Member postings for Mike Hurley

Welcome to the forum Bernard.

Agree with JasonB, sounds like a ' standard ' 52mm nose used in the majority of far eastern machines, so will be sized to within normal manufacturing tolerances at the factory that made it, so its definately going to be a ' try it for a good fit ' exercise.

I tend to agree with Peter Cook 6.

It's surprising what a bit of lateral thinking with tools and orientation can achieve. Modifiying as you are may prove a challenge in the end and more effort than its worth.

You also need to work within the limits of the machine design. The fact that you can apparently fit a piece of work in the available space may prove detrimental to machine performance in the long term if it is stressing motors / bearings etc. We all occasionaly have to push limits, but usually for a one-off job. If you intend doing many larger peces of work regularly in the future I would seriously consider a bigger lathe. I know its ££££ , but this isn't always a cheap ' hobby ' I'm afraid.

Regards Mike

Just bought one of these packed with Dremel like a accessories for about £12 and well impressed with the range and apparent good quality of the items. Assuming they last reasonably, well worth a pint at that price.

Whatever you attach it to, beware the polarity! They work one way, but not the other. Test first before fixing permanently in place!

Regards Mike

Ian T Cobb's clockmaking supplies site has a detailed table on blued pivot steel if that's any help

Regards Mike

+1 for that Chris

After carefully re-jigging a universal dividing head to fit my small Mill (WM14), making a tiny Mod 1 gear cutter, arbor, gear blank etc all together many hours of work - set it up ready to cut my first clock gear (test using aluminium blank). Ages spent setting the cutter height spot on - Oh the anticipation!

Rookie mistake - realised there simply wasn't enough travel on the table. Decided to give up model engineering totally and take up flower arranging.

OK, had to dismantle the cutter assy, re drill and set the bit further in so should be OK now - but is it just me or sometimes why is it you just can't see / check the bleeding obvious?

(Table Fully forward)

Why not just etch your postcode somewhere out of the way on the items? In the very unlikely event stolen goods are retrieved its easy enough for the police to return them to you (If they aren't to busy* )

* (Daily Mail 7 April 2023) Moment six police officers raid a pub and seize 15 g******g dolls after customer made hate crime complaint.

A possibilty I suppose - it was from an unknown source. Is there an easy way of telling if it is? I tried grinding a bit and the resultant sparks looked similar to what I would see from MS though - mind you I'll admit to not being very adept at discriminating the difference in spark patterns / colours!

Thanks again for all the useful comments chaps

regards Mike

Perfectly valid points Nigel. The amount of thread I achieved anyway was perfectly adequate for the task, as you indicted. More just irritating to determine what was going on!

I always tend to overkill things and try belt & braces approaches, the wife often says that in a hundred years or whenever they decide to knock my house down, all my fittings and fittings will still remain upright as I used so many bolts ,screws glue etc

regards

One thing that has just crossed my mind that may relevant - I did notice that when tuirning the main body & spigot was what a really nice finish I got! I had just earlier changed the inserts and put it down to that, but perhaps as Andrew says it was actually indicating a ' gummy ' material ? Who knows.

Perhaps I'll just add it to my ' experience ' box. Mark the remainder of the bar to indicate it's odd properties if I pick it up again. I'll also replace my tapping drills with 5.2 or 5.3 just to make life a bit easier, even though the vast majority of sources indicate 5.0 as the correct size.

Thanks for the comments guys. Mike

I've tapped hundreds of holes over the years, and generally know what to look out for. The tapping drill is listed as 5.0 or 5.2 depending where you look! The hole I made was the right size; as noted originally the taps look perfectly ok (close inspection not just a quick look) and aligned / started in the lathe. Lube used and chips cleared regularly.

Yes, doesn't seem to make a lot of sense!

Something I've never come across before, and am at a loss to explain.

Firstly, my materials stock is varied having been accumulated over many years from various sources so machining results have often been .' variable ' but I live with it, as nothing I do is that critical. I will buy the right stuff if necessary.

A few days ago I knocked up a simple arbor out of stock 20mm steel bar, this had an 11mm OD spigot to hold the gear I was planning to cut on my mill. Into the body I needed an M6 thread about 35mm deep. After turning the body and spigot I drilled the hole with an M5.0 bit (would have preferred a 5.2 but I had lost mine) but - I have used M5.0 before numerous times without issue. Started the thread while still in the chuck and was going ok until about 10 mm in started to feel tight and was getting difficult to turn in the lathe.

Took it all out of the lathe and into the bench vice, still difficult. at about 15 mm it was squeeking badly. Plenty of oil didn't improve things. Gave up at about 20mm. Difficult to remove the tap. Then followed down as far as I dared with a plug tap but again it was jamming so tight I was sure it was gong to break, so stopped.

A ' hard spot ' in the material? Had it work hardened when cutting the spigot (high carbon steel instead of mild)?

Got the blow torch on it in the hearth and annealed it giving it a long ' soak '. When done, put a drill down it again ( an odd imperial one I dug out that was about 5.1mm) and that went down full the 35mm no problem - problem solved?

NO. Tried tapping again and exactly the same, jams about 20mm in. Checked the taps, look fine. Did a spark test on the grinder of the bar it came from, looked pretty much what I would expect from MS.

Anyone any ideas what is going on? - this has really irritated me - it's not the end of the world, the work isn't that important in itself just gets up my nose when I cannot reason out a problem.

Thanks, Regards Mike

Surely if its new and a very good make, any 'resistance' (I'd just call that 'newness' ) will wear off after a little use. Taking it apart etc will surely do more harm than good. If you do break it down but still not satisfied with operation the people you bought it from are perfectly within their rights to refuse a replacement / refund as you have voided any standard guarantee.

So you could end up worse off!

edited for rogue smiley

Edited By Mike Hurley on 13/04/2023 10:47:10

Thanks for that Jason, very informative.

Nice job on the Collet rack as well!

regards Mike

I must admit to not being familiar with the Drill Mills mentioned. My assumption is you can drill and bore an accurate hole all in one go? There must be a catch as I normally find there is with anything that promises to do several things at once - if so what is it? I guess they are ideal in CNC environments but what about hobby use? Any thoughts appreciated.

Regards Mike

Bend the Y shaped bit up at an angle, flip it up and attach a picture of your wife / sweetheart / partner / dog on the other side and you have an instant super-cheap photo frame to sit in your workshop and delight your days!

I've obviously had too much chocolate over Easter

Check lathes.co.uk - Seems loads of info on Mellor.

rehgards Mike

Chester Hobby Store list 3 models from about £20. I believe it's free P&P for orders over £30.

Usual disclaimer - no connection etc.

Regards. Mike