Member postings for Bill Pudney

I made a couple of Nalon Vipers a year or so ago, there is a photo of my Mk1 in an album. I used 6061 T651 for the front bearing housing, fins and rear backplate, 2014 T3 for the crankcase, 4140 steel for the crankshaft, meehanite for the pistons, 12S14 (similar to leaded EN1a) for the liner, 2024 T3 for the conrod, delrin for the rotary disc. Please forgive the furrin material specs, but I'm in Australia and most of our metal comes in American specs.

Incidentally 2024 T4 or better is usually recommended for conrods, and it is certainly very good, but it's also expensive, I once was quoted US$40 for a 24" length of 1/2" diameter bar which I found (just) acceptable, but it was US$120 postage from America!! The reason that 2024 is often stated as the preferred material was because of its better properties at elevated temperatures. So I investigated and proved to my satisfaction that 7075 T651 was ALMOST as good, except for a tiny drop at fairly high temperatures, around 200 degrees C if I remember. The big advantage was that my local supplier could supply 1/2" bar at about AUS$20 a meter!!

best of luck!!

cheers

Bill

I've bought both ER11 and ER32 collets and chucks from CTC, as well as other stuff...boring head, cutters etc. All good gear. Once again I have no doubt that there is better quality stuff available, but all of CTC kit has been fit for purpose. My only problem with CTC is that delivery can take a while, not as quick as Arc Euro for instance.

cheers

Bill

I was a contract drafty at a machinery company in the early 70s. They used fractional dimensions on casting drawings, decimal dimensions on fabricated and machining drawings. It made some sort of sense at the time!!

I started work for the MoD (N) in the mid 70s and had the privilege of working on what I was told was the first "metric" ship built for the Real Navy, (the Type 22 class of frigates).

cheers

Bill

Congratulations!! It's my ambition to build a clock, so I am VERY envious of your achievement!!

cheers

Bill

My dear old Dad was an engine fitter on (mainly) Lancasters during the War. He said that there were basically two types of petrol, "Pool" petrol which was about 75 or 80 octane and for general transport use...cars, trucks, motor cycles etc; and Aviation fuel which was something like 105 or 110 octane and STRICTLY for use only in aircraft. One type had a dye in it so that illegal/improper use was immediately obvious.

cheers

Bill

Drill Service at Horley would be another suggestion. I got a couple of M10 x 1.0 LH taps and a die from them, some time ago.

cheers

Bill

I did exactly the same thing with some toolholders. The problem was cured with a steel shim and JB Weld. There were two problems, P1,clamping the shim in place, required a small bit of mylar as a release agent, to ensure that everything wasn't stuck together forever, and P2 leaving the toolpost and toolholder clamped up for 24 hours whilst the epoxy cured.

Best of luck,

cheers

Bill

Are you using bar or plate?? The reason I ask is because, at least up here in 'Straya, 316 plate is assumed by the steelmaker to be used on weldments, and due to a lack of (I think) Sulphur it behaves exactly as you described. The steel makers add sulphur to the melt when making bar and as a result it becomes almost free machining.

cheers

Bill

My first lathe was a Russian "Uni 3" bought at half price at the closing down sale of local lathe manufacturer Hercus. Tonys "lathe UK" site has a good bit on it, but basically it's a 3" centre height by about 200mm between centres machine....i.e. pretty small. I used it for a few years and made a lot of small model aeroplane stuff on it. It's a really robust small lathe, and I plan to use it more.

After a few years with the Uni 3 I thought it was time for a bigger machine. My first thought was a Myford. So I contacted the Australian agents, asking for a quote and estimated delivery. They came back with AU$15,000 and six months delivery. So I bought a Sieg C3, 7" x 14" mini lathe, from the same shop, similar but slightly smaller work envelope as a Myford and 10% of the cost, and immediate delivery, after a couple of years I heard that Myford had closed down. Blow me down, what a surprise. I've used the C3 for all sorts of things associated with model aircraft, basically 7 or eight model aeroplane engines. I've done a few mods, tapered gibs for the carriage, tapered roller bearings for the spindle, OXA QCTP. All in all it's a really good robust small lathe. Generally reliable, and when I've had a problem bits and pieces are readily available and cheap.

Then a few years ago I had the opportunity to buy a Schaublin 70 TR, it's a turret lathe. Lovely small machine an absolute delight to use. As it had a 3 phase motor it got treated to a VFD which is excellent. Fortunately I haven't had to buy any spares as the are generally eye wateringly expensive.

Knowing what I have learned, if I was starting again I would buy a Sieg SC4 without a doubt.

cheers

Bill

I went to King Edward VI Grammar school in Southampton, between 59 and 64. We sat 14 "O" Levels, the only subjects I was any good at were Maths, English, Tech Drawing and Woodwork, passable at Physics, Biology. After leaving school I found myself studying pretty much full time, albeit on a part time basis up to my mid 40s. The only thing that I was stumped by was Calculus, funnily enough when I was a ships Draughtsman I had a need for it, and got a "Calculus for Dummies" book which helped!!

