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Member postings for Tony Jeffree

Here is a list of all the postings Tony Jeffree has made in our forums. Click on a thread name to jump to the thread.

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Thread: This months MEW are 3 CNC features two too many
30/05/2011 18:37:32
Posted by Brian on 30/05/2011 16:46:58:
Thank You David, can we all asume that CNC is now excluded from MEW in the future?
 
No.
 
Regards,
Tony

Thread: CNC XY Table for clock making no Z axis
19/05/2011 22:33:43
Posted by Stephen Benson on 19/05/2011 17:15:34:
I have been using industrial CNC machines most my working life and the two runner with centre ball screw model seems to be common to most the industrial machines I have experienced so I suppose I expected to see it in the hobby machines as well. Certainly I do not see stiffness to be an issue as stiffness is more about design rather than mass especially in the small table size (150x120mm) I propose.
OK...but why go to the bother when you can start from a ready-made X-Y table?
 
Regards,
Tony
19/05/2011 12:04:19
Posted by Stephen Benson on 19/05/2011 08:42:03:
Thanks for the replys but is using a manual machine table the way to go, I would of thought that it was a huge compromise due to the backlash, weight and drag issues.
 
What I had in mind was a ball bearing lead screw with linear bearings to hold may be 8-10mm thick flat aluminium table sorry for the misunderstanding.

But if converting a manual machine is considered the correct way to go how do you over come the above problems.
Whatever way you go, there are compromises - your proposed direction of linear bearings and aluminium table will be a compromise on stiffness compared with a starting point of a cast iron X-Y table, for example. Also, while ballscrews have advantages (low rate of wear and low friction, for example) eliminating backlash isn't necessarily one of them, unless you pay more for anti-backlash nuts. There are ways of reducing backlash in conventional screws, and often a significant part of the backlash can be eliminated by fitting decent bearings on the leadscrews, especially if the original ones were plain bearings.
 
Regards,
Tony
Thread: This months MEW are 3 CNC features two too many
19/05/2011 08:55:15
Posted by Lawrie Alush-Jaggs on 18/05/2011 23:49:33:
Hallo Evrybardy (Hello Dr. Nick)
 
There are enough MAC/Windows/Linux discussions/flameouts/gorilla wars/tactical nuclear strikes on other sites. Can we please not have the same rubbish here?
 
Thanks
It's official - Apple is a religion:
 
http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/apple-evokes-religious-response-from-fans-957163
 
Regards,
Tony
18/05/2011 23:03:39
Posted by John Coates on 18/05/2011 21:54:10:
Linux doesn't fall over after a simple system update
I have had exactly that happen to me after a Linux system update. I had to do a reinstall from the original distro to recover the situation.
 
Regards,
Tony
Thread: CNC XY Table for clock making no Z axis
18/05/2011 23:00:23
There are plenty of X-Y tables around, available from the usual suspects. For example, Arc Eurotrade (catalogue distributed with this month's MEW) has 3 sizes of table on page 43 of the catalogue; he smallest has a table 200mmX90mm and a table travel of 130mmX70mm. These are manual tables, but would be simple enough to convert to stepper drive if you so desired, using the existing leadscrews.
 
Regards,
Tony
Thread: This months MEW are 3 CNC features two too many
18/05/2011 12:57:55
Posted by John Coates on 18/05/2011 12:34:38:

Hi Martin

 
One of my points was that I cannot/will not add the cost of Windows to buying the CNC kit itself. I am glad that John S confirms that CNC/CAD/CAM programs can run on Linux as that is my chosen OS.
 
I work for a local council for my industrial/business experience of computing and their Windows based PCs don't tend to have problems but the network suffers outages. At home its a different story. I got sick of SWMBO moaning that the Windows PC was slow or wouldn't work because the teenager's internet trawling had loaded the thing with viri and malware. We now have one Mac (using this now) and everything else is Linux as I can install it and maintain it and we have been problem free ever since (excusing the actual failure of hardware).
 
It's personal choice and I prefer to be using the tool rather than constantly fixing it.
 
John
 
Hi John -
 
You can still get CNC software that runs under DOS too...
 
