Member postings for choochoo_baloo

Hello all. I'm new to home metalwork, and have at long last had the time to start experimenting with grinding my own HSS tools for my ML7 lathe.

I'm now experimenting with obtaining the best surface finish when facing steel(s), and am hoping this thread can be a convenient reference for me and others to learn other approaches. I gather HSS tooling is rarely 'only one way will work'.

My current approach is:

use parallel (to lathe axis) QCTP station, ~ 1mm radius round nose, LH so as to cut into the centre. (I will upload a photo later when I get chance!)

Please do contribute, all advice gratefully received.

Edited By choochoo_baloo on 22/10/2021 16:51:59

More a curiosity for me at this stage

I just watched a machinist video whereby the nomial diamter of a silver steel dowel didn't have a smooth sliding fit into a reamed hole. She then explains that's why 'under/above reamers sets' exist. Presumably, in Imperial, these would b +/- 1 thou of the nominal size? I've seen a couple of American sellers offer them.

After some searching, no one in this country seems to sell them? Is it instead common practise to buy buys the explicit reamer size e.g 0.501" for an oversize 1/2" hole.

Would appreciate some clarity on this. Thanks in advance.

I’ve been reading up and watching videos and sharpening various workshop tools Working through my various scissors using the DMT mini hones. However there is an inconsistency (which is never good in this hobby of ours!)

DMT say scissors/knives should be stroked back from the edge/edge first.

Whereas a lot of woodworkers sometimes sharpen plane blade & chisels edge first on first grind (eg a Tormek water cooled wheel), but then final grind is back to edge/edge last on a waterstones.

My thinking is that sharpen any blade shouldn’t matter on the tool; it seems natural to do edge first strokes throughout, so that burrs are pushed away from the edge. Is this correct?

Any comments gratefully received.

Thanks Brian but another member has managed to send it across. Thank you for the offer though.

I too would like to know the answer to this, Colin.

I don't suppose some kind soul could email me a scan of MEW Issue 162; "Resurrecting a Colchester" article?

After consulting Harold Hall's index site, I think this will be a good article, but sod's law says it's not in my back issue pile...

Are you sure both petrol and white spirit do *not* attack hardened paint, Steve? I've read contradictory advice elsewhere...! Obvs want to be sure before slapping it on.

Edited By choochoo_baloo on 09/08/2021 00:30:53

Dear all, after a long hiatus I'm finally getting ready to clean the "Dinitrol Metallic" off of my Colchester Master Mk1.

Whilst the Dinitrol data sheet says cleaning using "petroleum spirit", with usual caveat of being an inexperienced metalworker, can one of you chaps confirm that:

liberal use of neat petrol won't harm the original lathe paintwork in any way? Be it the painted information plates plates or the main cast body work.

Thanks in advance.

Hello all, I remembered I have this Wesco can (1960s vintage I think?). However the spout has snapped. It still pumps well!

Is it possible to buy replacment spouts? It looks like the new spares have a much smaller thread to attach to the can. The Wesco has a retaining collar - see picture. I do prefer to repair and re-use if possible. Especially compared to the poor performance of the modern Chinesium ones I've used

Any suggestions are very welcome. Thank you.

I have used some expensive artists brushes, on and off for years for touch up work with machinery enamel for my tools.

Can anyone recommend how to restore the bristles shape, since it's gradually splayed. See photo.

(In the early days I probably wasn't as thorough cleaning...)

In case relevant, brushes are Daler-Rowney dark-tipped synthetic filaments and black shadow aluminium ferrule. Designed for acrylic paint apparently.

Thank you.

It seems I need to replace the "garter type oil seals" (as the MEW restoration article author describes them), for the oil bath power feed gearbox shafts that pass through the cast iron body into the oil reservoir, on my Senior M1 mill.

However a google search has failed to bring up anything with the "garter" label. Hence can anyone suggest what are the correct seals I need, obviously imperial sizes. I'm new to all of this!

Feedback is always helpful, good or bad. As such I wanted to say that a highlight of my MEW subscription over the past 12 months or so have been the few Myford restoration articles by Peter Barker. As a self-taught home machinist, the thorough but unpretentious style bas been very informative. I've had many "oh so now that xx makes sense" reading them!

Niel Wyatt - I know you're a responsive Editor, so I thought it was worth mentioning the above.

I hope more maintenance type articles on the popular brand machines might be included in future editions. I expect they're quite popular. Particularly as COVID restrictions continue to ease.

All in all, a great magazine!

Morning chaps. Whilst undertaking overdue spindle/bearing maintenace on my Myford ML7, I started to entertain the idea of a variable frequency (VFD) motor upgrade.

I've read a few posts in forums/youtube comments about the numerous benefits of replacing the original single phase motor (small-ish Metropolitan Vickers no less) with 3 phase VFD controlled. For starters:

1. What exactly is on paying for in getting a plug and play Newton Tesla unit vs a Chinesium white box and standard looking mtor?
2. Does the Newton Tesla unit simply offer pre-wired + fancy control panel, or is there more to it?

Therefore I'm hoping for a concise summary of the advantges (and there any disadvantges, cost aside?) of this popular-ish upgrade. Please advise.

Thanks in advance.

