ADA: Ask Doc Anything!

[lew]

Theoretically, if you were to have a day off, what would you do? Again, theoretically.😎

Also, what's your musical preference?

[XEMON]

This is stupidly broad and probably too difficult to answer, but I've always wondered on some level: What's it like living in Alaska?

Where can I find a lathe this small or smaller with the same functionality and rigid enough for 6061-T6?

-Good luck. Virtually no small lathe has a turret. The closest you'll find is something like an EMCO Compact 5, but those have thoroughly antiquated software and drivers, meaning you'll have to do a nontrivial upgrade to make it work. They're also popular with home-shop types looking for the same thing, and so go for stupid money even in parts.

Even disregarding the turret, your choices are slim, Taig or Sherline, maybe, or a converted desktop import.

Doc.

I have an Emco compact 5 with the turret and mill attachment. Its an amazing lathe ... one of the best i ever used.
The MK5 software is very similar to modern M/G machine code. I code directly into the machine, but you can code on your computer and then upload the code via RS232 to the machine.

Backed up program can be on your PC or digital tape.

Siress, let em know if you have any questions about the EMCO lathe

[DocsMachine]

Any progress on the Duke? I need one in my life!

-Yes, as a matter of fact. If you remember just before the Big Kerflooey, I posted an article about making an eight gram dropout changer for the Phantom. Part of the reason i was fooling with that (a mod that exactly nobody was going to want ) was that I've been working up my own lever changer (basically just a copy of the old SI lever) specifically to fit into the Duke stock.

That and a proper loading system/gate are really the only two things I have to finish inventing/developing. Everything else is just fine-tuning.

I also plan on making the development of the MkIII (the one you guys saw was the MkII) into a video series. Stand by.

Doc.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Can’t wait looking forward to the progress. Stinks we lost the build thread. Edit: Wait no we didn’t you Hosted that.

[BrickHaus]

I just stumbled on te duke build thread on Docs website. Yeah, I may sell a kidney when you start dropping those.

[DocsMachine]

Theoretically, if you were to have a day off, what would you do? Again, theoretically.😎

-As I've said before, Doc is a dull boy. Over the years I've given up most of my hobbies, and here in backwater Left Armpit, Alaska, there's pretty much zero social life- no concerts, the only plays anyone bothers to put on are crap like "Annie get your Gun", I'm really not a movies and TV sort, all the bars are not much more than dives, attended only by power drinkers and recreational pharmacists, and virtually all my friends are married and have children, so there's no such thing as a spontaneous trip to the race track or the car show or something.

It really is a matter of working in the shop on customer stuff, and then taking a break by.... working in the shop on my own stuff.

Point in fact, if I were independently wealthy, and didn't have to take in work to make the ends meet? I'd [i]still[/i[ be working in the shop. I have three major car projects that I'd love to work on, at least one of which I think would make a fun Project Binky style video series.

Sorry, that's what I am. I build things.

Also, what's your musical preference?

-Metal, rock, prog rock, occasional hair metal. Hate the "growly" stuff, not a big fan or most death metal/speed metal.

A sampling from my current playlist includes a lot of Five Finger Death Punch, some All That Remains, In Flames, Hollywood Undead, Dead Letter Circus Karnivool, Disturbed, Silent Theory, Like a Storm, Hail the Villain, Skillet, a smattering of Parkway Drive, Smash into Pieces and Three Days Grace.

I might also have the occasional one or two from Scooter, Texas Hippie Coalition, The Dead South and Sabaton.

And for flavor, there's some cool ones swiped from YouTube- some Tool as played by a brass band (check YT for "Tool, Samuel Hope") an extended mix of Greyhound by Swedish House Mafia, a techno remix of O Fortuna, that new remix of The HU's Wolf Totem, and of course some of Apocalyptica's early covers of Metallica stuff.

I have quite a bit of music from various sources, and use a cheap $40 Wal-Mart MP3 player (I think about 8GB) run through a semi-fancy receiver/equalizer component system I bought for a song- if you'll pardon the pun- from a local pawn shop. I spend a LOT of time in the shop, and I HATE radio commercials. Hell, I hate the radio, period- the only halfway decent local station is "classic rock".

They'll occasionally play new FFDP and the like, but that's only like, twice a day- the rest basically nothing newer than Sabbath-era Ozzy, Jimi Hendrix and the apparently-mandatory twice-hourly playing of Sweet Emotion.

So I got the cheap player and loaded it with stuff that's worth listening to.

Doc.

[dartamon]

Are you going to reply to my email offering you to take my money in exchange for your goods?

[lew]

-Metal, rock, prog rock, occasional hair metal. Hate the "growly" stuff, not a big fan or most death metal/speed metal.

-snip-

They'll occasionally play new FFDP and the like, but that's only like, twice a day- the rest basically nothing newer than Sabbath-era Ozzy, Jimi Hendrix and the apparently-mandatory twice-hourly playing of Sweet Emotion.

So I got the cheap player and loaded it with stuff that's worth listening to.

Doc.

Don't worry, the day off bit was tongue-in-cheek.😁

I always figured Doc from TWB to be a fan of GBH, Subhumans, Major Accident, Ramones, Iggy and the Stooges, Maiden, Megadeth, and so on.

And "growly" metal is awful.

[DocsMachine]

Are you going to reply to my email offering you to take my money in exchange for your goods?

-If I haven't already, I meant to, and if I haven't already, I'd like to. I know I was behind on three or four PM conversations on the old board, were you the stocks, the stocks and gas-thru, the 'Cocker halfblockery or the 10-oz tank ring guy? (Sorry, my encyclopedic knowledge tends to end at screen names vs. email/shipping names. )

Doc.

