I remember it coming into the shop and some of the earlier machining - but I can't remember how long ago it was! I'm bowled over to see it on the shaper, maybe that is what they used to machine it originally. This will be the most interesting Vintage Machinery project in some time, and that is saying an awful lot. Good luck Keith, there will be a lot of people rooting for you. A very happy Christmas to you and your family and a healthy and prosperous 2025.
I recall seeing one of those in operation on a N&W locomotive, courtesy of my grandfather, who let me hitch a ride in the cab, for a very short run between Crewe and Farmville, VA. It was amazing, and no shovel was required!
I recall that Adam Booth had a go at this with his big shaper and due to tool access issues he couldn't do it. Looking forward to seeing how it goes on the planer.
@@garybrenner6236 Please....show us the master way. I mean, this should just be a snap for an absolute black belt machinist such as yourself. I mean, this probably isn't even a challenge probably so beneath your station you couldn't be bothered. PLEASE make a video and show us the way of the ultimate GOAT of machining you come off to be. smh.....
As a LONG time viewer I am so pleased to see you working again on this project. Since you started the Planer rebuild I had an idea that its first big job would be this casting. Best of luck on making the tooling. They certainly have the right man with the right machine for this very special job...
I'm not sure that Keith knows that he's retired. More like just doesn't go to one job anymore but full time at his part time gig. At some point, that shop will have to acquire more square feet and hopefully a bridge crane.
It never completely disappeared. Every once in a while it would make a cameo in the background of some other video, just sitting there biding its time...
After so many years with many questions and no answers I thought Keith and Adam had given up on this project. So glad it’s now revived and on the front burner now. That long extended tool will be a piece of work but Keith is the man to get it done.
All right! I was wondering if we would ever see this again. I remember watching Adam have a go at it too but his shaper was not going to work without a bunch of stuff, new tooling or something. This should be some good content. I will just standby and wait for it to show up.
I know the feeling!!! Being the only person that does my job in my company and a boss that promises jobs knowing that there is many more jobs ahead of the jobs coming in and only 24 hours in a day. I have been waiting on this job to see what you do to "Getter Done"
I am happy to see that you are finally back to this project. For a tool holder, make sure you use your strongest steel ,considering the depth of the surface to be planed. And as thick as possible. If this does not work, your vertical milling machine should be able to do this sideways as the table for it travels in both an X and Y axis. And your fellow you tuber Abom only had a single axis similsr to your planer.
Imagine having the knowledge, not only to restore such an old, very powerful machine from yesteryear, but actually know how to set it up for such a useful project. This is just all kinds of awesome. Can we get some cloning technology going please? We need a few of Mr. Rucker. :-)
An automatic stoker looks like every fireman’s dream machine. My late father drove locomotives for British Railways, his favourite comment was ‘people who like steam locomotives wouldn’t be so keen if they had to shovel forty tons of coal from Doncaster to Kings Cross and another forty on the way back’. (Kings Cross is in London).
always thought your hbm was for this,I guessed wrong. for awhile I thought I missed the finishing of this project, and was looking for it in your list of projects now I know why I couldn't find it. now if I can see diesel creeks gantry crane go up my life will be complete.
It’s great to see the stoker engine project moving ahead again. And perhaps even greater to see the metal planer working, after having watched your major investment of time, effort and money into restoring that very ancient machine tool and then not having many jobs for it.
That's quite a coincidence: I talked about this (seemingly dead) project to someone and was wondering why you don't use your metal planer. Thus, I am delighted to see exactly this approach becoming reality. A special thanks for sharing your setup procedure and your "thinking aloud" while doing it. Personally, I find it pretty easy to show chips flying but really hard to explain the thinking behind any non trivial setup. You are doing an excellent job on this.
Wasched this. Caught up on the playlist and others' contributions. I desperately want the vintage planer to get this done. I felt Adam's pain and it is a tribute to him that it really irked him that it needed some other solution. Pride in the work of a pro. Maybe his CNC machines could crack it but I prefer the planer for the win.
Wow what a Christmas present its been how many years now since we first seen the stoker OMG.. Well i can only hope this finally gets done.. Once completed you need to do a compilation video of all the attempts with all the obstacles and with a video of the stocker installed and feeding coal.. WooHoo !!!!!
