Member postings for Nick Wheeler

Mine is the same. And the M10x1.5 has done a lot of work, both in the lathe and vice, in brass, steel and aluminium.

Are you using the correct side of the die?

Martin, you could remake the stud with each thread longer with a short lead in to steady the die. Once the threads are satisfactory, cut them to length. It's also worth checking that you're starting with a suitably sized workpiece.

In reality, the only moderately tricky bit about cutting M10 threads with a die is holding the work securely.

Agreed; two common, short M10 threads are hardly worth setting up to screw cut. I still can't understand why anyone would start by screwcutting and finish with a die, instead of just using the die for the whole job.

And I wonder why Bernard requires such precision from something as basic as a toolpost stud?

I suspect the procedure was acquire the colour from the stores, mix some and maybe check with the artist next to you if it looked right.

Edited By Nicholas Wheeler 1 on 03/11/2022 18:18:27

It's bad enough to come off a bicycle when not wearing gloves.

For one 30° bend?

If you've only got one to do, then clamping it between angle and carefully knocking it over is the way to go. You'll make a decent start by hand, and finishing with a decently long hardwood(aluminium/whatever) block will give a good result.

Do you have any extra material to make a practice bend or two?

Jason's point about soldering, instead of welding, small but complex fabrications is a good one. But doesn't soldering demand tight fitting, properly cleaned joints? Successful welding has the same requirements.

I would suggest that if Peter presents his parts as above, with all the scale ground off a welder would have them finished in less time than it would take to heat just one soldered joint. And they're 5mm thick, which is well into stick welding territory not just Mig or Tig.

I was wondering why you were faffing about with a £25(that was the last one I bought, probably a bit more now) reel of wire, that needs to be neatly wound onto the reel. Doing it with free inconel is worth the effort.

This morning I finally got around to binning the 15kg reel of 0.6mm steel wire that I scavenged from a move at work. Far too much of it was rusty to bother with, and it didn't fit my machine. Nearly twenty years of it getting in the way meant it went to the tip with the old fridge.

Anyone with a welder should be able to it. Tig welding would make a nice looking joint that won't need any grinding.

Try removing all the inspection panels on an aeroplane; using even a slightly worn screwdriver often leads to hours of extra work drilling off the heads, extracting the remains of the screw once the panels are out of the way, and riviting in new nut plates. That's just one of the reasons why replaceable tip drivers became so common, as getting through a few tips on one job, or wearing out a couple by using grip paste(which looks very like fine grinding paste....) is well worth the minimal expense.

Any screwdrivers I buy from now on will be Wera, as they hit the sweet spot of cost, effectiveness, durability and ergonomics.

Even good quality crosshead screwdrivers are consumables. Once they're chewed up, grind the heads off them so you're not tempted to use them and bugger up any more work.

What you do with them after that depends on you; there's only so many small pry bars/podgers/scribes that can be accommodated.

I do like the idea of nutrunners, which would be a good use for some scrap 1/4" drive sockets and a little welding.

Are you sure you meant mellifluous, and not mendacious? None of the claptrap foisted on me at work was ever 'smooth or musical'. All of it included lies of some sort....

My immediate boss once killed a meeting with the depot manager with this:

If you're thinking of 'empowering' me to do that, I'll punch you.

Fish & chips? Cornish Pasty? Bakers?

And I wonder how Bill justifies what passes for food if he's never tried it?

John, the age limit is entirely in line with all the high stress professions(military, police, fire service) retirement age. And it's not unusual for doctors and teachers to retire in their mid-fifties for similar reasons.

There's no way I'd buy an angle grinder that doesn't use generic, available anywhere, affordable discs.

I do thoroughly recommend a clutch nut, so you can change them without a spanner.

A CAD model might help?

Jason's point about making something you need(or want, or at least understand) is fundamental to effective and efficient learning. Just doing exercises is fooling yourself that you're making progress, a bit like being able to play scales on a piano is only a step towards Happy Birthday. This is the time where some tuition is a huge boon for the less intuitive aspects - like increasing the speed instead of reducing it, or not using the chunk of metal you picked up in the street.

The first parts I ever turned were two pegs with an M8 thread through the middle to locate the axle saddles to a leaf spring. Although they were the same diameter, they weren't quite the same length, as that wasn't an important dimension. But it did involve turning, facing, drilling, tapping and parting off to make a part that solved a problem.

Pictures of other workshops and equipment are particularly useful for ideas to solve layout and space problems. I'm sure we've all seen things that made us think I should have thought of that.

Have you considered a decent jigsaw and WD40 as a lubricant?