Member postings for Pete Rimmer

Ironically a damaged edge might not even affect that plate's certification grade since the specification allows for a border area of 2mm per 100mm length of the shortest side (up to a maximum of 20mm), if it was in a condition to achieve one which that one isn't. Being a 300mm sqare plate it could have damage extending inwards up to 6mm and still be certified so long as the damage caused no high spot.

Anyway, that plate looks like it's been heavily rusted then dumped too long in citric acid and it's grown a skin. A flat anvil is all it's good for, unless you could get it planed.

First, establish that you have a problem. Put your fly cutter in and see if it runs true or not, but make sure the slot isnt aligned with the pin hole or any burr might fall into the slot and mask the problem.

If you think there is a burr around the pin hole then yit should show up as a shiny spot. You might also try using a magic marker to black the shaft of your flycutter and then the burr will leave a shiny scratch on that.

If you fid that you do have a burr, use your dremel and remove the smallest amount possible to createa low spot instead of a hump. Don't try to chuck it up and turn it, it will almost certainly make things worse.

If you remove the alignment pin and fit a collet without one, does it run true then? If not, it's probably the inside of the quill that is burred from when the pin was damaged. I would die-grind a very slight low spot at the pin exit.

Smart move I say. One thing you never want to do is fit a grinding wheel onto a spindle/arbor that it's a tight fit onto. I turned an arbor once for a wheel and it was a fairly snug, but not terribly tight fit. It (the wheel) broke whilst I was fitting it. A very scary lesson learned way back, I was shocked at the ease which the wheel shattered.

Ok so you're not far away. I can certainly spare a couple of hours tuition but not today, perhaps next weekend.

Looks a lot better now. Turn your speed right down Jack and use more weight if the machine will stand for it. You want a gap between the scrapes equal to the width of the scrape at least, and the same for the ends if you hope to achieve a points pattern. Only when roughing a lot of material down do you want the scrapes joined up, if you do that when trying to achieve a flat plane you'll just keep moving the contact points about the place without achieving your goal.

Switch directions every pass to cross the scrapes across each other and stop you ploughing furrows.

Doing well there keep it up. If you are nearby me in Kent I could give up a couple of hours that would work wonders for you.

A 40:1 table will work for all basic 40:1 dividing heads in terms of the mathematics. What matters is whether you have the appropriate hole count in your plate selection. Even if you don't you can easily make one by printing a paper template of your hole pattern onto a disc, centre-punching the pooints and drilling them free-hand. Any error will be divided by 40.

Jack I watched your video. First off your blade is blunt. If you push it gently across your thumbnail and it doesn't easliy shave a thin layer of nail, it's not sharp. Your stroke is OK for roughing but not anything finer. Your blade could do with being somewhat shorter for better control and with a bit more spring, it looks a bit on the stiff side. And you could do with a bit more radius on the end.

It's a good start though I'm sure you'll find it useful.

HPC only do 20 degree gears and that colchester probably uses 14.5 degree gears.

Hi Jack,

On a Biax the blade does not point forward in the direction of reciprocation, it's angled down at some 15-20 degrees. I can measure it of you like. There is also a rubber wedge block under the blade to give it some cushion.

You'll find that 10mm is quite a long stroke. It will do for roughing but you'll want it much shorter for finishing work.

You got a lot of nice stuff there Stephie. It might be well worth your while selling stuff off individually even if it does require a bit of effort.

Hi Stephie,

Sorry to hear about your father's passing. I can still remember having to clear my father's workshop and sell stuff to help pay funeral costs. More than a decade has passed and still I miss him sometimes.

People who clear workshops will offer you a small percentage of the resale value - very small sometiemes depending on the work involved and access but they will (should) clear away every last bit including the junk and take away the bother (and trauma) of having to deal with it yourself. Plainly put, if your father's equipment is worth a few thousand then you can expect a few hundred from a clearance specialist. They run a business and have costs (and profit) to consider.

To get the most money you will need to put in a lot of hours. People like some of the good folks here will help you with valuations or you can check out ebay completed sales but as an individual, and knowing nothing about the equipment, you should not underestimate the time and effort involved in trying to sell it off individually.and then you'll have the mess to clear up at the end (at £300+ for a skip). You will also not know the value of some smaller items which could possibly be equal or greater than the larger ones.

If you still need valuations of some of the equipment, post some pics up.

If not knowing bother you greatly take it down to a scrappy and offer them a drink to hit it with their xrf gun, if it will work on something that small. The gun will give you the composition percentages.

I would fit the DRO on the tailstock side for sure, too muc going on att he chuck side. I fitted on eon my Monarch and was also concerned about the tailstock fouling the scale but I got over this by using a stop bolt which stopped the tailstock just short of striking the DRO scale or reader.

Since you have to allow for the odd shaped cross slide, the lock screw for the compound and the gib adjusters I would use a couple of stand-offs to mount the scale and use a cut-down key to make any adjustments. You may have to do what I did and drill/tap for jacking screws for the reader head mount if your casting is not flat enough to keep it all square.

You WILL lose some travel and tailstock motion doing this though, no getting around that but you can reduce the penalty by fitting a slim scale, or look into perhaps fitting a magnetic strip scale and reader on the underside like they do for the Myford 7. The DRO more than makes up for this for me I would not be without it. Mine also has a taper function which you can use not only to measure a taper but to dial in your attachment for cutting them.

I have a 35DP hob in 20PA

OD for 35DP 14 tooth is 0.467" (non-modified addendum) only 10 thou smaller your measurement. 36DP is 0.444, 23 thou smaller.

Hi Peter,

The figures could indeed indicate a 36DP gear. They do not align exactly with the traditional calculation of (n+2)/OD nor to the long-addendum adjustment factor od OD x 1.122 for hobbing a 14 tooth 36DP gear.

Do you have access to the same measurement figures for the mating gear?

EDIT: actually a 14 tooth gear of .400" PCD works out exactly 35DP.

Edited By Pete Rimmer on 20/07/2023 18:16:42

Those TOS machines are Czech-made, and the machine for 'making grooves' is a gear hobber for making straight and bevel gears.

Shame to see three such hobbers go to scrap, you probably would not be able to replace those today.

Edited By Pete Rimmer on 17/07/2023 23:57:11

That floor material should have been mixed with a slow speed paddle mixer then rolled out with a spiky roller. Then it would have had no bubbles.

Out of balance wheels are more often out of true wheels. The biggest culprit is the cheapo pressed side plates that clamp them, coupled with over-tightning.

Turn a pair of thicker plates for clamping the wheels and they will run more true.

Matthew the 21T gear would have been fitted by your father for the cutting of metric threads, so keep it handy.