Member postings for old mart

You might have some luck googling Kingston Engineering.

Good result, now you have to decide what to do next, there is very little chance of finding a new one. If one is made, it would be safer to make it a just gentle push in fit and use Loctite, the cast iron is so thin on one side that there is a risk of cracking if the nut is tight.

I have just had a package from Hermes which was lost by them for three weeks. The poor ebay seller has been pulling his hair out trying to get sense out of them. They said that it had been signed for some time back. That is not true, because since lockdown I have had lots of Hermes delivery's but have not signed for any of them. Trouble is, the poor couriers get so little for each package that they will take the easy way out. The local man would put unsigned for packages behind the side gate which was comparatively secure. Now they can just drop things on the front doorstep without waiting for more than 20 seconds. I can't get there in time to see the man. Eventually the seller got hold of a human being from Hermes who managed to find the errant package at the other end of the country. The package had been logged as entering the Hermes system the day after I paid for it, so there is no fault accruing to the seller. He uses a local drop shop which is very convenient for him which makes changing the delivery service difficult. The package arrived damaged but the address label was intact, and the contents were fine.

Hermes tracking tried to fix the blame on the unfortunate local courier, first saying he had delivered it, and then saying that he could not find the address.

Edited By old mart on 24/06/2020 16:35:56

Some makes did, I have some Dormer with the size on them, and some without, its the luck of the draw.

I have noticed people posting videos on this forum and at the same time on other related forums. I can only guess at their motives, could it merely be "look how clever I am", or is it a cheap means of making money?

A simple puller made form bits would remove it.

You mention the deep recessing of the other end, I would then expect any threads in the cast iron to be visible. The only time I have seen nuts like this in threaded housings is if there are two in the hole and there is backlash adjustment. The Smart & Brown model A tailstock has screwed in nuts to Adjust the backlash. There are slots in the outer nut to turn it.

Edited By old mart on 23/06/2020 20:40:12

At a guess, it is merely pressed in. You should measure both ends just in case there is a shoulder, otherwise some sort of puller should be made, or use a press if you have one. If you are still concerned about the possibility of it being screwed in, then either turn up a piece of metal that just fits the bore nicely, with an end the same size as the interface between the bronze and cast iron. That would prove the presence or absence of a thread. You could also measure the interface diameter at several angles to see if it is round or not.

The instructions "clean threads" could mean anything between a wipe with a rag, to vapour phase and ultrasonic cleaning. Beware of the liquid in a parts washer, it could seem to clean, but if the fluid is well used, it will leave the parts covered in a film of oil. The parts washer at the museum is like that, I got hold of 30 litres the older type solvent cleaner and we topped up the rest with Avtur (fuel for gas turbines), but now it has a lot of oil contamination, and anything cleaned in it may require further degreasing. Spraying brake degreaser down a threaded hole will work better than most things, as the cleaning fluid is always clean.

Its a machine, you will have to oil all the moving parts frequently if you intend to ever use it, or are you worried that a drip of oil will spoil the display in the glass cabinet?

The plumbers type of solder has a wider melting range than the eutectic 60-40 tinmans fine. That enabled them to wipe the joints in lead pipes with a moleskin to get a smooth rounded surface.

If you have to, it can be repaired quite well. I would make sure the fractured edges are clean and dry, and using araldite, clamp them together with g clamps. The fact that it is a casting has the advantage of not distorting, so the parts should fit perfectly. Then drill the central threaded hole right through at the bolt diameter. Then the glued on part will not have any stresses on it except tension. A block will have to fit underneath with a tapped hole to take a longer stud or bolt. It might be possible to fit the two broken bits in place and have a plate covering them to take the bolt loading.

I made some super engine plates for a motorcycle back in the sixties with some very nice 1/4" aluminium plate from the scrapyard near where I worked. I have a hoard of metal under the benches at the museum, when the metal budget is zero, you learn to keep anything just in case.

The ebay spindles seem to be mostly ISO 30 which have the 12mm thread, but some have the drive cutouts and some do not. I know there are several variations in every size of this type of milling spindle tooling, its difficult to know whether one will just fit, or need modifications. The pull studs just screw in if a drawbar is not used.

I went the R8 route from MT2, it was the easier option.

Edited By old mart on 22/06/2020 17:14:36

Edited By old mart on 22/06/2020 17:17:02

When we did some repairs to the gears and bushes inside the Smart & Brown model A apron, there was a problem with the gear and shaft which engaged with the rack. The gear was quite good, but the integral shaft was badly worn adjacent to the gear. There was no way to reduce the whole shaft and building up the worn part would have been expensive. I set the shaft in the lathe and bored the gear end to just below the worn diameter, and parted it off. Then I made a new shaft to fit the hollow gear on. I made the mating parts with 0.001" clearance and not too smooth a finish and used Loctite 638 on them. About a week after re assembling the apron, the joint moved. It was the only thing that could fail in the whole gear train, so the apron had to come to bits again. It had been very difficult to get apart the first time, so I had drilled and tapped a couple of holes for jacking screws,before re assembling, which saved a lot of cursing. Mike set the shaft vertically in the rotary table on the mill and drilled three equally spaced holes axially in the joint and Loctited some needle rollers in, it has been ok since.

Loctite have a very informative website which is well worth looking at.

Edited By old mart on 22/06/2020 16:58:07

It will only take a tiny skim of the face of the backplate to sort that out, and the radial runout of the register should be checked at the same time. It is common for the chuck to fit tightly on the register, but if it doesn't, don't worry, you will have to get the radial running well by leaving the chuck fixing screws slightly loose and get it running before fully tightening them. You need to check the chuck with different size work in it, preferably ground stock.

Before any machining, make sure the threads of the spindle are absolutely clean and also the backplate threads.

Edited By old mart on 22/06/2020 13:51:30

The Cycle threads are indeed a strange mixed bunch, there is a 7/16 X 20 one which is so close to 7/16 UNF that you would have to use an optical comparitor to tell apart.

**LINK**

A convert, careful, you will awaken the wrath of the HSS brigade.

I have loads of parallels in pairs, and they are essential for use with a mill, but have never used any with a lathe. 

The only way I can think of making any requires the use of a surface grinder, if you haven't got one just buy them ready made, new, or used.

Edited By old mart on 20/06/2020 15:17:52

Seems like it is time to make some custom tools which will run in the correct direction. Any minute now there will be members posting designs for exactly the tools you want.

Edited By old mart on 19/06/2020 15:21:02

Great care would have to be taken with any design with thermostat control and water level and safety valves.