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April 2010 Group Picture
There are hobby machinist groups scattered around the USA including a small HSM group in Connecticut. Our CTHSM group is congenial and freewheeling:
no rules, no dues, just people getting together to learn new techniques plus share thoughts on machining and other topics that arise. Meetings are held in member shops, nominally on the second Sunday of the month at 2pm. Anyone interested in attending a meeting please contact me
(via the link below on this page) for more info and travel directions.
The April 16th meeting was hosted by Wade Barocsi at the MakerSpace in Watertown, CT. There were quite a few additions to the equipment available since our last visit to this Makerspace. The May meeting was cancelled.
Paul gave a presentation on lofting of boats using traditional methods as well as using computer programs. He covered lofting of wooden boats by Nathanael Herreshoff who graduated from MIT in 1870 as a mechanical engineer and worked for a steam engine company before founding a boat company with his brother, John. They built a number of fast steam powered boats, selling some to the US Navy. In the 1890's Nathanael began designing sail boats and built a broad range of sail boats from 12.5 to 144 feet. All of the America's Cup defenders from 1893 to 1920 were designed by him. Lofting of all his designs was done using traditional labor intensive methods, of course.
Here's an interesting variation on using the Kant Twist clamp parts available to CTHSM members.
See: Kant Twist Knurler at HSM
The June 11, 2023 meeting will be at Ralph's shop in New Hartford, CT.
Parts for Kant Twist clamps will be available at this meeting.
As usual, bring items for demonstration and/or discussion. Plus items for the sale/swap/free table.
Home shop machining is often a solitary hobby, as are most hobbies now according to "Bowling Alone".
The CTHSM group is an attempt to get area HSM's to know one another and thus make our hobby a little less solitary.
The much larger NEMES HSM group is 2-3 hours away so we share some members and occasionally have visitors from that group.
The CTHSM group has been meeting since November 2008, mostly on the 2nd Sunday of the month at 2pm, but we deviate from this with some regularity. The January meeting is not held since Cabin Fever conflicts, February has seen a couple meetings cancelled due to weather, the May meeting is on the 3rd Sunday to avoid a conflict with Mother's Day, and we don't meet in July because many members are on vacation. Over time our meeting schedule has become predictably irregular...
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Pictures from our unusual "Music Machine Meetings"
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