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Member postings for ChrisH

Here is a list of all the postings ChrisH has made in our forums. Click on a thread name to jump to the thread.

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Thread: MadModder
21/06/2011 23:35:41
Hi Jason,
 
Just to say that whatever the glitch was that binned me before has now been fixed and I am now up and running on the MadModder site, well, I was last time I visited anyway!
 
What an interesting site........  -   thanks for your help,
 
Regards,
Chris

Edited By ChrisH on 21/06/2011 23:36:15

21/06/2011 19:46:07
Hi Hason,
 
Thanks for the e-mail address - I have sent them an e-mail and will see what they say!
 
Regards,
Chris
21/06/2011 17:59:47
I know this is not strictly a MEW query, but I followed a link from the 'flip-up toolholder' thread to the MadModder website. Thought I would join and have received the activation link but the MadModder website now has a message saying 


An Error Has Occurred!
Sorry Guest, you are banned from using this forum!

Pill spammer



Anyone had this problem before? How do you bin it? How can you contact the website to say this message is on the opening page?

 

Regards, ChrisH

Edited By ChrisH on 21/06/2011 18:00:26

Thread: Steam Boat Ban
15/06/2011 12:19:15
Well said Nick - what a breath of fresh air and realism.
 
As you say, the man is a fool, and totally devoid of common sense, like so many today.
 
You go sail your steamers and to hell with silly fools who are proven to be ignorant to boot!
 

Edited By ChrisH on 15/06/2011 12:19:55

Thread: Headstock Tachometer
23/05/2011 17:27:03
Thanks to all who replied, and thanks to Les for his link to his tacho design.
 
I had not thought of using a bike speed computer - not thinking sideways enough - but now await next months MEW with added interest.
 
I can of course use my hand-held tacho, but it seemed like a nice idea to not have to do this and still get the speed reading.
 
Chris.

Edited By ChrisH on 23/05/2011 17:42:28

23/05/2011 16:09:34
N\
22/05/2011 21:09:45
Was thinking earlier that it would be useful to have a tachometer giving me a readout of the actual headstock (chuck) speed, as opposed to believing what the adjusting handle of the stepless drive pullys was indicating would likely be the speed, all things being hunky dory. I would need to have some sort of pick up (mechanical or more probable electrical) on the headstock output shaft, linked to a digital or analogue readout in some way. I could use my handheld techo, but a permanently fixed one would be more useful as it would be, well, permanently displaying the info. OK, it's 'nice-to-have', not 'need-to-have', but would be useful all the same.
 
And that is as far as I have got.
 
Not got far researching this on the 'net', totally devoid of ideas from there.
 
Anyone got any bright idea/s to point me in a useful direction?
 
ChrisH 

Edited By ChrisH on 22/05/2011 21:11:06

Thread: That's better!
22/05/2011 20:58:54
That "A tidy desk (bench) is a sure sign of a sick mind" is true. Certainly my bench is more often a complete mess than tidy, then I tidy it and for about half a day things are good and then you can't see the bench for stuff.
 
But whatever you do, don't allow SWIMBO anywhere near. She'll tidy up and then you'll never find anything. Ever again. Works like that all the time in the house, so she's not allowed to touch anything in the workshop.
 
My biggest problem are the little people. They must be related to Jomac's little green men, but I've never seen them. But they are everywhere. Always borrowing something. Must be making something but I don't know what. Put something down on the bench, turn round and it's gone. Hunt the workshop and it's nowhere. Next morning, there it is, on the bench, just where you left it. So annoying.
 
Had a bad case of them down on the boat. Had an anchor windlass in bits in a bag. Overhauled it in the workshop, worked a treat, took it down to the boat, didn't fit it as weather was rubbish. Came back down to the boat next visit, and no bag of windlass bits. We (SWIMBO in her capacity as First Mate and me as Captain and Chief Engineer) searched every locker, every shelf, every cabin. No windlass bits. Went down last time, searched again. Nothing. On the final day, went into a cabin and there on the floor, the bag of bits. Fitted it straight away before the little people borrowed it again and guess what? They had broken it - it didn't work. Unusual for them, but perhaps that's the way with the seagoing little people.
 
