Shout out to Dodge Driver! (Frank Filosa)

[MrObsessive]

I've been meaning to post this since last week, but of course other things take over my mind, and I lose track of what I intend to do. I want to give a big THANK YOU to Frank Filosa aka Dodge Driver! In a thread (I can't remember which one now---might have been my own), I mentioned how I have a derelict lathe which I've never done anything with despite having owned it for years now.

Frank was nice enough to PM me with the offer of getting the lathe up and running as he works in a machine shop (correct me if I'm wrong Frank), and getting it to work as intended. Well, I sent him some pics of the shape it's in...........here it as all dusty and dirty, and the story of how I came across it.

The story:

Back around 2005 or so I was interested in a lathe but seeing how pricey those Sherline units are, the thought of owning one of those faded quickly. Nice, but for simple jobs I wanted to do, paying upwards of $700+ didn't make much sense to me. Later on, I was surfing eBay and decided to do a search for lathes, and came across this one which looked very presentable in the pics------or so I thought. IIRC, I was one of only three bidders on it, and I think I got it for $250 or something like that including shipping. I was tickled to get it as I wanted to see how it works, I plugged the motor in, and within a few seconds the motor started smoking something terrible!

I quickly shut it off and unplugged the motor, and put it away. I didn't leave the seller bad feedback (I should have) as it could have easily turned into a skunk spraying match, as he'd deny that the motor was defective as "it worked when he had it". I figured rather than going through all of that, try to find another motor for it and move on. The motor you see sitting on the chair was the new motor bought from a company called "Taig", and sure enough it worked as it should when I plugged it in with no surprises such as smoke or fire!

Nevertheless, I lost interest in working with the lathe, and soon after put it away. About a year after buying it, I had moved into the house I'm in now, and it's been literally sitting for 11 years with no activity.

When I mentioned here on the board that I had this lathe, Frank was nice enough to rescue it for me, and here are the pics of how it looks now with the work that was done to it.

These were taken where he works, and here it is now back in my model room..................

I got a real hard laugh when Frank told me that the original motor came out of a dishwasher! No wonder the thing was likened to go ablaze!

I've got some straightening up and rearranging to do in the room as I want the lathe of course to be facing the outside of the table, and then it's just a matter of getting some aluminum round stock and start practicing.

So Frank, once again many many thanks, and sometime hopefully down the road, I can turn out a little part or two to bring to the club meeting!

[High octane]

Lookin' real good Bill, and enjoy your new toy.

[Dodge Driver]

Bill, I really enjoyed taking on this project!  Despite your work schedule and busy life, you find time to contribute greatly to this forum. You've also started a model club, which I am honored to be a member of.

Thank you for your time, input and guidance here. Your work is an encouragement and inspiration to many of us here.

My pleasure to give something back to a man who gives much to many of us.

P.S. Thanks to my friend Matt who contributed time and advice to this undertaking.

[Dragline]

Feels like Christmas lately eh Bill? This then the microscope?