Member postings for Ron Laden

We have just reached 2 pounds a litre for diesel in North Devon, 9 pounds a gallon, its scary and really makes you think before going anywhere in the car.

The additional 2 years guarantee with Axminster is costing almost 500 pounds if it were me I would go with the ARC SX2.7 and the saving would cover the DRO set.

I only run a 25mm facemill on my small SX2P was going to get a 40mm but decided against it thinking that 25mm is enough for a small light mill but it does work very well.

The coated and uncoated inserts that ARC supplied with the cutter work really well to and like Jason I once tried some cheap inserts but they couldn't handle the same depth of cut and also like Jason the machine had a horrible vibration. I have not tried the uncoated on steel though but with ARC inserts cutting very well I haven't found the need to.

Thanks guys, thats helpful I will get some screws ordered.

Ron

On a tiny geared motor I have just purchased there are two threaded holes on the mounting plate which have an internal diameter of 1.1 mm would I be correct in thinking that is M1.4 mm thread size. I have nothing that small just thought I would check before I source some screws.

Ron

Well not tooling but with the emphasis on Cheap Stuff its surprising what you can find if you search. They say that good quality you have to pay for BUT not always, I needed a tiny geared motor for my Class 22 loco and managed to find the one pictured below. It came from a well known auction site and yes its from China. Its 12 volts - 600rpm and all metal gearbox. The picture probably doesnt do it justice but when I unpacked it I couldnt believe the quality, the gearbox and in particular the tiny steel gears look superb. Its super quiet and very smooth and all for £4.70 with free delivery in 5 days, so less than a fiver, I would have happily paid 3 or 4 times that having seen how good it is.

Edited By Ron Laden on 15/05/2022 08:10:50

Steve, Having had no electrical problems with my CJ18 I never dabbled into the electrics so dont have much experience with it. I,m sure Anthony will answer your questions though having fitted the same control unit and having it work well on his machine.

Good luck with it, if it does the job at £20 thats a real winner.

Edited By Ron Laden on 03/05/2022 07:43:14

Steve although it can be difficult to track down the true figures and how and where it has been measured on Chinese machines and equipment it doesnt mean that they are all bad. Once you have sorted the unfortunate motor drive failure on yours I,m sure you will find that you can produce some nice work on it if you havnt already.

My mini lathe was also the CJ18a and I was maybe lucky in that mine never suffered any electrical problems. I did break the plastic drive gears in the head when I stalled the machine on parting some steel but other than that it worked well and was reliable. I did do a couple of mods to mine which did improve it and made it a bit more user friendly and I would probably still have the lathe but I needed something with a bigger capacity so moved up to a bit larger machine but still Chinese and 24 years old so that must say something...

Edited By Ron Laden on 02/05/2022 19:16:07

I could be wrong but I suspect that the Chinese watts quoted are input watts and not output watts. Its all a bit of a finger in the air situation with a lot of the figures quoted on Chinese kit. I have some Chinese 24volt 150 watt motors in one of my 5 inch locos with an unloaded RPM figure quoted at 2750 rpm but an unloaded bench test showed them to be closer to 4000 rpm.

Edited By Ron Laden on 02/05/2022 14:32:13

Got it now

See what Steve..? there is no link..?

Drew, the motor and VFD will be fine and nice to use the only thing I would say is to keep in mind that it is a mini lathe and its just a fact of life they are not the most rigid of machines. Not knocking the mini lathe its how I started and it served me well and I did some nice work on it but they do need keeping within what they are capable of. Thats quite a motor which will deliver quite a bit more than the original so just be careful to not let that lead you into asking more of the machine than it can cope with.

I stalled my mini lathe whilst parting some steel and the deflection the tool post went through when the parting tool jammed was scary to see and I broke the plastic gears in the head. I know yours doesnt have the plastic gears but you wouldnt want the damage elsewhere which could be more serious.

I replaced the head gears with a steel set and at the time Jason suggested changing from the toothed belt to a Poly multi V belt which when adjusted correctly gives good drive but if the machine was stalled or crashed the belt would slip helping to prevent damage. It was just a thought seeing the toothed belt drive with a more powerful motor on yours. A picture of the belt and drive pulleys below, the pulleys I had to turn up as I couldnt find off the shelf ones of the correct size.

