Member postings for Martin Cargill

I'm guessing that the reverse lever (the red knob) is there to reverse the direction of the feed shaft by introducing an extra gear into the train, it wont reverse the direction of the main spindle. On my Viceroy (a similar machine) you have to reverse the feed shaft in order to use the saddle and cross slide in their normal dirctions.

On the viceroy there is a separate lever for locking the main spindle to remove the chuck, looking at the photo you have provided it may be that the red knob is doing this job as well and it may have three positions - Forward, Reverse and Spindle Lock. look for a pin that's engaging in the holes that can be seen in the main spindle.

P.s.

I just had a look on youtube - there is a video showing the controls on a boxford lathe, don't know if its the same as yours but its worth having a look   

Edited By Martin Cargill on 18/04/2020 14:47:07

Edited By Martin Cargill on 18/04/2020 15:00:49

For drilling steel diesel fuel oil makes a good lubricant, and at the present time it is cheaper than it has been for some time. Be careful not to let it remain on your skin though as it can cause dermatitis

Regarding Fresh meat. Part of my job is servicing woodworking machines. Some years ago I was working in the Shetland Isles servicing all of the school machines. At one school the teacher asked if it was ok to use the bandsaw before we serviced it, we said it was ok as we had other machines to do first. The teacher disappeared out to his car and returned with about half a frozen cow which he then proceeded to cut up into meal sized chunks. Servicing the machine afterwards revealed it to be full of "mince".....

Hopper

Some good comments and guidance in your post.

One thing that I have used but nobody has mentioned, is to make the part that you are threading too long and then reduce the end of the piece to the root diameter of the thread for the thickness of the die being used. Chamfer the step from the root diameter going back up to the tapping size. This reduced portion will provide the die with alignment while starting to cut the thread and can be cut off after the threading operation is finished. Care still needs to be taken to ensure that the die is square to the workpiece as the thickness of a die does not guarantee perfect alignment using this method.

Martin

A couple of years ago I was in the workshop swapping air fittings between tools, because I didn't have enough QR fittings to go around. I identified the fittings I needed but then discovered that the PCL type fittings (as used in most industrial garages etc) were far cheaper than the type I was using, so much cheaper that it was more cost effective to replace all of the fittings in my workshop (about 15 air tools etc) instead of buying the small handful that I needed.

Martin

Reading this thread I noticed the comments regarding a modified drill bit. For thin materials a small piece of rag folded up and put under the tip of a standard drill will produce much better results than using the drill alone.

Martin

Clive,

Many thanks for the information. I had tried a few Google searches but they mostly turned up machines that were (or had been) being auctioned, I never thought of looking at youtube for info.

My machine has only the basic clamp arrangement that is fitted early on in the videos, and even then its missing the screws and the clamp bars, although it won't take long to make a set.

Having seen the collets and the indexable spindle that was shown I now have a plan forming to use my MT3 ER32 chuck and a few other bits along with square and hexagonal blocks to make a tool holder that will allow me to sharpen 2,3,4 and even 6 sided tools.

Just need to get on and do it now......

Thanks again

Martin

P.S. If anyone has a manual for the machine I'd still love to have a copy.

Edited By Martin Cargill on 16/02/2020 11:18:30

I have just purchased on of these machines with the intention of using it for sharpening milling cutters and drills. I managed to get it for just £40. I can see how to use it, but, to help things on their way does anyone have a manual for this machine and can anyone offer any tips or suggestions as to its use and/or any suggestions for accessories or fittings that will improve its "usability".

Thanks

Martin

If the piston area is 1 square inch then it will generate 80 pounds of force when 80 psi is applied to the cylinder. The rod end will generate the same force minus the cross sectional area of the piston rod.

The type of construction of the cylinder does not make much difference, the type with a round body are normally steel with alloy ends crimped into the cylinder, they tend to have an end that has a mounting flag with a single hole. The ones with tie rods tend to have a flat end and the mounting bracket is a separate part (purchased separately).