To answer some follow on queries:

• It was a brand new tube. I broke the foil seal on the end. Can it go off in an unopened tube though?
• Perhaps the threads weren't scrupuloulsy clean. I only wiped them with blue roll. Should degreasant have been used?
• Youtube Hylomar demo's on engine manifolds stressed intermediate dissambly is needed to allow solvent evaporation. I think it's this "skinning" (didn't know this was what it's called!) caused it to prematurely coagulate when I started threading them together
• To reiterate; the Hylomar did *not* come out of the tube lumpy. It was toothpaste consistency.

Is PTFE tape my best choice for both a) removablity (vs pastes which can be a pain to clean off of threads) and b) performance? I imagine it's inert with oils?

Following earlier recommendations on here, I used some Hylomar Universal Blue to seal 2 tapped holes in the body of the oil filled gearbox on my mill. However 10 days later there is a small witness of oil (granted better than with no selant).

The packaging did say it will seal threads. One is 2BA and other is sight glass ~ 0.75" x 20 tpi.

I can only think it's not designed for small fxings becuase the threads' tpi is too fine? I noticed the Hylomar did 'lump up' whilst applying it. Was impossible to get a smooth smear.

I followed the sintructions of :

clean threads, smear of hylomar,

disassmebly to dry,

final reassembly

I plan to remove remnants and start again with PTFE tape (which has never failed before). Can someone can give an explanation as to why this supposedly great sealant failed? Thanks in advance.

I'm on my third interation of top LH bearing scraping. Wil report back later - almost done.

@Hopper there's one passage in your article I don't follow:

At the end [of scraping process], scrape a little extra clearnace about 1/4" either side of the shell join lines to provide oil space on these near verticle surfaces, where shimming will not add clearance.

Is this what you mean? What about the RH bearing with its existing pockets?

Edited By choochoo_baloo on 18/06/2020 13:37:30

Forgot to mention one thing. I drifted the top LH bearign from its cap at the start of all this whole process (I thought a previous owner had flipped it around since the oil hole is off centre. Turns out no differnce, so soft hammered it back).

Could this have inadvertently canted the bearing, thus explaining why it's giving the wrost reading?

Evening all. Tonighted I implemented the above helpful suggestions. Specifically:

1. journals lightly & quickly rubbed over with 600 grit 3M paper
2. journals and bearings cleaned with degreasant, then wiped out each time with a dry microfiber cloth (no oil residue!)
3. Stuarts ("Micrometer" from the tin) blotted on newspaper
4. 4 screws done up tight. Spindle seized. I then backed them of by 1 thou via a feeler gauge. Spindle turned smoothly.
5. Half spindle turn for print.

The bottom halves look near perfect. Scraping that island on RH did the trick - no streak.

So I restricted my later checks to top halves only. Here are 3 repeats. Separations set to same feeler gauge each time. Journals re-blued + bearings wiped clean each time.

You'll agree LH bearing never gave a good print. Why would just 1 of the 4 halves wear more? I realise it's diffciult to diagnose by photos, but given these prints, and crucialy the very good overall condition of the lathe, I'm reckon, a little scraping on left top half only.

Please comment chaps.

Thanks chaps. I am learning quickly! Some follow on Qs:

1. I agree there is probs oil residue on both shells and journals causing blobby. I tried kerosene and blue tissue. Seemed dry to the touch. Is there a better method?
   
2. Is it a good idea to both journals give a quick rub with emery strip anyway, just to knock back the tiny ribbing I felt with my fingernail (I'm cautious before diving in)?
   
3. Set the caps down was the [art I sturggled with most. Should I measure current shim thickness then minus say 2 thou, then nip up allen bolts to equal gap on both sides via feeler gauge? I suspect the caps were a bit sloppy. [Pete Barker says "light finger tight, but to measure gap with afeller gauge, which I found a tad ambiguous.]

Following Pete Barker's helpful article "Scraping ML7 headstock bearings" in the April 20 MEW, I decided to check my own ML7.

The 'shake test' he described showed 3 thou vertical slop. Hence a bearing bluing session was needed to investigate further.

This is my first foray into blue/checking fit of bearings. I followed Pete's instructions as closley as possible. Below are a series of photos (this post has taken ages to prepare!) Please answer list of questions - simple lanaguage please!

1) Why is there scoring at all?

2) Was the blue applied correctly? I finger on, then off, to get a thin smear. I understand too thick can give errors.

3) [pics 4+5] I'm concrend both transfers show ribbing - his pictures show a much smoother transfer. Is this because spindle journels are themselves ribbed - I did notice it's very slight with fingernail - but didn't want to bugger about with emery paper.

4) [pic 5] What is that clear band?! It's clean acros the whole circumference. Surely it's due to the highlighted lump. That would explain blue gathered around its base.

5) Following from Q4, I assume the lump should be scraped away?

6) Overall: Looking at these transfers, is any scraping needed? Can I jump straigh to shimming?

7) I struggled to know how tight teh caps hshould be. His "light finger tight" seems to cause both lower halves to have better transfers. Suggest caps weren't seated over spindle properly. Does this show I need to re-do with caps tigher?

Edited By choochoo_baloo on 14/06/2020 02:32:44