kgstakes

That’s cool thanks for sharing!!

The only thing I wish it had was bearings for the headstock. Has bronze bushings ?? Not sure if Bronze or not but no bearings. Seems tight (no slop) so that's good. Just have to take the time and really clean it up and maybe give it a new paint job (same color). I have to make sure I still have it but I also have a faceplate, tooling (bits) takes 1/4" I believe maybe 3/8" cutters, dead center for tailstock (wish I had a live center) course they can be bought MT 1 tailstock. Head is a MT 2 I believe. I know I messed up one of the pins in the head, didn't know what I was doing at the time, know better now. It doesn't have a thread knob?? on it that broke long time ago. I probably won't be cutting threads that way anyway. Don't know if others vibrant or make allot of noise but my does. It's probably the way I have to belt to the motor rigged up. Dad and I built the cabinet many many moons ago and hung the motor on a hinge for belt tension (probably not the right way to do it). I have many "irons in the fire" before I get to really dig into the lathe project, it does run now just needs a good cleaning and lube. Works great, I've turned hubs (see picture) for a 1/8 scale stagecoach I was building and have turned other wood projects on it. Never have tried to turn metal on it yet. Just messed with it with wood. Yeah, I know some say don't turn wood on a metal lathe some say it's fine. It's the only lathe I had at the time so......... yup. Thanks to everyone that commented and gave suggestions on the lathe. Appreciate each and every one of you and look forward to getting back to modeling soon. First day of work (new job) so that'll be interesting. Again thank you !!

Well we’re moved and I’m setting up the shop and I believe it was here that we were talking about atlas craftsman steel lathes. Anyway I dug out my craftsman lathe and yes I need a new base and deep cleaning but this is what I have.

True but what the machine is designed for, the site has many designs, cards, etc to pick from and make your own. Technically it wasn’t designed for the modeler. A stand alone machine would be great but for the money, you have to give up something. All I can say is that I tried it other modelers have tried it and it works. A cheaper way to get something cut out other than buying a laser cutter which is out of my range. Oh and it really works well for making signs for your models as well. i don’t know if micro mark version of this is stand alone either…. Be interesting to see if it is or another machine similar to the cricut. I know my wife would like stand alone machine. I’ve looked at 3D printers, looks neat and what they can do is cool, but too technical for me and the price is way out of my range. Plus I’m a wood guy rather build with wood than plastic. Figures and details I can see a 3D printer coming in handy but for me I’ll stick with my model tools, be it hand or power tools. Have fun building!!!

It’ll cut curves the machine will follow what ever the drawing you have programmed it to cut. Don’t see any problems with cutting a curve. The blade is designed to swivel. this is the deep cut blade that I have for the cricut for cutting basswood up to 1/16”. Newer models might be able to cut deeper don’t know.

Yeah what he said 😇

It is not a stand alone, Internet access needed. I do know that much🤪 and I have windows. Other than that 🤷🤷. Just worked for what I tried. Oh and usb or WiFi it’ll work both

All these questions about the computers and interfaces and such. I’m sorry guys but I’m a simple man have absolutely no idea what it is. I’m sure if I dig into it I could tell you but right off hand I’m sorry have no idea. All I know is I’ve use sketch up and that works (sometimes) and I’ve used freecad and that works if you bring it in to the cricut program and then resize the whole project to the correct size (which is just a few clicks). Again sorry guys I don’t have all the answers you’re looking for……. Wish I did. 🤷🤷

The model my wife has is an older one it’s a Explore Air i know there’s newer ones out there that can do thicker material (don’t think 1/8-1/4) but maybe 🤷🤷🤷

Video of the cricut cutting out the two roof pieces. I tried to upload the one where it's cutting the windows out of the side walls but video to long 🙃. Might be longer than a laser to cut parts, but you don't have to clean up any burnt edges !! MVI_0798.MP4

Oh to answer another question about the blade. It’s a swivel blade. When the machine changes direction the blade free rotates and follows. For 1/16” basswood you have to set it up to do multiple passes. When I get to my computer I’ll post a video of it cutting the sides for the above structure.