If it is going to be a problem that the cylinder will slam out to the end of the stroke after the cut, then try to get cylinders with damping built into them - they have a small(adjustable) section at the end of the ram that slows the motion at the end of the stroke.

Regarding the size of the rams you need I would be tempted to go oversize on the diameter - Its easy to reduce the pressure and therefore the force, but not so easy to go the other way...

For control you need an air valve that will allow the operating air to escape during the return stroke otherwise the springs will not be able to pull the cylinders back to the start position i.e. not just a simple on/off valve.

Martin

Noel, you may want to check if your calculator is working correctly. A 20mm bore cylinder operating at 80 psi will generate 49 pounds of force, a 32 mm one will generate 127 pounds of force. This assumes you are using the side of the cylinder that does not have the rod in it, the side with the rod will be less powerful.

Using air cylinders for this type of operation is difficult, they never operate as a pair, one always tends to lead the other no matter how hard you try to regulate air flows etc and in air systems you need to regulate the air exiting from the other side of the cylinder, not the air going into the cylinder.

David's suggestion of using an air over oil system is a better idea but it tends to be messy to set up and modern air components don't like to be in contact with oil - it tends to destroy the seals. I used to look after an air/oil system on a machine that cut the sides for coffins, we had to replace all of the valves every two or three years because they would begin to leak, in addition we found that push-in type air fittings would weep a tiny bit of oil every time the air (oil) pressure reduced to atmospheric, We has to pipe the system with copper pipe and compression fittings to stop the oil leaks.

Martin

Edited By Martin Cargill on 12/01/2020 15:11:14

I made a similar set up for my Victoria mill. A £6 submersible 12 volt pump, a £6 240/12 volt power supply and two of those £1 coolant flexibles (complete with a valve on each). The pump lives in the sump of the mill, its been down there for two years now and still runs quite happily living in the soluble oil/water mix. I put a fine mesh filter on the inlet to the pump to stop it from trying to eat swarf. The outlet is a piece of 13mm bore flexible pipe feeding a "T" piece and the two cheap coolant pipes are screwed into this. The "T" piece is mounted o an "L" shaped bracket that has two strong magnets screwed to it, allowing me to stick the nozzles to the vice or the machine bed, to suit the work being undertaken at the time.

The only problem that I have is that the coolant pipes, and their valves tend to leak a bit, but I can cope with that, considering the price I paid for them.

The small pump (its about the size of a matchbox) copes with a head of about a metre and still produces enough flow to power the two nozzles and give a jet about a foot long from each of them.

Martin

For a machine we looked after we used a straight knurl on the shank of a 12mm socket head cap screw and machined the hex socket part off, leaving only a small part of the bolt head. The screws were then pulled into a tight fitting hole in the holding part using a 12mm nut and washers. They worked pretty well and were only ever removed (by punching the bolt out) if the screw snapped during use.

Martin

Steven

I'm sure you are well aware but a couple of points re your installation.

Make sure your control pod mounting is well away from the rotating parts. There have been a number of accidents where people have reached over moving lathes...

You might want to consider a kick stop. If you have a hand or clothing caught you can't reach a normal emergency stop.....

Martin

Lynne

A couple of comments on your project

First thing to check is to ensure that the motor you have will run at 220 volts 3 phase. (Inverters that step up the voltage to 415 tend to be expensive).

As you are using the inverter for a single motor it's worth setting up the DC braking. But set it up with the heaviest tool that you have. It will stop the smaller tools a bit quicker so make sure that it doesn't stop them too quickly (as its only 0.55kw I can't see you running huge tooling).

Its best not to have an emergency stop in the incoming power feed. Hitting this will kill the power to the inverter and will prevent the ramp down and the DC injection from working. In an emergency you may extend the stopping time above normal rather than slowing it quicker (we have this conflict when fitting DC brakes in schools etc where they have an emergency stop ring for the whole room). The chances of you having a need to use the emergency stop and an inverter fault happening at the same time are remote but if it makes you feel happier fit an accessible isolator switch into the incoming power feed. I would make sure that the stop circuit and the emergency stop circuit use normally closed contacts to operate - I have seen a couple of inverters that, by default use normally open contacts, I don't like to use these as a broken or loose wire can prevent them from operating.

