Member postings for Roger Best

Without a doubt the Wilesco kit is a great start, a Mamod kit is even simpler and more idiot proof but less flash. There are few build threads on the Unofficial Mamod Forum and lots of modified examples.

I like quick results, just like an 11 year old, so I like toy engines too, I can't recommend the fun of running one enough. If the exercise is successful then move on and up to more elaborate things.

various Wilesco kits

Edited By Roger Best on 29/03/2021 18:20:59

I appreciate your moral stance William. Not sure which new British-made machine satisfies all the criteria, but if second hand is good enough there is plenty of suggestions above and reasonable market, so patience will be rewarded I suspect.

Sports cars are a lot of fun for 8 months of the year, I would rather have both a car and a cheap milling machine that an expensive milling machine.

That works really well.

Dry equals rust and deterioration for most environments.

Hi Jim

Greetings from the far north of Hampshire.

Specsavers are hassling me to get my eyes tested. Can they help? Its a big company, they must have a DVLA suitable person on staff?

High temperature Silicon?

I had a hell of a job drilling holes in an RSJ for my house. 275 is proper strong stuff and the cheap drills didn't like it.

Sell for its proper use and buy something useful I say.

I had a beam outside for a decade. A good coat of red oxide and bitumastic paint kept it in good condition.

Just don't stand in the way!

A common technique I will undoubtedly try someday. I am pretty sure the trick is to minimise cutting forces, that means tiny feeds, sharp tools, cutting off a ring, etc, etc.

3mm sounds a bit chunky, but I don't see why not, just work across the face maybe having cut off the excess with a jigsaw.

As it is saving a huge amount of filing time I am sure its worth being careful.

Yes please Herbert.

Hi Tom

The main machine looks to be in good condition, so I suggest you follow the cautious chap's advice on that.

The bits that have been taken off look worse, however they are more easily stripped and cleaned.

There are few YouTube videos on stripping and de-rusting chucks that would be worth following. Its not difficult and using a chuck with rust in the internals will kill it.

I think you should expect to get it working in about 40 hours. Get some pleasure and pride out of it, Then allow yourself to slowly bring it up to what you want over a few years. A full-restoration could be 200+ hours even for the skilled, even more of you go full-hog.

Cheers

Rog

I bought the 3-axis DRO for mine, anticipating that I would fit a Z at some time.

The quill is a short throw device and if you ever move the head in the middle of a set-up you have lost the accuracy, especially if you are an amateur who does not own fag papers.

I see that they can also do rotary encoders, so I may be able to get my turntable fixed up on the DRO. That would be a project and a half.

great progress.

I would recess the top of the firebox. Is there boiler under it at that point?

That looks the business.

Yo Clay - welcome to the 16B club

There are a few errors in the Warco website,

I found one of them the hard way - the chip tray dimensions are the wrong way round, you need 520mm depth to fully support the tray, 500 is fine, mine is even less and the base of the machine is fully supported.

The distance of the Z-axis wheel to the wall is OK, I will be putting some slippy plastic on the rough wall nevertheless.

The machine is not as high as the maximum height listed, so I didn't have to move my lights.

My brain is failing - please use the link under my name to see the pictures. Other wise here is my thread:

WM 16B pics

Edited By Roger Best on 19/02/2021 23:39:45

Small X/Y tables for very light use are available on ebay for very little money. They might do what you want.

Horses for courses always works, if you have the space and cash its bound to be OK.

News - we worked out that wood smoke was irritating our Covid-scarred lungs, so we are heating everything with oil-filled heaters on max-price electricity. The house smells better but I dare not look at the meter.

Good thread.

It seems that sanity has occured.

Anything that lets heat out will be a great help, a big fan like that should be fine cooling so small a box, its designed to get 600W out of a big empty box of sensitive electronics after all.

I finally got out into the workshop!

I have been poorly recently and also focused on stuff in the house. I was made more determined by the stress of having both my mother and wife being of concern.

My mum is almost 80 and appears to have caught Covid during a hospital visit for chemotherapy, during which she also had an adverse reaction to the treatment that needed emergency treatment. You couldn't write it.

An afternoon of carpentry, has done me the world of good. I am building a fume cupboard, that will allow me to paint, weld, solder and steam when the weather is poor. Now the frame is up it looks about the right size. Lord knows where the sashes are coming from. The fan is sorted, not a proper EX-rated one but it should be OK if I keep the solvents to a minimum. Filters are easy - kitchen hood carbon filters are great.

A bit more tomorrow and I will be able to fit the vice I have been renovating and maybe even take the surface plate from out of under the sideboard and out into the workshop. The big bonus will be stocking up the drawers with all the tools from the house that I can never find when I want them.

I didn't know home-build CNC was such a big thing, looking at these links its huge!