Member postings for Chris Evans 6

I've had a couple of Mitutoyo callipers over the last 30 years or so. The first one died and was replaced with another, I then bought one from Aldi to use as an everyday thing to save the posh one. Well the posh one never came out of its box again and was given away. I preferred the readout of the Aldi job which was just as accurate as the Mitutoyo. When Aldi had an offer on I bought three of them one was converted to a tailstock readout for the lathe the other two are used one by the lathe the other by the mill. All have good actions and long battery life.

Welcome along Dave, what machinery floats your boat ? Are you just starting out ? Loads of experience and answers on here.

Plus 1 for Huanyang. I have run my 2HP Bridgeport from one for around six years now without issues. It did however take a friend who has got 5 of these running his various machines to set it up. He understands the "Chinglish" in the instructions. Prior to getting the Huanyang VFD I tried running the Bridgeport off a Transwave static inverter without success. The static inverter does run my 3HP lathe though, one day I will either take the motor off the lathe and see if the "Star Point" can be found to configure it to run 240 volts or change the motor for one that can. I would love the soft start and other features of a VFD on my lathe.

Welcome along Peter, enjoy the forum and hobby.

Rear mounted 2mm tipped tool for me from ARC. Tips last months if well lubricated in use and all materials are usually OK. Some of the tougher EN16/EN19T need a bit of care. You need to reprograme your mind and up the spindle speed for best performance. 800 to 1000 revs with 0.05mm (two thou) per rev feed on 1 1/2" EN1A is doable.

Welcome along Robert.

Not sure which type of dehumidifier I bought when I had to dry the house out after an incoming water main leak. I was not impressed with it and gave it away then just ran a fan, things dried out over a few months and the fan now does duty in the garage if I am going to leave things unused for a few days.

I tend to use cellulose "Gun Wash" thinners bought in 5 litre tins it is cheap and effective. For quick degreasing a can of brake cleaner is useful.

Having spent my working life as a mould maker for injection moulded plastic items I recall an expression. "Highly polished and deeply scratched" OK our moulds were made from tool steel a bit harder to polish. I never did have the patience to polish dies and ended up as a machinist. Polishing soap and a hard felt mop is a good starting point after the abrasive paper work.

Plus 1 for Sandy Denny. A good choice of music.

Welcome along Paul.

I often make the round knurled retaining nuts for motorcycle inner tubes because new tubes tend to come with hexagon nuts and do not look right. I use 5/16" x 32 tap without problems.

Welcome along Tim.

I operated a smaller version of the Droop at one place I worked at lovely machine that would really shift metal. At the same place I operated a "Keller" copy mill along with a host of good old but high end well equipped machines. Alas like Paul no photos, just memories.

For the longer lengths I use shelves with a lip on the front to stop stuff rolling off. The shelves are on very substantial brackets and have vertical supports down to the floor, it is surprising how much weight is soon on there. For the shorter stuff up to 400/500mm I have offcuts of 100mm x 150mm box section arranged on the lower shelf of industrial racking to form a "Pigeon box" arrangement. This is good for separating different grades. Really small stuff goes in to biscuit tins one for each grade. All the rest goes into a big plastic box and gets tipped out on the floor for a sort through !

Whilst we are on this theme lets touch on the difficulty of measuring a tapered part. I usually calculate a couple of steps and produce known distance in from the end and diameter to suit using a sharp tool. It is then simple to just blend to the witness.

Geoff, do you have a sine bar ? If so when making your wedges it will pay to make lots of common angles. Keep them small and then they can be used in the vice on the mill for setting workpieces. I have most angles from 1/4 degree up to 45 degree. Made up over the years I find them very useful.

Plus 1 for sine bar method although for most common angles I have a set of accurately ground setting "Wedges" from my toolmaker days.

The cross slide on my 14" x 40" Taiwan lathe (Harrison M300 copy) was always the weak link in an otherwise good lathe. When I had finally had enough of the problems I made a new beefed up slide. An extra 12mm or so on thickness allowed tee slots to be cut and I have not missed the bit of height over the cross slide. A simple polystyrene pattern was used and simply burnt out at the foundry. I think the casting was around £30 for a cash sale. Having a Bridgeport mill simplifies the milling of the slide but it could be done on a smaller machine.

Well done and thankyou for letting us know the results.