For some time I've wanted to acknowledge the huge contribution that financial supporters of the channel make to the creation of the project videos. Making the videos is an expensive and time consuming activity, and without any doubt, Clickspring Patrons, and those who provide direct financial support via other means, keep the lights on at Clickspring.

So I'm very pleased to announce a new, and improved reward structure for Patrons and financial supporters, that is my way of saying "Thank you" to you all.

As of today, there will be a new series of project videos (in addition to the free Youtube projects), available exclusively to Clickspring Patrons, that I am calling The Patron Series. Every Patron pledging $1 or more per month will have complete access to:

• Exclusive multi part project videos not available anywhere else 
• Fully dimensioned drawings associated with each project, and
• The opportunity to win the project, at the completion of the build.

The main "long term" projects (like the current clock build, and those main projects that will follow it) will continue to be freely available via YouTube. The Patron Series is additional content that I am creating specifically to acknowledge how important I consider Patron support of the channel to be. It is my intention that The Patron Series will be related to the main free projects on YouTube, and provide an interesting additional perspective to that project, with unique tool and device builds.

For now though, the first project in this new series is a 5 part build of a terrific little hand vise. You can catch a preview below of the first episode that has been released today, and I do hope that if you're not already a Clickspring Patron, that you will consider becoming one today.

Cheers,
Chris.

I'm very pleased to announce that I'm in the process of uploading all Clickspring video content to vessel.com

Nothing changes for YouTube; exactly the same content will appear on both platforms at exactly the same time, its just another option for you to view the videos, and it also gives me some peace of mind that the videos are hosted in more than one location.

Importantly, nothing changes for Clickspring Patrons either. I won't be taking up the "early access to content" option offered by Vessel, so Patreon.com/clickspring remains the only place to receive early access to Clickspring videos.

Personally I really like the look of the Vessel site, and the way they deliver content. They have a great attitude to creators, and have been a totally awesome group to deal with thus far, so be sure to check out the platform and see if it fits you too - vessel.com/clickspring

There are many ancient techniques that can be used to start a fire. The most well known would be the friction based methods like a hand drill, or bow drill, as well as the percussion based methods like striking flint and steel.

Another most unusual traditional method is the fire piston... Read More

Download Free Plans: 
Fire Piston Inch Units
Fire Piston Metric Units
​

Here is the concluding episode of the gyroscope build. If you are interested, I also wrote a little bit about the bearing design on the Make: website here.

I do hope you enjoy the project, and be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

Free  plans are available for download here in Imperial or Metric units

If you're anything like me, you will have messed around with a gyroscope at some time in your life.

For me it was during a high school physics class, and I recall the gyro was a massive great lump of brass and steel mounted on gimbals with a stand. It made an awesome hum as it spun, and confounded all of us as we tried to manipulate it, and predict it's movements.

I also recall seeing a TV show growing up (maybe Candid Camera?) where a trick suitcase loaded with a large gyro was placed in a crowd, and passers by were invited to pick it up and walk off. The look of puzzlement as the suitcase darted off in unexpected directions was priceless, and has stuck with me to this day.

The take-out message for me is that a gyro is pure entertainment. Combine this with the fact that it is made up of a collection of seriously interesting metal parts, and we have rich pickings for a new video!

This project is a fair bit more complex than the first Make video, but well within the ability and tool collection of the average home machinist. There's plenty of lathe turning and mill work, as well as the odd dodge to get around not having all of the fancy tools. There is also a free set of fully dimensioned drawings available for download from makezine.com.

I have to tell you that I had an absolute blast making and filming this. It was such an awesome experience, especially messing around with the finished gyro at the end. I knew it would be kinda fun, but wow, this is a seriously addictive toy!

Here's a link to part 1 of the project, and keep an eye out for part 2 in about 2 weeks:

Making A Benchtop Gyroscope - Part 1

Be sure to subscribe to Make: Magazine on YouTube, and don't forget to like, share and leave me a comment on the video.

