Member postings for Steve Pavey

There are loads on eBay. If you just search for 'inverter' you'll probably get swamped by listings for new ones from China. If you search for specific manufacturers you will turn up more likely possibilities, eg

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You just need to do a bit of research on the various manufacturers names and models. Beware, many of those listed will be 3 phase 380-440v input, and you need 1-phase 200-240v. Look before you bid!

No, the seat tube is the bit of the frame that holds the seat post. The OP is definitely trying to save the bike frame!

A decent penetrating oil (not WD40) and some gentle heat to persuade it to penetrate as much as possible, plus some time to soak in, maybe overnight, would be how I would start. More heat when you try and twist it out. If you can clamp the frame to something really solid that would be a big help - modern frames are so light that tapping anything clamped to the seat post will just move the complete bike rather than just the post.

Like most, I have a varied collection of induction motors in the workshop. Four of them are 3 phase, the rest single phase, and all variously rated at between 0.5 and 3 kW. The only one that pops fuses is the 0.75kW Brook Compton motor on the bandsaw. I reckon a fuse lasts around 6-12 months. This must be partly due to the design of the motor, as it must be drawing close to 13 amps at startup. It never blows the fuse when running, even taking a deep cut, only when starting. In contrast, the 3 kW motor on the spindle moulder has not blown a fuse in the six years I've owned it.

Here you go:

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The table on my milling machine was reground just before I bought it, possibly by the company in the last of these links - a superb bit of work, and I can't detect any noticeable errors in it with the measuring equipment I have available.

If the £170 figure given in the first link is anything like the current price for a Myford I personally wouldn't need to think for very long on whether I should do the job myself.

A small lathe like a Myford can have the bed reground - it might cost a bit but at least it should be accurate. As well as the bed, there is also the headstock, saddle and tailstock to consider. A ground finish is not as good as a scraped finish as far as oil retention goes (or so we are all told, but all the lathes on the market seem to think it is fine).

If you really want to do some scraping you'll need more than the tools you listed - a long camel-back straight edge would be useful, as well as a couple of 0.0001" or 0.001mm test indicators plus mag base stands for them. At least half the battle is knowing what to measure, and from where (in other words, where you place the mag base, so you take a meaningful measurement). There is a book on rebuilding machine tools that would seem like a good start.

Like any hand tool technique, you would probably want to practice on something smaller to start with, like an angle plate. As good as YouTube is, there is no substitute for practice. That is where I would start - have a look at some of the small projects that YouTube contributor Stefan Gotteswinter has done - he clearly knows what he is talking about and his videos are a good example of the sort of measuring and indicating that has to be done at the start of a scraping project.

I'm hoping someone is going to come along and extol the virtues of the Kennametal DA 180 and 200 collets - I have a fairly comprehensive set of metric ones up to 20mm which I have yet to use. I also have a Clarkson, something which I am more used to since it was just about the only cutter holding system in use in my early days.

Years ago an old toolmaker told me that, during the war when many women were working in the armaments industry, he had several in his toolmaking department. They were making go/no go gauges for the turners on the shop floor. One of the women decided to finish her batch with engine turning, and got told in best toolmakers language not to waste time. However, the ones she had finished were sent down to the shop floor, and because they had been finished so well they were treated with much more care than the others - as a result lasting a lot longer. Once that was realised engine turning became the standard finish.

Done with a piece of dowel and some abrasive, some people prefer to call it spotting - real engine turning is done with an ornamental lathe with a cutting tool, according to horologists. Also seen on old Bugattis and the engine cowl of the Spirit of St Louis.

My 2c horizontal arbor has a ¼" keyway. It is Int30, though whether that is a factor I don't know.

Nick - my Huan Yang has been no trouble at all. I can echo Ian's comments about the documentation being poor - the information is all there but it seems to be scattered throughout rather than in the sequence you need to set it up. Programming the settings is fairly straightforward, and there only you few that you need to change (depending on your motor of course). Mine is supplied via an NVR starter, though a normal islolater would be fine. I have never had a problem with it tripping the RCCB, nor have I with my other vfd (a Lenze). A Siemens model I tried the other day tripped the RCCB every time I switched it on, with or without the load connected, and a bit of internet research suggested I would need a 300mA RCCB to run it - clearly not practical in a domestic setting.

A domestic ring main usually has 2.5 mm² cable, two of them of course as it is a ring. Depending on the length of the ring you can expect a cable of this size to be able to carry approx 30 amps. The 32A mcb is there to protect the cable (overheating is usually the biggest risk). Everything that is plugged into it will be protected by a 13a fuse, so in theory you only need to plug in a couple of kettles and a heater and you're up to the limit. The IEE Regs allow for diversification, i.e. while you may potentially plug in loads which far exceed the 32a rating of the mcb, in practice this is unlikely to happen. A spur off the ring can feed up to 2 sockets, i.e. 26 amps, but again, diversification means that this is unlikely to happen in practice.

Of course, the IEE Regs don't really cater for home workshops equipped with ex-industry machine tools. That is why I say that running a workshop from a spur is not a good idea.

It is becoming much more common for ring mains to be run in 4mm² cable in new installations, and also for radial circuits rather then rings to be used for specific loads such as cookers and ovens. In a workshop situation radial circuits for 16A sockets are a good idea - one socket per cable automatically limits the maximum load, and if each one is protected by a 16a mcb there is no danger of overloading the cable. And, as Andrew points out, 13a plugs and sockets have their shortcomings, and can overheat if the springy brass and copper contacts lose their springiness.

Link to the Create web site page which shows the most common sizes on offer http://www.createtool.com/list.asp?cid=33

I think you'll have to email them to get a price for the threading tools, but as the others have said they are very efficient and you will get a response (bear in mind the time difference though).

