Member postings for Chris Heapy

Graeme: That's a lot of collets The surface grinder looks to be a pro job, but if I though I had issues with a bench grinder throwing dust around then god knows what a tool like would do!

Thanks Neil, and the paint was Myford green synthetic enamel, but there are quite a few other colours available as tins of 'Radiator Enamel Paint' from your local DIY store, same stuff I think. Good for painting metal anyway.

Chris

Completed the R8 tool rack. Now have twice the tool storage capacity in the same space as the old vertical rack. Result.

Chris

Get a bandsaw Scott - life's too short to spend hours hacksawing!

Chris

Partly made an R8 shank tool rack. It's constructed from square alloy tube and alloy flat stock. I wanted something the tools would drop into at an angle rather than vertical, so came up with this.

Chris

That does look to be a very fine finish for EN8, are you going to case harden them?

Chris

Sounds a bit complicated, both mine have simply a 3-position switch (Fwd, Stop, Rev) and a pot for speed. That's it.

Chris

I bought a Myford ER32 set from Glostertools, not very impressed with the TIR to be honest. I recently got a couple of ball-bearing closing nuts and meant to test it again but so far haven't bothered. I have an R8 ER32 chuck from RDG and the collets seem to be fine used in that so I suspect it is the chuck at fault. It doesn't appear to be well hardened anyway. My new 6-jaw is more accurate than the collet set.

It isn't the additives that are expensive so much as the oil itself. A fully synthetic ester-based oil is a lab product and has nothing in common with dinosaurs and coal etc., it is an amazing polymer with advanced properties - the principle one being its 'shear strength' under arduous conditions (high temperature and pressure) which are a measure of the resistance of the polymers to break down. It is the polymer structure that is providing the lubricating qualities by keeping metal components separated. A good quality synthetic oil of this type costs £40-£50 for 5 litres. Don't get confused with oils labelled as 'semi-synthetic' which are anything but, but that's another story.

Anyway, when I buy a 5 litre can of this stuff for an oil change there is always some left over, my engines don't burn oil so I collect the remainder and use it on my machines. It won't benefit from the high temperature rating perhaps but the high pressure rating is useful for the bearings.

Which brings up another question - over the years I must have used gallons of the stuff on my S7B - where's it all ended up? Maybe on rags and soaked into the thick wood benching, but it still seems a lot.

Link is here: **LINK**

Chris

I've seen a nice set of Cobalt HSS drills, although the point grind is a bit odd - looks like 6-facet split-point? Is this normal for these type of drills? Might be tricky to sharpen.

Chris

The most expensive lenses do give you a better (wider) image but if your prescription is liable to change you might regret buying them. 12 months ago my £250+ varifocals were great, now they are just so much junk because I need a new prescription. I switched back to having 2 pairs of normal glasses.

Chris

Hi Norman

A new Pratt-Burnerd 5" Griptru will set you back around £500, the Bison even more (I haven't found the exact same one online although a similar model (but 'Premium Accuracy' - not Griptru) retails around £550. I paid about 50% of that for a new 'old stock' Griptru model.

I also use a 4-jaw when appropriate, I also have a small 4" 4-jaw and I really can't recall the last time I used it. I bought the 4" about 35 years ago and if I use it as often as once a year I'd be surprised - I always reach for the 6" in preference. I saw a tip the other day suggesting the use of two chuck keys instead of one to set the 4-jaw and it does work better after a fashion (might be better if the second key could be turned more easily on the far side of the chuck - not possible on an S7 though).

Chris

Well I think I'm about done buying chucks now - the missus is getting suspicious. Comment whilst showing her my shelf making prowess in the storage area was "There seems to be more of them than there were...?"

Busted. But not before I added this Bison 5" griptru 3-jaw which was going cheap but alas not a lot of use to me as it stood with the Myford Big-Bore backplate it came with. So I've removed that and am awaiting a replacement blank 5" backplate which I'll machine to fit. This chuck requires rear-fitting bolts (the front ones are solely for adjusting the Griptru alignment).

Chris

Sorry Ian I mis-read you question - you asked about the mill/drill not the mill.

The mill/drill is an (even older) Naerok machine (cute - Korean spelled backwards).

Chris

Apart from giving you more options on size, my number set(s) are old - meaning they are much better quality drills than currently imported items. I still use them for that reason if no other. Also, I had reached the point where I had memorised the tapping/clearing sizes for all the threads I commonly used so could easily reach for the correct one without having to look it up.

Chris

The problem with the 'buy what you need' method is that you end up not having it when you need it - so you then have to order it and wait.

Anyway, yes - some of these cheap drill sets seem to be made from high speed mild steel. Had one set that was so soft they would blunt on first use. I avoid them like the plague now. I'm still looking for a decent cobalt HSS set at something like an affordable price.

Chris

If you remove the top-slide you'll see a small gear wheel (if Super 7 with power cross feed). If so, whilst gently turning the cross-slide handle against the resistance, turn the gear with you finger until it engages with the keyway. When aligned the cross-slide will continue to move as it should.

It's an elderly Warco A2S turret mill I converted to 3-phase. I don't think they sell them any more. It's been a reliable machine for me over the years.

Chris

Today I fixed one of those annoying problems that kept getting ignored. The spoke arms onboth my mill and mill/drill were always too long I thought, the handles would often hit the vice or something else when going for a deep drilling job etc. So I made new ones.

The one on the mill I made much shorter, and it needed an offset so I had to do some blacksmithing on it to get those bends in. Ball handle was made with the tool I made a few weeks ago. Even though significantly shorter it is still easy to use.

The one for the mill/drill is similar but without the offset

I think I would have used a bandsaw to take chunks out (like Ian suggested), making careful use of depth stops to ensure no mistakes. Would leave a nasty interrupted cut to clean up but less swarf. Not sure how much use the awkwardly shaped chopped off bits would be. You could be turning one while another was being sawn.

Chris

Edited By Chris Heapy on 12/06/2013 16:23:50