New Toys!

Over the weekend I became completely infactuated with the idea of machining crap at home. I'm not sure what initiated this sick obsession but it was stevehuckss396's thread on the 'Home Model Engine Machinist' forum that ultimately pushed me over the edge.

Take an innocent looking block of aluminum, put some holes in it and you get...

... a mother f*#king engine block! WHAT?!?!

Apply some more raw unfiltered military grade talent and you get a V8! Tada!

If someone as talented and committed as steve could build a 12-valve SOHC V8 from nothing more than some basic machining tools, surely I could persuade my fingers of butter and fists of ham to turn out some bar ends and wheel spacers with enough practie.

So with that can-do attitude I found a discontinued Princess Auto lathe 30 mins from my house and picked it up for a song and dance.

My new lathe on my Camry's back seat

The late came with a small box of tooling, gears, chucks ...

... and a massive chunk of mystry grade aluminum

Upon first glance you can't help but notice the gallons of grease and stock piles of metal shavings

Makes you wonder if this thing has ever been cleaned at all

Gross

Some brake cleaner and elbow grease cleans up nicely

Temporarily, I have the lathe sitting on my standard bench which is so packed with crap, it barely fits a set of carburetors. Clearly what is needed is a new bench. Time to raid Home Depot and fire up the saws.... stay tuned :)

Oh, and check out more of Steve's AMAZING work on his photobucket account.