Member postings for Michael Cox 1

Diane, Best wishes and a speedy recovery.

Mike

Hi Colin,

My usual way of making rounded ends on bars is to find or make a washer the same width as the bar and bolt this to the bar through the hole in the bar. Then excess material was cut off crudely using a hacksaw as you describe using the washer as a guide. Once most of the material has been removed then use a file or linisher to clean up the profile, again using the washer as a guide.

This is usually much quicker for a couple of small pieces than to set up the mill to do the job.

Mike

Further to John Haine's comment above I have used weebly.com for many years and it is easy to set up a website and there are no charges. I was pointed in the direction of weebly by Andy Franks who used to post on this group and many others. His website is www.andysmachines.weebly.com. Sadly Andy passed away a few years back and joined the big workshop in the sky.

I do not understand their business model or how they make money but weebly works well and there is a good support team if there are any problems.

Mike

I have been using these diamond discs,

https://www.aimtools.co.uk/products/141026-marble-granite-diamond-cutting-disc-115-22-23-20

on a modified bench grinder running at 3000 rpm for some time. They work very well for grinding carbide. I also use the set up to grind HSS, particularly drill bits, see:

http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/new-uses-for-an-old-grinder.html

The secret of a long disc life is to use only a gentle pressure against the disc when grinding. High pressures can rip the diamond particles from the disc.

Mike

That is the worst news I have heard in a long time. My thoughts are with Debs and his family.

Mike

Get well soon John.

Your contributions are always interesting together with a good dose of humour.

Best wishes

Mike

Very nice job. I am pleased to hear that others are using the cone drill method. It is so much easier than the button method.

Mike

I would have thought that "Setting up a workshop" would make a good title for a small book on the subject in the Workshop Practice series. This series seems to be reprinted when stocks run low so it would always be available for new comers. It would probably need to be revised occasionally to reflect advances in machinery and new techniques but this would only be necessary at say 5 yearly intervals.

Mike

Cyanoacrylate adhesive set by reaction with water. Normally this is provided by the humidity in the atmosphere. To encourage rapid setting just breath on the parts before and after application of the adhesive and then press them together. Most cosmetic spays contain some water so will function as activators.

Mike

Not having a 3D printer (yet!!!!) I had to make my soft jaws, which clamp onto the outside chuck jaws, using conventional machining methods. Further details are here:

http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/soft-jaws.html

Mike

I melt mixed aluminium waste to make castings. The material usually turns OK for machining. The only time I have had a problem with gummy material was when I melted only aluminium extrusions (old double glazing frames) and this material was quite soft and gummy. Gummy aluminium can be improved by dissolving 1 or 2 % copper in the melt.

To get good clean castings then it is important to remove as much slag as possible from the melt. To do this I add LoSalt (a mixture of sodium and potassium chloride for people on low salt diets - available in most supermarkets) as a flux. This is stirred into the molten metal and it brings all the slag to the top where it can be scraped off.

Mike

When the website first started items would remain on the 'Latest Forum Posts' list on the front page for some time. However the site traffic is now large and unless their is a lot of discussion for a particular posting it disappears very quickly of the end of the list and it is easily possible to miss an item of interest. I know it is possible to view the full list but this is not very convenient. Could the list on the home page be made longer?

Mike

The waxed cord could be easily dewaxed using white spirit (mineral spirit in the U.S.).

Another Mike

I have used a mix of 1 part clay (cat litter), 1 part portland cement and 7 parts perlite to make my furnace. It has been in use ,on and off, for several years for melting aluminium. Preparing the mix in the right way is important. For more detail, see:

http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/furnace.html

Mike

I was in a local B&M store today and notice these ice cube trays at £1.99 for a pack of two:

What struck me about these was that the holes were round and about the same size as an ER32 collet. I bought a pack and when I got home found that they were absolutely perfect for storing ER32 collets as shown here:

Mike

On my minilathe, a Clark CM300, made by Sieg, the gears are Mod 1 with a 20 degree pressure angle ( see: http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/change-gear-pressure-angle.html). The gears are 8 mm wide and they are bored 12 mm. The key is 3 mm square. However, the Real Bull minilathes (Chester, Warco, Amadeal), I am told have 4 mm keys.

I hope this helps

Mike

I do not know what accuracy is required for the radius but I have used a hole saw in the drill press and the piece mounted in the drill vice to do something similar. Very quick, cheap and straightforward.

Mike

Whilst they are chelating agents oxalic and citric acids are also acids and they will attack steel and etch the surface albeit relatively slowly. However, there are chelating agents, such as sodium EDTA (ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid) which are neutral salts that do not attack steel surfaces but which will chelate and dissolve metal oxides. I suspect that these may be the active ingredient in Evaporust.

Mike

I use M-Machine as my main supplier of raw material. I have never had any issues with them and always prompt efficient service. I suspect that, as Brian says, that they may be closed for some reason (holiday, show etc)

Mike

I too send my sympathies to all those affected by this event.

Mike