Speaking of making parts . .

[rodekyll]

 . . .  I received a new, brass temperature sensor lug for my EV.  $50.  It's supposed to be better than the broken plastic OEM one.  At that price it better be.  It's a simple lug -- male threads on one side to fit the head.  Female on the other for the sensor.  About 30mm of length -- a round barrel cut with deep grooves.  I could turn one out in an hour with no skills and a 3" hobby lathe (didn't know what it looked like till I bought it, and my broken one was no help imagining it).  If someone could beat that price by $10 it would be a seller.

[Seagondollar]

Ah, the joys of owning a Guzzi.  Where Carillo rods where less expensive than stock ones (Tonti framed big blocks), a VW Bosch regulator was $15 and the same Guzzi part was $45.  I remember when the little plastic toggle on the 36mm Del Orto's enrichment lever snapped and a machinist where I worked had one in aluminum before lunch that day in his spare time.  

But the rest of the bike lasts. :bow

And I watched My Classic Car (the guy with the big handlebar mustache) in Jay Leno's garage where Leno had a 3D printer and did a plastic replica of a unique 1915 water pump that he sent to a casting company and got a bronze piece that needed a little machining.  But we can't all be rich.

[TDF]

And to that end I just made a run from Nebraska down to St. Jo Missouri to pick up an 2300 lb, ENCO vertical milling machine to put in my brother's garage.  (he's a machinist by trade).  He's already got an old atlas lathe in there, that we're currently looking to upgrade.  With the mill and a good lathe should be about unstoppable as long as we can figure out what we're trying to build "should" look like.

TDF

[scra99tch]

I made about 5 of those for Randy to give out at a rally if anyone ever needed one.  I know people need to make money but it's a nice gesture to make things people need.