Hi (again), also from NC!

Discussion in 'New member introductions' started by r4z0r7o3, Aug 17, 2024.

  1. r4z0r7o3

    r4z0r7o3 Silver Banner Member

    Hey y'all! I was a long-time user of the former Alloy Avenue going back to 2014/15ish. There, and here, you may call me Razor, Toe, and I also respond to "hey you" on occasion :D I'm located in the Raleigh-Durham-Chappel-Hill area of North Carolina.

    Over on AA, I was known for my absolutely huge, epic, monster, furnace-build thread (I believe it spanned years). @Tobho Mott can vouch for both it's length and my ignorance :D Unfortunately I never managed to save an offline copy of the thread :( But I did recently manage to fire it up for the first (really the second) time after totally rebuilding the (siphon-feed) burner/blower (which also took me years):



    As anyone experienced can probably tell, my air/fuel is still off, so I have a little more playing to do. My casting goal is laser-focused on a David Gingery Lathe. Costs/economics be damned (just like my furnace), it's all about the journey ;) Similarly, when that's done guess what? It's the Gingery shaper or milling machine (not sure if I want to skip a book or not) :p

    So I believe I'm close to casting my first ingots, and am busy preparing (A8) crucible tongs and other minor tooling. Unf., I couldn't find any/many threads on side-gripping tongs for my style of furnace. Unless someone has a reference, I'll likely go by what Gingery recommends. The other thing I'll probably need help with is, "curing" my SuperSalamander crucible, somehow without pissing off my wife or cat :eek:

    In my non-free time, I'm a husband, teenager father, and am employed by an independent subsidiary of a certain three-letter tech giant. I'm currently a senior software quality engineer, but in another week I start a new role as a senior software maintenance engineer. So colloquially "coding" work basically. It's not all butterfly's and rainbows though, since the trade-off is I don't get many garage hours :(
     
    Tobho Mott likes this.
  2. r4z0r7o3

    r4z0r7o3 Silver Banner Member

  3. BattyZ

    BattyZ Silver Banner Member

    Welcome(back?)! Excited to see the Gingery lathe project get underway and progress. I have all the books, started on the lathe bed casting. Then, got into CNC..
     
  4. r4z0r7o3

    r4z0r7o3 Silver Banner Member

    Thanks!

    HAhahahaha! I owned a 3d-printer long enough to understand the pull. G-code and servos and limit-switches and ball-screws and oh my! I was intending to print my Gingery lathe patterns, but then my printer broke (it was a cheap Chinese POS) and I was reminded: There's value in simple things :D. I certainly enjoy watching others play/work with CNC machines, so maybe I'll go back there some day. For now, I'm vibing on the nostalgia of old, tried-and-true, possibly obscure, and definitely more artistically leaning gizmos/techniques. Even took a professional Blacksmithing class last summer at a folk-school. I learned that the ability to stand on concrete for 8 hours, constantly tend to my posture, and hammer from my shoulder are all way more important than trying to craft something fancy :p
     
  5. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Hi Toe!

    Glad you found your way back. I do remember your epic furnace thread on AA. It's good to see it is finally getting used. The Gingery projects should be fun to follow along with...

    Jeff
     
  6. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    -Welcome back. I remember that thread and the first fire. I had a lengthy furnace build thread there too that went poof between the Photobucket debacle and forum demise. Been using it ever since. Moved on quite a bit since those days. Lost foam caster of automotive parts with cnc'd patterns.

    Best,
    Kelly
     
  7. r4z0r7o3

    r4z0r7o3 Silver Banner Member

    Thanks guys!

    Yes! Just yesterday I was reading your discourse in a LW PLA vs LF thread, really interesting! I appreciate all your (especially technical) contributions to this forum.

    Between you and Jeff's youtube, what more is there to know? :D
    (I'm kidding, of course there are many other helpful contributors here)
     

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