Member postings for MW

What happened to all the live steam stuff they used to sell? The proper toys!

Michael W

It is indeed back up and running, thanks for the links john, the first is worth its weight in gold, simply amazing what he can achieve on his small machine, makes me want to apprieciate my sherline a little more than throwing it in the back of the garage, i do like my bigger lathe but theres nothing worse than turning small parts on a big machine. Nothing technically wrong with it, it just wears on you after a while of fiddling around. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 26/04/2016 18:32:47

I did have the collet "snapped in" position so to speak, just a little dissapointed with the runout, maybe it can be solved one day but like jeff said, i'm gonna use whats available and make a small drive dog and turn between centres, ensuring absolute concentricity of all diameters.

Michael W

I'm sure this is a very common issue but out of sheer interest i measured the runout of various aspects of my lathe with a baty dial indicator.

I measured the run-out of the spindle, i could barely get the dial to twitch within the smallest division being 0.01mm, so it pretty much hovered near zero, so far so good.

I put a 1/2inch bar of ground steel in the 3 jaw self centre and measure the runout from 30mm away from the chuck, it measured 0.02-0.03, not bad for a self centre i thought.

I then try my ER40 MT4 collet chuck, check the internal 8 degree taper, it runs at 0.05-0.06, slightly disconcerting.

I then move onto the same test as the 3 jaw, using a bar of ground steel measured at 30mm away and, again, the run out of the taper reflected in the bar held, 0.05-0.06mm, i'm slightly saddened, thinking i should be able to get lower runout from a ER chuck than a 3 jaw.

I can't see how i could fix this with my equipment so would anyone be willing to regrind the body of the ER chuck to get closer to 0 for a nominal sum?

The only other option i can see would be to use threaded collets directly to the spindle in future.

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 26/04/2016 14:01:54

It is also alot cheaper when you consider the huge diversity of HSS cutters that are available whereas carbide being a bit more expensive and harder tends to restrict the range for it somewhat. I am a fan of all materials really, whether it be carbon, HSS or carbide steel i like to own a mixed array of tools for different jobs.

Michael W

I must be going senile or something, the address i'm using comes up with some free webs thing but i'll sort it out.

I may try to see if i can loan Ivan's book from my local library though i'm sure many would argue it should be a permanent addition to the literature.

I noted your article on making taps, Andrew and quite enjoyed the thoroughness of your build, the taps look near professional and alot better than the attempts i've made in the past, it was well worth the article because alot of people are simply unaware that you can do this.I do wonder on why you chose to make "serial taps" as in, decreasing diameter through the set, rather than the old fashioned stages of tapering, not that i take issue with it, just merely wondering.

Michael W

Material choices are quite often debated and in my honest opinion the real magic is in the geometry of the tool you are using.

Because of how much more heat it can take the carbide will work even at high speed, so the traditional rules for speeds and feeds can be used alot more leniently within reason, obviously one down side is you can't resharpen it without a green grit wheel. Also because it is an inserted tip, you have to be mindful of how well it is fastened to it's holder, especially with insert p-off tools.

HSS can be sharpened with a standard corundum grinding wheel and is alot more flexible for re making into different sorts of tools.

Michael W

What's happened to them? I'm pretty sure their website is down.

Also, i've tried searching the forum for information about them but to no avail.

They sell quite expensive gear cutters but as far as i know they are one of the few who still make 7MM bore small gear cutters.

As an aside, has anyone read the "workshop practice series: gears and gear cutting" by Ivan Law? i've heard that in the book there is detail on how to make your own silver steel involute gear cutters, given how expensive the thornton ones seem (£99 a piece)

Michael W

A bit of a late contribution to this thread but having heard about the added humidity i'm reconsidering an air cooler and instead may just get a big fan. I can't do any work to the building at the moment.

Michael W

So yes, short of moving up north, or extending the front i can't stop the windows heating the place.

Thank you all for your suggestions i'm surprised how many people have responded to this considering how non engineering it may seem, i guess we've all got to get the basics covered before we can turn, mill, spark, shape, file, saw, cast, weld, fitting/assembly etc...

I myself am going to buy a decent air cooler, basically just a tank of water or ice passed over an internal fan, alot of people SEEM impressed, doesn't mean it's great but i'll have to have a punt at something and my main gripe with fans was that they didn't cool the air that passes through them so this seems to get around that.

