Member postings for Andrew Tinsley

Over the years I have made 7 or 8 copper boilers fom 3.5 " gauge to 7.25" NG beasts. All silver soldered and still running.

I have now got my old US built, professional TIG welder going, at long last. Browsing over some TIG welding topics I found that the process was now used to weld copper boilers (model variety). This set me thinking, I have more or less given up making larger size boilers as I can no longer readily take the intense heat given off in the process. A case of old age!

Now I realise that TIG welding copper will still be warm work, but nothing like a couple of big Sievert burners going full blast plus oxy-acetylene gear. It would have been a coke hearth and blower bellows, but coke isn't so easy to get these days!

So is TIG welding a copper boiler, as an amateur a going proposition, or is it limited to those with a current "ticket"?

Andrew.

I did use an angle grinder to do more or less what you want. It worked very well indeed. BUT I was on tenterhooks all the time and quite how I got away with it, I shall never know. Very dangerous operation, but I was desperate at the time and it was the only way out. I wouldn't dream of doing it again.

Andrew.

Thanks Jason,

Using parallels in the vice would be my preferred solution as well. Strangely, it wasn't mentioned as an option. So I thought I would check it out on the forum.

Andrew.

Before starting to set up my shaper. I have read one or two old books about shaping, in order to get some background information. In two of these old books, it is recommended that you get the shaper level. This is in order to make setting up the work in the machine vice an easy task. Apparently a sensitive spirit level was used to ensure that the work was really flat in the jaws.

I suppose that the same would go for a milling machine too. Levelling a mill should be relatively straightforward, but a shaper is not quite so simple, especially if it is fitted with a with a tilting work table. My worktable is of the unbolt and swivel type, which does make me wonder how accurately I could align it with the vertical axis of the machine.

Looking at the cast iron base, there doesn't seem to be any jacking feet either, or maybe they are inside the base somewhere? Now to get to the point, does anyone level their shaper these days, or for that matter their mill?

Andrew.

I second that! Brian's book is superbly produced and crammed with screwcutting information on a whole host of lathes.

It really is useful and would also make a good coffee table book for a model engineer! Do yourself a favour and buy one from Arc right away, you won't regret it.

Andrew.

I have had a life long love of shapers and in fact right now I have a shaper and no mill. Being honest with myself if it were one or the other then I would regretfully go for the mill. But a shaper can do lots of good stuff using ultra cheap tooling and you can't say that of a mill. Not an easy choice, it really depends on what tasks you need to do, analyse that and the answer will become obvious either way!

Andrew.

I am looking for a decent 4" or 6" vice for my Royal Shaper. Lowish profile would be preferred and it needs to be sturdy for shaping duties!

I have looked at Vertex vices and have seen rave reviews and some not so good. Does anyone have a knowledge of currently available vices and could give me some feedback on what is a good buy? I did have an Abwood, but now regret parting with it!

I do have a Dore machine vice and that works well for smaller items, but it could do with some more jaw depth. I can't afford £800 or so for something I know is good!

Thanks,

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 01/08/2017 21:39:09

No Rainbows! You have to have the approved silver sticky label with black printing, showing the prominent CE mark!

It used to cost anywhere from £250 to £2000 to get various products through a test house in Europe. It usually took 4 or 5 weeks to get the approval. This was from a pretty fast and cheaper than most, test house in Copenhagen. At least I got a good meal on the waterfront!

Now how one wonders, can the Chinese do the testing so quickly and for zero cost?

Andrew.

No problem Neil,

I was at a Chinese supplier from whom my company purchased various items. I queried how long it would take to get a CE marking for the product, from a test houses in China.

No problem said he, half an hour later I was presented with samples, with full CE certification labels in place......Ho hum!

Andrew.

Well I wouldn't call the Myford the RR of model engineering, they were after all built down to a price! My fight with chatter was only overcome on one Myford,, by getting the mandrel bearings sorted out and then eliminating the play in all of the slideways. Even then, you could not take too big a cut, but after all it wasn't an industrial lathe!