Been waiting to.see this stoker engine again for like 3 years ago and even when Abom took a stab at it too...let get a plan and get it done...been waiting for I think 3 years to see it again
Glad to see the Stoker Engine back! Sounds like you have a decent plan and solutions for a tough problem! Nice to see the 100+ year old Planer getting put to use to do a job that MODERN machines can't seem to do!
Been waiting anxiously for years to see you return to work on this project, Keith. That engine was about as frozen as anything I've ever seen you tackle. I'm sure it will be a real challenge to build the necessary parts and restore it to operation - but you are up to it. Great project!
Stoker, stoker... o yes, the stoker! Any project you work on it is facinating to see how you always have the necessary tools. Also you always put the affort into getting the set up right so that the actual work is smooth, easy and accurate. Looking forward to that tool holder project.
Great to see the planer do some work! Also, I was thinking, make sure the casting can't slide away on those bolts to the plate, ie that they are slid all the way in the cutting direction before final tightening.. I think it was Steve Watkins who commented on how hard the planer can push, & something shifting could be a real mess! Although I imagine the intent is to take light cuts...
Will be pretty cool to see the planer doing this job. I believe I would have used the boring mill though. Seems set up would’ve been easier and probably could’ve found an off the shelf tooling option for reaching in there. That’s what’s cool about machinist, not a one of us will do something the same way 😂.
Hey Keith for the extention part of your engine hoist I pulled my bolt and got rid of it and switched it to a removable pin like the legs have. It's so much faster to change boom length
Man oh man, sometimes getting something indicated in, can take many frustrating hours. Good job. As big as tool holder has to be, hope you don’t have to move the whole casting around again. Good luck.😊
Hi Keith. Nice to see the stoker motor up on the planer. I just hope and pray it can cope with such a long tool stickout. Fingers crossed for positive news in the next episode. All the best, Mart in England.
Hi Keith, I always loved the challenge of doing a setup like this one. Subtle movements that can suprize a fella with the smalest of tightining up this or that or the same as for the opposite. I once set up a large 20 cyl ships like engine that took 2 of us 2 weeks. Well my friend. Looks like this winter is going to be a great time. Onward my friend.
As an old stile machinist , quite used to working planer mills and horizontal borers. Was it not possible to stand it on the cylinder end on the horizontal borer , and do it with an endmill. I totally enjoy your programs memories and educational. thankyou.
Awesome! I’ve commented a few times over the years, here and on IG, when the stoker engine makes a cameo appearance on a pallet somewhere in your workshop. Really great to see the stoker engine is back on the job list.
While making chips is kinda the goal, setup is everything and is often 90+% of the work. Thanks for showing us this most tedious and precision part of the job.
Can I give this all the thumbs up? and, I still think a short Dog Leg Cutter, starting from the middle about 55% of the length and doing both sides, then swapping it around and finishing up doing the same might be the best plan of attack.
I'm still a bit confused about what he's trying to accomplish. At this point, wouldn't hand scraping in that journal be better? I would think it wouldn't be much different than scraping in some square or box ways. After years of trying various machines and tooling and setups, I would think making a custom sized gauge block that you could blue up to scrape in those journals would be the easiest way to go about it. They don't seem particularly large and from what he was saying, he doesn't really have to machine away much metal. Could machine down a straight edge to blue the journal and even use the surface grinder along with his current setup to make sure the scraping stays in plane.
@@pirtatejoe Joe, a journal is a round surface where a bearing runs. These are the undercut areas where the cross heads run in a linear fashion to create straight line motion for the crankshaft, the pistons go in and out, the crank goes round and round to make the worm gear turn the auger to move the coal chunks to the firebox.
@@CothranMike I get that... from the video, can see the flat areas he is trying to machine that the pistons ride on. Still not sure why it can't be hand scraped.
@pirtatejoe Joe, the surfaces he is using to indicate from, the ones the parallel is supported on are the places the hold downs for the cross head bolts to. The surfaces needing work are below them and slightly up the sides of those finished ribs. Those flat surfaces were worn, pitted, and needed to be built up. Lance and Abom used a eutectic mixture applied as an atomized spray at Lance's workshop. They preheated the casting to around 350 to 400°F and sprayed the mixture at around 500°F. It built up nicely, just like they had practiced on other parts. This metal now needs to be milled and cut so it is correct for the purpose intended. Currently, it is rough, over-sized and would need several 10s of thousandth to be removed BEFORE any hand scraping could be done (scraping only removes .0001-.0003) there is literally hundreds of times that amount to be removed yet before anyone would consider scraping to be useful, if needed at all. These surfaces were not scraped originally. There was no need then or now.
