Member postings for Mike Hurley

Welcome Paul. Unfortunately I'm not close enough geographically to offer help, but I will be surprised if someone doesn't step up.

Learning from videos is fine, but there are some out there where people without real skill or knowledge may mislead you. The difficulty for beginners is knowing which ones to avoid!

Don't be afraid to ask even the most basic questions - members of the forum are a helpful bunch, but be aware that the vast majority of beginners questions have been asked & answered many times before, so get used to the search facility first (note: use the search half way down the home page, not the one at the top of the posts)

Nice to have you onboard, regards Mike

Seems quite a nifty idea. Without fully knowing how this particular unit works - but I assume it's magnetic by the way it locks on - wouldn't you get issues with those tiny shards that milling produces sometimes getting stuck to it whenever you put it down on the workbench? I find the buggers get everywhere no matter what!

I use a commercial 'Universal' holder that only cost about a tenner and works fine. Just fitting and tightening with the screw only takes a few seconds.

Regards Mike

There's an article here that may be useful

Baking paint

regards Mike

Thanks Dalboy, Lovely short video, well worth 10 minutes of anybody's time to watch. I particularly liked the novel eccentric adjusting setup - cunning or what ?

Mike

Picked up the Mic at £6.99. It's ok, similar to many budget models on sale all over. Movement is smooth but there is a minute amount of play in the thimble which I can't adjust out, it's more than I would expect for free movement. So, still feel it's a bargain at the price and will keep it handy for general use, but sticking to my trusty M&W (which I've had for years) for more critical work.

Regards Mike

Picked up the Mic at £6.99. It's ok, similar to many budget models on sale all over. Movement is smooth but there is a minute amount of play in the thimble which I can't adjust out, it's more than I would expect for free movement. So, still feel it's a bargain at the price and will keep it handy for general use, but sticking to my trusty M&W (which I've had for years) for more critical work.

Regards Mike

How come you get oversized holes with a boring head? These are very accurate normally, so might suggest you have another issue (wobble due to poor location / seating or even a small spindle issue ?) or you are trying to take too heavy a cut each time and you get springing of the cutter?

I admit they can be tedious to use manually having to keep stopping - adjusting - restarting, but the trick is to allow as little material as possible to finish the hole. As you already have one, thats no additional expense, if you haven't got blacksmiths drills then I personally would follow Jason's suggestion of drilling out a ring and even tidying up the remaining 'peaks' with a much smaller dia drill or even manually with a coping saw - it's only aluminium!. Finish with the boring head

I've recently completed something similar (25mm dia) in Mild steel using this method and it was straightforward (I used a coarse file rather than a coping saw though as it was steel!)

Mike

Edited By Mike Hurley on 28/09/2023 09:40:46

I fitted a set to my Warco WM14 a couple of years back. They were ok but I eventually removed them in favour of a normal machine lamp.

To be fair a lot of people seem ok with them, but I found 1) they gave a fragmented light pattern that could make it difficult to see details properly in some circumstances and 2) the unit itself+ wiring+ DC adapter was all more clutter around the mill although I had tidied it to the best of my ability.

Regards Mike

Workshop insulation has been covered numerous times in the past, so a search may answer you questions, and possibly give you some pointers you hadn't eventhought of yet.

Posts like this Roof insulation

Nice job then Greg. Unfortunately these days I, along with many others, tend to be more and more suspicious of items being purported as one thing but actually are something else. So no offence intended.

If you design and make other similar items do post details on here as these are just the sort of thing we like to see on the forum.

All the best Mike

Is this a commercial item rather than one made by you Greg ?

The video seems to be of a quality that makes me think (including the plethora of adverts).

When I first started out, not having much idea I made the mistake of buying various tools, arbors collets, vert slide etc to fit my lathe so I could mill. Although I managed to successfully do what I wanted at the time, it soon became clear that this setup was very limited and I invested in a small mill. Much, much better. So all I am saying is don't rush in headfirst, note what other have advised here, carefully assess what sort of work you are likely to be doing and get a realistic picture of your needs

Unless working with toolroom quality equipment, you must accept that often the results you get with hobby machines will often be only 'adequate' . You are probably doing all the right things anyway - sharp tools , suitable speed / feed etc etc and you still won't get that 'mirror' like finish we would all like.

The roughness you feel with your fingernail can be caused by many things ( such as suggested above ) or the material itself - some steels simply will not finish well no matter what!

As for ridges, this is normally as a result of the cutting face not being absolutely level and every pass on the Y axis creates a sort of slightly angled path with each adjacent cut creating a minute step. See diagram below (Obviously VERY exaggerated ) of a work section to try and show the principle. This is normally a result of the head to table alignment. Hope that clarifies things a bit.

regards Mike

Jason beat me to it !

Edited By Mike Hurley on 20/09/2023 10:16:54

Trying to avoid the obvious humourous responses to your typo issues, I think querying if a normal mill can cut steel seems an odd question. This machine is very long established and has been reviewed many times on this forum. In case you're not familiar with searching the forum, use the search facility half way down the home page ( not the search box at the top of posts) and put in "Warco Major " etc and you'll find many answers and opinions on your query.

Regards Mike

Edited By Mike Hurley on 17/09/2023 21:03:47

You might have known you were setting yourself up for some ribald humour Graham. Nice idea though, hope you have also sent this out as a tweet.

Sorry, couldn't resist it

I agree with Jason, it's the quality HOW not WHERE. If you see modern factories on TV these days making almost anything you would be hard-pressed to tell where they were located if you hadn't been told. The kit / CNC / robots all look the same and usually look very well organised. If it wasn't for the physical characteristics of the occasional worker wandering about or signage you wouldn't have a clue.

British branding is irrelevant these days & has been for years. In essence, IMHO a lot of it simply depends on what you are prepared to pay, regardless of where it was manufactured.

British Plastic Federation have a website that may be of interest bpf.co.uk I believe

Regards Mike

I believe it's all based on the international MIUAYGA standard.

(Make It Up As You Go Along) 😁

Soba manufacture a nice wide range of machine vices, even their more economical ones appear well made. I own a couple and am well pleased. ( No connection with Soba or it's retailers)

Regards Mike

I have a very similar model to the Arc one, (NOT supplied by them I might add! ) and find it good, but the brazed carbide cutters not so. They seem to blunt fairly easily and the tips chip just by looking at them (in reality, probably more to do with my ham-fisted technique more than anything), but the size of the carbide tip leaves little material to sharpen afterwards

I'm assuming that all these models are made in the same 1 or 2 far east factories.

So, overall, not my best purchase

regards Mike