Member postings for ronan walsh

Thanks for the replies everyone. The weight is roughly what i was expecting, not too heavy but as some have said they are top heavy. I don't have the machine yet, but want to buy one, even though i know they are obsolete really. But as a machine they have always interested me.

Would anyone know the accurate weight for an elliot 10m shaper ? I have checked lathes.co.uk but cannot see one.

Sorry to resurrect this year old thread, but i just wanted to know how the build went gordon ? I too want to build a wimshurst machine, but all i can find online is rubbish made from bits of plastic and cardboard. One made in the classic brass and hardwood would be a nice ornament.

Well i'll be jiggered, i always thought it went in the 50's.

I thought the broadarrow and war office were very old terms, and would have been long gone again the 70's ?

I priced carbide milling cutters in the local suppliers (a branch of cromwell) and in certain sizes they were cheaper than hss, both the same manufacturer (sherwood).

Gun actions are recommended to be around 30 hrc minimum and can go up to the mid 40's for 416 stainless steel actions. Whatever the hardness of the action, the bolt is always slightly harder to prevent pick-up and galling. All that been said, i was told recently that some ruger actions are up to 50 hrc in hardness. Its very difficult to tell how hard a metal is until you try to cut it , its been tested,or you've been told exactly how hard the metal is by a supplier.

Are these led fluorescent tubes a straight replacement or is there something else that has to be done to get them to work ? Can the bothersome starters be done away with ?

Yes murry i believe the recess was intended for a worklamp of some type. I was going to use a vfd with the original 3/4 hp hoover motor on my drill, but it wasn't a dual voltage unit and as such couldn't be run from a vfd as easily (or cheaply). As i had gotten the drill for free anyway i didn't mind spending out for a new motor. The only motor i could find for it locally was in the engineers suppliers and bearing factors. It was an australian made 1hp motor and it fitted the machine with no problems at all and has all the power i'll ever need.

As for the weight of the drills, i seen somewhere the bench model is supposed to be around 2 1/2 hundredweight, having had to lift my drill onto a bench i think that would be an accurate weight. Finally gate machinery still hold the progress name and stock drills called progress, though i'd imagine they are rebadged far eastern models. But they did hold some spares, but not a huge amount i'd think.

I have an identical drill oompa loompa. Mine came out of a scrap skip, wrestled out by a friend of mine in his lunch hour. They are a proper professional grade tool and light years ahead of the taiwanese and chinese junk. All i did with mine was replace the three phase motor with a 1 hp single phase unit and gave it a quick lick of paint to stop it rusting.

I might rebuild it over the winter as its starting to jump out of high gear under load (caused by idiots not stopping the machine before changing gears) . There is an excellent thread on an elliot drill rebuild over on the mig welding forum (its not you is it ?).

We used to use a shell product called ensis fluid in my old job when we wanted to store large machined rollers outside. Its supposed to be good for protecting metal stored inside for 60 months or outside for 24 months. Its commonly used on oilrigs for protection of bare metals , or so i am told.

Someone told me to try this idea of using capacitors across the lives to get a small coolant pump motor running on a colchester lathe. I didn't do it but apparently it works ok for small motors.

Some of the chinese plants, r-tech for instance have siemen electronic components, not something made in a sweat shop in a back lane in the back of beyond. Something else to know is a lot of the american welding plants with some prestigious names are made in china or italy, and only assembled in america.

Pure aluminium is actually pretty easy to weld, its when the metal has old oil or grease absorbed into the pores of the metal , or when the ali contains zinc or something it gets messy and frustrating. Believe me ,i used to work in a fabricators/welding shop where all sorts of work was brought in. To be asked to weld something in new clean ali was a welcome relief.

A really good welding set that can be had for reasonable cost is the chinese made r-tech. Don't let the chinese put you off, these are very good machines and the uk agent has a no quibble warranty where if something goes wrong (never anything major i hear) then he will put it right. Also you do really need ac for aluminium, you can use pulsed dc but with ac and the correct gas you can get lovely clean "stack of pennies" type welds.

Have a look on the mig welding uk forum and also doubleboosts channel on youtube.

Edited By ronan walsh on 06/07/2014 10:29:42

Quality files of any size are expensive now ian. I bought a pack of 16 files for €30 during the week when they were on special offer in a local engineers suppliers, they are good enough for deburring etc, but nowhere near as good as the old stubbs or nicholson files.

Thank you thor.

Are woodruff cutters generally run at slower speeds than endmills of a similar size ? I have rarely used these cutters and when i did it was a long time ago.

Edited By ronan walsh on 15/06/2014 21:53:30

I looked into pushrods a lot as i am into classic british cafe racers of the 50's and 60's. There are a lot of parts suppliers catering for the classic racers. There have been pushrods made of all sorts of materials, carbon fibre, aluminium alloys of various types, titanium alloys, but for the best combination of strength and lightness most settle for thin wall high carbon steel tube with end caps fitted.

The only time i use it is if aldi or lidl have it cheap, no way would i pay full whack for it as imho it is overhyped. To preserve machinery during the winter i buy a litre of cheap super market oil and apply it with a rag or brush.