Member postings for Chris Evans 6

A moderator will be able to confirm but I believe it is 5 posts.

I feel for you. I ran Series Land Rovers for 40 odd years, things don't get more basic. ( always ran an estate car as well for the wife and dogs)

When I retired I could only afford to keep the Land Rover or the vintage bikes and the bikes won the call. The Land Rover was replaced with a Toyota Rav 4. worst car I have ever owned and moved on after 4 months and replaced with a Land Rover Freelander 2, a superb car. I am now looking at something to run alongside the Freelander and went to see the new Land Rover Defender. Nice looking but as a working vehicle it fails to impress, I could not drive anything with a touch screen "Infotainment" panel. So distracting as to be dangerous.

A good few of my motorcycling friends use the DIY kits and have plated things for my bikes.

I believe they are now finding it harder to obtain the battery acid that is used in the process.

Can you fill in a bit of information ?

What machine ? HSS or carbide end mill ?

Thanks.

Miss directed energy but a nice project to do. Be wary of the four way keys available cheaply, they are cast and the metal used is soft. I have tried 2 now.

I doubt if you would ever wear them out if no heat treatment is carried out. O1 is pretty tough.

I tend to use the leaded bronze for just about everything without problems (660 ?)

When I was in the mould making toolmaking game a fair bit of our work was automotive including Lucas Rists.

Standards required where very high, some of our fuse box moulds ran to well over 4,000 hours a reflection of standard expected.

When I was working I bought Mercer 301, maybe had 4 or 5 over 50 years. Just before I retired 7 years ago I bought a Mitutoyo. If it breaks it will be a £16 job that should see my time out.

Imported goods are at the very core of our hobby. How many people would have a workshop lathe/mill if it where not for the imports ?

Pay a little more for the back up from the likes of ARC so that quality can be reasonable. I have a well used Bridgeport but if starting out again would have a Warco/Chester offering on cost and availability.

Robert, tell us more about the vintage motorcycles. They are my passion in life.

Faced with this type of calculation again do it in steps as suggested. The formula is the square root of radius squared minus distance moved (step over) squared. Hope this makes sense.

Welcome, I have never had the pleasure of operating a Traction engine but would love to. I am lucky enough to live on a road used by many traction engines during summer months so get to see them go by. Friendly bunch if I call into their home ground at "Klondike Mill" on the A515. Enjoy the forum.

Welcome along Andrew from another retired toolmaker. I was in the mould and die trade but would have loved to work in autosport.

I avoid 304 stainless. 306 is bad enough for me. But for hobby use I get to choose which you cant do if an industry specification.

I was tapping 1/4" x 26 tpi for grease nipples. Ended up grinding up the tap flutes to make the tap really sharp. This stopped the tap binding on withdrawal. A 5/8" reamer that had previously cut a bit oversize left a tight hole and bound up on withdrawal enough to release the Morse taper.

As a young toolmaker I spent years operating a "Keller" copy milling machine. The cutting oil used was a mixture of Lard Oil and Paraffin. (lard oil is tallow based)

I survived but given that any fumes or dust are an irritant I try to avoid them.

I recently completed some motorcycle rear brake peddles in Aluminium Bronze. The choice of materiel was to allow the peddle to bend if the bike was dropped. Cast iron peddles tend to snap. Machining to turn or mill was OK. Drilling/tapping/reaming was a bitch. Like a lot of bronzes it can tend to snatch when drilling.

As stated above for hobby use it becomes a challenge due to high cost of branded quality tips. I have used most brands with good results and also had some good cheaper ones as well. I am no longer spending 10 hours a day at the machine so can't justify costs anymore.

What I will say is try a few "GT" inserts. ie change the "MT" (moulded tip) for "GT" (ground tip) these are made for aluminium but give excellent results for light cuts on steel producing a good finish.

Welcome along Jake.