Opening

We have a few weeks of YouTube videos out and truth is, we are having fun with it.

Lance and Patrick plan to machine a pair of new bronze bushing to replace a 100 year old (and I first thought it to be a young 70 years new) pair of precision drill bushings in a material we have never machined before. And then we prepped and primed, painted and baked the machine tool components to last the test of time. We are dead set on sharing through social media through our continued writing, images and videos as our way to share our skills and knowledge with others.

Topics

• YouTube is more fun then we thought.
• We ordered bushing material for an old (no maker name) micro drill press.
• We are painting the prepped machine tool parts.
• Bergeon carbide sharpening unit is in refurbishing works.
• A YouTube video worth sharing watchmaker machines and tools.
• Read how we are approaching the topic of social networking.

A Pair of YouTube Stars are Born

Making videos can present its challenges and we are not any different than anyone else when it comes to being in front of the camera, talking technical and remembering what you want to convey.

Video stars Patrick Lara, Lance Conway and the Active Atom Precision Machining operation of fine precision machines and tools are happy to have some friends and viewers along on this wonderful rural desert town journey. How great it is that we have all of these social media outlets to share our skills, knowledge machines and tools.

All of the this and that being said, we really like, No NO, it is more then that, WE ARE LOVING this chance to share our skills and knowledge, and under controlled (very controlled) circumstances, our thoughts.

Meet Oil-Impregnated Bronze

We received the material we will be machining on a lathe in our machine shop, Oil impregnated bronze. This will be a first for us for turning this material and making these new bushings for our vintage drill press.

There are two shoulder bushings made of the oil-impregnated bronze that also each will have oil holes to allow the addition of manual oiling during micro-drilling operations.

Who Manufactured this Micro Drill Press?

QUESTION?

If you know who likely made this fine precision century plus old micro drill press, we would love to know. We think it is from the Europe because of the style for the time. Our best guess is that after likely 100 years of continued drilling service, the old bushings were in need of a fresh new trip back to factory tolerances.

So yes, we are good with replacing worn bushings after 100 years plus of operation. I would say we and the prior owners got there moneys worth out of the bushings.

Drill Press with No Name

Originally we thought this micro drill press to be from the 1940's but we now believe it is from Germany and is more near 100 years in age. Vintage machine tool knowledge helps when you know how machine components are forged or machined.  Today even the finishing leaves us with clues about the time when the machine might have been manufactured now though it gets a might bit tougher hard work to figure out the maker, as it is likely from a company that has long pasted or a company that is still in business but did not place a makers mark on the main drill press body, or it long ago fell off of the drill press dating back that far.

Paint Me Up

Lacquer and powder coating are on the painter menu this week after painting the remaining Levin and Flume parts.

Bergeon Swiss Made Tools, Made Since 1791

The company is the maker of watchmaker tools and supporting products.

This Swiss Tool company specializes in the watchmaker industry, parts makers, watch repairs and service tools manufacturer that for Active Atom Precision Machining, is one company still in business that provides to us currently watchmaker and micromachining tools. Through the Bergeon history of making great tools, we have acquired many unique tools from this maker that are either still made or no longer produced and we utilize these tools during the making of precision machined products.

We are currently rebuilding a Bergeon Carbide Tool Sharper.

A Fellow Watch Making Equipment Collection

What a collection of watchmaker machines and tools looks like after 40 years of really hard restoration work. The man that is the caretaker and owner of this fine watchmaker collection is a name that sounds close to being like Andre Lechot.  You can view his beautiful collection on YouTube at the following URL.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7yC2u1obD8

Our Personal Attachment to the Above Watchmaker

At Active Atom, whom have been in the acquisition of fine surgical precision metal cutting machines and tools for just 20 years, about half that of the collector shared in the video from Europe above.

We too feel it is more of a care takers relationship we have then a collector of these fine vintage machines and tools of the watchmaker times that are globally acquired, methodically rebuilt and in our case, actually utilized in the making of fine machine aerospace grade metal products we are making and soon to offer up.

The products we will begin making will ultimately make their way onto our YouTube videos and into our online store at Active Atom for a very limited number of people to hold and cherish.  So we are more than just the caretakers of these machines and tools of histories past, you too can hand them along to the next youthful caretaker.

Getting Social in Search for Like Minded Friends

We at Active Atom Precision Machining have been on the internet via a website or two, a blog or two and a forum or two continuously since 1994 through our various companies that have come and been changed along the way of this journey of two best friends who now are living and working in a rural California Desert town.

Things change as sure as time itself, what is all the rage, the hype or the hysteria today, likely will be of no meaning tomorrow, and in no other place is it as clear as on the Internet.

Just remember BBS, Digg, Look or Local.com even MySpace.com and you can see what we are saying.

A Short Story About Change, Change is Good, Very Good

We have been making manual machined parts most of our lives and in the early 1980's, we were exposed to CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) machines and converted an entire manual machine shop into an entire CNC machine shop in under 5 years time. We are also low-level computer software and firmware programmers, so it helped in the adapting to CNC programming from manual machining to CAD/CAM.

Though nothing in life is learned with ease and still worth its salt yet alone mastered with ease, so through hard efforts to understanding of software code writing in general, this CNC conversion process to CNC programming just came to Patrick much easier through his understanding of the programming environment.

This action and effort afforded these two guys a chance to be able to operate manual and CNC mills and lathes in 3, 4 and 5 axis with many other features to follow. While these days, we have but just one American Made 4 axis CNC table top mill where the remainder of our machines are manual and this is what we will be making our precision machined parts on that will allow us to produce a wonderful product. These products will be offered, though in limited quantities to our viewers through our own created online store at our Active Atom website, the same place this blog is posted each week.

