Member postings for Stuart Bridger

Picking up on this old "thread", no pun intended. I have been struggling to cut M3 threads in mild steel. Brand new HSS split die M3 x 0.5 from Tracy tools in a tailstock die holder. Stock turned to 3mm with a generous chamfer for lead in. With the two side screws nipped gently just to hold the die, I struggled to get the die started and ended up stripping about the first 4 threads before getting a good thread form. Putting some cut on the centre screw to split the die, makes it easier to get the thread started, but there was a tendency for the thread to strip. I assume that there is a happy medium, but how to find it? I am putting pressure on the die holder and turning the collet chuck by hand with the lathe in neutral. I would be interested in tips on how to perfect the technique on M3 or smaller.

Would I be better without a split die to get a more precise size?

There are some good thoughts in this thread and I will be definitely be looking to check the die alignment in the holder

Thanks in advance any other suggestions

The IT industry is very guilty of using the Engineer Job title very liberally with no respect to chartered status. I know as I have been working in the industry for 30 years. Consultant is equally abused.

Back to the BA fiasco, we certainly haven't heard the full story on this, even if the whole data centre power was taken down due to "human error". Backup systems and procedures should have kicked in to minimise downtime.

Major businesses (should) have their systems designed to a RPO, Recovery Point Objective and RTO, Recovery Time Objective. The former being a measure on a time period that you can afford to loose transactions (zero, 1 min, 1 hour, 1 day, etc) . The latter how long it takes you get get back up an running. The shorter time, typically the higher cost for both.

In addition disaster and business recovery scenarios should be anticipated, rehearsed and tested regularly, to ensure both systems and staff are working handing the situations appropriately.

When I was thinking on getting into model engineering, I started looking at Warco lathes. I had soft spot for them as they started in Shere in Surrey Their yard backed onto the primary school playground and I used to gaze at the then mysterious machinery with wonderment In those days they were exporting rather than importing. Enough of Warco, in the village where I live there is small "traditional" engineering business. It was founded post war and is now run by the two sons of the original founder. The father was a real character and had built a scale traction engine as well as running the business. Sadly he passed away a number of years ago. One night in the local I got chatting to the sons about their business and I asked about what the old man used for model engineering. The response was that he had a used a Chipmaster and that it was a right pain as it was always in the way in workshop and they wanted shot of it. A deal was soon struck, they moved it the 1/2 mile to my garage and even made up a sheet metal splash guard as they couldn't find the original. Then followed the project of conversion to VFD. The Chippie is a great lathe and much better than me! The lathe plus VFD conversion was less than I was looking to spend with Warco, although I did subsequently by a VMC mill from them.

I learned metric at school in the 70's. Had to then learn Imperial during my apprenticeship, where the majority of projects where still in inches. I am happy working with either. I have dual dials on my lathe and a DRO on the mill so swapping is easy. My pet hate though is Imperial drawings other than with fractions. They just are a pain when I am used to working with decimals. I do tend to think in Imperial though. I can visualise 5 thou, 0.127mm just doesn't compute somehow.

You can buy drill chucks with "integral shanks". I have a couple of Vertex units, one with R8 for the mill and one with MT for the lathe. They are available from Chronos and other suppliers. Good quality at a sensible price.

Another trick is to put the arbor in a plastic bag and pop it into the freezer for a few hours. Remove and tap the Chuck on gently. As the arbor warms up and expands you will get a very good lock. This worked for for my first drill chuck, which had the annoying habit of coming loose at the most inappropriate times.

I would echo the need for a reservoir. I have an entry level Sparmax, without a reservoir. It is fine for its intended purpose, airbrushing​. It doesn't have quite enough oomph to drive my 10V though.

Horses for courses. 3 jaw is fine for non precision work and precision work if you can complete all operations without removing the job from the chuck. I use both. I got a lightweight Burnerd 4 jaw from the Harrogate show a few years back for £90 and it is superb. I did a technical apprenticeship and had 3 weeks of turning and rarely used the 4 jaw. I will say though that if the OP is concerned over the cost of a second chuck, he is in the wrong hobby. Tooling will soon empty your pockets

I have the two Hertel sets in 0.1 mm increments up to 10mm from MSC and they are very good

Just a general observation, threads like this only show what goes wrong, so show a very negative view of the world. For every one that has an issue with a Warco lathe there will be x times a silent majority who have no issues. I work in IT support for a storage vendor (one who has very high reputation for support). On some very busy days, some of my colleagues can get very down. I respond by saying that we see the raw end of the job, in that we only speak to customers with problems
1) For every customer that has an issue, there are x thousand that don't and are very happy
2) Even if a customer has an issue (Sh8t happens), it is the quality of support that gets the issue resolved that counts.

BTW I have a Warco VMC mill, I had a minor issue within warranty and it was sorted very effectively

20+ years ago, I used to maintain a computer for an organisation that was based on the Euston Road in London. It was on the 3rd floor and the room housing it had no air conditioning. They used to keep the window open 24 x7. How that machine every kept running I don't know. It used to get through tape drives (remember them) at a crazy rate. If you had to pull a PCB (again when computers had more than one), you couldn't even see the chips for the thick layer of sooty dust. It certainly put a new meaning on particulate pollution.

+1 for buying a set of HSS, admittedly there may be a couple in the set that you never use, but it will get you up and running quickly. Then you can follow up by grinding your own. That is what I did when i started. The set from Arc Euro mentioned above is fine.

Hmm, goes against the usual convention of larger numbers representing smaller diameters. No ides

Arrived today. What a great read. Plenty of interesting articles. Thanks to the Editor and all contributors,. Nice job. BTW I am in the one Endian camp.

I use the mats available from Machine DRO. Good on the feet and easy to clean.

Catch plate for between centres turning?

It's a small world. I have flown in this plane. A friend is still a member of the syndicate.

I stand corrected, every day is a school day

Aircraft AC supply is 400Hz, which i have always understood is to minimise vibration.

If you check out the table on p98 of the yaskawa manual, it states that .55kw (listed as 1.1 kVA) is unit is suitable for up to 0.5 HP motor and delivers 3A max. So it does look like you are under sized. A 1.9kVA unit will give you 5A output, suitable for a 1HP motor.

Regards

Stuart