Member postings for Mark Elen 1

Still tap, tap, tapping away. 38 holes to tap M8, taper and plug. At least the square drives on the taps fit 2 different tap wrenches.

Holes spotted

All holes drilled 6.7mm. Because the mill hasn’t got a depth stop, I raised the head so that full quill extension drilled the holes 25 mm. Another job to get around to is to make a depth stop. I marked up the holes that need tapping, all of the others will be drilled then reamed 10 mm to accept dowel pins for location.

More tapping

Nearly there. I’m looking forward to using this.

Cheers

Mark

A bit more done on the fixture plate and the first mistake. Somehow, I managed to get the centre of the plate misaligned with the centre of the rotary table by around .5mm. I drilled out the centre hole 6mm then set about creating a circular pocket to accept the stub of the MT2 arbour that will locate the plate. It was while milling this pocket that the misalignment showed up.

I offset the table in the x axis and rotated the table to mill out the pocket. I was questioning why the pocket was ~1mm over calculated size until I noticed the pocket wasn't concentric with the 6 mm supposedly central hole.

Not to worry, the pocket is concentric with the fixing holes, I'm going to open the central hole out to 10mm and make up some spigots for centralising parts

I also shortened the blank arbour, made absolutely certain it was central and drilled and tapped it M6 for future workholding.

The plate is a good sliding fit on the arbour.

Cheers

Mark

I made a start today on the ‘rotary table sub-plate’, it’s a shame None of the table t-slots line up with 0 degrees. One of them is 4 degrees out.

I made up 3 temporary M4 t-nuts and drilled out at 4, 124 and 244 degrees, and counterbored M4. The plan is now to turn over the plate, counterbore the fixing holes, fly cut the bottom, then the holes can be opened up to 8mm for the final fixings.

Once the holes are opened up, I can bolt it down and mill out a spigot on the bottom to accept the MT2 blank arbour that will locate the table.

Cheers

Mark

Thanks gents for the comments.

I am planning on joining my local club. As for a loco, it’s going to be a while yet, as I have a couple of toolmaking projects on the go at the minute. I’m not exactly mr speedy.

I’m enjoying the process, I just wanted to sound out ideas.

Many thanks once again

Mark

Hi All,

As a beginner to the hobby, I’m looking for some advice.

I would like to eventually build something that will:

A) progress my engineering skills

B) possibly work

C) give me the pleasure of saying ‘I made that’

D) be a fairly long term project.

I’ve got in mind building a 5” gauge loco, and to that end have bought the plans for Don Young’s Jack/Jill tank engine. The Jill version with the side tanks is my preferred choice at the moment.

Questions at the moment are:

A) is this a step too far, or is this something with not a lot of experience can achieve?

B) are there better options out there?

C) do I start with something smaller like the Pottymill for experience or just go for it?

D) am I mad?

It would be good to hear from the experienced guys out there if this would be a good start?

To give a bit of background, I’m an engineer by trade, although not in the mechanical way. I’ve spent the last 20 years computer networking building fibre optic networks.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Ron,

I ended up buying the single edge cutting counter sinks from Zoro individually. Not the cheapest option, but they do the job well. (I’m still saving up for the big one)

Most of the usual suspects do a set, although I don’t know about the quality.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Geoff,

I’ve got the stand for my SX3, it’s just the right height for me. Nice piece of kit. I’ve got the stand bolted to the concrete floor using rawlbolts.

Cheers

Mark

Edited By Mark Elen 1 on 02/11/2018 17:03:00

Hi Martin,

I bought the SX3 from ARC about a year ago now. I had a similar experience with Ketan and Ian, both great guys. I also purchased their 3 axis DRO with scales at the same time.

Very soon afterwards, I had the X and Y scales fitted and working, but I still haven't got around to fitting the Z. I tend to use the inbuilt quill DRO for Z work, at some point I'm going to need the Z scale fitting, its just I haven't had the need for it yet.

