Canadian Hobby Metal Workers & Machinists

I have been gifted a make and break engine. It was seized when I got it and the valves were stuck. I've freed that all up, managed to salvage the piston rings and I found some gasket material for the head gasket. There is no crank case on these engines so the main bearings and the connecting rod bearings have grease cups on them for lubrication. The cup on the left main bearing ...

I'm from a small town in Ont., trust me you haven't heard of it, and currently retired. Been a amateur metal mangler for 40 years as well as 30 years in the trades as a P & P welder/pipefitter/boilermaker etc.

My main focus has been building 1/6 scale artillery (non-firing), a British 18 PDR and a 4.5" Howitzer both of WW 1 vintage. Currently building a 1/2 sca...

How are you guys storing contact cement? (Or any other solvent based adhesive )

Went to use a tin of contact cement and it had gassed off and gone to goo. Same with my rubber cement. I do not use a lot of it, but nice to have some around.

Went to grab a new tin today and it is $25 for a 236 ml. Crazy. The small tin is $15 for 118ml.

For the...

I keep close tabs on my tools. I know where everything is or should be and seldom misplace a tool.

The other day I noticed my 7/64 missing from a set of imperial Bondhus Allen wrenches. Recently one of my kids has been using some of my tools which is fine. But after noticing them missing for a few days I have to tell him to round them up and bring 'em back. So natur...

Replacing a potentiometer for a volume control on a piece of audio equipment. The original is a vintage CTS potentiometer. Accorrding to what I have been reading online vintage CTS means "quality". During some tests it seemed to be suspect. Unfortunately I had no choice but to be destructive when removing it (what if I am wrong, oh well). I believe the previous owner of the audi...