Member postings for Zan

Three trips round the world with the air miles, but do vacuum miles count?!!

As a miller cuts in both directions in both x and y it will not make any difference it’s not like a lathe which mainly works in one direction (boring is the main exception). However, you may find in use that the machine prefers to cut on one side more than the other, it’s just the vagrancy of any machine which you may have to learn to work with

As a child of the 50’s we had fun

1) dad was  A radio engineer with lots of aluminium tube. With 2 pence rockets these made great bazookers one aimed, one lit the rocket. Still got me eyes i don’t know how

2) we loved throwing bangers, light. Count. To 4 throw. And use as a grenade. Problem was when the new banger 321zero was introduced it went off in three seconds of fizzing. Still got me hands  amazing that a kid under 10 went n spent all his pocket money at the corner shop on gpbangers, rockets and jumping jacks

3). Penny boxes of caps go off with a tremendous bang if you hit the closed box with a big hammer. It jumps high and it makes your ears ring..... perhaps this is whi I have tinatus now....

4 home made gunpowder was fun

5 cross bows made with 3 layers of 4 mm square elastic with a green garden cane as a bolt, weighted tooth Dad’s solder were deadly accurate. We gave up that game after one of us got hit on the forehead his dustbin lid shield was down. He still has the scar.

How did I survive? Kids in this elf n safte days don’t have much fun....... but I’m getting an Arduino for Christmas .....

Edited By Zan on 25/11/2018 23:04:36

Great one Neil. Did you see stage 1 burning up as it re entered the atmosphere?

Machine readers can size a blind hole, hand cannot. Hand can be put half way down the taper to provide a force fit. It’s always best to guide a hand reamer using the centre. Hand readers need a smaller reaming allowance to stop them juddering in the hole. I have often used a hand reamer under power, but by pushing the tailstock to give some small measure of float,- not for very small ones though! I’m building a set of both.

More information needed.... wood work tool? Portable? Linisher? Metal tool? Make? Photo? Without information we can’t help a lot

. Basic repair is to give it a dose of switch cleaner. Contacts? They can fail due to to an arc forming and the spark creates pimples on the top of the contact. A diamond lap will cut it flat. Neither are good permanent repairs.

Edit.... autotype again!

Edited By Zan on 20/11/2018 20:35:15

If tailstock support makes a real difference on such a short thread, there’s something seriously worming with the lathe.....

Angled topslide is fine, but it makes control of the depth difficult so  zero the topslide , touch the tool down,  move saddle past end of work, add the required depth of cut and re- zero x slide, then back off topslide and use to add cuts

At the end of each pass, retract x slide, move to next pass then return it to zero and add next cut with topslide until zero reached    

Don’t forget it’s the trailing flank which carries the load on the thread, so this one should be the pe best finish.

Edited By Zan on 19/11/2018 09:06:37

Hi mark

I hav the identical machine and converted it. If you use a vdf, there’s a lot of work needing to be done. The on off switch is built into the handle, and that has to be connected to the digital control. All the existing switch gear has to be ripped out as you cannot have any switches between the vdf and the motor. I set mine up to give a speed range of 30 to 65 hz via a pot mounted on the drip tray which is very handy giving a subtle speed range without changing gear, great when facing.

The pump which I no longer use works with a pair of capacitors to simulate 3 phase. I fitted a contractor as a master on off. It took a while to get  all this sorted, but it isn’t difficult as you deal with one section at a time and get that working then move on. It works well from a 13 amp plug. Most of us rarely force these machines, they are designed for heavy action and it won’t be often that you get even close to full power. In any case the vdf can be set to limit the maximum current supplied to the motor. The soft start is a great bonus. Give me a pm if you want more details

Edit.  The contractor I just switches the 240 v input to the vdf.  Your motor is dual voltage and it’s just about switching the wires over.  The lathe vdf conversion was a doddle compared with converting my Bridgeport!  

Edited By Zan on 16/11/2018 21:50:08 I have also fitted a vdf  and new motor onto my drill.  So easy to July to min speed when countersinking after drilling. Well worth the cost.  I’m a great fan of them one on the Myford as well!

Edited By Zan on 16/11/2018 21:53:00

Ha. See what I mean, 37 views of this thread already!

We often hear people bemoaning the slowing down of the hobby, but if threads here are anything to go by this is far from the truth. I am often amazed by the speed and number of replies to postings which are found here. Many of the rallies I have been to show a large number of traction engines with a wide range of owner age. The standard of work seen at the Fosse continues to grow and blossom. The advent of new technologies are being embraced with jet engines, 3D printing and aided by laser cutting and cnc machining. People say these are not model engineering , but they have enabled more accurately detailed and larger models to be constructed. How many of us actually use a hacksaw on loos frames? Models we call them? 25 years ago a 3” road loco was massive , but now there are a large number of 1/2 scale monsters seen at all rallies.

