Member postings for Robin King

Many decades ago an old toolmaker friend told me to put a little oil on the mandrel nose thread before fitting the chuck. It works - I've never had a problem with a stuck chuck since then.

FWIW - Nevil Shute's letter, where he mentions basing his character on ETW, is quoted in the article about the book and NS, in ME 22nd December 1960.

Edited By Robin King on 04/11/2015 19:29:33

Neil,

Thank you for taking the time to provide a comprehensive answer to my original query . Inevitably those of us who are not directly involved in the organisation of such an event are completely unaware of all of the factors that you have had to consider in arranging it, so see it entirely from our own perspective. It was worth the discussion to shed some light on the subject.

Lets hope it's well attended!

Neil, et al

Interesting comments as always.

'..to find a venue that is a worthy visit for someone interested in engineering to visit the show ...' - good thinking, but I'd have thought Blists Hill/the Gorge would also fit the bill, but I only mentioned that as an example. The essence of my original question about the possibility of the exhibition being located at different venues year on year was based on accessibility to give everyone a fair chance of it being within striking distance from time to time. That's not based on negativity but plain practicality - there are many of us who are deterred from attending some exhibitions simply by the travelling time/distance/cost involved.

It's a while since I last visited but they do offer corporate venues on/around the site e.g. the Engine House, so given the engineering 'background' it strikes me as one worth investigating as it might work as a very complementary setting for the exhibition. I might well be wrong!

R

Edited By Robin King on 27/10/2015 19:14:50

Neil,

Good choice of venue, but still a long trek x country for me to attend. Will it be the same location in 2017 or are you going to move it to different venues around the country to give us all a fair chance to get to it? Blists Hill at Ironbridge would be a good one, if I can suggest it.

Robin

What you've got there is the basics of a horizontal milling machine but missing the overarm/knee/table etc. Looking at the condition of it, it might be worth the effort of recovering it - mind, you've got to be keen ; either that or you build a workshop around it to save moving it!

Matt,

If it looks well looked after as you say then don't hesitate - I'd be bidding for it!

You can fit any three jaw chuck with a suitable backplate (from memory spindle nose thread is 1 1/2" x 8 tpi), ditto toolpost, and wear in the cross slide feed screw can be rectified or lived with.

I wouldn't be without my Boxford, which is a clone of the Southbend.

Final thought - I bought a useful book some time back, and it might help you too:

'A Guide to Renovating the South Bend Lathe 9" Model A,B,C Plus Model 10K' by ILION Industrial Services, LLC. My copy was printed in the UK by Amazon.co.uk Ltd. I bought it a couple of years ago so a web search should find it. It details/illustrates all the info you'd need to rebuild the machine - very useful book.

Edited By Robin King on 27/08/2015 10:28:49

If I remember correctly Dave Goodwin was the supplier of a neat tumbler reverse accessory for the ML10; I don't think he supplies it now but might be worth asking him?

FWIW - my Tich, built by a late friend of mine, has the springs below the axleboxes. In use they are a real pain due to the minimal clearance over the track, and I'm now looking at replacing them with coil springs above the boxes, as LBSC's design.

Neil,

well done - that's one I'll look forward to reading.

R

Neil,

Any chance you can be persuaded to write it up for publication in ME?

Norman

If memory serves correctly it was Dave Noble who suppied the tumbler reverse kit, tho' as far as I'm aware it's no longer available.

That sounds likely as NPT are used on fuel threads if I remember correctly. Incidentally, if you haven't already found it'd be worth logging onto the Grey Fergie Forum as it's a mine of useful info - helped me no end with my TED20

Ah, but were they ever blue originally? Mine, of some fifty plus years ago was black, and I'm fairly certain that was the original colour. Oddly enough I added a rear mounted back gear arrangememnt to it using some gears from Bonds.

.....or a precision bread board?

Neil,

just curious to know - have you read B Terry Aspin's (of Chuck fame) articles on how he upgraded/modified a Super Adept? IIRC it was serialised in ME in the early 1950's and well worth a look.

Robin

Dave,

All good advice thus far. Forgive the assumption but I assume you're not a welder by profession so with the best will in the world you're not going to learn much more from posts/reading alone. You can learn by the 'try it and see' process but the best way is as Clive posted earlier - on a course, and getting hands on tuition is essential if you are going to make the best use of whatever kit you buy and the experience you gain will stand you in good stead when buying equipment. Aluminium welding is something you need to be shown how to do and then practice, practice, practice; if you have an instructor there who can point out the rights and wrongs then you will be well on the way to at least understanding what is going on (and why it's gone wrong!). On the course I attended our instructor encouraged us to take in individual project pieces which he then used as a basis for demo's, resulting in a lot of high grade welded pieces tracking back to my workshop

Tim,

Thanks for the contact details - I will give you a call as soon as I have a moment free (currently grappling with a few problems on my old fergie tractor )

Eugene,

Good luck with the workshop - will email shortly

Llanidloes, myself.; anyone else around this area?

Edited By Robin King on 03/06/2014 22:04:58