Member postings for Martin Shaw 1

Bill has unfortunately hit the nail on the head, it is by no means worth as much as we think it should be. It is a niche publication in a very small market, if you can get £100 for it, take it but it won't be quick. I suspect most individuals who want a copy have one already. This is a major problem with railway books and I'm afraid a lot of nice collections will go for next to nothing or less over the next 20 years. Most families and executors want rid of as quickly as poss, been there I'm sorry to say.

Martin

Edited By Martin Shaw 1 on 14/02/2023 18:29:18

This all ground to a halt after my last post. New dies were ordered from Rotagrip and despatched which was the last anyone has seen them, lost in a Royal Mail office somewhere. Obviously new ones weren't going to be sent until the claim period had expired and this coincided with the coldest spell since I've lived in this house. I could warm the attic workshop with warm air from below and turning the radiator upto full, the fuel bill didn't want to be thought about. As it was the replacement dies arrived on Saturday, meanwhile I had ordered various new threading equipment and consumables, I think I may have had a blind spot here as nothing of threading bits was really up to scratch, a decent set of BA taps and dies is due to be bought in the new year.

Having collected all the bits together a new stud blank was turned and duly offered up to the new die and with a prayer to Mr Whitworth, a thread was cut which joy of joys was perfect first time. Encouraged I turned it round and did the other end with the same success. I was so taken aback at the apparent ease that I did wonder why the last attempt was so abysmal, partly my technique which has undoubtedly benefited from the advice here but also I think the die especially was just plain faulty. Certainly Herr Volkel's products seem to work as you would expect and whilst perhaps more expensive than alternatives worth it for the lack of drama. Decent clean threads and not bent.

This all ties in with my oversize facemill thread to produce this, a fixed toolpost for a Multifix aa. It's not been without it's stresses but ultimately a nicely finished end result that works, can't say fairer than that.

Happy Christmas to you

Martin

Edited By Martin Shaw 1 on 20/12/2022 15:43:42

Most impressive and obviously a much larger machine so expectedly taking larger bites. I'm sorry you found my thread intemperate, having reread it I don't think it any more than some strongly held views, however my apologies if I've caused you or indeed any others upset.

Regards

Martin

Thanks Dave, I did what I wanted to do however a simple "well done" would have sufficed.

Jason I'm still waiting on the dies from Rotagrip which they posted 2 weeks ago, if they aren't here tomorrow they are going to resend them.

Regards

Martin

Well that went extremely well, no acrid smoke, no foundational tremors due to lack of rigidity, no rubbish surfaces due to insufficient power, and despite my trepidation as I entered the workshop this morning a rather enjoyable day all told. Starting with a 70mm sq by 40mm long piece of CI it has ended up 65mm by 69mm by 39mm high, which was by coincidence what I wanted. The 4 sides were done with a 5 insert 50mm cutter at 0.5mm DOC at 750rpm, the top and bottom with a 6 insert 80mm cutter at 0.3mm DOC at 700rpm. The swarf all came off as tight helical coils with very little dust which suggests the inserts were cutting well and absolutely no sign of stress on the machine.

It remains for me to extend my grateful thanks to everyone who contributed to the thread, especially Jason, the project moves forward a bit more. Now all I've left to do today is clear up the mess.

Kind regards

Martin

Edited By Martin Shaw 1 on 02/12/2022 16:49:49

Jason

I'm immensely grateful to you for having taken the time and trouble to try this all out, make a demo video and generally all but do it for me. The thread had led me to doubt whether I was doing the right thing however you have proved it will work, I just need to follow your guidance. I have received all the bits from ARC so it's down to me now.

Thanks

Martin

Ketan

Ordered from you on Tues lunchtime which arrived via DPD today at 6pm as advised and therefore expected. Previous consignments by RM from you haven't suffered delay, my order from Rotagrip was posted 1st class on the18th Nov and still isn't here. It does seem wholly variable according to area.

Regards

Martin

Well my simple question has produced yes, no, and maybe as answers which strikes me as contradictory. I do however respect the effort folks have gone to to give me the best possible understanding of what I'm wanting to do and how it may or may not work. If nothing else I now know better than I did. I'll give it a go and it will either go well or not. If it does I've won a watch, if not well I've bought an 80mm cutter for a yet as unknown reason.

Thanks you all

Martin

Andrew

I posted my statement before I had the helpful info from Jelly about the power available in Bridgeport machines. Now I know better I see where your coming from and how little I know, thank you. However compare that with Jason's posts which seem at least contradictory with yours and others stance, you will appreciate the difficulty of knowing whose right.

I have just had an email that tells me deliveries are going to be late this afternoon so probably no workshop time today.