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

Blog posts have been a little few and far between over the last few months. My excuse is that I have been working very hard in my spare time to get out as much video content as I can. Possibly not the best excuse, but who knew that making videos took up so much time!?

I've also been working hard on an exciting new side project, that I am very pleased to be able share with you today: A series of videos  for MAKE: Magazine about bench-top machining.

The series is pitched squarely at the new user, with a focus on keeping the content fun and enjoyable. The objective is to entertain, but also to get the viewer totally hooked on machining.

The videos are project based, with a focus on the four staples of the home machine shop: The lathe, milling machine, belt sander and band saw. Other common hand tools make an appearance over the series, but I have tried to be conscious of the fact that most people will not have a well equipped machine shop. So where possible, I present a few different ways to do the same thing.

These four tools open up the project field wonderfully, so you can expect to see a nice range. The projects will be able to be completed in a weekend, and will often result in a useful tool, or at the very least something fun and cool to look at!

There will be a new video released every 6 weeks or so, so be sure to subscribe to MAKE: Magazine on YouTube, so that you can be aware of the releases as they occur.

Most of you reading this will already know that I am simply an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to machining. I don't claim to be an expert, nor do I have any formal training in the subject. But what I do have is a great passion for making things out of metal. If I can encourage more people to get into this wonderful activity, then I consider that to be time well spent.

So here it is, video #1 by Clickspring for MAKE: - Making A Metal Scriber

Just to prove the point that too many machining videos is never enough!

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

It's the question that vexed me for quite some time too, before I finally made a choice. It's also the most popular question in my inbox at the moment, so I thought it was about time I put together a more structured response. I'm also going to share with you what I think I might have done differently regarding my purchases, now that I know a little more.

By the way these are not recommendations or endorsements, it's just what I think and have learned through personal experience. No-one is paying me to suggest these products, it's just my personal opinion.

For the initial purchase, I think it comes down to 3 things: Budget, Available Space and What Are You Going To Make?

Budget.

Naturally you can only spend what you have, but the good news is that most of the entry level lathes are quite affordable. The Sieg range starts at approximately the USD$600 mark, and the Sherline is similarly priced. The **Weiss rebrands (Optimum, Warco etc) are a little more expensive, and I wish I could give you more information on those because to be honest I get the feeling that the build quality is a little better than Sieg. But it could just be me falling for the glossy pictures. If you own a rebranded Weiss, let me know. (**Update Jan 2017 - I have pulled the trigger on one of these Weiss re-brands - will let you know all about it when it arrives)

Now for that sort of money you get a whole lot of tool, but as you are no doubt already aware, you often get a whole bunch of flaws too. I wrote about this a few weeks ago, so go and check that out if you have time, but the upshot is this: They have a lot of weak points, but it's not such a bad thing for a new machinist. 

Interestingly, spending more money does not necessarily equate to less flaws. My SC4 is not the entry level mini-lathe, and cost me about 3 times the Sherline, yet it's tailstock requires so much effort to align, that I go to the Sherline every time for really accurate work on small parts. However the SC4 takes beautiful smooth cuts, and its longer bed and power cross-feed is just wonderful.

Of course the budget also needs to extend to all of the tooling you'll need to do something useful, like tailstock accessories, cutting tools and perhaps a quick change tool post, so keep that in mind. Over time, you will easily spend the same amount on tooling, as you did on the lathe itself.

Available Space.

For many people, this is a non-issue, but for me it was a major decision factor. I work in a space that is basically a large cupboard, so I really couldn't contemplate anything larger than a 9x20 (and that was pushing it actually). So mark out your space, get some detail on the footprint of each of the options you are considering, and then reduce the list accordingly.

Be sure to also consider the space required to access the change gears, and perhaps have some longer stock running out of the headstock. The change gear covers usually require a bit of space to swing open, and it will really annoy you if you can't accommodate longer raw stock when you need to.

I love that I can store my little Sherline in a small cupboard, and just pull it out when I need it. I also love that I can slide my SC4 around to different positions in the shop, when the mood takes me. This is only possible with small benchtop models. 

