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Member postings for mgnbuk

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

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Thread: Northern Modelling Exhibition
06/03/2012 17:59:49

we do have a great exhibition in the north at Harrogate.

Well, I would agree that we have an exhibition in Harrogate - from my point of view it wasn't that great last year.

The last show in Manchester (at the Velodrome) was not well attended by trade, clubs or visitors (well, not many visitors on the day I went anyway). I don't recall it making a second appearance.

The exhibitor list for the latest effort meant it didn't warrant a look-in for me - non of the "big name" suppliers present to allow for any sort of comparison between products. The exhibits are rarely of much interest, as I have no interest in steam powered anything, railways or hot air engines. I can appreciate the work that goes in to them, but the subject matter leaves me cold - see one shiny locomative & I've largely seen them all !

I went to Harrogate last year after 3 or 4 years of it clashing with other commitments & it was disappointing - less trade support than I recall previously & many of the exhibits seemed the same as the last vist. I think it will clash with a prior commitment this year, but can't say I will loose much sleep over that. I doubt that Arc Eurotrade will be the only trade stand downsizing this year.

The Midlands Show used to be a good day out when it was at Donnington - particularly when Myford scheduled their open days to coincide. Arrive at Myfords for when they opened, then move on to DP with pre-paid tickets & in there for not much after opening time. Good look round, hammer the credit card & home before 4 ! No Myfords & Leamington Spa further than I want to go for a day out - particularly as my wife will no longer accompany me to such events having tired of being barged out of the way by ignorant old men - has meant no visit there since it moved.

Sandown Park to expensive to visit - period, I'm afraid.

£0.02

Nigel B.

06/03/2012 08:18:04

More to the point Guys, was there anything there that would or could improve Sandown?

Move it about 200 miles North ?

cheeky

Thread: Removing surface rust on machined surfaces
24/02/2012 20:38:19

ScotchBrite or Fibral non-woven abrasive pads & elbow grease !

There are also phosphoric acid based "metal brightner" products that remove tarnish from machined surfaces.

Nigel B.

Thread: Mill tram
21/02/2012 13:17:42

its only use is to hit "0" rather than looking at the scale

My experience using this method to align tool discs on CNC lathe indexing turrets after bumps or overloading has been that it re-aligns those components very accurately - I have not yet had to "adjust" the position set by the pin(s) to get correct alignment.

Nigel B.

20/02/2012 21:02:08

Another approach to dowelling is to drill & ream a taper pin hole once the head is set true.

The pin is not left in the hole, but is used to re-align the head if it moves - loosen the securing bolts, insert pin, tighten the bolts, remove pin. The double-angle universal head on a Correa mill at work has all the basic positions set using this method & it is frequently used to re-align tool discs on CNC lathes. Note not to leave the pin inserted during use, as a bump will damage the pin & it's seating - accurate re-alignment will not then be possible.

Nigel B.

20/02/2012 19:30:01

Have you checked the flatness of the mating faces ? (against a blued surface plate)

May not be in contact over the full mating surface ?

Regards,

Nigel B.

Thread: UK Supplier of Imperial Acme Threaded Bar?
18/02/2012 14:06:12

Now who does 14mm x 2 pitch Left Hand ?

WMH Transmissions

http://www.wmh-trans.co.uk/Home

do M14x3 LH in rolled or whirled

Thread: What lathe to get?
13/02/2012 07:49:00
The M300 is what the chinese made ones try to emulate but cant.
 
It is my understanding that the current M300 (along with other 600 manual lathes) is a Chinese made lathe, and has been for some time.
 
The M250 was at one time a Russian built machine, rebuilt in Cleckheaton with a new bed casting (the Russian iron would not harden to the required hardness, I understand) and a couple of gears changed in the headstock to get quieter running.
 
Pity the M300 didn't get the clutch that was standard on the 140 - as I said earlier, I found the 140 a nicer machine to use than the M300
12/02/2012 14:00:54
I take issue with your claim that it has a limited speed range

No VFD on the ex-work one, but IIRC it only had 8 speeds & wide variations between them ? I no longer have access to the machine (so cannot check to be certain) but I do recall having to run faster or slower that I wanted to on occasions. (A quick Googling says 12 speeds, 40-2500 rpm, but "our" machine has been modified by it's original model engineer owner to run more slowly. 28 - 1750 rings a bell but, as above, I can no longer check for certain). So maybe my original comment was not altogether warranted.

Price drops on Chinese imports of this size used ? Seem to hold up pretty well on Ebay - probably helped by the quite large price increases on the new ones in recent years. A Warco BH600 has gone on today - will be interesting to see how it goes !

The difficulty with used European machines is getting a decent one (i.e. one not flogged to death in industry) for reasonable money.
Thread: Imperial/Metric?
12/02/2012 12:28:07
Its good to read how times have changed.

Sadly, nature has a way of moving things along !

In another 10 years time, I suspect that the Imperial stalwarts will be in the minority (on this side of the Altantic, anyway) as those taking up home workshop activities will have had little or no exposure to Imperial measurements in education or employment.
Thread: What lathe to get?
12/02/2012 12:20:11
Whats wrong with link belts?

