Member postings for Andrew Tinsley

Hello Hopper,

I don't mind in the least at being pulled up for duff information. The problem I have got, is that a lot of the advice appears to be somewhat conflicting. As I said before, there is no way I know of, to determine how much grease there is in an ML10 bearing, So whatever you put in, is pure guesswork. You go on to say, quite rightly, that there are thousands of cars that run for many years with a sealed bearing in the alternator. Is the implication that it is fine to do the same for the ML10 bearing? As to frequency of greasing, if I adhered to the one shot every 10 hours, from my Wanner, then I would rapidly fill up the bearing, which is precisely what you counsel against. I do bow to better knowledge and will not in future fill up the bearings until grease comes out, I am guilty of bad practice.

I am still very curious as to the behaviour of lithium grease. There is no doubt that under very hot summer conditions, in a shed, the grease appears to start melting and there is liquid in the can. I assumed wrongly, that if I overfilled the bearing, then it would self correct, by melting out. I have seen this "melting" behaviour with various makes of lithium grease, but never with any other type. Maybe what I am seeing is not due to a melting process. Does anyone know what is going on here and has anyone else ever seen this curious behaviour?

Thanks,

Andrew.

I may well be in need of a new lead screw for the above. Many years ago, there was a company that manufactured lead screws, does that or a similar company still exist?

I appreciate that a new lead screw, if available, would be an expensive item. However I would rather buy a new one than pay around £70 for a second hand one, from the Bay. You never know what you are getting!

Andrew.

I have found from experience that Lithium grease does lose a lot of viscosity when hot. I am not certain about other types of grease. However lithium based grease can do this. I have even opened cans that have got very warm in summer and found a liquid on the surface. I am not sure it is supposed to do this, but several different cans have shown this effect over the years!

Maybe an experienced lubrication engineer can comment on this?

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 27/01/2017 14:28:00

This is an old thread and originally concerned oxy acetylene cylinders. It now seems to deal with tig and mig welding.

Can anyone tell me if there is a current cheaper source for oxy-acetylene gases other than BOC? I have finally had enough of their rather greedy pricings.

Thanks,

Andrew.

In my opinion, I would rather have too much grease than too little! But I bow to every ones knowledge on this!

Much more to the point how often would one grease? With the bearings in an ML10, how do you know how much grease you have put in the bearings. All very well saying 25% of the space etc when you cannot see how much you have put in. Correct me if I am wrong, but I can't see the grease quantity in my my ML10 bearings.

As to heat generation, I am not bothered about that. With lithium grease, the grease will run out of the bearing when hot, so it is more or less self limiting. I know this happens, because I see signs of grease coming out of the bearings for maybe the first hour or so of running, after greasing.

I am NOT trying to be argumentative, merely quoting the observations I have made on my ML10.

Regards,

Andrew.

Difficult to decide! I have an Aldi mains version. just under £20. I have given it a rough life and it is going strong after 5 years. Looking at the build quality I just didn't expect such good usage.

I have an early mains powered Dremel and that is OK after 15 years of intermittent use. I also have a late model Dremel and it has given me a load of trouble. The new ones seem to be built down to a price. The only good thing is that spares are available.

So take your pick! A Proxxon is probably better than all of the above, but I have no experience of them. Yes I have 3 dremel tools and they are in different workshops, One for model planes, one for ME use and one in the house! They can be a lifesaver and so useful!

Andrew.

Hello Again,

Interesting how advice varies from poster to poster! With regard to the 2MT drill that I was referring to. It was definitely intended to drill out a Morse taper. It definitely wasn't a straight drill with a 2MT on he mounting end! I am glad that someone else has come across them, otherwise I would be doubting my sanity!

From what little has been said, it would appear to be easier to drill and then bore out the taper. Thanks for the setting up tip that was given a few replies back, nice and simple, which is what I like!

Before my muscle wasting illness, I helped refurbish a Norwegian loco boiler. New plates were welded in where corrosion had set in and a HUGE Russian radial drill was used to drill out the stay holes. I saw a friend of mine ream out a very large taper which was a to be used for a washout plug (subsequently threaded). A very large and strong man to boot. Using a taper reamer he produced a very good taper and a pile of swarf on the floor! So tapers can be hand reamed, providing you are strong enough! However I would now have trouble picking up the reamer, let alone using it!

