Member postings for larry Phelan

It is written,or if not,it should be------------------THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HANDY JOB !!!

To the member who remarked on the 5hp motor blowing his fuses, I,m not surprised !

5hp single phase motors take quite a kick to get them moving,it,s a wonder the meter did not jump off the wall !

I bet your nabours loved you when you switched on that baby ! I never knew that those machines used such big motors.,but then,we were just told how to use them and not ask too many questions,so we never looked at the motors.

Bob,please let us know when you get it up and running.

I used 2x2 box tubing for my LUX mill stand. It,s easy to work with,is strong and looks well. Angle iron can be messy,and never looks as well.

Dont forget to fit drawers,otherwise it,s a dead loss.

That tempered hardboard was indeed around,years ago and was ideal for bench covering,and for many other things.

Is it still made ? have not seen or heard or heard of it for a long time. Was great for making templates,something like MDF. Worth looking for.

Never came across these machines before,but they look like a fairly solid job,no gimmicks.

Might be offered later on as "JUNK"

Looks like the jeans kids were these days, more missing than present !!

Seems to be a case of "Pot Luck" when it comes to carriers.During two house moves [never again ! ],I moved my Craftsman lathe and my Lux mill,pillar drill,saws,planer,spindle moulder,ect,in my Hi ace van,with the help of two friends. With the lathe stand removed we were able to get it up a flight of steps and into the van,intact. Same with the mill.Took a few runs,but nothing was damaged,or lost.

I believe it,s better to hire a van,or flat bed truck,round up a few friends and do it yourself [fill them with drink afterwards,not before ] That way,you can have some control over the move.

Unless these people are experienced in handling machinery, they are best left alone. They may not understand how easy it is to ruin a good machine.

Things like that make me SICK-SICK-SICK !!!

Sue them,they should have known what they were dealing with,that,s their job.

You could be right Norman,I think a lot of those machines may have ended up in Taiwan,since much of the stuff coming back from there has the old Whitward threads.

There must have been thousands of these machines made,yet spares for them are hard to come by.

Same thing with the wheels from the Mini,s,very hard to find,and so very useful.

It appears that when these machines had earned their keep,they were just dumped. In many cases the firms simply closed down [Maggy T ?] and everything was dumped,I think they call it "Progress".

Hi Robjon,

I hope your new knee works out well for you.I had the same job done over a year ago and it never worked out.

No better now than it was before,despite doing everything I was supposed to do. Seems like "you win some,you lose some",however,I still keep plugging away. Be careful about dropping things on the workshop floor,you might not be able to get down to look for them ! How do I know ?

Looks like not only the machines are in rag order !! and spares for both are hard to find !

Yes,they are useful,the only problem I found with them,is that the clamp tends to compress the bearing and this prevents the spindle from running smooth. Still,for the price,they are handy to have.

I second that !!

Some body mentioned White vinegar, well worth a try,worked for me and it,s also great for cleaning the tiles in showers !! Try it !!

4mm would be high on my list to begin with. Maybe I,m missing something here ?.

Hi Richard N,

Yes,something along those lines but bigger. Would be thinking about a table around 18" square with a long fence..

Still thinking !!

Hi Martin,

I do have a vertical bandsaw,bought years ago for woodwork,and I have used it to cut sheet steel,from time to time. I just dont like the idea of getting metal chips embedded in the rubber tires of the wheels [very difficult to remove them ]

I was thinking more along the lines of a circular saw,as used for woodwork [not a chopsaw ],perhaps running at a lower speed. I have cut Ali sheet on my benchsaw,so that,s what set me thinking.I know that the speed of my saw is much too fast,so perhaps a slower running machine ? I have never seen any such machine so I suspect it,s a non-starter.

These are the kind of things which keep us busy !

Like Daveb,I too made a table for my saw,in order to cut some sheet steel. I was not impressed by either the speed or the ease of the operation. I considered it to be dangerous,even with the bigger table,so I never bothered with it again.

Has anyone ever made a saw bench type cutter,using a metal cutting blade,at a slower speed,I should think?

Just a thought !

Should read if I have a friend over to visit !

Old age is a curse !!

To answer the question,"Are they effective" ? The answer must be yes. Are they expensive ? That depends on how much it would to get a 3 phase supply [unless it passes by your door,dont even ask !]

It,s a case of,how long is a piece of string ?. If you have a number of machines to operate,a good sized converter is the way to go,just set it up and forget about plugging in this and unplugging that,and messing around trying to balance loads. I have a 10HP unit and I just switch on whatever I need to use,sometimes two or more,if I have over to visit.

Buy a fair sized unit and I doubt if you will regret it.

Good luck.

Larry.