Friday evening, UPS delivered my new lathe and milling machine… both arrived safely, in spite of the fact that the delivery man dropped both boxes in my driveway trying to be “macho man” and carry them both at the same time before I could get out there to help him. 
I would like to commend the folks at Sherline for double-packing everything, and for making extensive use of tape, newspaper, bubble wrap and styrofoam “peanuts” to help ensure safe transit of their products.
If I had known how much fun it was to work with precision machinist tools, I would have bought the necessary equipment years ago!
I still have a good bit of learning to do on the lathe, but I picked right up on using the milling machine… goodbye Dremel!
You all can look forward to lots of whistles coming out of my shop in the very near future… I’m hopelessly hooked on my new hobby, and my new shop tools have opened up a whole new world of possibilities that I could only dream about before now.
I’ll not ramble on about all the cool things I’ve learned to do over the weekend, but I will say it has been a real eye opening experience!
Look out world, Raindog whistles will be coming at you soon! 
Fantastic, Gary. Enjoy!
I took a hammer to my Clarke Original last night - success. And then I started reading instructions on making one’s own whistles … oooh. Can’t be done until I stop roaming the planet, but it’s certainly fun to think about! I envy your tool collection and wish you Many happy hours with 'em.
I may be wrong, but I have the gut feeling that, with your dedication and expertise, the Raindog may turn out to be the next great whistle, in the innovative tradition of the Burke and the Sindt. (Now do I get a free whistle from your next batch? 
)
Actually, I’m serious (except for the parenthetical question).
Is it too soon to get on the list for the first run???
Gary, learning on the old tools probably adds to your mastering of the craft… hmmm… Well, on second thought, Congratulations on the new mill!!! That’s great!
I am also among those who are very interested in your new whistle!!
Please, please make your Raindog high and low D fisrt. 
goodbye Dremel!
Dont toss it out just yet.. OF course, you did get the milling machine too …so maybe this tip wont be as helpfull…
If you make a Boring bar holder type contraption (big aluminumn block that mounts on cross slide, with a great big hole through the middle) Then you mount the flex shaft tool on the cross slide.. Mount tube between centers to hold the tube, and use the dremel flexshaft tool as a milling machine. IT works great for punching pilot holes exactly where you want them.
You might look at some of the site with user tweaks and whatnot for the Taig lathe.. many ideas and whatnot apply to any type of machine.
I envy you for the variable speed motor… But as a Taig user ive become accustomed to the machine, and will probably not change my ways. (except to stretch it out to 48" and add a 1 3/4" through spindle twin chuck headstock, and variable speed motor…)
Ain’t power tools fun? 
Just watch your fingers !!
So, tell us a bit about your proposed whistles…
One of these years, I hope to get a milling machine, but my current shop (that is to say, spare bedroom) won’t permit it. Still using a Dremel with a fiber cutoff wheel to make windways, hand filing the ramps. Sigh…
Just watch your fingers !!
Those Scroll chucks pack quite a DOH! LEe ValleyTools sells a cover / safety awareness thingie for scroll shucks. It amounts to a bright colored terry armband, you put it around the chuck.
My first lathe was also a Taig. Gotta love 'em! I was going to add a larger spindle bore as well, but I found this. http://www.cuesmith.com/main/lathes/index.php You’ll notice that it’s just a glorified Taig. A bit pricey, but by the time you get a couple of good bearings and invest the time, it seems less. I never did get it, but it looks like it would do the trick.
Raindog - congrats on your new toys! May they bring you many hours of enjoyment, few hours of frustration and even fewer of pain. And may the world be filled with Raindog whistles
Best,
Erik
Great, I wish you the best of luck with your new “business”.
/Peter
AW MAN! Here we go again! Guys, would you take this sorta distraction private??? I mean really… mounting flex shaft tools on cross slides. . . Boring bars and punching pilot holes. . . I’m at work! you can’t do this to me! (wiping perspiration from furry brow).
HeHeHe! Tyghress!
(Thomas turns the heat up and says)
“He forgot to say that these “tools” also vibrate with incredible intensity!” 
Gary,
Dude, I am soooo jealous!! Have fun with the new toys (Like I really need to say that :roll: )
Cheers,
Loren
THAT DOES IT! I’m going to print out a copy of http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=8427&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=lathe and go someplace private!
Carry on, Gents. . .Da Cat is all whiskers and ears!
Good luck with your new babys.
Thought a piccie of my lathe might give you some food for thought
I’m really surprised that so many people have taken an interest in my new shop setup… maybe I’m not as unknown as I thought!
Now to answer a few questions:
It’s too soon to tell how long it will take me to get good enough with the lathe to officially begin production of the successors to the Copperhead… hopefully no longer than a couple of months.
Retrofit heads for standard Eb and D tubes will come first, followed by retrofit heads for C and Bb tubes, then retrofit heads for D and C Sweetones… then I’ll move on to making low whistles and my own tubes.
Right now I’m concentrating my efforts on making a 100% Delrin head, but a Delrin/aluminum or Delrin/brass combination may prove to be better… I’ll just have to experiment and see.
I currently have my head design down to a four-piece assembly, but I’ll have to get it down to three if I want to use 100% Delrin because I’ll have to use pins or screws instead of glue… Delrin just doesn’t like to be glued.
Here’s a photo of my little lathe if anyone’s interested… it’s not as big and expensive as Stacey’s, but I think it’s much cuter. 
That’s pretty scary that you’ve got that bookmarked
http://www.cuesmith.com/main/lathes/index.php > You’ll notice that it’s just a glorified Taig. A bit pricey, but by the time you get a couple of good bearings and invest the time, it seems less. I never did get it, but it looks like it would do the trick.
Erik… Thats exactly where I plan to get a 48" bed and Twin chuck large bore headstock. In addition to the Frog 1 axis CNC for cutting threads & long tapers. Those twin chucks should hold a workpeice rather well while I am running a 12-18" bore…
It certainly looks like it’ll do what you want. I nearly purchased it, so please let us know how it turns out for you. I’d really be interested.