Isn't bigger better? Yes it is in some respects. But once you've decided on the upper limit that you can accomodate based on the available space, I think the choice becomes more influenced by what you intend to make.

What Are You Going To Make?

This is really the heart of the matter. What size parts do you see yourself making? In my opinion, the scale of the machine should match the scale of the parts you will be making.

I didn't really appreciate this fully until I bought the Sherline.

I had been making everything on the SC4, and it wasn't until I started using the Sherline for the parts below 5mm that I realised how light and sensitive a small lathe could be. I also learned how important that was to the result. You can certainly make small parts on a larger lathe, but the feel through the hand-wheels on a small lathe is so much lighter, and delicate. It really does influence the way you make the cuts, and I find I do a better job.

Equally true is the fact that there is a limit to how large you can make something on any given lathe, if only because of the limit of the swing or bed length.

The SC4 is perfect for making clock parts. I rarely hit a limitation based on the size of the machine. I have on occasion needed extra bed swing, but it is rare - cutting the teeth for the large Wheel Skeleton Clock is the only example that comes to mind.

The point I really want to make here is that whilst you want to give yourself a nice range at the upper end of the machines capabilities, and it's tempting to just go for the biggest lathe you can afford, small parts really are easier to make on a smaller machine. 

By the way, I also have a cheap 9x20 that I picked up from a retired clockmaker. The quality on that one is a little patchy, so I really only keep it as a second operation lathe, and for items that need the extra bed swing.

Something else to consider:

Gear Head or Pulley Drive?

I have to admit I hadn't even considered this when I first purchased the SC4. It wasn't until I noticed a slight shimmer to the finish on my facing cuts that I learned about the benefits of a pulley drive lathe. What I was seeing was a micron level radial "wave" pattern on larger diameter facing cuts, being generated by the gear noise travelling down the spindle. The impact of each tooth meshing with its counterpart was actually printing on the work.

It's a common enough phenomenon to have been reported in even the best quality gear driven lathes, so it's not fair to blame the SC4 just because it's cheap, but it certainly did trouble me for a while before I figured out what it was.

Is it a problem? not really. Once I satisfied myself that it was just a fact of life of gear driven lathes, and not a faulty spindle, I just moved on.

But a pulley driven lathe doesn't exhibit this behaviour, and is much quieter when running, so keep it in mind.

So what would I do differently If I could?

First thing to say is that I am glad I pulled the trigger and just got myself the first lathe (an Sieg SC4). The time I could have spent further agonizing over which one to buy was much better spent machining, making mistakes and learning.

I think it's a great lathe, and is perfect for the scale of work that I do. But I must admit to recently being tempted to consider the pulley driven 9x20 Weiss with the power cross feed. It is similarly priced, and looks to have a slightly better build quality. If I had known about Weiss at the time I was selecting a lathe, I might have been swayed in that direction. However at the time I was setting up my shop, the Sieg brand was far more prevalent in my part of the world, and I just didn't know about it.

The only real issue I have with the SC4 is the tailstock - If I could confirm that the Weiss 9x20 tailstock will hold center more precisely than the SC4, I would probably let both the SC4 and the green 9x20 go, and replace it with that. In all likelihood though, it's made to the same standard, so I'm not really sweating it.

The Sherline is for me, irreplaceable. For the price it is an unbelievable little machine, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if I was doing it all over again. Unlike most of the products I have mentioned in this post, it is made in the USA, and I think it shows.

Conclusion.

So which lathe should you buy? My suggestion is this: Filter through the options mentioned above, but don't put off the decision for too long. Just make a choice, and run with it. Even if it's not a keeper, you will learn an enormous amount, and have a heap of fun making something, until you settle on your long term beauty.

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

I love looking at old photo's.

There's something about looking at these forgotten scenes, that really stirs up my imagination. I want to know what happened to the people in them. Where did their lives go from this moment in time? Did they know how much things were going to change in just the next few years? How did they cope?

