Member postings for Stewart Hart

I know that generally the drills supplied to the model engineering community due to the less demanding use are not of the same quality you will find in industry, but that said they still have to do the job required of them. On two occasions over the last moth I've run into problems resulting in scrap work due to faulty drills. On the first occasion I was using a 3.4mm drill that I'd bought off ebay (yes I know serves me right) the darn thing wouldn't cut on close examination the point was ground with negative rake it was never going to cut it was ok after i'd reground it.

On the second occasion I used a letter drill bought as part of a set at an exhibition from one of the well known suppliers, I'd not used the drills from the set much, but on this occasion I wanted the part to fit on a odd sized shaft, the darn drill cut over size by about 0.30mm again on inspection the point was ground with uneven lip length a regrind sorted the problem but the part needed remaking.

To keep the cost down these drills probably came from the far east, but surly by now the buyers know the risk associated buying from this source, so why isn't some sort of receipt inspection carried out on delivery and if they are wrong send them back. I know this would probably push up the cost a little but if it cuts out some of the frustration the increase would be accepted.

Luckily I have the experience and background to spot what was wrong but I wonder just how many newcomers to the hobby have been driven away because of their struggles with inferior tooling,

Stew

Edited By Stewart Hart on 20/08/2018 12:14:48

Thanks for your comments Chaps,

I've used the double sided tape and supper glue in the past especially where you can't use the running centre to clamp the parts, but in cases where you can the masking tape works just as well if not better:- what is does is improve the coefficient of friction between the parts giving you more grip against a steel on steel drive.

One of the trouble with using the double sided tape or adhesive is that the heat generated by machining can cause is to come unstuck, and then you've got the added job of cleaning the stuff off afterwards.

Cheers

Stew

Hi I thought this would be of interest to you chaps. Friction Turning a Smoke Box door for a 5" Gauge Loco. Basically what I've done is covered the face plate with masking tape and trapped the door up against the face plate using a running centre the friction gives enough drive to enable you to machine across the face.

This video will shows you how

Edited By Stewart Hart on 29/07/2018 11:25:06

Edited By Stewart Hart on 29/07/2018 11:25:58

I’ll get drawings to you soon Bob

Stew

LBSC made them from wood to skim up the face of Boilers, it work as well i followed his advice and made one to skim a boiler tube up sorry I don't have a picture and the wood was reused for something else.

Stew

LBSC made them from wood to skim up the face of Boilers

Stew

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of G-Simple chaps.

I've converted the drawing successfully in G code but what do I do next, my friend with the CNC mill who is a complete novice like me says its not in the same format he uses ?. he says he gets a line of code . What i've got is a drawing with the tools paths. ?. I.m going over to see him later today we'll try and load what I have to the machine and see what happens

Thanks for your help

Stew

I use the free 2D draft site soft ware for my drawings, that doesn't have the G code generator activated I don't think the free version has this facility.

A quick search online comes up with a number of free G code generators can any of you chaps recommend one, this is my first attempt at CNC so I need something simple.

Cheers

Stew

Last Sunday we had the anual visit from the 2 1/2" gauge society, as well as holding one of our public running days and as I was busy helping with the public running a steaming my own 5" gauge loco I just snapped off a few pictures of the 2 1/2" loco, it was only at the end of the day when we were clearing away that someone told me that one of the Locos was none other than LBSC AYESHA could have kicked my self if I'd known I would have taken a video of her running and run she did.

These are the pictures I took by way of compensation.

Ho well perhaps I'll get a chance to make that video next year

Stew

Never thought of it in them terms:- working under time pressure, or pressured by time, lack of time pressure etc etc.

Stew

I don't drink pints only feet and inches but yes any time your over we'll make it a date.

Stew

Take one old beat up pressure gauge

One cheap electric clock movement

Cut the guts out of the gauge

Replace it with the movement and hey presto you have a pressure gauge clock.

Its amazing what you get up to when your bored

Stew

Hi Artfull

I think its the motor it was supplied with from the manufacturer seen pictures of other Perfecto shapers with a motors that look the same, having said that they could well have used them on twin tubs.

Thanks for putting me right on the direction of feed its such a long time since I last used a shaper that I couldn't remember which way it went, I just fiddled around with it until i got acceptable results having said that I was going easy with the feed rate, getting it going the correct way I sould be able to increase the rate.

Thanks

Stew

Yes I remember Mick Knights article and the taper pin I know Mick had problems finding a source for them. On my Perfecto the pin is parallel by the look of it that's how it came out of the factory the pin is nicely blued and doesn't look home made, they must have decided that a taper pin wasn't necessary in this small shaper.

Any way I've got it fixed to the bench and I've had it running I've made a few test pieces and it cuts nice a square and parallel this is what I had to do to get it running:-

Base is a kitchen work top off cut

New tool Holder

Checked that the knee and T slots were square to the Ram

Then I squired the edges of the Knee to the base to aid set ups and drilled them so that I could use it as a clamp for larger flat plates.

Had problems getting the correct size V Belt the profile was the A type profile my pully's must be different to Johns Z Profile any way got one eventually that fits.

Made a bed plate for the motor and fitted it to the base.

The feed ratchet kept missing so stripped it down and found that the pawls were badly worn so I reprofiled them and after a bit of fiddling about got it working correctly

I've bought a nice machine vice to go on it, now I just need to use it a bit and find out how to get the best use out of it.

Stew

Jeff

Your not the only one to ask that ? my three year old train mad grandson when he watched the video asked the same ?

We start them young in my family

Stew

Its for deflecting the smoke and grit away from the driver/passengers its quite effective, but we do get some complaints in the summer about oily specks on nice summer dresses:- we just tell them it adds to the authenticity of the ride and that we don't charge for them. .

Stew

I was going easy on the regulator we have a speed limit of 7mph and I was under that, but I have been clocked at 9mph

The track is very good:- visiting drivers are always comment how good and level it is and on the smoothness of the ride.

Why not bring your loco along and try it out visitors, from other clubs are always welcome.

Stew

We're holding our second public running day of the year this Sunday 15th April 11:00am to 3:00pm.

I had my Simplex in steam today and took this video.