Member postings for Ian P

Sorry to bring this up again but if MEW Issue 188 has been published why does the website homepage states issue 187 is the latest, (and 187 is the latest shown in the digital versions)

Does anyone know what the publication dates are supposed to be for MEW. Do newsagents get copies before postal subscribers or digital subscribers?

Ian P

I'm confused again!

According to MHS the latest issue of MEW is 187

If issue 188 has been published it does not appear in the digital editions so have you got a pre-release edition?

Ian

Best candidate for jointless flat belts is PolyVee turned over. It will run much quiter and smoother than the back of a timing belt.

Suppliers stock the belting as a wide band (500mm?) and slit it to suit the number of grooves on the pulleys. I have one with only 3 ribs so its less than 8mm wide

Ian P

Does central have a different meaning south of Watford?

Unless I've missed something, I just dont understand these comments.

Ian P

It depends what you mean by market trader types! The stand was mostly secondhand and surplus tooling with connections to a shop (I think) in Sheffield.

I doubt we will get an answer to the editorial question (too controversial?) perhaps someone could couch whatever it is/was in a secret code so that it gets past the moderators!

Ian P

Axel

Please could you elaborate what you mean about no standard screws being the right shape. Also when I searched I could find no reference to 'pins' (other than for firing purposes).

Ian P

Billy

That make sense, thanks for the explanation.

I wonder if the tolerance and fit of the threaded components is considerably better than a normal mechanical micrometer? to get a 0.001mm resolution implies an encoder with better than 1000 counts per revolution. Whilst the encoder can easily resolve 1/1000th of a turn the thread has moved forward so little distance, that any play, or even the lubricating oil thickness, might have an influence on the measurement.

Ian P

Another point, I have no intention of buying EiM but not having seen the issue in question, or being able to see the now deleted posts. What was it all about?

Like other people here I did not see the notice on the home page. It would have made more sense to put the notice on the forum pages sincs that it what it was related to.

Ian P

Generally not impressed.

The models were fine but too few trade stands. On the positive side, parking and access are good but the event would have to grow a bit before I would think of going again.

Lots of info about how digital calipers work but I cannot find any description of the internals of a digital micrometer.

Do they have a rotary encoder in conjunction with a conventional screw or is there a high resolution linear encoder?

Just curious.

Ian P

Actually its me who wishing that I never asked the question!

Ian P

Ady

If it was spoken to me I would agree it comes under your definition and I would probably not even have been aware the term was used. Putting it into the written form changes it completely.

Ian P

Maybe dont bother, its a full set or none really.

Spelling does not bother me, anyone can make a mistake, but I am not your mate!!!

Ian

I'm in the market for eight gauges if you have the right ones?

They are all for M45 threads with 3mm pitch and I need male and female LH and RH. Do you have those?

Ian

Since we seem to be stuck with the new text editors built in spellchecker I thought I would try and use it but it has me baffled!

I prefer to create posts online rather than copy and pasting from another programme so I don't really want instructions on how to do that.

I enabled SCAYT, it then underlines (very slowly) miss spelled words, but that seems top be the limit of its capabilities. I know must have at least one user dictionary on my pc but I'm not sure what it is called or whether SCAYT can use it. If it does use a dictionary file will it then correct (or offer corrections) to words it does not know?

Once SCAYT is enabled does it stay enabled the next time the PC is booted up? In the SCAYT options it asks for the name of a dictionary. I typed a filename complete with path but it does not seem to have created it. Looking in the root of my hard drive I can see a 'custom.dic' file which I did not know existed however the words it contains relate to a (Word) document I created about a month ago, although I am sure Word, which I have used for years on this PC already had a dictionary.

As I type this posting though, I am finding things out, first SCAYT thinks SCAYT is a spelling error! Second, it will offer to replace words but only if I put the cursor over the underlined word (rather than sequentially going through the whole paragraph, Third its clunky.

Am I being unkind to this new technology, I don't object to the new editor but why oh why cant I just right click like I used to?

Ian P

Edited By Ian Phillips on 27/02/2012 19:24:07

That's an interesting challenge!

My first thought was to use a long curved drift through the drawbar hole and hope that it did not 'spring' too much when tapped with a hammer. Ideally you should put some support under the spindle to reduce the chance of bearing damage.

Another idea might be to make some sort of expanding nut that you can insert up the spindle past the top of the sleeve, then use a long bolt and tube to pull the adapter sleeve out. Sounds easy but I bet you will have fun!

Ian P

Denise

The three phase motor and VFD might be your best bet. If you know anyone good with electrics wiring one up is straightforward. You can buy ready built packages of motors and drive but they tend to be expensive compared with rolling your own.

What about buying a motor and drive that you can sell after you have finished with it? People here are always looking for variable speed motor setups to put on lathes and mills so even if the initial cost was higher than you originally hoped for the end cost might not be too bad.

To get an idea of what power motor is required you need to have a clear idea of speed range, canvas size (corner to corner) and the weight of canvas and table/rotating parts.

Ian P

Early last week I sent a PM to Mark with some questions regarding usage of some of this sites facilities. I never got a reply but a few minutes ago I remembered that I can check to see if and when the message was read.

The message in I sent is 'unread'. I presume that Mark is on holiday (or maybe no longer works for MEW).

A couple of weeks ago there was a flurry of posting relating to the new text editor, at that time Mark made some small changes but I at least (and I'm sure lots of other users), looked forward to some other improvements and fixes to parts of this website.

Ian P

Denise

All those motors are OK but...

The thing you are building will change and develop as you proceed, if you have a largish revolving disk of some sort then whatever else it needs it must almost certainly have some means of accellerating from a standing start. The motors in your links are all single phase and get up to running speed VERY quickly.

My suggestion would be to definately use some sort of speed controlled motor, probably a 3 phase motor with a VFD (Variable Frequency Drive). With a lightly loaded motor it will probably run slower than 100RPM (just a guess) but more importantly you can set parameters to limit the accelleration, so for example you can set it to take say, 30 seconds to get up to speed from switch on. Stopping time too is controllable.

If you have a variable speed motor then it might give you some artistic scope to get different effects, for example on one canvas you could apply paint (and whatever else!) at both high and low speed. If the unit you build is structurally robust then you might see some useful effect from applying paint whilst actually accellerating or braking.

Ian P

Steve

The covers I have fitted only give protection from swarf dropping from above, they are just umbrellas really although I would not consider them coolant proof.

Both scales are longer than they need to be but rather than shorten them I fitted (on the X axis) a steel bar above the beam just to give some impact protection.

The front of the table has a T slot that carried the travel stops (that I never used) so I used it to mount two aluminium blocks to carry the igaging beam and the 10mm square steel bar (B&Q Plasticene). I had a length of 'F' section aluminium extrusion left over from a polycarbonate roof carport which I modified slightly so that the fins of the 'F' gripped the steel bar. I fixed a steel angle plate at the RH end for the igaging display magnet.

The Y axis umbrella is just a length of angle clamped at the back of the machine.

The pictures show the scales with and without the covers

Ian P