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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 13th meeting was at Frank's shop in Plainville, CT.
Frank demonstrated this Straight Line Engine as shown at right. These machines normally engrave patterns on flat surfaces but here the vertical slide is fitted with an electronically controlled rotor, allowing it to engrave a round surface. The vertical slide is raised and lowered via the two leather cords; the finger on the right side of the slide contacts the pattern, moving the slide left/right as it is raised and lowered. In this case it moves only a small amount as dictated by the small teeth, producing a pattern similar to knurling on the round work.
This Ornamental Turning Lathe scribes patterns using a combination of gears and a cam. Here the cam is the heart shaped brass item on the shaft with the large crank handle. As the handle is turned the cam moves the table back an forth horizontally as the gear on the shaft rotates the spindle via the gearing. The result is various patterns as seen on the test paper, where other controls, gears, and cams allow varying the pattern produced.
The Ornamental Turning Lathe is the poor man's answer to the expensive Rose Engine.
This is an exercise for the new machinist that doesn't use much material. It requires turning, drilling, boring, cutoff, and precise fitting so the cover of the tiny container is a press fit.
Here's an interesting variation on using the Kant Twist clamp parts available to CTHSM members.
See: Kant Twist Knurler at HSM
The May 18, 2025 meeting will be at Alan's shop in Portland, 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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