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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 12th meeting was at my shop in Newtown, CT.
Ralph showed the wheels and axle for the gondola he is building. This was followed by a discussion of how trains stay on the tracks while rounding a curve. Eric showed pictures of his latest clock; he changed the escapement from the grasshopper to a conventional design - the grasshopper didn't run reliably despite a month of tweaking. I demonstrated my wire hose clamp tool. No new pictures this month.
Paul is working on a .60 glo-plug model airplane engine. He has converted the plans to a CAD model, allowing him to visualize how the parts interact. The picture shows the jig used to machine the crankcase. Also shown are the connecting rod and cylinder liner plus the laps used on the cylinder liner.
The frame for Ralph's gondola is wood and includes a large number of metal parts some of which are visible in this top view. Eventually this will be covered with decking and stakes will be installed in the holders seen on the sides; these stakes will retain the wooden sides.
The May 17, 2026 meeting will be at Alan's shop in Portland, CT.
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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