Member postings for MalcB

Over the last couple of months there has been a continuous flow of the Amadeal mini lathes listed by newly registered zero feedback sellers at around half or less of the Amadeal prices. Last week or two these seem to be stopping or have been blocked.

Usual ploy, Buy it Now with instant payment required, Paypal only, Listed as though a UK named location yet shipping from outside the UK in a very short lead time. Some have even had the Amadeal name still left in the description. You ask a question and get no reply. I reported everyone I managed to see but Ebay still took its time in cancelling them such that quite a few were sold. I am quite sure that Harry from Amadeal must have reported them as well. Ebay and Paypal must be continuosly having to initiate refunds.

If you searched " mini lathes" then completed items you will see some of them.

I have a couple of Ebay accounts and actually bought two of these on one of them and left negative feedback as a scam.

FYI - you can only do this on a PC I think, have not managed to find a way of doing this on a phone or tablet. On the PC you hit BIN and somewhere in the right column you have payment option other. You then have the option to mark as payment sent. Once you do this you can leave feedback. You dont see this option on the ipad or phone thru' an App. Couldnt do it opening Ebay via safari on the ipad either, you still only got the option requiring instant payment. Maybe there is a way on the tablet which some Ebay guru can sort?

Tony, if you are looking at used Colchesters, then take a look at Nobilla Machine tools.

They always have a large selection and do lick of paint through to full refurbs. Look for machines with warranties and check whats also included in them.

West Point Machine Tools also normally carry one or two half decent machines.

Never be scared to haggle big and work down.

Excel Machine Tools do a very similar range of conventional lathes to the Axminister range, may be worth a look.

The XYZ Machine Tools Trainer lathe is also similar but only 750mm twixt centres which sounds as though may be a tad short for you.

Not as two faced as retailers that list their products as suitable for proffesional use when clearly they are not even fit for purpose in a domestic environment.

Hi Gareth, dont know where you are located but if the logistics are suitable for you then the Bantam 2000 on the lathes.co.uk site may be well worth a look.

**LINK**

Thats looking really good Nick.

How did you actually red stripe the inner rim?

1. With precision mark out centre of 80mm square and centre pop.
2. Faceplate or turning plate, clamp back on 4 corners
3. Set true with wobble bar setting true twixt pop mark and dead centre.
4. Trepan and bore out about 66mm diameter ( left undersize to facilitate clamping for intermittent cutting ).
5. Reverse/transfer clamping to I.D. one clamp at a time to retain trueness
6. Finish turn O.D.
7. Again, one at a time reverse/transfer clamping back to O.D.
8. Finish bore
Dependant on marking out and setting will be how many flats you end up on O.D.
Avoid any 3 or 4 jaw chucking, you will likely end up with 3 or 4 lobing or coining

If you cannot improve things with the above, then you need to further prove out the ER chuck.

Then need to make a tapered mandrel, same taper as the collet location, drilled and tapped to enable clamping back. Initially set compound over by clocking the internal taper of the ER chuck.

Carry out fine tweaking if needed to get a perfect bed using Engineers blue. Clamp back and clock face and recess for true. Any errors are then further magnified at the outer recess diameter and adjacent face.

Home and Workshop are showing a half decent looking BCA Mk3 that may be of interest.

**LINK**

cheap price on this one.

**LINK**

Geoff,

Most if not all imperial Burnerd chucks are now obsolete and sourcing chuck spares other than from Ebay is difficult. I have had limited success in the past from Thame Engineering, Rotagrip and Universal Workholding Ltd in Netherton. There may also be some milage in giving Myford a call as they always seem to have some odds & ends knocking about.

When I sold my Boxford AUD not too long ago I was looking for a geared head lathe from either Warco or Chester. You cannot ignore the fact that the Chinese offer a lot of machine for not a lot of money.

My choice narrowed down to picking between the Warco 1236 model and the Chester ( more local to me ) Crusader Deluxe. Both 300mm swing plus for gap bed removal. At the time both had similar price tags and had DRO's fitted. The Crusader Deluxe is more expensive now.

I chose the Chester Crusader Deluxe, mainly because of location and which I almost bought.

In the end I finished up with a late model Harrison M300 which my local machine tool dealer ( who I had dealt with for a long time ) had just got in stock and did me a great cash deal.

