Just came across this on RCG, Someone building their own spindle for their DIY CNC machine and cast a bearing block. I never thought of charcoal as a fuel for this... It may be easier to do than I thought.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost ... stcount=25

 

Yea, I saw that this morning. I messed around with that when I was a teenager. I have the whole book series from "Gingery" about making machine tools from scratch. Starting with the Charcoal Foundry and Lathe. Air supplied from a hair dryer and the thing looks and sounds like a jet engine. It did easily melt aluminum.

-Kwok