Even now I only take small cuts as I feel the lathe will last a damn sight longer than me and save me the cost of yet another overhaul before I exit this world!

Andrew.

Hijacking the thread a little! I have a cheap Chinese jack which leaks past the seal. I have dismantled it and it and the seal seems to be made from Nylon or PTFE. It is simply screwed onto the metal "piston". The nylon or PTFE is a hollow cylinder with an angle at the top to form a lip seal. Is it worth trying to make a new one, seems simple enough to do provided I get the correct angle on the lip?

Andrew.

Looks like I might need some new glasses!

Andrew.

There should be a hole in a cast in lug at the back of the headstock. The threaded portion of the collet chuck extension should simply go into the hole and then use the nut to secure it.

Earlier ML7 headstocks did not have this cast in lug at the rear. It looks as though yours doesn't, so you will have to make up something to do the job.

Andrew.

I find that tap quality is a roulette game. In M2 size, I have Dormer and Presto, both very good indeed. I also have a Tracy tools M2 in carbon steel and that actually cuts a little better.

The best M2 tap that I have is one from a cheap unbranded blue box of Metric taps and dies. I purchased it from a surplus tool store, at one of the exhibitions. So I am a little nonplussed about "Quality".

I suspect that you can sharpen a carbon steel tap to a higher degree of sharpness than you can for an equivalent HSS tap. The carbon steel one simply blunts faster. This will probably be disputed by those that know.

Unless the starting metal is rubbish, I think the best tap, is the one you have just sharpened! It is one of the reasons that I am making a Quorn. A friend sharpens my blunt taps at the moment and the best one, is the latest to come from him.

I may be just talking rubbish here and would appreciate a comment from someone that really knows their taps .

Andrew.

If you want to make things easy, then use guilders metal instead of brass. It will spin far more easily than brass and SWAMBO won't be able to tell the difference in colour!

Andrew.

Good buy all round, I have the B&D version and it removes material at a fast rate and the belt stays on even under adverse usage.

BEWARE "Black and Decker" belts sold on Ebay. They have all the B&D printing on them and look kosher, but the glued section gives way in a second or two!

Andrew.

Just another thought, maybe the bearings of the motor have given up and the rotor is rubbing on the stator. This one is simple to check by just slackening off the belt and gripping the pulley. Shake it and see if you have any lateral movement. I have come across this fault, once before. The motor wasn't too noisy and I never thought that the bearings could be so worn that the rotor was rubbing on the stator!

Andrew.

John is quite correct. If the motor is overheating on the high speed range, you have a serious problem within the lathe setup. There must be something that has a high drag or friction in the system. Are the belts too tight, have you got serious friction in the lathe countershaft bearings. Are the changewheels in too close a mesh or the mandrel is stiff in its bearings?

Something is causing the motor to overheat and you really must check out the complete drive chain (including the leadscrew!). The problem area should be found and rectified. Putting on a 2hp motor is no solution and is quite likely to cause some serious damage to the lathe. DON'T do it!

Andrew.

Well here is my two pennorth. I have done scraping in the past, but I have only seriously started quite recently. I have more or less got my 18" x12" cast iron surface plate flat with respect to a good 24" x 24" plate. I am not quite there, but another session should see me done.

If you are methodical and don't mind spending time on the job, then it is really very easy to do, so pay no heed to those that say it takes a lifetime to get the skills required!

Now trying to scrap a worn Myford bed flat, is a whole different ball park. You will need a large witness plate and the moving that over a worn surface is going to be a nightmare. As other contributors have said you will need extra equipment. I am not saying that it cannot be done, but I certainly would not even think of doing such a project. It might cost a bit, but get it surfaced ground, you won't regret it.

Andrew.

Thanks everyone you have all been a real help to me.

Muzzer that is quite a shock. All the olite bushes I have ever seen have been quite obviously porous, when you examine the ends of the bush. You don't need a magnifying glass to see that! If what you say is correct (no doubt you are right!), then what on earth have I been looking at all these years thinking they were olite bushes?

A puzzled,

Andrew.