Member postings for Luke Holland

Hi Vic

From the looks of the pictures no I cannot see any model or make. When I searched Google for the Mentor it has some similarity to the pictures on Tony's website but also some differences

Hi all

Just a quick question, how much are these mills? I really like the look of them. One was up for sale on Ebay not long ago but the seller wanted £950 which seems like a lot to me. What are your thoughts?

Best wishes

Luke

Hi all

I thought I'd post an update of where I'm at with the table. I've made a shim to fit around the top portion of the clamp assembly (it doesn't run all through to the bottom hole but just the top hole). It is placed at the rear of the clamp, so a fold in the shim sits within the gap (this prevents it moving under rotation of the table). I've put some JD weld on the shim where the fold is to stiffen it and help to stop any bending when rotating the table (however I don't feel this was necessary). The shim has been bent over at the top and bottom into a "n" shape whereby additional JD weld has been put within the bends to provide additional support (this was found to be essential). I tried simply bending the shim over 90 degrees and it worked to some extent but I found the 90 degree bend would lose its form if the table was moved whilst under slight clamping pressure....The current setup seems to work well.

I've attached a picture below for reference

This is a spare shim I made

Just as a side note, and this probably is a slightly daft question but seen as the shim is stainless steel and the column now pushes against the front of the clamp assembly, is this going to cause additional wear to the front of the clamp over time when slid up and down the column? Or would this be negligible? I'm guessing in its original life the wear would have been even around the whole of the clamping hole but now a stainless shim is at the back I am just concerned this will wear the table clamp out quicker!

Many thanks

Luke

Thanks Dave for going through the process of securing the shim! That's a big help

I'll let you know how I get on!

Best wishes

Luke

Dave, did you fold the flange over so it sat flush on the drill table or was it folded 180 degrees over so it looks like an "n" at both ends)? It sounds like it's folded 90 degrees, I take it if this is the case you had to cut a few slices from the top and bottom to allow it to bend, similar to what Hopper suggested?

Thank you

Luke

Thanks Mike and Hopper! I did see the post but was just a bit concerned the shim may have still come loose! I've took your advice and ordered a 0.002 thou shim. I'll let you know how I get on!

Thanks all for the help. I've took the table off and measured the gap at the back of the casting. The gap is 1.01mm before being compressed. When compressed around the column it closes to 0.63mm (approx 0.4mm less) at this point the table has started to grip the column somewhat snugly (about enough to hold the table in position without moving due to its own weight). I inserted a peice of paper to act as a shim which was 3.5 thou thick. This worked well and the table was secure with very little force being applied to the handle.

Unfortunately the threads have stripped in the handle which I'm convinced must have happened due to the previous owner using the extension bar

It looks like it's just 3.5 thou too big!

If I made a new handle longer than the original is it likely to break the casing if I tightened it down?

I like the idea of the shim but I'm not sure it wouldn't fall out when moving the table up and down?

I see someone on ebay is selling these handles for fobco drills

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174744545764?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338722076&customid=&toolid=10050&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAkDjN%2BF%2B6IL4L%2Bh%2BIIm%2BRhwx%2FDxeyF6Ta%2BAmHMzZ7DR%2BrvSMzh8E01wiKbRVBfTDFMgdkcoFVfpo9rHJ6xhvZxeO3T6LO5bKRt4JGcSlmZPxCXCu7PJH5evmwErIuawklwL3jjjY7Xx1R2CJp4KVVSdR33eXyDIUJOrNc4WFo2NQa6KE%2BDZ6uUJ%2Bdz47fKlbS7g%3D%3D

If the gap doesn't close all the way when tightened is the casting likely to break? I might just fabricate something like the ebay ad otherwise. I thought the floor standing version was mounted with a 55mm column as well so I can only think this is age related wear?

So I've managed to take a few more photos of the mechanism to secure the table. I cannot see any perceivable gunk clogging up the split

Dave, the table does wobble when wiggled from the front. Using my caliper I measure the column at 54.97mm throughout, indicating no specific wear spots. Looking at the table I believe the hole is probably between 10 -20 thou too big 😪

Thank you all for your suggestions! Some really good ideas here! I'll take some more pictures later today (I'm out of the house at the moment) and will report back. It is the normal clamping mechanism. It will clamp down if I use an extension bar to the table handle, obviously though I'm just a bit concerned the casting would break with too much force applied. 🤔🤔

Hi all

I've recently purchased a Fobco Star bench pillar drill which is in very good condition and overall I'm very happy with it. However I've just noticed the large table (which I believe is from the floor standing version) is loose on the column despite me tightening this to the best of my ability! It's only slightly loose and can be tightened sufficiently with the aid of an round tube acting as an extension to the handle on the table.

