Member postings for Jeff Dayman

+1 on Tony's viewpoint. If after 4 forum pages the OP has not made a decision about what to build, they simply need to do more of their OWN research. Plenty of photos, articles,etc on the web - easier than ever to research locomotives, and let's not forget libraries and used/new book vendors.

Surely 5 mm on the OD of a chuck will not affect its' usefulness to any real degree. If there are lots of 125 mm dia chicks and no apparent 130 mm ones at reasonable price I'd suggest getting the 125 mm one and getting on with life. BTW a 4 jaw independent chuck needs to be firmly attached to the spindle of course, but does not need ultra precise location on centre. a few thou runout of the OD of this type of chuck to centre will not matter - you are centring each job using the independent jaws.

2 part urethane casting resin would be an excellent choice, and would give a rigid plug for accurate measurements. See www.smooth-on.com for this. Their Smooth Cast 310 pint kit has given me excellent results. I don't have any connection to this firm except as a satisfied customer for many years.

The other possibility that comes to mind is dental impression material. If you know a dentist he may be able to give you a syringe of this two part polymer system used to make moulds of teeth and gum structures. Very safe material and the impressions are high resolution detail. I don't think suppliers will sell this resin system to individuals but a dentist could maybe help you out,

Wax would be OK but may deform or crumble when removed. Beeswax rather than paraffin wax as in candles may be better.

Whatever resin you use, to help get it out, you could embed a wooden or metal or plastic square rod with grooves cut around it to enable twist and pull of the impression to remove it. Just food for thought.

Welcome Mark! The link goes to a page showing a Sieg mill, but there doesn't seem to be other clickable pictures.

Also doesn't seem to be any mention of Conner 222. What is a Conner 222? Never heard of anything by that name. Look forward to finding out. Cheers!

This link might help, it lists commonly available V belt sizes.

https://www.mcmaster.com/v-belts/v-belts-8/

If you measure the top / max width of your pulleys you can tell whether they would take 1/4" or 3/8" or 1/2" wide belts (or some other common size). The belt should run with the top 1/4 to 1/5 of the belt height outside the pulley OD when new. As they wear they will ride lower.

Myfordboy on youtube designed and made a nice oil burner for his melting furnace. Made his own 3D printed blower to go with it, as well. Lots of good casting videos there too. Worth a look.

Doesn't look all that bad to me Ian, at least it looks structurally secure. Bit too much heat maybe, and a bit of wandering off the line. A lick with the angle grinder and a dose of paint and you're away.

Anyway, question - are you running the TIG machine continuous or in pulsed mode? (assuming your TIG set has pulsed mode) Pulsed mode gives the opportunity of a half second or so "off time" to get the tip repositioned perfectly for the next arc / rod melt cycle. When you see those perfect "row of dimes" welds by the pro's, they are often done with pulsed mode. I've had good success with it using a friend's professional Miller TIG set. Just food for thought.

The OP has proven many times that he is expert in not explaining the problem to be solved very well, arguing with good practical advice, and not trying various things (or even googling) before wasting peoples' time.

Hi Arthur,

You will probably find the nut is badly worn in the cross slide. You can either make a new one or slit the old one and add a screw to make the nut sort of "pinch" the thread to reduce the backlash. However you may find the screw is also worn. New screw can be made or the old one chased (threads made thinner, removing material just enough to take the thread to a uniform state same size as worn part) and a new nut made.

For a spanner I suggest finding a bit of gauge plate (oil hardening tool steel, ground flat both sides, sold by tool suppliers) and hacksawing / filing out the opening to fit the nut, to make a spanner. It may work fine without hardening if you leave enough "meat" beside the opening. 10" or 250 mm long would probably be fine. Wrap the end in electrical tape for good grip and to protect your hands.

You could also buy a thicker spanner (maybe 12 mm ) at a pound shop or cheap imported tool dealer and grind the sides to fit.

Is the work in a vise or secured directly to the table? (securely clamped and no rock is best)

Are the spindle bearings running with no runout? (they should be)

How flexible is the tool in the flycutter / is the tool small in size and sticking out of the flycutter a long way? (tool should be robust as possible and not sticking out too far, ie a 1/4" x 1/4" HSS tool should not stick out more than 1/4" to 5/16" as a rough guide)

All the above factors can affect how flycutters work.

Boring bar holders?

It sounds to me like your gas valve is not working properly. A roaring pilot or one where the flame lifts off the jet is a symptom of a malfunctioning gas valve. Since you have had two of these heaters with defects I suggest there may be a design or workmanship issue with that make and model. It's a gas appliance - don't take chances with it malfunctioning, buy a better quality one. Just my opinion. Safety first.

Say Neil, I've looked all over my railway maps and I just can't find this "Conn Junction" everybody's talking about.

Oh wait ..........