There is a lot that goes on that I don't understand, but it seems other people have the same problems so I don't feel so bad anymore.

Edited By ChrisH on 22/05/2011 20:59:30

Thread: What's Changed?
18/05/2011 16:49:34
This 'logging-out' business between site visits and when compiling postings is still going on. Still Very Annoying!
 
Had hoped it would be sorted by now, but I hoped in vain!
 
Chris
Thread: Altivar 28 Inverter
18/05/2011 16:43:09
Hello, and thanks to all that have responded.
 
I have now managed to get this going, after obtaining some advice from Direct Industrial who also do reconditioned inverters at a good price and with a 'comprehensive 12 months warranty'. Needless to say, I have no other attachment to this company other than the advice they gave me!
 
Anyway, firstly, I had to reset the low speed setting on the inverter to 50Hz from the factory default of 0Hz - I in my naivety had assumed that because the machine had been set to being a 50Hz machine then that would be that. Then I found that it still would not start up if either of the 2 switches between it and the motor were in the 'off' position. Instead it would sense an 'open phase fault' situation on the motor and stop. However, this protection is offered with the option to be switched off in the programming if precisely this condition (of a switch between inverter and motor) exists, so, once that option had been taken it worked!
 
For those who inquired about the motor, the lathe is a German Weiler 280 from the mid-60's, with a two speed reversing motor fitted as standard. There are 2 sets of windings; the low-off-high speed switch switches between these two windings. It has run in the past OK as said before; it was designed to do this!  I think in this instance when the inverter went phut I had an earth fault which caused the damage; in fact, I am certain I had because I subsequently found one found. All wiring has been now been throughly checked through again and is fine (he says with quite some hope!!) so hopefully that will be that. The lathe is a good one but has obviously had some use over the years; there is some wear in the bed but it is not so bad as to warrant a regrind. You just have to take account of it, but I have not had a problem so far with it. It has a range of speeds in high and low mode via a set of stepless adjustable pulley wheels and a 2 belt drive between motor and headstock, powered cross feed and longitudinal feed and screwcutting feed, and gear wheels to cut just about all metric and imperial threads and interestingly, for a German machine, has the cross feed and top slide graduations marked in 'thous'.
 
Chris

Edited By ChrisH on 18/05/2011 16:44:41

17/05/2011 12:45:02
I had an Altivar 8 inverter 'converting' 240V single phase into 240V three phase. It drove the 3 ph motor on my lathe via the lathe's forward-off-reverse switch and then the lathe's low speed-off-high speed switch. It was old and not really man enough for the job, but it worked. Until just over a week ago when it announced it had had enough, and died. The inverter was powered up to 50Hz by closing a switch on a logic input.
 
I replaced it with an Altivar 28 inverter, which is man enough for the job but with far more control options, which I don't need. All I need is for it to give me 3 ph 240V at 50Hz. End of! It seems fine, giving the option again of a 2 wire logic input across which I have the same switch as before.
 
The 28 has 50Hz and 2 wire control as factory default settings, and I have set it to 'auto-reset' (I think!) after a stop.
 
But it won't go. It only goes to a 'ready' state but will not power up to 50Hz.
 
Can anyone help in pointing me in the right direction here? There seems masses for configuration options which I surely don't need, but there must be one somewhere which I do need. Help!
 
Chris
Thread: Steam Boat Ban
26/04/2011 22:01:59
Just read that New Brighton council have banned model steam boats on the New Brighton boating lake, in case the boiler explodes and injures someone - blame elf 'n safety. Again.
 
The fact that the lake has been operational for about 80 years, and there are no recorded injuries, ever, is neither here nor there. There's a elf 'n safety jobsworth in there somewhere, justifying his/her existence without a clue about what they are about..
 
The country has gone completely bonkers.............
 
ChrisH
Thread: Cutting fluids
26/04/2011 20:49:03
What about for example Warco's Neatcut cutting fluid? Not a coolant as I understand it - but I am but a new starter in this - but is that, or anything similar by other suppliers, I use the Warco product as a 'for instance', any good as a cutting fluid, or is the volume required just too expensive, or not good for the lathe/mill, or whatever?
 