Great at slipping - not so good at driving ! Even when bow-string tight.
 
May be down to the modern, slippery plastic link material - the original belts were more of a canvas-like construction. Had similar problems on a grinder project at the last employment, where link belts were recommended for smooth running. Yes, they ran smoothly, but the spindle stopped when a load was applied !
 
I have, once, seen a Vee belt that could be split. It had a series of holes perpendicular to the driving axis & was joined with short steel link plates (placed inside & outside the belt) screwed together through the holes. I was unable to track down a supplier, unfortuately.
12/02/2012 10:58:14
DRO also eliminates backlash issues.

No it doesn't - the backlash and many of it's effects are still present. "All" the DRO will do is allow positioning to be set independant of any wear or backlash that may be present in the leadscrew.

Which lathe ? Looking for a machine of M300 size I'd buy a new Warco / Chester Chinese machine - belt drive or geared according to pocket depth. Reports on these machine suggest reasonable build quality & good accuracy. The come fully equiped with chucks & steadies - ready to run "out of the box". Any "issues" - they are covered with a warranty.

If you were to splash out a 3 times or more greater sum on a new M250 or M300 you would still be getting an imported machine, as the manual Harrisons have not been made here for many years.

FWIW I didn't like using an M300 - the one we had at the last employment (which was a mint ex-model engineer's machine, never used in industry before we got it) had a restricted speed range & the dual reading dials on cross-slide & top slide robbed them of "feel".
The well-worn Harrison 140 it replaced was a nicer machine to use.
 
I have no experience of "small" Colchesters - a long bed Mastiff at work was nothing special, though. And a former supplier was less than impressed to find his new "Colchester" was actually a Colchester-badged TOS at a premium price.

An ex-education Boxford might be a reasonable bet - if you can find a later style one (they do not appear to be thick on the ground !).
I would not discount an earlier Boxford if you could find a good one - though the CUD I started with was plagued with belt slip problems on the awful link belt final drive demanded of passing the belt through the bed casting. An ME10 or VSL-L00 would be my preference (though the VSL still has the link belt).
 
Emco Maximats (V10, V11) have always looked good to me, but seem to come up rarely. When Mercer Bros. in Cleckheaton were still with us (much missed), I regularly hankered after the new V11 they had is stock. Way outside my budget, unfortunately.
 
A Super 7 does most of what I require - the spindle bore restriction being my only real gripe. I do have the ability to take any larger stuff I may want to do in to work, though (up to a metre diameter chucked, or 600 dia x 3.5metres between centres if required !).
 
£0.02
 
Nigel B.

Edited By Nigel Barraclough on 12/02/2012 11:26:24

Thread: Imperial/Metric?
11/02/2012 15:24:33
I think people sweat the metric/imperial stuff too much. For me, metric is easier, for others, inches. All they are is measurements; the real challenge is to make things, not to worry about units.

Agreed.
 
Just missed metrification at school - I did all Imperial, my 18 month younger brother was all Metric.
 
Apprentice training & early work experience was mainly Imperial - later work was mainly Metric.
 
Currently I work almost exclusively Metric at home or work, using a mixture of Metric and Imperial machines (in the case of my Taiwanese FB2 clone assembled from two different sources - both on the same machine !).
 
My measuring stuff is also a mixture of the two units, though I find Imperial mics easier to read than Metric (I find I can "loose" half a millimetre too easily on the Metric mics).
 
Any Imperial dimensioned jobs that come in to work are all re-dimensioned Metric - although all the CNC machines can be set & programmed Imperial, fewer mistakes are made if everything is made in the same units. Half of the operators are Polish/ Slovakian - Imperial confuses the heck out of them !
 
The "40 thou to a millimetre" approximation works well to get close & a Poundshop large digit calculator stuck to the cupboard over the Super7 does near-instant accurate conversions as required. Somewhat bizarrely, I tend to think in millimeters down to 1mm, but find it easier to "visualise" sub-millimetre increments in "thou" !
 
Regards,
 
Nigel B.
Thread: Announcement from Arc Euro Trade Ltd.
11/02/2012 14:07:27
Ketan,
 
I can appreciate your reasons for doing this, but from this visitor's point of view it will be another reason not to bother attending.
 
As I have no real interest in steam models of any flavour, or model boats etc. my main interest is in the trade stands. As the cost of attending gets ever greater, the ability to offset some of the cost by not paying postage charges helps justify attending. It is also an advantage to be able to compare the quality of similar items from different sellers "in the flesh" - price alone is not necessarily a good indication of quality.
 
For me, Harrogate last year was a disappointment. Fewer trade stands, more model boats, much the same stuff seen pretty well every year on the club stands - not much incentive to go this year already, before a pre-notified reduction in the trade presence by someone I have previously bought items from at the exhibition on a bit of a "spur of the moment" basis.
 
 
£0.02
 
Nigel B.

Edited By David Clark 1 on 14/02/2012 16:42:35

Thread: Digital Readouts
06/02/2012 20:23:51
You can use the capacitive scales with a Shumatec DRO350 DRO550

Hi Les,

I was aware of the Shumatec displays, but it (they) seem expensive for supposedly "budget" units.

