Member postings for Steve355

So, after a bit more playing with it this morning, a couple of things are apparent.

The clock needle vibrates slightly as is moved left to right, as I suspected, seems like the rack and pinion are meshing too much, or the gibs on the work table are not stable enough.

It all looks nice and stable as I move the table left to right, +/- 0.00025 until it gets to about 3/4 movement then it falls off the cliff of about 0.003. BUT when I move the table back leftwards it does not return to zero. This to me seems like the Z axis is not stable and I need to concentrate on that. When the table is at one end the weight of the table is moving the Z axis. Im pretty sure I can see it moving slightly. So back to basics, get the Z axis stable and tracking correctly, followed by Y, followed by X.

Anyone got any better ideas? Skip not ordered yet.

Edited By Steve355 on 31/07/2022 10:02:06

Hi all

Tony - interesting you are doing a similar project at a similar time!

I got it running for the first time yesterday and overall was pleased with the finish result, considering I hadn’t yet dressed the wheel or even really done any adjustment other than tightening it all up. There were some very light marks on the finish that looked to me might be caused by the ratchet mechanism for the table - something worn must be causing that.

I put a clock on the table and it showed 0.0005-0.001 deviation across most of its length left to right, but headed off a cliff (!) of a few thou at the right hand end. Clearly that needs to be looked into.

Interestingly I discovered that This Old Tony’s surface grinder refurb video on YouTube is him restoring a Capco grinder. I didn’t even know they had them over there. He identifies all the areas of problem and scrapes the bed to fix it. I’ve played with scraping and have a few scrapers but never done it in anger. Let’s see how it all shapes up first. I’m sure I’ll probably be posting about it for weeks.

Steve

Hi all

I picked up an Eagle surface grinder from eBay. It was pretty mucky, so en route to the shed I took it to bits, cleaned it up, rubbed it down and gave it a coat of paint. Now I can see what I have it doesn’t look in bad nick, and I can make sure it’s properly lubricated as it goes back together. Then the DTI will tell me what I really have.

A couple of questions… When I loosened the gibs, a number of small wires fell out, I’m not sure exactly from where, but they look like they were used to adjust the ways, or two reduce movement. Picture below, can anybody explain what these before and how I can reinstall them?

Second, the bellows were completely shot. They are not really installable. I found some reasonably priced bellows on eBay, but they are simply flat and the original bellows had 90° bends to wrap around the ways. Does anybody know whether these kind of bellows can be modified to work better with the machine?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195174551731?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=bap--a-2t-y&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=yn_RRMPtS_W&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Cheers

Steve

Great idea, I just picked up a “new/other” one - 2hp version, on eBay for £80.

Problem solved - hopefully! Thanks!

Steve

its the Eagle. I didn’t think to search the forum on VFDs for the Eagle.

Well I got it from Wales to Herts, now the really hard bit of getting it out of the car and into the shed.

Hi

looks like I got myself a new toy on eBay (surface grinder) but it’s 3 phase and I only have a standard 240v mains supply. I’ve been looking into VFDs but it seems complicated,

Could somebody knowledgeable please tell me what a suitable 3 phase conversion device might be. I’ve tried to get a pic of the motor plate but it’s in the most awkward place. Hopefully its readable.

thanks

Steve

That’s really useful Jason, thanks.

I can see that the difficulty with that method is that on a lathe there is no Z axis movement. So a concave surface would either need to be cut in one pass, or the cutter would have to be carefully extended after each pass.

Or (2) the workpiece could be mounted on an angle plate on the cross slide.

Or (3) I could do it on my horizontal mill, although I can’t drill a hole through the 1” arbor, but I might find a way to make it work for some of the larger blocks.

Steve

That’s a very useful way to visualise it, thanks.

The width is set by the sole of the plane. Interesting point though, I will bear that in mind today when doing the drawings.

It’s 32 planes…

I have already made 11 of them but stopped at the point of profiling the soles for 10 of them, as 3d printing a sanding block massively helped getting the first one to work properly.

You are right that it would be useful to make them oversize. But I want to use them to make other planes, and certainly for the concave blocks, I wouldn’t be able to get into gaps - see pic.

On the casting, it didn’t go well, but I learnt a lot. You are right about the surface finish and shrinkage. If anyone has any practical ways of milling or turning these shapes, I’m all ears. I think in the end I might just use 3d printed blocks. They are accurate and stable enough. I’d love to have them in brass, but unless I stop somewhere with “making the tools to make the tools to make the tools” my wife will never get her greenhouse and my son will never get his sash window, which in the end is what all this is for, in the end.

