Member postings for Bill Pudney

This sort of thing has gone on since they invented factories....for example

1 Machine tool manufacturer, makes a lathe. At final test if the machine comes out with a particularly good set of numbers, it gets called a "Toolroom" lathe, and is given a special higher price tag.

2 Motorcycle manufacturer builds a bike, if the motor produces more power than a nominal figure it's called a "Sports" motorcycle, given a special Sports sticker and an elevated price

Ans so on....

cheers

Bill

During my apprenticeship, a helicopter fell into the sea, well the Solent actually. It couldn't be recovered for almost 24 hours. When the poor thing was plonked onto the slipway, most of the fuselage skinning had gone away and there were large holes in the main gearbox that you could put a clenched fist through. These were all magnesium alloys, but it shows how quickly corrosion can happen.

The company built hovercraft, which operate in a VERY moist salt water spray environment. During assembly of sheet metal bits, there were three different types of jointing compound, red, yellow and brown, at this distance I cannot remember which one was used where (one was used on painted metal, one on bare metal etc), but they were all intended to keep moisture out of joints. If the wrong one was used the inspectors would go ballistic.

cheers

Bill

Apart from the satisfaction of actually making an ingot of al.alloy, I really cannot see the point. If you want to make something from an al.alloy it might be worthwhile being aware of the difference between annealed and heat treated conditions for two of the materials mentioned earlier

6061 T0 ult. (ksi) 18, yield (ksi) 8, hardness 30 (Brinell No, 500kg load, 10mm ball)

6061 T6 ult (ksi) 45, yield (ksi) 40, hardness 95 (Brinell No, 500kg load, 10mm ball)

7075 T0 ult (ksi) 33, yield (ksi)15, hardness 60 (Brinell No, 500kg load, 10mm ball)

7075 T6 ult (ksi) 76, yield (ksi) 67, hardness150 (Brinell No, 500kg load, 10mm ball)

So, in broad terms the annealed material, apart from being pretty poor to machine would possess approximately 50% of the ultimate strength, 20% of the yield strength and the hardness would be significantly less for both.

Now obviously this will not matter if all you are making is a name plate, but if you are planning to make something strong and light (after all this is what Al. Alloy has been developed for) you may be kidding yourself. No doubt lots of people will chime in with "Well Fred Bloggs made a phoo phoo valve from rescued material, and it works just fine" Well good for Fred would be my response.

cheers, and the very best of luck

Bill

Edited By Bill Pudney on 30/08/2020 12:19:48

Hopper said..."And you could probably buy the rogue 18 tooth gear in Mod 1 easily enough. "

Another advantage of using the mini lathe change gears would be that "odd" gears would be available from concerns like HPC Gears, without incurring the wrath of your financial advisor, always assuming that the World hasn't been consumed by fire.............

cheers

Bill

Getting a full set of mini lathe steel change gears from someone like Arc Euro would save a lot of work. Using them on a Myford might cause the Earth to spin off it's axis and plunge into the Sun though.

cheers

Bill

Cannot access it. I only visit that forum infrequently so I have no idea how long it has been down for.

Best of luck!!

Bill

I'm guessing that the Enshu agent who clinched the deal to supply Hinkley with all those machines is now bobbing comfortably around in his yacht, somewhere in the Med, being attended to by a bevy of flunkies!!

cheers

Bill

I too use A.R.Warner HSS tips. Top stuff, easy to give a touch up to on a diamond plate. They are not cheap but they are excellent!!

cheers

Bill

For what it's worth Norton Commando front wheel spindles were EN16

best of luck

cheers

Bill

Now there's a can of worms!!

Stand by for a surprise, it's probably not called "battleship grey". Also "standard" colours have probably changed over time so if you are looking for the historically correct colour it would be worthwhile adding a date, and possibly even a location (North Atlantic, Pacific etc)

Royal Australian Navy stuff used to be painted "Storm Grey", with a 25% gloss. The apparent difference between 25% and 75% gloss is considerable.

Best of luck!!

