just starting

[john dodd]

Been a machinist for 14 years looking to build model hit and miss engines.Any info on nice hobby size machines would be appreciated.Looking for a lathe and mill.Also where to find good casting sets with good prints.Remeber have been machinist only looking for good rigid machinery and easy to read prints or cad drawings

[Buddy Harley]

John

To do the machine work on most of the model kits out there you should consider full sized machines, i.e. a Birdgeport type knee mill and a 13X40 or so type lathe. Otherwise, you could end up limited to only the smallist of kits or worse, having to pay someone to do some of the machine work that may be outside of the range of the hobby type equiptment. The rigidity of the full sized machines will show in the finished product as some of the kits rough castings are just that, rough, and will cost more to machine in the long run when the hobby type machines are used.
The prices on used full sized machines is not all that bad these days, especially since CNC equiptment is taking over and in my opinion the tooling is more plentiful.

Now a days most of the kit makers have very good quality prints, but after you do a few models the prints become less important as there are actually few 'critical' dimentions and the Hit & Miss engines allowed for alot of 'adjustment' in their day.

Buddy Harley
harloc-model-engines.com

[Tom Jamboretz]

It doesn't take much to start in models. I found a old 9" Southbend with some tooling for $800 and a Grizzly mill-drill for $500. They will do all you need for most model hit and miss engines and stirlings.
There is a real nice starter casting kit of the "Economy" engine. I found it to be a good set of castings, good drawings and resonably priced. It is sold by Joe Tochtrop in San Francisco. (415) 346-6038.
Another starter option is the "Depenbusch" engine. It is hit and miss and made from bar and sheet stock. No castings. Simple drawings. He is in Kansas. I can not find his number. However you can go to gooogle and put in "Harold Depenbusch".
I have made both and they are good runners. I use propane on both.

TJ

[john dodd]

Thanks for the info.What do you think of the smithy bench mill?It has power every thing and looks pretty rigid.Also are there any good used machinery sites?

[Tim Christoff]

Since you have been a machinest for 14 years I don't think you would like anything put out by smithy. If you look around you can find full size knee mills cheap, I picked up a 10 by 48 in excellent condition at a auction for just $800 and have seen others (full size mills) sell for around the same prices. Factory auctions are a good place to pick up these machines, good 9 and 10 inch southbends for as low as $200.

Tim Christoff
Basehor Ks.

[john dodd]

Thanks your probably right been working with real iron a long time.Just having a hard time finding used sites with pricing. Shipping is expensive!don't know where to start looking for auctions.Mabey you can help?

[Tim Christoff]

Just start dong searches for local auction companys (within say 200 miles of home) and you will find out a lot. Every state has an auctioneers association so you might start there and go through all their listings. It took me a couple years of waiting until I had all the equipment that I needed but I also got good stuff and got it cheap. Did have to drive 250 miles to buy the Mill but it was well worth it. I have used smithy stuff and I know a lot of people will say that it's not the machine but the machinest but it's the machine. Any machine you have to rework and fix out of the box just so you can use it is not worth buying.

Tim Christoff
Basehor Ks.