Member postings for John Bromley

All fixed!

Thank you all for your replies.

Clive you were half right. The piston had not got stuck in fact it was quite free.

The trouble was due to swarf ingress. The quill had picked up some burrs on the rear most blind portion of the keyway. probably swarf trapped between the quill and the locking piston. These burrs then created a pair of lovely deep grooves in the tailstock bore, making things tight. More swarf had built up around the quill locking lever journals.

So long story short...much time spent polishing and reaming... it now functions as it should. Note to self, oil the quill weekly!

I also managed to get the job in hand finished today, so the Boss was a little happier.

Thanks again guys!

I hope somebody can help, I was using the tailstock on the Colchester Triumph 2000 to do some deep hole drilling, I took the quill to full depth, it then became jammed up tight, very difficult to wind back in and out.

I've taken the tailstock off of the lathe and tried to remove the quill from the tailstock body to give it a clean. I suspect some swarf has got in somewhere.

Can somebody shed some light on how the quill is removed, what needs to be loosened first? Does the quill lock need to be removed? (this is tight too, even after removing the bolt on the under side) Does the quill pass through the front of the tailstock or out the back?

I have removed the handwheel and the screw thrust plate, the quill is stuck tight I have tried tapping with a rawhide hammer it will move back and forth but is stopped by something

This is holding up a job, so replies would be gratefully received.

My suggestion would be a Colchester Triumph 2000, a nice big chunky beast, lots of distance between centres and a comprehensive and easy to use threading gearbox. I use one most days at work. They are a nice machine capable of repeatable precision work, with capacity to do some larger work. I think the through bore is about 3" maybe just less.

John

I just checked it's 55.5mm bore. The short bed model is 30" and the long bed is 50" between centres.

Edited By John Bromley on 21/01/2017 22:06:35

Edited By John Bromley on 21/01/2017 22:15:18

I have to agree with Martin100. I have a Boxford CUD, after pricing up the bits and bobs to do some very light milling, which is all you are likely to achieve on a lathe set up. I opted to purchase a Warco WM16. The outlay for the mill was more than the lathe attachments but not as much as you'd think. At the time, the bits for the lathe were going to cost in the region of £600 and the WM16 I got at a Warco open day for £850.

In all no contest really, ok yes, there's a whole new bunch of tooling to buy for milling, but that goes for both a dedicated mill and a converted lathe.

Single best thing about having a dedicated mill is no need to break down the lathe every time you want to do some turning.

As long as your not too fussy about what grades you are using, most engineering shops have loads of scraps that are plenty useful to the average model engineer. My local engineering shop uses mainly Stainless 304 and 316, some 303 and a lot of ally in various grades, mild steel and a bit of brass and bronze. Been getting odds and sods from them for a few years now.

Best part is I work there now, started a couple of months ago. We do some work for another company that mainly do welding and fabrication. I get my mild steel box from them.

For flat plate, again if your not overly fussy about grades and thickness, try a laser cutters they throw out loads of useful scraps.

Make sure you offer something towards the tea and biscuits fund if nothing else. But I wouldn't be surprised if they let you have small bits and pieces for nowt.

John

Boxford Model A, B and C.

There is no through bore on the tailstock, so ejecting tooling without a tang is a pain.

If I remember I stick an M6 nut up the spout before inserting the tooling, but I don't always remember!

Krusty

For rough and ready location I stick a 2mt centre up the mills spout, then lower it into the centre bore of the table, lock the down feed and then tighten down the RT. Gets me close enough for most stuff.

John

I prefer filling left handed, so not reaching over the spindle/chuck.

If I'm filing in the lathe I always move the saddle along to give more room and remove tooling from the toolpost.

I've snagged the back of my hand on tooling while setting up before, wouldn't fancy being court by a sharp tool whilst filling.

Polishing follows the same procedure as filing by wraping a piece of wet 'n' dry round a file.

