Last night I finished my leadscrew handle for the lathe. I took a cut along the outside of a piece of inch and a half aluminum using the handle to move the carriage, and it was beautiful! It came out very smooth with a nice, shiny finish. It is kinda hard to turn the crank, so I think I’ve overtightened the bearings that hold the leadscrew – when I’ve got more time, I’ll check. Look for pictures soon. Next up on the lathe projects docket, a saddle lock.
Tonight, I’m off to the Boston Tea Party for a spot of dancing – my first since Toronto. Should be fun, with plenty of out-of-towners around.
posted March 22, 2002 – 6:15 am
The Pi(e) Party (my birthday = March 14 = 3/14 = 3.14 = pi!) last night was a blast. Nice mix of people, lots of pie (several Pi pies) – much rejoicing. It was also nice to have my brother around for the week. He got himself a job offer & is moving up to Boston this summer. Can the Somerville/Cambridge area handle two Zuckers? Stay tuned…
posted March 17, 2002 – 2:53 pm
Happy birthday to me! Yep, it’s the big day (actually not really very big at all – 24 is another lame birthday year), also notable because of the following historic events:
- In 1879, Albert Einstein was born.
- In 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent on the cotton gin.
- In 1933, Quincy Jones was born.
- In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected president of Russia.
Plans for today include chocolate martinis at the Good Life, in Central Square, and dinner at Central Kitchen. Yum.
posted March 14, 2002 – 9:01 am
Last Thursday evening, Mike & I finished the backplate for the four jaw chuck, and when I got back from Toronto yesterday, I had just enough time before dance rehearsal to get it mounted up on the spindle. At first glance, it looks pretty good – the runout on the side of the chuck is around 0.003″ (I haven’t checked the faceplate runout). More experiments soon.
Toronto was a blast – Steven & Virginie were as good as ever and I had a great time getting to know some of the dancers up there better. I wasn’t super-impressed by the city itself, but it also wasn’t bad, by any means (nor did I have tons of time to explore). The weather was pretty similar to Boston, and I had a nice time wandering around downtown Toronto on Friday. In short, I’d go back, especially if something fun was happening again.
posted March 12, 2002 – 12:57 pm
Off to Toronto on Friday morning for a lindy hop workshop. If you have any good recommendations for things to do there, tell me.
In the meantime, I’m building a handle to go on the leadscrew on the lathe – it’ll make long cuts a lot smoother (because I’ll be able to move the carriage slower & more smoothly). The four jaw chuck backplate should also get finished this week, so by the time I get back from Toronto, I’ll be pretty well outfitted. Any ideas for a good first project? I’ll probably end up building a simple steam engine unless something better comes to mind.
posted March 6, 2002 – 10:37 am