Member postings for Roger Best

The last piccy shows the chunky construction of this particular machine. Its pretty hefty for something that fits on a narrow bench. Its also nice and quiet, although it has an interesting "tick" from the spindle that I want to track down. You will also note that there are no covers on the position encoders. Those jobs are for another post.

It isn't even installed yet and I am very enamoured. This is the same machine used by "ADES WORKSHOP" and in Precision Mathews form "Blondihacks", with nice results, so I am sure it will do for me.

Thank you for all the help. I am sure that the small area shown and the tight fit justifies this thread and your advice was very useful. I hope that it will be a good record of the practical issues for other newbies like me.

Hi guys.

I have been poorly over the last few weeks so sorry for the delay posting the second stage of the installation.

Having set up the crane I conscripted my son to help out. We pulled it up, got it on the bench, then pulled it back and forth to mark out the holes. The linseed oil for the wooden worktop was an ideal lubricant to pull the tray about with the machine on top, a bit stick-slippy but easy for one to do. Its now in its permanent position, just waiting for a bit of sealant to keep the oil in the tray and to be torqued down and it will be good to go.

I think we have the measure of it. Nice and relaxing, but don't ask technical questions.

I think the leather glue is to hold it whilst the edges are sewn. Just a theory, maybe its better than the manufacturer suggests, just numpties keep complaining when they mess up.

I also got a small selection of bits and liquids to get me going.

I ordered a nice vice, but there was an issue with it, so Warco have sent the jaws back and I bought a discounted "rough work" vice to keep me going. I probably should have bought a larger, cheaper one, but it looks OK.

We will see what happens when I get it all back together.

The text is misbehaving so I shall keep it simple.

The machine was shipped in a box with the loose items distributed in it and some big stuff on top.

Here is the ramp, the drive slopes up to the door, it was a surprise to see how steep it is.

Happy days!! Its here.

The weather was good and I was able to prepare a lifting beam (for installing tomorrow) before the machine arrived, then I unpacked it, took off the extremities and slid it off onto a useful trolley. It rode the ramp easily, with a pull from my son, and looks great on the floor, clearly filling the gap that three or four men would have used to pick it up.

I have some gripes with Warco who seem to get their part numbers mixed up and don't know what poly bags are for, but that aside the machine looks fabulous, even if its cover interlock doesn't work and the motor rattles (? Did the demo one do that??)

I am still very pleased and looking forward to tomorrow.

I have photos!

Poor marketing, they would get more separating it.

Hopefully Beamish museum are watching it.

There are a load of "silent" compressors on ebay. Cheap as chips from abroad, (pre-Brexit without import duty.)

You can get "safety" blow guns that have nozzles that entrap air to amplify flow and reduce the chance of injection injury and I would think blowing swarf into slideways too. Much recommended.

Good point Vic,

The Drummond is indeed redundant, however I love machine tools and I will restore it for its own sake with the help of the many pieces of information I have been sent by forum members. It is a century old and deserves a dignified retirement rather than the scrap heap, (possibly indoors if needs be).

It has a place in any modellers shop though, thanks to its versatility in no small part due to the T-slots in the cross slide. The South Bend is a lathe pure and simple, intended for a shop where other machines cover the other types of cut.

I will post a better photo after the milling machine is installed and my fume cabinet is built - that will show where the heating and spraying will occur. Sheet metalwork is an issue, I need a good place for a Formit and they need space around them, I also need a grinding & polishing wheel. So there will always be pressure for space.

The lathe was disassembled using a ratchet strap, ideal for raising it an inch. Unfortunately it wasn't so good at lowering several feet onto the horizontal sack barrow. Bit hairy that. I just wrapped the tail a couple of times round a pole for a brake and eased it down.

The orange flash in the picture is that strap - very robust and useful.

So I bought the pulley block hoist with the white rope. Utter Sh**. It is CE marked against a standard for electric hoists not manual ones, so you need to be able to pull 50kg on a thin rope. Hence the scaffold pole winch. Technically I think it is illegal and I would have sent it back were it not a collection of useful bits that can easily be improved upon to let me hang a bike from the ceiling.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the support.

I like some of your ideas Bazyle. I will see what I have, using a fence post seems promising as I have some.

I am making a fuss because I have had a bad back for about 30 years and its currently only a mild hindrance, however I had Covid earlier this year and its taken a lot of strength out of me, so I am particularly wary of doing serious mischief.

I do have some fit neighbours but there is so little room that the chance of an accident is too high, I like controlled lifting so I shall probably try something involving the pallet and plank idea.

Its also worth noting that the bench is 1070mm high, so to get it into the drip tray I would need two motorbike lifts.

This is how we erected the South Bend, I have done it with muscle before but we found it was very tricky here and I opted for a safe method. For the mill job the floor is full so a wall or ceiling mounted crane is needed.

yeah Hopper, some have a huge amount of bruising.

I think I shall have to do some measuring.

I have a considerable collection of spanners that may have taken four generations to collect. I have yet to give them a good sort even though they where in my shed for a decade. They have been washed recently to remove asbestos and rat excreta, and are now in my back lobby for us to trip over.

The old ones are clearly "steam spanners" very thick and suitable for brass or bronze fittings, rather rusty, however I have noticed that the tolerance across flats is pretty loose, such that couldn't find a good fit for my USA South Bend lathe tailstock locking nut. The best one was made by a mangle manufacturer.

Has anyone else noticed this or is it just a case that spanners where pretty crude in the day?

Ta, Rog

Nice to see some engineering discussion.

How about suggesting what frequency the tool will resonate at and what surface finish will result?

Ta Dave, I am expecting to have to strip it down to a two-man lift but I may have to move it off the drive on my own.

I have a rope pulley that is good for this weight, so I just need to fit a lifting beam....

Ramp sorted. The floor should have been higher but the builder gave up before a nice thick self- levelling screed had been laid so I had to do something myself.

Quote received - £1000

I know that a proper job would be expensive but that was a bit steep for me, I shall put the money towards the labour of something I don't find satisfying.

Its ready to send to me so I hope it won't be long.