Member postings for Martin Bryars

Thanks Lathejack. That is exactly the information I needed and is very helpful indeed.

Thanks for your help Chris. I suspect, however, that the 1800 has slightly different dimensions. I am seeing if it would fit in. spot with rather odd constraints, the ends not being a problem, merely the depth.

I should be very grateful if someone with one of these lathes could tell me the dimension from the back of the splash guard to the front of the swarf tray, in other words the depth of the machine excluding the bits sticking out beyond the body comprising various handles.

I am still trying to make up my mind whether to buy Harrison or Colchester and dimensions are one of the keys to this.

I have 0.5mm steps for the, I think, two smallest sizes, 3.5 etc. I find it hard to get the smallest ER32 collets to hold a size over.5 mm under nominal satisfactorily.

With my old mill, I had a Clarkson chuck with metric and imperial collets. I now have a Bridgeport and use ER32 collets and have had no trouble with slippage. The same system I also use in the tailstock of my lathe and in Stevenson blocks from Arc Euro, which are very useful pieces of kit. I was worried about leaving the Clarkson system, which really is excellent, but have not found any problems in practice.

Some of my ER32 collets are from Arc, and they are OK, but most are from Cutwel, which I think are that bit better.

One of the reasons I want to change lathes is to have a bigger spindle bore. I tend not to have very long lengths of material to machine, but plenty that is more than 1 inch diameter, the limit on the Myford.

I have taken the point about metal through the mandrel on board and I should have thought of it.

I know my workshop is quite roomy, but I have some other constraints like access to a door high up which is loft storage above my wife's workroom, a 4inch traction engine I am building and its stand, and enough workbench space for my son to build a prototype robotic arm of a fair size for specialist industrial purposes, plus at the moment everything is pretty well laid out.

Anyway, I now have the information/confirmations that I need. This forum really is very useful.

Thanks. I had the dimensions, but the copy manual is helpful, as is your tip about the tailstock.

Thank you to all those who have replied. Very helpful indeed. I must admit that I hadn't thought about metal through the headstock, but should have done, nor about changing the door for the electrics. I can never recall removing the tailstock from a lathe either as is mentioned. Altering that garage is not possible for both practical and aesthetic reasons.

I shall now go away and have further thoughts about where to put one. At least no-one has discouraged me from an M300.

Much as I like it, I have decided my Myford 254S is too small for some work I want to do so I am thinking of changing to a Harrison M300 with a gap bed. I used to have a Colchester Student which was very old. My workshop now has a Bridgeport in it, so space is more restricted and the M300 is a bit smaller than a Student in footprint. .I have two possible positions for the lathe, one end on to the wall, the other end on to the garage doors, but the latter is much poorer for general convenience. That is all very long winded but sets the scene.

What I really want to know is how frequently one really needs access to the end of the headstock. There is the door for the switchgear and a cover for the change wheels. So far as I can see, all the threads one is likely to use are covered by the standard change wheel set and I assume the electrics are only accessed if something nasty has happened. At the tailstock end, one would rarely if ever need to remove the tailstock. I would welcome any thoughts, particularly from M300 owners.

Thanks to all those who have replied for their suggestions. I am surprised by the number of those who have taken the time. I need to make holes up to .75 inches deep in cast iron and steel. Clickspring's video is excellent, but I already have one piece of tooling to construct and don't want more I'm afraid. I want to concentrate on my project while I am still not too old to enjoy the finished article.

I will try the Steelman route, but suspect I will finish up with MSC and Dumont broaches.

Thanks again.

Martin

I have several ¼ inch square holes to make in components, to fit shafts, and would like to use a broach for this. The only supplier I can find is MSC who charge north of £100. Does anyone know of any suppliers at more reasonable costs. I doubt I can justify £100 plus, and before anyone suggests filing, the holes are deepish and my filing, I don't think, is up to it.

In reply to SillyOldDuffer, I have recently swapped the single phase motor on my Myford 254 for a 1hp three phase unit and Mitsubishi VFD supplied by Newton Tesla. Continuously variable speed is really very convenient particularly as I am idle and did not change belt positions sufficiently often. The lathe seems considerably smoother with a better finish. Part of that is that it is very much quieter and I have more confidence to use highish speeds and heavier cuts. I use indexable tools anyway. Fitting was a doddle as you just plug in, although remounting a heavy motor is not that easy.

As Speedy builder says, and some engines, for example Austin 7s, can be made pretty high revving, thinking of my sons' car.

I am either missing some point, or have misunderstood some posts, because it seems to be claimed that white metal bearings are only suitable up to around 1500 rpm. Admittedly the application is rather different, but car engines were produced for many decades with plain white metal bearings on crank- and cam- shafts running happily at much higher rpm for lengthy periods. They were not taking intermittent cuts of course, but presumably no-one is suggesting high revs on a lathe for that type of use, and of course they were well balanced and designed to take high revs.

Which was fine until I got to "differently than in English". Differently from, perhaps to, but never than.

I had a secretary 20 odd years ago who was brilliant with cold calls. Where do you get your water was met by"From the stream outside the door". How do you finance your car fleet "We all have bicycles". I suggest telling them that you wash clothes in the local river. They don't have an answer to that.

Thanks Clive. I have looked at the clutch and it appears to be clean, but now will not quite go back, leaving a mm or so of daylight. The mechanism has been refurbished, os possibly adjustment is simply called for, however I don't quite understand why the clutch housing will not go fully back, unless the gear teeth are refusing to mesh. As a result, there is no drive to the feed. However, manual feed on the quill is nice and free. Hey ho.

Thanks Tony. I do have a manual and have spent some time looking at threads and videos, but they don't answer my specific questions.

I have recently acquired a Bridgeport but am having two problems, and had a third which I have dealt with. In transit, the locknut on the adjusting screw next to the quill loosened and I have reset this so that the vertical pin seems to trip the feed control OK. However, the feed control lever does not snap to and fro. It engages in a smooth slide and when released by the stop's motion, the bolt merely makes a rather half hearted slide with the lever hanging loose. I think it should release with a much more positive movement. The feed reverse knob continues to rotate and clicks.

I assume that this is probably because the clutch is wrongly adjusted and the ring controlling its force needs to be turned to tighten, but is this likely to be correct; I don't want to do any damage.

The quill also feels slightly rough when moved with the hand lever, as if a gear is catching slightly. I imagine that this might again be down to the clutch, but am not sure.

Wisdom from an expert would be greatly appreciated.

I have just bought a refurbished Bridgeport with a Varispeed head which is very quiet indeed. There are videos on You Tube showing how to rebuild one. It is certainly much quieter than the Harrison mill I have sold, which was in good condition. I think if I were starting from where you are, I would rebuild the head.

I have inverters on both the Bridgeport and my Myford 254. Both are Mitsubishi. The one on the lathe is guaranteed for 10 years by Newton-Tesla, it being bought as part of their conversion package for a Myford to 3 phase. A 10 year guarantee normally implies a long life expectancy.