Member postings for GarryC

Hi Roy

It's been brilliant to see some of the 'old skills' still alive and well on here. You confirm what I was trying to say above.

I would suggest that given the way the world is moving on this very place not only now but will in the future become more and more important in keeping the 'hand down' of such knowledge and skills ongoing...

Someday the country may well be very grateful..!

Cheers.

Allan.

I know nick was just joking but its given rise to a rather horrible thought this morning - because I've tried to include everything that I'm doing my posts may read to some just starting out that you have to be spending money all the time, putting them off. The very very last thing I would want. I just want to say that for me I have found that compared to what I know others spend on some other common interests e.g.. Supporting Football, Golf, Motorcycling etc the costs to 'get going' are far less. A lot depends on your skill level and what you want to do - I need all the help I can get from bits and pieces but there are some on here who could have put together my projects with little more than a pen knife and a piece of string as it were... and I've not looked at the second hand market..

As its all still fresh in my mind - If anyone setting out is interested I could put together a list of all the bits and pieces that I considered were essential to have had so far, it really need not be that bad / expensive - just let me know here or pm...

All the 'tooling up' for me is an investment for all the future projects to come..

Nick - hope your own workshop is coming along well..

Cheers.

Allan.

Hi Jason

Thats interesting to see, I hadn't even thought to look more closely at the different types of carbide inserts, just checked and I'm using CCMT. Definitely makes sense to increase options and get some different types when I order next time.. Hardly a day goes by when I don't learn something new, thanks.... Can't get enough of it!

Cheers.

Allan.

Thanks Andrew, that would seem to make sense to me i.e.. that they were there beforehand, one of them in particular is quite deep and as I said the Lathe made no sign of any problem. Interesting, its the first time I've seen anything like that after machining. Agree as well I should have taken a bit more off...

Cheers.

Allan.

Edited By Allan. on 29/04/2014 16:04:46

Didn't get to make as much progress as I thought I would this morning but am now at the point of being ready to solder. Just managed to clean up the 'top bearing half' castings and faced the surfaces ready for soldering. Had some strange marks though left on the surfaces afterwards that I haven't seen before...

The top bearing half castings after cleaning up with the file. They took quite a bit of filing.

Setting up to face the bottom surfaces.

I only took a light skim off ready for soldering, 3 thou at 380 rpm, maybe I should have taken off more, or I'm using the wrong speed (they are Gunmetal). I don't know if these marks were already there under the surface or the tool was digging in. The carbide insert has I suppose done a lot of work, may need changing, but it looks ok under a 'glass', like new in fact - there was absolutely no sign from the lathe when facing that there was anything untoward happening - bit of a mystery to me. As the surfaces are completely flat and I will be boring through most of it shortly rather than take any more material away I thought it would still be ok for temporary soldering and plan to go ahead like this - unless anyone is kind enough (if thought necessary) to advise me otherwise that is..

Regards.

Allan.

Hi Roy

Thanks very much, really appreciated - its great to have input like that. In this case though yes I did know not to do that. Hope you will continue to follow and if you do please let me know again if you see any problems I may get into.

In having breakfast now but have been busy filing earlier. I won't go on about it in case it makes me look totally mad, but the filing has really clicked this morning and its been brilliant. The 'lumps' on the end of the top bearing half's needed lots of filing around the 'curve' and 'rubbing' the file around there has given me a new insight - what a great feeling...

My distant Grandfathers were from a line of Stone Mason's and another Grandfather line were Blacksmiths - I couldn't help wonder this morning if there might be some hope for me yet!

Thanks again Roy.

Allan.

Hi Roy

Thanks, sorry, I should have explained a little more to make what I intended to do clearer - yes you are quite right in your second post, and there is as you say quite a bit of cleaning up with the file to do first - seems crazy to me now looking back at how I thought I could avoid the file - quite enjoy using it these days and can certainly see how important it is to be able to have at least some skills with. The bottom bearing half's are flush with the tops of the housings.

Hi Andrew

Thanks, the jig looks like a great way to hold the two half's - also pleased to say I can understand how it works from your photo as well..! I'm still short of 'stock' material for things like that but also at the moment with the little Lathe etc would likely take quite a while to do. It will be great to have a go at though when I have upgraded - definitely remember that one I'm sure it will come in useful.. Still regretting not going for larger with my 'first' Lathe..

Hi Jason

Thanks, that's a great step by step to be able to print off and follow for this now. Glad I waited to post here first otherwise I would have definitely gone about it the wrong way.. Making a start with it in the morning..

and its good to be having a go and finding out about some soldering techniques..

Cheers all.

Allan.

Both the bottom bearing half's in the housings now. Next the top half's which I need to temporally solder together to turn on the lathe.

Test fitting the bottom bearing half's. Think I did a slightly better job on the second one - which is as it should be second time around, but both seem to fit ok and feel solid with no movement.. The second one done is on the right in the photo..

My new 'very basic' soldering kit. Not much idea how to use it yet....

I wanted to ask if it's just a matter of applying the solder paint on both surfaces of the 2 'top bearing half's', clamping together and heating? Do I need to heat from both sides or can I just lay them on the vermiculite fire brick without moving, (have more than one of these bricks of course..)? I assume I just heat up afterwards to separate and wipe the surfaces off while hot, do I need a solvent for this?. Do I need to wait long after cooling before I can put it in the Lathe or do they have to be left to stand... How hot do I heat?

