Member postings for Clive Farrar

Hi Peter I have printed lots of stuff for my models , fishing and the wife's sewing but nothing quite like a pulley.

However the valid point i would make is you are likely to need "support" at some point and my experience with that is it can be a pig to remove and can leave some sharp edges that will not do the belt much good unless they are very well smoothed off.

Suggest you try slicing different orientations, maybe using a raft, to try and minimise the amount of support that will be in the " V's ".

Definitely worth doing though.

Good luck.

Clive

Look up and try your local heating oil supplier I seem to recall that my local one would sell it , fill up , your own 25 lt container if you took it along.

It had to be steel though ! I took a plastic outboard tank along , which is designed for the job and a more flammable liquid, totally stone walled . No way jose! but the steel jerry can was no problem.

this was before I had found out how to pull some from the bulk heating tank i have.

clive

No photos as it is to damn cold to go out in the garage.

However I have given myself the challenge of catching a turbot this year and I wanted some watch leads.

Being to tight to pay for a commercial mould (£17) I designed and machined up my own two piece mould out of a block of aliuminium i had lying around.

Aimed for 6oz size and got 6.5oz, because I drilled the dimples a bit deep.

why go to the effort , well why climb the mountain? , and I had a rotary table brand new, 8 years old, still in its packing grease that i decided I ought to have a go with.

I have to say i was VERY VERY pleased with my results so I made a batch of 12 up ready for .........

whenever.

Regards Clive

PS now constructing a crab pot out of old fibre glass tent poles, even tying my own netting. again think of the mountain.

As Simon W 3 has said use C28 heating oil.

I have used it for years having come across the tip in a sea fishing mag.

No mods required just fill up and go and at 45 - 50p a litre it is very econmical.

You just need to find someone with oil heating to pull off a bit for you. I would offer you some of mine but at the opposite end of the country that does not work.

Good luck

Regards Clive

You don't sat who you are watching on you tube.

The channel I follow is Filament Friday , logo is CHEP.

I find him clear and concise and he has just posted a vid on placing custom supports where ever you want them.

It seemed to be very simple with only a few mouse clicks. Not tried it myself as I am still using 4.6 it does what i need for now and I HATE changing.

Good luck.

Clive

I go in fits and starts with mine. I have got through 4kg of material so for so done a fair bit with it , Ender 3 V1.

have done all the common mods and it works very well for me. I have 3 pages of own design work on tinkercad and find it very useful for creating odd bits that you can not get hold of , and yes lots of stuff from Thingi@@@@ but you do have to choose carefully as there is some rubbish.

Little RC parts, new knob for crepe maker, special bobbin end for SHMBO ! , oil drums for model boat, bee hive gates, pop bottle bird feeder , wasp trap etc

So yes they can be useful, but mine did sit idle for 6 months until the current set of projects came along .

For the money its a good indoor hobby in these cold confined times.

Regards Clive

I use a lot of LIPO's in my model aircraft and have opened / repaired a couple where the balance lead has broken a wire.

I might consider trying to do what you are doing on the QT in my own garage but not wishing to sound rude there is no way in this day and age I would offer advice on this with the level of detail given and a poor quality image.

Do some more research online where others are less cautious.

As I minimum find out how many cells are in there and how they are wired i.e. a mixture of series and parallel and how they joint to the terminals we can see which MAY just MAY be part of a balance charge set up. If they are it needs an inteligent charge to deal with it.

It might pay to discharge the battery a bit first so that things get a little less exciting if you investigate the wrong bit too closely.

I may be sounding like a damp squib , sorry for that, these things can be handled safely and are not the total time bomb that some would have you believe BUT they do need respect and a deal of caution.

Good Luck Clive

There are several ways to do this and it depends how good you want it to look and how much effort you are prepared to put in.

1) take a single section of choc block screw wire into one side and spark plug tip into the other.

