Member postings for Phil S

If you go for solar pv on the roof you might be wise to ensure birds cannot get underneath. Several houses nearby have had panels for years without problems. Then about two years ago the local pigeons started nesting beneath two of them. One had scaffolding up to clean and fix netting, the other has clumps of twigs blocking the gutters. Suspect the scaffolding cost will have badly dented any savings.

The fastening screws for the 1604 size inserts are 4mm whereas the 1003 inserts are 2.5mm. Does anyone else feel that the smaller size might be fine for lathe tools but is pushing the envelope a little too far for milling inserts under heavy intermittent loads ?

Dave

Sent you a PM.

Phil

Thought I would brave the cold today and do some milling. At the end of the first light pass I realised the bearings were making an unusual noise. Popped the drive belt off and double checked it was not the motor and had a feel of the main bearings. Generally felt ok but once or twice the normal drag was briefly much reduced. Began to wonder if it was too cold at 3C for the grease and the rollers were just sliding. Filled a four pint milk bottle with hot water and placed it under the head. Wrapped the whole lot up in a sheet. After an hour it was 8C at the top of the quill and 13C at the bottom. Ran up slowly to full speed and the sound was back to normal. Not sure I would have noticed the sound change if it had been a geared head though.

Hello all. I bought some 25x6mm ground finish gauge plate and reduced a 140mm length to 21x6mm. It is now curved (3 thou hollow) worse towards the edge that was milled off. I had expected that it would have been annealed sufficiently to avoid this. Am I being over optimistic or am I justified in berating the supplier?

Second issue is can I save it, since there are a quantity of small tapped holes which took time to do and I would rather not have to repeat. I could scrape it flat but don’t want that finish. Considering heating to red and cooling slowly in the hope it might relax. Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Simon, pm sent.

Regards Phil

Many thanks to Bill Phinn and Thor for the suggestion of a fire resistant blanket to keep the wind off. Found one with plenty of eyelets so will be easy to hang up as a three sided enclosure.

About fourteen months ago I purchased a new 6 inch M&W square to replace the thirty year old, worn out one that hangs over the bench. For a reason now forgotten I did not do the exchange, but put it back in the box and put the box on the shelf. In haste I failed to fully enclose the square inside the brown paper liner. The photo shows deep pitting, the result of letting the cardboard lid touch the metal and was taken after I had cleaned off the thick layer of rust which could not of been worse even if I had left the item at the seaside. The box was in a dry garage and I routinely keep items in their original packaging without a problem. I note that the brown liner paper was not the usual oiled type but has a plastic layer fused to the outside. If anyone out there has M&W items in similar packaging they might wish to review the arrangement.

Edited By Phil S on 10/04/2022 23:16:28

If silver soldering outdoors, because the Sievert 2943 (43kw) burner is too big to safely use in the garage what is the best way of keeping the wind off? A few seconds of breeze can take away a lot of heat. The options I can think of are either wait for a really calm day, get something like a metal rabbit hutch without a front or a small metal shed and stand just outside the door. What do others find effective ?

+1 for keeping tanks if you have them already. If there is a hot water tank with immersion heater then you still have hot water if the boiler fails. The airing cupboard has other uses such as setting adhesive, hardening paint and storing joinery biscuits.

Providing the cables are dead then this is most likely a tidy up of surplus cables. I have seen a similar arrangement in the garage of a house that was for sale where it was the original builders show house and sales office. Thus there were redundant phone lines and armoured cables to exterior signage all long gone. The lack of paint around the outside of the box and on the cables might fit with this theory. Best just check for mains voltage with a known good neon tester on the terminals. If dead put the lid back on and forget it. If any live, you will need an electrician. If not confident about using a neon tester take no risks and ask an electrician.

Fixed mine (for upright storage) with a green fibre central heating pump washer.

I had a problem buying a few dining knives recently on a buy it now. The problem did not show up until I tried to pay. Solved by getting buyer to modify the listing leaving out the offending word. A suitable m1sspelling might also work.

Thank you for your replies. I would agree in many cases feeding in using only the cross slide is fine. However as I see it using the topslide maximises the unsupported length of thread that can be cut without chatter. The force from the deformation of the v shaped chip from cutting on both flanks is considerably more than double the force from cutting an almost flat chip from one flank for the same depth of cut. Also the tool can have some top rake to the leading flank again reducing the cutting forces. As for my original question, by estimation of dimensions I believe the answer is there is a clash for older WM180s and clearance for newer models, but only just ! If anyone with a WM180 can confirm here or by PM I would be grateful.

Edited By Phil S on 25/04/2021 19:14:11

I have screwcut BA threads on a mini lathe with the topslide set at 23.75 degrees so the tool cuts on one side only. As shown in the image the cross slide handle then just clears the topslide when the toolpost is in a good position for screwcutting. My question is can this be done on a WM180 or does the cross slide handle foul the topslide ? There may be two answers as I believe the cross slide handle and topslide positions changed on the later version of the WM180.

Edited By Phil S on 21/04/2021 11:41:17

Edited By Phil S on 21/04/2021 11:43:42

I have an old one of this type and the strip is magnetic and appears galvanised but is very soft. It is 90mm long 5mm wide 0.5mm thick. There is a thin strip of soft foam on the inside of the filter layer (directly under the metal strip) rather like a very soft door draught seal. Used to use them at work but only for a few minutes at a time. Been wearing it shopping and it gets very uncomfortable after twenty minutes. Huge respect for NHS staff wearing them all day.

I was due an MOT next week and was relieved when the six month grace was announced as my garage (an independent) had advised that they were having difficulty getting parts to effect repairs in the event of a fail. At worst this could have resulted in an unusable vehicle returned home on trade plates. They further advised booking the next test as soon as possible as there will be a huge demand for test slots in six months time.

Edited By Phil S on 28/03/2020 22:40:17

I have had an issue with a 90mm Type 2 milling vice damaging the table. This is a very accurate vice with good capacity. Mine however has caught me out twice now through the tightening bolt touching the table and causing crescent shaped dents.

After the first time I chamfered the bolt end slightly, which did not take any thread away but just removed the ragged end. I checked this provided enough clearance or at least I thought it would. I flagged the issue to Arc who replied that they had no issues reported and would not take action until they had three reports.

Having used the vice for a while longer it has now bitten the table a second time. I can only presume some wear or bedding in has used up the clearance. Any shortening of the bolt may require remaking the nut with more thread on the upper side and shortening the spring. I could have avoided both events if I had positioned the nut in the next groove, however keeping track of where you are in the available travel at each nut position is difficult as the nut is hidden and the change in key angle is small.

Has anyone else had this issue ?

(On both occasions I am quite sure the nut was properly located in a groove)

I would avoid the fixed speed types. My 1/4" typically runs at around one third to half of full speed. Any faster and the cut edge is burnt.

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William Findlay's premises, Newcastle upon Tyne. The foot of "Dog Leap Stairs" are to the left.