[Paintslinger16]

I need a run down on the car projects, what is the car scene like?

[DocsMachine]

Don't worry, the day off bit was tongue-in-cheek.😁

-Tongue in cheek or not, it's actually a point I like to make.

On one hand, I love working for myself. I'd have to be in pretty dire straits before I went back to work for The Man. But on the other hand, that comes at a pretty heavy cost. I have zero social life, I literally work, one way or the other, an easy 12 hours a day, AND for that 12/7/365, I barely make decent fry-cook wages.

The only thing that keeps me at this, is the fact I truly enjoy fixing and building things.

But man, there sure are times I'd like to put the tools down, shut off the lights and go do almost anything else for a couple days.

I always figured Doc from TWB to be a fan of GBH, Subhumans, Major Accident, Ramones, Iggy and the Stooges, Maiden, Megadeth, and so on.

-Apart from the last two, whom I haven't listened to in a very long time, I haven't even heard of any of those.

But no big, I'm no music snob. I don't go around telling people they should be listening to what I listen to, etc.

And "growly" metal is awful.

-Yep. It's a thing, people like it, but it ain't for me.

The only part about it is a hate looking up new music on YouTube, finding a band I'd never heard of, and trying one of their songs. A good one-minute intro that has great guitars and an amazing baseline, but then the vocalist starts up, sounding like he's trying for the lead role in the remake of Cujo, and just ruins it.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

I need a run down on the car projects, what is the car scene like?

-If you've read my website, you've seen 'em.

My "fun" car is a '72 Olds Cutlass, just an "S" model, but currently (cheaply) painted to look sort of 442-ish. Was given to me as an engineless beater (as I said, this is a recurring theme) which I got running on a shoestring, and have been upgrading as time and money allow. Pretty decent driver, safe and reliable, but still needs a lot of work.

Another is a '66 Olds Toronado, the first of the front-drive battle barges. Could be daily driven today, but needs a great deal of niggly little work which I can't really afford nor have time for. Cool car, in my opinion, 30-over 455, front-wheel-drive, room for eight inside, etc. But I just haven't had time to really do much with it.

And the last is a really fun one- a 3/4-ton 4WD '65 Corvair. It's basically a '77 Blazer with a different body- really, only the sheetmetal is Corvair. I built and drove that (it has about 16,000 miles on it) back in my oilfield days, but once I started this biz, I couldn't afford the insurance or the 11MPG mileage. Years ago, I started thinking I'd like to refresh it, as I'd built it back when I had virtually no tools. (Every hand tool I owned would have fit in a 5-gallon bucket with room to spare.)

And about... I guess around three years ago now, I found a 2014 GMC 2500 frame, with the 6-liter, 6-speed, IFS front and 14-bolt rear, complete running gear, with only about 10,000 miles on it, and for dirt cheap. I bought that, and the plan is at some point- if ever- I'd like to roll the frame into the shop, chop 4-1/2 feet out of the middle, 4-link and coil the rear, and plunk the 'Vair body on it.

And this time, with far better welders available, plus, you know, machine tools and the like, I should be able to do a WAY better job.

But, again, that's the kind of thing that would eat eighteen months to two years of dedicated work, and likely a good solid $20K in raw cash. Needless to say I don't have either of those, so no idea when- or even if- I'll ever be able to get to it.

Doc.

[dartamon]

-If I haven't already, I meant to, and if I haven't already, I'd like to. I know I was behind on three or four PM conversations on the old board, were you the stocks, the stocks and gas-thru, the 'Cocker halfblockery or the 10-oz tank ring guy? (Sorry, my encyclopedic knowledge tends to end at screen names vs. email/shipping names. )

Doc.

I was the raw P-stock, raw Tanto, howie glass guy! And now that I own a cocker, maybe even more.

[Third of Five]

Wow! seems like we are all virgins again with a Join Date of Jul 2020. I wanna know why we park in in driveways and drive on parkways? Seriously, so freakin glad you are here despite coming home to some seriously f'd up crap...

[DocsMachine]

I was the raw P-stock, raw Tanto, howie glass guy! And now that I own a cocker, maybe even more.

-Oh, right. That guy.



I thought I got back to you on that, but then, some days I'm lucky to remember pants. I have the raw P-stock, but I'm out of raw Tantos. I can sure send you an annoed one, or if you're not in too much of a hurry, I have a new batch of them inbound, although probably not for another two to six weeks.

For those of you interested, I'll also have some of the new, as-yet-unannounced 12" Tanto XLs, that take the XL inserts. Shhhh!

No hard ETA, but we are working on them.

Found your email, I'll type you up a reply this evening and we can go from there.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

I wanna know why we park in in driveways and drive on parkways?

-Easy. The main thing to remember is both terms actually predate the car. A "drive" way was basically a short private road giving access to a property off a public road- 'drive' being a term far older than we know it today. As in drive a herd of cattle across the state to the new ranch. The original meaning had a lot more to do with the access a wagon had past the house and towards the barn out back, and the term naturally evolved to include the short bit from the house to the garage.

And a "park" way was just as it sounds- a road through a park, basically meant to be a scenic route. That, too, evolved from the old horse-and-carriage days, with the original term basically meaning a wide road through a scenic area. It later evolved to include wide highways (multi-lanes, etc.) that were also somewhat scenic- think Route 66.

What I still haven't figured out is why there are interstate highways on Hawaii*.

Doc.

(Actually, that, too is easy: An "interstate" is a specification, the road is built to interstate standards, not that it's actually connected to multiple states.)

[DocsMachine]

Found your email, I'll type you up a reply this evening and we can go from there.

-Whoops, no, I don't. That email is the other stock guy. Please send me a refresher/reminder email and then we can go from there.

Sorry about that.

Doc.