Member postings for Simon Barr

Due to the abundance of time there seems to be in the current climate I decided I would dismantle all the slides on my mini lathe and reassemble it with care and some mods.

On my to-do list for a long time has been a carriage lock, so that's what I've been making today. Later once some shim arrives I'll be replacing the carriage retaining plate adjustment screws and just shim them instead. As well as replacing the screws holding the plates with studs and nyloc nuts instead of cap head bolts to hopefully make putting it all back together easier.

The carriage lock is made from some bits of plate I had hanging around and wasn't really made with any precision in mind, aside from it fitting together and working . The thinner plate is 5mm and the bolts are stainless, not sure how thick the other plate is. I also had to replace the smaller cap head with a button head as it caught on the bed webs. It appears to work OK but until everything is back in place I won't know for sure.

Simon.

I know my Warco mini lathe uses a 180V motor cos I had it in pieces yesterday. A couple of years back the original membrane controls and controller got wet from a leak in the shed roof and promptly died. I replaced it with a controller from BICL in Canada (Beel Industrial Controls Ltd) but only lashed up the control panel, including gaffer tape. So yesterday I made an aluminium panel as it was about due, hence having it in pieces.

Simon

This something I've recently tried to learn having failed in the past. After stumbling across a short YouTube video last week I've had some success with the technique shown in it. My cheap Aldi grinder has a tool rest I made myself and I've scribed a line so I can attempt to keep at the right angle. So far I've tried with a 10mm and an 8mm and both drills have come back to cutting decent holes. I figured larger sizes would be easier to start with. I appreciate he shows a very simple grind but I'm hoping if I can perfect it then I can try altering the technique to suit. Link below.

Sharpening video

Another vote for KeePass here. I've been using it for a long time now as I'm an open source fan. If you decide to use it make sure that you keep backups of the file and a note of the main password in a safe place. If you lose the main password it is game over and everything in the file is lost forever.

As far as intelligent chargers go I can recommend Ctek ones. I've had one for around seven years now and it is fantastic, not cheap but fantastic. It's been used on all sizes of batteries and even has an AGM setting. In my experience 'old fashioned' chargers are just as likely to knacker a battery as charge it, they all overcharge to some degree. You can just leave an intelligent one to analyse and charge appropriately.

Well worth what it cost me.

I've been able to take 20 thou cuts easily with aluminium which is OK with me. 30 thou worked too but it didn't seem as comfortable doing so. I understand that there will be flex in my mount but not much I would have thought. 12mm plate is quite substantial isn't it.

The slide I had previously is like the one in the picture on this web page **LINK** andI found it was way to far off the axis to be useful. That and rubbish work holding.

My new setup works much better and is superb by comparison.

After my post asking if the Kiwi would be too ambitious a project I considered the replies and then revisited my vertical slide. I came to the conclusion that it was not really meant for my lathe and was too large and offered no decent work holding. After a bit of research I went for a Warco slide and milling vice knowing that they should be reasonable quality with some good backup here in the UK if thinks went south.

My cross slide isn't drilled for a vertical slide so that meant I would need to remove it for drilling and tapping. I had a brainwave though and decided to mount the slide to a thick (12mm) plate and mount that plate on the toolpost stud. This would mean easy fitment and I would be able to angle the slide using the compound is I needed too. See the photos for how I achieved this.

I've not seen photos of anyone else doing it this way, maybe there's a reason for that. It does seem to work quite well though and I've been able to mill the foot and frame for my chosen project, Elmers wobbler. It seems quite sturdy though I do get some chatter at times.

Can anyone suggest why this might be a bad method for fitting the slide? Apologies for the photo orientation, I'm not sure what's gone wrong there.

Thanks for all the replies, all very sensible and there's some useful links in there that I'm going to investigate. Over the weekend I dug out my vertical slide to refresh my mind. I'd only used it once before and wasn't very impressed by it. It didn't appear to have much of a usable range and the workpiece clamping arrangement leaves a lot to be desired. I've now realised that my cross slide should maybe have more holes than it does for mounting the vertical slide.

I'm going to get this sorted and then try and get stuck in to some smaller projects before tackling the Kiwi. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Simon

I'm relatively new to the engineering world and mostly self taught, but enthusiastic and need a project. My lathe is sitting there just begging to be used but other than making practice swarf it's mostly idle.

I love the I/C engine in all it's forms so I thought that may be something I could aim for. After spotting an advert in the magazine I've looked at the Hemmingway kits site and the Kiwi Mk2 has caught my eye. Am I being too ambitious with this choice?

I have my lathe (Warco mini) with assorted tooling, 3 and 4 jaw chucks and a face plate, lots of hand tools and access to a pillar drill. Also a vertical slide but it's an older one and doesn't have a vice as such. Am I well enough kitted out for such a project or would a mill be needed?

Any suggestions welcomed.

Simon

Just a quick update regading QCad. I can confirm that QCad (Linux release) appears to run just fine on my Pixelbook. I downloaded and extracted the .tgz file from the website and extracted it. QCad ran with installation So in theory any Chromebook that can run Linux will run QCad. The best of both worlds IMHO.

I'm unfamiliar with using it or any CAD program really so I think I'll buy a printed copy of the book and have a play.

Simon

While that is true Chromeos is becoming increasingly useful offline. You can create email, edit docs, run Linux apps etc offline nowadays. How well that works for an individual is down to their needs, and for me it works just fine. Are you aware that you don't need to dual boot Linux on the chromebook? You can enable a virtual machine and just run Linux apps, then you have the best of both worlds. I'm a long time Linux fan and have used it since kernel 1.2.8.

I spoilt myself and got a pixelbook so local storage and processing power are both available, along with the most amazing piece of laptop hardware I've experienced. Very happy

Simon

Hi Martin.

I love engines of all types and used to own a Petter A2 (I think). Single cylinder side valve, weighed a ton sort of thing. It had to go a couple of years ago when I moved here though. I'd forgotten that I did make some bushes to account for wear in the carb/governor linkage on it. Hopefully one day I will have another.

Simon

Hi, new member here.

I've had my Warco mini lather for just over ten years now but not given it much use so I'm here hoping to inspire myself and learn new skills. I have made the odd part and also tuned my air rifle with bits made on the Warco. Motorbikes are a love of mine but as yet I've not made anything for any of the ones I have now or previously owned.

That may change in the future...

Simon

Hi, my first post here

With Chromebooks you don't dual boot Linux, but you can seamlessly run Linux apps in a virtual machine. Not all Chromebooks can do this so research the models before buying. The feature is considered beta and things like cut and paste can be slow but I find it works well.

I may be teaching you to suck eggs but Chromebooks have an 'expiry date' after which they will no longer receive updates from Google. Personally I love their simplicity. I worked in IT for nearly thirty years and got entirely fed up with windows. I have a pixel book myself so I may look at qcad and see if it runs.

Simon