A cricut is not a machine that could or even should replace a laser cutter. It’s just a less expensive way to cut your own parts. cricut is a few hundred dollars a laser in a few thousand dollars. Definitely a big difference in price and also quality of cut and what you can do with a laser you can’t do with a cricut. Cricut too limited. But if you don’t have the money for a laser and you, your wife, or partner, has a cricut, try it see what it can do. It surprised me.

You can use cad but some of the drawing programs I’ve found that the only thing I had to do was resize the whole wall to the correct size and then cut it. when I resized everything the windows and floors were then the correct size as well. You can also just draw with the cricut program and no resizing is needed then.

This may have been mentioned before but have any of you tried cutting with cricut or similar device? I’ve used my wife’s once and it did a really good job (surprisingly). I was cutting out a building out of 1/16” thick basswood clapboard. You have to put your work face down for the windows and doors to be a tight fit but the cut was good and clean.

Like the thinking of sandpaper going from 80 grit to 120 so and so. Not really, your sand paper is actually getting “dull”. Take your worn sandpaper and sand a piece of wood, then take a fresh sandpaper (what you think the worn paper is, say 120. Sand the same wood. The fresh 120 will give you a better finish, because the paper is “fresh or sharp”. Like the mess paper but use different grits when sanding. Your stain or clear finish or even paint jobs will come out better and smoother.

thought I would chime in here as well with the ultimation slicer and sander. Better yet look at this video. Definitely worth the money. Hopefully it will load. Video.mov

Basswood can be stained and also painted. If you do stain basswood, you have to treat it so that the stain will go on even or I've used with great success to stain basswood is a stain/poly mix that stains and finishes in one coat. It helps with blotching. But Gregory, you're right if you stain raw basswood, it will blotch and not look good. For structures and ships you could do as well, but weathering with a stain on basswood to give an old weathered look works quite well. Every building in the picture below was made out of basswood and only stained and weathered. No pretreating of the wood was done on these structures. The rolltop desk pictured below is made from basswood and stain/poly finish applied. Three coats and no blotching was done with this technique.

Nice job indeed !!! Hope my riverboat comes out as good as yours! Great Job, well done!!

Glad I clicked on this topic. Learning a lot about the woods you all use. I've only built with basswood (railroad structures & miniature furniture). Used cherry once for a miniature table. I'm building the Mississippi River boat and the different species in the kit but didn't really realize that certain woods are better for certain parts of a ship. Very interesting topic, thanks everyone, I'll pay more attention to the woods used from now on. And the best part is I have another supplier for wood !!

Love all the detail, rigging for the life boats railings, just a very nice job. Every time I get on this forum I see great models and it inspires me to do better with my modeling. Thank you for sharing!

Some times in our hobby we need to look at other ways of doing things and using pinking shears for the awning is a great effect. If we all look in our tools arsenal we’ll find things that are not necessarily made for our hobby but work for our hobby. In the sewing or craft departments in stores you’ll find all kinds of little things that can work for our models. I’ve even used my wife’s cricut machine to cut out walls for a building and it worked great!! Have fun out there and I’ll be back to building shortly after my fingers heal a little more and we get moved to our new home.

That site has some great tools!! That one is going in my tool favorites on my computer for sure. Thanks for sharing!!

I bought a proxxon vs the brynes only because it has the tilt arbor. Proxxon works for me but if the brynes would have had a tilting arbor there would be no question I would have that saw in my shop. The tilt table just brought me back to memories of a table saw (full size) that my father had when I was a kid and it would scare me every time he tried to make a cut. Just looks unsafe because any slip and the cut is bad or fingers missing. Proxxon works for what I need in a mini table saw and I can cut thin material (rc airplane plywood 1/64”) without any problems. Cuts are straight and true. I’ll say it again, each of us like the machine we have and that’s good. Have fun stay safe and enjoy our hobby!!

For my HO scale windows I've use clear plastic from packaging but I also use Micro Glaze from Micro Mark which works pretty well. Only thing with the glaze is that it's more light the old widows in houses and such that you can see a "wave" in the glass (hope I'm explaining that correctly). It's not as clear as using the plastic from a package like for figures or some other detail parts come in.