Last night I attended Nova Labs "Metal Monday", which I do most weeks if robotics isn't too demanding. It's the metal shop's office hours. People can drop by (or, ideally, sign up in advance) to get advice, project help, or just chat. We almost always get a few people stopping by, with any variety of busted tools, interesting things they're working on, and ideas to discuss. One of these was how I got involved with the Hunter Ranch sign.
Last night was no different. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the things people brought in (I get too caught up in things sometimes to remember to take them) but we had a guy come by who needed help pressing a bearing onto a shaft for his pool pump, another who wanted advice on stripping down and refinishing a camera stabilization mount, and some impromptu conversation on how to hold an aluminum plate for CNC machining.
Since there are occasionally lulls in the action, I generally bring something of my own to work on. My home shop is quite well equipped, but Nova Labs has space to work, something that is sorely lacking in my shop. This time, it was the Vevor Six-Jaw Lathe Chuck I picked up recently, after being made aware of the incredible price on it.
Of course, like many low-price import tools, it arrived in less-than-stellar condition. It's not that it's damaged, but it was still covered in grinding dust, and basically zero effort had been put into removing burrs and otherwise taking it from "done" to "operates smoothly". But this was expected, given the price, so I knew I was going to have to put in a few hours with some files and blue shop towels.
It's nearly done now, so pretty soon I'll be able to toss it on the lathe and see how accurate it is. Frankly, it doesn't need to be particularly so: on the lathe, if a chuck holds something off-center, it still gets round due to the cutting action, as long as you don't wind up needing the portion that was in the chuck. And that often gets parted off. Anyway, we'll see. For just north of $200, if it works reasonably well, it'll still be a bargain.