>--- Kirk Hillman <hillman88@telus.net> wrote:
>>
>> AJR,
>> So you actually have the Gingery series of books?
>> What are your overall
>> impressions of the quality/practicality of content?
>
>I'm impressed by them - Dave G. has done a great service to
>the mechanically-deprived.
>
>Now, they do assume several things, the first and foremost
>being that you have to have a clue - this stuff is not
>trivial to play with and could hurt you very badly if you
>screw up and don't take safety precautions.
>
>Secondly, he assumes you want to build everything from
>scratch - were I doing this I'd likely buy things like
>machinist's vises and the like because they're easily
>enough had.
Most of the stuff in the series is now easily enough had. Harbor
freight and other places of that ilk sell a 7X10 lathe that's
apparently quite decent for around $300.
>Third, if you're going to buy them buy the set - the first
>two or three books have all the tedious step-by-step
>instructions that he simply alludes to in later books.
There are also a number of improvements in the later books that can
easily be adapted to the earlier machines. There are also a couple
of mailing lists that would be useful to follow if you're serious
about doing the projects. People who've actually built the machines
have many ideas about how they can be improved. (The stiffness of
the lathe is apparently marginal; it's improved easily by using a
wider and thicker plate for the ways.) I'm in the process of building
a furnace to start doing some work; good weather and my free time
haven't been very cooperative yet this year.
>Now, this isn't going to build a lathe, mill or shaper you
>can swing a Rover block on, but for a hobbyist who really
>wants to learn from scratch they are an invaluable
>resource.
>
Indeed not. The Gingery lathe is only a 7" swing, with about a foot
between centers, though it can be scaled up a bit in a
straight-forward fashion, particularly the distance between centers.
Of course, once you've built his machines, it would be much easier to
build another set on larger scale....
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