Member postings for Stephen Benson

Nobody said it was hard to do I have a maths A level and I quite like doing trig when needed, but it is tedious to do every dimension when I would rather be cutting metal, but it seems I am alone it in this view. There are plenty of interesting projects with metric drawings out there so no problem for me however I did feel that Stuart Models were missing out but obviously I was wrong

Hi Richard you have missed my point no problem working with 2.468 it is the converting of 1000's of fractions per Stewarts drawing into decimals that is painful, machine tools have dials now I know I will never buy another set of castings from Stuarts

Edited By Stephen Benson on 30/07/2014 15:24:58

Nothing difficult about imperial decimals its fractions that are the pain on a simple threaded rod part 20 S50 there are the following dimensions 2 15/32, 5/32, 1 5/16, 3/32, 1/2, and .07 dia try working that out on your digital vernier.

If we want new people to join our hobby we need to speak their language

Edited By Stephen Benson on 30/07/2014 11:25:53

I have no problems with imperial decimals but I find fractions a real pain to use so I wrote a Delphi program to convert the fractions on my SS50 over time I added a few more bells and whistles but its still works well it is on my web site for download

**LINK**

Edited By Stephen Benson on 29/07/2014 16:13:30

I have to agree with Rod I have bought a 3 inch Vallorbe cut 6 file from Ebay (Cranbrook Clocks) a few weeks ago and it is beautiful to use I was so pleased I brought several more for different materials.

My OptiVisors I have one with a no5 lens for bench/close work and one with a no4 lens for mill and lathe work brilliant.they work well with my varifocal glasses

When I was making the SS50 from Stewarts it was driving me daft so I wrote this and put it on my clock site

**LINK**

It works XP, Vista and Win7

Edited By Stephen Benson on 02/04/2014 21:06:01

Well it is on Pocketmags for digital download well impressed with this format even the printing is good bought my last paper mag

One thing is clear that the law of diminishing returns applies my Wilding weight driven 8 day recoil escapement timepiece with standard pivots is accurate to 15-20 seconds a week that figure would half if it had some sort of maintaining power.

Weight driven timepieces and clocks are inherently accurate as they have a stable power source (gravity) getting a spring driven clock to less than 10 seconds a week is more difficult and this where you need a deadbeat, fusee, bearings and maintaining power.

Edited By Stephen Benson on 15/02/2014 14:55:03

Thanks for the update it was very interesting

Yes I had that problem and I made an adjustable backplate and clocked the gear/wheel bland on the mill a bit over engineered but I do make a lot of clock wheels got some pictures on my web site

**LINK**

This is clockmaker territory so here goes, what I do with a complicated shape is draw it in turbocad print it stick on the brass with 3m photomount and use a piercing saw (see Utube) to cut close to the line then file the last bit not familiar with CAD then use a layout blue and a scribe.

I have to agree with Keith now MEW and ME are both covering the same topics it makes taking out a single subscription for one or the other just silly as you can bet your bottom dollar the series that you are most interested in will be in the other, best to just keep checking WH Smith.

Thanks for taking the trouble to provide such a complete reply Tony much appreciated good luck with the move

Thanks again Steve

I am not sure it does downsizing a workshop by getting rid of the smallest lathe I have three lathes but my Cowells would be the last lathe I would get rid of so I would be interested which lathe Tony kept

Just spotted this lathe on Ebay what did you not like Tony seems a lot of work for just a few months ownership

Sounds like another nail in the MEW coffin

I have worked with CNC most of my adult life when I ran a engineering company making bespoke components for the electronics industry and I used CNC and Cad/Cam to deskill lots of operations so lower paid workers could perform them. This was solely in an effort to compete with foreign competition but in my workshop I want learn the skills used before CNC this requires patience and long hours at the bench but the you would have to chip the smile off my face with a chisel when it comes right.

CNC is a childs play compared to that call me a Luddite if you wish, but I know better

I am a clockmaker and I have tried the most expensive Bergeon which I dislike they may be great for watches but they are awful for anything else and I have been suckered by nice looking sets in wooden boxes from india these are no use at all.

You need a scalloped blade to really bite into the average clock screw and I found that my CK watchmaker set 4852P were ones that reached for everyday not that expensive either.

Edited By Stephen Benson on 08/09/2013 20:29:47