And just thought I'd mention that the latest MAC OS is actually a flavour of Linux; unfortunately, although the main target for virus attack is Windows, the MAC (and other flavours of Linux for that matter) isn't immune.
 
Regards,
Tony
17/05/2011 22:56:51
Posted by Chris Trice on 17/05/2011 22:13:34:
So many people getting their panties in a bunch over what exactly? Have the editorial staff threatened to kill the readers children or burn down their houses? Three CNC articles in one magazine. Hardly the crime of the century is it? I get the feeling that no matter what the editor says, he's going to be attacked by those who clearly have an axe from some other occasion to grind. You kids carry on fighting in the sand pit. I'll be with the adults reading the other threads. By all means express an opinion chaps but try a bit of civility and there may be more chance of your opinion being listened to instead of trying to score points over each other.

Edited By Chris Trice on 17/05/2011 22:15:08

Gosh Chris - just think, with a shade more time, in a trice, even, you could have written that post so that it was just a teensy weensy bit more supercillious and patronising...
 
Regards,
Tony

Edited By Tony Jeffree on 17/05/2011 23:20:20

17/05/2011 17:01:37
Posted by David Clark 1 on 17/05/2011 16:49:50:
Hi Ian
You are missing the point.
If there are 15,000 Amercians interested in CNC then there will be many people in the UK and Australia interested as well.
regards david
 
What is the circulation of MEW these days David?
 
Regards,
Tony
17/05/2011 16:11:00
Posted by NJH on 17/05/2011 16:02:42:
Hi Ian
 
No editorial bias there then!
 
 
David
 
Your post was, of course, delivered by the local messenger who carried a parchment copy in a conveniently forked stick. How useful and comforting these traditional methods are !
 
Your survey asks for readers opinions of CNC articles - do you intend to publish the number of responses for and against ?
 
Regards
 
Norman

Edited By NJH on 17/05/2011 16:09:00

Norman -
 
Rather that than the traditional delivery method all too often used in this forum - from the rear end of various farm livestock.
 
Regards,
Tony
17/05/2011 16:05:52
Posted by Ian Hewson on 17/05/2011 15:39:47:
Hi
Having just read our editors opinion of those of us who do not share his enthusiasm for cnc equipment, I can see why we have had so many articals on the subject.
 
I object to being labled as being behind the times as he infers, just because I do not share his opinion, having spent most of my working life in electrical and electronic fields.
 
Some of those who spend all there spare time ranting to the rest of use mere mortals who have other interests apart from thier's should get out more and smell the roses.
 
Regards
Ian
C'mon Ian - give the lad a break - that was one of our esteemed Editor's rare attempts at a tongue-in-cheek posting. Savour it while you can!
 
Regards,
Tony
17/05/2011 10:12:16
Just to get things into perspective...a few stats from the issue in question.
 
There were 11 items listed in the contents, of which 3 were CNC out of 8 items that were practical/constructional articles as opposed to miscellaneous stuff like Scribe a Line. So 27% of the articles were CNC, or 37% of the practical/constructional articles.
 
There were approximately 25 pages of miscellaneous stuff (front cover, ads, contents page...etc) out of 64 pages of magazine, so 39 pages of readable content. 13 of those (33%) were about CNC.
 
So depending on what measure you take (number of articles or number of pages, etc.) approximately 1/3 of the mag was about CNC.
 
So yes, as John S and the original poster observe, this issue had more than its fair share of CNC; however, as I have already commented, no CNC articles at all in the mag would be far too few.
 
What no-one has mentioned so far in this thread (although I have pointed it out in the thread titeld "An Accurate CNC 4th Axis...?") is that one of those articles, while nicely written and presented, describes a CNC device whose application to the real world of CNC machining will be very limited indeed, and in reality, of use only to those that enjoy machining parts out of materials no harder than high tensile cotage cheese. That article has been serialised in 2 issues so far, and there seems to be at least one more to come; all I can hope is that no-one has started building to the design as described, because they are highly likely to be wasting their time and money if they do.
 
