Member postings for Roger Best

I love the brush, very imaginative.

I have also used Breakbane many years ago. Not cheap in the day but a professional product made for work.

Or maybe not!

The standard stand is only £219 and the chip tray £71.40.

So any proposal has to be cheap enough under £300 and with superior storage to justify itself.

And it has to be decided on within the time it takes Roger Warren to decide to charge extra for delivery.

This is a difficult one, such a big beast may need a low work height (as shown on the standard stand) to change tools and it can't be easy to get to that crank at the side.

Is there anything like a test certificate in the paperwork?

You may get a good price with a professional servicing company, e.g Ben Pavier and there are a few others, that will pay the market rate then refurbish and rectify to add value and make a profit. If you ask enough you will find out the value.

Once it is all smartened up it will find an appreciative owner, no problem.

Hey Werner, what model needs a shaft speed of 25000rpm? Almost everything, other than a noise maker, will need a reduction gearbox and that means direction control is possible.

The main problem all small models have is efficiency, so optimising for power is a good start.

Just seen the reference to "Hemingway kit" in the mess at the top of the page.

Hemingway kits

Price is very variable, have you any pictures and what design did you use? what motor etc?

Hi Martin

It would be wise to spend some lock-down time considering what you want the lathe for and how much work you will do with it. Also how much work you want to do fixing the lathe.

I have been following restoration threads, videos and forums for ages and I am convinced that they are only for people who specifically like old stuff, its simply too much work to fix them up, unless you are specifically interested in doing that for its own sake (as I and lots of others are.) As for missing parts, that is too often a case of make a new one, for which you need a machine.

If you are interested in the long-term, i.e. you want the capability to make stuff for the rest of your healthy life, then its worth investing in a machine in serviceable condition, either second hand or brand new, there is huge choice.

Some nice acerbic comments here.

I always wonder, how, if its so important, did it get in such a state anyhow? Sometimes there is an accident, or the materials decay naturally, in other situations it just sat in a damp loft without any oil.

?? a dedicated cut-off saw is so cheap there is little market.

Great post Nigel, it could be used on a training course for how not to do H&S. Why goggles are not better than safety glasses, when builders hats just give you a pain in the neck. the difference between fall arrest and fall restraint harness. All are examples of poor selection and use of PPE.

I think that blaming the HSE is a little unfair. They publish loads of stuff and none of it says do any of the above, (there is a legal obligation to use appropriate PPE if anyone wants it spelt out). It does say that management must take responsibility and the reality is that they don't. They delegate to others, this sometimes means the little Napoleon who is too incompetent to be allowed to anything else, it almost always involves people who don't have the time to talk it through properly with the "experienced hand" who has never had an accident and knows how it should be done, because he has seen loads of idiots have accidents.

Safety management has improved hugely this century as has the equipment, the number of fatalities has steadily dropped and being killed at work is now an unusual thing. Amateurs would be wise to look at what the professionals are doing nowadays and bearing in mind that when working alone in your workshop there is no one to stem the bleeding when you have passed out.

Great thread this.

Super screws arrived in the post, big thanks to Chris Gunn and Mark Smith 20 for being so helpful and inspirational in their machine maintenance.

Good progress, amazing stuff.

If you take a front-on view of the Steam Wagon next to your engine I am sure we will see the difference in proportions, especially if you take the body off the Wagon.

Brilliant!!

Lots of experience here about what is fit for purpose PPE.

I am reminded to get some new nitrile gloves, I am running low, they tear so easy.

Good question, half nuts are often complex castings made using jigs. I assume Chris Evans 6 has a more sensible machine.

Its amazing they work but I just love it.

The 3D Printing is wonderful too.

Keep up the good work Turbine Guy.

Yes, somewhere over the back seems to be the best place, somewhere near your motor in your case.

And a happy new year to you too Arthur.

Following the predictable habit of not dropping a line of conversation I note that some DRO are almost as cheap as calipers, so almost a no-brainer for someone who is not an experienced machinist and finds dials difficult to read. (That would be me for instance.)

ARC cheap readout

Round about 2009 I was putting in a heating system. All fashionable mod cons, it centred on a multi-coil water cylinder that would take excess heat from the wood burning stove, whilst being able to take heat from a gas boiler and solar panels. Top and bottom electric heaters provide back up.

Unfortunately i didn't read the building regulations until after I had ordered the stove, so I had to half demolish and rebuild the chimney breast.

This took a considerable time. Obviously the stove had a wet back so the radiators and expansion tank had to be installed, as did the huge new cold water tank in the loft.

So its now Christmas eve and I am installing the wondrous water tank when I feel very unwell.

So I take to my bed with flu.

No hot water. No heating. For several days. I wasn't popular.