Member postings for Rod Renshaw

Not sure if this is quite on topic but it seemed like useful information.

Yesterday I ordered something from Machine DRO, I selected DPD as recommended, and the parcel arrived this morning at about 11.00 am. Hertfordshire to Cheshire. Pretty fast footwork by both supplier and courier.

So it's not necessarily too late to get something for Christmas whatever it says on the News!

Rod

Hi Coggy

I am not aware of any distribution problems and I have received issues up to and including No 322. Hopefully someone will post details of how you can resolve your issue.

Rod

Is it just me or is this thread missing a few things? Like an OP and some content?

Our local building society branch, which has branches nationwide, is open on Saturday mornings 9.30 to 1.00 pm, as well as during the week, and it does have helpful staff some of whom are quite lovely.

I have a Tormek water cooled slow speed grinder and I use it mostly for my wood working tools. It does run slowly and is water cooled so the tools do not over heat. The slow speed also makes it very safe to use, much less hazardous than the usual high speed bench grinder used for metal working tools.

I am not sure if the majority of wood turning tools are made of HSS nowadays, traditionally they were carbon steel. Most woodworking tools for hand woodworking; chisels, plane blades, carving tools, knives, and axes etc are still made with carbon steel blades and they are difficult to sharpen on a high speed grinder without the risk of drawing the temper.. Some woodworking chisels are made with HSS blades but they are not very popular as far as I can see, perhaps because they are hard to hone on the usual woodworkers' bench stones.

The 2 types of grinder, high and slow speed, are used for different purposes and both are very good at what they do.

Add, I was typing my post before Vic put up his second post.

Edited By Rod Renshaw on 04/12/2022 21:10:50

Edited By Rod Renshaw on 04/12/2022 21:28:45

We don't know where Wesley lives or what accuracy he needs from his "Surface plate", but we now know that he will not find it easy to just "buy a plate" because of import restrictions.

So I wonder if we can apply some lateral thinking and suggest something he might find easily in his location that would be flat enough? What about a brake or clutch disc from a car or commercial vehicle? Might such be flat enough? Any other ideas?

Rod

Jason makes a valid point ( as usual), about some porcelain tiles being hard.

Porcelain is a ceramic and ceramics vary a lot in their properties, so some harder porcelain tiles, some of which will be flat enough, will be fine for a marking out surface. Certainly they will be much cheaper than a commercial surface plate and will probably be satisfactory for the kind of purpose most of us here would use them for. One would be best to take a steel rule to the shop to check for flatness and perhaps to tap the tile, I suspect a hard tile would ring more than a softer one.

Rod

Making a surface plate of any size to a reasonable standard by the 3 plate method is said to be a very longwinded, soul destroying and physically hard thing to do. And that's using cast iron.

Many of the posts above make valuable points about the probable unsuitability of a porcelain tile. eg Peter's question about glaze or no glaze. The "glaze" on porcelain is a layer of glass, and it's just too hard to scrape and too thin to "adjust" it's flatness by abrasive means without going through the layer. And if no glaze the tile is too soft.

Some granite tiles and chopping boards are flat enough to make a marking out surface, take a steel rule to the shop and test. Many "Granite" kitchen worktops are moulded or rolled from a mixture of granite particles in a matrix of synthetic resin plastic or similar, and they won't all be hard, flat or stable.

So, my bottom line would be, If I wanted the experience of trying the 3 plate method I would start with cast Iron. If I wanted a marking out table I might try a kitchen shop. Or go to a glazier for a piece of float glass, and support it on a bed of plaster of paris if the work to be done is heavy. If I wanted a surface plate I would buy one.

Rod

I was prompted to reopen this old thread by a recent report in the Guardian newspaper of a meeting of the General Conference of weights and Measures in Versailles recently which agreed to adopt some new prefixes to SI units to cope with the very (very) large, and also the very (very) small.

"Ronna", will be used for a billion, billion, billon , 10* 27, and "Quetta" will be used for a billion, billion, billion, billion, 10* 36.

And, for small things, "Ronto" will be 10* - 27 and "Quecto" will be 10* - 36. ( I hope my improvised notation is understandable.)

