Member postings for Alan Rawlins

Hi Neil, I will check them again but I did adjust them coincidentally only last week and I thought I may have over tightened them as I couldn't turn the feed handle with one hand, I had to use both hands. This may seam I have over tightened them but I have an arm problem that means I can't turn/twist things like screw drivers as well as I used to do.

Just as after thought, could it be anything to do with the cutting tool? The tool is giving me a great finish on aluminium tho'.

i recently wanted to use some of the black cap screws on a component I was making that needed the head of the cap screws to be below the surface of the plate I was fastening to something else.

The hole for the M8 cap screw was drilled initially to M8.5 .I sent to RDG for a suitable tool to counter sink the plate for M8 cap screws. When I used it to cut the counter sink, the cutter enlarged the M8.5 hole to M8.93 which isn't a problem.

The countersink though, cut a hole to 15mm which is 2mm (1mm all round) larger than the head of the M8 cap screw and it looks awful

The c/sk cut on parts of my lathe for an M8 screw were13.3mm which gave a much better looking clearance of 1mm (0.5mm all round)

Is it now normal to have such a large clearance for the head of cap screws? is there not any standards that should be used by the manufacturers of cap screw c/sks?

Hi John, I have tried both ways and it does it both ways unfortunately.

Thanks John. I am using the cross slide to feed to the cutter. If my lathe is as you say, can it be sorted or not?

The dimensions of the shear pin is .125" x 22mm long. Just checked a few minutes ago and it certainly looks, feel and files like brass.

Hi everyone, I should have made it clear that I am fly cutting on a lathe>

I had this happen to me on my 250 too. To get the pin out you must have the pin lined up and it very easily knocks out. Warco supply new shear pins or you could turn a brass one. Don't be tempted to use a nail as a shear pin. If you try to drill it out and the holes are not lined up you could end up doing damage to the shafts.

I have made myself a Fly cutter in which the HSS tool cutter sweeps a diameter of 65mm.

The piece of aluminium I am cutting is 75mm x 20mm The surface finish is extremely good, but by the time the cutter has cut a length of 65mm, the swept diameter of the cutting tool, the tool starts to cut into the aluminium at its starting point, and by the time it has finished cutting the full length of 75mm it has cut 10mm in from its starting point below the surface of the first cut by about 004".

I can only figure out that this is because the tool tip is not exactly parallel to the the face of the aluminium. I used a fine 002" shim to set it correctly but obviously it wasn't set correctly.

How does every one else set up a the work piece to get it exactly parallel to the cutting edge of the tool?

Please forgive the use of metric and imperial sizes as I have a mixture of tools like feeler gauges all being in imperial.

Warco are very helpful even when they screw up, as I have found in the past twelve months. They swapped the lathe I bought for another one as the one I bought had an oscillation problem over a certain speed range. The replacement lathe is excellent.

As I am just a begginer on the lathe I am using whatever bits of steel I can get hold off .

I have found high tensile bolts are a good source of small round stock for some of the things I am doing.

Yesterday I called in at my local Russels farm machinery store as I wanted a piece of steel 150mm x 25mm dia to make a new longer key for the headstock chuck, just because for health reasons I can't get the purchase required to hold the bar stock. A 25mm bolt 200mm long was going to cost £33.00 in High tensile steel, so that was a no no.

Instead I opted for a 150mm long Pin that is used to join a tractor to a farm trailer for about £6.00. I dont think it is High Tensile steel but it turns very well.

I have found these retailers of large bolts etc are very helpful when you let them know what you are making.

Just thought I would pass this on in case the information was of any use to anyone.

Again, thank you to all, for your responses. I think I will try JasonB Idea, as he says, mine is the same as his.

Are all lathes supposed to have a Compound Slide lock on them? Mine doesn't have one but, it does have one on the Carriage Slide.

When I asked the question of the Distributors in the UK about this I was given the answer that the lock on the Compound slide was only for use during transportation. Also he said that if the compound slide was moving when using it to machine across the face of something, ie at 90 deg to the bed, The cutting tool wasn't the correct shape or was blunt.

What do you all think?

As the Operators Manual is what is known as a generic manual, I guess they mean it covers different lathes and sizes of lathes.

My manual that I have shows a picture of the Compound Slide lock but, it is for a different machine to mine. My lathe is of the Chinese variety. Overall it is a good lathe apart from mistakes in the manual.

I resharpened the HSS tool tip and then reduced the speed to 500rpm and cut to 0.004" and ended up with a good finish on the same piece of mild steel that I used previously. Thank you everyone for you replies.

Has anyone got an " Idiots Guide " for posting photo's on this website please?

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments.

I will have another try today to see how I get on. I turned a round piece of mild steel yesterday using a HSS tool from the same batch as the tool I made the fly cutter tool from and that turned out quite well. will let you know how I get on.

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As a newby I have been experimenting with different materials and tool cutters, tipped and HSS. I bought a set of fly cutters recently and after grinding the HSS tool I tried to machine some steel. After about a dozen revolutions of the cutter the tool was worn flat on it's cutting edge, and obviously wouldn't cut any more.

Using the same configuration and speed, ie 800rpm I machined some aluminium which machined very well and was quite a nice shiny finish.

My question is this, are fly cutters only good for machining aluminium using a HSS tool, and not suitable for steel?

I have since made a fly cutter myself but not yet tried using a tipped tool on steel so I don't know what would happen if I did, considering the interrupted cut.

Have just been on internet and found this.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-piece-Fly-Cutter-Set-1-2-034-Shank-/360413450905?_trksid=p2054897.l4275 Is it a misprint, if not what is so special about it?

If You want to grind down a 1/2" tool bit when a 1/4" would do, it's Your choice. Takes longer to grind

Perhaps you are correct but my dumpy little fingers find it difficult to hold a 1/4" tool.

Thank you everyone for your input. I will make one and see how it goes, if it goes well I may post a picture of it, when I have sussed out how to.

Is there any reason why the cutting tool on a flycutter is usually a small square section like 1/4" or 5/16" ? Why not a 1/2" or 12mm cutting tool?

Also what is the reason for the main block, that the cutting tool is fastened to, at such a high angle?

Is there an optimum size that the flycutter should be made to? If so what criteria is used to determine this size?

Thank you all for your replies, It looks like ABTEC will probably have what I want but was quite shocked about the price.But hey ho I shouldn't need to buy another one. Will have to wait until after the bank holiday now to order it.