r/machining

I have recently downsized my mill from a J-head Bridgeport to a benchtop sized. With the loss of the knee meant I was sacrificing distance between the head and the table. I am using an R8 mounted #33 Jacobs chuck and without a bit it is about 2.5" - does anyone know of a 1/2" capacity drill chuck with a lower profile? Since most keyless chucks are longer than their keyed counterparts, I am fairly certain that it will need to be a keyed chuck.

I've even been considering an ER-32 in an R8 mount ... this is not as adaptable as a drill chuck, and changing sizes would be slow, but it's worth considering if there is nothing else out there.

Thanks in advance

Planning to take on a learning project with my new machine lathe and make a thread protector cap for one of my pistols. The gun is stainless but I know from experience that stainless steel can be a pain to drill and tap so does anyone have a suggestion for a steel that would be easy enough to machine down to 0.480” then drill and tap to a 7/16x24 but have decent corrosion resistance as long as I keep it oiled when cleaning the gun?

I've been in this trade for 12 years and like a lot of you, I learned most of it the hard way — thrown on a machine, expected to figure it out, and hoping the guy next to me had time to answer a question.

I'm building a platform specifically for machinists. The idea is simple — a place to document what you know, lock down your cutting recipes, log lessons learned, and build a reference that's actually custom to your machine, your shop, and your day to day situations.

New machinists shouldn't have to spend years piecing together knowledge that should have been handed to them from day one. And experienced machinists shouldn't have to keep that knowledge locked in their heads with no good place to put it.

I'm in early development and I want input from real people in the trade — what do you wish you had when you started? What does your shop still not have documented that it should? What would actually be useful to you at the machine?

Drop your thoughts below or DM me if you're interested in being part of shaping this. All feedback welcome.

Does anyone know of any type of emory board that can be used to sand a smidge off of some stainless? The amount of work it will be doing is very small, but I would prefer something on a stiff backing - as opposed to emory cloth. I plan on using them as part of a product, so I need buy them in bunches and I need them to be cheap.

I can make emory cloth work, but looking to get something a bit better with regard to having a flat, rigid backing.

Any ideas?

Been doing some cleanup around the garage and built up a decent pile of aluminum and steel offcuts from various projects over the past year. Started looking into what's actually worth scrapping versus keeping for future use. The sorting process matters a lot more than I expected. Mixing alloys kills the value fast.

While researching scrap grades and pricing I found an Australian metals supplier. Their site had some useful breakdowns on metal grades that helped me figure out what I actually had sitting in my bins. Good reference point even if you're not buying.

The aluminum Tslot extrusion scraps seem to hold decent value. Cast aluminum, not so much. Still figuring out whether a local scrap yard or a specialty buyer makes more sense for the stainless pieces.

Does anyone have a system for sorting and storing offcuts before a scrapping run? And is it worth cleaning the metal first or does that not really matter?

I started this project just to see if i could build something that works. Just to know, my background and my job has nothing to do with mechanical stuff.
What do you guys think?