Bill

+2 for kero or WD40. My preference is for kero. Experience with WD40, in other applications suggests that WD40 leaves a sticky gooey mess, as a result I haven't used it much as a cutting aid. It is however brilliant at water displacing. Kero, or paraffin is very good on al. alloy, and as others have said, uncoated really sharp cutters work best.

best of luck!!

cheers

Bill

Yep Millenicut files are the ones you want. I have a selection from my apprenticeship in the 60s. With careful use and storage they are still good. They will clog but the al.alloy needs to be the soft sticky kind, rather than the harder tempers, and yes beware of the left hand pain, we used to wrap the last couple of inches with masking tape, but probably a stout glove is better.

best of luck!!

cheers

Bill

I used to have a Norton 650SS, which as their top of the line high performance model, had a magneto. The 650SS was made up until 1968/9. However like the previously mentioned BSA Gold Star, the advance/retard wasn't specified for slow speed, high gear use!! In the mid 70s I was stopped on the Andover By Pass for doing 126mph, and in 77 the same bike, two up with panniers and a tank bag, put over 90 miles into less than 60 minutes. Got to love magnetos!!

cheers

Bill

You may have already made your mind up, so for what it's worth.....I got a Sieg X2 years ago when it was about the only thing available. It has a tilting column. I have NEVER used the tilting column facility. I did set it up very carefully when new, and now check it a couple of times a year. One day I intend to make it a bit better than one big thread to hold the column vertical!!

cheers

Bill

I gave up on F1 years ago. As others have said a long procession, with no overtaking....why don't they award the race based on qualification times, saves all the hassle of a boring race. So it's MotoGP for me!!

cheers

Bill

Yep, beware of "restoration by repainting"!!

I would be very wary of spending the sort of money that you are, based only on photographs, from an unknown vendor.

best of luck in your search

cheers

Bill

Excellent!! Neat and simple solution!

cheers

Bill

Not as esoteric as some and cheaper than most. My two surface plates are ex electronics cabinet de humidifiers, "Warmers",  that were caught on the way to the skip. All traces of heating elements removed, and ground where it matters. They are about 300mm x about 220mm. The height gauge is a metric APE Microball that was also redirected on when on its way to the skip. I've just had a look on the local ebay and they seem to be fairly readily available and quite reasonable. The surface plates are excellent for what I use them for, and the height gauge is consistent, accurate and easy to use.

It's very easy to over think this stuff sometimes!!

cheers

Bill

Edited By Bill Pudney on 05/06/2020 12:14:44

Edited By Bill Pudney on 05/06/2020 12:15:30

Ive been using an OXA QCTP on my Mini Lathe for several years now. Apart from the fact that it all seems to function pretty much as you would expect, the toolholders are readily available, and a piece of cake to make anyway....

I have sourced toolholders from at least 4 suppliers and they all work, so that's 5 suppliers including me!! This contrasts fairly well with some other QCTP. The only thing I do is to Loctite the screw for the height adjusting device in place in the body of the holder.

Best of luck

cheers

Bill

Clearly I am a 21st Century Luddite. As an old time draftsman, from back in the days of drawing boards and pens I was quite looking forward to 3D CAD. I've been using Turbocad as a sort of electronic drawing board for 20 odd (some of them very odd!!) years. It's o.k., a bit clunky at times but it does what I want it to do. A few times I have tried to make the leap to 3D CAD, via Alibre, Solid edge, Fusion even Turbocad etc etc. The anticipated leap was more out of interest than any real need to see things in 3D. For me I found the really steep learning curve just too steep to allow my interest to be maintained. At one stage as The Boss was using the PC almost 24 hours a day, I was seriously thinking about getting a small tabletop drawing board. However sanity prevailed, and the boards I looked at were pretty awful really. As part of the Draughtsman training way back in the 60s one of the elements was freehand 3D sketching an article before drawing it "on the board". This enabled the development of the ability to visualise the part in all it's 3D glory, well most of it anyway. Fortunately for me this ability still exists, more or less. So I think I can do what I want to do, without the mental pain of 3D CAD.

So that's another thing which marks me as a 21st Century Luddite. Up there with battery powered things in the workshop.

cheers

Bill