Member postings for Dave Smith the 16th

I melted some aluminium down and the excess got poured into a can. It shrank enough to enable me to get it out and i have a round slug approx 80mm diameter and 50mm tall.

Nice simple project to make using a lathe? Possibly the mill when i get it. Maybe a few weeks away yet though. A few bills to pay before i fully decide on which one. (unless there are bargains at the Doncaster show)?

Suggestions for a simple project where accuracy is optional and additional parts are minimal.

2109 Lathe, small drill press, 4x6 bandsaw and a few other bits. Never soldered but i do have various gas torches. I also have a 3D printer.

Suggestions please.. (not rude ones, the missus has already suggested a use for it)

After a very short time on here its tipped the balance on buying a cheap mini mill from them rather than elsewhere.

They commented on a thread i created about buying a mini-mill.

The way i read it... A very honest answer that a mini mill is pretty crap and its going to take more time and skill to achieve quality work. But a compromise that i must make because i do not have the money/space for a 2 ton monster machine. It needs to be a bench mounted one and cheap!!!

A budget machine at a budget price, similar to my lathe.

Doncaster show on Fri/Sat/Sun. Are there any deals there that will cover my travel costs

and entrance fee? 200 mile round trip and £20 for 2 Friday tickets?

Leicester is a lot closer.

After spending a day and a half setting up my lathe to remove the runout, I know what a PITA it is

You find reviews on setting a small lather and the machine they use prbably weighs 2 tons and thats the small one. With the mini lathe i can twist the bed by hand when its not bolted down. Not sure if thats normal though?

I fited 2 rings to my ground silver steel bar and turned one down within half an inch of the chuck and the other 8" away from that. The digital calipers showed it to be spot on.

I need to make some decent holders for the dial gauge though.

I will be making a visit after my holiday.

Are machines available to take away or do you have to prep them?

Thanks

Most of the software seems to handle STL files, some seem to have their own format.

I have a CTC makerbot clone and when you convert the STL file it creates an x3g file which appears to be a compressed file with the g-code.

Nothing seems to be able to read these files. Or i have not looked very hard

Sometimes it would be good to see what the x3g file is because something i rename them to display

better on the printer.

How do i get an STL file? Export only shows f3d, igs, iges, sat, smt, stp and step. No STL option.

I tried offline mode and it saved the file as an f3d.

Yes the edit feature worked and the thread now transfers to the makerbot desktop. The only way to create an STL seems to be choose 3D print and then makerbot and then use makerbot to save the file.

Missing something?

Thanks.

Ketan, do you have them on display? Your not a million miles away. Typically i will be even closer but going away and will have my Caravan on tow, and its going to be a Sunday

Its a toy so nothing specific as of yet, but i do want to build a decent QCTP for my lathe and seen a couple of threads in here that inspired me, so much easier to use than mine. Levers always in the way of the toolholders and the arms bending slightly.

Also some stirling engines and air powered engines. Fairly small initially though. I also want to build a CNC frame eventually. Where you can put a router tool and a laser tool etc.

Although this is going to be bigger than the machine can handle. What are the small machines like at cutting a dovetail in a piece thats much longer than its bed/travel? How accurate?

Thanks.

Had a play with Fusion 360 and it appears to be easier than 123D Design, although quite similar.

I managed to created a block with a dovetail groove and threaded holes. It wouldn't let me save it though?

Only option was to 3D print it where it sent it to Print Studio whjich just had a blank page and no item. Or to Meshmixer or Makerbot. Sent to Makerbot and the threaded holes were just plain holes.

Threads not transferred.

Must be doing something wrong?

Thanks for the tip.

Oh my.. SO a fixed head is a bonus ( IF ) perfectly trammed. And may not have the adjustment to bring it level, where a tilting head will allow that, but more likely to be the cause in the first place.

My head hurts!!!

