Member postings for Stuart Bridger

Hi, yes, quill is locked and teh cut is via is via X axis on the table.

When milling with a 40mm 3 insert cutter today on 19mm alumiminum alloy. I noticed a distinct knocking from my VMC spindle. On investigation I find that if I grip the spindle pulley and the lower spindle. I can detect some radial slop/backlash. At 20 mm radius, I get about 0.18mm of movement, which works out at about half a degree if my school trig holds up I guess that this can only come from the location of the splines in the spindle. It doesn't seem to vary with quill position. There is no detectable runout on the spindle itself, so it is not impacting finish or accuracy.

I have never really noticed it before (not that the insert cutter has had much use). I conclude that the intermittent nature of of the larger endmill is amplifying the noise as each insert engages/disengeages with the work. The machine hasn't done a huge amount of work, I have had it from new and has only been used on light ME tasks.

Is this anything I should be concerned about?

This is a practical example of two different techniques, not recent I add. There is some wear, but it does illustrate the durability, albeit with the limitations of the photo reproduction

The one of the left  I made at school, I think in 1978 and was blued by heating and dipping in in old engine oil.

On the right was an apprentice piece, made in 1980 and phosphated using a commercial process.

Edited By Stuart Bridger on 30/03/2023 08:29:03

Edited By Stuart Bridger on 30/03/2023 08:30:57

I bought a Voelkel metric set via MSC. The taps and dies are very nice quality and get regularly used. It was quite expensive around 100 GBP around 12 years ago though.

I would recommend speaking to Machine DRO. They sell a number of adapters to connect different systems and have a lot of experience in this area.

I'm intrigued, how is the interlock bar removed?

Another vote for Screwfix no nonsense heavy-duty degreaser. I have used it for the same job. 12 quid for 5 litres

Some serious parting off ~16 mins into this video LINK from CEE
Not exactly model engineering scale, but shows how it should work

Others have said it already, but rigidity is key when parting off.
My nearly 60 year old Chipmaster parts off with a carbide insert tool from Glanze like a hot knife through butter.
Loads of coolant and a steady feed, it leaves a mirror finish. Never really bothered about precise height either, just the usual trick with a steel rule between work and tool to set the height.

My Dad, now well into his '80's has been gardening all his life. he never uses growbags, but large individual pots.
Last year I had an excess of plants so grew some outside the greenhouse in pots. They did MUCH better than those in growbags in the greenhouse. I suspect the quality of compost in growbags is not what it used to be,
This year I will try the pots in the greenhouse.

Most of the paint used for pylons is micaceous haematite based.
I learned this from a visit to the excellent Kelly Mine in Devon LINK

Edited By Stuart Bridger on 09/03/2022 14:48:46

I would say essential on the mill for ones own sanity. Mind you there was never a DRO on the mill I used during my apprenticeship 40 years ago.
Even for basic work the thought of counting turns and remembering backlash increases the chance of making a mistake. Let alone the convenience of the divide by two function for centre finding. There are still enough mental challenges in the hobby outside this.

I agree a luxury on the lathe, I don't have one fitted.

If you are willing to look beyond castings, take a look at Elmers Engines. Free plans available online

Not a beam, but I am (slowly) working on #29 mine engine

Hi Peter,
tbh I have never compared a sound bar to a full setup. Sound bars "weren't a thing" when I first invested in my setup. I would say budget and room layout/WAF are the key factors. Nt everyone wants a full sized speaker under the TV. I would recommend going to a decent dealer e.g Audio-T or Richer Sounds (will have lower cost options) and explain your problem and get a demo.
By modest setup, I mean I have a pretty much entry level AV receiver and speakers. If you are not that technically savvy a sound bar will need less integration and be easier to manage than a home cinema setup.

Personally I think this has a lot to do with modern flat panel TV design and potentially the decoding of surround sound audio to the TV speakers. There is no room for anywhere near decent sized speakers in the cabinets. The sound experience is going to be seriously comprised, without investment in external kit such as a sound bar or full home cinema setup. It amazes me that all the technology seems to go into the display with sound being an afterthought. I have a modest home cinema setup with a full size front speaker delivering the center (mostly speech) channel. Two additional stereo speakers deliver the L&R front effects, which is mostly the incidental music.
I have no issues with the vast majority of programming as the sound is well separated and I can adjust the levels if needed. Without such a setup and relying on internal speakers, I wonder how they balance the centre and front LR channels? If the L&R effects are too high compared to the centre channel, it could well lead to the challenges some are reporting. Not sure if there is any controls that can be tweaked to adjust for this?

My chipmaster didn't come with a guard and the first thing I did was fit a quality industrial guard.
This was based on my experience in industry many years ago, where safety was heavily enforced.
A properly designed and installed guard shouldn't interfere with the majority of operations.

I needed to make up a missing nut for a thermal cutout. Thread was M11 x 1. Tracy tools to the rescue as usual. Tapping drill 10mm and so easy to cut.

Autoglym Fast Glass for me, not cheap, but a little goes a long way

Just had a positive experience with Hermes.
Ordered an electrical spare and it was delivered today, albeit a day late, but not on a premium service and I was kept informed via email of the delay.
The delivery agent advised the box was slightly damaged (I have seen a lot worse), He was happy to wait while I opened the box and checked the contents, which were fine.

About 35 years ago, a short part of my career was spent both using and repairing AVO multimeters.
The company I worked for had several hundred that were on a 6 monthly calibration cycle. If they failed calibration, they came to our department for repair. It could be a very time consuming task depending on the fault. Two faults filled us with dread, one was rotary switch replacement when the contacts wore out, as it was a complete strip down.
The second was the overload cut-out, which was a fiendishly cunning mechanical system that relied on the acceleration of the movement pointer to open a push to reset switch. It was real knack to get this this to trip or not to trip within specification.

Also we went out of "field jobs" outside of the workshop around the factory. If an Avo was needed this went in the basket of a butchers style trade bike as they were damned heavy to carry any distance. Hand held Fluke DMMs were a godsend as they would just fit in a lab coat pocket.