Sorry lots of questions there - but thanks to anyone for any pointers, even one or two would be a great help..

Regards

Allan.

ps. won't do it next to the straw of course..

Hi Jason

This is great to see and going to be a great thread - for me, even though I couldn't follow it all there were already lots of interesting bits and pieces to see and think about there..

Looking forward to following..

Cheers.

Allan.

For the sake of completeness - forgot to include the setup used on the mill for the channel...

Regards.

Allan.

Edited By Allan. on 26/04/2014 12:57:27

Have one of the 'bottom bearing half's' fitted into the housing now..

Finding this an interesting little job and much more work than I first imagined, mainly due to my bad technique though I expect - there was nothing really like this with Victoria - fitting bearings to a housing. After marking out I used a 12mm end mill down the centre and across the 3 sides followed by a 14mm end mill - all with the mill table locked in the same position, then final fitting with some slight work with a file..

Both bearings done separately (I'm halfway through the second) - but with the same mill settings..

It's a first attempt at something like this and far from perfect, but the bearing is a nice tight fit and feels very solid with no movement...

Test fitting one of the bottom bearing half's 1.

Test fitting one of the bottom bearing 'half's' 2.

Test fitting one of the bottom bearing 'half's' 3.

Regards

Allan.

Hi Steve

Have sent you a PM.

Cheers.

Allan.

Great thanks Neil, that sounds to be exactly what I'm looking for..

Cheers.

Allan.

Little time unfortunately over the Bank Holiday to make progress, but I do have the bottom bearing 'blocks' faced to size and ready for the channels to be milled now. The reason for this post though is I've been trying to find some guidelines on sizes to aim for when making parts for fitting to another. e.g. How much undersize for a Push Fit, Close Fit, Sliding Fit, Interference Fit etc. I was hoping to find a 'basic' chart to use as a guideline but all I've found so far are charts with masses of numbers to include tolerances for the parts themselves. Does anyone have by chance a link to something simple. Feels like something it would be useful to have at least some idea on...!

The Bottom Bearings here I assume I would make as a close fit into the housing blocks, it would save time etc to have a target size to aim at.. Hope its not a dumb question.

Maybe there are no simple guidelines..?

Thanks anyway for anyone that does have a link or some info...

The bottom Bearing 'blocks' ready for Milling the channels..

Regards

Allan.

Edited By Allan. on 23/04/2014 13:55:04

Edited By Allan. on 23/04/2014 14:00:44

Hi Steve

Yes, but definitely have some bigger plans for the Lathe - after the No.1 is done that is. Someday!

My little Lathe is great but I wish now I had started with something larger...

Cheers.

Allan.

That photo says it all Jason - and wouldn't it be great to be able to order x3 x4 !

Cheers.

Allan.

The world is determined to leave me behind! No sooner had I posted this than I noticed GaryM's thread about 4D Printing - first I've seen of that.

Jason, maybe by the time I've finished my No.1 the likes of Stuart Models and Pollymodelengineering for example may be offering x2 size etc - now that would just be great!

Cheers.

Allan.

This is just something I have found myself musing over recently since starting my second project and it being of a larger scale. I guess there are likely others out there who like me find larger scale more impressive and attractive to work with - along with the end result. I should say that (at least for the moment) I’m not interested in 3D printing for myself but what does interest me greatly is the possibility of being able to order castings in larger scales. With the ever improving technology of 3D printing which I assume can be used to print pattens for casting moulds very easily in whatever scale - is this going to on the cards any time soon do you think. I wonder if the ME suppliers / foundry’s are gearing up or at least starting to think about this, it seems it would be pretty straightforward to ‘ease’ into maybe? I’m leaving aside obvious considerations such as material cost and weight for the moment but this would open up some very exciting possibilities in moving midway perhaps between modeling and ‘mini full size as it were’. My Stuart Victoria is a fair sized model but it would be so much more impressive 2x size..

Lots of other considerations I can imagine coming, one obvious being legal - what is to stop Joe Bloggs with his 3D Printer printing his own slightly modified pattens and getting agreements with a foundry and setting up business selling etc. I wonder if the ME Industry is thinking and preparing for and to counter this - the computer industry was certainly not prepared for all the software ‘copying’ problems in the early days...

It’s the possibility of maybe in the future being able to order models in different scales though that does interest me, a lot - or am I missing something and well off the mark? I plan to upgrade my equipment considerably after my current project...

Does anyone else think / wonder if our future 'ordering' options are likely to increase thanks to the advent of 3D Printing....

Cheers.

Allan.

Thanks Jason, some really good pointers there that I will use...

and I will definitely come back when the time comes to ask about using the Solder paint as it will be another 1st for me...

Back now to my facing off's...

Cheers.

Allan.

ps. Simon's thread / work - superb!

Edited By Allan. on 20/04/2014 13:55:43

Hi Gary

Yes, the vice is not great, I bought it really with the drill press in mind - I should look at getting a 'precision' milling vice designed for purpose. Top of this years Christmas Wish List now I think..

Hope you are recovering well..

Cheers.

Allan.