@@CothranMike Ahhhh so the answer is he has too much material to remove. Could see those areas between the surfaces he was indicating from that he was going to machine, but from what he said, I was under the impression he was just trying to "clean up" those areas. He never really said how much material needed to remove.
Not a machinist by any means, but I remember this project well and wondered several times if it was still possible. I also remember it from Adam Booth's efforts. I can easily see your challenge with anything but a specialty machine for production runs, as you stated. I think you have a good solution if the tool holder is rigid enough and not be too brittle. I am looking forward to the actual cutting. Best of luck! Thanks.
I'm happy to see this project re-surface. Just the other day I was wondering if it had been abandoned or was still on the back burner. Looking forward to seeing it!
There's sure to be a lot of "OG" comments which made me wonder when I subbed (not that it's a competition; just a personal curiosity). Going back through your old videos, I recall the addition of the American Rotary phase converter to your shop, and I even recall the old "Shop Tour" series in 2017- but I don't seem to recall the shop build itself. Looks like I must have subbed late 2016ish. Man you have had a LOT of projects, change, growth, and loss over that time. It's been a fun ride for sure, and I know I speak for the masses on this one: it is really great to see an old project like this stoker engine return for some love. Keep kickin' Keith!
My dad was a horizontal boring mill operator at the Standard Stoker co. during the 1930's and 1940's. If he were still around today I feel sure he would tell you that you should be using the machine behind you to do this job.
OMG, the STOKER is BACK! I've been waiting for this for what,2 yrs maybe 3? ...
Me, too. I was wondering when Keith would restart this project.
Try 5 years.
I remember it coming into the shop and some of the earlier machining - but I can't remember how long ago it was! I'm bowled over to see it on the shaper, maybe that is what they used to machine it originally. This will be the most interesting Vintage Machinery project in some time, and that is saying an awful lot. Good luck Keith, there will be a lot of people rooting for you. A very happy Christmas to you and your family and a healthy and prosperous 2025.
@@zorbakaput8537 really? WOW
I recall seeing one of those in operation on a N&W locomotive, courtesy of my grandfather, who let me hitch a ride in the cab, for a very short run between Crewe and Farmville, VA. It was amazing, and no shovel was required!
So wonderful to see this back, Keith! This is probably my favourite project of yours. 😄 Wonderful work, as always.
My thoughts exactly
So glad to see this project back on the front burner. Really sorry that the crankshaft guy suffered so much.
I recall that Adam Booth had a go at this with his big shaper and due to tool access issues he couldn't do it. Looking forward to seeing how it goes on the planer.
I remember that. Hopefully Keith can make his tool rigid enough for the job.
This should be a lot of laughs!
@@garybrenner6236 huh? If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, I’m not sure I’d want a friend like you.
@@garybrenner6236 Please....show us the master way. I mean, this should just be a snap for an absolute black belt machinist such as yourself. I mean, this probably isn't even a challenge probably so beneath your station you couldn't be bothered. PLEASE make a video and show us the way of the ultimate GOAT of machining you come off to be. smh.....
@@WreckDiver99 Maybe garybrenner6236 was referencing the jokes following the statement of Philipmackin1025
As a LONG time viewer I am so pleased to see you working again on this project. Since you started the Planer rebuild I had an idea that its first big job would be this casting. Best of luck on making the tooling. They certainly have the right man with the right machine for this very special job...
I can't see you ever getting bored during retirement! And I'm thankful to you for sharing your projects!
I'm not sure that Keith knows that he's retired. More like just doesn't go to one job anymore but full time at his part time gig. At some point, that shop will have to acquire more square feet and hopefully a bridge crane.
I'm surprised nobody said yet they're stoked to see this project back 😉
Somebody needed to say it. This is one of those times you get to be somebody.
I see what you did there!
I was so frustrated when this project disappeared! I'm very happy to see it back.
It never completely disappeared. Every once in a while it would make a cameo in the background of some other video, just sitting there biding its time...
After so many years with many questions and no answers I thought Keith and Adam had given up on this project. So glad it’s now revived and on the front burner now. That long extended tool will be a piece of work but Keith is the man to get it done.
This one goes back so far maybe it deserves a playlist of its own.
Great seeing more projects for the big planner that have so much time in reworking
The little drill press in the back looks just like my 1010 atlas 😎
Great...now I have 17 videos to watch from the Stoker playlist!!
