Member postings for Bodger Brian

I'd dismissed a Myford (ML7) as being way too big & heavy. Presumably the ML10 isn't substantially different in that respect?

Brian

Whoops - missed that one!

I must admit that I thought VAT was 17.5%

Brian

Some years ago a bought a chinese mini-lathe, which I installed in the spare room of my bachelor pad & used for many a happy hour. Roll on a few years, I've got married & the lathe is relegated to a shed at the bottom of the garden.
Despite attempting to insulate the shed, it's not an ideal working environment & the lathe has had little use since.
The wife's youngest has now left uni and has intentions to fly the nest in the next few months. As we will have a surplus of rooms, she has suggested, completely unprompted, that I might like to convert one of the spare bedrooms into a workshop. Naturally, I didn't think long about it!

Anyway, to the crux of my question. I'm considering taking the opportunity to upgrade the lathe at the same time. Now a know all the arguments about chinese lathes being perfectly fine once set up, and all lathes need to be set up to some extent etc etc but I would like if possible to buy something a bit more 'quality'.
I would love a Myford but obviously weight & size preclude that, so I've been looking at what else is available. Dismissing anything chinese, all I've mamaged to come up with are the following manufacturers....

Hobbymat MD65 - might take a while to find a decent one. The majority of those I've seen for sale look as if they've had a hard life.

Proxxon - I recall seeing on another thread that they're considered good quality but over-priced.

Wabeco - no idea of the quality but the prices seem eyewatering!

Cowells - a bit too small but if needs must.....
(Incidentally, are Cowells still in business? Their website doesn't look as if it's been updated for years & prices still mention VAT at 20%. On the other hand, someone must be still paying for the webhosting)

Has anyone got any suggestions of anything else I've missed?
Thanks
Brian

Very clever

Sorry to stretch the thread even further but having seen Tony's (very good) attempt at reverse engineering of a PCB assembly & his comment about a 3 layer board, I thought I'd offer some advice to anyone attempting to do something similar.

I hesitate to use the word 'never' but even so, as someone who designs PCB for a living (and has done so on & off for over 35 years), I should point out that PCBs never have an odd number of copper layers - it's always even (it's all to do with the manufacturing process).

So if you look at the edge of a PCB and think you can count an odd number of inner layers, you've either counted too many or missed one.

Brian

I agree with Nick_G & Saxalby. Came across them occasionally years ago when I used to repair computer printers. From what I remember, it was the Live pin (or possibly the Neutral) that was turned through 90deg.

Engineering drawing certainly can be produced from FreeCad. There is a helpful forum for users, so there's no need to thrash around in the dark getting frustrated.

I would agree with those that say to try as many different packages as you can - what one person finds easy, another will struggle with. I've used a few CAD packages professionally over the years but wanted something cheap (or free!) that I could use at home. I settled on Draftsight quite a while ago and recently when I needed 3D, I tried & discarded various software, including TurboCad, then decided that FreeCad fitted the bill.

I don't want to step on anyone's toes in my first post but I'm not sure that I agree with the poster who said that as a professional CAD user he didn't get on with Draftsight & therefore what chance did a complete novice have. I would suggest that a complete novice would have every chance (with any 2D software, not just Draftsight) as they won't have too many preconceptions about how things should be done.