Member postings for JohnF

Ken, If you look carefully at the ends of the bar if it is PS Stubbs silver steel it will be stamped P S Stubbs -- unless of course it has been cut at both ends.

Other than that the spark test or the hardening test are the best way to go.

When you sort it out I would suggest you star using a paint making system so you can identify your materials, get yourself a few car touch up pots, the ones with a brush in are the best. You don't have to stick to the colours used by the main suppliers but its a good idea if you want to

John

Roy, Broadly speaking everyone is correct but sometimes you will need to heat to full red and dip into the powder then heat some more and dip again to make sure you have powder on the component.

Also you then need to apply heat for several minuets obtain a sufficient case before quenching.

John F

Danny M, May or may not be useful but the DoAll band saws had a butt welding device built in and its worth noting there was a button to press after the weld to anneal the weld. You set the blade in the clamps, pressed a lever to move them together creating the weld then release one of the clamps allowing it to return to its rest position, re-tighten and then anneal.

There was also a gadget to grind the flash off and a gauge for thickness.

Cheers John.

Hi Jim, Looking at the list of exhibitors for Sandown I think i would wait until the London exhibition **LINK**

There seems to be a much better choice in the January show but I have not been to Sandown because its to difficult to get to from the North West .

Regarding a lathe well remember what will hold a lot will hold a little -- generally speaking, I would go a little bigger than those mentioned if your budget and workshop will allow and I would without doubt make sure it has a screw cutting [norton] gear box rather than change wheels. For small parts what collet system do you want to use or what do they supply. Are you going metric or imperial? Last but not least what is the back up from the supplier.

My five bits!

John.

Hi all just my five bits and I do agree with Ketan the cover looks good but moving the issue/series number from the original location is in my opinion a BIG mistake and not reader friendly.

Most of us keep the magazines for reference and it was very easy to locate a particular one with the number in the top LH corner now you would have to search the whole pile to find it.

Another suggestion to the publishers would be to put the page number on the highlighted articles on the cover or on the "on the cover " logo inside the magazine. This would ease location of any article you were drawn to.

Just my thoughts !!

Oliver, I agree with Ian regarding loctite, you don't say what size your piston is but regardless of size I would also suggest you use a support with your running centre.

To do this make an extension to go inside the piston with a large 60deg cone to mate with the running centre, no need to fix to the centre just hold it in place until you have applied a reasonable pressure and the lock the tailstock barrel.

In fact you may well find you can do the job without any glue providing you have a large enough "driver" in your chuck Do the 60 deg cone with either a large centre drill or set the compound to 30deg and turn one in the bar -- use a collet or 4 jaw to ensure concentricity.

Hello Victor, It would be nice to know where you live ? However it is indeed a nice looking lathe and obviously made by someone with considerable skill.

Personally I would guard against altering the spindle, it may be hardened, have you tested for this? I would only consider alteration as a last resort. Its most likely that the maker will have used a standard taper and thread -might now be obsolete but check first.

First I would ascertain the specification of the taper and thread on your centre which I assume is an original part? To do this access to either a shadow graph or toolmakers microscope would be helpful -- maybe a local engineering shop would help you with this.

The 4/16 thread is of course a 1/4" [0.250"] as Ian has already pointed out, do you have a thread pitch gauge or can you compare it to other threaded items you have of known pitch -- taps, screws etc the diameter of which does not matter, you are only interested in the pitch of the thread. If you can get access to to microscope or shadow graph then you will be able to check the thread angle as well.

Another possibility is a USB digital microscope, I have no experience with these units but I'm sure other members have and will advise.

Screwcutting - another subject but but you don't need reverse to cut threads but you would need a complete set of change gears. There does not appear to be a chasing dial but one could be fitted. More information on the machine will be needed to advise on this subject.

Regards John.

Johnny, personally I would re-think your project, why do you need both lateral and vertical adjustment? Why not stick with the lateral adjustment so you can align with the table centre when used as a dividing head but the height need only be the same as your table centre which is easy to ascertain with slips or a height gauge etc.

I would also make a tenon for both the table and the tailstock to suit your mill table T slots thus once set you will rarely if ever need to re-adjust the tailstock except after moving it for some reason. For this adjustment consider fixing a plate on each side of the base block with a tapped hole in the centre for a grub screw to centralise the main pillar similar to that used on many lathes.

