Member postings for Simon Ravenscroft

I have to say a big thank you, your right it does come with a spare outside set, I should have looked in the box

That's my problem solved

Thanks John

I have to admit I bought the late second hand and it came with some other items though I have not checked, there may well be some but I doubt it I'm sure I would have noticed/remembered

I Have now, they said they have some outside jaws for £77.72 but he could not tell me what size they were or any other information, a lot of money to spend on something that may be the right one

Thanks for the suggestions

Hi I am looking for a little help please, I have a Clarke CL500M and I know its a "toy" compared to the real machines out there I can only dream of owning but as I only use it to make small hobby Nixie clock parts it works for me.

I have decided to make myself a nixie watch which needs a large watch face (70mm)and if that wasn't hard enough I have decided to make it out of titanium, this could go horribly wrong but hey you only live once.

My real problem is that my CM500M only has a 3 jaw chuck that opens to about 60mm so I need more,

I have seen these Model Engineering and engineering tools online from RDG Tools Ltd Home Page (Engineering Tools) Tel 01422 885069 /884605
but after emailing them they said they are for their own chucks and may not fit mine.

Can any one help me find a set of 5" outside jaws for the CL500M in the UK

OR does anyone have another inexpensive way to work the problem.

The titanium bar is 70mm dia x 40mm but I only need it to be about 20mm long the other 20mm is sacrificial for the lathe to hold

Many thanks

This was my last Nixie build it looks much better in real life, the nixie tubes are just timeless and getting hard to get now, the new old stocks are running out and apart from one guy in the Czech republic Dalibor Farny who makes the huge R|Z568M tubes that I will be using in my new clock though they aren't cheap at $145 per tube and I need 6 plus the colons

Thanks for the advice, I have a couple of carbide 2 flute cutters for aluminium, there not branded or expensive so don't yet know if there any good but will give it a go this weekend with some WD40 and report back

Will do though I expect it will take me any many months to complete

Thank you all for your advice I have listened to you all and will take a little from you all

Keep it coming

Hi, I am 47 and started my working life in engineering working on capstones and lathes and then went on to sheet metal fabrication and welding till I was about 22 then ended up in sales which is what I do now.

I have always enjoyed making things and have just got into making nixie clocks and have always wanted to make one similar to Nixie Machine II Exclusive edition M.A.D.Gallery if you have a look,

So I have now bit the bullet and bought myself a little Clark CL500M and am about to start working on my clock legs, they are being made out of 12 mm aluminium plate that I've had cut to the blank sizes I need.

My legs will look a little like spider legs and will have curves and straights to machine out.

I have various end mills of all HSS sizes 2 mm - 12 mm some 4 flute some 2 & 3 flute that I will mostly use to mill out these parts, I have bought a 6" rotary table for my curves but it has been a very long time since I used any kind of milling machine so could do with some advice.
As I understand it with aluminium I don't necessarily need coolant but I have got a compressor to constantly blow away chips.
I have it on its fastest 1630 rpm
I know this is not a professional machine by any capacity it is just a hobby machine but hey this is my hobby.
Can anyone advise what is reasonably the most I can remove on each pass, so how deep into the 12 mm plate and how far in - so can I do 5 mm deep and 5 mm into the plate or less or more, what would be a safe speed to operate my power feed - should I even use the power feed

I will be grateful for any advice that will save me burning and breaking cutters until Iv'e learned the hard way

Thanks

Edited By JasonB on 06/11/2018 07:54:33