Lane Cedar Chest Repair & Refinish
Mark Bronkalla We were given an old Lane cedar chest by a friend with the intention that it would go to my grand-daughter Hadley. It had a lot of promise with an…
Porketta
Mark Bronkalla Background This Italian pork roast is an old family favorite. It is made with pork shoulder and baked. This makes it conceptually similar to Cuban Pork which I detail here:…
“Cheater” Pastrami
We like the flat of the brisket. A full packer brisket like you would get at Costco is just too much for us (and I am no fond of the…
French Onion Soup
We have been making French Onion Soup from scratch for many years. However, I had not documented the process. Here is our version. It is, for us, a mid sized…
Installing a DRO for a 13″ South Bend Lathe – part 2
It took a bit of back and forth with the vendor and testing, but it turns out I DID receive 1uM resolution scales that were mis-marked as 5uM. With the…
Installing a DRO for a 13″ South Bend Lathe – part 1
I have wanted a DRO (Digital Read Out) for the lathe since I picked it up and rebuilt it a number of years ago. A session making some metric sized…
Amelia’s bed completion
The bed platform provides the storage and raises the mattress to normal bed height. There is no box spring used. The platform is made up of: Toe kick / base…
A bed for Amelia
My grand-daughter Amelia has grown to the point where she needs to move from crib to bed. Her new bed design is a blend of Isla’s Bed and her older…
Laser Engraving Water Bottles and Tumblers
When I added the rotary chuck to the laser, the primary use was to be for engraving powder coated water bottles and tumblers. These make nice gifts and I wanted…
Laser – Closed Loop Stepper Alarm Interlock
Previously I had upgraded my OMTech 3555 130W CO2 laser from open loop to closed loop stepper drive on the X axis. See: https://bronkalla.com/blog/2022/10/17/converting-the-laser-to-closed-loop-stepper-drive/. The closed loop stepper driver has…