I expect a hot summer ahead and i don't want to get caught out or abstain from the workshop.

Thanks again,

Michael W

Thanks for the suggestions although some of them maybe rather radical, I'm not prepared or able to (by orders of herr commandant) carve up or make any serious modifications to the shed itself. Maybe the blinds would help, problem is it gets rather stuffy. It's like a dark cave with panes of glass at the front, The roof itself has no insulation, it's just clad with shingles.

So yes, the blinds maybe a good solution, all i have are some black curtains which can make matters worse.

Has anyone tried big fans or small air conditioning units? do they have a tendency to just blow air thats already stuffy around the room?

My first suggestion was actually to put slatted wooden frames over the windows that can be closed/opened. But that was thrown out by my familial planning committee.

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 20/04/2016 14:45:55

Hi,

My workshop is a big timber built structure like many others but has some very large south facing windows on 1 side, with no other windows on the other walls and a couple of tiny vents. I've obviously tried using it with the windows all open but without any wind it doesn't help much.

All this good weather is making it hot to the point of nigh unbearable to work in there, I need a solution to cool it down but maybe someone has been through this before and found a good big "workshop fan" or air conditioning unit that did the trick?

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 20/04/2016 12:14:39

I'm watching this thread as this vise seems quite interesting in itself,

But i have also needed to wait on castings before, it can take up to 8 weeks to sort this out.

Michael W

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned using an appropriate rest when using hand turning tools, the tool will skip and jump if you don't have a rest of some description to take the natural deflection.

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 20/04/2016 11:28:16

I recently changed to windows 10, the upgrade took alot of to-ing and fro-ing from different install screens but when i got there, it seems alright, alot like a jazzed up windows 7 but i definitely noticed how much quicker the start up is now.

Michael W

This is correct!

Some of the tools i've ground with a bench grinder i would have never guessed i was going to use it for when i bought it. Definitely worth the money.

Michael W

It can tell the difference between a dog barking on the radio and a dog barking in real life but it's still funny to watch him chase his own tail.

They aren't daft but they'll give the impression they are just to look innocent, alot of people let their dogs off too easy, hence why some of them are badly behaved/ anti-social.

Sometimes this isn't their fault, like if they live out in the sticks and the only people they're used to is their owner.

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 19/04/2016 06:38:56

Ok, so you got me Nick G, hands up, with the long view of history you caught me making a silly contradiction, like all of us are destined to, fair enough. But it's not all about me, it's nice to hear some of the memories some people have of the first tools they made are still going strong today!

Michael W

Hi,

I've put this on the "tea room" as i thought it only appropriate considering the subjective nature of the topic.

So i'm sure everyone has got a favorite tool that they made themselves. Worn and slightly battered from alot of use, like a center punch or custom tool holder, or maybe even bigger like a home-made milling vise.

I was just pondering on how wonderful it is that we're able to do this and how i've noticed all of the things, no matter how simple they were, just kept going on and on for years, i don't think i own a single home made tool that i've had to throw away.

So is this really just subjective nonsense or has anyone else noticed this trend, is it that these tools are treasured more or is there something innately better about their manufacture and material quality? considering these things are one off's usually, we can pick and choose what we want on them.

And yet in antipathy and contrast, i've owned some seemingly nice looking tools commercially made that don't last five minutes,

i've got a little bit of a bugbear with tapping wrenches for example, unless you own a really good make or older well made one, the quality of the body is quite brittle, i've broken probably two or three over my short lifetime on earth, so i decided i had enough, couldn't find anywhere at the time that made a decent one, so i made my own.

Now i probably tap holes as brutally as i did with the commercial ones, but my home made one hasn't broken yet, can anyone imagine themselves really thinking about preserving the quality of your home made tool whilst in the middle of tapping? of course you don't you just want to tap that blinder.

So what i'm getting at is this isn't a subjective incident, since i'm giving both the home made and commercially made tool the same amount of abuse really.

i may have wandered off slightly there but i just wanted to give an example of how our feelings for our own treasured tools are not always personal but actually real reflections of the appreciation for their quality.

Michael W

Yeah i think a pin would be a good idea, my sherline machine has a similar arrangement for the gib strips, with no dimples though, just an interference fit, made out of some black polymer plastic. They say by the time it wears out it would've had years of service out of it and cheap to replace.

I think i wouldn't be allowed to put the drawing on here as its a hemingway kit so i dont think it'd be a good idea.

Michael W