Member postings for Dave Jones 1

Evening all,

I am just about to start making 2 superheaters for a Juliet boiler and I have a few questions as I have not made one of these before. I have a couple of gunmetal castings for the end of the superheater, these are the usual lozenge shape. I can’t for the life of me work out how they form the end of the superheater element that the copper tubes fit into. Does anyone have a photos that shows how a superheater is made from these castings.

The second questions is that in the construction notes, LSBC calls for these joints to be ‘brazed’. I haven’t tried brazing before as everything I have made bas used silver solder. Will a sievert propane set got hold enough for brazing? Or do I need to find something with a bit more heat? Does it have to be brazed or will silver soldering suffice?

Thanks to all for your help. Now I know it is at least possible I will look towards replacing the headstock with an S7 headstock and possibly doing the tapered roller bearing upgrade at the same time.

Morning all,

Does anyone know if a Myford super 7 headstock would fit on a Myford ML7 bed? Would this fit and would there be any differences to the centre height? My ML7 white metal bearings are on the way out and I wondered if replacing the headstock was an alternative to replacing the bearings.

regards,

Dave

Thanks for the advice. I will have a rethink and go for a hydraulic press instead.

I was wondering if anyone would be able to point me in the right direction. I have been looking at second hand fly presses. I am after something is able to bend (upto 90 degress) and punch holes in brass and mild steel up to 1/8" thick at the most. Whilst I have managed to work out that the presses come in sizes 1-6, I cant seem to find any sort of rough idea of what the different sizes weigh and what sort of size I would need to be able to do this.

Thanks for that, I will probably use this method when/if I finally begin my Juliet boiler.

After looking at a couple of older LBSC boiler designs that call for a rolled boiler shell and a butt strap fitted along the base of the tube, I did wonder if it would be easier and quicker to split the end of a copper tube and form the firebox sides. The problem was that with boilers such as juliet, the firebox would not be large enough. I have come across a boiler on ebay that appears to have been a cut tube with an extra copper plate that has been attached with a butt strap to create a longer firebox.

Whilst I have no interest in the boiler on ebay, is this method acceptable by modern standards as I have no come across this before.

P.S. Apologies for the incorrect terminology!!!

Edited By Dave Jones 1 on 20/02/2018 19:54:55

Guys, thanks for the tip I will get some duplicate drill bits and give them a once once with the sharpening block. Interesting discussion on the metals preference. I really couldn't get on with silver steel (I was threading it for a valve and had some real issues getting a nice thread so I used stainless 316 which worked like a dream). I find that steel swarf burns the back of my hand that is turning the cross slide handle. Brass requires a pair of tweezers on the bench to pull out the small splinters, aluminium sticks to the lathe tool.... maybe I should move to plastics!

Does anyone know if it is possible to buy drills bits with a zero rake for drilling brass? My previous attempts to grind drill bits have failed miserably and I would prefer to buy something ready made off the shelf. Ideally I am after an imperial set. I fell out with my normal drills bits today when I was enlarging a hole on a piece of brass in the lathe. The drill bit grabbed on the brass and tried to pull the drill chuck out of the tailstock.

I have seen the adjustable ones before, but never got my hands on one. I can see how they are adjusted, however how do you ensure that they are set to an accurate diameter. Are the threaded sections marked or are they set with a micrometer?

Morning all,

Just out of interest I am in the process of buying a few different reamers and I was wondering why the majority of machine reamers all seem to be 1MT. I can obviously use a 2MT adapter to fit into my lathe tailstock, but why are they made 1MT when the vast majority of headstocks/tailstocks/milling machine are 2MT or bigger.

On a similar note, do people still use reamers for non critical applications. Going through old ME magazines from the 1950's and earlier they advise to use a reamer for almost every hole that is drilled. I understand the need for using reamers in critical locations (loco axle boxes for example) but have advances in drill bits removed the need for using a reamer in other applications (say steam fittings for example).

Its not often that (infact never!) that I comment on a machine upgrade. However I have just complete the cross slide bearing upgrade from arc euro trade, and the difference is amazing! I have no link the company (and they actually list the three bearing dimensions on their website if you wanted to purchase from somewhere else however at just over a tenner including postage it hardly seems worth it hunting the bearings down).

All that is required is a quick rebore of the cross slide end plate and a mill across the ends and its good to go. I was not expecting much of a difference however am I contemplating upgrading the ML7 to CNC and have been looking through the description given on the Tony Jefree's website www.jefree.co.uk and it is one of the steps to cut down on the cross slide friction. Even in 'manual mode' it has made a huge difference to the feel of the slide and I would recommend it to all ML7 owners.

Norman, that sounds like an easier idea than mine. I have already added a graduated leadscrew handle so the measurements between the lines shouldn't be too hard.

Whilst I have started a thread for this, a second niggle is the non ejecting tailstock. Has anyone devised a modification that will allow the 2MT tool to be ejected from the tailstock?

Evenin' all,

I am after a bit of advice. I have recently rebuilt a 1951 ML7 and its pretty much finished. However I have a niggle with the machine, the tail stock barrel does not have any markings, which for me is a right pain because I use these on my previous lathe very regularly for drilling to depth.

Having seen the price of a new barrel from Myford it looks like it is going to be a DIY effort to engrave the barrel. I only have a lathe, and the best method I can think of is it to hold the barrel horizontally onto the milling slide and place either an engraving bit or a sharp point in the lathe chuck, and move the milling slide vertically at regular intervals. Can anyone think of a better method as I don't want to mess it up.

Cheers guys

Evening all, I picked up a lathe today that came with a few bits and pieces. Most are straight foward apart from this 'thing'!

It has a 2MT fitting, and its quite a substantial bit of kit. A key goes into the side and with the front panel removed the 'teeth' open and can be removed. It looks like something goes into the slots.

If I was a betting man I would guess at some sort of threading tool that uses die heads. Does anyone know what it is or how to use it?

Dave

I am currently building a lbsc juliet, I seem to the missing the buffer dimensions from my article photocopies. I dont suppose that someone has the page to hand that they can scan to the website. I can probably guess the size but I would like to keep the original plans as much as possible. Many thanks

I have looked at the ml7 collet attachment and a the c7 and they both use a completely different type (hardinge ma99e). All I can seem to find out about them is that they are an old pre c5 style where the spindle nose pulls back on the collet forcing it to close. I just cant seem to find anywhere that sells them.

Evening all, I picked up a Myford ML6 capstan the other day and it only came with one collet. I am trying to find other sizes, but not having any luck. Could anyone point me in the direction of where I can get hold of any or the type of collet. I have attached a photo, the collet is 1.89" overall length, 0.75" diameter at the headstock end, and 0.86" at the workholding/gripping end.

It is stamped hardinge 1029 and is a 1/2" collet.

I cant seem to find any info on the hardinge website either so at a bit of a loose end.

Many thanks