CAMS Review of 23 March 99 Meeting

CAMS

Chesapeake Area Metalworking Society

Review of 23 March 99 Meeting
Mason District Governmental Center
6507 Columbia Pike
Falls Church, VA

Growing!!! There were 28 people at our second meeting. And yes the Therry brothers from Pennsylvania made it again! Below is a picture of our gang.

Mason District Governmental Center turns out to be a sort of combination police station and community center. A little strange, but it is open all night and we were not bothered when we stayed well past the 10PM scheduled end time for our meeting. The room had plenty of space and chairs; only a white board was lacking.

The meeting got under way a little after 7PM, though some folks showed up a late as 9PM. A feeble attempt was made at encouraging actions leading to a more formal setup for the club. It seems that at the present time people are not interested in us having a charter and such. Some day this will be needed, but for a while longer we can stumble forward gaining critical mass. Plans for our next meeting in Maryland were not formalized because we did not know yet if the site had been reserved.

Discussion then centered for a while on building membership. It was noted that we have not attracted many people from the Baltimore area. It was mentioned that there is an active live steam club in Baltimore and perhaps there would be some interest among their membership. Other suggestions that were offered included putting flyers at local used machinery dealers, and to have a flea market and advertise it in local newspapers. The flea market idea was well received and several folks promised to look into possibilities for a site. Bob Vogel also offered to mail info to people on his personal mailing list. Steve Stallings offered to pursue a mailing through the Home Shop Machinists magazine.

After a period of general discussion, we proceeded to the three programs scheduled for the evening.

First up was Bill Lewis telling us about the joys of moving a full size Bridgeport milling machine down steps and through his house.

He had previously documented this effort on his web page, and he brought a computer to show us the pictures. If you want to see for yourself, the URL on his web page is:

http://users.erols.com/wrljet/bridgeport/

The stuff to the right of Bill's computer is part of a hydraulic pump system related to race car automatic transmission that Bill is modifying. After all, you are supposed to do something with your Bridgeport aren't you?

Next up was Eric Nystrom telling us about his Worden tool grinder and the modifications that he made to it.

Eric brought the grinder itself and we were able to touch and feel, but we did not actually operate the grinder. His most elaborate modification was a dovetail slide to raise and lower the motor so that the wheel could be kept in the best position for grinding as the tool table was tilted. The slide was easily the nicest part of the setup and it worked silky smooth.

The kit from which Eric started can be seen at:

http://www.fotec.co.uk/mehs/hemingway/

Last program up was Steve Stallings displaying and talking about collets and other tool holders.

Since I was behind the camera, you only get to see the collets. Each type was identified to the best of my ability and the characteristics of self-holding vs. self-releasing collets, push vs. pull collets, collets vs. endmill holders, and other such things were discussed.

After the scheduled programs, members at large were offered the floor for any presentation that they wished to give.

One member who took us up on the offer was Terry Elder who spoke about additional aspects of machinery moving and about acquiring used machinery and parts.

Jim Hilton also brought a Diamond tool holder for lathe bits and told us about the benefits of its setup which makes grinding bits simpler. Unfortunately he was fast enough to escape having his picture taken. You can see the tool holder here:

http://www.bay-com.com/diamond.htm

Mike Stakem brought in a Tiny Power steam engine that he built. His plans include several more engines in the future. His Tiny Power is shown in the picture below.

As with our first meeting, there followed a general discussion period. Lots of folks, lots of talk. Everyone got a chance to check out the presentation items up close. The meeting wound up around 11PM with a few hardy souls gathering in the parking lot afterwards.

Thanks to Bill and Eric for their programs. Thanks to all who made the effort to come.

Cheers,
Steve Stallings