Letter Re: Building a Very Inexpensive 10-in-1 Machine Tool for Every Retreat

Dear Mr. Rawles
The [home-made] MultiMachine is an accurate all-purpose machine tool that can be used as a metal or wood lathe, end mill, horizontal mill, drill press, wood or metal saw or sander, surface grinder and sheet metal “spinner”. It can be built by a semi-skilled mechanic using just common hand tools. For machine construction, electricity can be replaced with “elbow grease” and all the necessary material can come from discarded vehicle parts.

If the MultiMachine builder adds just three easily-learned skills:

Making small welds with a welder made from three vehicle batteries hooked in series.
Using a flower pot furnace to make simple Zinc and Aluminum alloy castings.
Grinding lathe cutting tools. (There are many “How to” instructions on the web for all this).

…then they can then build seven additional metal bending, rolling and cutting tools that could be used to equip a small but fully functional metal working factory.
That’s about 20 serious metal working tools in a project that needs just broken engine blocks, used pipe and truck frame pieces (and lots of hacksaw blades)!

How can just one kind of machine do all this? In almost every kind of machining operation, either the work piece or the cutting tool turns. If enough flexibility is built into these functions, the resulting machine can do almost every kind of metal working operation that will physically fit.
Sounds crazy or too good to be true? The 4,600 member Yahoo news group on Multimachines doesn’t think so and are standing ready to help.
Don’t know anything about machining? Read the small book “How to Run a Lathe” available on our news group.
Every person interested in personal survival needs these free books and video in their library (at least)!
Again, no catches, no charges, no nothing! Just benefit from the seven years work spent developing machine tools for poor people in developing countries. – Pat D.