Vic, nah not to buy the petrol but to buy the insurance, the petrol is the inevitble costs that will be on a need basis. So when i need that 55 degree dovetail tool i will get it, but i like to have a good selection to get most of the jobs done. Good analogy though

I would prefer a machine thats no noiser than my lathe, does that mean a belt driven one? I have read comments on how noisy the geared machines are. But cannot compare that to how noisy my lathe it.

Most of the time i leave the gears and leadscrew running the noise doesnt bother me, although when trying to setup after swapping the bearings i did move the arm off. Not exccessively noisy though.

Thanks.

These things are designed to empty my pockets

I knew when buying the lathe that there will be quite an outlay over the price of the machine to get a few things that i will need. 4 jaw chuck and knurling tools and decent tools. Initially i bought that cheap set of 30? carbide bits that im guessing a lot of people bought because they were cheap and throwaway items if you did something silly

So my £600 lathe was over £1000 just adding a few tools, i expected that.

3D printer was £400 and i spend another £200 on filament. I sort of expected that and didnt need to buy that much but i wanted a range of colours.

Money is tight at the moment though, so i wont have hundreds of pounds spare for all the extra's i (need) I always (need) and not just want something

Will the X1LP and no tilting be an issue? SX2P doesnt mention tilting either?

The WM15 shows a 500mm table, but the travel is still only 330mm? Same as the smaller machines with a 400mm table?

Thanks

Yeah i did find a lot of older threads where Weiss and a few other machines/sellers were mentioned but the Weiss website has not been updated for quite a while.

The machine's spec's also seem to change over the time and some do not mention

all the features they have. X1LP doesnt mention tilting.

For some reason i don't like the look of the X1L but it appears to fit the bill, motor is only 150w though, is

that an issue? X1LP is 250w but as above does it tilt?

WM12 has a 600w motor and cheaper than the WM14 but only 250mm travel instead of the WM14 330mm.

MT3 would be a bonus, same as the headstock in my lathe.

Any budget ones belt driven which appears to preferred.

Thanks

Edited By Dave Smith the 16th on 02/05/2016 19:32:21

Looking for a small milling machine, in my mind its a huge monster I need, but space and funds are lacking so a small bench mounted mill is about all im going to get.

Something to complement my SPG2109 lathe. Something that will fit onto a 600 deep kitchen counter type of space. I have the width but the depth is lacking.

Searched and found a lot of threads that mention Warco, Chester, SPG, Amadeal and Weiss amongst others.

I bought the lathe from SPG and various bits and pieces from Amadeal, likt the QCTP etc.

They both sell similar machines with a few variations. How do you choose which one?

Looking at the cheapest machines they sell but i dont want to buy something that then needs an upgrade which will cost more than the next machine in the lineup.

SPG start at £440 and the next one up is a spindle lock, I assumed (wrongly)? that was a lock when changing the tool? Stops it rotating when removing the tool instead of needing 2 spanners etc? I found a post that mentioned it locked the downward axis?

I dont want to buy a more expensive machine and leave my pockets empty for tooling. I know how much i spent on bits and bobs after buying the lather and it soon added up.

Suggestions?

Thanks.

Thanks, I will try fusion 360. Dont think i tried that.

I did get something else that was free 3D desk or something, it was packed full of features and even following a youtube video i struggled. They seemed able to select certains parts with just a click where i couldn't.

I bought the CTC printer early 2015, £400 off ebay. With most of my toys that i buy the missus usually just says more junk. But with the 3D printer she is actually impressed by the items i have made.

Along with the usual silly items, a TARDIS and cyberman miniature etc I have also made useful stuff. Clips and brackets for various items around the house.

Still amazing to watch the part grow from the table.

Creating 3D objects is sometimes a little nightmare. I try and use freecad and create the parts from joining basic shapes. But its a bit buggy or I am useless?

I wanted a retangular block with a series of holes. Easy peasy? NO...

