Member postings for Ian Lee

When I worked in the engineering industry I used a lot of tallow, it was particularly good for threading, slotting and shapers. its just stank a bit, we tried all of the early modern tapping lubricants but they were not quite as good as tallow.

Thank you all for your comments and advice, I actually took John Stevensons advice and linished to outside of the die, I went out and bought a Clarke Electric file from Machine Mart. It worked a treat, I turned a boss and threaded it to 7/32 x 40 tpi, I ran the die up to the shoulder, undid the die holder and left the die on the boss, put my lathe to 65rpm then used the new electric file to remove about 7 thou off of the diameter, worked a treat. I found that the grub screws in my die holder had a slight taper up to a flat end which was no good for opening the die up, I went to our local fastner supplier (BBN Fastnet) and bought some cone end grub screws, worked a treat at opening up the die.

Thanks for the info, 7/32 x 40 whitworth thread form is now ME thread, and I thought it may be the case that over the years of manufacture the diameter altered, I only need a 7/32 die to open about 5 or 6 thou as 7/32 is .2187 dia.

Can anyone help me, I am restoring and re making some aperture rifle sights for an old (1895) Enfield rifle, The original sight was made by Parker Hale, The thread I need to cut is .225 diameter x 40 TPI. The threaded spigot is 1/4" long, I have tried to open up a 7/32 ME die and close up a 1/4 ME dia but can't get a correct fit in the sight mounting.

I wondered of anyone has come across this problem. I could screw cut it but there is not much room, as I am making a number of these with different sized apertures it would be quicker and easier if I had a die or a 40tpi thread chaser.

Edited By Ian Lee on 04/01/2017 22:21:15

It will be electrically driven as the boiler cost is to expensive even if I make it myself, I am in a lucky position in that one of my close freinds is a pattern maker and another friend has a non ferrous foundry so I can getting castings made quite easily.

Thank you Geoff

I was having a senior moment when trying to work out the scale, you have confirmed what I thought, I got 1/4.8 full size. I started drawing it from my plans then realised just how big it will be, thats when the doubt crept in. Its a 262-262 wheel layout, It works out that each set of frames will be 37 inches long, overall lenght will be about 11ft. Fortunately I do have room to build it and the machining capability although it is too long to fit on our club turntable.

I am just planning the building of a narrow gauge Beyer Peacock Garratt, I have a full set of original drawings, The full size loco gauge is 2ft or 610mm, I want to scale the size to run on 5inch gauge, can anyone tell me what the scale should be, is it 1.0625 per inch ?

The drawings are for a South African Railways 2ft gauge Garratt.

Can anyone point me towards information / drawings for a self ejector for the drawbar on a Clarke / Warco Major milling machine please

I have the German set which I think use the same threads, left hand for the oxy, right hand for the fuel gas. Oxy is a bit expensive at around 25 to 30 quid but the fuel gas (Mapp gas) is not very expensive. I get my gas from a variety of local suppliers, BOC depot in Bradford is only 1/4 mile from me away as is Energas, I have welded thin steel with this set and silver soldered brass, copper and steel. Some Machine Mart shops sell the bottles.There are also 3 engineers suppliers near to me also selling the cylinders.

Its worth checking any engineers suppliers near to you.

Thank you Neil, I see where I misunderstood the diagram I was supplied with.

Ian

I have just received a Honeywell NXL0004 2 single phase inverter. I have purchased this set up with a 1hp motor and hand control for my Myford ML7.

Everything is connected and set up, however I can't figure out where I connect in the single phase input as the setup instructions are not very clear.

Can anyone advise me please.

Ian

Edited By Ian Lee on 10/06/2014 19:34:35

Hi Graeme

Yes I thought of an R8 Spindle but they are not quite suitable for my actual needs, Although I have never owned a Myford I do have a lot of Myford tooling including collet chucks, dividing heads etc, the rationale for using a myford spindle is that I only have a limited space availability and limited budget, my VMC design is actually universal I suppose as I have based it on the Golmatic design.

I did consider making a spindle with an ISO30 taper as I have plenty of tooling for my current vertical milling machine, however I don't any longer have access to hardening and cyclindrical grinding facilities.

I also want to use it as a basic lathe/indexing head both in the horizontal and vertical planes, I have a number of motorized attachments which are easily adapted to fit, these attachments use Myford equipment.

I decided against converting my current milling machine to cnc due to its limitations (its an AEW Viceroy), however the design of my new machine is such that I can make all of the parts on my current machinery.

Ian

Hi Kwil

Its the ML7 spindle in need as I believe they have a parrallel shoulder at the front bearing end.

Regards

Ian

Hi Brian

Thank you for your reply

I know what the dimensions are for the spindle nose as I have made quite a few attachments for them. Its the overall dimensions I want as I want to use an actual genuine myford spindle so I won't be infringing copywright, however I don't want to go to the expense of buying a spindle if it won't fit into my head design, I'm drawing the whole machining center up in solidworks to check to see if it will work first,

I have already got a copy of the latest edition of Tubal Cains book, some of the info in the book is ok but I am a bit beyond most of it as I am an apprentice trained toolmaker / diemaker and have 45 years engineering experience, its just that I have never used a myford lathe but I have adapted most of the myford accessories to fit other machines, and I can't lay my hands on a spindle to measure it myself.

I'm building the machining center purely for my own benefit as its about time I learned CNC machiing properly.

Regards

Ian

Edited By Ian Lee on 24/01/2013 13:48:53

Hi

Has anybody got the complete dimensions for the spindle on ML7s and its derivetives, I'm just in the process of desgining a vertical machining center and want to use an ML7 spindle.

I am not making a spindle but need the overall dimensions to make sure it will fit and to machine up a spndle mount.

Any help would be much appriciated

Regards

Ian