YAY! Finally its back! Its been close to 5 years since we last saw this!
It doesn’t seem that long, time sure flies!
I am happy to see this project again. The tooling is going to be interesting.
Been waiting for years for the next installation on this! So excited to see it again.
Glad to see this back. This project is why I started watching the channel.
EXCELLENT! I was just about to ask you about this again.
This was the big project when I joined this channel.
(It's morning again!)
It would be awesome to have the oldest machine in the shop be the one to finally complete this job! Can’t wait for your next video Keith!
Glad to the stoker project getting some attention. Great video. Tedious setup. Looking forward to the tooling.
All right! I was wondering if we would ever see this again. I remember watching Adam have a go at it too but his shaper was not going to work without a bunch of stuff, new tooling or something.
This should be some good content. I will just standby and wait for it to show up.
Outstanding! Glad to see this moving forward finally. 😊
This goes to show how much prep is needed before you even start to machine out. Important stuff. 👍
I know the feeling!!! Being the only person that does my job in my company and a boss that promises jobs knowing that there is many more jobs ahead of the jobs coming in and only 24 hours in a day.
I have been waiting on this job to see what you do to "Getter Done"
I am happy to see that you are finally back to this project. For a tool holder, make sure you use your strongest steel ,considering the depth of the surface to be planed. And as thick as possible. If this does not work, your vertical milling machine should be able to do this sideways as the table for it travels in both an X and Y axis. And your fellow you tuber Abom only had a single axis similsr to your planer.
Imagine having the knowledge, not only to restore such an old, very powerful machine from yesteryear,
but actually know how to set it up for such a useful project. This is just all kinds of awesome.
Can we get some cloning technology going please? We need a few of Mr. Rucker. :-)
I work like that too. Got a big project on the go, but a lot of little ones I call 'work avoidance projects' that divert my interest. :D
That's a difficult project. I know you will figure it out, Keith. Seeing the planer in action will be worth the time IMO.
I remember the struggle Abom had trying to mount it on his big shaper, I am looking forwards to seeing this project come to fruition
Nice work Keith
that stoker has made the rounds . tons of patience required to set up & make tooling. thanks for sharing.
I just watched the first episode of the stoker engine project and boy, do you look a whole lot healthier now! Good on ya, Keith!
Thank you Keith!
I'm excited to be back on the stoker engine!!
An automatic stoker looks like every fireman’s dream machine. My late father drove locomotives for British Railways, his favourite comment was ‘people who like steam locomotives wouldn’t be so keen if they had to shovel forty tons of coal from Doncaster to Kings Cross and another forty on the way back’.
(Kings Cross is in London).
Thanks Keith, nice setup.
Big job for sure.
Thanks for sharing.
Have a great weekend. 👍🇺🇸👍
always thought your hbm was for this,I guessed wrong. for awhile I thought I missed the finishing of this project, and was looking for it in your list of projects now I know why I couldn't find it. now if I can see diesel creeks gantry crane go up my life will be complete.
It’s great to see the stoker engine project moving ahead again. And perhaps even greater to see the metal planer working, after having watched your major investment of time, effort and money into restoring that very ancient machine tool and then not having many jobs for it.
Watching you design a process to complete a job and figure out the tooling needed makes for very interesting videos. Thanks 🇨🇦
That's quite a coincidence: I talked about this (seemingly dead) project to someone and was wondering why you don't use your metal planer. Thus, I am delighted to see exactly this approach becoming reality. A special thanks for sharing your setup procedure and your "thinking aloud" while doing it. Personally, I find it pretty easy to show chips flying but really hard to explain the thinking behind any non trivial setup. You are doing an excellent job on this.
I had a suspicion that the planer was such a high priority because Keith saw it as the solution to the stoker.
Wasched this. Caught up on the playlist and others' contributions. I desperately want the vintage planer to get this done. I felt Adam's pain and it is a tribute to him that it really irked him that it needed some other solution. Pride in the work of a pro. Maybe his CNC machines could crack it but I prefer the planer for the win.
As usual, you are rebuilding things to closer tolerances than the original build.
Can't help but think of the term "herding cats" seeing you get that levelled out, well done!
Yay! So glad to see this project back!
Thank you Keith. Wonderful. Spending time with you is always enjoyable and worthwhile.
Christmas arrived early this year! It's the return of the Steam Stoker Engine!