Create the block simples. Create a cylinder.. cut the cylinder shape from the block im good at this... Until the 2nd cylinder i cut that and it fills in the hole fore the first one??? Is it e or the software?

The plan is to print 3D parts and then cast them in aluminium... I built a furnace from a Gas cylinder, oddly all the neighbours stopped talking to me when i reeled out the extension lead and angle grinder and an old calor gas bottle. Funny people

I put my hand behind the headstock area and pulled slightly and the needle moved towards the zero mark.

Seems after 4 years its no longer totally flat on the base. Odd because the board i used was an old coffee table top which is made from some unknown substance thats not wood and not plastic.

Ive had a chunk of it in the garden since fitting and its exaxctly the same now as when i put it out, water and oil does not soal into it. So not the table part expanding. But this table sits on top of a wooden workbench and my fixings went through both, possible the lower table expanded and pulled the lathe down tighter? Also possible that it may shrink during the summer, if we actually get one that is.

I thought the headstock side had 2 mounts and one for the tail stock side, seems my memory is going and there is just the one fixing at either end.

Whats the best way to level a lathe with just 2 fixings?

Thanks.

Dial gauge at the 10.5" mark still which is 9" from the end of the bed, after unbolting the lathe i can grab the end of the bed and twist it 0.1mm by hand. Is that normal?

Edited By Dave Smith the 16th on 26/04/2016 15:03:58

Thanks for that, I missed the profile link assuming the address page was it.

I should have one now?

I wondered if the grease would be washed away by the oil from the gearbox, The bearing outer race fits into the headstock and there are drain points below them. The old bearings were covered in oil when i removed them.

Thanks.

If i click my name it says no profile?

I will look for my profile and add some info, Erdington near Spaghetti Junction.

Not clear in my post above but i have started another thread about setting up my lathe, I changed the bearings already replaced the unbranded ones for some Timken ones.

Its an SPG2109 and the manual supplied does not match my lathe it seems, shows a different pulley setup where mine just has one belt and a 2 speed gearbox. Manuals states 2 x 30206 bearings. NO... Luckily i managed to remove the old one before the wrong one was posted out to me. Changed my order to a 30206 and a 32007.

Whoever fitted the bearings at the factory must have broken a bit of the casting off, there is a small piece missing, but just a small piece so that shouldnt be a problem. When i try to lift a longer shaft fitted in the jaws i do not get any rock as before and it still spins freely. Are the bearings only lubricated by oil splashing off the gears?

Thanks.

My spindle only has the 1 locking ring with a grub screw, not the 2 locking nuts as per the supplied manual.

OK, I maybe doing it all wrong but i tried the steel bar this time with the dial indicator attached firmly to the tool holder. No deviation at all (well as long as i dont heave on everything).

Close to the chuck it shows just a wiggle on the needle rotated the full 360. I set the chuck in a fixed position and set the dial to zero, I then moved the carriage as far to the right as i could and took another reading this was exactly 10.5inches away. Do you hate members that use metric and imperial? (sorry)

Lined chuck jaw 1 horizontal to the toolholder facing me as it would when cutting.

Jaw 1 zeroed at the chuck and reads -0.21mm @ 10.5" away

Middle of Jaws 1 --> 2 reads -0.26(8)

Jaw 2 reads -0.32

Middle of Jaws 2 --> 3 reads -0.32(5)

Jaw 3 reads -0.27

Middle of Jaws 3-->1 reads -0.20

These were taken with a ground steel bar and no tailstock, does this mean my headstock is not in alignment?

Apologies is this is meaningless, please show me the light

Thanks

I have some CCGT and CCMT because i tried grinding a HSS lathe bit once and it was poor. Not a very good finish in aluminium at all. I had slightly better success with a thread cutting tool. Probably harder to get that wrong with 2 30 degree grinds

The el-cheapo 7mm and 10mm boring bars from China are much better than anything i can make. Says a lot for me doesnt it. But to me they appear to be quite good and well made. None of the screws have given way yet either.