Member postings for Alan Rawlins

Hello John. I have a dedicated wood turning lathe as well as the WM 250 metal turning lathe. When I have wanted to turn something up to about 2" in diameter I have used the the WM 250 to do it. I use the same tools as if I was turning steel etc, but i use an oil stone or the new wet grinding wheel system that you can now buy, to get a real keen edge on the tool. I use any shape of tool that you would normally use on the WM in HSS, not tipped tools. I just use the normal tool holder that is on the WM lathe to hold the tool.

I cover all the areas that I can with cling film to stop the dust getting into the WHs gears etc. When I have the machine set on Auto I also when possible, hold the hose end of a vacuum cleaner to pick up as much dust as possible. As you would expect you can turn something a lot more accurately than by free hand on a wood turning lathe.

Hmm. I too have been bombarded with messages to update for free to win 10. You know what they say about something too good to be true. There were times when I couldn't get rid of it off my computer. At 80 I am not an IT wizard but I must have p....d them off because I haven't had any more invitations to upgrade for a few weeks now.

The gibs in my lathe are steel, but I am considering changing them with bronze plate or brass or some thing that is used for bearing bushes. I haven't looked into it very much yet but it is on mt To do list.

I recently made a tool to dress the diameter of my bench grinder with a diamond. I set it up to use a similar arrangement as the cross slide on the lathe. True, it was mostly made from aluminium but I did use a piece of brass plate as the gib, and the diamond in its holder traverses across the wheel very smoothly.

All joints screwed and glued (NOT with PVA). What have you against PV? I appreciate Powdered Resin glue etc is very good, but if it screwed as well as gluing, what could be the problem?

If you but 3/4" birch ply and screw and glue two pieces together you will an extremely strong top and very nearly flat and true. This is what I used to mount my Warco 250 lathe onto, on top of their metal cabinet as the cabinet wasn't sturdy enough IMO. Mine is also bolted to a conctrete floor too for extra rigidity.

Can anyone help please? I am looking for the thread relating to drawers being fitted below the lathe and between the two end cabinets. There are pictures of it but, I can't find it. Can you point me to the thread please?

I may of missed why you are wanting to change them. I assume you have adjusted them first?

Why is the venue being changed? Have they,Harrogate Show ground people. priced them selves out again, like they did with the Kit Kar show a few years ago. If it is because of this, it makes you wonder what qualification these people who are in charge have,

Have you checked the shear pin? I had a problem once when the lathe turned ok but wouldn't cut and I found that although the shear pin had indeed sheared, a piece of it, or something else, had got jambed in between the two sleeves that the pin connects them.

Ask to speak to Mr Warren, the owner I think. I got lots of help when I had problems with mine but it was still under warranty.

The yellow colour may be a bit distorted in the photograph as I guess he has tried to make it the same colour as the apron on the lathe.

These benches , although they look quite nice are made from very thin material especially the top. Although my concrete floor was level the base of the cabinet and the top were far from straight and parallel.as well as being a lot less than sturdey. I ground the edges of each side of the cabinets to get them level in all planes but the middle bit where the lathe sits was very week. I ended up bolting a piece of 0.75" marine plywood to the top of the cabinets to give me a true base for which to fix the lathe to.When I checked the plywood top for being true and level after bolting it to the cabinets I found it was then spot on.

Before bolting the lathe to the plywood i inserted some lead sheet between the lathe and the plywood just in case there were any inconsistencies in the top. This made an excellent base for the lathe. I wonder how any one else got on with just bolting their lathes to the metal cabinet tops just as they came.

Jason B, I do like your drawer idea, Did you buy the drawer runners from somewhere. The drawers them selves, did you make these and if you did what did you make them from? Do the drawer fronts get in the way of your knees at all? Apart from the drawers being useful they make a crappy stand look a lot better too.

Something I have just learned recently is that if the bar you are threading is oversize by about .005" to .010" Then the resulting thread will be a tight fit when a screw is fitted that you have drilled and tapped.

When I am threading bar I turn a slight taper on the end to be threaded, then let the bar protrude from the lathe chuck

about 50mm. With the die in its holder placed the correct way round for threading bring the tail stock, with out any centre in it upto the opposite side of the holder, and with the tail stock tightened up on the bed, use the hand wheel of the tail stock to put pressure on the die holder while turning the chuck using the chuck to get leverage. the end of the holder will probably catch the corner of the lathe bed when you start as you would need three hands if it didn't.

This may sound complicated but it isn't , it is dead easy.

Hi John, what is a knife tool? What does it look like?

I made a new chuck key out of the longer extension bar out of a socket set. I bought the bar from a car boot sale for £2.00. It turns and machines well using a fly cutter for the square end and high tensile bolt turned down for the cross bar.

I made mine a little longer to give me a bit more leverage as the ones provided with the lathe were too short, for me.

After 12 months of tinkering and learning about my lathe, making a few tools etc I think the time has arrived to try my hand at my first model engine, something simple, not a locomotive type engine. Can some one who is or has been in a similar position to myself recommend some thing for me to have a go with?

Having never used gauge plate before can anyone tell me if it can be drilled ok with HSS drill bits and then tapped with non HSS taps?

Does anyone have or had any experience of the WARCO Quick Change Tool Post for the Warco 250 lathe? Are these bits of kit worth having?

I agree with Frank about the hinges he mentions but also look at solid brass with the same bearings etc, I find these top notch hinges with no clearances to worry about.

Hi everyone, thank you for your replies. For a start, the steel is 12mm thick and black, not machined up.

My drill set up is a 750watt Makita fixed in a drill stand and has two speeds, High and Low, and I always use the low speed except for when drilling aluminium. I have never had any trouble with this set-up and the power of the drill is more than enough for drills up to 16mm as long as I have drilled a pilot hole first.

I came across the same problem in the same piece of steel, late yesterday using a drill of a similar size, and I then used another new Dormer drill, of the same diameter size, that I used earlier in the day. This time It drilled through the plate ok so my conclusions are that although they were all new drills, the very first one I used earlier in the day had not been sharpened properly.

Just to be clear about the drills, I have the box in front of me and the following information is on the box with the correct spelling.

DORMER

HSS TiN Coated Jobber Drill

Tin Tip

Din338

Brazil

As some one suggested that there are two drlils dormer and dorma, which is the more superior drill to buy?