2) take an "R" clip that is a good fit to your plug tip, rough the end of the straight leg and solder your wire to it.

3) take a piece of brass tube circa 6mm dia 10 mm long.

Turn a bush for it with a hole the diameter of your plug lead wire through the centre and solder into one end of the tube.

Cross drill though the OTHER end of the tube on ONE side only a hole the size of you plug cap.

turn a small TOP HAT bush that will fit and slide smoothly inside your tube. Countersink the "BRIM " end.

Pass your lead through and solder the bare end to the brim making sure there is a nice pillow of soft solder over the brim.

Fit a small section of biro spring over your wire and up to the BRIM on the opposite side of the solder and fit the end of the wire though the open end of your made tube and out through the bush end.

To apply pull the wire into the tube, fit it over the end of the plug and release the pillow of soft solder will grip the end of the plug. sorted

If you would like a diagram PM me with an e mail address , its to hard to do it on here.

regards Clive

I would like to throw my titfer in the ring as well please.

Regards Clive

thanks for the replys guys. The wheels are only quite small, max 75 dia, so not sure about the face plate.

4 jaw would be good setting up practice as most of my stuff to date has been simple and in the 3 jaw.

Jason , yes i can set the top over, although the range of cut travel is quite limited with any accuracy.

Sorry i do not follow your next bit. What does the saw slot do and why in the male part. What is in the female part? I may be being a bit dense but does not compute on my experience level.

are you meaning to screw the 2 parts together so that the hub of the wheel is gripped between the opposing tapers?

Regards Clive

I am building a PM research #5 Coke bottle engine and believe I need one of these for the fly wheel and drive wheel. To suit a 0.313" bore.

I have not been able to locate in the UK , loads of expanding ones for 1/2" upwards but nothing small.

I only have a mini lathe and no taper turning facility so can not make my own.

If no source do you have any clever get arounds.

I did wonder about soft solder onto a parallel shaft and then drifting it on?

Regards Clive

My answer is not on petrol ic but i see no reason why they would not work.

On my Heli glow RC engine the lead ends in an appropriate size R clip.

Wire soldered to the long straight leg. It slides sideways onto one of the grooves in the glow plug end.

An other way i use is a single section of chock block. screw one end to the wire and one to the plug.

Not pretty but it works.

3rd suggestion piece of 6mm brass rod drilled one end to take the wire outer diameter. counter bore other end to 5.5mm. the at a suitable point cross drill a clearance hole for the plug end , one or both sides its up to you.

Make a top hat to fit the counter bore with a hole in the TOP end to solder the wire to . When soldering the wire built a pillow of solder on the flat end opposite the wire. Find a spring that fill fit over wire but in counter bore.

Fit the wire , spring, top hat assembly into the prepared rod pull back as tight as possible . Prep and solder the open end of the rod to close the end but leave the cross drill clear.

You then drop the assy over the plug end release the spring and ( usually ) get a good contact from the two pads of solder onto the plug,

Hope that gives you some food for thought.

Regards Clive

i have a right mixture but it suits me. 3 sets of the small plastic draw sets 12 -30 in a set and Old Holborn in size.

Alibert 350 x 2580 x 110 stackable plastic totes for the very heavy stuff plus the 2 draws of the Halfords metal bench that has the lathe on.

Bisley 15 draw a4 units

But the best and most used on a slide out shelf below the milling machine is like a tool chest.

It is in fact a repurposed large presentation box for pencils. One of the rejects from my previous employment .

Lift up lid reveals 2 trays with 8 mm fluted pencil trays . there is a further 8 mm pencil tray depth slide out draw beneath that and finally a 45 mm deep draw that took the special items.

For my needs it is brilliant and every bit a custom made tool makers chest.

Regards clive

Edited By Clive Farrar on 01/07/2020 17:31:31

An update for those who gave advice.

The cast iron job from ARC did the job. it was a much better fit in the base casting than the old split brass job.