All correct, I will stick to the same grit (240) though, and the diametral dimension is not *that* critical - it’s the longitudinal dimension that’s most important.

True, but the reason is (apart from being late when I wrote it) that these blocks are called radius blocks (used a lot in luthiery), and radius gauges are called radius gauges, not diameter gauges. It only takes a minor slip of the brain to confuse them in a post because of that. That’s my excuse anyway.

Wow, lots of responses! I will answer with them one by one….

Steve

Thanks Howard, I’m not going mad, that’s what I thought.

I know it may seem obtuse to be chasing thousandths of an inch in woodworking, but it is for sanding a plane sole. The thickness of the shaving it can take (needs to be 0.001 ish) is defined by the flatness of the sole If I’m going to make a sanding block that is that accurate longitudinally, I may as well make sure the radius is as accurate as possible too, so the plane is an accurate tool.

my original idea was to cast these blocks in brass for stability, I still haven’t completely given up on that!

Steve

Hi

I have recently been trying to make a set of radius sanding blocks (for woodwork), in fact the subject of a recent post I did on casting. I’m stuck in a hotel for the weekend, so I’m busy drawing up the 3-D printing designs for all 16 sanding blocks I need.

I have a question that I think probably only a moron would ask, but I’ve been thinking about it too long and I’m going around in circles (no pun intended).

For example, a particular sanding block needs to precisely sand a 60 degree radius of a 2 inch circle - which happens to make the block exactly an inch wide. But I need to take account of the sandpaper, which is 0.015” thick.

The question is, does the addition of the sandpaper to the block:

1) simply “translate” the 2” radius on the sanding block by 0.015” or

2) create the next 0.015” ring of a concentric circle, meaning that to create a sanding surface of exactly 2” od , I need the sanding block to have radius 2”+0.015”.

it seemed obvious to me that the answer was (2) but the more I think about it I’m not sure!

Pic below hopefully explains. Feel free to tell me I’m a moron.

Steve

Edited By Steve355 on 10/07/2022 01:53:11

Edited By Steve355 on 10/07/2022 02:06:02

Hi Mark, yes I have machines, I’ve got a Zyto lathe, a Dore Westbury mill, and a Burke #4 horizontal mill. I spent a while trying to work out how to do this. The project is a set of hollow and round planes. That’s 16 hollows and 16 rounds - 32 planes, all with different dimensions = 32 sanding blocks. I was reducing this to 16 by putting 2 profiles on one block. I thought about turning and boring the blocks from round stock, but the amount of metal is significant and the waste would be substantial. I thought about milling from rectangular stock using the vertical mill and my little rotary table, but they are 4” long and get quite skinny, so it’s not practical.

the reality is I don’t actually need them in brass. Basically, I made a #14 round plane, which has a 2” radius. It was very difficult to get the sole flat enough by hand for the plane to perform properly. I had the idea of 3d printing a sanding block of the right dimensions, and it worked beautifully - flat sole to a couple of thou, very easily. Then I thought it would be nice to have a set of sanding blocks in brass to hone the planes in the future as and when needed. So all I need to do is 3d print the blocks, put them in a bucket of sand, melt some brass and pour it in and hey presto, sanding blocks. Turned out not to be so simple, but if I can learn a bit about casting, then I can do some other projects.

Thanks for the offer though.

Steve

Damn, I was hoping the bromsgrove sand might be a ready to go mixture, but if it has large bits in it, random amounts of bentonite, etc, I wonder what’s the difference between that and any other sand!

What sieve/riddle did you use? Do you know the grade by any chance?

Lee, that’s really impressive. Quite similar to some projects I’d like to do.

I was looking on the Artisan Foundry site. I see they have “Bromsgrove” greensand. But it isn’t clear if this is all that’s required or if it needs additives. What products do you use from their site?

Steve

Luker

I see, thanks.

I think I have realised that I’m barking up the wrong tree with this particular part, because of shrinkage. It’s actually supposed to be a precision part, with the arcs on the picture being 60° of a 2 inch circle, plus and minus 15 thou for sandpaper. The reason I wanted to cast it, was because I couldn’t see a way to machine it with the machines I have. But casting just isn’t gonna give the accuracy I need. We live and learn!

Never mind, I have another pattern printed for a different thing, a stamp for wood.

I am determined to crack this though, so many possibilities open up if one can cast parts then machine them.

I think what I’m going to do, is order some proper greensand from sdts (actually not as expensive as I thought) then I’m off abroad for work for a couple of weeks, then I’ll come back to it.

Thanks for your help

thanks for your help

Cheers

Steve