Member postings for Ian P

Title says it all really. I have tried Fusion and Freecad but the steep learning curve (and senility!) have defeated me.

I am involved in an interesting project that I would describe as commercial, its low budget but beer tokens.

The printed parts are to create the augers for a remotely controlled screw driven vehicle. Several identical components would make up one assembly about 140mm dia and 400mm long.

Last thought. I know there are 3D print houses but presumably they do not do design, hence asking here.

Ian P

Ian P

I second that solution

Ian P

The part is almost certainly metric, made in France and is 1mm pitch (USA No 6 is 32tpi).

A roll tap would make sense but the wood used for oboes is so hard and dense its virtually incompressable that I think a tap would have to cut most of the thread form. The hole is blind and only 4mm deep so I think I will need to do lots of experimenting

Ian P

The picture is a Nickel-Silver stanchion-like component that supports the keywork on a woodwind instrument. It has a thread that measures 3.4mm diameter over the crests and as far as I can tell, the 3.5mm length has the same pitch and thread profile as an M6 bolt. The spherical part is 4.8mm diameter.

After extensive searching I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to buy a ready made tap so I'm wondering whether anyone thinks its feasible to make one? It is not something that will ever be heavily used and its not tapping into hardened steel although African Blackwood is probably not far off!

Ian P

You missed out 'during'

Ian P (no pun intended!)

Is this summary of the situation correct?

You want to make a thin walled sleeve, pressed on to an existing shaft so will revolve with the shaft and the sleeve outer surface will be running within the (worn/damaged?) bore that the needles ran on?

Ian P

Being a subscriber to MEW only the original post made no sense to me. I did read it but without seeing the article was confused by coils (more than one) and how the 'feeble' N-S was obtained.

It seems also that there are two? output connections so the coils must be connected in parallel. If the output is AC then if only two wires I would make them the same (any) colour.

I have a feeling that this forum is frequented by more MEW readers that ME ones so not many will see the article mentioned.

Ian P

I know it been mentioned before in this thread but the Hall device (and any potentiometer that is wired in its place) is NOT ISOLATED from the incoming mains supply so installing in a grounded metal enclosure make sense.

If using a plastic enclosure its best if the potentiometer has a plastic shaft too, also any wiring to the potentiometer should be treated as if it was carrying mains voltage.

Ian P

Edited By Ian P on 10/07/2023 20:35:32

The HBM fly cutters look good value for a set of three but the are best used as facing cutters because setting to precise diameter is a very trial and error process.

The advantage of the rotating table is the ability to adjust the diameter of the hole being cut.

Ian P

Whilst I do have a boring head, I found counterboring 20 holes much quicker when done on my 'rotating' table.

The holes are 35mm diameter and 40mm deep and the cutter is a 16mm endmill. I put a spigot in the centre of the table to centralise on an already drilled 12mm hole.

The rotary table (a VW front wheel hub with an ali disk from the scrapbox) is manually rotated.

Cutting the counterbores was drama and stress free. With careful adjustment of the cutter feed rate, some jobs can self rotate. The table itself was surfaced by that method with a fly-cutter about 40mm diameter

Ian P

I have a Mentor mill and I modified the quill to take a pair of taper roller bearings and a new spindle I made. I then bought a 6 speed head with column and bracket (to fit rear of V10 lathe) with the intention of fitting it to the Mentor. I had several attempts over three years but could not find a way of marrying the two together.

It might be easier to fit the smaller column and head on your FB2 than what I was trying to do, but you will have less rigidity and less power.

Currently I'm going to have to strip down my 4 speed head as one of the Tufnol gears has shed its teeth so only really have one speed, the VFD make it usable but I am now looking at converting to belt drive.

As an aside, do all FB2 'clones' have the same spindle bearing arrangement? I just thought FB2 clone just meant a mill with the same general design, round column, tilting geared head etc.

Ian P

Which begs the question...why not use the existing pinion?

The picture in the very first post of this thread looks to have an eminently reclaimable pinion and shaft, just needs some gentle work with file.

Its for feeding drill etc, not a precision measuring device

Ian P

Lines left on the end of the shaft are from the 'Face Driver' used when the shaft was manufactured.

Your two lengths of angle in conjunction with the clamps (I suggest you move them much closer to the spindle so less flexing) already form the part of a 'puller' that will be a far better job of dismantling than any press would do.

If you cut a couple of notches in the webs of the angle either side of the pulley then the heads of two long bolts can be trapped under the webs. A stout plate with two holes and a bit of packing (a few washers even) on the end of shaft should be enough to place substantial pressure to get the pulley moving.

One tip. No need to tighten the two bolts to the point of straining or bending anything, once you have loaded up the end pressure use a hammer to shock the shaft/pulley.

Ian P

No need for a club hammer just to apply the extra jolt 

Edited By Ian P on 01/07/2023 14:53:02

If your photo showed the end of the shaft it might be possible someone could suggest how to remove it.

Could it be taper lock

It looks like pretty normal Poly Vee pulley and once the rubber remnants are removed will make excellent contact with the matching 'V' shaped ribs on the belt.

Ian P

My goto solution when identifying gears is the HPC catalogue

Link to their catalogue request page

Ian P

I'm most impressed with the solid (real wood!) wood benches, cabinets and drawers. In the UK we might see melamine faced chipboard.

What are the enclosures (with some sort of water feed bottles), are they beehives?

Ian P

I think Martin meant holes for shoe laces

Ian P

I don't get the frogs connection but 'Rivit Rivit' brings back memory of a BBC programme (which I have forgotten the title of) that came some time after 'The Great Egg Race'.

Teams of young contestants competed against each other in the studio with various practical craft and technology challenges, I'm sure I recall rivit rivit being the name one team gave their construction (whilst it climbed a rope?).

Ian P

They could be used to stop Bowden cable fraying, fitted as ferrules on electrical wiring, inserts in compression fittings, eyelets for leather work... and for thousands of other purposes.

However at the end of the pictured items are generally known as tubular eyelets. (Google images gives plenty examples)

Ian P

There has been plenty of advice and guidance given so far on this topic and I think it is pointless adding more and more until the OP gives some more information.

On the face of it the original enquiry is a genuine request and one which forum members here are more than willing to assist with but until 'Steven Brown 1' re-appears we may as well leave things dormant.

Ian P