Hi Howard, No, juggling eight or even four little shim bars in a collet during setup doesn't appeal to me either. The L shaped pieces might work OK but not sure how an ER style collet would apply clamping force evenly to the setup. Maybe a holder with the outside geometry of an ER collet, and a V groove for the item to be ground, would work. Clamping might be possible with a loose piece the collet nut secures/ wedges on, or by a bridge clamp built into the V grooved insert. Might be getting small in size for adequate strength threads and screws, though. Interesting to think about.

Rotary broaching is well worth playing with a bit, and good fun. If you do one, be sure to look up Mike Cox's simplified method from MEW a few years ago. Good results with minimal work to make the necessary bits. I did a nice pentagonal one with the points coincident with a 5/8" diameter circle a few years back for a neighbour in the waterworks service business. He was getting breakages in expensive commercial socket wrenches with the pentagonal socket, scrapping one about every two weeks. I made him a couple in D-2 tool steel, surface hardened and their crew is still using them daily! 

Another way might be to make the tool grinder accept an interchangeable large rectangular block with the socket geometry for the ER collets OR a rectangular block with groove and clamp for rectangular work OR a block with central bore for holding cylindrical tool holders. If all such blocks were located by 2 dowels on a nice finished planar surface (vertical, to shed grinding dust easier) and clamped with a bridge clamp this would make a very versatile unit. (probably been done centuries ago but I am just mentally arriving at how the old timer tool designers did them!)

Rotary broaching is well worth playing with a bit, and good fun. If you do one, be sure to look up Mike Cox's simplified method from MEW a few years ago. Good results with minimal work to make the necessary bits. I did a nice pentagonal one with the points coincident with a 5/8" diameter circle a few years back for a neighbour in the waterworks service business. He was getting breakages in expensive mild steel  commercial socket wrenches with the pentagonal socket, scrapping one about every two weeks. I made him a couple in D-2 tool steel, surface hardened and their crew is still using them daily! 

Cheers Jeff

Edited By Jeff Dayman on 21/12/2020 17:40:24

+1 about being very careful . If you don't know exactly what you are doing, do not mess with charging / discharging rates / circuits for charging of lithium ion cells of any kind.

Hi Howard, I think using an existing collet system like ER20 makes perfect sense for any tool grinder setup. In addition to your point about the range of diameters which can be held, the collets will hold the blanks more central to the holder axis and more securely than holders with setscrews or side clamps.

For square tools or rectangular tools, are ER style collets available? If not, conventional holders would be needed for those tools. (preferably V block style, clamp pointing toward the vertex of the V)

I would urge caution to anyone following Charles Woodward designs. I have looked at his work over the years and it seems to me that he frequently finds the very longest and most involved way to do things and forgets about location and friction. Just my opinion.

Lately I have been looking at the design and construction of various Chinese made universal tool grinders. The one in the link below uses 5C collets. These grinders have copies of many of the better features of US, British and German made professional tool grinders of 60-70 years ago, but at a very reasonable price if you wanted to buy one. I noticed there is nothing in the design which could not be fabbed from bar stock/plate in a home workshop. If based on the mentioned industrial machines, there will be nothing you don't need, and nothing missing that you do need, in terms of work position envelope / range of angles etc. Just food for thought.

https://www.shars.com/universal-end-mill-cutter-drill-bit-grinder-sharpener

You are lucky. Glad you are OK. Are there any symptoms of metal fume fever apart from feeling faint? If so, do see a doctor. May I suggest welding in an open door or outside under an overhang roof or similar? Not fun in the cold but you have to stay out of the fumes when welding, as much as possible,

I've done as Simon said several time, putting some sacrificial screws in the holes. The threads will be protected from getting plugged up and also from the heat of the hardening, especially if using an A-O torch.

If you have three complete threads engaged and the screws are a good fit, not loose, I'd say they will be good. Certainly better to use blind threads in such a bush from the standpoint of less places to have a steam leak than with through-holes.

I have seen a lot of things in Martin Evans designs where a bit more care, as in a deeper bush / blind holes in your locomotive for example, would have made for a far better design. He frequently designed things on boilers with really short threads hanging in just a wisp of material. On his Comway design, the regulator casting is drawn machined with .008" of metal between two drilled holes over 1.25" deep. Unless you know a couple of tricks to do this drilling, the drill will break through spoiling the job. It could have been easily avoided with just slightly different design. Impossibly small springs on lubricators, as drawn, are another trademark. I am not a fan of Mr Evans. (the loco designer, not the current ME editor )

Many years ago in industry I designed and made special tooling for machining the centres of cast bronze steam / hot water valves, I made a tool steel holder, Christmas tree shaped, to hold two brazed on carbide plate blanks. The tool was then located by the shank of the holder in the wire edm machine, and the cutting edges of the carbide were cut very accurately and sharp. These were twice as expensive to make as HSS tools used previously, but lasted 8 to 10 times as long. Never had a brazed joint on these tools fail. Nice to see the technique is still in use.