Member postings for Gray62

I made the Hemingway ball turning tool some time ago and it has served me well, I made all of the double ended ball handles for my Quorn with it plus many others.

In hind sight, I would adapt a budget 50mm boring head to do the same job, saves a lot of work and gives the same end result

CB

I would suggest that a 1000ft high molehill could be structurally unstable and therefore unfit for purpose. It may also attract the wrath of the elfins

I've been using a Warco DH1 vice for a couple of years now and it has an amazing capacity for it size. With the recent addition of the high jaws (both in hard and aluminium) this is an extremely versatile vice.

I use it on a large turret mill (Ajax AJT4) but on a smaller machine, I would recommend removing the swivel base unless it is needed just to give a little more headroom.

Just my 2 penneth

CB

Nobby,

Your description is a little vague, A single engagement dog clutch similar to that described by Graham Mek may well fit your purpose, and as regards the elfins, I presume this is a home workshop in which case elfinsafety is YOUR responsibility and no one elses

Can you expand on your requirements. If you can provide drawings of the machine and how the reversing system would be needed to fit, it would be helpful for all to assist in advising on the most appropriate solution.

regards

Graeme

Wolfie, I will be there on Friday, I always combine Harrogate with one of my pilgramages back to the land of the 3 great rivers . Look forward to meeting with you.

TractorMan,

Bring it along, I'm sure there will be a place where you can show off your work. I am currently building a belt linisher specifically for sharpening wood turning tools and so would like to share build details.

regards

Graeme

One piece of advice - do NOT put your cuppa on the drill press table - or for that matter on any other machine table. For the simple fact that you are standing a piece of heat conductive materiel on a HUGE heatsink!!!

Your favourite cuppa will be cold in minutes!!!

Always put your cuppa on a nice warming piece of wood, I know this is not something that is prolific in a ME workshop, but it is essential if you want a hot drink to remain that way

depends on how bad the corrosion is, but, if you want to restore a smooth finish, then I would suggest using a flexible car body filler such as P38 or U-Pol. Both are easy to sand to shape and will bond well to alloy castings.

CB

Having the luxury of a large (5 x 5 M Workshop) plus a 5 x 2.5M woodshop, I have the space for most machines, including a pillar drill, albeit a benchtop type. I find the pillar drill extremely useful and would not get rid, despite having a mini mill and an industrial turret mill.

As has been previously stated, there will always be that time when the mill is set up and you need to quickly drill a hole. Many people have said in the past that pillar drills are inaccurate - well, they are not as accurate as a vertical mill, but then, it all depends on how you position the workpiece. If I need a degree of accuracy, I use an X-Y table under the drill, I have already re-worked the drill spindle to have the absolute minimum runout and use high quality chucks and drill bits.

It's your choice dependent on the space you have, but you may well regret getting rid of the pillar drill.

just my 2 penneth

CB

I've tried these leads and found that the connection is somewhat intermittent as the connectors do not have any positive method of retention and are not a tight fit in the receptacle.

In the end I dismantled the caliper and soldered direct to the PCB - not too bad a job with a steady hand, good eye and a fine soldering iron ( I only have the soldering Iron and still managed to do it LOL ).

I would suggest using screened cable as an extra assurance against interference and bond it to the machine only.

Also isolate the caliper from the machine as on the original types with the 1.5V battery, the metalwork of the caliper is connected to battery positive.

Graeme

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CB

Wotsit,

Whilst I understand your reluctance to reveal too many personal details, a profile on this forum does not.

You can say as little or as much about yourself as you wish, and you choose whether to reveal your 'true' identity, location, country etc.

As there are now many contributors in various countries, it is often useful to know where the person is located.

As for the rudeness, well, ou can choose as many of us do, to ignore the content or ignore the member.

Just my 2 penneth

CB

Tel, I am intrigued by your terminology!.

What the H$^^ are swizzled balls ????

I use a ball turning tool to the 'Hemingway ' kits design, and have succesfully produced many ball handles etc.

So... what is 'swizzling' ???