ChrisH
Thread: Safety Shoes
22/04/2011 10:04:35
I can agree with John S's comments re Rigger Boots. They are comfortable, easy on and off as they are 'slip-ons'(so going in and out the house is not a drag plus taking them off going in earns brownie points), and the 'sheepskin' lined ones are warm(er) in winter and cool(er) in summer, and I must buy a new pair as the old ones here are worn out! Have an old pair here and a new pair in our French place.
 
Wouldn't be without them, even now I have to buy them myself as opposed to 'company supply'. You notice the comfort when you have to wear them all day. They are especially good in the garden, when SWMBO manages to get me turned-to out there!
 
Wicks do them for about 25 quid, last time I looked. Hope this helps,
 
Regards,
 
ChrisH
 
 
 
Thread: Technical and engineering drawing.
21/04/2011 11:56:35
To post or not to post, that is the question. But then somebody on this thread wrote that many have viewed but few had contributed a post, so I guess that's the answer to the question.
 
I learnt Technical Drawing/Engineering Drawing at my Secondary Modern school and then at the College of Technology that I went to. I remember my school teacher's instructions on line weights to this day "If I can see your construction lines from here then they're too heavy". At college BS308 was quoted several times a lesson. Of all the subjects that I studied engineering drawing was the only one I didn't have to revise for, I knew I would be able to get a good pass or a credit without revision. Possibly had I revised I could have got a distinction, but the name of the game was to pass. Not revising ED gave more time for revising other subjects. Which was all of them. But I digress.
 
I learnt ED 45 to 50 years ago. Since then I have used ED's often, not to make anything until now but to understand how things came apart, and went back together, or what the finished project would look like. Only in the last 15 years have I had to do drawings again, on paper and now on CAD.
 
But the little grey cells grow tired and forget what they have been taught and a series of articles in MEW would be both interesting and a useful revision and undoubtably I would learn new things as well as relearn old. So that would be a really Good Thing.
 
I regard Engineering Drawings in the workshop as an essential tool, as essential as the kit required to mark out the job, the devices to hold the job in the lathe or mill, the cutting tools required as well as all the hand tools needed and the skills to use them all. You MUST understand what you are trying to make before you can set about making it, and you can only do that by the ability to READ and UNDERSTAND the drawing. So for me, a series of articles is every bit as interesting and informative as one on making tool grinding jig or an angle plate for example.
 
So good on you Terry for suggesting this and offering to write the articles, and shame on you David - and I am normally with you, on most things - for dismissing it so swiftly initially, although I do know you will now reconsider publishing said articles; I look forward to reading them!
 
ChrisH
 
PS. Terry, whereabouts in France do you go, presumably in Brittany? We live about 20 minutes from Carhaix and know the music festival well - we can sometimes even hear it from our place there!

Edited By ChrisH on 21/04/2011 11:57:15

Thread: What's Changed?
04/04/2011 18:59:58
Hi,
 
I too tick the 'Remember Me' box. Everytime I login. It worked in the past, but it is not working now!
 
And for the record I use Safari - my box is a Mac - so that's another browser that's affected.
 
Like you say Roy - Very Annoying.
 
Chris
04/04/2011 16:19:10
I used to be able to view the site whenever and remain permanently logged in.
 
Then yesterday, I tried to 'message a member' whilst logged in, only for the system to tell me I needed to be logged in to do it when I went to send the message. Very annoying, as I then lost the message and hadn't taken the precaution to copy the message to the clipboard first, had to login again and rewrite the message. Had this happen in the early days of this website but not for a long while.
 
Also now, whenever I visit the site, I find I am automatically logged out and have to login on again each visit - this never happened to me before that I can remember. Most inconvenient.
 
So what's changed to cause this? And can it be changed back again please, if it's a website problem?
 
Thanks,
ChrisH
 PS.  And it did it to me again as I tried to edit - said I had to login to use that feature.  But if I wasn't logged on how could I have edited the message?
 

