Member postings for Oompa Lumpa

Just a bit of an update on my Backplate project. This piece of steel is quite hard but the tip I am using coped well and frankly, the finish is beautiful. The second but last pic of the chuck on the backplate is without any holding bolts, it is a lovely tight fit. Pictures as they say, speak volumes:

graham.

Edited By Oompa Lumpa on 05/07/2014 22:18:14

Yes, but not really man made if some of the books I have read are to be believed.

I was interested in the iPad comment as it is true, I have a computer in each of my workshops and find them invaluable. Problem with my brain is it is so full of rubbish that stuff has started spilling out and the worst bit is when I only remember half the answer because the other half fell out at some point in the past. Very frustrating.

graham.

Harrison's are, by and large, very well made and if it is at the right price in good condition you can't go far wrong.

graham.

So do I, and they are reactolite, well, get darker in sunshine.

graham.

Edited By Oompa Lumpa on 04/07/2014 21:41:40

I was very impressed Michael. Just trying to work out how to buy one with my pocket money.

graham.

Mistah Sho! You are thinking of OptiVisor mentioned in the tool thread. Anyway, the best place to get them is Cousins-UK the Horological supplies place. I think the 1.75 magnification would prolly be right for lathe work. At least, I hope so

graham.

One of my dogs has been trying to catch Bees all week. He will only succeed once at that I think!

Anyway, I am still doing it (?) started yesterday when I nipped over to John's to borrow his Chester Crusader lathe:

Back to base and a test fit this morning. Despite the fact we both measured it, twice, in both Metric and Imperial units, against all odds they fit, tightly:

There have been a couple of threads about this recently but this has been my plan for a while. Couple of four jaws, a nice TOS and a Pratt.

Just waiting now for the loctite to go off then I will get them fastened up onto the spindle and machined in situ for their respective chucks.

graham.

I wear Varifocals. I but the best lenses I can and have all the extras. Anti-glare, tinted, reactolite etc.

I really, really struggled with them at first and almost gave up. The choice was however to go back to a selection of glasses. This was just too much to contemplate so I just sucked it up and adapted. I wouldn't change. I take my prescription with me when I travel to the US and get my glasses made for me when I am there, about half the cost for the same thing. Now that the daughter person is training as an Optician, that may well change.

One thing that came up recently, my good lady suffers from really itchy eyes - turns out it is the result of arthritis. A combination of eye drops (I will get the name, readily available and very good generally) and arthritis medication has improved things no end.

They are the best thing I own.

graham.

Dean, I have sent you a message. You need to log in to see it - top right flashy thing.

Like yourself John, I enjoy a challenge. But can't you find a new old stock unit and save yourself panning for gold?

If you do find a supplier, please let me know as I often search for the most obscure threads myself.

graham.

Spectrometer is the real answer. But I would guess you would be out of pocket by a considerable margin. One of my colleagues bought one recently for his business. £15.000 it was.

graham.

What do I think? Welcome to the real world of the self employed. That's what I think.

You will find that there will be many, many decisions you are going to have to make if you are looking at this as a "business". And nobody is goiing to decide for you. All you can do is make a decision based on the information you have to hand at the time.

I would be having someone else make them if you are looking at the quantities you are talking about. Sure, there are some successful one man bands with a CNC machine in his back garden shed making a good living. But it didn't happen overnight. Where the home machinist comes into his own is the one off specialist part. He can produce it (usually) cheaper than any full blown factory. I myself limit my "production runs" to ten. If I need more than ten I farm it out.

graham.

Very good.

For many years I swung a 22ounce framing hammer and I became very good with it, even using it to drive finishing pins. But nowadays, with the luxury of a warm workshop, I have a shelf with a selection of hammers. A hammer feels "right" or it just won't work. I have recently acquired a really lovely looking planishing hammer - but the shaft feels just wrong. I can't use it as it is so I am going to have to work on it. Maybe something for later today.

graham.

Probably not the best title but having read some of the threads on here over the last couple of days I am curious as to which tools people find invaluable. I am also interested when I visit other workshops as to what tools they have and what they use them for.

I have for instance a fly press on one end of the bench and find I use it all of the time yet recently I was talking to a fellow engineer from this forum who "thinks he gave his away!"

The hammer I use most often is a tiny two ounce ball pein with a long shaft, I guess it is because I can do the least amount of damage with it Though I use a two and a half pound rounding hammer at the Forge.

