Member postings for EtheAv8r

I have had similar problems in the past with both my little Clarke woodworker bandsaw and my table saw. On both occasions a good stripdown and thorough clean out of wood dust in the motor and switch/gear (blow out with compressor and suck with vacuum cleaner) resolved the matter.

Hopefully yours will be a similar simple issue.

I would be very wary of noname rechargeables from ebay. For standard NiMH rechargable then go fo Uniross or Energyser. Remember higher capacity is offset by fewer recharge cycles.

However if you want the best rechargable then it has to be the Sanyo Eneloop. These deliver high power, and do not suffer from the self-discharge issues of standard NiMH batteries.

You definitely get hjat you pay for and with rechargable batteries it is better and cheaper in the long run to get quality.  I recommend the Eneloop.

Edited By EtheAv8r on 18/01/2013 19:45:37

Update: MSC have the Jacobs 16N (30227) 3-16 mm keyed ball bearing SuperChuck on special offer in their clearance list today at a bargaintastic price. So I have ordered one.

It only appeared today - so in must have been 'meant to be'!

Edited By EtheAv8r on 15/01/2013 22:45:54

Following my week-end of research (interupted by returning No. 2 daughter to University) and your kind advice, I plan to go with a 'quality' keyed chuck (probably Jacobs or Accupro) and a reasonably priced keyless (probably from Arc Euro).

My workshop was constructed on a reinforced concrete base that had a DPC wrapped outside it. Internally there was laid DPC plastic sheeting and then insulation foam slabs on top of that and then the final concrete floor was laid over that - this is an area of 30 square meters. there was no supported battons between the concrete raft and the concrete top floor - just the foam insulation.

So far (nearly 3 years after construction) no issues, problems or cracks.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I was leaning towards Jacobs, but have seen a lot of negative comments on the interweb (they don't make 'em like they used to since a take-over and move to China manufacture...), Albrecht do look very excellent, but also very pricy, the idea to search for used is a good possibility, I am looking into the Rotagrip offerings, and CutWell do one R8 integrated that might be good. Another make I have come across is Accupro from MCS - from their prices, they should be very good - does anyone know them? I will check out the Arc Euro offerings I like Arc.

Edited By EtheAv8r on 14/01/2013 19:10:01

Thanks Andrew - I have tried that - does not help with the POS I have......

I have been making a bunch of T slot clamps with M10 threads. The R8 drill chuck I have for my Super X3 and KX3 mills are both key type budget cheapies (£13) and I have had real problems getting it to grip the drill bits without them slipping whilst drilling and then to grip the M10 Tap (turning by hand and putting on half to one turn and backing off etc.). I am not being over aggressive with the drill feed, am using cutting fluid and starting small and stepping through (6mm - 7.5m - 8.6mm). I have tightened the chuck with the key as much as I can, and the key is not a great fit and some teeth are new bent/chipped. I have been putting up with this for the past year and enough!

So it is time to get a quality R8 Drill chuck, and am looking for advice on whether keyless can possibly have the same holding power as a keyed chuck, and any recommendations for the make/model to go for.

Sorry to come in late, but I have been away and busy, so not online.. I have a Super X3 and I am very happy with it, and ther service from ArcEuro.

At 4.5K you must have bought this new as Axminster offer it at just under this price. Your supplier should be able to help in some way. I must say it is a dinky little machine compared to the Sieg KX3 for similar money, which uses the more well known Mach3 for control (and a number of built-in wizards for 'standard' machining tasks), and Cut-2D (2.5D which is all you need) for converting CAD produced DXF file into G-Code/CNC tool paths for processing by Mach3.

The user manual is available on the Axminster site and it says:

"After the program was successfully installed, it can be started just as you are used to from other applications on your computer. Simply select the "Start" button on the screen with your cursor and select the desired file in the program title bar. It's even easier if you simply click the program icon.

