Member postings for An Other

If they both do the same job to the required accuracy, who cares?,

Hi, Andrew,

I agree with your sentiments about these lathes entirely, but would make a couple of points:

I bought mine because like many people I simply did not have the money to buy an alternative. At the time I lived in Germany, and spent something like 18 months looking for a suitable lathe, including secondhand etc. Eventually I fixed on the 9x20 because IMHO it gave the best value for the money, and even when I bought it there was plenty of info around on modifying them.

It was bought new on offer for about 800 euros (when there were 2 Euros to the pound! - not so long ago) from a company in Luxembourg. (took it from Luxembourg to Darmstadt in the back of my car!), It came complete with a 120mm 4-jaw and 120mmm 3-jaw chucks, a boxed set of tools, a couple of centres and fixed and travelling steadies, so I think it was a good buy.

Although I was reasonably happy with it 'out of the box' (because the people I bought it from do a rebuild before selling - apparently not the case in the UK), but in time some things became a nuisance. The first and best was the motor/VFD, then I did the hold down ring instead of the bolts. I already mentioned the cross-slide screw (still amazed it hasn't broken again! - really must do something about it.). I also fitted digital scales, which save a hell of a lot of time. I have been faffing around with an electronic leadscrew using a PIC processor, but its really only for fun when I have time. Not been easy to find a stepper motor with sufficient power to turn the leadscrew without it costing the earth, and using gearing defeats the point of doing it.

I suppose it is a fact that financial circumstances force us to do unavoidable things, but I must say in general, I have been happy with my lathe. It has tackled all kinds of things, from repairing jewellery to making some adaptors so I could fit different wheels to my tractor - made from two pipe flanges which 'just' cleared the bed of the lathe and were about 3 cms thick - handled with no problems.

I also have a 7x10 chinee lathe, but I found I spent so much time modifying it so it would do what I want, and repairing damaged DC motor control boards, that now it is slowly rusting away on the garage floor - I realised I was spending so long working on the tools, that I never actually made anything useful.

Anyway good luck with your mods.

Edited By An Other on 15/01/2018 18:54:03

Hello, Andrew,

I have had one of these lathes for several years, and over time have made several changes (some of them not always improvements!). I would be interested to know what you are planning. I guess you have seen there is a lot of stuff in the Internet for these machines.

I would say easily the best improvement I can think of was to junk the original motor and belting, and fit a VFD - it transformed the machine.

The cross-slide screw is rather flimsy - mine actually broke one day at the junction between the thread and the shaft. At the time I needed it urgently, so I simply drilled into both broken ends (on the lathe), and fitted a steel pin, and sweated the whole thing back together with silver solder. A bit of judicious tapping, and it seemed to run better than it ever did before. Of course, I intended to replace the whole thing for something a bit more substantial, but somehow it has never happened. The only thing I did was mill part of teh slide away to allow greater movement of the cross-slide - its on the internet somewhere.

Just a suggestion - If a bookcase is problematical, could you use a hinged panel at the bottom of the door, with a linkage so that as the door is opened, the panel is raised against the door, and drops down to fill the hole as the door is shut? I don't think I have explained this too clearly, but a similar idea was used on some railway carriages once. The steps intruded into the carriage, so as the door closed, the panel hinged down to cover the top step.

I don't think it would be too difficult to think up a suitable mechanism to do the lifting.

I would like to make a couple of comments to Jasons rant - perhaps I am a little off track, for which I apologise, but I felt I had to say something.

I first joined this forum under my real name way back when it first started, hoping to join in a friendly and useful forum. I am a lifelong modeller, and have tried to remain so while following my career in many countries - not always easy. I have built or partbuilt several small locos, a tractionengine, and uncountable other 'bits and pieces', so I consider myself reasonably competent.

At first, I tried to contribute to the forum, with both my own contributions, and attempts to help other members, but eventually became sick and tired of abusive comments, so eventually I stopped posting, and no longer visited the site.

After some time, I resumed 'lurking', and eventually couldn't resist the odd comment or offer of help, so I subscribed under a pseudonym. Almost the first thing that happened was that I saw a post demanding to know why I used a pseudonym!.

After many years, I consider the forum has almost evolved into a private group. The same names appear repeatedly. Some names have appeared which seemed to shine a beam of light into the forum ('Wolfie' springs to mind - never afraid to ask the question) - but many have appeared for a short time then disappeared. I stress this is only my opinion, but this apparent 'closed-shop' is a killer for me, and I suspect is off-putting to 'Noobs'. I'll probably continuing 'lurking', in the (vain?) hope that something interesting will turn up, but I have no interest in 'contributing', or offering help, because of previous experience.

Sorry if this offends sensibilities, it is my opinion, and you don't have to subscribe to it.

Years ago I was warned not to pick my nose while driving, due to the possible consequences in the event of an accident! the thought makes me cringe.

