Member postings for Andy Carlson

282.6 thou on my Imperial mike... which is 7.18mm. Mine are a pretty easy sliding fit inside the head/tailstock bores.

If you get an old school Jacobs chuck then you can swap the arbor (tapered part). The arbor has a taper that is pressed into the back of the chuck body - these tapers are JTwhatever. (J for Jacobs presumably)

Getting the arbor out of the body can be somewhat, err... non easy. Wedges are available to do the job and you can find YouTube videos showing them in use. On mine someone had been there before me and drilled a hole in the back of the body so I could drift the arbor out without needing any wedges.

As a rule of thumb the max capacity of the chuck should be similar to or less than the wide end of the taper. The bigger the drill, the more likely the Morse taper is to break loose when drilling.

Thanks for that. I suspect I've seen those words reproduced elsewhere but have not seen the original. I'll check it out.

One branch of my family history traces back to Polgooth miners in the early 18th century which is why I try to find whatever fragments I can to try to understand how things were back then.

Somewhat off the OP's question but... are any specifics known about the use of Newcomen engines at Polgooth/Mulvra in Cornwall? I have heard mention that one or more was thoight to have been used there. The history of Polgooth is one of my other occasional interests.

Coincidentally I was looking at the example in Dartmouth a few days ago.

IIRC Watt is supposed to have been working with a 'model' of a Newcomen engine when he made his improvements... which begs the question... how big was the model?

Thank you all gents. The tippex and end-on shot helps a lot.

Thanks for that.

It doesn't look like it would be easy to judge whether something is accurately parallel to that little mark.

I checked mine again... nothing there at all.

I can't quite work out from the photo how the line relates to the sides of the Vee - is it near parallel to one side or does it more or less bisect the vee?

One of the pics on lathes UK (third photo down) seems to have multiple parellel lines but I'm not sure if those are the relevant lines. They look like they might be near parallel to the right hand edge of the vee... but with the whole end having jaunty angles it's hard to be sure.

Regards, Andy

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but there is exactly one thread returned for a search on 'reliance' so I thought it would be good to keep it that way...

I hope this is a simple enough question to answer... The manual kindly shared with me by peak4 some time ago says 'rotate drill until the cutting edge nearest to you is parallel by sight to the engraved line on the front of the trough'

I dont see anything that fits the description of an 'engraved line' on my jig. I suspect that mine may be a clone built from a kit.

Could some kind soul please share a photo or sketch showing where the engraved line ought to be on a Reliance jig?

Thanks.

Can't help with a value or a visit sorry but if you are looking to sell then you should definitely go through the workshop and identify any tooling or accessories that belong to each lathe - it will enhance their resale value.

The Drummond looks like it was originally treadle operated and later motorised. I wouldn't call it a jewellers lathe though - it's a 3 1/2 inch lathe aimed at those with limited space... like model engineers.

The lathes.co.uk site will have plenty of photos to help.

Out of interest... how does continuous cast iron round bar compare to a more traditional casting?

My gut feel is that it is less badly behaved - I think that sand is ruled out for example. Chilling - maybe better controlled? Carbides.. no idea.

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The generic key looks promising. Hope it works out for you.

I tried not to ask but I can't resist... three chucks? or three Cowells lathes?

If you are on Facebook then there was a post by Stephen Benson on 29 March 2020 in the 'Cowells Small Machine Tools' group with some photos showing how to modify an off the shelf drill chuck key to suit. The group is public so you probably just need to be on FB to see it.

I have the tommy bar style 3 jaw so have no first hand knowledge of the other kind.

+1 for the mandrel handle but I would not attempt to cut in both directions due to backlash in the leadscrew (plus my chuck screws on so it might screw off). I always back the tool away from the cut when running in reverse - powered or otherwise.

FWIW I sometimes use power just on the reverse (non cutting) direction... provided that the mandrel handle is removed each time!

Not sure if the Flexi is the same but on the Cowells you have to loosen the grub screw in the cantre of the middle drive pulley when you engage backgear. This allows the pulleys to spin on the mandrel. The drive goes via the backgear and the speed is slower and the torque is higher.

The grub screw tightens onto a flat on the shaft... which you can't see. Make a note of its position in relaton to other landmarks (locking screws, keys etc. before you loosen the screw. On mine the flats and keys and grub screws etc are all in a line... which may or may not be the same on yours.

The ODA file converter is free and may help if it's an issue with the file itself.

I measured a Cowells dead centre (half centre actually) . The fat end of the taper is a smidge over 8mm. The taper is 31mm long and the Morse tapered section sticks out of the tailstock by a smidge over 2mm.

If the internal taper has been reamed then I'd expect it to sit further into the barrel.

I had no issues getting hold of Colin at Cowells by phone and his prices for dead centres seemed reasonable to me when I wanted some. I have not tried contacting him for a good while though. I don't think he has a huge workforce to cover the phone so I'd suggest that you keep trying.

Regards, Andy

Thanks Richard. Out of interest what is the wording and address (if any) on the plate that has the reversing switch? The progression of addresses is another variation over time.

Could have been - IIRC it just looked like a fairly carelessly done spray job but it might have been plated. Once used the trivet just looked sooty and rusty though so I whatever it was seems intended just to make it look nice before it leaves the shop.

I bought an Optimus stove new in the 80s when I first went camping under my own steam. The 'hob' plate was painted - a goldish colour IIRC. The paint didn't last 5 minutes once the stove was lit.

If you have not already found it, there is at least one forum dedicated to these things - https://classiccampstoves.com/

I'm pretty sure that the enamel on the tops of Tilley lamps is kiln fired... a pity because I think you can only get black ones now but my older lamp has a brick red one that is somewhat rust eaten.

This chap (at 2:10) says 'Hammerite Smooth Blue' - recommended by Cowells so he says.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXl3C4ZKfDI

I've no idea myself. I'd really like some turquoise blue hammered effect paint but I don't think that's going to happen.