About Me

My dad was an avid ham radio operator and built much of his own equipment from military surplus parts after World War II.

As a child I spent many hours watching him work in his shop working with tools to make whatever he needed, so it was natural that a workshop has been central to my life since my pre-teen years.

My first experience using a lathe was in high school, and the capabilities it opened up for making things from metal fascinated me from day one.

In my first job out of college, I used a little Unimat lathe to make some apparatus for the biomedical lab where I worked, and this led me to start a side business, Research Instruments Company (RICO) around 1975, making specialized instruments for researchers at Dartmouth Medical School.

I purchased an Emco Maximat lathe/mill for about $2000, which was a considerable amount of money in those days, considering my meager salary from my day job. Here I am, much younger, setting up the Maximat:

I sold the Maximat several years later when I started a full time software business, but my interest in machining survived.

In Fall of 1999 I needed to make a special tool for a project I was working on. I started looking for a small lathe and purchased the Harbor Freight 7x10 mini lathe.

When I began this web site, I had planned to describe my small home machine shop. Still hope to get around to that someday,

Update 09/25/09 – eventually, I did get around to it. Info about my shop.

But inspired by Varmint Al’s and Ty Hoeffer’s sites, I decided to create a web site to help new and prospective owners of the 7x10 and 7x12 minilathes.

You can find lots more information at my Minilathe Links Page.

In January 2000, I purchased the Grizzly mini mill to complement the capabilities of the lathe. I started work on a companion web site shortly afterwards.

Acknowledgements#

I learned my shop and machining skills from the following people, in approximate order of appearance:

Frank Hoose, Sr. K4RZ, my dad, who taught me about electronics, guns and tools
Mr. Fleming, my high school shop teacher
Fred Schleipman, master machinist (1974) at the Dartmouth Engineering School machine shop
Jose Rodriguez, who defended the 7x10 when no one else would
Varmint Al, a 7x10 pioneer and 21st Century Renaissance Man
Ty Hoeffer, another pioneer, and Renaissance Man
James Early deserves special recognition for his dedicated and voluminous contributions to the 7x10 group
Mert Baker, a retired teacher who continues to teach on a broad range of subject matter

My virtual shopmates on the 7x10 group Bruce Simpson, Jack Fusilier, Steve Bedair, Vikki Ford to name just a few. There are many more, of course; you know who you are and how you have helped.**

As Varmint Al says: “Let the chips fly!