Hot Places We Hangout

Here are the absolute hottest places where these two guys are making what they do know for all to see and for all to share.

Active Atom on, well, Active Atom. Active Atom is the result of our 25 years of being online and we thought if we are going to launch yet another website, let’s make it our final website at least for the foreseeable future.

At Active Atom, we wanted to have an online store, check one, and then we wanted to have links to all of our social media outlets, check two.

We have a profile nearly everywhere these days but here are the current hotties.

What we truly wanted to be able to convey through our newest website was our knowledge of machining materials, share our library of the history of vintage machines and tools, some catalogs and brochures form the past, many instruction manuals and even some blueprints. This is all because there is an Internet gap where data from the past missed the Search Engine Internet thing so it is up to people like Patrick and Lance to be sure we do our part and share these important historic importance to machinery collectors that make things and so forth.

Our website has a large yet continually growing knowledge of materials, what materials we machine, how they machine and what uses they are really great for and so much more. Actually too much to mention in a single bog post so go to our website and see the material section for yourself.

Aerospace Materials Introduction: www.activeatom.com/materials-introduction.php

Active Atom on Instagram

We are visual through pictures on Instagram and we might make a slide show now and again. We might also even film a small video clip to share there as well and this would of course be when we have an urgent issue that cannot be held back until our weekly YouTube video is uploaded to our YouTube Channel.

http://instagram.activeatom.com

Active Atom on Facebook

We are on Facebook, connecting with some original friends from our youth, schools, neighbors and early co-workers that are wondering what each other are doing or been through in their lives. Our Instagram images are automatically uploaded to our Facebook page to share with other people we meet through that platform. 

http://facebook.activeatom.com

Active Atom on Twitter

Twitter is an interesting one for us to be hanging out on as we are not celebrities or political figures. So what are we doing on Twitter then?

http://twitter.activeatom.com

Interestingly enough, while we are not likely to be the next social media hot hit of the time, we do have a thing or two to share of value in two areas.

The first one is, we can post updates to our friends and followers and of course, we post our Instagram photos to Twitter, mention these blog posts as well and anything urgently needing to be shared, like say a new YouTube video. Even if it is to borrow a cutter to help us continue making precision machined parts, whatever, we do it or anything and you are going to hear about it.

The second one is, we have clicked on businesses we follow and learned about services, sources, even new applications for doing some of the types of work we do and there are many personal connections. Well I mean as personal as a social media connection can be without actually ever talking to, yet alone meeting these people.

Active Atom on YouTube

This is our current hottie of all hottie hangouts and to us, this one is our first experience in being able to share something way beyond what we thought we would ever be able to convey through our prior methods which have mostly been through some pictures and a lot of writing.

Over the past 2 plus decades of websites, blogs, social media hangouts and forums, we have written so many documents, geo-location, explanations, technical data, technical applications, vented some bad feelings, shared some love and offered joy and happiness, even researched and configured content that is so detailed about subjects and topics and so concise, it is very boring to the average reader on the Internet.  And though we are not here to entertain our viewers, it is technical, learning and education that best describes what we are coming onto YouTube for.

We in no way want to provide tearfully boring content however that being said, we do want to share how to make this or how to perform that in a very technical format. One really important subject to the two of us is we want to share the making of the actual products we are serializing and offering to our viewers, be it small machined tools or everyday usage, because that is what we know and that is what we do best.

Learning How to Make Useful Videos

What happens when technically minded people get into making a YouTube video?

Welcome to our world, the world of engineering. If you are going to do something or you want to be or become something, you are going to have to dive into it, if it is as in this case, making your first video, then you are going to at least know enough to make it watchable.

We Spent Some Money

First we bought the tools for the basic YouTube filming work being a camera, editing software, and audio and video equipment to at least get started.

Then we bought an additional on the go auto focus camera and then a cleaner on the move around the shop microphone system. And there we are, we are where we are at, this being about or around our third YouTube video.

Then the Video Work Begins

YouTube is fun, well filming is anyways, then there is editing the videos, voice over, reducing the run time, retakes, openings, closings, intros, and the such are time consuming tasks that make the videos more enjoyable to our viewers and our viewers are what this is all about. We are sharing knowledge to help you be a great maker of products and everything that goes with and into being the best maker you can be, just like we are doing and now sharing after 25 years.

Uploading all YouTube Videos

Once you get your video uploaded, you have to apply special SEO (search engine optimization) techniques focused on YouTube as apposed to our other SEO/SEM techniques and yes, this to had to be learned, refined and ultimately applied to our Internet projects.

http://youtube.activeatom.com

Our Sharing Must Get out to Others

You see as I mentioned earlier, the two of us live in a high-desert rural California Desert town. If it were not for our website, blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, now YouTube and 3 or 4 other social network locations, then we would not have but just a few locals to share our skills and knowledge with.

IN CLOSING

We Are Not the Kings of Popularity 

While we have no misgivings about this social media outreaching popularity in our case, we do want people to learn, have fun, ask us questions, interact with us and with a lot of luck, enjoy watching these two guys making a product together.

Our goal is, if you enjoy the making of the products enough, we will be offering those products you are actually seeing us make from start to finish and in limited quantities through our online store at www.activeatom.com, eventually.

So please for now, join the two of us while we share our journey.

Lance and Patrick.