My initial choices were based mainly on two factors, the gap bed removal, they had DRO fitted and decent bed length.

When you look at the GH550 spec, it seems to be really quite light at 300kgs. I Think my Boxford was more than that on its very robust cabinet. Seems too light for its capacity.

Personally if your funds would run to it and you could accomodate the size the 1236 would be my choice from the Warco stable. £700ish more gets you extra diameter and length capacity plus fitted DRO. Its also a more substantial machine and almost double the weight of the 550. I have seen both the Warco 1236 and the Crusader deluxe and they were very similar, however not actually seen the 550.

I would have a word with your nearest machine tools dealers and see who they use and can recommend and get a price from them. On their recommendation I did this with my M300 and for a local delivery they only charged £80 for a decent flat wagon with hihab cash in hand.

In 1983 we engaged Pickfords for a full factory move into new premises , office blocks, 3 x machine shops and a foundry.

They dropped a two year old Adcock and Shipley Horizontal mill from a large fork lift, broke the main casting and wrote it off. The dropped a near new 48" Webster and Bennet V.B. on its side breaking handwheels and flattening the copiers hydraulic pack. When breaking out the Kitchen Walker radial arm drill from its foundations they tried lifting it with two of the foudation bolts still secured causing considerable chain damage. So called proffesionals.

After this I used Beck and Politzer for bringing in several new machines, but in 1999 when delivering a new Bins & Berry Data 90 ( 1M swing ) with live tooling they slung it over the main lead/ball screw and damaged it. New screw needed. The proffesionals dont alway get it right. Most machine suppliers are now using their own transport specialist, hence not required much nowadays untill moving used machines.

"cncpoorboy" On Ebay does some qood quality cutters at competitive prices

Hi Mike,

By the initial sound of it I dont think you have a milling machine, so my thoughts depending on your cash availability, would be to look out for a half decently calibrated dials compound table for your drill.

I would then eliminate the variables from marking out, punching and picking them up and go for indexed pitching from the calibrated hand wheels. Easy to map out your co-ordinates on paper, but you will need an accurate start datum.

Edited By MalcB on 14/03/2017 17:56:21

I also went to the last Harrogate show and the first Doncaster show.

To say one show was better than the other in just that open context isnt really correct. There are quite a few different reasons that people wish to attend the shows. What are they going for? In no order:

Model Steam engines, traction engines, locos, stationary engines etc, New machinery and equipment. New and used tooling, new technolgy items, raw materials, fittings, fixings, kits, castings etc. Club exhibitions, information, meet builders, examine finishing of item and the list goes on and is exhaustive.

What makes it "better" over another show is how much is there which relates to those particular interests of the visitor.

To someone really looking at comparing new machinery equipment, tooling etc then Warco would be sorely missed and the show may well be deemed not as good.

To somebody going for say, the model locos then it likely wont make a difference or may be a tad better if more club exhibits take their place.

Yes an unusual bed profile for sure. Not one I have seen before.

No reason why a slightly bigger chuck wont go on, just a case of sorting out a backing plate. Until spindle nose configuration is known, will not be able to tell if shop bought is available or a homemade one will be necessary.

Hi Richard,

I have recently converted my Harrison M300 2.2kw 3hp with similar single speed motor using the Teco 2.2kw 230v single phase to 230v 3 phase Inverter EV series from Direct Drives.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381471313429

Edited By MalcB on 11/03/2017 20:07:39

Went in yesterday to get one of their dampness meters and picked one up also. Rude not to at the price.

Hi Nick,

Have to say am very much liking the progress to date. Think you are doing fine job with your machining.

Its my next project after finishing off one or two things, as I ordered the alloy kit from them at last years Doncaster show, along with the gears already cut etc. Hope to start shortly and this will help considerably and set high bench marks by the look of things.

Soldering the joints on split bearings can be a little hit and miss on the final diameters once split. If you put/use just 0.0010" at each joint that would give you 0.0020" on peripheral length, divided by pye would mean that when the tinnning/solder was completely removed after splitting both the original machined O.D. and I.D. Would reduce by 0.0006" and more than that pro rata if the solder/tinning is thicker than 0.0010". Not easy to control.

I follow with great interest.