Member postings for Donovan Kaardal

A little tap was all it took to have the plunger move in, and now it's moving freely.

Thanks for the assist guys - I should have asked for help weeks ago!

:D

DAK.

Thanks for the responses!

Ian, I'm not going crazy on it, but I gave it a good push and yank. I'll grab my 'gentle persuader' and give it a few taps tonight when I'm in the shop. A few bonks with a rubber mallet might get it to notice me.

DC31k, lever 3 is in the position that is shown on the pic above, so that shouldn't be a problem. If trying to convince it with a rubber mallet doesn't help at all, I'll pull out my manual and see about doing what you suggest.

Regards,

DAK

I've got an odd issue with my Colchester Student. I'd bought it years ago and finally started using it after getting some wiring issues sorted out and doing a general cleanup.

The manual states that crossfeed and longitudinal power feeding is directed by a plunger (1) and enabled by a lever (2).

My plunger doesn't move. Not in, not out. Not even a little.

Anyone seen this before? Am I missing something that releases that plunger so it can be pushed or pulled? Or is it more likely it's just jammed somehow and I'll need to pull the saddle apart?

Regards,

DAK

I don't know if this would suit since it's more in the 'vintage' category but I frequently see jones and shipman precision drill presses on ebay. I bought one myself a few years ago for around £70. There's one up for sale now for £175 that looks to be in reasonable shape.

These top out at 6000rpm, but they're VERY well made. Might be something to keep an eye out for.

Here's a pic of what mine looked like when I picked it up.

I'm in the process of converting my student 1.5 to use a Dickson style qctp. I had the same issue you have. What I've done is to cut down that post so its only around around 8mm high, and then put the top slide on to a rotary table on my mill. A few turns later it's a perfect fit for the toolpost.

Right now I'm just trying to figure out what the thread is in that hole so I can get a bolt for it. I might just drill and tap it for a metric one though.

I lived right by their store and manufacturing location in Ottawa (Nepean) for years. It was a very expensive time for me.

Hockey pucks are great - and they machine beautifully. I'm making some feet for my surface grinder right now.

I managed to get a great deal on a 5C collet chuck with an integrated L0 backplate on eBay a little while back. I've been out of touch with any kind of metal spinning for quite a while, but I recalled Crawford being a solid name, so I grabbed the chuck even though I don't have much in the way of 5C tooling.

Of course the reason the chuck was going for such a low price won't be a surprise to anyone but me - Crawford TruGrip 5C collets are very different from standard 5C collets. They thread is much more course, and it's also going in the opposite direction.

Taking the chuck apart though, the threaded draw 'ring' is easily removable, and replacing it with one that fits standard 5C collets would convert it perfectly. What I'm wondering is if anyone has done this, or if anyone knows if there's somewhere that sells a right-handed, 5C threaded draw 'ring' for these chucks?

I have run across someones facebook page where they made a pair of these and they worked exactly as expected. I'd rather buy one - or have one made if anyone wants to recommend a place to get it done - then try it myself at this stage. My lathe is new to me and is slowly being rebuilt, and I can furnish other excuses to cover up for the fact I'm a big 'ole chicken when it comes to threading anything that is even a little unusual.

Any help would definitely be appreciated!

Pics of the drawbar 'ring'

And the chuck disassembled

Martin, the best place to start is to get into the Windows recovery environment. Neil Wyatt outlined the standard way of accessing it, but if you can't get into it by using the keyboard during the boot process (and with FastBoot enabled, you really can't), then you can do it by interrupting the startup process 3 times.

When your system is booting, press and hold the reset button on your computer until it restarts. Do that 3 times, and the 4th time just leave it to boot. It should show you a screen with the words 'Preparing Automatic Repair'.

You should then see a screen with Automatic Repair across the top and a couple of buttons: Restart and Advanced Options.

Click Advanced Options, then click Troubleshoot. From there you will have a few options that you can try such as System Restore (if you have a previously saved restore point), System Image recovery (if you have a system backup), Startup Repair, Startup Settings, and Command prompt. I'm kinda doing this from memory so forgive me if I'm missing anything.

What I would recommend is to try the options in this order:

Startup Repair - If that doesn't work (sometimes it does, usually it doesn't), you'll need to get back to the Automatic repair Screen again and try another one.

System Restore - if you don't tinker with your computer much, you should have some restore points. Chose this option, then select the most recent restore point. You may have to repair/reinstall any applications that were added after the last restore point.

Startup Settings - this will let you try booting into safe mode. There are a few options, but I'd suggest safe mode no networking, and at the very least back up your important files. You can recover them anyway even if Windows is completely toast, but this will make you feel better and is a nice, easy option.;

If startup repair or system restore don't work, there are other things to try but they're a little more involved. If you get back to use with an update after trying them, we can move on to other things if you're still having issues

I'm a big fan of the ATTiny range from Atmel (well, Microchip owns them now). The ATtiny85 is extremely popular, and you can get ones that people have made into Arduinos if you really want. You could make one yourself and flash the arduino bootloader, or just say to heck with it and program it straight. If you're not going to be changing the program very often, there's no reason to waste the space with the bootloader.

