Member postings for ronan walsh

G and m tools have a few quality machine vices withing your budget and around the size you want. What mill are you going to buy ?

If i could get a head off a bridgeport or clone for not too much money, i'd graft it on to the overarm of my tom senior.

Thanks Neil , that done it.

Is there anyone in the uk or europe that is a dedicated machine tool breakers ? Or who parts out machine tools for spares ?

I used to work making and adapting hose and pipe couplings for the pharma and food industries. They were nearly always stainless steel and had to be tig welded and then turned to hide the weld. When done you wouldn't know they were separate pieces, but sometimes the weld metal (316l) would be just noticeable as a slightly different colour. I never had any trouble turning the welds down.

Thanks all. Is there anyway to reduce drawings further or is fit to page as far as you can go ?

I have a large drawing i want to print off from a pdf. I reduce its size in the pdf and click print but it still prints back at the original size. Anyone have any idea ?

Silver steel is lovely steel to work with and easy to heat treat, one problem i do find with it is its not very resistant to corrosion and rust. I often found that if i handled it one day, the following day there would be rusty fingerprints on it. The main use i have for it is making small metal cutting chisels.

Has anyone contacted mitutoyo and put them on to these fake products ? I doubt they would take it lying down.

"where there's muck there's brass" - Bradley Hardacre, inventor of silent but deady explosives.

I've been all through my garden with a spade and never found a sign of any brass

Thanks all. Its strange its not a known brand or maker, it might have been made under contract by someone like alba or elliott i suppose. The base is distinctive in its shape though.

Yes Michael , thats the machine. Very little about them on the web so i am guessing its a badge engineered machine. But made by who ?

As the title says, has anyone ever heard of machine tools, shapers mainly made by a company called New England ? There is one for sale not too far from me for reasonable money. I have checked lathes.co.uk and they have nothing listed, and information is scarce about this brand.

http://www.donedeal.ie/tools-for-sale/engineering-tools-equipment/7455636

Edited By ronan walsh on 25/09/2014 22:39:03

I find wd40 useless for rust prevention. Cheap 90w gear oil slapped on everything with bare metal with an old paint brush is a bit better but i still find it emulsifies though. One thing i find a help is those tablet type dehumidifiers you can buy in the hardware/diy shops. They take a large blue and white tablet that deteriorates over a few weeks and i find they really work.

http://www.dehumidifiercritic.com/unibond-aero-360-moisture-absorber-device/

Edited By ronan walsh on 24/09/2014 21:02:36

Frost motor restoration products do a stripper for fibreglass. Most paint stripper you buy in your local hardware doesn't work anymore, as the eu (bless them) have banned the ingredient (dichloromethane) that actually softens the paint as its far too dangerous for use by the general public (dunno how people have managed to be safe for the past 50 years ok with it).

http://www.frost.co.uk/automotive-paint-coating-electroplating/automotive-paint/car-paint-stripper-remover-painting-cleaner/eastwood-gel-paint-remover-powder-strippers.html

Sounds like a job for a shaper if you know someone with one.

I served my time in a company that made waste water and sewerage treatment machinery which were nearly all made of 300 series austenitic stainless steel. We had to drill and tap a huge amount of holes in the chassis for the various components etc, we went through vast amounts of drill bits and taps, all good quality presto stuff. To try and reduce the amount of broken tools and blunted drills etc we tried every type, description and brand of metal cutting oil made. We settled for trefolex, the horrible smelling green goo in the old fashioned looking yellow can. I still have a few tubs in the shed and swear by it.

Who is telling you you are a dinosaur larry ? Some know all college kid ? Anyway, any chance of a picture of your machine ? I was going to make the filing machine from the free plans on here , but i don't know if i'd have much use for it.

I have a bsa martini international isu model with similar sights. I would imagine parker hale made screws to their own spec or had them made. If you lost or stripped a screw instead of going down to the local hardware and buying a new screw for 5p , you had to go to PH and buy a screw direct from them, which i would imagine cost a lot more. A lad i know lost a screw from a set of very expensive german scope mounts and of course couldn't get a screw to match anywhere. He had to go back to the manufacturer and buy one and it was very expensive.

Parker Hale were one of the best made rifles to ever come out of england, and were great value for money. I was sad to see them go, but like everything else they couldn't compete against cheap imports and the red tape and nanny state rubbish from comrade blair and co.

Edited By ronan walsh on 21/09/2014 01:33:34

I was back at college as a mature student , finishing about three years ago. Having been at the same college previously as an apprentice for block release, i knew most of the toolmaking and fitting lecturers. This was handy as if i wanted to do a job or use one of the machines it was only a matter of asking.

While studying manufacturing engineering i was down in the college workshop using the J&S surface grinder ( i want one !), in this workshop there are a dozen new tos lathes, and a dozen milling machines. A fellow student came down to see what i was doing, and asked (bearing in mind that less than a year later he would be a qualified engineer) what on earth these machines were. He couldn't tell a lathe from a mill and had no idea what they did !