Member postings for MW

I agree a master will quite happily accommodate a 1" shank tool no problem, this isn't a small lathe we're talking about here. I've used both the long and short bed versions of this lathe.

I'd go with 16mm tipped tools as you'll be able to find a lot of these. 

If you're not going to use coolant keep an oil can handy for lubrication on steels. 

PS: you lucky git for managing to convince the powers that be to accommodate this! 

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 23/02/2018 23:04:01

Nice try

Just to put my comment into perspective,

This was just using faithful/Clarke set of unsplit dies, they've become practically junk after I learned the hard way and started using tracys for split dies.

Maybe it was troublesome at particular sizes, but you could never get them to go anywhere, it would just chew at the end of the bar. I think I tried tapering it on the lathe once and it still wouldn't go far.

I'm thinking that possibly respected suppliers like dormer use dies with a very nicely cut thread lead and taper on the die cutting geometry to ease the cut in.

But I found an almost instant aversion to unsplit dies after that, maybe unfairly because I haven't tried the decent ones.

P.S you're most welcome to take some off me if you like them, they're just using up drawer space for me. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 22/02/2018 18:48:42

No, because the unsplit ones are impossible to get started, even the worst quality split dies will start on a die wrench.

I don't doubt that this is what they do with machines under power, but if you're just a bloke and a bench vice operation then you're waaaay better off with a split die. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 22/02/2018 18:23:21

Speaking of bronze, people automatically assume that because it's a relatively softer material to machine than cast iron, that therefore it's easier to cast,

Brass and bronze are actually one of the harder ones to get right because of the alloying elements in them, zinc or tin.

Michael W

I suppose the best thing to say would be it depends how well it's stored and looked after.

Its an utterly silly thing to expect a clock with no maintenance whatsoever to still remain in a decent condition if it's treated anything like a 30 year old car!

Michael W

Supposedly you'll get more lifetime out of a bronze one, although i'm not sure how accurate that guess is.

Michael W

Yes this is fairly typical. I changed the motor on mine but even the induction motor gets hot while running for a while. The spindle gets hot because of the lubrication/friction in the bearings conducting the heat of the moving parts.

Again, it shouldn't be so hot that it singes your fingers, but a little bit warm/hot isn't anything unusual. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 21/02/2018 20:25:15

I thought maplin were in the good old days the ones you could buy any electrical/electronic component you wanted at any quantity.

Now they've moved on to being more of a "dixons" type store, I think they lost their charm with that.

Michael W

Yes i'd go for the SC4, like neil said, it's bonus is that it's a feature rich lathe.

It's a comparable weight to my own machine and has 70mm or so more distance between centres. The centre height isn't quite as much but that isn't really a bad thing when you consider just how much it comes with. Very up to date features and swanky looking to boot.

If I was looking at a new machine this would be high on the list.

Michael W

If I rightly remember, an industrial machine like the Colchester master, uses a geared head but the motor runs from 2 V belts to the gear counter shaft, meaning that the point where it would fail on a lock up would be the belt slipping out rather than overheating or potentially canning the motor.

Michael W

I would've said either one of the warco or sieg machines on the medium range of scale. However, I don't think you're likely to find a machine with the same amount of character as a myford that inspired the loyalty following that It got.

I say this although I own a far eastern copy of what was originally designed in Germany, apparently. (Clarke cl430m).

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 20/02/2018 14:13:31

I actually didn't know that either, but it would explain why with the painted boring bars, the cutting faces are not even close to centre height of the body, meaning that even on a really robust machine the vibration and rubbing would be horrendous.

Michael W

Yeah I thought it definitely gets hot, but not anywhere near melting the work in usual cases. (The most extreme example of this probably has to be friction welding, but that isn't usually creating the shape of the item.)

one of the reasons stainless is such an annoying material that chews its way through tools is mainly because it's such a poor conductor of heat, meaning all the heat gets dissipated through the tool instead, thereby deforming the cutting edge quicker.

Michael W

No I doubt that story, if turning is creating that much heat it would make any kind of accurate work impossible, and more than likely create a lot of unnecessary stresses in the work itself.

Michael W

It's not a bad idea if it was pointed out with a different coloured banner, but it would have to be optional for the OP because not all discussions can end in a resolution, (what I did today is a good example).

There is also the challenge if the website has the technical capability to do this.

Michael W

The Metric/European method of grading nuts and bolts strength is rather confusing, the American system of grading 1-8 with 8 being the heaviest duty use (industrial/farming machinery typically use these), is much simpler and easier to understand. They also have little dashes around the head of the bolt to indicate which grade to the trained eye. 

An easy way to get a decent strength screw though is just to look for the high tensile self colour screws. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 14/02/2018 15:52:33

Thanks for shining a lamp on the matter. Nice to just blow some steam off every once in a while.

& re roy: tis' because it's the part of the place that we (mostly) use. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 13/02/2018 17:01:04

You can hardly blame them, the name doesn't mean anything anymore.

Contrary to what might be thought of about imperial measurements, If anything I actually enjoy the opportunity to learn about what something means rather than being off putting and I suspect anyone else in the hobby also enjoys it. As they say it would be all quite boring if everything was the same.

The Americans also carry it on, and there are a number of times with these units and scales where I think "I actually find that more logical than ours."

Michael W