Member postings for Stuart Bridger

I bought a VMC from Warco about 7 years ago. The quotation, purchase and delivery experience could not be faulted. My only issue was a failure of the electrical box housing the on/off and reverse switch. This appeared to be made of recycled plastic with the consistency of a crumbly mature cheddar cheese. It was replaced under warranty no questions asked. I see from newer images that teh design of this has changed, so shouldn't be an issue for new purchasers. Never had any dealings with the C company.

Dave, Welcome aboard.

I am also about 10 miles from Oxford. I completed an Engineering apprenticeship many moons ago and am celebrating??? 30 years in the IT industry this year. Finished my first project a Stuart 10V last year.

@ Bill Wood Combe Mill is a good visit and will keep you occupied for an hour or so. www.combemill.org

Nice work!

I have a Vertex VA-4 on my Warco VMC. Very happy with it and much better than the cheap no name clone that was bundled with the mill. I have never used the swivel base though takes up too much space.

Console looks to be a standard Sino unit, compare it to the M-DRO one. Very aggressive pricing, but as always you take your choice by buying from overseas.

Worth noting that M-DRO do an axis summing box. I certainly will be looking at this when I upgrade to a 3rd axis. This means you can have a scale on the column and the quill and combine the readings to a single Z display. Obviously it is extra cost with an additional scale and the cost of the summing unit. Does anyone have any experience of this?

As for consoles in general, I suspect for most it is the 80/20 rule in that 80% of the time you are using 20% of the functionality. I think I have used the PCD function on mine once. Most of the time it is centering and general positioning. I just have to dig out the manual to remember the advanced functionality. While the graphical display of the LCD Easson would make use of such functions easier, if they are needed. Conversely if you are using the advanced finctionality regulalry you wil soon get to know them without needing the graphical hints. Very difficult to justify the extra cost of the LCD unit IMHO.

Paul,

Take a look at this thread

**LINK**

I installed a LCD depth gauge on the quill, when I had teh two axis Easson unit, but when buying the new console, I bought a 3 axis one, with thie thought that I may upgrade in the future.

Stuart

All my steel apprentice pieces from 1980 were phosphated. I don't remember the details of the process or whether it is practical in a home shop, but not a spot of rust on any of them

Welcome,

My advice would be to take it steady and the old adage of "measure twice, cut once" applies. I cut my teeth on a 10V, made a few howlers, but spare parts are availble from Stuart Models... Biggest lesson I learned, don't tackle the cylinder casting until you have built your confidence. It is very tricky to set up. Harold Halls website was very useful as was the book already referenced.

Stuart

Not VAT related, but more general tax comment. I heard the following last week went talking about the super rich paying fair tax. Would you rather own a Ferrari and drive it on an unmaintained road or own a Porsche and drive it on a smooth road. Interesting analogy I thought.

Worth trying Caldo, parent company of Hallett Oils. They may be able to do less than the 20l bucket which seems to be the minimum online. No idea when the variator oil was last changed on my Chippie. I am going with if it ain't broke don't fix it. I am an Oxfordshire Shipmaster owner.

Interesting description of a novel use for a Jig Borer here

https://sites.google.com/site/rawkinssu/home/windtunnel

The author of this piece has retured by the time I started at Brooklands, but the SIP jig Borers well still in the Wind Tunnel model shop in the 1980's

Edited By Stuart Bridger on 23/11/2016 19:27:01

Yes, completely agree, excellent service

Having spent too many years in the IT industrty, I know that we are the worst for this.

PCMCIA which was used on memory expansion cards under the auspices of the "Personal Computer Memory Card International Association" was often turned around to

"People Can't Memorise Computer Industry Acronyms"

Thanks Nick,

Thanks, that's the fault. having stripped it down I do see some dodgy looking solder joints, I will run over those later.

I had a premonition this morning. Not used my mill for some months. on powering up I had a dark thought "what happens if the DRO doesn't power-up" I was right. it didn't

On power-up all characters were flickering but it looked like underlying functionality was OK. Opened up the case nothing obvious. Left it on while looking to Google for any hints. Came back to the unit and the flickering had stopped, but one digit is missing from all three display banks, 3rd from right all three. Done a fatcory reset as per manual, no joy. The display banks are integral to the main PCB, so no connectors to reseat.

Any ideas/experience?

Regards

Stuart

For a rather long and detailed, but fascinating read on the history of rocket fuels Check this out

https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf

Stuart

Edited By Stuart Bridger on 12/10/2016 18:05:46

Hallett Oils have always given me great service

www.hallettoil.co.uk/

I also would go with aviation, no idea of function though.