My favourite file is a small 8" Warding file, not one of my other very fine Engineers files,the Warding file I find the most useful, the centre punch I use most often is one someone has made years ago from a piece of very hard steel, I don't know what it is but it works and is the perfect size in my hand. I reach for it first, passing by some quite expensive Starret punches on the way.

At the risk of sounding like a smartarse though, the most valuable tool I own are my glasses. They allow me to see things as I used to see things when I was much younger.

So what are your favourite tools? Or the tools you wouldn't be without?

graham.

And rolling another hand grenade into the room..........

I use my Semi Universal Dividing Head more than my rotary table. It is just more useful for the stuff I do. So would a dividing head be more useful to you? I feel another thread coming on.

graham.

So Adam, there you have it. This is the problem you have and as Ian points out it can put you off for life. I was given a couple of tips to "try" recently and I destroyed them before I had actually made one full pass on the material I was working on!

There is no one single magic answer and the range of tips and styles is just bewildering. Even using the reference guides I get totally confused sometimes. However, this was some advice given to me and it has worked so far: Buy some Glanze holders from Chronos and buy some Sumitomo tips from Arceurotrade. This combination is by far and away the most reliable. So far I have yet to wear out or break (this will happen tomorrow) the first Sumitomo tip I fitted to one of my holders for roughing out of Aluminium. Sure, they may appear expensive, but if you go through half a dozen £3.50 tips and one £6.50 tip in the same time...........

I use the CCMT style tips and would not hesitate to recommend them. I also use HSS tools but for Aluminium and Brass/Bronze I wouldn't use anything other than Indexable. It has worked well for me for a while now. And the lathe I use them on is quite small, not an industrial machine at all.

graham.

Looking at the pics in your gallery, all you need is a Mill, a vice and a handful of colletts and away you go. Seriously, I wouldn't be worrying about the cost of tooling as you have most everything you need. Don't get hung up on the size of Collett chuck either. As has been mentioned, it looks like you have an ER25 chuck there and I find that by and large that size covers most everything I do. I do have an ER40 chuck but I mostly use my ER25 chuck.

Cutters. The only real bone of contention. I am lucky, I pay around £2.50 for brand new Dormer and Presto cutters of varying sizes up to 12mm or so. I am wary of some of the cheap cutter sets I see offered for sale as I have heard various stories of inconsistency.

With respect Bayzle, you are missing the point with regard to the DRO's, and I quote: "I'm sure the seats in a Rolls-Royce are really comfy but I make do with a somewhat smaller car" - but you don't do without though. And my argument therefore stands. For less than £100 you can fit out two axis on a Mill with a very modest DRO setup. Or you can buy a very expensive setup costing considerably more. Personally I prefer driving to the supermarket to do the shopping as opposed to walking, but like yourself I use my modest car and not a stretch Hummer. It does the job and that is what is important to me.

I will point out that some have had bad experiences with the type of DRO setup I use and in fact John Moore went for the glass scale setup after trying not one but two or more different "economy" setups. I personally am quite satisfied with my setup and if it becomes unreliable I would fork out the cash for a Rolls Royce.

graham.

Edited By Oompa Lumpa on 01/07/2014 21:12:28

Just one thing about the colletts and chuck you already have. If you buy a machine with 3MT or even 8int you can get an adapter that allows you to use this with a drawbar. Both ArcEuro or Chronos sell these. I have a couple of 2MT tools that I use on my 3MT Mill with these type of adaptors.

I would echo previous advice on here though, go for the biggest Mill you can, absolutely stretch the budget to the max. You will be sorry if you don't because it won't matter what you get, you will always wish you bought bigger but if you really did buy the one you stretched for in the beginning, it won't nearly feel so bad.

it's just the way it is.

graham.

It is exactly that and if you have ever had a couple horse ELU router get away with you and destroy the work (and from your comments I think you have ) it is EXACTLY that. No further learning necessary.

DRO - Horses for courses. I would get the one fitted to the machine as it will be covered by warranty - IF the price is right and it falls within your budget. A home made affair can be put together for around the £100 mark. But you get what you pay for.

Power feed. Really nice, but I decided to build my own because the cost was fast approaching something that I could make myself.

graham.

Very interesting. I have only seen spindles rated at this sort of speed that are air powered, would like to have a go with one of these, but then I would be building a machine I have no use for yet

graham.