Member postings for larry phelan 1

More sound advice from Brian, as usual. This is something I must check, although I have not broken any blades recently.

Thanks again Brian for your input.

Could it be that the blade is too course for the job ?

The standard or common pitch for these saws over here seems to be 14tpi and this works well on my Chinese cheapy.

I find that Bi Metal blades perform much better for the extra cost. And yes, I keep the blade tensioned all the time.

My Dad worked in a Mental Hospital for 40 years or more and he always maintained that those inside were more sane than the ones outside. He used to say that "Half of those are as mad as hatters and the rest are suspect !

Seems like nothing has changed

Cannot see any advantage over my Taiwan 12 speed floor drill, which can and did drill 1" holes in steel, and is still going strong since 1983. Simple to change speeds [same belts ]. The only change I made was to fit an NVR a few years back. These drills are widely available and not too dear, don't mind the name.

I bought two of those cheap vises years and found them to more useful than ever I thought. Might consider chopping up one of them, never thought of that !

Not sure if this will help or not but when I moved to the sticks I borrowed a static converter to try it out. It would run my lathe and mill, each 1.5 hp but not my planer or spindle moulder, each 4hp, just make buzzing noises. Problem was solved by buying a Transwave 10 hp rotary converter. This is big enough to run anything in the shop. Perhaps your converter is simply too small? Static converters do not seem to have the same kick as rotarys and sometimes you need to adjust loads ect, this can be A-Pain-in-the arse.. With the rotary, just switch on and walk away.

When it comes to bulk/mass, I believe that it is better to be looking at it than looking for it.

I think I will be going for the heavy wall box section with good bracing. This is a 0ne-off-job, so lets go for it.

Thank you all for your interest and response, it has ticked quite a few boxes for me.

I will now go shopping for materials, knowing what I need. Thank you all.

Some more sound advice there, all welcome, keep it coming !

As I can see, it,s not just a matter of sticking it on a bench and hope for the best.

I did work on one of these things many moons ago but never paid too much attention to its mounting.

We were reminded that we were being paid to do, not to think !

I do recall that the stands were quite large and heavy, so that would seem to be the way to go

My thanks to all, this is exactly to kind of info I was looking for. Never thought about such a thick plate for the top. I did think about leaving a centre hole to deal with those odd jobs. Good advice regarding bolting down and fixing to the wall [ there goes another piece of my wall ! ]. The thought of that thing tipping over is scary !

I was surprised at the weight of it when I went to collect it, my van was very steady on the road on the way home ! Came across it in an old outhouse, buried under a pile of junk, but not much more than surface rust and a few battle scars to deal with. Cleaned up well and a coat of paint helped. I need to find weights for it,no idea where the first ones went. Just as well I have a chain hoist and a strong I beam installed in my garage [which seldom sees my car ]

Again, my thanks to everyone , you never fail.

Good morning all,

I need to build a bench to hold my No 5 Denbigh flypress.

I am thinking something about 24x24 inches about 36 inches high using 2x2x1/4" angle with gussets at the corners and a tray lower down to hold tooling ect.

Would this section material be suitable ? The top surface would be a sheet of 3/16 or 1/4 "

Any and all advice welcome. I know some of you have been there ,done that !

At our age Martin, we need to be extra careful , even more so in our workshops.

Being on the wrong side of 80, it,s never too far from my mind

And I thought we were the only ones who had builders/tilers like that ???

Have been there, seen that. A tiler will tile around you sooner than ask you to move.

What happens after he,s gone ? Who cares !!

I am quite happy with manual machines. I don't want C-N-C in fact I don't even have a "Smart Phone", just the old Common-or-garden type, but it works .

Regarding ad,s for machines, I would never be bothered with any seller who did not state a price, just invite you to tender. That,s little better than a Dutch Auction, so I say, No deal.

Manual machines are fine for our level of work, output is not important and there is less to go wrong, so I say

Keep it simple !

Rocol , great stuff, but the price of it !!

Last time I went looking for it, the guy in the suppliers said "You must be feeling flush"

Sad to say they did not have it anyway, only had spray on stuff.

My last laptop began giving me those messages too and told me that if I did not do something about it, it would switch off "To protect the system", and it did, full stop !

When I went about having it repaired, I was told that it needed a new hard drive plus new cooling fans and maybe something else .Might be cheaper to buy a new one. How old was it ? seven years !

It seems that these things are updated every week and no-one is really interested in repairing them.

How long will my "New" one last ? Good question.

Vise stop ?

Just wondering !

Indeed, MickB!, Even me ! I have two standards;

A Items fit to be seen [very few ]

B Items fit for the scrapbox [too numerous to mention ]

Some day, I hope to level the playing field, but in the meantime, do I care ? No way, it,s all part of the fun !

Scrap men depend on people like me, we have a duty to keep them employed [And I sure do ! ]

Based on the advice given, I attacked that job this morning and am happy to be able to report success.

I do not have one of those boring bars mentioned by Jason but will look into getting one, since I suspect this job will crop up again.

Again, my thanks to all who responded, it is much appreciated.

Never mind the unkind words ! just carry on and one day you will be as good as me.

I NEVER make mistakes, its just that sometimes I don't get it quite right. That,s why my scrapbox grows by the day.

Happy turning !

Love the picture of that lathe standing on its head !!

Nice looking machine though !