Member postings for Andrew Tinsley

If you are unsure of VFDs then don't buy a cheap Ebay Chinese VFD. They do work but need some experience to decipher the very poor documentation

Take Old Mart's advice and get a VFD from Inverter Drive Supermarket. Phone them up and ask for a recommendation.

I buy secondhand Siemens 420/440 or Alytivar VFDs , These are good quality units with excellent documentation and cost only a few pounds more than the Chinese VFDs I have installed 5 units so far with no problems.

Andrew.

As a physicist I have been waiting for 30 years to see if the Island of Stability becomes fact, If it does, then the new elements will be radioactive but half lives may be expected to be measured in years or even greater,

The relative stability of this probable island, depends on the construction of the nucleus, not the electron orbitals associated with the nucleus.

Andrew.

I use Wikipedia and contribute a few £, well worth it.

Andrew.

Thanks again,

The washers I am talking of go between the torch handle and the extension tube, which goes to the burner itself. There are NO washers between tube and burner unit. So the washers will be operating in a cool region. Rubber would be fine in this position. but not as hard wearing as 1/16 gasket material, which I also have. If all else fails, I can go the lead flashing route. I have lots of that left over from a major extension project.

Abndrew.

Thanks all, I didn't see the washer on the Bullfinch site, although it doesn't seem they are a regular spare. At £7 for two Sievert washers I would expect them to be at least gold plated!

I do have some thick rubberised gasket material come to think about it. I will use some of that. Thanks everyone for your suggestions, much appreciated.

Andrew.

I have both Bullfinch and Sievert torches. The screwed joint between torch handle and extension tubes are sealed by means of what appears to be some sort of fibre washer. These have become worn over time and I am getting gas leaks from them. I have looked on the Bullfinch and Sievert websites, but they don't appear to be listed as spares.

Does anyone know what these "washers" are made of. I do have some thin rubber sheet that would do at a pinch. But I may as well use the correct material if I can find out what it is?

Thanks,

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 14/11/2020 15:09:33

Yes the motor will take more current and it is a 2 pole motor.

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 14/11/2020 12:25:44

Lots of topic drift here!. Michael is dead right as usual.

Andrew.

Just as Michael said, Starrett do the standard rods for zeroing micrometers. I purchase 4 about 18 months ago and could not believe how cheap they were!

Andrew.

Hello Dave,

I am somewhat offended by your claim that us oldies don't like change! I have always embraced change, where the benefits are seen to be good. I detest change for changes sake, unfortunately a lot of modern "change" actually gives little or no benefit and sometimes it is retrograde.

Take CAD for example. It will take me some considerable time to learn a particular programme, At my advanced age, I would rather get on with making things and use a drawing board. Am I against CAD, not at all and it is obvious that for younger people it is the way to go.

Is the forum software perfect, certainly not, it has its foibles. Is it worth updating? From my point of view there is little to be gained and an unknown downside. If it isn't broken......................

Who will foot the bill? One thing is for certain, it won't be Lee Jones.

Andrew.

Nowt wrong with the forum format. I actually like it. If you want to upgrade it, then offer to pay for the upgrade. When you see the cost you might have second thoughts.

It is simple and straightforward to use, without any serious quirks, best of all, it is free to end users like us. Thank you MEW, ME and advertisers, your efforts are appreciated.

Andrew.

I have a 4" chuck, but in the main I prefer the PB 5" chuck for general work. I consider the statement that a 5" chuck is too heavy for an ML7, to be utter tosh. My bearings are still in great condition, although I must admit to scraping them in about 30 years ago

Andrew.

A 5" chuck too heavy for an ML7 ?! Well my lathe bearings must be well and truly trashed as that is the standard chuck on my ML7 and has been for getting on for 40 years.

Andrew.

Back to the OP's question. I have both of his books and find them to be complementary. They are both a useful reference source. At the price you CAN afford both.

Andrew.

I have recently purchased a 4 jaw chuck from ARC. It is engraved ARC but seems to be a Sanou chuck. Very reasonable price and the quality is first class. You can't go far wrong with such a chuck, although you will have to machine up a backplate. Buy one of ARC's backplates, this already has the register and thread done for you. You only need to machine the front face to fit the chuck and drill the mounting holes.

Andrew.

One of the excellent things about a 4 jaw, is that you can get a much better grip on a work piece than you can with a 3 jaw scroll chuck. With a damaged "screw" you can't really tighten up the jaw without risk of further damaging the socket (for the chuck key). I have a 4" Burnerd 4 jaw with Myford fitting, this has been over strained at some point (not guilty!)Some of the jaws can be tilted in the radial direction to an alarming degree. Surprisingly enough, this does not seem to affect its working, provided there is sufficient material to span the jaws back to front. I.E. sufficient material to stop the jaw from tilting.

I shall probably be shot down in flames saying this, but it seems to work well in practice and I can use the little 4 jaw for most jobs, without worrying about its worn out status. Just don't even think of trying this for items like rings, which do not have sufficient depth to prevent the jaw from tilting.

I have purchased a Chinese 150 mm, slimline 4 jaw with Myford fitting from Rotogrip for a very reasonable price. I have had it for maybe 7 years and it is still performing as good as the Burnerd 6" That I used previously. Maybe I have been just lucky ?

Andrew.

Rotogrip do replacement "screws" for the Burnerd 4 jaw. They are not cheap, about £30 plus each,last time I looked. They have a hexagon adjustment hole instead of the traditional square hole. This means you really need to replace all 4 or you need two keys to adjust the chuck.

I would rather put the £120 to £130 towards a new chuck, unless you feel capable of making them yourself. Maybe you could use a large socket head bolt as the material source, that way you don't have to broach the hole.

Andrew.

Hello Hopper,

Not quite sure if I agree with you re test bars. IF you know what you are doing, then they are very useful. However I do take your point that in the hands of the inexperienced, they can lead the owner a merry dance.

Andrew.

Not too relevant to the problem outlined by the OP, but interesting all the same. When I first purchased my ML10, the run out on the outside of the Burnered 3 jaw chuck was easily seen when the chuck rotated, let alone measuring it with a DTI. I checked the chuck again, using some ground silver steel. Oh dear it was just as bad. Thoughts of pigs in pokes loomed large!

It turned out that I had a piece of swarf in the nose thread of the lathe. A good clean resulted in normality. I am still totally amazed that a small piece of swarf could cause such a huge run out. Anyone with a similar problem would be well advised to look at the chuck mounting for foreign bodies before looking elsewhere!!

Andrew.

I have had a stainless steel flask for many years, It is simply thin stainless steel, No insulation, no double wall or vacuum. It is only SLIGHTLY less efficient than my genuine Thermos flasks, So for normal use, it is my preferred flask, because it doesn't break when I drop it.

Flasks like this work because the thermal conductivity of stainless steel is low. However some stainless steel has higher conductivity than others. The ones with very low conductivity are, I am told, considerably more expensive. That is the reason for the poor performance of the cheap flasks.

Andrew.