THMStore
Information directed toward the “The Hobbyist Machine Store”
The store now maintains its own Blog.
A Change at THMStore
The change is THMS is going to manufacturer many of the products it sells. The Hobbyist’s Machine Shop will be refined and improved as necessary into a higher volume work shop in order to enable production runs of some finely crafted products we have long considered making. These products will then be offered for sale through our e-commerce store or perhaps regional sales representatives.
The Hobbyist Machine Store (THMS) is an Internet e-business. The initial mission statement of the business was to provide replacement steel gears for the popular Asian made mini lathe and mini mills. THMS next expanded its mission statement to include supplying small machine tools, accessories and powered hand tools to any hobbyist constructing precision projects in their personal workshops. THMS does not cater to just the machinist hobby, but to any kind of hobbyist who requires small high quality machine tools for their workshops.
The original plan put THMS into limited competition with other Internet and catalog based small tool providers. I have stated on these pages, it is not the intention of THMS to be yet another supplier of lookalike goods. We never intend to become a large discount supplier of common brand tools and machines, just competing on price.
I have been considering making this THMS mission statement “adjustment” for more than a year. I can’t call it a change of mission as this direction has always been a part of my long range strategy. A change in emphasis may be a better description. The emphasis to produce and market my own products.
THM Store will continue to offer, as long as there are orders, the high quality products that are not readily available through other channels. One example is the excellent Proxxon PD400 metric mini lathe and accessories, imported from Germany. We will… Continue reading
Taig Micro Lathe
I think the Taig micro lathe is far often overlooked as a viable lathe for the small parts hobbyist. It is an excellent choice for the miniature and small size model maker. The only thing considered missing by big lathe pundits is the powered feed and thread making ability.
The factory power feed has recently been added as an option. For many years hobbyists have added their own feeds – motor powered, complex gear powered and CNC versions. I have not seen the Taig powered carriage feed but assume it is motor driven. I have requested information from Taig Tools about the power feed and will publish it here. Update! – Here is the link to the power feed — http://www.taigmachines.com/Power_Feed.php
I presently (without seeing or using one) consider the power feed a luxury item and probably more work to use than just making small parts by hand. The power feed would be nice if a part being made was a long shaft. My hope is that there will be an easy option to use or not use the power feed.
The threading is another issue. Making small parts I almost never use single point threading such as a lathe produces. I use a tap and/or die which is much easier and accurate on small diameters. Cutting threads for a large diameter, inside and outside is another matter. That is a lathe project or a very good CNC milling operation. The stock Taig micro lathe is not capable of doing large threads. Note I said stock.
The best solution is a larger geared lathe. That is why I offer the larger lathes in my store. I reserve the use of the Taig micro lathe for micro parts. Within its limitations it is a very good… Continue reading
Next Product (and project)
I am working on a product for the CNC router folks. That includes me of course with my HB2 system. The one big pain in the ear for home and hobbyist is the screaming router noise for several hours (or more) at a time. I wear ear plugs but I am sure my neighbors are wondering why that high pitched motor whine noise, is running so long.
My solution is a simple adapter plate to mount the Taig ER spindle and motor to the HB2. Top speed is 10,600 rpm but that is not too bad for the up to 3/8 inch cutting bits I will normally be using. What I like is it features one of the best small collet systems in machining, the ER16 style.
I intend to offer the complete spindle setup in my web store. This will include everything (motor, spindle, pullys, etc.) to install it on the HB2 or any overhead router machine. Price will be < $350.00 USD.
Late January Ramblin’
Texas weather is going crazy as usual. It is 32 degrees (F) and raining one day then 62 and sun the next which was yesterday. This morning it is 35 and semi cloudy. I know they say this in every place I have lived but, “If you don’t like the weather. just wait a day…” 🙂
Outside Christmas deco was taken down (finally) yesterday. When packing it looked like I cornered the market on outdoor extension cords. I use over 35 to run all the circuits on the computer controlled light system. The weather was perfect and my back feeling good enough to tackle the task. Ten more months and counting… too long to just leave them up.
The online store is doing OK. Gears are starting to sell very well. I recently sold a Proxxon lathe and have two folks at present wanting to know when I can get the next one. The one I own is for sale but to ship it would double the freight cost as I already paid to get it to me. Shipping it again would not be for free. I may just pay the tax on it and keep it for myself. It is a great little lathe and actually the same size Kozo uses to build his 3/4 scale locos. His is an Emco with the attached mill, no longer available.
My shop is a mess at the moment. I have several projects to work on and Christmas piled all around me. We will fix most of the pile problem today with a trip to storage. Here in the Dallas, Texas area, basements are unknown. Shop space is at a premium and usually must be shared. I am actually willing (dreaming) to move the shop to a rental space… Continue reading
See and Seeing
I have committed myself to taking a fresh start and doing some more CNC work. The reason being is I have discovered some projects I want to do that will provide new products for The Hobbyist Machine Store. They will be best produced through CNC repeatability. The store has proven to me that I must produce my own product. Exclusivity is the key to success. My products may be similar to others but will never be the same.
I am doing some minor rebuild on the original homebuilt CNC gantry style engraver shown here, primarily a solid mount for the Dremel tool I already own. I am also considering making a mount for the Proxxon Professional Rotary Tool IB/E (NO 38 481). The working area of the engraver machine is 5.5″ x 6.0″ so the small hand engravers are a good match. My first projects will fit this small machine very well.
I have also ordered the basic parts for a second CNC power supply / controller. It will be set up to operate this little gantry machine. I will post that project in the THMS web site. I will use the same components as my first controller but in a different case and layout. I don’t like to mess too much with success.
Then, a new design is to build a larger gantry CNC machine that will be able to use more powerful spindle drives such as high speed routers. Table working area will be at least 12″ x 24″ and may approach the 24″ x 36″ range as anything bigger than this gets out of the reliable range for stepper drives. Extremely fast rapids are not required and I don’t want the expense of designing a servo system. Anticipated first project (product) is much smaller than the larger… Continue reading