Member postings for Peter Cook 6

Just an update, and thanks to everyone, especially Richard whose measurements were very helpful.

The key blanks arrived today, and after a bit of experimenting to work out how to hold the blank in the mill (two 2" toolmakers clamps held in the vice was the final solution), the keys were cut.

I left the first a bit (0.2mm) wide, not realising that that was as important as the cut depth, but a bit of judicious filing sorted that. The other two worked straight off the mill.

Thanks again for the help. Some of the posts were most enlightening.

A collet nut on its own will not help. The Taig collets are a proprietary size so even with a collet nut you will not be able to do anything unless you have a set of collets.

One reason I opted for the ER16 headstock when I bought my Taig.

I feel sure you will hear back from Taig - they do take a few days to respond sometimes, and things are a bit fraught in deepest America at the moment!!

Phil, not sure what happened to your post of the 12th which I got as an alert.

"Me again,can I ask for a bit of help,I thank you all for the help. I received last time so
going to try my luck once more.

3/4 x 16 UNF is the size you helped me with,so I thought ni would look for a Colette nut
or maybe it is called a retainer nut.tried contacting Peatol UK,no reply so tried America
taig no reply there,so been looking on eba and Amaz (don't know if allowed to say
names in full )can't see what I need.found a kit that you put a holder in a chuck to use,but
thought it might be not so good and at 57 pounds seemed bit over top.i gave emailed
Axminster tool ,to see if they can help.tried to do as much foot work as I can,but unf
confuses me."

What you need are a Taig 1042 collet nut and probably a set of 1040 collets.

You searched for 1040 collet - TAIG Tools

I have always found Taig responsive to E-mails ( it might take them a couple of days to get back to you, and they are seven hours behind us in time terms.

Thanks Richard - PM sent.

Thanks Michael, that makes sense. If I measure the four Chubb keys I have in my possession the majority of the cut depths are (after selecting a suitable base for zero) approximately integer multiples of 0.508 mm or 0.015". They are 4,5,6,8,9,10,12,13 & 14. There are a couple of anomalies (one cut is 0.5 and one 13.5) but close enough to suggest the steps you found.

Perhaps from Richards measurements and my worn keys I can establish the same sort of pattern.

Thanks again to all

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Looks like it's either strip the lock and measure or a bit of trial and error.

I just assumed that as the steps in other (mostly Chubb) keys are fairly coarse (1.2-1.5mm), and there are firms out there that will cut a new key from a photograph of the old one, that there would be some documented relationship between the lever number and the cut depth. That would allow the key cutter to figure out which lever pattern a photographed key fitted and cut to that pattern.

Ah well the key blanks should be here later in the week so we shall see. The wear on the existing keys seems to be about 0.75mm and they do still (just ) work so I suspect the tolerances will be fairly loose.

Thanks again.

Thanks, that sounds like a plan.

3/4 x 16 UNF has major diameter of 19.05mm and 1.587mm pitch. Sounds like you have a standard UNF spindle.

Yes it's a sash lock (deadbolt plus handle). It works fine except for the worn keys. I could replace it for about £30, but on principle I would rather keep it in service rather than junking a perfectly useable item.

I just wondered if anyone had the data to save me disassembling it to measure.

Thanks.

I have no idea if the Peatol UK distributor (Peatol Machine Tools) is still working. However I have successfully bought parts and accessories (recently) direct from Taig in the US. They are very helpful and very responsive to E-mail queries.

Shipping gets expensive, and you are stuck with the dreaded VAT and duty, but it does work, and the parts and accessories are surprisingly cheap but high quality. Parts & Accessories Archives - TAIG Tools

They do a three jaw self centring chuck with machinable jaws, and four jaw independent and self centring ones.

Arc do Peatol (3/4 x 16 tpi UNF) backplates that will allow you to put their small chucks on as an alternative.

Sherline chucks have the same UNF thread, and can be bought from MillHill supplies in the UK, but they need a seating register between the chuck and the spindle face (you can find the details of making one online) .

One last thing - do check that the spindle nose thread is actually 3/4 x 16 UNF. Taig do a version of the spindle that takes ER16 collets ( which is what I have) and that has an M22 x 1.5 thread. If it's a fairly old unit it will most likely be the UNF one. But if you have got an ER one , buy a set of ER16 collets and use them. I do have 3 & 4 jaw chucks, but they only appear when turning something bigger than 10mm otherwise the ER collets are far nicer to use.

The keys for my internal garage door (5 lever Yale) are very worn (brass keys, steel lock levers I assume). To the point where they barely operate the lock.

In the current circumstances getting out to get some new ones looks like a challenge and I am reluctant to send photos of the keys together with my address to the online services.

I can get suitable key blanks, and am planning to cut new keys on the mill. However the keys are badly worn, so simple measurement of the depth of cut is not likely to be a success. In extremis I will take the lock out, open it up and do some measurements of the lift needed on the levers.