CB

MichaelG,

I understand how you would like to see the full hyperlink displayed however, due to the limitations of this forum software, long hyperlinks often 'mess up' the formatting of the site, which is why the advice is given to effectively hide the full link behind a text anchor. Failing this you can also utilise tinyurl links, all of which are a safe way to embed hyperlinks within a post.

The software behind this forum is less than optimal but I doubt the publishers are ever going to listen to us, we have been complaining about it since its inception!!!

So we are stuck with 'workarounds'

I limit my postings on this forum for that very reason!!!

regards

CB

I have tried on many occasions to explain to SWMBO the ins and outs of building a traction engine (or two ) and the tooling requirements, expenditure etc surrounding those activities.

She now does not even venture into the workshop and if I am required on the phone, I get a shout from the workshop door - 'I'm not coming in but so-and-so wants to talk to you'

What a great life being a model engineer

If I buy something, I now get the reaction - very nice dear, but rarely get asked 'how much was it?' or 'what does it do'

But then I do acknowledge her indulgence in jewellery, and trust me, I could have equipped a very nice workshop over the years - but would have been a very lonely man such is the acceptance of married life.

I don't care if she doesn't know 'what it does' I don't see any more use for a diamond than for truing up my grinding wheels - but then who am I to question LOL

CB

I think what JohnF may have been alluding to are Permagrit tools, do a google search, there are uk stockists and although I have no personal experience, I have had accounts of their durability and excellent performance. These are Tungsten Carbide, not Diamond and are available in varying grades. I have used TC tile files on cast iron and they do remove significant amounts of materiel so I would suggest that PermaGrit tools would perform at least as well.

If you go down this route, please let all know of your experiences.

regards

CB

Draftsight works very much in the same way as AutoCad and if you have no CAD training then neither are going to appear to be intuitive.

I have struggled with just about every CAD package available, including AutoCad, TurboCad, DraftDight et al.

I recently enlisted the assistance of a close friend who teaches CAD to military students and who has over 30 years CAD experience.

My Tech drawing knowledge is limited to an O level course in TD but having spent just 4 hours with someone familiar with CAD, I have learnt so much.

I would highly recommend anyone looking to learn CAD to take a few lessons from someone 'in the know'

It makes the learning curve so much less steep!

How about ME or MEW running a BASIC cad series. It is so much more fundemental to our practices than promoting 3D CAD or CNC principles.

Lets face it, if you can't draw it in 2D can you actually make it!!

Drawing on paper is great, that is what I used to do, now I have grasped the basic principles of CAD, I don't think I will ever get paper and pencil out again

Graeme

Hi John, sonds like an interisting concept, I have a classicn MGB GT to restore at some point and any 'low noise' cutting would be advantageous. I had looked at plasma cutters but I'm a glutten for new technology

I've done a quick search omn fleabay but not turned up anythig useful, if you have links to products, can you include them in this thread.

cheers

CB

Hi Peter,

What is the capacity (HP) of your homebrew phase converter?

Dou you have any details/diagrams etc for what you have built, maybe worthy of a writeup in MEW

regards

CB

Neil, David,

thanks for the comments etc re: handles, I am already committed (or maybe Ishould be!) to going down the ball handle route, having prepared most of the blanks already along with the necessary holding attachments. Having made the hemingway ball turning kit some time ago, I felt the need to justify its existence .

What I am really after is contact details for Martin Gregory or any info on the modifications he has incorporated into his Quorn, or for that matter any other mods that are useful.

thanks all

Graeme

My Quorn is progressing by leaps and bounds (mostly bounds), does anyone have contact details for Martin Gregory, his much modified Quorn was featured on the cover of MEW Issue 96 and won a silver medal at the Sandown show in 2003.

I have spoken to him on many occasions and admired his implementation of this machine. I would like to incorporate some if not all of his mods into my machine but have no contact details for him.

The last time I spoke with him he was in the process of documenting the Quorn modifications.

Any leads greatly appreciated.

regards

Graeme