drilling out the centre hole of the quill - which is used for a 3/8 draw bar

COLLET NOSE PIECE 2MT 1438

https://www.myford.co.uk/acatalog/COLLET-NOSE-PIECE-2MT--1438-1065.html

I am perplexed over the choice of a collet system for my Dore Westbury. It already has a myford thread on the quill together with an MT2. Ive worked on collet lathes. They had a handle at the far end of the headstock which pulled and locked the tapered collet in place. quick and easy for production work

The collet threaded into a long tube which acted as a draw bar pulled by the handle at the far end. It was a common system

So I saw this nose piece made to suit the myford nose. It clamps an MT2 tapered collet into the headstock and by accounts it worked very well.

It appears that these MT2 tapered collets are hard to find and if the original Myford collection hideously expensive

why did this simple system fall out of fashion? It has a 2" dia knurled ring acting on the 12 tpi and this appeared only to need a stout hands turn for an efficient clamp

Myford are selling the nose thingy for £30. so all i need is some tapered collets

Am I missing something?

btw the er25 system has a 10mm drawbar which is slightly bigger than 3/8"

so it means drilling out x 200mm, there is an extra long series drill x 185mm so its possible but sweaty.

A real mans tool post Rocker or Lantern? Did Myford ever have one of these?

good thinking

Edited By brian jones 11 on 07/07/2021 17:19:56

I am following the tip given my Pete above and getting a uk set of er20 collets for my DW - why didnt i think of that first - stoopid boy pike

I still have my 4 way tool post but like the way height adjustment is so easily made on a QCTP

I used a lantern tool holder on the colchester at college, what ever happened to them? They were quick and easy

also a JnS drop head holder was good but they are hard to find

I think when I get set up for milling I will skim the top of the combo slide as shown in the video

he made it easily on the ML7. I should be ok on my DW with small cuts.

Funny how you can be so focussed on a problem you dont see the obvious till you come here and a kind soul points to your mistake.

its what we do?

I hope i can make helpful contributions

Indeed a good point, but i didnt want to post this for being shot down by hardliners who demand precision

I will post some pix of labels which can be scaled to suit, or anyone with cad can make their own

there are of course cases where a 1.57 thou error is unacceptable eg shaft fitting a bore. if its over it wont fit or else be loose.

personally i prefer to know exactly with my fudge but in the agricultural world ................

CNC world works at micron level - scary

I am trying out my simple fix for an adjustable micrometer dial (after all a dial gauge has one) but space is very limited and I am trying to keep it simple

Any one else been there pls pitch in

Thnx 10^6 Pete Im on it.

Its going to be much more rigid and is probably why I only ever had mediocre results and only used small mills

yes DW 2 but Ive only ever drilled holes or made small slots <1/4 dia, never tried surfacing

stick a straight shank end mill in it

take the surface of the top slide with 1mm cuts

bad idea?

indeed its 6 of one and half doz of another, maybe the lad who milled 3mm off his top slide wasnt so daft after all

he started off grinding a step off the face of the slide (facing the work) but realised he couldnt rotate the tool post

Its all shown in his excellent vid above.

I balked at this as it seemed like a Bridgeport job but the way he used the Myford as a milling machine showed me its quite feasible - i even have a vertical slide - which ive never used but i havent got a shell end mill like he had, and the one he links in Ali is no longer available.

While on this - any advice on end mills. I found the offerings on EB mostly dishonest (from PRC of course). Ive got a HSS fly cutter but would only have considered this for al or brass. I assume the top slide is CI

I dont have much experience of vertical milling (other than a bridgeport) but carbide tips seems to have opened up another world

What spec should i look for - solid carbide? index tips, flutes? hardness (HRC 45?) dia 10mm shank (i have a jacob 1/2 chuck or an MT2 offering on my DW, dia of cutter as my DW only goes to 1650 rpm.

this needs some chutzpa, cojones, bushellam guts

isnt skimming the base of the tool holder the same thing

in the pic i actually went 1mm lower than I wanted to because my auntie dore Westbury had a blonde moment

But back to my topic, I lashed out another 20 quid for a 10mm set and blow me, I got 7 tool holders and the LH holder was omitted from the listing )(*&*&^&%^

so it will cost me £17 for one from RDG as they are not commonly available on EB - like buying a car and one wheel missing

All the listings are like that from PRC., dont they do RH direction cuts in CNC world?

OBTW watch out for the treachery when buying 10mm index tool sets - THEY LIE when you specified 10mm in the small print they are actually 12mm shanks (give away is in the part coding 012 insted 010)

I feel sorry for the likes of RDG who no doubt strive to provide a good service but they are totally flooded out by repetitive EB listings from dodgy PRC sellers making it very difficult for a buyer to find the reliable goods - such time wasted.

For example trying to find a LH tool holder as above, it wont show up in the listings

Indeed a good thought, i have to get one of those solid carbide 10mm end mills and ive no power feed on my DW

i admit it was a fiddly job and strained my eyesight - dont know if i want to do it again

Having seen the cost of metrifying a combo slide £190 for the kit. I thought of a quick cheat which comprised making a suitably scaled label on cad and sticking around the rim of the micrometer head.

now Im sure this must have been done before, so apologies if this is old news.

