Member postings for Kevin Murrell

We do seem to be lucky with our usual suppliers. I agree with comments about Arc. I would also give a big thumbs up for Tracey Tools - I have ordered from them in a panic about 5:30 in the evening and received the items the next day! Chronos just as good. I happen to drive home past Chronos and occasionally call in - not too often as I always come out with much more than I intended!

Hi

Near Guildford, means Ash Vale (practically Aldershot).

Work means re-assembly. The lathe was stripped down and cleaned, and has been left to me to re-assemble!

K.

Dear all

Bit off more than I can chew! Re-assembling an ML7B with gearbox and am losing the plot. Ideally I would like to commission an ML7 expert to help and am willing to pay expenses etc. Primarily headstock, gearbox and 'motorising' unit need work. Probably wouldn't take long for an expert, but I would also like to make sure my lathe is setup as well as it could be.

Thanks in anticipation, Kevin

I look forward to seeing him use some of those tools to make something!

Just checked in the workshop, and I have it! Sorry!

Many thanks all!

I am indeed doing what Hopper suggested. Getting the Myford and keeping the Warco.

I am treating myself to find out what all the fuss about old Myford lathes is about. If I don't like it after all, then someone else will certainly fancy trying it out!

Kevin

Dear all

I have the chance of changing to a (used obviously) ML7B from my first lathe which is a Warco WM180. Would I be excited or disappointed? The Myford is big enough for what I typically do, but I like insert tooling - would the Myford be fast enough?

Thanks all

Kevin

Perfect - many thanks.

Kevin

Hadn't even thought of that! Many thanks.

Looking for some advice!

Attached are two images - one of my progress with a Hemmingway kit for the Wyvern engine, and one of the same items somewhat further ahead than me.

I am unsure how to go about making the circular hole in the left hand end! It's about 5" long and I don't have space to mount that vertically in the mill. (I have a Warco WM14 mill and 180 lathe).

Regards, Kevin

Dear all

Having spent ages restoring a Stuart 500 boiler, it was steam test today. Few leaks where I had forgotten to tighten bolts, but otherwise fine. However, the paint I used on the outside panels bubbled up and flaked off! Oddly the etch primer underneath seems to be OK. The panels are insulated, but of course get hot. What paint should I have used? (I think I used simply Halfords car paint). Not keen on hammerite as I have had problems before getting smooth matt finish.

Link to pictures: http://www.ps8steam.co.uk/stuart-500.html

Edited By Kevin Murrell on 04/11/2018 12:20:34

Planning to go on Friday - assuming the weekend will be packed, and Thursday they might still be setting up.

I am sure everyone already knows about this, but as I am new to all of this, you might forgive me. Just completed Tubalcain's toolmakers clamp - only three attempts mainly due to my lack of experience and also general cock-ups. Tell me it gets easier! I wanted to blacken the finished article, and came across Casell's black-ox kit. It's very easy to use and quick and I am as pleased as punch with the results. How it will stand up to wear remains to be seen. I have written up the procedure and included some before and after pictures. More info here: http://www.ps8steam.co.uk/blackening-steel.html

Edited By Kevin Murrell on 16/09/2018 13:07:44

Just following up my posting about difficulty in drilling certain spots in EN1A:

I have found this problem twice now - 1/2" square stock EN1A - drilling through to 6mm fine generally, but then on the next hole I hit a very hard spot. Latest occurrence: Centre-punched, centre-drill to a couple of mm, then a 3mm drill bit - worked fine down to about 10mm then stopped! And I really mean I couldn't get any further in. So I flipped the part over and tried from the other side - I could barely mark the surface and the drill just wandered about.

This is really frustrating - particularly when you have a few hours work already into a part.

In something I read, there was talk about normalising stock like this: heating to 800C, then letting the stock air cool.

Is this something one should do as a matter of course?

Edited By Kevin Murrell on 15/09/2018 07:01:36

I have a new WM14 mill which is working well and I am happy with it. There is an oil-level glass on the side near the top with a little graphic of an oil can. There is no mention of this in the (very limited) manual. Is there something I ought to be topping up? No obvious places that I can see.

Regards, Kevin

They don't look like an Stuart beam castings.

I have seen the Stuart beam and major beam and they look nothing like this.

Sorry I can't help more.

Fairly new to this myself... I called into Chronos on Friday and bought two lengths of 1/2" BMS free cutting. Quite whether that is the right term I am not sure, but nobody laughed. It mills OK, but drilling into it is very very hard work. The centre-drill was OK, but then a 3mm drill wouldn't touch it. First I assumed the drill was blunt and tried another, then somehow thought the mill was going backwards (it can't BTW), but persevered. Eventually I broke through the surface and the rest was what I would expect. Is this surface-hardened? Is that a thing? Should I have been more precise in what I asked for?

Kevin

Many thanks all of you. Time to buy a QCTP then!!

Dear all

Forgive me for going over possibly old ground, but I am not sure what the outcome was.

Warco have been promising a QCTP for my WM180 for ages now, and it still seems a long way off.

As far as I can see, I can buy a generic QCTP and either mill out the circular space in it's base, or mill off the raised circular section on top of the compound rest.

Any thoughts as my best route?

Regards, Kevin