What I've been doing for work.

[Forestgnome]

My trade is electronics, but my company has had a need for some machining work, and I've been happy to oblige. Here's what I've been doing. We had a test bed in need of repair. It has micro positioners that use collets to grab and manipulate ruby rods 0.030" in diameter. The collet closers aren't hardened, and were beaten by repeated hard closings. I cut off the tips and rebore them to the correct 25d bevel using my homemade 1/16" boring bar. One photo shows two closers, before and after machining. Also the z axis gears were stripped, so I made new ones using a homemade single point tool. Wish I had drawings to work from on those, as it was really difficult to measure the pressure angle.
http://www.photoshop.com/users/Jacko...2a99/slideshow

[Forestgnome]

One of the teams at work needed a vacuum chamber to calibrate sensors, so again I obliged. The sensors are used to compensate for temperature, humidity, and pressure in laser measuring systems. The chamber has to hold a very stable vacuum while they measure to 1/100 inches of Hg. The laser system can measure the bend of a shop bench from the weight of a pencil set down!

http://www.photoshop.com/users/Jacko...b133/slideshow

[Tony]

Hey, nice work!
Sure you didn't get yourself into the wrong trade?

Tony

[ikdor]

I think his paycheck says no

Igor

[Forestgnome]

I think his paycheck says no

Igor

The nice thing is I do get paid for my time, so it's like running my own business with none of the headaches.