I was wondering what became of the stoker engine. I’m glad it’s back. Keep up the good work
Wow what a Christmas present its been how many years now since we first seen the stoker OMG.. Well i can only hope this finally gets done.. Once completed you need to do a compilation video of all the attempts with all the obstacles and with a video of the stocker installed and feeding coal.. WooHoo !!!!!
Great to see this project coming back! Looking forward to seeing the tool holder build.
Been waiting to.see this stoker engine again for like 3 years ago and even when Abom took a stab at it too...let get a plan and get it done...been waiting for I think 3 years to see it again
Thanks for your time vid'ing your work. Helps teach me and others
This is a bold endeavor.
Glad to see the Stoker Engine back! Sounds like you have a decent plan and solutions for a tough problem! Nice to see the 100+ year old Planer getting put to use to do a job that MODERN machines can't seem to do!
Been waiting anxiously for years to see you return to work on this project, Keith. That engine was about as frozen as anything I've ever seen you tackle. I'm sure it will be a real challenge to build the necessary parts and restore it to operation - but you are up to it. Great project!
Stoker, stoker... o yes, the stoker!
Any project you work on it is facinating to see how you always have the necessary tools. Also you always put the affort into getting the set up right so that the actual work is smooth, easy and accurate. Looking forward to that tool holder project.
Tool stick out is extreme, looking forward to the chatter.
HBM with end mill would be my choice.
Nice to see the Stoker back!!!!
Glad to see the stoker back. Can't wait to see more.
Yeah! The Stocker, finally!
Great to see the planer do some work! Also, I was thinking, make sure the casting can't slide away on those bolts to the plate, ie that they are slid all the way in the cutting direction before final tightening.. I think it was Steve Watkins who commented on how hard the planer can push, & something shifting could be a real mess! Although I imagine the intent is to take light cuts...
Keith clamp the plate in position then move the casting on the plate.😊
I am fairly certain that this is the first project I found your channel through as you were disassembling this stoker. Glad to see it again!
So happy to see the stocker engine again! Looking forward to the story going forward.
I'm confident of project success, thank you for explaining the slowdown - now I'm excited to see the completed stoker in action.
Good morning Keith! Good to see the project come back. Have a great weekend.
This was my first video and it got me hooked on this channel for the better 😅
This thing has sure made its rounds. Difficult access. Looks like the planer is the final answer. Thanks for sharing.
Nice,been awhile.just continue on doing what you do best.waiting on next installment,great video be safe 👍👍👍😎😎😎
THIS is a blast from the past - this is too cool for school!
I still want a planer.
Really "Stoked " to see this Again... Hope i live long enough to see it Completed :D
Will be pretty cool to see the planer doing this job. I believe I would have used the boring mill though. Seems set up would’ve been easier and probably could’ve found an off the shelf tooling option for reaching in there. That’s what’s cool about machinist, not a one of us will do something the same way 😂.
I figured this was one main reason for that planer. Great to see the stoker again.
Maybe your next road trip can be to the T1 Trust group that is building a monster locomotive from scratch in Pennsylvania. Fantastic project.
Hey Keith for the extention part of your engine hoist I pulled my bolt and got rid of it and switched it to a removable pin like the legs have. It's so much faster to change boom length
I got so excited when I saw the stoker engine back. I had completely forgotten about it.
Man oh man, sometimes getting something indicated in, can take many frustrating hours. Good job. As big as tool holder has to be, hope you don’t have to move the whole casting around again. Good luck.😊
Hi Keith. Nice to see the stoker motor up on the planer. I just hope and pray it can cope with such a long tool stickout. Fingers crossed for positive news in the next episode. All the best, Mart in England.
It will be fun to see the old planer earn it's keep! Making the tool holder will also be interesting from the standpoint of DIY.
Wow Keith you have lost a hell of a lot of weight there my friend well done. 😃
Can remember this project well and wondered what had happened to it. Glad to see it back, very interesting.
Been waiting a long time to see this stoker engine get done.
Hi Keith, I always loved the challenge of doing a setup like this one. Subtle movements that can suprize a fella with the smalest of tightining up this or that or the same as for the opposite. I once set up a large 20 cyl ships like engine that took 2 of us 2 weeks. Well my friend. Looks like this winter is going to be a great time. Onward my friend.
