Member postings for Keith Gaunt

Having a closer look it has six removable cutting blades which can be pushed back and forth by a nut at either end, and this one is stamped 23/32 to 25/32 and 18.25mm to 19.75mm, I see now that the blade slots vary in depth as the indicated span. I don't have an engineering or machinists background so I just love picking up this knowledge. Thanks old mart and Bo'sun. Another quick one, are water levels still ever used to setup large machining equipment.

Keith

I came across this reamer and was wondering what type it is and how it is used.

Hi John

Thanks very much for the photos, I've just been looking and scratching my head again and returned to the house to see what aluminium angle is available online, so that I can at least position the scale and reader even if it's only with double sided tape to start with. I have gone to favouring the chuck side as well, yours looks a nice tidy job something like I want to achieve. I see what you mean about it catching on the chuck when the jaws are wide. I have also got to move mine towards the back of the lathe to avoid the compound slide when it is rotated unless I can somehow fix it lower down. I'll get some fixing materials first because I find it hard to visualise, I have to physically see it.

Thanks for your help John, I'll let you know how I get on.

I think I read something about the one mounted under the cross slide, and I think the keyways in the Myford were utilised for the purpose, the WM180 has a completely flat cross slide, but I will have another look cos I'll have to start thinking a bit more outside of the box.

I had just rested the scale there hoping for a bit of inspiration, although I think it would have to be offset from the cross slide quite a bit to retain access to oil ports and gib adjusters etc. I did look at mounting it on the chuck side and there would be less interference apart from as you say it would catch on a wide open chuck, but aye John a photo would be great if you don't mind. I know the reader would need a bracket of some kind because it's a magnetic scale, which could be my main mistake.

I have just taken delivery of a 2axis DRO which I intended to install on my Warco WM180 lathe, however now that I have the bits I am beginning to think that I have bitten off more than I can chew. I can see that I would need to fit offset bars and brackets to the cross slide to clear the gib adjusters, oil ports and the swing of the compound slide not to mention the carriage lock. Anyway I'm not one to give up that easily so I wanted to ask if any member has fitted a DRO to the WM180 or similar or has photos of a pre-fitted one to provoke a little thought. I have added photos to illustrate my remarks.

Edited By Keith Gaunt on 26/04/2020 16:29:14

Edited By Keith Gaunt on 26/04/2020 16:30:37

Hello Keith

I'm in Egremont, whereabouts in Workington are you. As I said I've got myself a Chinese lathe (Warco 180) which is the imperial model, because I was too impatient to wait for the metric to be available. I thought that would be ok since I would want a DRO fitted anyway, anyway I decided to try and come to terms with imperial measurements while learning how to operate the lathe and since I wouldn't need any precise measurements yet there was no rush for the DRO. Having said that I've just ordered a kit from Ebay this morning, my head was done in just looking at the handwheel dials. So I might have a few questions regarding the fitting of it.

Keith

Thanks to all your responses, I've learned quite a bit from them and gained a lot of food for thought from each.

Stay safe.

Keith

Hello Pete

Youv'e prompted me to try and make some soft shield things for the chuck jaws, although thinking about it I wouldn't have needed them even if I had done it your way, but thanks anyway it'll be something to do while waiting for stock to be delivered.

Keith

Thanks for that Dave, it just felt like i was going the wrong way with the taper, but then again it all feels a bit unnatural at the moment, got to think about every move.

Regarding your other point about the rebar, I've taken that on board and I'll wait until my assortment of other metal arrives before doing anything else. Watch some more YouTube.

Keith

Hello

For my first project on the WM180 I decided after watching YouTube to have a go at turning new handles starting with the carriage handwheel. However the only metal I had available was a bit of rebar so that's what I used. My workflow was as below but I was a little uncomfortable with the last three steps which didn't seem quite right.

I wanted to ask if there is a more logical sequence to follow, and how should these tasks be approached. As it turned out (no pun intended) I was quite happy with the result, but as I said the method didn't seem quite right and was it more luck than judgement.

1) Remove deformities from surface

2) Drill 8mm hole through to take original screw and widen at end to accomodate screw caphead. this widening was made a little deeper so that the handle could be made longer than the original.

3) Chamfer edge of piece.

4) Knurl along length for handle.

5) Set required angle on compound slide and turn taper from knurling towards the chuck.

6) Measure required length of handle and part off.

Here are photos to help with the explanation, any advice on this or anything else to do with lathes would be much appreciated.

Hi my name's Keith and i'm an Engineering Surveyor, still full time but way past the official retirement age. A few months ago, after a lot of deliberation I bought myself a Warco WM180 lathe. My interest came about from my work coming up with ideas for little gadgets and gizmos that could make the job easier and more precise. I have always had a love of old machinery and instruments even though I work with state of the art instruments at the moment they still don't have the feel of the old solid instruments. Anyway back to the WM180, which I hadn't really done much with apart from fix it down to a bench, until this lockdown. I bought some of the other essential tools that go with it (shows how much I know) and watched YouTube videos every night. Now it's all I think about, so i'll have a lot of questions once I get the hang of the terminology.