Thanks everyone, a very useful exchange and plenty of info

Regards,

Andrew.

P.S. Don't ask me how the washout hole was threaded, I didn't see that bit! I was too busy pushing red hot rivets into the flanges and a holding them there while a pneumatic riveter did the job from inside the shell! I am still deaf from doing it!

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 26/01/2017 11:18:07

Hello Steve,

I use lithium based grease from Castrol, but just about all the manufacturers will have a lithium grease in their range. Try Halfords as a start, but you can get it from motor factors, usually much cheaper too!

The first time I tried lubricating the bearings I rather overdid it and got grease all over the inside of the cover! Not good for the belt, that is for sure. I now open the cover and grease until I can see signs of movement around the rear roller. As to how often .......... well depends how much you use it. I would guess a good greasing would last about a 100 hours running. So it doesn't have to be done often. Although I am open to correction on this.

Andrew.

I use Paragon paints which are the type of paints that would have been used on Traction engines etc. Good stuff and their UV clear makes the paint shine!

Andrew.

Thank you everyone,

Very good advice, which I will follow. I will keep the reamer until last and use it to remove any 'dings' that may be standing up (this being a last resort!)

I will in the near future, have to make several tapered bores. I intend to offset the topslide and bore a previously drilled hole to get the basic taper. I will have to use a taper reamer to finish the job, all this in mild steel. My previous question of how one finishes the reaming process is still unanswered and hopefully someone can tell me how to finish off the taper, to avoid potential steps left from the reamer?

As an aside, somewhere (probably Tracy Tools), I have seen advertised a drill to drill morse tapers. The mind boggled at this, suspecting an April fools joke. However I have to believe this is serious. So how does drilling compare to boring a taper. If the addled memory serves me right, the drills were not overly expensive.

Thanks again,

Andrew.

Hello Mike,

I don't expect to be doing this often. Once the tapers have been cleaned up, I intend them to stay that way. Prior owners have not done this, hence the difficulties.

If the reamer lasts to do 4 Morse taper sockets, then I care not if it is blunt at the end of the job. I would rate £3 to have each MT cleaned up to be money well spent.

However if you are saying that the reamer cannot do the job, because the tapers are likely to be too hard, then how would you do the job? Maybe using a tapered lap?

Howard,

Thanks for that suggestion, it does seem simpler than making up a lap. If the bore is corroded, it will take some time to shift that! Well worth while to do as you suggest, at least I will be able to see if I do have any significant rusting.

Thanks ,

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 24/01/2017 21:19:34

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 24/01/2017 21:20:17

The morse taper sockets on both of my lathes are filthy and appear to have some corrosion to boot. So I have just purchased an MT2 reamer and was about to start the job, when it occurred to me that I really did not know a lot about hand reaming, although I have done some parallel hand reaming with somewhat variable results!

OK, I must clean up the tapers as best I can, before starting. I also know that you need to cut meta,l rather than rub the flutes gently. So using a taper reamer, one should push and twist firmly I suppose? When bright metal is seen all over the tapered area, it is time to stop, However if one just stops after a positive push and turn, then one is likely to end up with 'steps' at the point that the flutes stop.

Should one then take the final cut by gently reducing the pressure on the tapered reamer to zero?

Sounds like a pretty dumb question, but most elementary texts seem to skip the basics, when it comes to using reamers.

Regards,

Andrew.

Hello,

Thanks for the help so far. Let me answer a few questions that have been raised.

I am using a slitting saw and arbour together with my vertical slide, because I don't have a mill. The smallest width slot is just under 2mm and I suppose I could use a milling cutter in the lathe chuck. However I suspect the number of broken cutters would be too much for my patience or pocket.

The second (new) blade, if I can call it that (the part of the key with tumbler slots in it) appears to be either welded or more likely silver soldered into the keyshaft. The blade does go into a slot on the keyshaft and my preferred method of fixing it would be silver solder, on second thoughts.

I have to produce a mirror image of the existing blade and they are separated by 10mm on the shaft, hence I cannot silver solder a blank in and then use a slitting saw. This is because the "blades" have slots on both sides. Milling would be OK but not for me!

