Member postings for old mart

I have seen the centre 1/3 of several sizes of Morse taper shanks with factory produced relief as they are chemically blacked rather than relieved at a later date. As ega mentions, this may improve the grip in worn tapers. I don't personally like them as they are slightly tricky to slam home into the spindle. That applies to tanged tapers, of course. Some spindles might be convertable to captive drawbars which could help break the taper.

I always say that if buying a new mill which has the options of Morse Taper or R8, always choose R8, it was designed as a mill spindle and has advantages in use. Morse tapers were designed for drills and most of those have the extraction slot. The drawbar was not part of the original plan.

I sold my Mitutoyo digitals, 0-1, 1-2, 2-3 for about £65 each on ebay, they were in mint condition, so three people got some good kit. I hardly ever used them since retiring, so I turned them into cash and still have mechanical ones in imperial and metric. Ebay can turn up excellent buys occasionally, my 25-50 metric was NOS and made in East Germany, marked DDR and superb quality for £14 including delivery.

 As Mike Poole mentions, the tenths and micron vernier scale micrometers are not really needed as you can easily estimate the finer decimal place without the vernier, I never bother to turn the mic around to read it, even though my mechanicals have the scale.

 One advantage of a digital micrometer is the much reduced chance of misreading it.

Edited By old mart on 04/12/2021 19:31:21

Edited By old mart on 04/12/2021 19:32:53

I have been running it for some time, and while it can be run on older generation hardware, the security features will only work properly with a more recent machine. If you visit the Windows 10 or Windows 11 forums, there are links to which processor generation is approved and how to set up your pc. My laptop does not meet the standards despite having a sixth generation Intel processor and DDR4. If you are still using a pc with DDR3 or earlier, it will not have the necessary features, even if it is a top end one. Microsoft are attempting to combat the malware that is ever present on the internet and getting worse every year.

 Windows 10 will reach end of life in 4 years time, so there is no reason to panic just yet.

Edited By old mart on 04/12/2021 16:35:16

Positive inserts commonly are fitted in the toolholder horizontally and most have a 7 degree angle at the tip to give clearance and usually a chipbreaker to enhance the sharpness. Negative inserts are usually double sided, so the face of the insert must be square to the top and bottom. To work, the whole insert is tipped down at an angle of 7 degrees in line with the centre and the tip. Because there are usually some sort of chipberakers moulded in to the surface, the negative inserts are not that different from positive inserts when in use, and the grades for aluminium are pretty much equal to positive inserts.

 There are various charts which show the different types.

https://www.mitsubishicarbide.com/en/technical_information/tec_turning_tools/tec_turning_insert/tec_turning_guide/tec_turning_identification

Edited By old mart on 01/12/2021 20:44:55

The point I was trying to make in reference to Baz renewing his licence immediately rather than waiting 18 months till the compulsory renewal date is because it will be easier to change his paper licence now for a plastic one with photo and also easier again when he is 70. Renewing a paper licence at 70 could be more problematic.

My last 4 plastic licences all have the same photo, although the mean DVLC ditched the nice colour photo for cheap monochrome in the last 3.

Who exactly started talking about 1/100000" micrometers, it seems to keep coming up?

The halves will not weld together because firstly the steel is only heated a dull red, and secondly because the joint is only closed enough to fit.

I recommend that you start off with the smaller size, and later you may consider to add the larger to your collection. You can get a range of boring bar sizes which all use the 06 size, and your lathe can probably even hold 20mm ones as the tool height is actually nearer 10mm, about half of the holder size. Check out the APT website, although they are mostly catering for industrial users, they helpfully will sell carbide inserts singly from a range which home users find useful. The inserts are more expensive singly, but if you are not sure what works best for you and want to try a range of different grades then it makes sense to avoid buying a box of ten of the same. WNMG06 is a trigonic insert with 6 cutting edges which is available in steel, stainless, and aluminium grades and can be used in toolholders down to 16mm which might be a future thought.

I don't think so, the blued colour might be fooling you. Whether it is high enough carbon content to be turned into springs by heat treating is anyones guess. It is certainly worth saving some, you never know when it might come in useful.

Edited By old mart on 30/11/2021 19:41:30

I think that you might as well just renew the lot, and possibly sell the existing parts on ebay to somebody who needs bits. It is unlikely that another make would work with yours, the exact dimensions and type would be needed. There is a firm which specialises in DRO's and possibly Mitutoyo, but the name escapes me.

If you go for Mitutoyo, br warned that there are a lot of counterfeit copies out there and I recommend buying from a reputable source even if the price is slightly higher.

Baz, you might be better off renewing your licence now, it will cost nothing but getting a passport size photo to fix on the form. I have changed my driving licence 4 times since 2007 with minimum bother. The only change at 70, might be the right to drive a minibus on a car licence, my motorcycle licence is still there along with my car licence.

Edited By old mart on 30/11/2021 19:26:57

I have a Mitutoyo 25mm mike in microns which has the heat shield to reduce the heat from fingers from affecting the reading. Get the type with the heat shield if you can. The micron resolution is not needed, 10 micron is more than enough for 99% of work. I sold my digimatic's as they are not needed enough any more and I can manage imperial and metric mechanical ones. I also have two Mitutoyo imperial depth mikes, one 3" and the other 6" with different length bases. You can get clamp on base extenders for fitting to vernier/digital calipers which might make them more versatile and accurate.

Edited By old mart on 30/11/2021 19:11:17

This shows the usefulness of a lathe with threading, you can make pretty much any thread to order, I have made some mating threads which are made for the job, they are unique in size, I have no idea what size they are, but they work perfectly.

Model engineering is certainly greener than having a gas guzzling V8 American car to pollute the world.

When I renewed my driving licence at 70, I did not have a current passport and all I needed was to tick off the boxes saying that my eyesight had not changed and that there were no new health factors. As I said earlier, I will be getting another application form in the spring, the current licence only lasts 3 years.

Toledo steel, actors are expendible.

Bad luck, I got mine renewed online no problem and expect to be getting a second set of reminders next spring.

I fully agree with Thor's caution regarding screw on chucks, the Smart & Brown model A is screw threaded and the manual mentions only running at very slow speeds if using reverse. The one I use has been modified to positively lock 3 scroll chucks and a 4 jaw independent because of using lefthanded boring and internal threading tooling.

I keep a few good quality files at the museum, including a number of NOS Stubbs, they no not get lent out to be abused.