Welcome to the Metalworking pages.
I have an interest in learning to work and machine metal. I am a computer professional by trade and getting a chance to work with my hands on something other than a keyboard and mouse seems like a rewarding past time for me. I also think metalworking is a natural progression from metal casting. My thoughts are, if you can cast metal and then machine it, then your creativity level is expanded exponentially. So this is my landing page to those adventures, for better or worse.
Below are the list of things that I have been doing and making videos for. If any of them interest you, either click the link at the end of the description, click the icons or access them via the Metalworking menu bar at the top of the page. Thank you for taking the time to visit and if you would like to send me a message, please use the contact menu item above.
Atlas 10F TH54 Lathe
Years ago I was given a Lathe in a trade. It was a small 6" Craftsman Dunlap lathe. This little lathe was fraught with frustration for me as it was small, had a weird thread pitch for the cross slide and compound, had no easy way to traverse the saddle and some other issues. Using the small machine did spark my interest and gave me the desire for a larger lathe. After some time looking about in the local papers and Craigslist, I happened on an Atlas TH54 10F Lathe. The lathe as I found it was in rough shape, missing some stuff and needed some TLC before she could even be used. BUT, the price was right for the shoe string budget that I have and I brought her home.
Bertha, as I call her is a 10" Swing lathe with 36" more or less between centers. She sits on cast iron legs and currently adorns the basement of my house until my shop is ready to give her a space of her own,
I have done much work getting the machine to a running state and have documented the process hoping that it may help others in their endeavours. For a complete video log of what I done to get her back in good working order check out the Atlas 10F Lathe pages.
The YouTube Shop Student
After getting the Atlas Lathe up and running it was time to learn to use the machine proper. The YouTube Shop Student of videos gives a glimpse into what i have been learning and making. These videos additionally will provide some project based examples to other people wishing to learn or follow along with what I am making. So if you are interested in following along with what I am making in the shop, stop by and check out the YouTube Shop Student Pages.
Mr. Pete's Metalworking Project Page
Lyle Peterson AKA Tubalcain has been involved in the industrial arts field for most of his life. As a high school shop teacher he impacted many, many students over the years until he eventually retired. Mr. Pete did not stop there, he continued his calling to teaching people by creating a YouTube channel and has since created hundreds of videos on a host of metalworking subjects, casting and industrial arts in general. In doing these videos, Mr. Pete has done a number of projects to teach the skills involved in making things in the small home machine shop. It is the intention of this page to share some of these projects with folks in a way that the plans and videos can be found together. I sincerely hope you enjoy them. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.
Resources & Downloads
There are many things on the Internet that can help us learn about machining, metalworking, casting and a host of other things. Also there are many books and video on the subject. The Resource and Download section is here to provide links and downloads to things that have helped me, or that may otherwise be useful. This page will slowly grow over time so you may want to check in occasionally to see what is available on the Resources and Download page.