You measure your rim - 36.7mm and make a label divided into 25/25.4 x 36.7

I made my divs 0-1.25, with the black scale counting up towards the work and also counting up red scale away from the work

I made the dial resettable as well - another story

The reason is that combo slide micrometers are normally used for close finishing cuts. So reset the dial to zero and proceed as desired

I checked the dial for 1mm against a dial gauge and it was spot on

Of course ther is a small gap between start and finish of the scale but its liveable, its not an absolute dial, its relative

I also thought I might make the cross slide with 2x unit scale so that it read diameters instead of radii so 1mm in becomes a 2mm diameter reduction

Is that confusing?

apologies for the scale pic is was a trial, I will get a better pic but you get the gist

Edited By brian jones 11 on 06/07/2021 17:14:07

OBTW I wish there was a way to save a post in hand, cos if you stray from the page then your work is lost

yes i could save a txt fill to notepad

also once a pix is inserted you cant move it or get below it for further text ?

Having invested in an RDG QC tool post system - very nice too - to be fair RDG was totally up front in saying that while the tool post could accept 12mm shanks these are too high for a Myford - 10mm or less ok.

What isnt said is that 12mm is far more common than 10mm. however a brave Myfordian had this solution

Video Link Deleted see CofC

drastic maybe?

I tried a simple way and milled out the slot of the holder 3mm deeper

this is the result

Edited By brian jones 11 on 06/07/2021 16:50:34

Edited By JasonB on 06/07/2021 18:37:05

growing up in the days when we still had an empire, I know what a thou looks like and know what tenths are and how the undamaged finger can feel a ridge of a few tenths

I struggle to force myself to think in microns = eg 100mu ca 1/2 thou, 10mu ca 5 tenths

CNC goes to 1mu and as for finishing well ...............

repeatability on a Myford 1 thou if you are skilled with a light touch.

As for mils thats for the cousins

modern machining techniques leave me totally in awe

Allow me to give you a couple of examples of a dead end career (as I am often asked by old fellas - what should my grandson do when he leaves school) - Its an uncomfortable question

a) Technical author

This sound good - preparing various kinds of technical publications, promotional copy, users manuals and so on.

You need a very sound technical background to write plausible copy, very good command of written English, knowledge of print publishing, artistic flare to know what looks right, conscientious attention to detail and proof reading. Once you gained your skills and credibility you quickly reach a very low salary ceiling - and there is no scope for advancement

b) TEFL

teaching english as a foreign language [ sounds exciting travel the world as a young adventurer. Its a popular choice for mediocre grads after hundreds of job appl rejection, but you need to do a 4 week recognised course uk based and its quite tough. You dont need above English O level and its your mother tongue. You dont even have to have a clear spoken voice. some have had heavily regional accents and got away with it.

You can get into some unpleasant local language schools particularly in the far east, where they want your blood for the money. There are web forums that exchange info. They pay is just manageable given local costs. The attraction being living and getting to know a foreign land even learning the language - like China used to be under Deng Xao Ping - dont even think now.

The bottom line once you pass 25 staring at 30 there is nowhere to go and you will be too old at 30 - Schools want young pop stars as they bring in the fee students.

Come back to UK and you have to go to teacher training to get back into the system (assuming you have a relevant degree). You have to pay 15k for a year of grind. to get a PGCE

So bottom line my Warehouse lad has the right idea and there will always be a need for a reliable clean living man always ready to do boring repetitive work - yes no sir, no complaints,never late, no time off, sickies, happy in his job etc. Joke is I heard that he has saved up enough money to buy his own flat, and only covid has stopped his progress

It will be a long long time before they make robots to replace him

Brave New World

quite right DW I mis spook my observation. I was really referring to the london underground drivers, back then they were on scandalous wages. wasnt till a few accidents that they started introducing compulsory random drug testing much against union wishes of course.

compare that to london bus drivers, what a gruelling unsociable job that is (viz my neighbour). Took a long time before management installed covid screens. They are still not prioritised for vax - scandalous

main line drivers have to go through extensive training and learn a rout with another driver - its highly regulated

Indeed up to £85k. I knew a Southern rail ticket inspector guard lady 20 years ago with OT and unsocial hours she was on mega bucks 20 years ago

I knew a man in his 30s worked for BnQ as a stock auditor - sound good he was on £19k for night shift had to use his own car for a very mean allowance. his boss promoted him, but it took him out of the universal credit level and he lost £5k in benefits and all kinds of allowances. he begged manager no to promote him, but manager said its the rules, so he left to find a minimum wage job to keep him in the benefits. he had two children and a student wife to support.

But really what chance have you got on minimum wage. It was the case when you could get a 90% mortgage on 3.5x salary - say £25K = £75k. If you were a couple it was 4x combined income say £40k = £160K Can you buy a house for that money when the average is £275k. Something very wrong. Rental is £750-1000 pm for a couple thats nearly half disposable income.

I was shocked to discover what low pay can be expected as an experienced CNC setter operator - even with some programming experience - £25

barely above minimum wage

I know of a young lad - not the brightest on 4 legs, but big strong and willing to please - worked his way up from 19 as a temp in a Supermarket hub warehouse stayed on got his fork lift ticket at 21 by which time he was on £15 ph @60hrs w full staff benefits. Management so pleased with such a model employee, tried to promote him upwards but he begged them to leave him at his level as he didnt want supervisor responsibility with man management (he's not so dumb then)

So thats £45k pa - for an incredibly repetitive boring job (mind he is a bit autistic)

I could quote a similar experience for a young girl 21 promoted to £12ph inside 6months at Amazon and was heading for supervisor role. She enjoyed the dumb repetitive rules driven environment and was doing well but he car crash private life ruined that

Then compare that with the skill and knowledge needed to set up a cnc m/c

or is the real skill with the designer / programmer?

Am I missing something?