We deliberately refrained from using a printed form of the manual and, as already mentioned above, have consolidated the necessary contents in a help function within the program itself. A much more practical and neater possibility than having to handle a mountain of paper: The structure of the topics has been optimised for an intuitive and self-explanatory entry; important things are recognised first and navigation afterwards is effortless: In the normal view, click on Help in the menu line at the top right to start the "Help Function". A submenu appears: click here on Help topics and then the Help window will appear."

So it looks like you are going to have to sit down at your PC and get learning the hard way.

Alternatively look at other CAD programs like ViaCAD 2D/3D (which I have) or DraftSight which is very powerful 2D drawing for free, and very like AutoCad so many say - but was too complex for me.

PS  Having had a quick look at the manual I was not sure if NCCAD is CAD or CAM software.... it looks like it is possibly an integrated proprietry solution of both.  Good luck!

Edited By EtheAv8r on 16/08/2012 13:37:19

Jason - the swing is 80mm ( about 3.1" ).  Yes I could start a separate build blog... but it will take a long time to complete.....

Chris - I will check out GWizzard but feel it may require more background knowledge than I actually have... At present I use the feed and speed calculator available within the Newfangled Wizzards in Mach3 and then start at 50% of those figures and work up to 90% - 100% if all is good with my test pieces. So far they seem OK.

Edited By EtheAv8r on 02/08/2012 23:00:18

I am now beginning to be actually using (and slowly learning a little bit by bit) my lathe and mills in my nice new workshop and am having fun as well as frustration and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I had not tried any fly cutting (not done a lot of any cutting really) over my past 6 months of beginners practice, but as it looked a useful technique I got myself a low cost R8 fly-cutting tool holdr and some 5/16 HSS from those awfully nice people at Arc Euro, and armed with a printout of the guide to grinding a suitable tool by Bogstandard I managed to produce a cutter and had a test run on a bit of scrap on the manual Super X3 mill taking very light cuts. I was delighted with the results. I then tried on the KX3 – big advantage being I can set it up to make multiple passes to get down to the required total depth, set it off to compete the task and no laborious handle turning and counting. I can then get on with something else manually whilst it runs. Yes I can do this with conventional milling cutters too, and have been practicing this up till now, but the number of passes of a much smaller size cutter, even with a deeper cut per pass, have resulted in runs to surface a block taking well over an hour or even two. The bigger sweep of a flycutter seems to make for speedier material removal, even with lighter cut per pass, and the finish is really good.

I am so delighted with these results that this weekend I start on my first ‘real’ project – the Firefly 46 glow motor. Or rather two as I plan to make a pair. I just hope this is not too ambitious for a first project! First task will be to fly-cut the crankcases to size +.5mm ready for the drilling/boring. Jason's build blog will be my bible (stand by for dumb 'how do I' questions...)

What should be the average and max depth of cut I should work with for a fly-cutter?

I am running at 600 - 650 RPM and there is a very gentle vibration due to the imbalance - is it worth buying a more expensive flycutter tool holder that is better ballanced, and if so what can you experienced chaps recommend?

Chris and Roger

Thank you very much for your input. I had wondered about the possibility of losening the bolts to achieve alignment, I take it that this does not only refer to the middle jaw but also the end ones?

It is a pity that there are not clear and detailed instructions for configuring the various setups and alignments - it may have been made in the East, but I understand the design is British and therefore readable and meaningful instructions could/should have been provided.

I assume that to hold the biggest piece of work one of the end jaws is removed from the central slide and middle jaw fixed to the end of the fixed base?

I am using it mainly on a KX3 but also on a Super X3 - what constitutes a heavy cut? Many thanks for your help and guidance.

Edited By EtheAv8r on 01/08/2012 14:23:05

Just a quick update. The replacement was delivered last Thursday (they tried to deliver Wednesday but no one home). So good service from Warco return wise. It was my Mothers 96th birthday Sunday and so I was away for an extended weekend and did not get to check out the replacement fully. I can comment on the state of the delivery packaging however.

