Instructional

Plans: HMEM’s EZ Build Engine

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You won’t need a mill to make this nice looking steam engine that was designed to be an easy-to-make project to teach basic machining skills to beginners.   The free plans come in both US and metric versions and they include 24 pages of helpful instructions.

It was designed by members of the Home Model Engine Machinist (HMEM) forum, led by “black85vette,” who proposed designing a very basic and easy-to-build engine that could be built by someone without a lot of experience or tooling. … Read the rest

Bogstandard’s “Paddleduck” Engine Plans

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Two Paddleduck engines - one plain and one fancy

This is not just a set of free plans for a working model steam engine.  It’s a well-written, well-organized, profusely illustrated 113-page tutorial about machining metal.

If you’re an inexperienced machinist who at least knows the basics I would strongly encourage you to download these plans and build this engine.  Don’t let the picture fool you – this is not a difficult engine to build. … Read the rest

Cutting Glass on the Mini-Lathe

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Diamond blade cutting a test tube on a mini-latheI needed to cut a piece of glass tube to a certain length and this is how I did it using my mini-lathe, an inexpensive diamond blade, some masking tape and WD-40.

The Stirling Engine I’m building uses a glass tube for the power cylinder.  It calls for one with an outside diameter of 16 mm and a length of 26 mm (1.02-inches), although those dimensions are not critical. … Read the rest

How to Build a High Current Power Supply

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The parts that are needed, except you might need a capacitor.Darren over at MadModder.com wrote a nice tutorial that will teach you how to build a high current variable power supply suitable for a CNC conversion or a home-made power feed. He and others on the forum will probably be able to answer any questions you might have.

I got excited when I saw his thread because I still need to build the power supply for my mini-mill CNC conversion. … Read the rest

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