Member postings for ChrisH

Standard for most boliers I know of, though I don't know about loco boliers, is to run the boiler with the water level showing at halfway in the gauge glass..

Why do designers do this?

Because they are ignorant with absolutely no practical experience, wet behind the ears and have never had to actually work on the item they design, to take it apart or maintain it; if they did then they would very quickly redesign it.

Thats why!

Chris

I have one for my Adapt No.2 shaper, bought from Arc for the very same reason.

From what I remember and without checking - not used it in anger yet - what you describe is correct but not absolutely certain re the spring. Certainly works very easily and well, no worries.

Is your Adept totally hand operated or has it been motorised? If so, I would be interested in seeing how it was done!

Chris

These are very unstable turbulent times. The only current certainty is that everything seems totally uncertain. The possibility of another autumn lockdown still exists. The possibility of another covid spike this autumn is still there.

The situation changes by the day.

So, given the above situation, it does seem a trifle foolhardy just now to make any firm non-refunable bookings - it is a risk I would not want to take, but then I am known to have deep pockets and short arms, squeak when I walk, and not to take unnecessary risks where money is concerned.

Buyer beware by another name!

Chris

I'd fill them with JB Weld and then dress them flat as Brians has suggested.

Chris

0.07mm is a tad under 0.003" - I have to convert to thous so that it means something to me - which is not bad at all but I have to say I had hoped you'd get better than that! Is there a possibility of being able to micro adjust it? I am looking forward to reading of the traps you experienced, that should be informative.

I have this afternoon rigged up a mirror for the laser to reflect back onto a target on the mill, but not tested it in anger yet. I set the mirror as true to vertical as I could, I have a fairly accurate level, and then set the laser beam to reflect back onto the mill, it was way off the way I had set it before. Then I put a bit of masking tape over the place where the beam came back and drew round the laser dot to create the 'target'. Then I ran out of time to do anymore, but I will report back here what I find when I do check it out.

Chris

Thanks Old Mart - all is clear now, picture worth a thousand words and all that!

Chris

That is the biggest problem with cheap laser pointers - the red dot is quite large with fuzzy edges - or mine seems to be at any rate - which makes determining the centre quite difficult.

I have just purchased a cheap mirror £5.50, sized 500x150mm, from Ikea, (delivered for £2 which saved a trek to the store, bargain!) which I am going to mount on a true flat backing board (ie not bowed like the present target) and mount vertically so as to refect the dot back to mill and try and get it to always return to a fixed target position and see how that goes. I think the problem will lie in getting the set-up right so the mirror is truly vertical and at the correct angle to hit the target, we shall see.

Old Mart - do you have a link to the folding links similar to aircraft suspension links please?  Sounds interesting!

Chris.

Edited By ChrisH on 14/08/2021 11:03:11

Just bought some steel from M-Machine Metals. The Plate and Box that I wanted the prices were as per what was displayed on-line; however, I also wanted some 60x40x3 rectangular tube and that had gone up from £4.08/ft to £7.20/ft.

Queried it and it apparently correct, seemingly steel prices have gone through the roof in the last few months.

You have been warned!

Xhris

Terry - I purchased a TEC 0.75kW (1hp) 4 pole motor and a Schneider ATV12 0.75kW inverter from Inverter Supermarket. Cost was about £200 three years ago. Had a set-up problem when commissioning and the Technical Support chap from Inverter Supermarket was superb, landed the jumbo over the phone. The installation has transformed the usability of the machine; I would not go back!

I made up a little control panel to control the inverter, and hence the motor, to give forward, reverse and jog with a variable rheostat to control the frequency and hence speed. Also incorporated a 4 digit display to show quill rpm triggered by a little magnet fixed to the quill pulley passing a sensor.

Old Mart - my laser is very much smaller than yours and was made to bolt to the underside of a pistol. I don't have the luxury of a pull switch, the on/off switch is just a button on the back and the beam is not reflected back so I tend not to see it and just forget it's on! Interesting you bounce it off a window and back, I had thought of bouncing it off a mirror back to a target on the mill head, the mirror would have to be truly vertical to work I think but I also think it would greatly improve accuracy.