As for safety glasses, I put them on as soon as I go out into the workshop, even if I don't intend on using the lathe. Like most people I sometimes get carried away and suddenly end up doing something else which may present a hazard to my eyes.

John

Dave, above you say the tool is rounded this could be the problem.

You need a knife tool ground up, with a small 10-20 thou radius on the tip of the tool.

The tools that have a large radius are fine on big heavy lathes where big cuts can be made, on small lathes I've never had much joy with this type of tool. I tend to use sharp knife tools on all materials with no problems.

John

Hi Dave, I wouldn't mind betting if you have used a HSS tool at those speeds on steel, the edge has over heated and gone a bit soft.

When I started I couldn't get a good finish on anything, it was because when I sharpend the HSS I over heated it on the grinder. Most off the books for begginers seem to gloss over this fact and move straight onto tool shapes and feeds/speeds.

Keep a pot of water next to the grinder, dip the HSS steel in frequently. You should be able to hold the steel without any risk of burnt fingers, if its getting uncomfortable to hold then dunk it. Never allow the steel to change colour.

Heat treatment of steel should be lesson 1 in my opinion.

Sorry if this is teaching you to suck eggs but it is often over looked by beginners.

John

Edited By John Bromley on 30/08/2015 09:38:32

Edited By John Bromley on 30/08/2015 09:40:42

Do you really need a hex head?

I've had a few bikes were the axle has a cross drilled hole and a flange to stop it pulling through, hold this with a tommy bar. For tightening use socket/spanner on the other end.

Not sure if it will work but here is a picture of a similar axle to what I desribed, this has a simple shoulder.

http://images.motorcycle-superstore.com/productimages/300/0000-Bikers-Choice-Front-Axle.jpg

John

Edited By John Bromley on 29/08/2015 16:12:33

Edited By John Bromley on 29/08/2015 16:14:57

If the bore length is going to be 45mm I will hazard a guess that the bore diameter is a bit more than the 8mm shank of your current boring bar.

So...it will probably be ok for ruffing out, but ideally you want the largest diameter boring bar you can fit down the almost on size bore. Reducing flex and deflection.

You could knock up a boring bar from a suitable piece of bar and a ground up broken centre drill if so inclined.

John

I think some time spent with the tool will build confidence and healthy respect.

Can't possibly be as scary as the first time you bolt an irregular lump of stuff to a face plate and nervously start it turning.

John

I always wear eye protection, goggles really are a minimum when using an angle grinder.

Ear plugs and always a nice addition, angle grinders make a scary amount of noise.

For really light stuff like removing paint in preparation for welding I sometimes forgoe gloves. As has been said above, cup brushes like to grab onto clothing of any sort. I'll take a nasty scrape over a broken rist any day.

For medium duty grinding/cutting, cutting studding down, thin sheet steel, I wear normal riggers gloves.

For heavy stuff, cutting plate and the like, I wear gauntlets.

John

I am starting to look around at various locos, this will be my 1st build.

The society I belong to do a fair bit of passenger hauling so this will be a factor in my final decision.

I like the look of this loco, it's a good size, should pull a reasonable load. The outside cyclinders and motion will hopefuly make life a little easier.

Any thoughts from the more experienced among us?

John

Edited By John Bromley on 13/08/2015 16:58:10

If I cut it into 6" or so lengths and toss them in my wood burning stove for a few hours and leave to cool, do you think it will soften them up?

I might just try it, and do a before and after test drilling.

John

Edited By John Bromley on 07/12/2014 22:09:07

I have aquired a length of 9/16 square torsion bar from a broken tail lift.

Before I go about destroying drills and milling cutters. Could someone tell me, can this material be milled/drilled readily or will it need some form of heat treatment to soften it?

I'm guessing it is some grade of spring steel. It's a nice lump of stuff that I can get more of, if it's good.

John

Marc Lecuyer's videos are great, been watching and learning from this chap for a while now. His videos on heat treatment are very interesting.

John