Barn progress...

Barn progress...  The lathe is finished (at right)!  Next steps: connect compressed air and electricity; those will be tomorrow's projects.  Below are some closeups of (left to right) the tailstock, the drive shaft (with faceplate), and the headstock.  It's a sweet machine!

I was only able to put it together by myself by using the engine crane (at left).  The lathe's bed is one massive chunk of cast iron, and weighs something like 500 lbs.  Using the crane I was able to (easily!) lift it, place it atop the cast iron legs, and then move the entire thing to the exact place I wanted it.  I also used the crane to lift and move the headstock, which weighs almost 200 lbs.  It's a handy gadget for an aging geek :)

My neighbors were on TV last night...

My neighbors were on TV last night...  KSL covered the Lawrence family and their “Wil Can Fly!” Kickstarter project.  You can watch the broadcast story at right...

Barn progress...

Barn progress...  The tile guys finished setting all the tile in my new office.  I'm still amazed by how closely this tile resembles real wood.  It's made by using a specialized ink jet printer to spray different colored glazes onto the blank tiles, “printing” a photograph of an actual piece of wood.  The surface of the tile has wood grain texture on it as well.  The tile guys will grout it on Monday, and later in the week a crew will show up to install baseboard and trim for the windows and door.

Yesterday my engine crane showed up, and I had it assembled within a couple of hours despite the lack of accurate directions.  There were directions included, but they were for a (substantially) different model.  Mostly I used the photo on the box as my guide :)

Once I had the crane assembled, I used it to move the components of my new lathe as I assembled them.  By the time I knocked off last night, I had the legs attached to the base, it was positioned in its place, and I had the headstock, tailstock, and tool rest base all installed.  I should easily finish assembling the lathe this weekend, including wiring it up.  Then it's on to testing!

You're messing with the radio astronomers! Stop it!

You're messing with the radio astronomers!  Stop it!  Researchers have discovered the source of the mysterious perytons that are plaguing radio astronomical research.  It's your microwave oven, when you open the door before it has finished cooking.  The oven emits a brief burst of 2.4 GHz microwave energy before the door interlock switch shuts it down.  Incidentally, that burst is also cooking you, just a tiny bit.

The solution is simple: don't open your microwave door until the timer has completed, or you have manually shut it down.  Now all we have to do is get 4 or 5 billion microwave owners to cooperate, and the peryton plague will be over...