Steve Watkins's Shop....

swatkins · Jul 7, 2020

The new Lathe cometh!

A little into to my new baby

swatkins · Jul 19, 2020

Been working on both the 20" and 16" axelson today.. Spent a lot of time on the 16 as I need to get the motor turning to test the rest out.... For sure the contactor/starter is having problems and as the case it shot I think a new one is in order... I'm going to see if the starter on the 20 is compatible and maybe buy one of that size for the 16"... We will see...

I have a sad thing going on with a stray cat that showed up 5 days ago... If it lives it will be a new Shop Cat!

swatkins · Jul 21, 2020

Shop Cat did not make it...

Been working on the 16" Axelson trying to decide if it is repairable.. I think it is

We spent three nights repairing the motor leads and trying to figure out the correct wire numbers. Finally found a procedure that worked and I will share that with you soon

swatkins · Sep 21, 2020

Progress!

I bought one of the Prime Weld Cut 60's on the advice from George at George's Plasma... So far it sucks at cutting metal thicker than 3/8"

Today that all changed

With the progress today I'm going to build the Mechmate as a plasma table with a water table and see where that gets me

sfriedberg · Sep 22, 2020

Is the tip/kit that worked only available from George, or is it a standard (if alternate) part?

swatkins · Sep 23, 2020

sfriedberg said:
Is the tip/kit that worked only available from George, or is it a standard (if alternate) part?

I would guess you could buy it other places.... The parts are made in Italy instead of China. Here is a link to his ebay store...

PRIMEWELD CUT 60 PLASMA CUTTER 12PC SHIELDED CONSUMABLE STARTER KIT IPT60 TORCH | eBay

swatkins · Sep 23, 2020

September Shop Tour....

This Covid stuff has really put a crimp into my running around

But lots of stuff to do around the shop

Update on "The Rock" 2020 Chevy HD 2500 problems....

Tour around my wrecked shop... That Axelson 16" is really in the way and moving things to the next location in the shop is being hampered by not knowing if the Axelson is going to live..

New Shop Inspector is in the House! My wife's 10 year old died three weeks ago,, Sure been a rough year on pets

The Barnes Drill Press gets a Bath for the first time in 75 years!

swatkins · Oct 20, 2020

It's been one of those days! About the only bright spot was finishing the last fabrication job on the new shop fence and gate.....

swatkins · Oct 27, 2020

Been busy building a new gate for the shop and house... This part is where I use my Dewalt metal chop saw to start breaking down the metal into parts... IF you are on the fence about this kind of metal saw, this might push you off

I love it!

Garwood · Oct 28, 2020

I bought a 12.5" 1800 RPM wormdrive skilsaw made in the 50's. I bought a ferrous blade and milled the skilsaw diamond into the center. I made several hundred cuts through the 2.5" thick double wall 20 gauge metal insulated panels I bought to build my shop with. That blade is still as sharp as the first cut. Burr free beautiful cuts. Cuts through angle and plate like butter too.

I'm actually glad I bought the old saw. It's a tank of a unit. Takes two hands to lift, but I don't feel like I'll die if the blade were to come apart. Has the power to drive that blade through anything. Skil really made some nice stuff back in the day.

swatkins · Oct 30, 2020

Garwood said:
I bought a 12.5" 1800 RPM wormdrive skilsaw made in the 50's. I bought a ferrous blade and milled the skilsaw diamond into the center. I made several hundred cuts through the 2.5" thick double wall 20 gauge metal insulated panels I bought to build my shop with. That blade is still as sharp as the first cut. Burr free beautiful cuts. Cuts through angle and plate like butter too.

I'm actually glad I bought the old saw. It's a tank of a unit. Takes two hands to lift, but I don't feel like I'll die if the blade were to come apart. Has the power to drive that blade through anything. Skil really made some nice stuff back in the day.

Yes Skill was good.... Just like Craftsman and others that have succumb to the bean counters

swatkins · Oct 31, 2020

Sorry the first part was soooooooo looooong and BORING! I'll try to do better with this one! In part 2 we starting putting the frame together and layout the main crosses.. They are tricky to cut and Don brought out a secret weapon to do so... We also layout the main frame using a laser level to make up for my lack of a 16' long welding table... I try to show all we are doing so there are some real time areas but most of this video Don and I are working at breakneck speed!

swatkins · Nov 29, 2020

Today I broke out the Hougen HMD905SK mag drill for the first time... It worked great and I am kicking myself not not buying one 35 years ago! Made a nice ladder for the mezzanine with about 45 dollars of material... Please take a look

swatkins · Dec 11, 2020

Man there are machines everywhere around Houston... My friend found a shop that was selling a 12 inch grinder and he wanted me to come along and look it over... I was glad I did! The shop was actually a storage room for another shop and it was packed full of machines and tooling. I enjoyed just looking at all the stuff... I did put in an offer on a machine and I'm waiting to see if they accept...

Anyway I used my phone and took pictures as I walked around... It was cool just looking at the old iron

swatkins · Jan 22, 2021

Since a few people have objected to me posting Youtube videos I have not been around much ,,,, BUT this is too good of a deal to not share with your guys...

We have found a shop in Tomball that is closing... He is an old scraper hand and has a large shop that is stuffed full of chucks and steady rests... Also lots of great old machines...

I brought THREE AXELSON steads home! Teo were saved from a metal scrap dumpster just days before being hauled off!! Two fit the pair of 16's Don and I have and one is probably for a rare 18". I thought it was a 20" but it is a little too narrow at the base. It's ok though as I have one for the 20"..

Anyway watch if you want...

DrHook · Jan 22, 2021

Why would someone object to posting videos?

swatkins · Jan 22, 2021

Because they think they are the forum police and consider me posting the youtube videos as spam... Well for me a video of something is 10 times more informative than trying to type a reply....

He also thinks I am just trying to promote youtube videos by using PM, spaming in his mind.. Well boy is he wrong... In fact PM is a sucky place to try to promote anything as YouTube referrals alone will beat PM in publicity by about 50,000 views... If I were in it for money I could do a hell of a lot better than this place

M.B. Naegle · Jan 22, 2021

From my measurements, most of what they had was 18" and larger (mostly larger). Chucks were all over the place in size and mostly large cam-lock or L-series mount.

Loads of turret lathe and VTL parts too.

Garwood · Jan 22, 2021

swatkins said:
Because they think they are the forum police and consider me posting the youtube videos as spam... Well for me a video of something is 10 times more informative than trying to type a reply....

He also thinks I am just trying to promote youtube videos by using PM, spaming in his mind.. Well boy is he wrong... In fact PM is a sucky place to try to promote anything as YouTube referrals alone will beat PM in publicity by about 50,000 views... If I were in it for money I could do a hell of a lot better than this place

I think the two mediums can be complimentary. It depends on how you do it.

If you put actual content on this site and use a concise video to supplement your content here it makes sense to me.

If you make long Vlog type videos and just post short descriptors and a link to the video here it's not the same.

I enjoyed your written posts before your videos took over. No disrespect intended, but your long Vlog videos aren't for me.

mattthemuppet · Jan 23, 2021

to be honest I prefer pictures to videos, though it's more work to upload 5 photos than 1 video.

Steve Watkins's Shop....

Titanium

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Diamond

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Titanium

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Hot Rolled

Titanium

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Diamond

Hot Rolled

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