John

I would normally only have one braking system on a machine. I don't like there being two, some of the machines I work on would become dangerous if they are stopped too quickly. The obvious one being Resaws (big bandsaws with power feeds and 3"-6" wide blades) where the blade could be attempting to stop the top wheel too quickly and it could crack/snap). Electromechanical brakes are normally fed from the motor terminals and they would probably object to the variable frequency being fed into their rectifier.

Martin

A few thoughts and comments about braking on machines.

ElectroMagnetic brakes are normally built into the end of the drive motor. They are normally wired into the power supply for the motor and therefore release and are applied by the motor being turned on or off (the exclusion to this is machines that need to be able to release the brake without the motor running). They work well but they require adjustment from time to time and they do wear out as they use a friction lining (similar to that on a cars brakes)

DC brakes can be stand alone or part of an inverter drive. These are reliable and don't require any adjustment once set up. They don't like differing loads and may struggle with the difference in light and heavy work pieces. Some incorporate standstill detection and these cope better with varying loads. Differing loads may cause a problem if you have one inverter that you use to drive different machines. Inverter ramp down can be as effective as a DC brake.

Regenerative braking is most commonly found incorporated into inverter drives and is not commonly used on machines, as it requires braking resistors.

Solenoid brakes and air operated brakes need the addition of a brake disc or drum to the drive components (and possibly a compressed air supply).

Plugging is also a way of stopping machines (normally industrial 3 phase machines) and involves stopping the machine by briefly reversing the motor. Its not for the faint hearted.....

If you are considering adding braking, as has been mentioned earlier, be careful of chucks, saw blades etc that have a screw thread as they may unscrew themselves during braking.

Some of the comments I have outlined are a bit general as I have tried to keep this post brief. I work in the woodworking industry and have fitted hundreds if not thousands of machines with brakes (to meet the modern braking regulations for ww machines), differing machines require consideration as to the type of brake that they need to operate safely.

One more important point to consider is that many braking systems now fitted to wood machines have to bring them to a halt in 10 seconds. In the case of a wood machine accident the "damage" to an operator has happened before anyone can react - the braking systems are more for the safety of the next operator walking up to a machine that is (unknown to him/her) still spinning despite having been switched off by the previous operator.

If the motor sounds like its rotating then it probably is. Check the belt to see if its snapped or has come off. Check the pulleys to make sure that they are properly attached to their shafts and are not spinning on them. Many small pulleys use a grub screw to secure them to the shaft, make sure that they have not come loose.

In our workshop we have a Startrite FG2 pillar drill. It's one of the more serious drills with a two speed motor and about 10 gears, selected by a rotary handle at the top of the drill. Yesterday the drill decided that after being used with a 1" drill at 80 rpm it would not change gear to allow the higher speeds to be used. The speed control handle will rotate but the internal gears don't change.

Has anyone had this problem before. We have a parts drawing for the drill head but it looks quite complex and a little knowledge may prevent us from stripping a lot of stuff that we don't need to.

Thanks

Martin

On the last series of Citroen Berlingo vans there was a recall to fit a shield around the bottom of the front springs to stop them puncturing tyres when the spring let go. One must assume that springs breaking must be high on the failure list if they went as far as a recall.....

Martin

I used a few chucks mounted on faceplates when I had my student. I didn't bother turning the faceplates down as they were far enough out of the way as not to cause problems. I simply drilled and tapped the back of the chucks to match the faceplate slots.

One trick that nobody has mentioned is to make the piece you are threading slightly too long (too long by the thickness of the die). Then turn this section down to the root diameter of the thread being cut. This acts as a guide for holding the die straight when starting to cut the thread. It works when cutting threads in the vice as well. When your finished just cut the extra piece off.

MC