My question is is there anything which can be done to rectify this or am I stuck with it?

Many thanks

Luke

Mod edit: rotated photo.

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 11/06/2022 15:00:10

Thanks for replying so quickly Tony!

Is it pretty normal/acceptable to have 1 thou runout in the internal taper of the spindle then?

I thought the same re: the chuck!

Thanks

Hi all

I’m hoping one of you fine people can assist with an issue I’ve been having with my Tom Senior M1 milling machine. I bought this mill several years ago and since acquiring it I’ve noticed the vertical attachment (knucklehead) shaft has significant runout, to the point you can see the endmill wobble/precession.

I’ve measured the runout within the internal taper and it reads approx. 1 thou. I then secure the collect chuck and take a reading within the bore of the collet holder. This measures approx. 2.5 thou. Measuring the runout with an endmill in situ is even worse. Despite testing the runout only half an inch from the internal bore of the collet holder the runout at the proximal end of the endmill is 6 thou!!

I then changed the collet chuck for a drill chuck and tested the runout on a round steel bar of ¼” diameter approx. ½” from the mouth of the drill chuck. This read 4 thou runout.

I don’t need the mill to be really accurate but I would hope I could achieve a total runout of no more than 3 thou.

Has anybody any suggestions on how I can improve this? I’ve already replaced the bearings within the knucklehead and cleaned the tapers/collets.

I was thinking of regrinding the internal taper of the knucklehead shaft however I doubt I would achieve much better than 1 thou runout which it is presently. Also I find it odd that it can be 2.5 thou runout at the internal bore of the collect chuck and yet 6 thou runout only ½” further away on the proximal end (close to the collect chuck) of the endmill.

Many thanks for reading this long post!

Best wishes

Luke

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies. Well I'll have to have a look at exactly how worn out the bed is, I've got some feeler gauges somewhere which I'll try and dig out later. Its a pain really, as soon as I got the lathe I noticed the topslide nut was knackered and the topslide would not budge! I spent ages trying to disassemble it just to replace the nut (which I ended up making on my mini lathe). I am just thinking of selling it but I've stripped the whole lathe down now, moved it up into the workshop and have started to strip the paint off the base. I was hoping that as long as the bearings were ok then the bed would be the last expensive job, the only good thing so far is that the chap who I bought it off replaced the 3 phase motor with a new single phase one prior to me buying it, so that's one less expense.

Whilst we're on the headstock bearings, how can I test if these are worn? I've tried putting a sturdy bar into the chuck and moving this whilst a DTO is on the end and no movement seems to be present but is there a better way to test if these are knackered?

Thanks again

Luke

Hi all,

I am hoping one of you fine fellows may be able to assist me with my Colchester Student and what appears to be a worn lathe bed. Let me start by saying that I am not overly familiar with what is considered "worn" for a lathe bed but I have a feeling this may be considered in a quite bad state! I have attached some pictures to demonstrate the issue but basically I acquired this lathe (Colchester Student MK1) about 12 months ago and it looks like it was used heavily in a factory setting (the bed feels about 0.5mm worn at the worst point). I have had to fix a few aspects of it (worn worm drive housing and saddle locking bolt) and I would like to restore it to as good as new (well that may be pushing it a bit but you get the drift). Anyhow, the two remaining problems are what I feel is a worn bed (ways) and a loud headstock (in any gear). I have tried to test the accuracy of the lathe by putting a steel bar (approximately 2" diameter) in the chuck and having it extruded by 6". I have taken a light cut along the bar and found that for every inch of longitudinal travel the diameter of the workpiece reduces by 1 thou (6" = 6 thou out). I have had a quote from a company to regrind the ways and to turcite the saddle etc. It sounds like a comprehensive process and I have been assured it would bring the lathe back to its original levels of accuracy. However this is going to cost approximately £1200.

I was hoping for some advice really as I will only be using the lathe as a hobbyist but I do want to (possibly) get a small business up and running. Basically is it worth doing, I only paid £1000 for the lathe to start with but I feel that even if I bought another lathe for the £1200 it won't have as good a bed as this would after spending the money to have it regound.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/151745568@N08/

Thanks in advance

Luke

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies! I got more than I thought I was curious as I'm looking at getting a Tom Senior Mill but I noticed the ad for the one I'm looking at said the table only has powerfeed in one direction so I just thought I'd check it out.

Clever setup Graham, I like your thinking! I'll bear it in mind if I come accross the same issue.

Thanks once again.

Regards

Luke

Edited By Luke Holland on 19/12/2014 12:08:51