Edited By ChrisH on 04/04/2011 16:22:57

Thread: C A D for Mac
07/03/2011 12:22:39
An Update on the TurboCad for Mac free trial.
 
As expected, some things I found better or simplier than AutoCad and others not so. For example, all lines are done by just inserting a length and an angle which was quick and easy, but I had trouble with drawing just a single line, the system often wanted me to add another line, me being unable to remember how to terminate the command correctly I suppose. There is no 'erase' command as in AC, you just highlight what wants erasing and hit the keyboard 'delete' key (like other Mac programmes) - spent ages looking for the 'erase' command!
 
The copy command wasn't as clear as in AC, being tied in with the 'move' command.
 
Snaps could be a pain sometimes unless you zoomed in on that bit you were working on - but I guess to a lessor degree that happens in AC as well. Dimensioning was good, but some problems arose when the dimension gave a figure different to that drawn. For example, a line of 30.00mm long became 29.998mm on the dimension - weird. To get over this one I eventually had to draw a 30.00mm line away from where I wanted it ( a redraw in the position didn't work) then move it into position. But multiple dimensioning, and multiple verification of lengths, is easier than in AC.
 
The grid does not do just dots, you have to have lines, and dots as subdivisions. If I use a grid I prefer just dots and as the lines I found were intrusive I reverted to pencil and paper practice and worked with a blank white sheet.
 
Good feature was that I could import a load of AC drawings into TC. At first as imported it seemed as if nothing was there, but, after import I found that if the layers were set up in the TC drawing as on the AC drawing then bingo, all was revealed. But the layer command does not include for different line styles which I prefer, all lines are as set in the drawing default. If a line needs to be different then you have to select it and change it with the required style.
 
Printing was good too, for me. I only printed on A4 (because that's all my printer does) but you can overlay the drawing on a representation of the paper for a preview and select a scale to suit - you can also select odd-ball scales, like 0.65:1 instead of 0.5:1, or 1/2 scale, if you really wanted. You have to watch the sizing of drawing and dimension text as it varies with the scale selected for printing -what looks good on the screen may appear huge or tiny when printed, depending on printed scale!
 
All in all I found the TC for Mac to be good and to do all that I wanted to do, and all that I guess the majority of model engineers will require too - and that was without trying the 3D facility (I ran out of time to play with that) - but only the individual can be the judge of that. It really could do with a more detailed instruction manual although the online help guide and the basic tutorials were very useful. A lot of what is available on AC Lite is available on TC - it's just finding it and how to use it that is sometimes the problem!
 
Version 6 is due out anytime now - should have been out 6 weeks ago - and prices seem to be coming down for the package, so rather than buy Ver.5 and then upgrade to Ver.6 I am waiting for Ver.6, although I don't know what 'extra's' Ver.6 will bring.
 
I hope the above will help any Mac users thinking of TC - best thing is to download the free trial and play with it, see if it is for you.
 
ChrisH
Thread: Different Steels
02/02/2011 14:49:22
mgj, Keith,
 
My sentiments entirely!
 
Chris
01/02/2011 10:42:15
Hi mgj,
 
My query was prompted by the article in the latest edition of MEW by Harold Hall and his manufacture of lathe fixed/travelling steadies.
 
For the frames and clamp plate he specified 230M07 and for the base 070M20; I was wondering what the difference was and if the base was made of 230M07 what would be the likely problems.
 
Looking at most - well, at least some - of the suppliers of steel for model engineers, the general steel available seems to be 230M07; not many, in fact I don't think I have come across any, that do anything else, hence also the query. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong place.
 
I am not really too bothered in reality what the chemical compositions are, I was just searching to satisfy my curiosity. If I eventually make a fixed steady to suit my lathe, which is old and in all probability a ready made fixed steady could not be found, I shall probably make it all in 230M07 - the whole steady would I guess be very lightly loaded.
 
I now wait some someone to jump up and tell me why this should not be done!
 
ChrisH
 
P.S. Tubal Cains Hardening and Heat treatment is on my "to buy" list! 

Edited By ChrisH on 01/02/2011 10:45:38

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