevSmar

    Gage pins

    I don’t like how some of the Starrett squares I have are not satin chromed. For the cost you’d think that they would be chromed and stainless.
  10. StevSmar

    You know you are old when ...

    When you drop something and have to decide if you really want to pick it up…
  11. StevSmar

    Other Best old books

    I think I might be in the same camp as you. I received the new volume 1 Bedside Reader and am not sure what to make of it. If I’d wanted a fiction story with an engineering bent, I’d have read something by Nevil Shute
  12. StevSmar

    Tips/Techniques Workshop Organization- things that have made a difference for you

    I watched this video recently. OMG, this fellow has taken workshop organization to a level that incredible (or terrifying depending on your perspective):
  13. StevSmar

    Tips/Techniques Workshop Organization- things that have made a difference for you

    I like things organized, but there has to be a good return on investment. I’m ok with things I rarely use not being stored in a very organized manner. I am finding I do need to keep more organized than I used to, just because I can’t see things as well as I used to…
  14. StevSmar

    Tools you waited too long to acquire

    I wish I’d done this modification years ago: They’re ”keyed” into the moulding of the drill and I attach them as needed with tape. Don’t use garbage duct tape, the heat from the drill makes it a bugger to remove…
  15. StevSmar

    Scam Awareness

    I’m sorry to hear that, you must be totally pissed. I would be. It’s sad how sophisticated scammers are becoming. I’ve been fooled into going to a website that looks exactly like a mainstream newspapers. Apparently Canada has become the international scammers target of choice due to the low...
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