The dominant technology of the day is usually there to be seen. Perhaps not front and centre, maybe off to the side. An early model car, or a steam powered ship. An iconic device from the era that silently defines the age.  Something that the locals of that time took for granted, and assumed would be forever.

Yet we observers from a century later, know different.

We see the carefree expressions on the faces in the photo's, and know that some real challenges lay just ahead of them. We easily spot the unusual device or profession in the photo; the one that we know didn't make it. We mentally project it's trajectory over time. It's downfall, and ultimate disappearance. We sense the scale of the disruption that it would have caused.

And we know it's happening to us in exactly the same way, right now.

The arrival of Netflix in Australia a few weeks ago has almost certainly signalled the end of the local (ailing) dvd rental store, not to mention whole chains of dvd sales stores. The mobile-app-based taxi service Uber, was recently confirmed as one of the most popular forms of domestic transport, despite being essentially illegal in many parts of the world. Incredibly, the taxi aspect of Uber may just be the tip of a very disruptive iceberg. And the FAA release of new commercial drone legislation, has started (albeit very tentatively) perhaps the greatest revolution in transport logisitics we have ever seen.

Will we look back on pictures of taxi drivers, video store facades and delivery truck drivers with the same knowing sense of nostalgic melancholy?

How much have our manufacturing processes changed over just the last few years? I knew 3D printing was going to disrupt, but it wasn't until I read about Rolls Royce printing sintered titanium parts for turbines, that I really got how big a deal this is going to be. Disruptive may well be an understatement.

So will there come a time when a manual lathe or a hand file, and the skills required to use them are considered an anachronism? Will the move toward additive manufacturing in both the commercial and enthusiast arena's displace what we know to be the staples of a home machine shop: A lathe, a mill and a set of files. Or will there always be a place for the home creator to turn a dial, and make a pile of chips?

Just like the people in those photo's, I really don't know.

But I have a suspicion that the low (and getting lower) barrier to entry of 3D printers, will make printed items seem more like a commodity, rather than a creation. By contrast, I think traditionally manufactured items will appear to be more unique. They will have more of a story; the careful output of the home shop artisan. I mean no disrespect to those who love the additive technology; there is certainly a craft associated with modelling a part in 3D and getting a good printed result. But perhaps the current revolution will serve to even more clearly define the boundary between the two.

Either way, I've often thought that what we make in our home shops is often more about creativity than utility. After a hard week at the real job, you get home on the weekend, and make something cool in the shop. It's fun to design things and then express your idea's in metal and wood. For some it's just to impress the family, for others it's a prototype for a new line of product. For many it's quite simply an outlet for their creative expression. Their version of art.

Maybe the tools used to get there simply don't matter. Perhaps it will be a blend of all technologies. All I know for certain is that there are few activities in life that make me feel as relaxed as spending time in the shop. So I'm off to make a pile of chips.

The old fashioned way.

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

Its kind of the key to it all isn't it?

Knowing what pushes your buttons, and what doesn't. What you want out of life and what you would rather do without.

Sometimes it comes to you through the daily grind. For example, I don't need to do another peak hour commute to know that I won't ever again live in a big city.

Nothing against the big smoke; we need big cities. It's just that I don't really feel at home there, not like I do in a small town.

At other times it creeps up on you slowly; gently edging into your unconscious mind. A brief flicker of recognition now and then, until it finally emerges into your awareness. Clear and bright.

And so it was that I discovered I wanted to be a machinist, and make clocks.

I went to the local hardware store to buy some paint. They're very clever at hardware stores you know. You have to walk in past all of the shiny stuff to get to the boring stuff at the back. And on that day they hooked me. There was a nice new mini-lathe sitting on the counter next to all the usual trade tools. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, and stopped for a quick look.

I gave the carriage hand-wheel a quick turn, read the decals, slid the tail-stock up and back a few times. It was all shiny and red, and surprisingly small. Not at all what I remembered a lathe looking like. But it got me thinking about how I had enjoyed working with metal at high school.