As the locks are assembled from a limited number of levers I assume that "somewhere" there is a specification that gives the depth of cut needed for each lever in the set, from which I could deduce the original depth of cut in the key. However I can't find such a reference online.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for the specifications?

Thanks in advance.

Just my pennyworth.

The Denford range is based on Sherline machines. Have you considered a Sherline - or are they too small?

An update on these items. I just received a Post Office card telling me that there is Customs Duty to pay. It amounts to £3.14 (plus of course the £8 post office "handling fee" ) which is 5.2% of the total price (£59.36). No idea how they arrive at that number but - as the items are now £39.58 each on E-bay or £79.16 for the two I guess I am still £8.66 ahead.

Edited By Peter Cook 6 on 04/01/2021 14:45:23

Nick, I have one - but I obtained mine directly from Taig in the US as I wanted the ER16 spindle which Peatol did not stock ( or supply). Taig themselves were very helpful ( and have been recently on a subsequent order for bits).

The two downsides are the cost of shipping, VAT etc is fairly high and the micro lathe is a project, not something ready to run. As a minimum you will need to obtain a suitable motor and mount it on a baseboard.

That said it is a beautifully precise piece of equipment, ideal for small jobs.

If you look at John Bentley's site Engineman (jrbentley.com), you will get an idea of what one can do..

I bought a couple of work lights from China on Ebay. Total value £56. Bought (and paid for) before Christmas, due for delivery next week sometime.

Was expecting to pay inbound VAT (and possibly the surcharge - depending on courier). I wonder what will happen now?

Reminds me of a story my father told about the TA(or whatever it was in the 1930's). At the time he worked as a mechanic for the firm that supplied and maintained the trucks. He was sent on an exercise in NWales with a big group.

The sargent in charge lined up the squaddies and after asking who could drive, added enough extra to give one per vehicle on the you, you and you principle. Father was then asked to give basic instructions. And off we go.

Some time later ascending a steep pass one truck was smoking very, very badly, think smokescreen! At the next stop they investigated. Oil was overflowing out of the engine. The sump was full to the pistons. When asked the squaddie said " You said to add oil if the oil pressure dropped. Every time I switched off the engine at rest stops the oil pressure dropped to zero - so I did as I was told".

Thanks, I will go and experiment with the things using the DTI.

The milling cutter (and the twist drills) were held in ER collets in an MT2 ER collet holder mounted in the mill spindle. I will go and investigate the runout.

I tried several ways including drilling a pilot hole at 5.8mm and then running the end mill in without touching the x-y position. This produced the same sort of hole size as without the pilot - so it's the milling cutter cutting oversize I think.

As it's only a pivot for a motor, the 5.9 drill produces an adequate solution at this stage. I wanted the blind hole more for aesthetics (so that the pivot doesn't poke out of the carrier block) than necessity.

It's all about learning what works and what doesn't!! The advice here is always helpful on the climb up the learning curve.

I was trying to drill a 10mm deep 6mm diameter flat bottomed blind hole in a piece of aluminium.

I thought that I would use a 6mm 2 flute milling cutter (slot drill) held in an ER collet in the mill. However I produced a 6.3mm dia hole! I tried a different 4 flute 6mm slot drill, but got the same result.

A 5.9mm twist drill held in the same collet produced a 6mm hole.

Was I over optimistic in assuming that a 6mm slot drill will produce a 6mm hole? Or am I doing something wrong?

None of which were in my collection! Amazon provided M2.5 bolts on next day delivery, along with a tap.

That job broke two of my rules

1) never try to repair something for someone else

2) never work on clockwork devices that post date the arrival of plastics in mass production.

It was a small (and probably expensive) cast pewter Winne the Pooh musical box. Quality I thought! Inside it was a cheap diecast & plastic Chinese movement. never intended to see the light of day let alone a repair.

On the subject of bolts is it an immutable law of the workshop that however big your collection of bolts you never have the one that the job at hand needs!

Last weeks invocations included a need for a 10mm M4 cap head - I only had 8 & 12 so off with 2mm on the lathe. Then I had M2 and M3 bolts, but M2 head was too small for the hole in the part and M3 was too big for the post it went on.

I have a couple of trail cameras - mine are LtlAcorn rather than Bushnell. However I often get similar symptoms to yours when the contacts on the on/off/setup switch get dirty/corroded. My cameras are not hermetically sealed so damp weather followed by cold nights causes condensation to form inside - that seems to eventually affect the switch. On mine the cameras still work, but the setup screens can't be accessed.

A blast of switch cleaner and a short rest (for the camera) usually restores the setup screen.

If that doesn't work, I noticed in the Bushnell manual that the setup screens "...can be accessed via an external monitor connected to the TV out jack...". Trying that may tell you if its the LCD itself or something more fundamental.