Only the original (and now obsolete, according to the Shumatec site) DRO350 kit is available from MEDW at around £150 posted. MEDW suggests that the board for the 550 is only available from Shumatec in the USA, but they show no availability. The Shumatec site gives a description for a "budget" DRO375 but, again, no details of availabilty or price.
 
I have not followed the ins & outs of the DRO350 project but, IIRC, there were some "issues" with it that were only cured by the 550 re-design ?
 
As a comparison, a "Budget " 3 axis console from Allendale is £156.50 + delivery - assembled, ready to go & warranted - just add glass scales or the magnetic alternatives (which worked out more expensive than glass scales for another project at work - replacing Trimos capacitive readouts on a tool pre-setter. But they were easier to fit in the space vacated by the Trimos arrangement, so purchased anyway).
 
The 3 glass scales do add another £380 or so for my mill, though, where the equivalent capacitive scales from Arc would be around £80. If the DRO350 is reliable, it might be worth considering - whether or not my soldering skills are good enough to build it reliably is another matter !
 
Regards,
 
Nigel B.
06/02/2012 16:19:48
You can still use a vernier and the rotary scales on your mill for more accurate work.
 
you can use your machine dials for perfect accuracy
 
You think your leadscrews are "perfect" ? Precision ground ballscrews are not "perfect" - let alone acme screws on budget machines !
 
Near as I can tell, the X axis screw on my Taiwanese FB2 clone is out by around 0.002" per rev of the screw. This is better than the last one, which I measured at 0.003" error per rev.
 
That is on an 8TPI screw. I have a stainless steel capacitive scale fitted to that axis, which checks out as accurate (as near as I can measure) to slip gauges. The scale clearly shows the dials on the leadscrew to be consistantly inaccurate i.e. take out backlash, set dial & scale to zero. Wind on exactly 1 rev of the screw - scale shows 0.127". Adding another rev comes up as 0.254" etc. Ignorance was bliss - hadn't twigged until I was checking up on the scale !
 
I have installed an Allendale Budget glass scale setup on a Harrison lathe at work - easy to install & has been working for probably 3 years in an industrial environment without problems. Cheaper than the "big brand" DROs, but still not cheap, though. But I do trust glass scales rather more than the capacitive stuff & the installation has the advantage of not eating batteries, no auto turn-off, pre-settable displays etc. You do get what you pay for !
 
Regards,
 
Nigel B.
 
Thread: Lidl cast steel vice-16.99
04/02/2012 14:27:42
Don't trust anything from Lidl. Aldi or any of the cheap s%t sellers

Rank generalisation.
 
I use Lidl & Aldi screwdrivers, spanners & Allen keys for work - no issues with wear, breakage or fit (spanners & Allen keys). Maybe not quite as comfortable to use as "big brand", but they do tend to stay in my toolbox whereas the "big brand" items grow legs and walk off. Likewise HSS step and cone drills last as well as industrial supplier's items, but at a fraction of the cost. Digital calipers have checked out within the usual limits for this type of device when checked against slip gauges - no worse than some branded items costing 5 times more.
 
And both Aldi and Lidl have honoured warranties without a quibble or wanting the defective items returning (Aldi multimeter - replacement couriered from Salzburg (!), Lidl laminator element expired after 2 years 10 months - replaced without question).
Thread: Suggestions please Vol3
31/01/2012 20:03:42
Would something like this Ebay 250981106884 do what you want ? Geared up 1:3 from the leadscrew to read out whole millimetres. The listing doesn't say whether or not it counts both ways - might be worth asking the seller, but cheap enough to experiment with.

Regards,

Nigel B.
Thread: Small Milling problem
30/01/2012 19:15:15
I just had a look at a tool site and the smallest they sell are 3mm

Try another tool site - endmills & slot drills are readily available down to 1mm.
 
We use these (the coated variety, mostly) at work :
 
http://www.cutweltools.co.uk/files/ww/3%20flute%20slot%20drills.pdf
 
Very good service - most ex-stock & delivered next day. Imperial sizes are available too.
 
The 1mm ones do have a tendency to break just for the fun of it, though !
 
Regards,
 
Nigel B.
Thread: Static phase converter plug wiring
29/01/2012 15:13:26
As I understand the output from a static phase converter has two 'good' phases and a third phantom phase-does it matter which phases from the motor are connected to the L1 L2 L3 ? As I understand L3 is the phantom phase.

I have a Clarke PC20 static conveter. The manual for that device states that L1 and L3 are the "good" phases to be used for contactors etc. This device has no neutral connection (4 pin socket). If you have no requirement for a contactor (which would need to be 415V), then connect the 3 motor phases to L1-L2-L3 in any order. If the motor runs backwards, reverse any two wires.
 
Normal "old" colours were red-yellow-blue for the 3 phases, though - black was neutral. Are you sure you have a 415V 3 phase motor ? Maybe open the terminal box to check that the black wire is actually connected to a phase ?
 
The manual for the Clarke PC20 can be downloaded from here :
 
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/download/PC20-40-60-PHASE-CONVERTERS.pdf
 
Regards,
 
Nigel B.
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