For me, Parcel Force could only improve: I ordered a computer a couple of years ago, and it was shipped by PF. They 'lost' it, despite their tracking system. It took me several weeks of phone calls to get anywhere. Initially I was told to wait for 6 months, and if it still hadn't been delivered, they would 'entertain' a claim. It took letters to their director and threat of legal action before they eventually sent me a cheque for the value of the computer. No offer to pay for calls, time lost, etc. I guess one of their employees 'found' himself a nice laptop - never again.

Hi, Nige,

As a long time (over 10 years now, I think) user of Linux (now aged 75) ihave to agree with you, but urge you not to give up. I always thought of myself as a 'user', because I wanted a useable operating system so I could use the computer as a tool - I was originally horrified at at the remarks about linux users having to be nerds, because the last thing I wanted to do was faff around for hours with the software.

That said, I persevered, first with all sorts of differnt linux dialects, then settled on Ubuntu, then moved to Linux Mint when I found that Ubuntu was moving away from the desktop menu 'usage' I was used to - I have just installed Linux Mint 18.3 Beta, and have had no trouble whatsoever.

But all this isn't helping you ... On the occasions I have had simialr problems as yours, I have almost always traced it to a corrupted download. ON the site of most distros, you will find a checksum published which applies to the download you have made. (I assume you know what these are) - after downloading the .iso file for the distro, then you should check that the checksum of the downloaded file is the same as that which was published. It occurs to me from what you have said, that you may have already tried to install it, and ended up with a non-working computer, so this suggestion is no use (sorry).

If that is the case, hopefuly you have a friend who can do the download again for you. When you finally have a distro, I strongly recommend you burn it as a Live copy onto a USB. (this is again explained on most distro sites - it is a bootable USB stick, and the computer can be booted from it into the OS, and all its functions checked before you do the installation. Mint and UBuntu is particularly good for this.

If these steps don't work, then you probably have a more serious problem, and will nned to post again, to get more advice - hope this helps, because it is worth the trouble - there are lots of people on this forum who would never go back to Windows.

Michael G - Thanks for your gracious permission.

Gordon W - your post sums up my problems exactly - be blowed if I can find out how to set our machine with minimum cycles. The thing seems to have about 5 preset programs, all of which (as SWMBO says) are 'unreasonable', and all of which seem to use enormous amounts of water. She says none of them do what she actually wants it do. (I said do them by hand, but that didn't get me any brownie points)

Neil W - you hit a point I missed - the sheer time of these cycles - on the (apparently) most economic cycle of our machine, it takes 2 hours and 10 minutes ( and a lot of water). I haven't dared measure the power consumption yet. I really cannot see how it can be called economic.

Ian SC - I have never heard of Simson, but I'll do a bit of online searching tonight - export might be a problem. Thanks for the tip.

On the whole, I am beginning to think the answer will be to just use the mechanical guts of the machine, and build my own PIC controller, so I can decide what the damn thing will do. I built a controller for our well pumping system which has been working well for 3 years now, so hopefully it won't be impossible (just unnecessary, it seems to me .

edit for post-post typos

Edited By An Other on 08/10/2017 17:53:10

Andrew - making new handles seemes to be the way to go, but it would be worth checking on the material that the handles are made from. I have an old 'no-name' bench vice, and also bent the handle. ('extended' it with a lenght of steel tube - not the brightest idea I've had ). When I cut it off, it was hard steel - took a lot of work. I suppose they must be some sort of hardened steel, because it would be very easy to bend a soft iron or steel handle - maybe Mike Poole has the right idea fro a new one - modify a chrome vanadium socket set bar.

Interesting thread - We had a Bosch machine which we eventually dumped because one arm of the (apparently monkey-metal) drum support spider broke, resulting in various graunching noises. This was replaced with a Whirlpool machine, but now we seem to have another problem. I don't want to hijack the thread, but has anyone anything to say about the economy of washing machines.

Both the Bosch and the Whirlpool were supposed to be 'economic', but both use(d) large amounts of water. (we have our own deep freshwater well, so I can easily keep track of what we use - we have to keep an eye on it because it is possible to pump it dry under some circumstances).

The Whirlpool machine is terrible - we use what is supposed to be the most economic (in terms of water use) cycle, and by my measurements, the thing uses about 400 litres of water for one wash - both machines seem to have multiple rinse/dry cycles, which seems to be where the water is going. It is not easy to actually decide what is going on - there is no external indicator showing 'current function' in detail, the instruction manuals are useless, so the only way is to sit and watch the damn thing - and it still isn't obvious - life is far too short for that.

I did suspect at one point that the supply pressure was too low, but our water pressure is regulated to 6 bar, and easily maintains that. Apparently most European countries supplies should operate at between 4 to 6 bar, so I don't think that is a factor.

I have read about machines using bubble technology (as opposed to simply swilling water in), but I haven't (yet) found any info on these machines. We want to junk the crap we have now, and since we have to buy another, I want to get a machine which does operate economically, both electricity and water, as opposed to the incredible stuff the advertisements claim.

