Member postings for Trevor Rushton 2

Dear All

thank you so much for your helpful suggestions. You were all correct about the contaminated thread; as I mentioned before it caught me out.

Very careful cleaning followed by a variation on the grinding paste method using a small amount of metal polish very carefully as a final clean. I could then screw the cap in by hand - success.

So having enjoyed a spell cleaning in the sunshine I took the whole thing back into the workshop for final assembly - 1 turn and that was all I could get.

Whole thing out again and another cleaning session- success again.

So, most certainly some important lessons there and next time I shall be more careful.

This forum has been very helpful so thanks again.

Dear Michael and Kiwi Bloke

Many thanks - I like that cool blade holder - I might make one of those. Kiwi Bloke thanks for your note; made perfect sense; I did try a scraper yesterday but I think I concentrated on the male thread more than the female one. I will try the various suggested methods and see which one works for me. I may also try a wire brush on my Proxxon although I will test that first as I can see that leaving tiny bits of metal behind.

This forum has been very helpful, thanks everyone - it might seem like an obvious thing, but I had not really appreciated the degree of precision needed. I am relatively new to this hobby, most of my experience has been with tree wood which of course is far more forgiving.

I will try again today and let you know what happens.

Trevor

Thanks Brian, The quill was another problem it took me ages to get that back in again but I am happy that its not affecting the fit of the cap - I tried fitting that before I re-assembled it.

I had to get the quill scrupulously clean and polished before I could get it back in. I'm niot taking it apart again!

Thanks Ega, I did try that method but I did not persevere with it. i have also tried compresssed air , a toothbrush and finally tissue - the latter being a bit silly because it just leaves tiny fibres behind.

A friend suggested running around the thread with a junior hacksaw blade but I am really not excited about that and it will probably simply deposit more tiny fragments. In some respects cleaning the male part is or ought to be easier because you can get at it.

I think that I have a lead now on the problem; the issue is how to clean it

Any ideas for thread cleaning welcome!

The thread does look as though its got debris or burrs in it I agree, but I cleaned it before I tried again and satisfied myself that it was clear.Perhaps I just need a better pair of glasses! I will have a look at the tailstock again tomorrow; its not so easy to see the thread there. I think I may have underestmated the effect of tiny defects.

Thanks Michael

The "fairly" means it needed a bit of a tug to get it to move to start with but after that it unscrewed okay albeit with a tormmy bar.

I have looked hard and cannot see anything on the threads and have cleaned them as well as I can. The only thing is that the female part is perhaps not as bright as the male part (cap). I think you must be right; its such a close fit there is no margin for error. Just seems very strange though.

Thank you Martin and Robert. I spent another couple of hours tonight and really dont get it. As Robert says, it came out okay but it beats my logic as to why it won't go back. I got it to go two full turns without force but thats about as far as I can get. I have got the thing working for the present and will weigh up the options if I get any more replies.

Here are some photos of my errant tail stock cap

Good evening everyone; this is my first post on this forum so apologies if my question has already been covered (I could not find anything). I'm not an expert by any means but enjoy pottering with Stuart castings and such like.

I have a Super 7 that has worked very well but at the weekend I somehow managed to disengage the tailstock quill from its screw. I could not seem to get the screw to re-engage so I took the end cap off to try and make things easier. The cap came off fairly easily but try as I might I cannot get it back again.

I have cleaned the tailstock and the cap threads; they seem to be in good order with no signs of cross threading. I can rotate thecap for 1.5 turns by hand and a further half turn by using a tommy bar, but beyond that its virtually impossible without undue force.

I have:

cleaned and checked the threads for signs of cross threading

lightly oiled both parts

run a fine point round the thread to make sure it was clean

heated thetailstock casting with a hot air gun (this enabled me to get a couple more turns)

Put the cap in the freezer for a short while (made no difference).

Plan B would be to take a gnats eyebrow off the thread but I really don't want to go there - that seems the wrong thing to do.

So I am stuck! 1.5 turns is enough for me to get the tailstock working but its obviously not the solution. Problem is I don't know what else to do! Any hits or tis would be welcome. I'll post a couple of pics to illustrate the problem.

Thanks

Trevor