The vice comes in a simple box mad out of MDF. This was put in a simple plastic bag wrapper for delivery. This wrapper was completely torn open at one end – however this did not result in any content loss.

However the state of the MDF box was not confidence inspiring – it had clearly been in a wet environment and the ‘lid’ of the box was warped and water expanded and very ‘fibrous’ – the lid was held on by two metal bands plus screws – just as well as the moisture had swelled the MDF such that the screws simply pulled out and had no holding power. The ‘user guide and accuracy certificate’ were badly damaged and torn through rendering it pretty useless, and the inside of the ‘lid’ has several impressions in it, both because the vice had been clearly bouncing around inside the MDF box during transit.

There is no damage evident to the vice itself, and it was cleaner debris-wise than the unit it replaced and has less flaking-off hammer effect paint. It was sealed in a plastic bag so no post manufacturing inspection. Never-the-less I spent a good hour cleaning it up ready to use and check out. I have not done this yet, but I did lightly close the left side pair of jaws (end and center) and found that when one end was just touching I could get a fag paper in the other end and slide it along to about 3/4 way across. I won’t be able to fully check the parallelism of the jaws in detail until the coming week-end.

Never shopped with them but just simply put a small order together adding items to the basket and then went to the Checkout but did not complete. Postage was added to the final total but not VAT - so it would seem the prices displayed include VAT.

I have today had an email from Warco who will arrange for collection and replacement. They say this is an isolated problem for this vice so I am hopefull that the replacement will be perfect.

I ordered the Warco DH-1 over the phone and the delivery was very quick indeed.

Sadly the quality of the DH-1 Vice itself is very disappointing. When I unpacked it there was evidence of the ‘hammered effect’ paint flaking off. Close inspection revealed a lot of debris and paint flake in the main-screw mechanism, paint flaking off having not adhered properly and some evidence of rusting under the painted surface. This surface is to be painted could not have been properly prepared, degreased, surface keyed and an etch primer applied to ensure proper bonding. Frankly quite why this item is painted at all is a mystery, surely it would be better for it to be ground all round and left as clear metal – like the Precision Tool Vices and 10mm Precision Universal Vice from ARC Euro?

I spent a good 1½ hours cleaning up the DH-1 vice, removing debris from the screw mechanism and removing flaking paint and oiling it ready for use. When I bolted it down to the mill table I noticed paint oozing out from under the hold-down points, so removed it and cleared away the paint from there too.

I then mounted the vice and carefully set-up the inside facing edge of the left end jaw clocked true along the Y axis. I then checked the other faces and unfortunatly they are well out of the stated tollerance- one of them by over 10 times the error! I have emailed the details to Warco last Monday - but have had no response yet.

George, no problem but I suggest you check it for squareness ASAP as that is what I now have as a door-stop. I will look at improving it but it will be relegated to non critical operations.

CoalBurner – Thank you for your valuable comments regarding to your experience

Dias – thank you for locating the review

George – Not sure exactly which "100mm radial precision vice from Arc Euro" you are referring to as they only do a "100mm Cast Iron Radial Milling Vice"……. and I have one….. Their Precision Tool Vices are excellent but non radial.

David – Thank you for making the review issue available to all (I am a subscriber).

Result I think….. The Warco DH-1 it will be. Thanks everybody.

Yes I already have the 80mm jaw width one of these and am also very happy with it, and considered getting both the 50mm and the 100mm versions to suppliment it, but they are limited in their mounting and orientation options. The pair of them would be cheaper than either of the two I have shortlisted, but I want more flexibility, and the 100mm radial vice I originally got (£70) with the Sieg mill sadly has the fixed jaw out-of-square. I was wondering why I could not accurately square off blocks (I thought it was me or a mill problem), and eventually discovered that when I changed the vice - I could!