I’m a photography hobbyist. Years ago had a bunch of Nikon 35mm film equipment and even had a small dark room. I moved into digital photography a few years ago with a Nikon D90 and a whole bunch of lenses. And more gadgets and hehaws than you can imagine! This summer I was at a
I have a Grizzly milling machine that I’ve wanted to power the Z axis knee for some time. I decided that rather than trying to fabricate something I’d just bite the bullet and buy a power drive kit for the Z axis. My research, and pocketbook, led me to Shars  Tool Company and the Model
A while back I converted my Jet 12 X 36 metal lathe to DC variable speed drive. Since then I’ve wanted to add some type of tachometer so I could see the actual speed the main spindle was rotating. I tried using a bicycle speedometer with a magnetic pickup with reasonable results. But calibrating it
I have a horizontal bandsaw for cutting steel stock to length. It is an amazing time saver and a great asset if you do a lot of metal fabrication. This type of saw can be used in the upright position to cut metal on a small table. But it is inconvieneient to convert to this
A few years ago I purchased a 1985 vintage JET 12 X 36 BD metal lathe. This is a wonderful machine for the type of lathe work I perform in my home shop. But it used a 230V AC motor. I had to rewire my shop to connect it to 230V. This wasn’t a
Like many of you Home Shop Machinists, shop space is at a premium. My shop is located in my garage where I also store a few motorcycles and my  vintage sports car. A big fear I have is one day turning on the lathe accidentally with the chuck key still in the chuck, and flinging it across the
I have a JET 12 X 36 BD lathe of 1985 vintage. It a wonderful lathe for the type of work I do. Mostly hobby gunsmithing and making various parts for motorcycles and expedition vehicles. When I bought the lathe in 1995 it was box stock. It had been used in the Borden Pasta factory
I recently purchased a 2007 BMW K1200R Sport. As many folks report on the various web sites, some of these “wedge” bikes have fueling issues which leads to “snatchy” throttle response, surging at low speed and low RPMS, a “stumble” in the power curve at lower speeds and throttle and sluggish response from stop in
A few years ago, down at the Johnson City, TN BMW MOA Rally I saw a K 1200R “Sport”. Since this version of the K1200 “Wedge” bike was never cataloged and very few were ever imported into USA, I’d never seen one. The K1200S was always a great bike in my eyes, but the riding
Houston, we have a problem! Seems BMW simply can’t figure out how to keep a Cam Chain under tension. I had this problem with a couple oil heads I’ve owned and I read there is (was) an issue with certain F bikes. The symptom is that when you start your BMW motorcycle, especially if