So the the Earth now weighs 6 ronnagrams, and Jupiter about 2 quettagrams. An electron weighs about a rontogram and a single bit of data on a mobile phone adds about 10 quectograms to its mass.

Something to think about when trying to make something to the nearest thou.

Thanks to the Guardian for the update.

Rod

+1 for the idea of overheating to the extent that the level goes up into a larger diameter part of the glass tube, and I also see the risks.

I note that the OP's thermometer reads 0-50 degrees. If the thermometer is put in a freezer, in a vertical position, will the alcohol level drop into the bulb, and then expand in an unbroken column when the thermometer is returned to room temperature? Don't leave it in too long, you don't want the alcohol to freeze!

Rod

I heard the the Royal Navy used no screws smaller than half inch diameter as the matelows would accidently twist the heads off anything smaller. It was probably a rumour put about by the army.

Older M and W toolmakers clamps have a much finer thread pitch than later (and, I think, all Eclipse) clamps. The finer thread makes them slower to adjust but gives a much tighter grip.

Rod

Thanks Rod J,

that looks to be the very thing now you have explained it.The description on Amazon had me fooled.

Regards

Rod R

Jason

Thanks for the thought but I have drills in sets in cases, I was just wondering if it were possible to buy a "stand" , for metric drills of the type which used to be common, and which held sets of drills sticking up from a block or ring like shape and from which one could select drills without having to open the box. I have often seen second hand stands on sale at shows and on ebay etc but these all seem to be older ones sized for Imperial or number drills. It's only a whim or bit of laziness really and I suppose I could make one by drilling lots of holes in a block of wood or alloy etc but it sounds like a lot of work with all the drill changes and size marking required.

Rod J

Thanks for the link, That is the sort of thing I meant but looking at the description carefully it seems it has multiple holes for multiple sets of nail drills and I was hoping to find a stand intended for a set of metric drills with markings as well as holes.

I will keep looking for now, I wonder what engineers in fully metricated countries do, do they all keep their drills in boxes?

Regards All

Rod R

I am like Jason in that I use only metric drills, though I do have a little used set of Imperial drills.

As this thread has drifted a little from drill gauges to drill stands and boxes, can I ask if anyone knows where one might buy a metric drill set stand for metric drills by 0.1mm sizes. My sets are in boxes and it's a bit of a fag to keep opening and closing the boxes.

Thanks

Rod

I can't really add anything to the debate about the function of the attachment, but what a wonderful looking machine! It's like something in transition between the Maudsley type of very early lathe and the more modern lathes from the 1920s onwards.

Never had any problems with Walsh's customer service, either by post or in person, and the shop on Hatton Garden is full of beautiful things, high quality and suitably expensive. No experience with Cousin's.

Rod

+1 for diamond slitting saw.

This need not be as exotic as it may sound. Tiny diamond saws are readily available for Dremel type machines and they cut solid carbide (of small size) quite easily.

Just use high speed, care, and cover with cloth as advised above.

Rod

I bought some ali welding wire from the Swedish Chef at the Harrowgate show.

He demonstrates and then invites you to have a go, and I did, and it works! It requires a different technique as has been said, but it seems easy enough to pick up. He uses a torch, not an iron, but it's not a big flame, and there is little other kit, just a spike to scratch the oxide off the alloy.

The wire seems very expensive at about about £25.00 a metre IIRC but he measures out "Swedish Metres" by stretching out his arms, and he is quite tall, so you get about 6 feet if you buy a metre. And it seems to be reusable.

He insists it welds, forming an alloy with the ali being joined, and I don't know if that's right or not, certainly thin ali sheet melts right through when you joint something to it, you can see the imprint on the reverse of the sheet. Which does not seem like soldering which I always think of a a surface effect like glue.

So, if you are going to the show, find his stand and try it for your self and buy a piece to take home.

Rod

I will be going to the show. I have missed them being on over the last few years and feel that the show( s) have to be supported to keep them in being, it somehow feels like a duty to go.

Similarly, it seems like a good idea to keep supporting the ME suppliers, by buying something from time to time, some of the smaller firms must be feeling fragile with all the pressures and uncertainties at present.

Rod