If I were to undertake the same thing now, I would probably go for the miniature magnetic scales and couple them with a LED display. (the scales purely for the reduced size, the display is just bling)

In the photo below, you can see the size of the cover I had to make to protect the glass scales on the back of the table. There is plenty of room for the glass scales, on all three axis, but I feel the smaller scales would 'look better'. (I shamlessly copied the mounting bracketry that was on the mill in ARCs showroom)

I'm still really just a beginner, so bear that in mind reading the above.

Cheers

Mark.

Ron,

I wasn’t happy with using mine (same arc kit) on Ali, so I bought a SCLCR 12mm bar with an Ali insert. You could get an SCLCL (left hand bar) and do similar. Have a look here: **LINK**

Cheers

Mark

Not much more to do on this, then I can get back on topic. I managed to get the clamps blacked today, this is them, covered in slide way oil.

I’m really happy with how they have turned out.

Cheers

Mark

I made up a couple of sticks as described here: **LINK**

Really easy to make up and they last for ages.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Rod,

There was, I’m fairly sure it was issue 249.

Cheers

Mark

I spent a little time today drawing out the hole layout for the fixture plate. Drew it out in Autocad, and layered up each PCD with its relevant dimensions.

Here's the billet

it just needs a quick facing up and then loads of holes to drill and tap.

The plan is to print out each PCD with its dimensions as a separate sheet, that way I can set it up on the rotary table and work on each separately.

I just need to finish off the clamps and t-nuts, then I can get the Rotary Table on the mill and crack on with this.

Cheers

Mark

Thanks Derek👍

I’m really enjoying tool making. I’ve now got the clamps done, just a couple of stops to make and some t-nuts. The Ali billet turned up yesterday, it looks pretty good as is, but I think I’m going to fly cut a skim off it before I start drilling and tapping it.

Cheers

Mark

The clamping kit is coming along. 4 clamps done, 2 to go, but I’ve run out of 20mm x 10mm stock. I changed my mind about oil blacking these and ordered some Birchwood Casey Perma Blue after seeing Tubal Cain using it on YouTube.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Ron,

I bought that arc boring head along with the brazed tools. I’m about where you are in the grand scheme of things.

It’s all a learning curve. I got passable results with it on cast iron, but I was only boring to 18.5mm. I’ve since bought a boring bar with carbide inserts to fit it, along with uncoated inserts for Ali. (I’ve got a few Ali bores to do)

The photo below is the cast drilled out to 10.2 mm clearance then bored out to 18.5mm using the arc set.

Cheers

Mark

Thanks Neil👍

Called in at Leicester today as I was working just around the corner. Picked up a 8mm 2 flute slot drill.

Got home and slotted the first clamp out, filed and polished, then proceeded to drop it on the concrete floor and mark it.😬

I’m thinking of oil blacking these when they are all done. 5 more to do, another the same length as this, 2 off, 10mm longer with 10mm longer slots and 2 off 20mm longer.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Gents,

Thanks Jim👍

Neil, I just need to slot out between the two holes on the right of the photo. I’ve reamed them out 8mm so just need to take out the chunk in the middle.

Cheers

Mark

As per usual, buying new tools makes it necessary to make new tooling. I got the rotary table, then it became apparent I was going to have to hold things down to it. I haven’t got any t-nuts that fit the table, so I’m going to have to make some.

I toyed with the idea of holding the arm on a sacrificial piece of Ali, but I’m not happy it would be secure, so I’m going to make a ‘rotary table fixture plate’ similar to the one Chris has made at Clickspring. **LINK**

While I’m waiting for the billet to arrive, I got started making up some clamps

That came to a stop as I haven’t got a 2 flute slot drill.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Ron,

I hope you get as much enjoyment using your mill as I do. I have found I’m much happier using the bigger cutters but only taking little bites with them. I’ve got some 1/4” slots to do in some steel soon that I’m not overly looking forward to. These little mills aren’t the most rigid, so you have to take it easy. Having said that, I broke a 4mm carbide cutter on Ali early on, worked out I wasn’t running it fast enough and too slow with the table.

It’s all a learning curve.

Cheers

Mark