Member postings for Gas_mantle.

Ross, I have a DB10 lathe which is essentially the same machine as yours. After experimenting with a few parting tools I find this one performs well on steel :-

The blades are easy to sharpen and once you have the holder replacement blades are cheap anyway.

**LINK**

I think it's a great idea so long as you can get enough people to contribute. I do think it may be worth having it set so you need to approve posts though as before long some idiot with no steam engine knowledge with think it funny to ruin someone elses work.

I'm not really into locomotives but ought to be able to add something to your stationary engines section.

I used to square items off regularly in my lathe before I bought a mill so I know its easy to do and still maintain accurate results if care is taken when setting up in the 4 jaw.

One item I would suggest if you haven't got one is a hide faced hammer or some sort of soft lead slug to keep tapping the work solidly against the chuck. As mentioned earlier tightening the jaws can have a tendency to lift the work away from the chuck face so it is vital to keep 'knocking' it back when getting close to the final settings.

A few parallels could useful depending on your particular requirements

Ian I wasn't having a dig at your posting, it's fairly well known that these Chinesium machines vary in quality even from the same supplier. I was just making the point that mine is fine and in my opinion it's worth what I paid.

As for the thread cutting I have no idea what my machine would cope like, for the type of work I do I never need to cut them - in about 3yrs of owning a lathe it is something I've never done.

I've had my DB10 about 18 months and can't fault it for the price.

As for the control knobs I'm not sure what the righthand one does as mine has 2 knobs both marked ABC which gives a choice of 9 feed rates.

I'm not 100% certain but I seem to remember reading it stands for 'UK protected listing'. Which is something do with how you are covered if there is a problem, what that then means is another question entirely 😀

I have a DB10 which is basically a Chester version of WM250 with a powered crossfeed and I can't fault it. I keep meaning to write an in depth review of my machine as when I upgraded there was lots of info about the mini lathe but very little about the 250 class of machine.

Edited By Gas_mantle. on 14/11/2018 17:41:17

I sometimes have similar trouble with those round shank brazed carbide bars but I find by rotating the bar in the socket to adjust the cutting angle I can get a decent finish. It takes a bit of trial and error with a few test cuts but after a few goes I can usually find the optimum.

This guy did quite a detailed video series about building the engine :-

**LINK**

I bought the Northern Rail version, when I opened the box it contained a replacement bus.

You are making me feel old here - I still use old spring calipers and a steel rule regularly to get close to the size I want. With an Item in my lathe or mill I always have spring calipers set using a rule to very slightly over the finished size then just happily cut away till the caliper fits before taking proper measured cuts.

Admittedly I make fairly simple models compared to some on here but I find its a way that suits me

Do you get a similar reading across the table when measuring at each end ?

Thanks I'd love to have a go at making something like that.

Jason, do you ever fire up the engine in your avatar on the hot stuff? Is there a video of it running - I'd be interested to see it in action

Thanks guys, I'd like to have a go at a traction engine at some point (at the moment it is beyond my skill) and wondered about the cost.

My lathe is a 10 x 22 class so it sounds like it would be large enough for everything but the rear wheels.

It's certainly something to think about in the future

Just as a matter of interest what size lathe is required to make a 2" scale engine and how much is the rough cost of materials of a simple engine like the Minnie ?

Lay lady lathe - Bob Drillin

I file fine - The Beatles

Milling me softly - Roberta Flack

My ding a ling - Four Jaw Chuck Berry

On the subject of defining what is an engineer.

If a machine stops working for no apparent reason -

An apprentice knows you need to hit it with a hammer.

A tradesman knows where to hit it

An engineer knows why you need to hit it.

Hi Andrew, I haven't built a S50 so I'm no expert but can it be worked out by looking at the thickness of the slide valve and the nut that retains it ?

Where do 3 flute end mills fit into all this ?

At the moment none of the 4 flute mills I have are centre cutting so I use a 2 flute for the odd plunge job and 4 flutes for everything else but was curious as to the pros and cons of 3 flutes ?