Chris

Thanks for the link Terry, I had a look at it and will check out my mill to see what I can do.

I have bolted a little laser (the sort you can strap to a handgun) to my head aimed at a target about 2.5m away - the target is a pair of vertical black lines the width of the red laser dot apart or a white background, that works quite well, to about 0.003". My main problem is remembering to turn the laser off after use and then finding the batteries go flat............ funny that. But if the Edwin White mod can be made more accurate than 0.003" that then that would be good.

I have also fitted a 3ph motor with inverter which has reduced vibration a lot, the motor is much smoother running, as well as providing seamless speed control from about 100 - 2500 rpm(-ish) and has been a tremendous improvement. I also changed the crappy 3 pulley belt system as supplied for a 2 pulley, one on the motor and one on the quill, system using poly vee belts, with each pulley having two sets of vee grooves to provide a low and a high speed setting - very easy to change and a major improvment on the original set-up, no more having to lift the head up to the top of the column to change speed now..

Look forward to reading of your take on the Edwin White mod in a couple of weeks.

Chris

Hi Terry, please excuse the ignorance, but what is an "Edwin White" modification? Very interested in anything that holds the head in alignment - I have a Warco 'Economy' Mill/Drill, so not too dissimilar.

Chris

Good tip learned there Ramon, for me who hasn’t done much work on boring castings

Chris
PS - loved the new set up Doc

Edited By ChrisH on 29/07/2021 09:49:24

Tried your links Paul but not working foe me

Chris

Brian - I have a similar Warco sander to your link, but vertical belt is 4” wide, so much wider than the one you are looking at,

I rarely use it on that brown stuff unless I have to, far too much dust, but regularly use it on the usual workshop steels with no problem in removing quite significant amounts from smaller parts, saves filing and is very quick.

I have also used it for HSS tooling which is what you were asking, not for forming a tool - I do that on the bench grinder - but for final finishing and touching up prior to honing and for when it needs a bit more truing up before a rehone.

i wouldn’t be without mine, use it very often , if that is any help to you.

Chris

I am following this with interest as one can always learn, esp from set-ups, and I need all the learning I can get!

But I have to say I don’t like the look of your set up at present Doc, doesn’t look right to me and as they say, if it doesn’t look right............

i would agree and go along with what both Jason and Ramon are proposing - they both speak with so much experience, or, as you have suggested, bolt the feet to a plate and then bolt the plate down.

Bon Chance, as they say just across the Channel

Chris

Antony - sounds like your street power supply is that peice of wet string I was talking about........!

But actually I was thinking of streets and power supplies made earlier than that - although in fairness many would have been supplied by overhead cables maybe, that have long been upgraded. But your 1960's house - that is getting too close for comfort in terms of time. If power supply cables are overhead then that is a relatively easy upgrade, but if they are buried and not in conduit which I suspect, but don't know for sure, many would be, then that is a much more expensive and disruptive job to be upgraded.

It also needs a strong will and a certain amount of money to implement - I'm not holding my breath.

Chris

+1 Duncan

The problem to consigning a sector of the public to use public transport rather than their own cars for mobility is that public transport for those in rural areas is not good, services are few and far between.

Public transport may be OK in cities but for folk living in the sticks its not much good if getting to town is on a Tuesday but the bus back is not till Friday.

Public transport in rural areas seems to have been run down almost to the point of non existence; it's stating the bleeding obvious but to entice Joe Public out their cars onto the bus there has to be a decent reliable frequent bus service available to entice them onto.

Chris

A tyre garage next to where my motorehome has its lock up recently had to stick a pair of new tyres on the back of a fairly new electric car, The car has front wheel drive and had done just 8,000 miles. The reason was put down to the weight of the batteries.

And the cost of new batteries is a "How Much?" question, a bit of a if you need to ask then you can't afford it question! Never mind running out of oil, what about running out of the materials to make batteries?

Chris