Member postings for Chris Evans 6

Out of stock at RDG. I am waiting for them to re stock.

I have not seen the article but am part way through fitting a modified 6" digital caliper to mine. House guests arriving have stopped play.

Gosh that was one dodgy set up. With the absence of a rotary table you could mark out and freehand walk the cutter to the line using X/Y handles then file to tidy up. Easier than doing the laundry after a scare like that !

When I had a South Bend "Heavy 10" of 1942 vintage (mine for 45 years) it used 5C collets with a draw bar through the spindle. Jaws for your chuck are going to be hard to find until you can identify the make of chuck and find a supplier. If you do identify the chuck try Rotagrip in Birmingham. It may still be cheaper to buy a new imported chuck. I have been quoted £164 for a set of jaws for my 160mm chuck which is about the same as an imported chuck with integral D 14 camlock mount.

OK I will blow against the wind, as a toolmaker for 50 years and still messing around in retirement I will only buy HSS. I have only ever bought a couple of carbon taps in really odd use them once only sizes in brass or aluminium.

I have no confidence in using carbon taps that could easily snap and ruin hours of work for the sake of saving a little money. I do have access to a spark erosion machine to remove broken taps but would rather not take the risk.

My Sister's partner is a model engineer and I regularly receive all he orders to my house in the UK. He then simply uses a parcel delivery company to collect and deliver to France the stuff I have packaged up for him. I think he pays less than £20 for a parcel up to 25KG. A fair bit of steel and aluminium has crossed over this way with no problems. We both save money as I now tend to buy material by the complete bar length and cut off suitable lengths for him and keep the rest in stock.

Yes Howard that is about it. I made one earlier this year and it works well, I based mine loosely on the design by Steve Bedair.(Google will find the plans) Mine is all cast iron from odd bits lying around the workshop, I did fit the sliding tool holder into is base with a dovetail to prevent it lifting in use. I used a 14 degree dovetail cutter from the woodworking router box, carbide tips had no trouble cutting the cast iron.

Google is your friend. 5 holes on 112mm PCD

Yes power feed on the quill of the one I operated. I never liked the 30/40 int tooling for the type of work I did but that issue is now resolved with cost effective ER chucks.

Can't remember which model but I once operated one. From memory the one we had was similar to a Tos and one of the larger Beaver turret mills. It was a reliable machine in it's day.

When I was working I regularly bought from bearing suppliers "Linear Shafting" and linear bearings. For what you get not pricey either.

When I was an apprentice in a Brummie tool room the millwrights (remember them ?) used to refurbish the Thor mallets when they where short of maintenance work. For my use now I just buy new mallets, mainly the size "A" for around £9 these last many years for tapping things true on the lathe/mill down on to parallels etc.

Thanks for the update, I followed this thread when you first posted. I used one of these machines during my apprenticeship but that was over 50 years ago and I remember nothing of the controls. I have used so many machines since the mind gets hazy.

It would be a good exercise to bore existing pulley. At best it works and you gain a few more skills, at worst you buy a pulley so you are no worse off. Where are you ? Help from someone may not be far away. Chris.

O1 (gauge plate) is a bitch to machine even after years of experience so don't lose heart. Do as suggested and make sure gibs are adjusted/table locked and use a slot drill.

They are my go to supplier, I buy a lot of oilite bushes for motorcycle girder fork repairs as well as normal bearings.

The prices are good when you increase the quantity, if just buying one or two the post/packing can outweigh the cost from other suppliers.

Clive, having operated one and similar types of machine I have to agree. A turret mill is far more useful for everyday use. I used a Deckle of this type when working as a mould maker, our milling section was well equipped and we each had a "Cell" containing this type of Deckle a Bridgeport and in my case a Deckle KF12 copy mill and a spark erosion machine. In the days before CAD/CAM different skills where required to produce injection moulds and the mixed abilities of the group of machines came in handy.

That has always happened on this forum site.

I simply press return then the page down arrow things to get to a new sentence. Simples.

I have three Aldi digital callipers, one has been in everyday use (OK three or four days a week now Iv'e retired) no problems with reliability or accuracy. The other two are going to be butchered as read outs on the lathe tailstock and Bridgeport quill. I have made a start on the tailstock one and thing look promising.

Just looked at Marks album and realised that I operated one of these machines around 45 years ago.