It was just a thought but you may be quite happy with what you have gone with.

I dont have too much in the way of second hand kit but both my mill (SX2P) and lathe (Warco 918) I bought used and that just comes down to budget. I cant afford the very best so tend to look for the best quality I can find at a reasonable price that suits my pocket. I dont go to car boots but I,m sure there must be some good bargains to be had on the right day. I have had one or two good second hand buys from a well know auction site, a very good height gauge and an imperial micrometer spring to mind. I do avoid cheap cutting tools though I know some sing there praises but that has not been my experience, apart for a set of csk bits that are very good and cost little other items have been quite frankly rubbish.

My star buy has to be the 918 lathe though, 22 years old when I bought it and it had a number of quality mods/improvements and came with a wealth of tooling and accessories. If I had gone for a new lathe of similar size and all the tooling new I dont think I would have got much change out of £3500 and I bought the lathe and all that came with it for £700. So without doubt there are second hand bargains out there and for those with a limited budget, its just a case of finding them. Second hand tooling and machines doesnt mean a poor quality equipped workshop with the right buys quite the opposite in fact.

My thoughts anyway,

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 29/04/2022 08:23:56

Hi Paul yes it is useful and reliable also, I got it from a well known auction site there are a number of sellers and the current price is around £16. I put one on my mill as well as the lathe. The only additional part you need to power it is a plug in 12V DC adaptor but they are as cheap as chips off the same site.

Ron

Wally, one useful mod you may want to consider is adding a digital readout for the spindle speed, low cost at around £15 for a set which includes the hall sensor ready wired, the magnet and the display. Easy to fit as can be seen in the pics below, you may just see the small disc magnet sitting on the spindle at the end of the sensor.

Well at least you have found something Wally, 3/16" out of alignment I would have thought more than enough to allow the belt to ride off the pulley. Also check the tension on the belt adjuster wheel once you have corrected the alignment. I found mine a a bit soft so adjusted the spring, I have approx 5mm movement each side of the belt at the centre of the longest run of the belt. It doesnt want to be too tight but also not slack enough to allow the belt to ride across the tension wheel.

Hi Wally

I remembered a link a couple of people sent me when I first got my 918, it covers a number of mods/improvements people tend to make to the 9x20 (918) lathes. You may find it interesting, the first mod people tend to do is to improve the clamping of the compound to the cross slide as it is said to lack rigidity in its original form. I was fortunate in a number of mods had been done by the previous owner of mine and very well engineered to boot.

http://bedair.org/9x20camlock/9x20project.html

Cheers

Ron

I was fortunate with my 918 the previous owner had modified the lathe and engineered out the problems that the lathe in its standard form is known for. He also discarded the clutch assy (ribbed belt) and fitted a 3/4HP motor with VFD driving the spindle direct from the motor. The lathe is 24 years old in very good condition and with the mods I would go so far to say its an excellent machine. I have also added a cross slide drive to mine which works well.

I know what you mean Wally with regard to the 5mm drive belt looking too small, that was my first impression but the Gates belts are excellent, strong with very good grip and drive. As Jason says the belts are readily available for around £15. With regard the belt coming off the pulleys as already mentioned check the pulley alignment, it needs to be pretty well spot on . Also check the tensioner wheel I think there was a forum member a while back who had a problem with that giving belt issues.

I have the original manual but the Grizzy link you have been sent is in fact a better version. My manual says to release the belt tension before starting the machine but I have never done that and its fine though mine has a different drive setup to the original.

Good luck with it, if you can sort the niggles I think you may find it to be a decent machine.

Edited By Ron Laden on 23/04/2022 10:06:01

Would aluminium bronze be a good conrod material I think it is known for being a strong alloy..?

Dont be put off and think that carbide cutters are not suited to your SX1 as I mentioned most of the cutters I use on the SX2 are carbide and that is also a small hobby mill. I also use the ARC 10mm Carbide 2 flute uncoated cutter (as Jason shows) and mine is still good after 3 years. The thing to remember is your mill is a small hobby machine so dont ask it to bite off more than it can chew take it easy to start with and put in some practice. Also I would suggest not getting hung up on what the books tell you re feeds and depths of cut etc. You will soon find that the machine and the cutter and the finish will tell you what its happy with .