Member postings for Roger Best

Hi Jordan.

See here: link to thread

In the few years I have been paying serious attention Myfords have dropped in price dramatically, such that sound machines with necessary accessories come up weekly for money comparable to ubiquitous small Chinese lathes. This makes them very attractive indeed. A good one will work for half a century without major work being required as long as it is protected from rust.

There are a few high-spec machines for silly money, collectors love them and there are those with pockets to match.

If you decide you need to make bigger stuff, and never want to do fiddly things then larger bench-top or free-standing machines from the partner organisations on the right of the page are well worth looking at.

Maybe, vents will help, small 6" ones will make all the difference.

Condensation will form on any cold metal object, cold being relative to the relative humidity. So you won't remove the problem entirely but if you wrap up your equipment it will help a lot.

Best option is the proper insulation with dehumidifier. A little heat will improve that "relatively cold" parameter.

Good luck.

Blondihacks 14 minute tutorial

That seems to have got very complex!

Yes, I must clarify.

The South Bend does actually have only one lever for cross and long feed, so you cannot do both at once.

The conversation was in the context of the ability to drive into the rotating chuck and the general lack of guarding. There is no mechanical knock-off clutch, that I know of.

Ample opportunity for accidents you only do once.

Sorry for the delay - been sick and busy, bad combination.

Terrific, I love miniature machines.

ta

The last photo shows the shadow with an additional local light; IKEA, about a tenner I think.

The task light produces a lot more shadow than the annular lamp. Neither is a problem and both is best. It seems to depend on where the reflections come from.

There was a few posts about annular spindle lamps in late 2020, I know it was then because I took photos of my own project when I bought a cheap selfie lamp off Amazon.

lamp link on Amazon

This year I got round to finishing the job. (Life got in the way).

Doing it was generally a lot of fun. I got to use a lot of tools; a rivnut insert, my fancy vice, milling cutters to machine the angle bracket to length, the new keyless chuck.

I also had to re-assemble the quill DRO as it fell apart when I detached it from the quill to allow the bit to be drilled. Amazingly the faceplate has three sizes of screw keeping it on.

There is an album of photos that gives the story in my albums. In case I mess posting the photos here I shall just say that the result is amazing, it seems to bend light round the chuck and leaves no shadow, only the drill or cutter leaves a shadow.

The finished photo doesn't seem to know that it has been turned on its side, although more modern forums do know. I shall take another photo and see what I can do.

I recommend this sort of thing as a great first project, much easier than power feeds and DROs.

I've been using the mill a bit and the captive drawbar is very useful, its great if you just use M12 tooling and don't have to change to the imperial drawbar, (or vis versa).

I have found a 13mm keyless chuck is a bit long, I would advise a smaller size if you can get one. And a low-profile vice is good too. It only matters with large, long drills. A milling cutter collet is so much shorter.

Ouch!

I too am of the ability to press the wrong button at the wrong time. I was especially good at driving an overhead crane in the wrong direction, you would have thought someone was deliberately mixing the buttons up.

Now in later life, I appreciate the principles of electrical control and know that I might need some sort of switching interlock so that only one axis moves at a time, which reduces the chance of an accidental motion, also the principles of ergonomics and putting a control in a suitable place.

All this is very good in hindsight, as I was saying to my brother-in-law when showing him my 1942 lathe, loosing a finger or two is a learning opportunity.

Hi George,

Ade has a 16B, Blondihacks has the Precision Mathews version as illustrated in the Warco 16B instruction book. Those made me interested in one so I popped down to Warco to check it out, and placed an order for my 16B in 2020. When I was there they had an 18B on display, very attractive but a bit too big for the space I have.

My 16B is very quiet, there is an irritating tick from the speed sensor switch but its nothing compared to a gearbox. I suffer from tinnitus and I didn't want anything that would set that off, I was very pleased that it seems OK.

If you are interested in a belt conversion I would recommend you give it a go. It might encourage you to keep your mill for a bit longer and get more value from it.

Hi guys, thanks for this. Although a perennial question I have also noticed that there is some development in opinions and experience, even on Youtube.

I posted that vinegar works, but slowly and its prone to flash rusting afterwards, so ok if there is a bottle in the cupboard and you want a modest job done now.

A lot of people love Evaporust for chucks and bits of lathe where you want a good cosmetic finish afterwards and minimal flash rusting. I have two chucks and a face plate that come under that group so expect some feedback.

I suspect that the superior acidic products are for small applications, Jenolite (phosphoric-type acid jelly) is very expensive indeed, OK for spots on cars.

Citric acid is affordable for big items, I will try it on some pitted and big saws I inherited where the propensity to etch is not so important.

Electrolysis works wonders on fiddly stuff like lock mechanisms but won't penetrate deep rust, e.g. surfaces rusted together.

So my collection of hand tools and spanners will probably be done in citric acid or an electrolysis bath.

Edited By Roger Best on 20/02/2022 16:17:54

Branded products - always fun working out what they are with the wrong glasses on.

SOD - I agree that repair shop has improved.

I think they have realised that the restorers are the stars; possibly because they are nice people with a mature outlook and a passion for perfection.

Not sure about the repairs that won't last - you must have something in mind. Some of jobs may have been questionable in the early days when they didn't have an expert but I have seen a good few specialists come in and they seem to use the traditionally best technique.

May I suggest a carrying frame for the head that allows two people to move it in ergonomic comfort. Plywood will do for most of it.

The gas strut sounds like it needs spring compressor.

Ade does a great job.

There must be a maximum safe force, at some point the ring of steel will break, it might take a hell of a lot though.

Getting it off again is useful as I have found myself.

Shucks, its always a pain when you change something and now its not right.

Mikes wheel is amazing.

This development is looking amazing. Thanks again for posting.

Extra Big thanks to JasonB and John Purdy.

Appreciable thanks to all others.

In my 40 years of engineering in the metric era I have found its not unknown for people to decide to not follow BS convention and decide that their fittings can be pretty much any shape they like, this is mainly because parts are made for an international market and they have never heard of BSI. Not unreasonably they usually include a drawing in the catalogue and nowadays the youngsters expect a CAD drawing on the website.

So here I am going back in time to the 1920s and customers are expected to know exactly what size everything is and put up with whatever that is.

Its a surreal situation for me, not a bad one, and its fun learning so thanks again for the help.

All disturbed soil settles so you need to spread the load big time.

It would be normal to use 100-150mm of concrete (not screed) with reinforcing mesh as the structural floor. This can be above the insulation. If below you need a similar thickness concrete top layer.

Screed is not good for bending loads and would not be considered structural in this sense but its fine for making a smooth surface and wrapping around the pipes/wires of your heater.

Good luck, just get a builder in.

No

Mainly due to the polystyrene