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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 October 10th 2021 meeting was at Frank's's shop in Plainville, CT. Ralph demonstrated a modest size steam engine running on air pressure - very smooth and quiet. Frank showed a large model of a chuck for a Rose Engine, this model is for use during a talk on the subject he will present in the near future. Paul showed a Geo. Thomas retracting tool holder for threading - as usual, the workmanship was excellent. Rob, our newest member, showed a Kant-Twist clamp he made from our club project parts which he obtained at the last meeting - nicely done. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so the pictures below are from the September meeting.
Both Paul and Eric have built copies of my 4/6 facet drill sharpener; Paul's is on the left, Eric's is on the right. It's unusual to see two shop built copies of a project other than at a formal show like Cabin Fever. Eric has put some effort into refining the point splitter - note the adjustable stop visible below the chuck holder and to the right of the traverse table.
Paul is building a setup to hold and allow adjusting the position of a FogBuster. As part of this effort he is using his CNC mill to make some of the parts. He demonstrated machining one of the parts from black plastic as seen in the picture at left. The part has round corners so it has many lines of g code that whiz by on the screen seen to the right of the mill.
The November 14, 2021 meeting will be at Eric's shop in Tuxedo, NY at about 2PM. Per the COVID guidance, all attendees should be vaccinated. 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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