Member postings for Chris Evans 6

Opinions differ on a DRO for a lathe, I would not be without one, majority of my work is motorcycle related so entails making lots of nuts and bolts. The DRO gives me speed, face the end of a bar zero the readout move to the required length and set the bed stop.

Colchester lathes, I love them but condition is everything. At work we ran a Triumph 2000 replaced every 5 years when totally worn out. Yes they had a very hard life really shifting metal 80 or more hours a week.

Having a very comprehensive set of 5C collets I prefer them to the ER style for the work I do (99% motorcycle).

Hexagon and square collet blocks are used frequently as is the 5C collet chuck on the lathe, my cutter grinder takes 5C collets. Throw in the availability of hexagon and square 5C collets as a bonus. They suit me but only for what I do, a Traction Engine would require a very different approach to "Must Have" kit.

I am a Bridgeport user and have two rotary tables, a Vertex 10" HV and a very old 14" of unknown make. The 14" table has a 20" sub-table for the bigger radius work but only used every few years. I lack the muscle to shove it from trolley to machine table. The 10" table I can pick up.

In sizes up to 30mm I tend to buy full lengths from a local steel stockholder. Now in my twilight years I wonder if I will ever use some of my stock. My wife wants to downsize soon and she is most likely right to do so, maybe I will have to include steel stock in with the sale of my machinery.

Plus 1 for the comment, I to made my living using one and now have one on my garage. To the new operator. Listen to the machine, it will tell you if it is unhappy.

I would have chosen EN16T or at a push EN24T if you can't get the 16T, Silver steel can be very brittle.

I can well understand losing interest. All my adult life I have enjoyed Making/repairing things, vintage motorcycles and cars, old houses all held an interest for me. Just prior to the first lockdown I had completed a vintage bike build for a friend then I had a stroke which impacted on my lifestyle more than a little bit. Interest returned during second lockdown but then I had surgery for cancer followed by radiation treatment. No workshop activity for me and a malaise set in for a while, I would go out to the workshop intent on doing something but maybe just clean and oil the lathe and mill and go back in the house. This went on for a time and I became very slow at doing anything at all. Upshot of this was being diagnosed with Parkinson's, my wife now wants to move house to the town and get a bungalow or apartment but I know once I give up the workshop my life will be over. Recently taking on a few jobs for friends has really helped me.

I have successfully used a tct router cutter for corner rounding on Aluminium and Cast Iron. High spindle speed and don't get greedy with the depth of cut.

When I sold my Southbend "Heavy 10" lathe after 45 years use I kept the full set of 5C collets that where supplied with the lathe built in 1942 and "war finish". A 5C collet chuck for my Excel 14"x40" lathe was was bought for not a lot of money and the collets are still in use. I have added a few metric and hexagon collets to suit my work. Don't get hung up about accuracy, all my collets run to around 0.001" total indicator reading even the cheap imported ones.

Plus one for the 5C, 80%% of my work is done in 5C collets.

Plus one for the heads up re polarity, I found this out when I built an ignition system for a three cylinder Triumph.

In my working life I operated a Bridgeport with this set up. never did understand the memofix function.

My home workshop Bridgeport has the later Heidenhien readout but the scales will not work with the latest consoles so a complete new system if anything fails in the future.

Welcome along Ross, I am not a model maker but a motorcycle tinkerer. Good luck with your quest for machinery, pop an approximate location up to widen your chances of a more local response.

Having a cutter grinder I have modified an old 1/2" end mill for use as a chamfering tool. Yes we engineers are tight with our money !

I am not a model maker but today indulged my passion for steam power. A visit to "in steam" pumping station at Clay Mills Burton upon Trent.

Machining 6082-T6 with "GT" inserts seems to go well with a spray of suds oil to prevent build up on the tool. Birds nesting of swarf is the nature of this type of material, I tend to stop the lathe after every pass or two and clear the area.

6082 is my go to grade. nice to machine

As an ex mould and die toolmaker cutter grinding/making is an art all on it's own. I made my living for years as a "Die Miller" Forming a cutter to produce the die was a daily event. I carried these skills over to electrode making when I started using EDM (spark erosion) machines for my living. CNC and 3D CAD programs killed the old skills but improved the quality and enhanced the speed of manufacture. Most things now are done with off the shelf carbide cutters available with various corner radius, programs are done to use these to give excellent results.

And here is me with an American "Cutwell" cutter grinder (air floating spindle) sitting in my garage and unused for years due to a few health issues. Surely there must be a benefit in grinding your own ? In the 80s/90s there was a good amount of cutter grinding companies around some even did a collect and deliver service in and around Birmingham.

Mine arrived a good few weeks ago. just after my tax code wiping out a fair chunk of the increase.