Member postings for Chris Evans 6

Ron as a fairly recent board member who does not make models I had not read your post until a couple of days ago.

(My machinery is used for motorcycle stuff) You certainly have gone through the mill with your boiler, what did catch my eye was your location or the location of your SME I am not far away in Kings Bromley. I hope you can move forward at a good pace now you are sorted. Chris.

I spent 50 years in tool making and used thousands of grinding wheels. I never saw one with holes in like that. I would bin it and get another.

When I was in the die making game we did lots of small 16 impression tools. Each piece of H13 or in some cases 420 stainless had 4 M4 holes 15mm deep. That is 64 tapped holes in the die side and another 64 in the punch side.

Lessons learnt, use a 0.1 oversize drill/use tapping past not liquid/ throw the tap away when it starts to bind when you wind it out. I did these by the hundred and rarely broke a tap. Have a look for one of the eclipse flat bar style tap wrenches they give a nicer feel. With the advent of CNC mills we moved on to machine tapping on all sizes down to M4, none of us brave enough to go any smaller !

Sam, as above a rotary table or if you have one a boring and facing head, even a plain boring head if you mark out and mill close to the lines then bore.

Today I got my pre war bike timed after an engine rebuild and decided to try and start it tomorrow. Spent the rest of the day milling a casting I have had made for a new cross slide for my lathe. A lot beefier than the old one so I can get tee slots in and stronger in the compound slide area where mine is starting to crumble.

Depending on where you are I have plenty of 25x25 box with around a 2 mm wall section.

Bill is that a Marlin on your avatar ? In my car trial days they always did well on things like the MCC long distance trials. So much more comfort than a Dellow !

Not overkill at all that is a nice vice and yes it does look to be a J&S. I like a vice of that pattern without the more usual two strips to rest your work on. So much easier if setting an angle wedge or little sine bar. Nice find.

Not many of us use these now so keep an eye on the usual sites for someone selling a complete one.

Jason, I am not a model maker as pre war motorcycles are my main interest but reading such a common sense clear build log as yours I am tempted to make one. What I like is the lack of chasing accuracy beyond what is required to make it work. When my work load gets down a bit I will make a start. Chris.

I have used many copy mills. Hayes diemaster with hydraulic copying/Cincinati/Various Deckle machines an Alexander copy mill plus a Bridgeport but for me the best was always the Keller for the way the swarf dropped away.

Oh just remembered using a Gorton as well.

You are doing nothing wrong. It is just the way single point threading works out. You need a shadowgraph to get the point radius/flat correct and being single point you will never crest the major diameter. Go with your file over or buy a full form insert and holder.

Alas I have not found any pictures but it looks like you have something. Very much like a Keller in operation. I remember now the smell of the cutting oil "Lard Oil and Paraffin", great machine to use though as all the swarf dropped away You where very well paid down South, my wages grossed at two pound nineteen shillings and eleven pence in 1963.

To get straighter cuts with a hand hack saw try using "all hard" blades. I can not cut straight with the flexible bi metal ones but get reasonable results with the all hard versions.

Look under the seat/rear mudguard for corrosion they tend to rot through.

I am with old school on this and nearly always buy branded HSS. I have had a few odd sizes from China, they claim to be HSS and up to now have done the job in aluminium or brass; not sure I would risk them in Stainless though.

Last year the MOD where selling off mobile workshops. All kitted out with high quality kit nice steel benches and a Harrison lathe, looked like an M250.

They also did a version with a hydraulic copy attachment. A well made little machine but at least 55 years old now ?

I will have a search to see if I have any pictures of a smaller Droop used at one place I worked at. I was employed there to operate a "Keller" copy mill so never got to use the Droop. We are going back to the days when affording the processing after taking photographs was prohibitive ! Chris GEC 1963-1971

"The type a die sinker might use" I spent most of my working life as a "Die Miller" The rest working spark erosion machines where the die milling skills where needed to produce the electrodes.