Power wise they can be very efficient, though as was previously said using sleep states or low power states helps with that as well.

Here's a pic of an ATTiny based arduino. I bought a bunch of these ages ago so there may be better ones out there now. This one was called the digispark? The purple board next to it is one I made that uses smd components - this is a wireless temperature sensor, but for this one I'm pretty sure I used the Arduino IDE to write my program, then programmed the ATtiny(s) with a second arduino.

Low power ATtiny info is out there - here's at least one page that is a good place to start: ATtiny low power

Excellent, thanks for the help!

And Chris, I spoke to Andamar about a few parts that I need last week. Those people really know there stuff, and they're incredibly helpful! I'd not thought to ask about the serial number though.

-Donovan

I've just took posession of a new (to me) Jones and Shipman 540P surface Grinder and I'm trying to figure out when it was built. I've gone over the information on lathes.co.uk and I believe I've narrowed it down to somewhere in the 1965-1970's based on the front control panel and the HP rating of the hydraulic pump motor (the pump motor was upgraded to .75hp in the late 60's)

Anyone have any information on what the serial number will tell you bout the date of manufacture?

The serial number is 72393

At a guess this could be the 393rd machine made in 1972.

You'll be able to sell your services as a Colchester Student Lathe Rebuilder after this Richard!

That's a nice haul!

Not sure if you can say it was worth the wait, but at least you've got 'em now.

Very nice!

If you've got a car battery charger, you can also tinker with some galvanic etching. Basically reverse electroplating - I've used it in the past to make my own version of machine name plates, and also some medieval reenactment stuff.

With brass you just need a bucket of water, some copper sulfate crystals (used for killing weeds), a DC power source (aka car battery charger), some wire, bits of brass, and a few vague memories from grade 9 science class. At least, that's how I did it.

For the resist, I just used cut vinyl stickers made at a sign shop. You can use all sorts of things though, and you can etch a lot of different metals. I've etched some of my own home-forged knives back in the day.

Regards,

Donovan

Thanks Phil and Richard - everything seems to be working, except of course for the interrupt switches I removed. Which I'll now be putting back.

Just for historical purposes, I'll post a pic of the red button that was depressed on the contactor. Poking at it made it pop out, and after that everything worked.

As for what I plan on making... just little things to start with. Mainly small tools or parts for larger tools. I used to have a forge back home, and I loved the flexibility of the 'need a tool, make a tool' mindset. Anything from carving gouges to finger planes, it's handy to be able to make your own tools. Also, knurled thumb screws are strangely expensive, so I think I'll start by learning to knurl properly and get to work making a bunch of those.

Of course after hanging out on THIS website I now also want to make a sterling engine!

:D

Phil, you were right on the money with that one. I'd though the overload switch/button was fine because it was pushed in... but I checked and there was no continuity between the yellow and black wire contacts. I poked at the overload button and out it popped! Put everything back together and presto! - things started moving!

I'm a little chagrined that I missed such an obvious thing, but I do want to say thanks to everyone for helping. Now I get to put everything back the way it was before I started messing around, and then I get to actually set up the lathe and maybe, just maybe, start doing some turning!

:D

I'll get some pics tomorrow morning for you Phil, and I'll take some readings on the contactor tomorrow as well. Thanks for your help with this!

When I was taking the voltage readings, I had one probe on the wire and the second probe on the machine itself. That seems to indicate that the machine is grounded, though I'm still puzzled with the 11.6v readings on some of the wires at the switch on the back.

Running the tests that Phil suggested gave me some puzzling results.

With the power disconnected, I tested continuity between the plug pins and the yellow wire at the switch at the rear of the machine. There was about 1.3 Ohms resistance, so I'd get an interrupted tone (tone sounds when you touch the contact, then stops.).

I decided to check it under power. I connected one lead to the isolator box and then touched each of the wires at the switch in turn. I'd thought I'd had the red knob in the down position, but looking at my notes I suspect it was in the up position. Here's what I found on my multimeter (Fluke 115)

I did remove the two interrupt switches just in case - I just tied the wires together, since both switches seemed to be wired to Normally Open.

I pulled the switch off of the back of the machine and I've brought it home. Not sure if it's the problem, but it desperately needs a good cleaning anyway. Once I've stripped and cleaned it I'll see if there's any wear on anything. If not, I think it'll be time to dissect the motor.

Thanks Phil, I'll try that first thing tomorrow morning.

I've been doing mainly continuity testing with the power disconnected rather then while everything is live since I don't know if the machine is grounded. The Yellow/Green from the incoming line is tied to the grey box (isolator?), but I don't know that the motor is tied to that anywhere so I have to assume it's not grounded. Meaning I'm very careful when I do apply power and try that switch. All other times the machine is unplugged.

As for ToT, I have to admit I've watched pretty much all of his videos. Which is impressive, since I only discovered his youtube channel about a week or so ago!