As an old stile machinist , quite used to working planer mills and horizontal borers. Was it not possible to stand it on the cylinder end on the horizontal borer , and do it with an endmill. I totally enjoy your programs memories and educational. thankyou.
Nicely done - a lot of work just preparing to cut.
Awesome! I’ve commented a few times over the years, here and on IG, when the stoker engine makes a cameo appearance on a pallet somewhere in your workshop. Really great to see the stoker engine is back on the job list.
While making chips is kinda the goal, setup is everything and is often 90+% of the work. Thanks for showing us this most tedious and precision part of the job.
Hi Keith. Looking forward to seeing this project progressing!
Can I give this all the thumbs up? and, I still think a short Dog Leg Cutter, starting from the middle about 55% of the length and doing both sides, then swapping it around and finishing up doing the same might be the best plan of attack.
I'm still a bit confused about what he's trying to accomplish. At this point, wouldn't hand scraping in that journal be better? I would think it wouldn't be much different than scraping in some square or box ways. After years of trying various machines and tooling and setups, I would think making a custom sized gauge block that you could blue up to scrape in those journals would be the easiest way to go about it. They don't seem particularly large and from what he was saying, he doesn't really have to machine away much metal. Could machine down a straight edge to blue the journal and even use the surface grinder along with his current setup to make sure the scraping stays in plane.
@@pirtatejoe Joe, a journal is a round surface where a bearing runs. These are the undercut areas where the cross heads run in a linear fashion to create straight line motion for the crankshaft, the pistons go in and out, the crank goes round and round to make the worm gear turn the auger to move the coal chunks to the firebox.
@@CothranMike I get that... from the video, can see the flat areas he is trying to machine that the pistons ride on. Still not sure why it can't be hand scraped.
@pirtatejoe Joe, the surfaces he is using to indicate from, the ones the parallel is supported on are the places the hold downs for the cross head bolts to. The surfaces needing work are below them and slightly up the sides of those finished ribs. Those flat surfaces were worn, pitted, and needed to be built up. Lance and Abom used a eutectic mixture applied as an atomized spray at Lance's workshop. They preheated the casting to around 350 to 400°F and sprayed the mixture at around 500°F. It built up nicely, just like they had practiced on other parts. This metal now needs to be milled and cut so it is correct for the purpose intended. Currently, it is rough, over-sized and would need several 10s of thousandth to be removed BEFORE any hand scraping could be done (scraping only removes .0001-.0003) there is literally hundreds of times that amount to be removed yet before anyone would consider scraping to be useful, if needed at all. These surfaces were not scraped originally. There was no need then or now.
@@CothranMike Ahhhh so the answer is he has too much material to remove. Could see those areas between the surfaces he was indicating from that he was going to machine, but from what he said, I was under the impression he was just trying to "clean up" those areas. He never really said how much material needed to remove.
Well alright finally a challenge for you Mr Keith can't wait to see your new tool go to work
Not a machinist by any means, but I remember this project well and wondered several times if it was still possible. I also remember it from Adam Booth's efforts. I can easily see your challenge with anything but a specialty machine for production runs, as you stated. I think you have a good solution if the tool holder is rigid enough and not be too brittle. I am looking forward to the actual cutting. Best of luck! Thanks.
I'm happy to see this project re-surface. Just the other day I was wondering if it had been abandoned or was still on the back burner. Looking forward to seeing it!
So exited for the stoker, I've watched that series 3x
Looking forward to seeing that job completed 👍😎.
The stoker engine got me hooked on this channel and machining awesome.
The Stoker is back and Metal Planer to the rescue :D
🎄🎄🎄That's a ton of checking and double checking !!! You must be a very patient person 😊😊😊 ❄❄❄ Merry Christmas Keith and Everyone 2024 🎄🎄🎄
There's sure to be a lot of "OG" comments which made me wonder when I subbed (not that it's a competition; just a personal curiosity). Going back through your old videos, I recall the addition of the American Rotary phase converter to your shop, and I even recall the old "Shop Tour" series in 2017- but I don't seem to recall the shop build itself. Looks like I must have subbed late 2016ish. Man you have had a LOT of projects, change, growth, and loss over that time. It's been a fun ride for sure, and I know I speak for the masses on this one: it is really great to see an old project like this stoker engine return for some love. Keep kickin' Keith!
My dad was a horizontal boring mill operator at the Standard Stoker co. during the 1930's and 1940's. If he were still around today I feel sure he would tell you that you should be using the machine behind you to do this job.
Bingo