Member postings for duncan webster

2B motor is mounted inside the cabinet under the machine. When fitted with single phase motor they tend to be very noisy as the cabinet acts as a sounding board. When mine died I fitted a three phase motor and it transformed it, sweet as a nut now. Fitting the motor is something else, I eventually managed it using loads of wooden packing and a car scissor jack.

I still have the old motor, its centrifugal switch is blown otherwise it's OK. It could be made to work with a manual start button, if it's any interest give me a PM

I found this very helpful to get me going on Arduino. Very much easier than PICs

http://www.amazon.co.uk/30-Arduino-Projects-Evil-Genius/dp/007174133X

why not screw cut it?

Just an idea, which might not work. Make your cotter with it's scollop, but instead of a turned down bit at the top, drill it right through on the axis, tap the bottom end and drill the top end clearance. Then cut it in half so you have 2 bits with 1/4 circles cut out. Then on your 1" shank cut out a half moon to clear the bolt which you are going to pass through the top bit into the bottom bit. It means you have to fully remove the bolt to change tools.

Otherwise, can you make up a bush and loctite it in to restore the 3/4" dimension

That last post is rubbish! I can say that because I wrote it. I'd forgotten that the pump is single acting, and even then has a very non constant torque during delivery. The calculation of energy input is correct, but you need a motor which will deliver a torque of piston area * pressure * stroke/2. Use consistent units metres, and pascals. Thus 10mm bore and stroke working to 0.69 MPa is (0.01^2*pi/4) * (0.01/2) * 690000 = 0.27 N.m. Then add bit for inefficiency. If you want to be sophisticated you can put a flywheel on the hight speed motor shaft, or use a multi ram pump.

EN standards for steel is long obsolete. BS 970:1991 is what I used when still employed, EN3 would be 070M20. Very useful site giving equivalents and typical use at

http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Matter/Strength_st.htm

6mm bore 5mm stroke seems a tad small even for an Invicta, but you can scale it up from the info on the advert.. Power required (watts) is (simply feed rate in cc/sec) * (boiler pressure in MPa). 100 psi is 0.69 MPa. A big pump going slowly works better than a little pump going quickly, the balls have time to get back on their seats properly. You need a bit in hand to cover mechanical losses.

If your inspector is failing a boiler because it doesn't have captive valves he is exceeding his authority. This was discussed in ME some time ago.

Was this published in MEW? I'm too mean to buy the book!

Using EN8 won't make any difference to deflection, it has the same Young's modulus. Unless you're bending it so much that it yields of course, but then it would be permanently bent.

I hope this isn't too stupid! If using and end mill correctly it is actually cutting on the side. Apart from restoring the corners, sharpening the ends seems like only half the story. Surely I want to sharpen the sides.

why? It doesn't make any difference to steam raising whether you put it in under water or just let it fall through the steamspace

ring up Mr Arrand, who makes loads of taper tooling, he will probably make you one. Won't be cheap, but will be top class. 01664 454566

2 off 5/16 holes is huge, you will get away with a lot less

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/flow-velocity-steam-pipes-d_386.html gives recommended speed for high pressure saturated steam, work it out from there.

I just gripped it in the 4 jaw using external jaws, face, bore for crank. then bore a register into the rim and take a skim as far as you can on OD. Turn round and grip using register, clock to skimmed OD, turn OD and face other side. trying to do it off a mandrel is hard work, chatter and ringing as the rim is not well supported

Sharp tool with about 20 degrees top rake, I use High Speed Steel as it is sharper than carbide, reasonable depth of cut, reasonable feed rate. If you try to take a small cut at low feed it won't work. I've had really good results with tangential toolholder. Watch out for the long ribbons of swarf it will cut your hands to shreds.

Could John Baguley be persuaded to post drawing of his Tich regulator, save me dreaming up my own?

I reckon cross slide handle should be level with your navel. To achieve this I mounted my last lathe (Colchester Chipmaster) on 6" solid concrete blocks. Put a bit of grout underneath to increase the surface contact area. Worked a treat, no rocking, why should it?

Go for it, letters used to be best part of ME, interweb forums have taken over

Screwcutting 19tpi on a cowells sounds a bit optimistic to me, the chip width is 40 thou. Mie wouldn't do that, at the very least the chuck would not grip (perhaps I need another chuck, it's a lever scroll thing)