Member postings for Jon Cameron

Sorry Michael missed your post.

Is metalworker a brand name to another company? I have never heard of this Bellmex company.

ok thanks Neil, So its a chester mini lathe then.

Is it easy to change that to a quick release such as using a nut with a handle attached, similar to the toolpost. or is it better to look at redesigning and make a camlock type?

As i said i'm doing my research, I found a wonderful website which the link is on my phone, which shows a lot of the mods that can be done with these lathes. Will post the link later on.

Once i have my hands on it i will be checking for wear and making any minor improvements to the bed. I have seen these turned into nice capable machines, which would be a benefit. As the ML4 is definately on last legs before some major refit is required.

Edited By Jon Cameron on 10/04/2018 13:40:19

Hi Neil, I'll ask if the cover has a "C" in the castle on the front electronics box, as that seems to be the only desernable difference. The tailstock design is different have these changed much over time?

I dont know if i can get another photo, feel cheeky to ask since its all for nowt. All I've been told is that the board says 2335. When I have a Google it sends me to arc Euro for a C3 lathe. After not getting a definative answer by googling all I can surmise is that the board is the same as the C3 but just wanted to double check if someone knew for certain on here.

Neither do I in its current state.

Clarke lathes seem to be yellow. So i think hes correct on it been a clark.

The sorry looking state of the lathe.

Edited By Jon Cameron on 10/04/2018 08:34:26

I recently did a test cut having left my lathe all winter in the dark shed. (She was tucked up). I was 2thou out. Will adjust one of the feet my ML4 is setup on and hopefully get it a little closer, the tenth of a thou is approxmate I can only measure 1thou with my dial indicator.

Electricity to generate steam is not a new concept, the issue as already been mentioned to shoehorn some battery packs into the loco or tender, you will still require the tender for water but I think that the flash steam boiler may be the better way to proceed. It has been used in model boats before and releases a huge amount of power.

On the other end of the scale wasn't there a steam turbine loco trialed by one of the big four? Unfortunately this was a bit of a flop, but on a smaller scale, combined with the flash boiler and electric power could be an interesting model engineering concept. (Though the more learned amongst you all will no doubt rubbish thia idea for the same reason as the full scale turbine engine was a flop. Electrically generated steam turbine loco....... will be interested to see what if anything comes of this conversion discussed. Unfortunately the engineers of the hayday of steam had years to perfect the design, from the Rocket to engines like Mallard and everything in between, even fireless steam engines. All proving more efficient in their steam making capabilities.

Good luck and I'll be reading replies to this thread.

Edited By Jon Cameron on 03/03/2018 17:35:42

It looks like an alignment issue, where the crank pins, or coupling rods have been pulling the axle on one side to form the oval wear pattern. Ive had similar in the past where the forces on an axle were pullung down on one side, meaning the axle bearing the opposite side wanted to lift, over time it wears the bearing.

If the wheels were correctly quartered then I'd say it was the coupling rods, wheels, or crank pins that are at fault, and they should be inspected next to make sure there' no wear on them of the same.

I may be wrong, but I've seen it happen before, and now means I have to replace some bronze bearings myself.

I think some citric acid will no doubt be the way to go, there' a lot of issues which need addressing, but the headstock is still intact for now. Though may be stripped for new bearings. But that's another thread.

Bill I tried your method by the way, this took less than 5mins.

Edited By Jon Cameron on 01/03/2018 20:34:20

Thanks for your replies, I have just had a read through the link that Oldiron posted. Lots of interesting ideas including using potatoes, not the first time I've heard of the humble potato been used in machining, the other use is for tempering tooling. So thanks for that one.

Mike, thanks I was wondering about whether id be making a rod for my own back.

Bill, My partners used foil for cleaning battery terminals, when they are corroded so Ill look at that on a spare handle I have before I go further onto doing it to the rest of my lathe handles. I can see that coke/acid been a bit of an issue on the lathe though, I was wanting to avoid any strong chemicals, (I have a two year old in the house and four other kids that stay over weekends), so these household methods are intriguing.

Jon

I want to clean the surface rust from the handles and gears and mating surfaces on my lathe, the rust isn't horrible orange colour, but as I plan to strip the lathe down for a clean, I was wondering about cleaning the dark brown surface rust from parts like the handles, to make them look a little nicer.

I'm wondering the best way to go about this, and the methods that come to mind are...

1. buffing wheels, and some polishing paste

2. fine wet and dry paper and oil

3. wire wool, then scotch bright pads in various grades.

Which do you think will be the best solution to give a long lasting finish that doesn't damage the metal under the rust. I have read the myford user manual and that states that there may be a fine rust that appears on the surface but this should not be detrimental to the machine, however I would much prefer not to be taking pic's of rust when photographing parts that i'm making.

Whats the methods you would use?