Then I kept walking to the paint department, without a backward glance.

That night I found myself thinking about my high school manual arts (shop) class. Which was odd, because I hadn't thought about it in years. The projects I'd made, my teacher, the tools and machines. When I left high school I went to university, and followed a number of professional career paths; none of them involved using my hands. And I kind of missed that. The feeling of messing around with tools and metal. Of making something.

Again it faded from my thoughts.

But then slowly over the next few days and weeks, the urge to follow this thought just grew, and grew. Colonising my mind, and getting me motivated. I started watching youtube video's on machining, checking out prices for tools, and reading forums. The outside shed was sized up as a potential shop. Even the spare room inside was given a once over... this was starting to get serious!

There was only one thing to decide before I took the plunge; what exactly was I going to make?

I saw some impressive projects online. Steam engines, beautiful locomotives and one guy who had made a series of scale aircraft engines. I mean truly spectacular stuff. But I figured most of that was way out of my league, and I had it in my head that whatever I made had to have a purpose in everyday life. A working purpose. I didn't want to spend all this time making a steam engine, to then put it on the shelf to collect dust. I wanted whatever I made to be something I could use.

I don't recall how or when, but at some point the thought arrived: What about a clock?

And just like that it began. A multi-year obsession with learning about all things that go tick. The science, art, history and everything in between. What a great journey it's been. I've learned so much, met so many amazing and generous people, and found a level of satisfaction working with my hands, that I didn't even know was possible.

And to think it all started with a tin of paint.

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

This week I spent a lot of my shop time taking care of one of the more time consuming aspects of clockmaking: "crossing out" wheel spokes. I started this process a few weeks ago, and it's going to take me many more weeks to do all of the wheels for this clock. I'll probably spread it out over a few months, and mix it up with some tool making video's, so I don't bore you with the same thing.

But when I'm at the bench for long stretches like this, working on a single component, my mind wanders. I start to think about how it must have felt to be doing this 200 years ago, as an apprentice to a working clockmaker. Was the shop that different to mine, the vise, the files? Did they put in 8 hours a day, 10, 12? What about lighting and vision. I have an Optivisor to get up close to the work; how did they manage without modern lighting and optics?

As for productivity, my experience this week reminds me that past masters of this art were a very special class of maker. I am amazed at their sheer output; How did they push out so much work with just simple hand tools?

The traditional approach to crossing out a wheel is to remove most of the waste material by hand with a piercing saw, on a V-block of some sort, and then use files to finish the surface. This method comes with serious bragging rights. To take a component from raw metal to finished component without any power tool assistance takes not only skill, but a huge amount of time. Something that the modern world generally does not reward. This approach naturally leads to a very traditional appearance (every part slightly different, square corners at the intersection of spoke perimeter etc.), and is therefore still employed by bespoke makers of the finest quality items.

The modern approach is to use a CNC mill to remove the waste stock, or better yet wire EDM. Much faster, repeatable, and therefore financially rewarding. In each case, needle files and polishers can still be used to bring the profile of the spokes to a more traditionally correct appearance.

But this raises the question that vexes today's makers of clocks, watches and fine instruments: Is the CNC'd component really traditional? If an individual maker did not toil over it with needle file in hand from start to finish, does it still qualify? To what extent can we employ the time saving tools of the 21st century, and still claim the title "Hand Made"?

I have to admit that my own thoughts on this are still evolving. I absolutely love the hand tool tradition of classical watch and clock making. I use traditional tools and techniques as much as possible, and to the extent that I can still source the tools and materials. But I do use some power tools like a belt sander and scroll saw to speed things up. And I see some of my favourite makers embracing CNC with gusto, and watch their productivity shoot through the roof. It's hard not to be tempted.

So where do you sit on the spectrum - "Old School" all the way, or ready to roll with the latest the 21st century has to offer? Let me know in the comments.

As always, thanks for dropping by,
Chris.