Member postings for Oldiron

Tried to fit a new tap on one of the water butts in the garden. Lo & behold the taps I had were all 1/2" and the old tap was 3/4". So had a bit of time on the lathe making a reducing bush. Made it an 1" longer that a standard bush to push the tap a bit further away from the butt. I made it so it had a decent flange on it so the rubber washer did not squeeze out when tightened. A bit of turning, drilling, boring and internal and external single point threading. Lucky that the flanged nut I took off the old tap was reusable so that saved me a bit of time.

SHMBO is gonna be pleased when she comes home and gets the watering can out. Must be some brownie points there. All in all a good day.

If you use Google or most common search engines they will search for any or every term in your search wording. They also target you with ads that are loosely related to your search terms. So "mill, drill, milling engineering etc" returns searches on earth moving, cereals etc. These sites are not searching you out, you are inviting them in every time you do a search. The only way you or anyone else can stop it is by not searching online. To get malware on your machine you almost always have to click a link within an email or a website. Navigating through the fields on any decent website is highly unlikely to leave you open to a virus or malware. Unless you search dubious sites you are mostly pretty safe. Make sure you use Malwarebytes or similar and a good antivirus on every device you use online. Even enabling Windows Defender is pretty good now. They will warn you if the site is bad or you try to download a threat.

regards

I am not familiar with your lathe but this seems to be an awful lot of stick out unsupported to turn work or even use a test bar. What taper do you have in the spindle and are you using adaptors to mount the test bar? I would say that most times the head stock is not the problem as they usually have some form of locating wedge/pins etc. As the head stock was so difficult to move I cannot imagine it being that far out of true. Could be dirt in the spindle bore or dodgey reducing adaptor for the test bar. As Neil said, if you have moved the headstock it could now be out of position.

regards

It may be worth contacting Axminster Tool & Machinery. They are distributors for Proxxon and may be able to point you in the right direction. Failing that look for a rewind shop near you they usually do small repairs as well.

regards

A day out any where is always welcome especially if its around the Midlands.

Very sorry to hear of your loss. It is very sad news. Our thoughts are with you and your wife.

best regards

Thank you Neil & Jasonb for pointing out the correct way to enter text after a quoted post.

I must admit that I had never seen the redline before, I had always just hit return below the quoted text to start a new line.

regards

I am going Saturday.

If you have a local old style tv repair guru take it him it will probably be a simple repair as Nick said. I sold one on Ebay a couple of years ago. They still appear now & then.

regards

Hi John.

The main motor is the one supplied with the mill.

The Table feed motor was from Ebay. 12vdc with 60rpm all metal reduction gearbox. £14

The controller for it is a 12dc reversible PWM type also from Ebay. £9

The speed readout was another Ebay purchase. £6

I use a PC 600 watt power supply for the 12vdc

The red button on the control panel in the previous post is to fast traverse without changing the speed settings.

The lead screw is as supplied full length with the mill. I am sure that the early longer bed mill had an adaptor to extend the length of the original shorter lead screw. It would be easy to make one and pin to lead screw if you have a lathe.

regards

Hi John. I think you have a couple of parts missing there.

1. The end plate.

2. The lead screw length adaptor which I believe was fitted on some of the extended table versions of this mill.

Here are some photos of my mill I took a while ago. A few things have changed but you should get the idea.

My lead screw came full length as standard. I use the slot in the end for the table drive motor. The 2 S/S 12mm bars on the end plate are what the table feed motor assembly is mounted  on. The top control panel is for table motor speed and direction & speed indication. You can see the speed sensor behind the drawbar nut. I have now made a new control panel & the DRO scales are attached to a bluetooth sender and viewed on a tablet using Yuri's software. If you want measurement let me know.

regards

Edited By Oldiron on 07/05/2018 13:41:35

Edited By Oldiron on 07/05/2018 13:48:47

Edited By Oldiron on 07/05/2018 13:49:47

I have many indexable tool holders but none of them have tips that are taller than the body. Its usual for them to be flush with the top. Has someone put the wrong tip on the tool holder.? How much is your tip above centre?

regards

As SoD said "surgeons not butchers". I am very conservative in the depth of cut I take. I understand very well that my little mill is more ballerina than Hulk Hogan and therefore treat it as such. In steel EN8 or thereabouts I usually take a between 0.015" & 0.060" depending on the diameter and type of cutter I use. In Ali' I will take up to 0.100" also depending on cutter type & size. Its surprising how quick you can make a big pile of chips. If slab milling the side of a bar down the full flute length of a cutter you need to be a bit more conservative to prevent chatter. I find these parameters do all I need without over exerting me or the mill. If doing a lot of work , feel the motor and keep an eye on the temperature. If the motor feels too hot it is probably wise to slow down or stop for a while. After a long job I let the motor run at about 250 rpm for a couple of minutes so the fan can cool the motor down a bit. The mill will climb mill to give a really nice finish but only on very fine cuts. I have found that the usual feeds and speeds that are published in books etc usually apply to commercial machines and are far too much for a mini mill IMHO. I work my way up to what I feel the machine can do comfortably. I apply this method to all of my home machinery. I find tis method works for me, others may have their own different methods & I am sure you will soon get to know what your mill can or cannot do.

Any thing else I can help with just ask.

regards

Edited By Oldiron on 05/05/2018 11:52:13

Hi John M. I have a Chester Conquest mill. It too has the bigger table on it. I have fitted a 2 pulley drive belt system. It works a dream and also gives the option of 2 speed ranges. The table end plate should be metal and contains a bush to hold up the lead screw. As for the column, I have had the machine since new and apart from resetting the vertical tram when I got it I have had no further problems of alignment with it. I might get to make a strengthening bracket one day. I have made a lot of items including 8 BXA tool holders and all the parts for my dividing head without any problems. BUT remember it is a small mill so be conservative with the cuts you take. I have used up to 20mm cutters despite all the comments across the web that this is not possible. It all depends on how you treat the machine as far as I am concerned. I have fitted mine with 3 axis DRO and power table feed & rev counter.

All in all an excellent little machine but I do now have a larger mill for bigger jobs but the Chester is my go too machine for most things that I do.

I agree with Ketan, do not hold cutters in your chuck when you have a collet chuck lying there

regards

Edited By Oldiron on 04/05/2018 22:34:12

Edited By Oldiron on 04/05/2018 22:35:25

Hi Nigel. My AUD is fitted with a slotted cross slide and it is 1" thick. I have 3-5/8" from bottom of cross slide to the centre of the chuck & 1" clearance from the top of the compound to centre of chuck. I have always used 1/2" tool bits on all 3 of my previous Boxford's. Never had any problem with them.

regards

Edited By Oldiron on 04/05/2018 22:13:37

Hi Nigel, Welcome. I have an AUD. I have a modified BXA tool holder on my 4-1/2" so that I can use tools up to 5/8".but 1/2" tools work just fine. Check your tool holder in case the previous owner put a spacer plate under it to use smaller tools such as 3/8".

 EDIT  I am working on some riser blocks at the minute to raise it up to 5".

Plenty of help on here for you. Just do a search and if nothing helps just ask.

regards

Edited By Oldiron on 04/05/2018 19:08:04

Really great job Werner. Very much enjoyed this build.

regards