Martin

Thank you Jelly, I do understand the relationship between DOC and diameter but all I'm doing is facing two sides of a block square so I doubt more than 20 thou needs to come off, it can take two or three passes to achieve that. I acknowledge I'm pushing the limits of the machine and ordinarily two or three smaller diameter cuts wouldn't matter, but the bits are ordered so I'm sort of committed. I didn't realise the Bridgeport had such a small motor, I am surprised.

Martin

Edited By Martin Shaw 1 on 30/11/2022 23:54:25

No the elephant hasn't sat on me at all. What you have done is taken my statement out of context to make a point and frankly if all a Bridgeport can handle is a 50mm face mill then somethings wrong. I bet my job turns out just fine, if not then I'll acknowledge you were right. I asked a simple question and even amongst the supposed experts there is a complete lack of concensus so it rather begs the original question.

Best wishes

Martin

Well some interesting comments today which haven't changed my mind. I can well understand following the flycutter route if low cost is a primary requirement, it isn't necessarily so in my case nor do I wish to spend time making tools to do something, they are a means to an end that I can either afford or not. I'm well into retirement so without wishing my life away it is necessarily finite and the application of finance to solve a problem will probably win over other considerations ,mostly.

I have had considerable success with face milling at 50mm dia, it works far better in time than a flycutter and if the machine is properly trammed the end result is on a par, certainly adequate for my needs. One of the most difficult lessons I have had to learn in many life aspects is that perfection is not achievable and rarely needed, it would appear that an 80mm face mill will do what I need.

Regards

Martin

Edited By Martin Shaw 1 on 30/11/2022 21:42:40

I'm rather confused, where has the idea of using one insert in a face mill arisen from, it could be likened to a fly cutter, but I haven't suggested that for this application either. Whatever since a 50mm mill with 4 inserts seems to work fine I can only assume an 80mm with 6 inserts will do just as well with lower feed and smaller DOC, as has been suggested.

Martin

Edited By Martin Shaw 1 on 29/11/2022 22:50:37

Thanks for all the thoughts chaps. I am going to follow Jason's lead, the end result will be displayed on here in due course. Bits ordered from Arc so probably do the job on Thursday. I have a flycutter which I've never got on particularly well with, probably my inability to grind bits well, or at all really, but I can get near mirror finishes in most materials so I've never bothered too much about learning. Shame on me I suppose but in all honesty I'm not too bothered really.

Regards

Martin

Thanks Jelly

I did a test with a 50mm cutter with 4 SNMX1206 inserts, 480rpm and a DOC of 0.25mm and a fairly slow feed, and it provided a decent finish. I have block of CI 70mm sq by 40mm high. Two sides and the top and bottom just need facing off, the other two sides need 2.5 mm taken off so I reckon I could get away with a 63mm dia cutter which it seems would be closer to the machines capability. I have never minded buying tooling for a specific job but all but £100 to face a block seems a tad expensive.

Thanks

Martin

I'm after an opinion, I have a SX2.7 which swings a 50mm 4 insert face mill without any bother and gives a decent finish in steel and cast iron, so I think it's not stressing anything. Does the panel think it would take an 80mm 5 insert face mill comfortably? I believe Jason has one this size but thoughts are always useful. I know 63mm is available but I need to face a 70mm block and the finish invariably looks better if it can be done in one pass.

Regards

Martin

Edited By Martin Shaw 1 on 28/11/2022 22:22:34

There's hardly a sign that they ever made steel in Ravenscraig either, nothing to nothing in my lifetime.

Sounds like it might be a 1/4 turn plug cock. Age will determine whether anything is available commercially but I would suggest that it's not recent. When I was working I came across them occasionally as the drain valve for a hot water cylinder and not really suited for high pressure applications, i.e mains water.

Martin

I've just bough an aa set from Rotagrip with 4 toolholders and they were wiling to swap the v groove for a standard one for £340. Aliexpress obviously have a number of vendors but the same thing from them would cost me £340. So no great price saving there and perhaps a lot more security and peace of mind dealing with a well established company in Birmingham. Having said that I've no doubt you would get what you order from Aliexpress 99% of the time, sorting out the 1% would lose you the will to live. Interestingly they are not exactly the same, mine has a circlip at the top, the Aliex one has an expanding metal band.

Regards

Martin

Todays update, I have bought a new 1" Volkel die from Rotagrip and a new, reputedly drop forged steel, Volkel die stock from another supplier. This is possibly over the top, it certainly wasn't cheap, for what I'm trying to achieve, but I can't see any point in persevering with probably damaged die and stock. It was approaching the point where the workshop wall was going to get dented. I'll see what happens when the new bits arrive, I now have a far better understanding than I did three days ago, thanks all.

Regards

Martin