When in industry I can't recall using a dividing head with such an adjustable tailstock but many of the imported ones have this type of adjustment.

Just my thoughts. John

Mick, presume you are worried about "overflow" of solder ? Consider using tin as your solder, flows thinner and makes a finer joint. Easily obtained at plumbers merchants [lead free solder] Also use scrapers to remove any excess in tight corners, I use old hacksaw blades to make these.

Another possibility but I have never used it is to use Tipex where you don't want the solder to flow -- saw this idea somewhere relating to silver soldering and it does work for this but I've never used it or dad the need to with soft solder.

Just my thoughts, John.

Hi Frank assuming the components are black in colour I wouls suggest Ebonite which is a hard black material, it can be turned, milled etc and can be polished to look like the knobs etc in old vehicles. Its used extensively in the gun trade for stock work. If you need a supply PM me and I'll see if I can help.

John

Martin, I would keep it as Jason suggests cut into bite size chunks and anneal, it will be a high grade carbon steel with many uses. Don't know where you are but wish I was close I would anneal it for you. Don't waste a windfall!

John

Michael, Depends on what you are making but I don't think that 1/8" will give a good enough alignment for the bushes? However why not solder in a steel tube then bore in situe to accept the bushes thus you will have a good alignment and you can use standard oilite bushes. No need for a large wall thickness possibly 1/16" would do--better if it was a little more but your decision depending on the item you are making.

John.

Michael, Answer is no you cannot solder this material [presume you mean Oilite or similar?] and yes it would rui the material.

Don't really understand your question though when you say you want to make up 2 bushes and/or order in ready made --- why would you want to solder them?

John

Alan,

Only saw this late tonight, I bought one of these and sent it back, would be OK if you want to use it as set of castings and rework the tool. The main spindle is carried on screws with a single ball bearing set in the end which does not revolve and consequently they wear VERY quickly. The basic concept is good but the quality leaves a great deal to be desired.

Just my opinion and others may think otherwise.

Hi Davinder,

Have a look at this link for information on your machine **LINK** it may help you to identify the exact model you have.

This may also be useful **LINK**

**LINK** click the link for a PDF of the brochure

Where are you in India -- anywhere close to Calcutta ?

John

Hi Ken K, I have used both Delapena and Sunnen hones, mostly Delapena who are in Gloucestershire I think. Personally I have found little to choose between them and most of the tooling is interchangeable.

You can get permanent or disposable mandrels, small sizes are always disposable because there is no possibility to fit wear shoes.

If you PM me with your email I can send you a PDF of both companies brochures.

Stock removal is relatively slow compared to other methods of machining but it depends on size, material and length of the hole as to haw fast you can remove metal.

I feel sure the machines Gray is talking about are modern and more sophisticated than my old Sunnen honing machine which is about 60 years old I think but the principal is the same except there is nothing to preset or control the finished size other than experience.

Hope this helps John.

Also all unified threads UNF UNC etc -- I've cut 1000's of them before the advent of tipped full form tools, all were truncated. An easy one I still cut many of is 1/2 UNF truncation 0.006" to 0.008" is standard.

Thread chaser, well yes you can but its easier just to truncate the thread and cut out another operation and the need to have a chaser for every thread size you might want to cut.

John

Roger, consider whether you want / need partial or full profile inserts, personally I use full profile ones but partial profile will allow you to cut several threads of differing pitches where as full profile are dedicated to a fixed pitch or TPI. If you use partial profile on some thread forms, e.g. Whit, Unified, you will have to truncate the thread crest to compensate for not having the crest radius.

I am not an avid fan of tipped tools for the home workshop and most of my turning is done with HSS --easy to grind to shape and good stock removal at the speeds and feeds we can use on lighter machines. I do use some tipped tools for certain applications one being threading which I do a lot of, even so sometimes I grind up HSS for an odd job.

Hope this helps John

John C , Is this any use **LINK** found it at the end of the Swarovski search.

John

Hi chaps, try here **LINK** Don't know if there is a distributor in the UK but the Optic division certainly have. We deal with them for scopes & bino's and I knew they did these knurls if you hit a brick walllet me know and I'll enquire.

John.