The size of the blades is 20mm long (from the shaft), 12mm wide and thickness varies from 10mm at the shaft to 16mm thick at the other end (it tapers both sides). To finally cheer me up, the end furthest from the shaft is finished in a neat semicircle.

The narrowest slot is just under 2mm wide and 6mm deep. There are 14 slots in all, 7 on each "blade" (Can someone tell me what the correct name is for my "blade"?).

Andrew.

A real wealth of information there, thanks everyone.

Vic, you are quite correct in saying there are 10 x 10 sizes of holder in the web site you pointed me too. They are few and far between and don't seem to cover my simple requirements. The one you illustrated has a very long taper and I would have thought to be a risky bet for cutting through a cast iron skin. I will spend more time going through their offerings to see what other small shank tools they do. Worth the time spent as they do appear to be superior to the usual medium price offerings.

Jason, thanks for your lead, I will follow it up.

As an aside, I have been parachuted into the indexable tool system after 30 odd years of not touching a lathe! I have used some of the carbide tips on a bigger lathe belonging to a friend. The finishes that I get are not up to what I would expect from a good, sharpened and formed HSS lathe tool. My friend openly admits to buying cheap Chinese tips, so is this the reason for the poorish finishes, or as I suspect, a HSS tool for our ME use gives a superior finish?

Thanks again,

Andrew.

I have just looked at the APT site. The indexable tools look a much better job than most. I was enthusing until I realised that the smallest too holder was 16 x 16 mm ! too big for my ML10 or indeed the phoenix ML7 that is taking shape slowly.

Andrew.

Thank you all, for the above information.

When I said tools look much the same, I was referring to the tool holders rather than the tips themselves. They all seem to be around £20 each and I can't see much difference between them from the photos. The tips are a different matter. I strongly suspect that you get what you pay for!

Thanks again,

Andrew.

I want to buy some indexable tool holders and tips. I need them for getting through the skin of some castings. The coding must be comprehensible to our more experienced forum members, But I don't have a clue! Is there anywhere that I can find definitions?

The median priced tool holders from such as Chronos, ARC Eurotrade and Rotagrip, to name a few, seem much of a muchness. They look as though they came out of the same factory in China. Does anyone find one source better than another? I can't see the point of going for something like Sumitomo and other upmarket tool holders for rough work, or are they worth the extra long term?

Thanks,

Andrew.

I have the task of repairing a Victorian church key. It has two mirror image pieces (the ones with slots in them to engage the tumblers). One of the pieces has broken off and I need to replicate a mirror image of the existing one and weld it to the key shaft.

I intend to use a slitting saw on an arbour between centres, to cut the slots. The slots vary in width, the measurements being 3/32", 1/8" and 1/4" The steel will be held in a vice mounted on a vertical milling slide on the saddle of the lathe.

Now that sounds professional. BUT I do not have a clue about the arbour and how the slitting saw is fixed thereon! Most of the small slitting saws have an ID of 1" which would do me nicely. Help on this one would be much appreciated!

The key had been repaired before and the broken (now missing) piece had been brazed on. I shall get rid of all traces of bronze and mill a slit in the key shaft to receive the new part and I intend to weld it in place.

What type of steel would one be advised to use? Bearing in mind that the final welding operation will probably soften the new steel replacement.

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 15/01/2017 14:15:18

Hello Neil,

The old steel Sodastream bottles were phased out in favour of aluminium units a few years ago. They did refill them if I went to their Peterborough premises and would fill them on the spot. Even this is now no longer available.

I solved the problem by buying a hefty cylinder of CO2 from Ebay and made up my own refilling rig. I think the CO2 cylinder will last me for the rest of my life. CO2 motors don't exactly use large amounts! Even my converted Cox engines and the big triple Gasparin Anzanis don't take all that much.

Andrew.

Thanks gentleman for your replies. I am not too bothered about the electronic side of controlling a series wound motor. I have enough experience to cope with that. It was other nasty things such as the caution about explosion risks with fine dust and series wound motors. I had not thought of that one!

The MEW articles sound interesting as it might well be better than my usual SCR type of control. I will contact Robbo on that one, unfortunately I don't have the said articles.

Regards,

Andrew.