Hello

(I posted this in the wrong place initially so hopefully I'll get it right this time.)

I've been lurking around this site for quite a while so I guess it is about time I was sociable and stuck my head above the parapet. I'm in Newcastle upon Tyne and my main interest is model steam turbines plus a part finished 3.5"g Caribou that I inherited.

A few years ago I built an electronically controlled flash boiler (inspired by the steam plant built by Ian Gerrard). This gives a known rate of generation of steam at a measured temperature which is starting to prove useful for testing nozzles etc. That project also gave me the electronics confidence to have a go at building an electronically controlled micro-milling contraption which I'm using to machine miniature turbine blades and nozzles. It uses tungsten carbide micro-milling cutters down to 0.5 mm diameter. (I have a few 0.3mm diam. cutters but so far have not dared use them). Currently I'm attempting to build a multistage turbine – which I realise may be a failure. The journey is more important than arriving at the destination (I suppose).

I'd be very interested to hear from or about other people who use similar micro-milling cutters as I've not come across anythng in the magazines.

Mike