It took about 3 runs end to end in the X axis to get it all lined up.

It now moves very well i now have smooth slop free operation in all directions. back lash is 2 divisions max.

Just used it with a fly cutter tonight to square off some brass and steel off cuts that i inherited a while ago and have been hiding in the back of a cupboard. very smooth operation. Beautiful cross circles machining.

I am one happy bunny the 2 weeks of careful prep were well worth it.

I may now have the confidence to restart the ME Argus steam engine or the Forrest developments Coke bottle engine I got a decade or so ago, if I can find it!

Regards Clive

sounds exactly the same as the problem I had on my Warco clone a few years ago.

I tracked mine down to one of the brass housings for the motor brushes. It had become loose in the plastic end housing and moved forward so that the brass " cage" was touching the commutator.

When I repositioned it with a 0.5 mm clearance and epoxied it back in place all was, and has been, fine ever since.

Bear that in mind in case it happens again.

Regards Clive

Rang ARC about their part.

Josh was very helpful i can have one sale or return and its cast iron so i have ordered one and will try that for fit first.

If it doesn't work its out with the grinder and follow my namesakes advice for a roughing and then polishing cutter.

Thanks Guys

Clive

PS it must be an age thing but i have come across more Clive's on this forum than anywhere else in my life.

thanks for that OM but at £16 I think my skinflint side is emerging and some grinding practice on my CBN cutter grinder jig may be in order. I have more than enough suitable material in stock.

It will give me immense satisfaction to do it myself. even if it takes a lot longer.

Regards Clive

OK confirmed it is a metric T16 lead screw.

I think if i cut the thread 1mm deep that will give a little clearance to the calculated 0.925mm thread depth on the lead screw.

Any oppinions on suitable replacement material. The ARC ones look to be cast iron as opposed to brass.

I do have some good PB in stock.

Regards Clive

Good idea. I have made a set of both the high and low profile clamps. The design works and they give good results.

Crack on and get them made.

regards Clive

Hello Gentle folk,

Its a long while since i have been on here, but here goes.

The above mill has been rather poor in terms of accuracy and rigidity for a long while. With the abundance of time recently I decided to SORT it out.

The column has been removed scraped fettled and forced into submission by various means and a stiffening bracket. I am now well pleased with it at 0.005mm difference across a 260 mm circle in the x axis and 0.03mm on the Y. That is better than half of the manufacturing spec.

My attention moved to the vagarities of the gib strip " tension" in both axis.

I have had a go at polishing them before but over time every thing got very slack and the backlash on the x axis was appalling at nearly a full turn ( 1.5mm )

So today i have pulled it all apart to sort it properly. That is where the real problem rose its ugly head. The X axis split nut sits in a little recess full of oil. Only in this case it looked to be in a bath of gold. Yes severe wear had taken place and the bottom half of the thread no longer had a form or crest there where just whisps of brass standing in that spot. ( the upper half of thread is pretty decent which is why the machine still worked.

I will ring WARCO tomorrow about a spare but their performance on previous enquiries for parts for this machine are abysmal so i do not hold out much hope.

The old ARC x2 spares may do the job but look different in shape and are not split. They may be a possibility though.

The lead screw is a metric 1.5mm pitch, 16mm OD

The likeyhood is though that i will have to MAKE a replacement. This eventualy leads on to the questions.

1) Will the thread form be ACME 29 degrees or will it be METRIC 30 degrees , I suspect the latter.

2) How would I check that?
3) would a replacement be better made out of phosphor bronze or just plain old brass.

4) Are the threads in such NUTS over size to allow them to be adjusted by the two grub screws that go though the side of the oil well that can be used to skew the block to get a good fit on the lead screw.

If so how do you gauge the amount of oversize on the thread.

5) Does any one know of a source of ready made ones so that I don't have to.

6) any other reccomendations or wrinkles that i have missed.

Many thanks Clive F