From: muratlanne@gmail.com   
      
   "Jim Wilkins"  wrote in message news:vjhbbh$3e2nh$1@dont-email.me...   
      
   The valuable equipment is a lathe for power transmission components and a   
   vertical mill for the static structure, plus a horizontal bandsaw to cut   
   stock.   
   -------------------------------------   
      
   I didn't include a drill press because the mill makes a good one on small   
   parts and the lathe drills into large parts such as the ends of long shafts   
   that can pass through the spindle bore. Its size is a consideration if you   
   plan to build or repair machinery. My lathe takes 1" diameter through the   
   headstock in 5C collets and 1-3/8" in a chuck. The 18HP tractor engine has   
   1" output shafts.   
      
   Collets are very convenient if you make parts from new ground rod stock but   
   one 4 jaw chuck will let you do almost anything.   
      
   A woodworking drill press may not be rigid enough to drill accurately   
   perpendicular holes in steel.   
      
   There are indexing fixtures for a mill that allow cutting splines in a shaft   
   and teeth on a gear, so you can repair a broken tooth by building up with   
   weld and then trimming to match the others.   
      
   I ground a lathe bit into a fly cutter shaped like the tooth gap and   
   machined a replacement for the steering sector gear on my old tractor. The   
   original cast gear didn't survive the extra stress of my bucket loader   
   attachment. The motorcycle chain sprocket I bought to drive the rear wheel   
   on my sawmill has 13 internal spline teeth. If I'd noticed I would have   
   asked for one with 12 as all factors of 24 are easy to index. I used a 52   
   tooth lathe change gear to index and mill matching slots in its drive shaft.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)