Member postings for AJAX

Another vote from me for inverter drive supermarket.

I have 5 WEG inverters on different machines and they all work flawlessly. They are simple to wire up with start, stop, e-stop, direction and speed control.

Don't waste your money on a pre wired package that will cost you several times the parts cost.

I don't like the Chinese inverters available on eBay. My reasons include the fake CE markings (I have been in contact with trading standards), lack of grounding, and electrical shocks from the machines they are connected to.

I purchased a large box of old spanners at a car boot sale. They came from a vintage car garage clearance. Most were good, maybe a dozen were junk. That gave me about 180+ spanners. I paid about £20 for the lot. My experience is that old spanners, even the good makes, can be purchased cheaply.

A quick Google search found HKS as makers of machine tools.

Thanks Nick. Some similarity, but mine features a rack and pinion quill feed. In some ways it's almost a larger bench drill in a miniaturized form.

Thanks, I agree that it does seem nice. Although I have no use for it at present maybe I'll find a use for it one day.

After reading your suggestion I searched for Reeves bench drills and couldn't find anything that matched. Are they known to include "RE" in the castings?

Brian

Although I've not yet had the need to use it, I realise that small sensitive drill presses are popular with some model makers. With that in mind, is anyone able to identify the make / model shown in the photos below? Apart from giving it a good clean and fresh coat of paint, it looks to be unmodified.

Edited By AJAX on 29/11/2021 23:55:30

3 phase, 4 pole, 1 HP. I believe there's a linked photo of the motor nameplate somewhere in the video comments. You may need to reposition the connection box if you have the same setup as I have.

Brian

The belts are "A section" profile. Belt length will obviously depend on pulley spacing and size. If you go for the power twist / linked belt as I used in the video, you can make an approximate measurement (using some string) and then adjust to fit. I bought mine via eBay at about £11 / metre.

It's easy to turn a Morse taper if you already have a male taper you can copy. Set a dial guage on the tool post and rotate the compound slide until it tracks the taper accurately. If you do it that way you don't need to worry about the taper angle dimension.

Do you have any photos showing the half nut mechanism dismantled? I presume each half nut runs in a dovetail slide; if so, do those two grub screws allow any adjustment? Maybe slacken one half nut off to make engagement "loose" so the two half nuts don't try to compete together when you engage the lever. If the half nuts pivot rather than slide, maybe you could make an adjustable cam; that's the solution I tried when fixing a boxford.

Look up Hooka crane hire. I've not used one, but they look ideal. 1.5 T lift capacity, depending on reach, etc.

Steve, I have a long, steep and narrow driveway that makes similar deliveries a problem. Although mine is tarmac, I reckon I'd find it close to impossible to push a loaded pallet truck to the top. I therefore try to shift anything heavy on my car trailer, but I have previously enquired about hiring a man and tracked lifting machine (maybe 2T lifting capacity) for future jobs. I was quoted a rough price of about £90 assuming an hour's work, which I consider quite reasonable.

No problem.

Here is the newly fitted motor in case you are interested.

I purchased from a business seller on eBay. Good service, including next day delivery.

I have been working on this project somewhat intermittently but the mill has now been repainted and a new 3 phase motor fitted. Rather happy with the Leroy Somer 0.25 kW motor which cost only £31.20 including Vat and delivery and comes with a 3 year warranty.

Every time I hear Newton Tesla mentioned, "sounds expensive" comes to mind. I recently purchased a brand new Leroy-Somer 0.25 kW 4 pole 3 phase motor with a 3 year manufacturer's warranty. It cost me £31.20 including Vat and delivery. I'm using a WEG inverter, and a suitably sized unit can be purchased for less than £100. Switches and some cable will add a little extra on top.

Edited By AJAX on 19/11/2021 05:48:05

I presume your countershaft pulleys are fixed with small grub screws, possibly with a small flat or indentation to set their position on the shaft. If I recall correctly, mine were fitted with two grub screws (double decker fashion) on each pulley and I believe this is quite common on these lathes. I re-made the shaft due to excessive wear from the pulleys / grub screws. If you do the same, you will most likely fix the 20 degree problem.

Did you use the Paragon etch primer that can be used on non-ferrous metals, or did you use a different one? I wonder if it is a "universal" primer that can be used on most metals. I've used it on aluminium castings before with good success.

Robin,

I have a Boxford Model C with the rear sliding countershaft as shown in the drawings posted by Nick. I extended the sliding rails to accommodate a modern motor and made a new countershaft spindle (the old one was worn) but it still looks original and works well. Let me know if you need detailed photos of any part and I'll see what I can find.