Phil Patrick

Pulling for her here in Ohio. Be strong.

Just chuck it into the dishwasher. I will promise you something cool will happen.

We will be thinking about you guys,, be strong!

Thanks to everyone here. It has warmed my family's' hearts from all of the responses to this post. This has been a tough time, but we are pulling through it closer than ever. Love to you all.

The whole family will be in our thoughts.

It has been a while since I have posted. My oldest brother passed away last Saturday after fighting an infection in his liver. I have lost a great friend and brother. He was only 40 years old, leaving his lovely wife and two daughters. He taught me so much throughout my life. Metal working, mechanics, everything. I will miss him greatly. The world will be a little lonelier place without him. Give him a tap on the anvil next time you walk in your shops.

I have a pair that I do use quite a bit. They are rated safety glasses(ansi rating something something), which is a must. Plus, my eyes are VERY sensitive to glare, which they do a nice job of cutting. An added bonus I found was that they filter the flare from the flux when I gas weld aluminum. Now on the flip side, I do find myself lifting them up or peeking over the tops when I am watching for welding heat sometimes. Hey, there is no such thing for a free lunch,

I don't know about you folks but I think that both taste terrible.

Don't get too excited Johannes, it is an expression for television. My grandfather used it alot. A "Boob" is a fool or a silly person. He (my grandfather) felt that TV was a poor use of time. As for the rest of ya, don't jump on me about knocking TV!!!! It were not me, it was me ganddad!!!. Mythical shop hmmhmmm? 20000 sqr feet limestone block building, well lit with many windows that never get dirty, overhead 30 ton crane, bottomless coal bunker, nice solid anvil, endless supply of material, fridge filled with icy water for work, icy brew for after. Radio tuned to a channel with no 1980's music and no advertisements. Oh yeah, due to an quirk in the Earth's magnetic field under my shop, it would be impossible to lose ANYTHING in the shop.

Sorry folks, need to work on the pics, too big right now, please be patient.

well, I made here,, so far so good. I checked out the arena and castle in Verona,,very cool. I will post pics as I have time. They use the Arena for plays and operas. Pretty awesome.

Well folks, work has seen fit to send me to the mothership in Sarego Italy. I leave this Saturday, gone till friday. My personal goal is to see if I can get a nice group of pics to post, both blacksmithing related or otherwise. Wish me luck!

Ha ha,, nicely done.

So what is the current state of any laws concerning this here in the States? I have always been a little fuzzy on what is a "legal" blade that one can carry here.

What is the difference between a grandmother and a granary?

Ha ha,, that's why I reload my own. "That government is best which governs least." Thomas Paine

Along the same lines, remember, the second amendment has nothing to due with hunting,,,,,,,,, Remember we out number the government.

I believe it is a pasta sizing die.

I agree, sounds like the system has air in it now. With out being in front of it, I can't tell you how to bleed it. You might have to top everything off, and manually bring the ram to the up position to clear the air. Another thing to do is WITH THE PUMP OFF!!!!!!!!!, fill it up, and crack the lines loose and spin the motor over by hand to purge the air.

That's the rub with Laser cutters. When they run, they RUN! When they break, it can get expensive very fast. The advantage with a laser is faster cutting speeds(to a point mind you!), smaller kerf, etc. We make and sell two models, a ball screw driven laser and one that is driven by linear motors. The linear motor model can grab like 3 g's at full accel. So on thinner material it can really perform well. We also use a DC Rofin Sinar laser source which has a higher power density than say a fast axial flow laser. What that gives is the ability to cut a given thickness with less wattage. Salvagnini For those who are interested, check out our website. I'll be heading over to Italy for training in two weeks at the world head quarters.

and Teller......

I work for a company that manufactures and sells laser cutters, as well as other sheet meat fabricating equipment.. I trouble shoot and program them as well as our other equipment. Most laser cutters are designed for sheet or plate work. Despite who makes them, they all work pretty much the same way. In terms of sheet or plate, it is pretty much all or nothing when it comes to cutting depth. You are either all the way through, or not. you can do what we call micro welds. They are tiny welds along the edges of parts to keep them from falling through the cutting grids, or for holding windows into parts or purpose. They way we do it is we bring the beam out of focus. This changes the power density and causes a puddling effect. On the other side of the gambit, there are series of laser cutters out there built for the purpose for cutting tubing And not just a straight cut, but complex or simple profiles weldaments and so on. They do just cut through one "side" of the tubing at a time. I hope this helps!! Phil

Thanks everybody.

Sounds like my house. Our one cat will "hide" and watch my wife while she knits. As soon as her head turns the wrong way BAM!! The cat has the skein in her mouth running away as fast as she can. I love cats.

I have started getting more interested in making knives. It is more or less an interesting diversion from the normal metalworking projects I take on. I have never made a folding knife how ever. Do any of you fine folks have any good sources of info on the subject? Books, magazines, Etc. As usual thanks everybody for the info. Phil