Edited By Steve Pavey on 12/07/2017 14:55:35

My largest motor is a 2.2 kW running on a Huan Yang vfd. My workshop is supplied by a 12m length of 4mm² cable run from the house consumer unit on it's own dedicated 32a mcb (type B). This supply feeds into the workshop consumer unit. The feed to the motor in question is via a 16A mcb and a 16A commando socket. No problems at all with this set-up.

One machine I occasionally have problems with is my Startrite bandsaw, a 1 hp single phase motor running from a 13a socket on the ring main, which occasionally blows a fuse in the plug. While a 2hp motor only draws the same as about half an electric kettle when it is running, there is a greater start-up current (which is why my bandsaw blows its fuse now and then). I wouldn't feel happy running the workshop with a spur off an existing ring main.

I would suggest that you run a larger cable direct from your house consumer unit to your workshop, rather than a spur off the ring main. It shouldn't cost very much - you could run the cable and stick a consumer unit on the wall, then get an electrician in to do the connecting if you don't want to do it yourself.

One vaguely related point is that some Vfd's seem to trip a domestic RCCB because they have an inherent earth leakage which exceeds the rating of standard domestic units (usually 30 or 100 mA). It might be worth investigating which makes/models are prone to this and which aren't.

Yes, INT 30, that and the fine feed on the quill were two features I particularly wanted. Got the pm thanks, and replied!

A photo of the top wheel on my 352, showing the knurled adjustment screw, and the three bolts holding the wheel to the spindle assembly:

Just to round this thread off, the machine is now in the workshop and re-assembled (we took the table and vertical head off for transport). It's a Centec 2C, which I'm told are not so common as the other Centecs in the range. Seems to be in good condition, and certainly ran very quietly and smoothly when I went to buy it. I still have to get hold of an inverter to connect it up.

Many thanks to everyone who responded, NDIY with several bits of useful advice, and especially to Clive Foster for helping me out with the tricky problem of getting it from the horizontal to the vertical (and for letting me have a look in his fantastic workshop!).

As a direct result of this move I have now invested in my own engine crane - I have since moved several other machines around to free up some workshop space and it makes life so much easier. I have also bought some 1" BSW eyebolts which are the recommended accessories when moving Centec 2C's around - later in the year when phase 99 of the workshop rearrangement and extension plan comes to fruition they will be very handy!

If you want to go for a Multifix type toolpost I can recommend Create Tools in China - I have ordered twice from them in the past, and several guys on the mig welding forum have done likewise. Quality is excellent.

I think Rotagrip also sell them, and though they are usually more expensive than direct from China it is worth checking as they sometimes are on special offer.

I would think the Aa size would be the one to choose for a Myford, but you might be able to use the A size - check the sizes carefully before ordering, there are drawings on both Create and Rotagrip websites I think.

Not sure I understand your last sentence about the blade sitting back 3mm.

Anyway, before you start messing around with washers and shims, sort out the tracking. Remove all the blade guides and supports, fit the blade and spin the wheels by hand. It doesn't matter where on the wheels the blade sits (within reason) - in any case that will change with different widths of blade. What matters is that it stays in the same place as you spin the wheels, and doesn't work its way forward or back and come off.

If the blade comes off the wheel, adjust the tracking by turning the knurled knob on the top wheel centre. If the machine has been dropped or damaged so as to twist the frame then you may have to think about either 'untwisting' it, or compensating by using shims or washers on the wheel mounting components.

Once you have the blade tracking ok, then adjust the table so it is at 90° to the blade - the left/right adjustment is easy as, but forward/backward you may have to shim the table mounting points.

Once you've done the above, you can re-fit the blade guides and supports. These must not be used to actually position the blade, just to support it when making a cut. Nip up the side guides using a bit of newspaper between the guide and the blade To give a couple of thou clearance. Adjust the carbide tipped rod that provides support to the back of the blade so it is a mm or two away. This gap will close up when you take a cut, but return when you take the pressure off.

If you do actually discover that the bandsaw frame is twisted out of shape you might need a bit more help - it is sheet steel construction so potentially easier to get back into shape compared with something that has a cast iron frame, but it might involve a fair bit of dismantling.

Also, where are you located? It might help in case you need to look at someone else's machine or make some comparative measurements.

Out of interest I just measured mine, which is also about 40" away from the wall, the same as Nicks. I like the idea of 'open air' on the motor door side of the cabinet, but that's a bit rare in my workshop. Any serious work on the motor and I have to move it forwards (on a couple of bits of ½" pipe). No need to bolt it down.

You could try emailing Harrison to ask for a PDF copy of the handbook. I did that for mine and they very kindly replied with a copy within a few days.

Otherwise, the Yahoo site. You can get one from lathes.co.uk but it will be fairly expensive.

I collected a milling machine today, after a long wait for a good one to turn up reasonably locally. At the moment it is lying in the back of my van, and my hope of borrowing an engine hoist from a relative has come to nothing.

So, I'm wondering if there is anyone in the RH19 area (close to Gatwick and East Grinstead) willing to lend, hire or ,,even better, sell me something suitable? We put it in the van with one of the typical 2 ton models (Clarks, Machine Mart etc). The mill itself weighs around ½ tonne according to the lathes.co.uk site, though it has had the table and head taken off for transport.

Thinking about it, I have an idea my dad had some of these tucked away in his garage - sadly he's not going to be with us much longer, but still ok to talk about the old days, so I'll ask him later today - they might be called swaging punches, or hinge swages (or the name might depend on where you live or who taught you during your apprenticeship!).