All in all although I didn't enjoy my time at school at the time, my dear old Dad was quite right when he said that I would look back on my schooldays with fond memories.

cheers

Bill

Just to upset everyone. This morning I parted off some 18 mm diameter 4140 steel(pretty tough stuff), with an Arc Euro type parting tool with carbide insert, starting at 450 rpm, ending up at about 600 rpm. Went through like a hot knife through butter. This was on a Sieg C3 (7" x 14" mini lathe).

cheers

Bill

Edited By Bill Pudney on 17/07/2019 10:56:28

My experience of scraping goes back to my apprenticeship in the 60s. Way back then the best results were had with a VERY light application of blue, it seems to me that any sort of roller would put on far too much. But I may be wrong, it has happened before according to The Boss.

cheers

Bill

Slightly tongue in cheek, but going by the comments of previous generations of Myford owners I had always imagined that Myford were a classic example of good design and skilled manufacture. Surely such a professional organistion would have designed in an appropriately adequate mechanism for safe, quick and easy chuck removal. After all, changing chucks can be a fairly regularly performed operation. Certainly on my Chinese mini lathe today, I changed from a (bolt on) collet chuck to a 3JC to a 4JC, all without mishap and total elapsed time of between three and four minutes lost metal mangling time, with little risk of damage to anything.

Or have I just misunderstood how marvelous Myfords are??

cheers

Bill

I have an optical centering scope, it's primary use is to locate centers on the mill, but another major use is to stick it in the tailstock and adjust tool height as indicated. Guaranteed within a small range. Very quick and easy, and having a second use for a bit of kit is always a good thing!!

cheers

Bill

FWIW google "mini lathe tapered gibs". I made and fitted tapered saddle gibs some eight or ten years ago, and it made a huge difference. Mine were more or less i.a.w. "bogstandards" method.

No doubt older (I almost wrote "...and wiser"  heads will comment about Chinese quality etc etc but sometimes you just have to go with what you have.

cheers

Bill

Edited By Bill Pudney on 23/06/2019 04:55:12

Just last week I was turning some 4140 steel, at over 2,000 rpm on my mini lathe. Yes it was quite vivid, and very exciting. The swarf was coming off blue and smoking. This morning I was turning some 6061T6 Al. Alloy, at about 2,500 rpm.

A bit like riding a motor cycle, more speed + more fun (sometimes!!)

cheers

Bill

My Sieg C3 (mini lathe) now uses an "oxa" QCTP also acquired from Arc Euro. The square, flat, spacer went straight into the "small bits" bin no doubt to return to dust there. Most of my tooling has 10mm x 10mm shanks Some time (years and years) ago I made a post and clamp, Norman(??) style toolpost (look in my Albums). This used an upside down parting blade, and obviously required the spindle to turn in reverse. Being a modern machine with a bolt on chuck, this caused no problems with the chuck unscrewing. Parting off with this set up was a breeze. Although parting off with the oxa is o.k. there are still knuckle whitening moments, I'm thinking of making a toolholder with an upside down blade, to try and improve things

I recently nearly finished a "chariot a vis" (Schaublin terminology) for a Schaublin 70 (again, look in my Albums). All machined on a 10 or so year old Sieg X2 mill. Gordon Bennett what a mess, but it does machine beautifully. Because my new chariot does not get used very much on the Schaublin, it occurred to me that for the small things that I make quite a lot of, The "chariot a vis" could be used on the Sieg C3 (after removing the carriage obviously). We shall see!!

cheers

Bill

Where I used to work, we made a lot of electronics boxes for the military. So it had to be robust and soldier/sailor/airman proof. There was a lot of engraving, one person used to do the infilling, he used Humbrol enamel, black, white, red whatever. After near obsessive cleaning the engraved characters were infilled with a small brush and the excess wiped off with a Humbrol thinners dampened cloth. Much like what has already been suggested.

cheers

Bill

Edited By Bill Pudney on 12/02/2019 02:20:33

Sorry chaps, should have mentioned the album...short term memory loss!! The leadscrew threads give the logical movement associated with the handle movement, i.e. clockwise moves the slide away, or forward. It took me a while to work out!!

cheers and thanks for the nice words!!

Bill

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to buy a Schaublin 70 turret lathe. It occurred to me that Schaublin proudly boasts that parts and assemblies are interchangeable, between, for instance their toolroom lathes and their turret lathes, so wouldn't it be a good thing to have a carriage and compound slide to use on odd occasions. So I looked around for a secondhand "Chariot a vis" (Schaublins terminology). The cheapest I saw was EU1,600 plus postage. So I thought "Crikey....I'll roll my own". Using data derived from on line drawings and manuals a series of drawings were produced, which represented a simplified but similar size assembly. Original features which were not incorporated are

1/ Pressure oiling, the original features a very complex network of oilways, all fed from a single point. Wonderful for a machine which is used a lot, but not so practical for occasional use.

2/ Taper gibs. Initially I couldn't see how to organise this. It wasn't until metal was cut that the penny dropped.

3/ The original used 6.5mm x 1.0mm trapezoidal thread leadscrews. I couldn't source appropriate taps and dies to do this, at least without eating for a year. So I used M6 x 1.0, I had to make 6 of them before I got two acceptable ones though!

So after about a year of drawing and machining it's almost finished, just a few odds and ends to do and it' ready to go. I have installed it on the Schaublin and it works quite well. All the machining was done on my Sieg C3 lathe and Sieg X2 mill. The four main bits were grey cast iron...Meehanite. The gib strips are silver steel, with pegs and lockscrews.

cheers

Bill

Edited By Bill Pudney on 17/01/2019 04:40:02