This is a bit OT, but I would like to know how do you remove the collars at the 'end of life', or is the animal stuck with the thing until it dies? (I ask because we have a dog which was abandoned after its owner died. It had caught its collar on a tree stump, and was stuck there trying to get escape for several days. The cuts inflicted to its neck were invested with maggots when we found it - it survived after treatment)

As always, there were several articles in old copies of ME - I have one dating from 1949 or 1950 which deals with bending and jointing with different plastics materials. An important point the article makes is that when acrylic plastic is heated, the edges tend to 'flare' or expand. If a tube is rolled using this heated material, the ends appear to bell out. The article in ME advises making tubes longer than required, then cutting to length to get rid of the expanded ends.

The same comments apply to bends - unless controlled by a former, then the bends tend to 'expand' at the edges of the material (hard to explain, but obvious when it happens). This may be a problem with large tubes.

I have successfully made large curved pieces by placing a flat sheet of plastic on a large metal former, then shoved the whole lot in an oven. Let the oven heat up, and watch the plastice carefully - it will flex in various directions, then quite abruptly drop to conform to the former - then take it out immediately and let it cool naturally.

I appreciate your comments about adhesives, but I remember in the RAF back in the 60's ordering cans of 'Perspex adhesive' from stores - it never seemed to work very well, and there were no instructions, and it didn't seem to be sticky - now I know it was cyanoacrylate adhesive - superglue (in 1 pint cans!)

Having been near as dammit penniless most of my life (or at least not having money to spare on luxuries for a hobby), I always had to take the path of trying to make do with what I had, or make something better in order to pursue my interests.

Looking at old copies of ME and similar mags, there was often emphasis on developing your own equipment, or devising alternative ways to achieve satisfactory results. It is surely a good thing that companies such as ARC do their best to provide equipment and tools which at one time could not be had for any amount of money - if you don't like what is offered, don't buy it - don't buy it then moan about it. You have always got the alternatives outlined above and in other posts in this thread.

I built a model boat hull about twenty years ago - wooden keel and formers with aluminium sheet glued directly to the wood using Evostik. The aluminium was simply abraded clean with emery clean. It is about 36" long, powered by a 5cc Diesel engine. It is still in useable condition despite years of water (fresh and salt), diesel, various oils, vibration and numerous collisions. Due to a design oversite, the hole for the propellor shaft had to be drilled after construction, which effectively cut the keel in two at the point the shaft tube went into the hull. The brass prop-tube was then also glued in place with Evostik, and has never shown signs of leaking or breaking free. I never expected the thing to survive as well as it has, so I guess that is as good a recommendation as any. I can't tell you the type number of the Evostik I used, but it was just a tine of the stuff bought from a local hardware shop, probably just aimed at general use.

I have tried on occasions using Araldite, and found it to be a complete waste of time - it eventually goes brittle, and breaks away from the aluminium, however the surface is prepared. Similar effects occurred with fibreglass type resins.

Two-part glues labelled 'polyurethane' seem to be better, but I have no long term experience of them.

hand-held circular saw, even with all its safety guards. I hit an unseen nail once in a (new) piece of timber, which somehow caused the saw to be flung back towards me. This happened so quickly that the spring loaded blade guard had no time to close over the blade before the damn thing cut a six inch gash across the top of my knee. almost to the bone. (six stitches) It went in the dustbin, and I won't use one at all now - stick to the saw table or do it by hand.

Seems a bit overkill to me - they could be handmade (like the originals) in less time than it takes to set up CNC. Make a couple of jigs to check the curves.

During my time in the services I was always told to delegate the job ( or get someone else to do it) - seems infinitely the best way to me

Been looking for a photo I had, but can't find it. I used to work in Sakhalin on an oil processing plant. There was a large workshop there, with a sign outside in 2 foot high letters 'Take Care of Your Tools' (in English). Under the sign, in a 6 foot snowdrift, stood a brand new set of bending rollers and metal guillotine, each about 2 metres wide. I was there for about one year, and they were still there when I left. If I find the photo, I will post it.

Re the comment on Tor: I believe Tor actually 'bounces' your internet conection through multiple servers, making it very difficult to track your connections. (sorry if that is confusing - I'm trying to keep it simple). When I tried a Tor installation on my computer, it used a version of Firefox which is apparently 'tuned' to remove many of the eavesdropping vulnerabilities which all browsers have to some extent.

A penalty of the 'bounced' connections seems to be that it can be very slow to download stuff (my experience).

There is also a self-contained OS/Browser 'system' called 'Tails' which uses Tor and is highly secure, which can operate from a USB stick - you don't have to install it on your computer.

As someone has noted, Google is notorious for tracking you (following what you are doing online) - then using the information to target advertisements and other nasties. DuckDuckGo claims not to track its users, and is similar in many ways to Google from a users point of view.

Sorry to go off subject a bit - -just thought it might interest someone.

edit to Tails details

Edited By An Other on 24/01/2017 19:17:17