Martin Evans in smoke rings in ME opened an interesting discussion into is cnc model engineering.  Perhaps the people who complain have not understood the thinking and planning which goes into using this technology, to me that is the lions share of the hobby.

Perhaps it’s just the nature of the hobby which is changing?

Edited By Zan on 14/11/2018 21:30:48

Totally agree with Nigel my summitomo tools are fitted with inserts from JB. CCMT 060402. Give them a bell and Jenny or Paul will sort you out . No need to buy new holders...edit, they work brilliantly on a S7 no problems with deep  1/8” or very fine cuts 1/2 thou

Edited By Zan on 14/11/2018 12:46:59

127/120 is a imperial / metric gear conversion set. Check the pitch of your lead screw and it will be imperial. The chart I think is showing you where the 127 wheel should go, the 120 will mesh with the other gear.

Carbide needs a softer wheel than the standard grey/blue wheel. This is commonly known as a green grit wheel in modelling circles.  The standard wheel is useless on carbide tooling it is normally finish honed with a diamond lap afterwards. Carbide also need a lot of power to work efficiently. They are particularly useful for matching castings which often have a hard surface skin which will rapidly blunt anHSS tool

Edit. Autotype error

Edited By Zan on 12/11/2018 18:46:13

It bonds at an atomic level into the parent metal and is almost as strong as the parent steel. Capillary action if the joint is made correctly will pull the solder through the joint so that all surfaces are covered. For this reason a tiny gap is required. For flat faces, some people recommend light punch marks to ensure the gap, although iv found that even with clamped faces there seems to be few problems. Some grades are better at gap filling than others, but the gap should be small ideally well under 10 thou no gap = no penetration

Edit....note that both pieces being joined must be at the temperature at which the solder melts- at least a dull red hot - or the solder will form a bead on the outside of the joint and will not penetrate.  Solder flows to where the metal is hottest provided it is fluxed to keep the oxides away

Edited By Zan on 12/11/2018 14:10:41

As a beginner I feel you would be better with HSS and grind the former yourself there’s a good series in the ME covering this in the last 3-4 issues inserts can be fragile especially to the complete novice and they are comparatively expensive as you will be needing a lot of diverse kit early on to get started. Yes shim them up but it is important to get them exactly on centre height

What type of tool post do you have? One thing is when changing tools, keep each tool with its own set of packings, an elastic band or box with divisions so once set you won’t have to do it again until you have to regrind.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress

Edit.... ps where are you based?

Edited By Zan on 10/11/2018 19:00:44

I think they are tubal cains engine - Tom Walshaw- the cylinder rotates in the central casting I seem to remember with a roller on the end of the piston rod. The cylinder rotates in the frame, fed by steam through its trunnions. Valve was driven by a fixed eccentric sheve with a rotating strap It was a published design perhaps 20 years ago in EIM or Model Engineer. A very neat and brilliant mantle shelf engine. Good luck! I seem to remember the machining of the frame was quite involved. A gyrations challenge ........but I’m working from distant memories.....

Regarding parting off and centre height, (I haven’t discovered yer how to add a quote) thanks for the explanation, that will explain why I chipped a new tip on first use parting off with a new fixed height toolpost, I discovered the tip was just below centre and it went bang! Now been adjusted with a bonded shim under it to get it to centre height.

I agree about cheeped tips as well, I was having great tifficulty with a the next tip, it grumbled when in use on my S7; a lot of force to get it cutting but then it went ok once cutting started. Close examination revealed the top of the tool was flat so it had no back rake. changing the tip for a top brand and instant success. I’d messed about for an age adjusting the spindle end thrust, (tightened it, but now Iv had to loosen it again, too tight it got hot and squeeaked) and all gibs were adjusted( they didn’t really need it). So with the second new tip things changed to service as normal. I had a back post, but sold it when I got the tipped holder as there was no problem from the front working. I didn’t like the back post, it magde using the die holder difficult, and it needed a lot of care to ensure it was clear of the chuck. And it seemed to add a lot of Xslide handle turning to get it in the correct position but with the fixed post tool changing is fast and easy.

There’s a series running in ME at this time on the cnc conversion of an SX2 plus. Have a look at that it’s a fully dimensioned series

Graham explained that 8 mm or 5/16” tools are perfectly adequate for serious cuts very evident from his demonstration cuts seen in the Nov.9 ME page 715 photos 129-132. He designed the grinder to go with his toolpost detailed earlier. Smaller tools of 6 mm are in my opinion a bit too small and will flex unless the overhang is minimal. So for tools other than 8 mm the grinder platform can be sized below the tool top to the dimensions given by Chris above. Or make it for the smallest toolbit you will use, then adjust the sizes of the plates which he fits below the toolholder. Trouble is in this case the simplicity of the tool clamp will be compromised so perhaps different holders could be made but that’s extra work

I would go for microswitches or optical, magnets with all the swarf about would get plastered with tiny bits, not a good idea. On the lathe spindle it’s another matter. Was thinking about something similar myself, but I’m running out of years.....