I have subscribed to MEW for a good number of years now, and have a complete set of issues from the first issue published. This is the first time that I can remember that I have come across an article in the mag that was just plain wrong-headed; there have been plenty of articles over the years, and in pretty much every issue for that matter, that don't particularly appeal to me, but at least, untill now, I can't think of another example of something that shouldn't have been published regardless of personal taste. What disturbs me more is that when I pointed this out to our Editor, his response was that he would have no articles if he rejected everything that he didn't agree with. That is all very well, but the magazine does its readers a dis-service, and destroys its own reputation, if it encourages its readers to make things that are, at the end of the day, badly thought out and inappropriate for their purpose.
 
Regards,
Tony
Thread: "An Accurate CNC 4th Axis"...?
17/05/2011 09:41:24
Posted by John Stevenson on 17/05/2011 01:07:54:
 
 
Any comment on the practice of building the teeth up with body filler then re-machining ?
 
John S.
John -
 
I've done worse in my time, but if I was writing up a project I would be embarrased to admit to it!
 
Regards,
Tony
Thread: This months MEW are 3 CNC features two too many
16/05/2011 18:20:40
Posted by Paul Boscott on 16/05/2011 18:17:19:
Model Engineer has always showcased the latest technology I see no reason the Model Engineers Workshop should not follow in that tradition.
 
Paul
Paul -
 
Couldn't agree more.
 
Regards,
Tony
16/05/2011 17:10:27
Posted by blowlamp on 14/05/2011 12:37:50:

By the way, can I ask the Luddites how they're managing to post their replies on this forum with their chalkboards, while I'm having to use a computer to write mine?
 

Chalkboards?!?! Luxury...all we had was a sand box & a stick...
 
Regards,
Tony
16/05/2011 17:02:11
Posted by blowlamp on 13/05/2011 23:49:15:
Incoming flak!
I'm sure the first blokes that used a lathe of some sort got slated by their peers for missing out on the pleasure of bringing their work to the round by applying a hand-made abrasive device to its surface, whilst supporting it in the crook of a branch of an English Oak.
And what about the lazy git that first jumped on a horse to get somewhere instead of doing the decent thing of walking?
 
You see, I see CNC as just another tool in the arsenal. You don't have to use it for everything, but if a part needs an elliptical profile on it and you've only got a lathe and vertical milling machine, then how are you going to do it without making yet another 'never to be used again' attachment device?
 
Martin -
 
Well put - it is indeed just another tool in the arsenal.
 
I guess it is each to their own - some get their kicks out of the hands-on approach and the feeling of having minutely filed and scraped every last square (or round) inch of the work, others get their kicks from the design process, and want to see that converted into an end result in the shortest possible time. I tend towards the latter (and increasingly, I also get my kicks out of building the machines that will allow me to convert design to finished article ASAP).
 
However, an observation for the old f.., er.. that should read Luddites, amongst us - cortesy of good old 'elf & safety and the general move to avoid anything that might, perish the thought, cause any damage to the precious & fragile bodies of the yoof of today, the generation currently going through school gets precious little opportunity to do anything "hands-on" these days, and CNC mills, routers, laser cutting tables, and the like are springing up to replace the traditional manual machinery. If MEW doesn't keep up with that end of the hobby, then it will go from being a useful albeit minority interest mag to being utterly irrelevant. Over the Luddites' dead bodies, (literally), of course.
 
Regards,
Tony
16/05/2011 16:46:26
Posted by macmarch on 13/05/2011 18:11:53:
Model Engineering Workshop Does this not mean equipment etc to produce Models and small scale? Seems as though we now have to become programmers to produce items we can make in half the time using our skills. CNC is alright if making dozens or hundreds. I make small parts in 20's and 30's just as quick or quicker manually than CNC. If the magazine continues in this vein then here's one that will not be renewing.
 
 
What rubbish. CNC is great for doing dozens or hundreds, that is true; however, it is also great for doing 1-offs where the complexity of the shape makes it a pain in the a$$ to machine it by hand. For example, the one clock I have made so far has skelton plates; cutting the plates, crossing out and machining the wheels, and cutting the hands was all done on my CNC Taig mill. All the parts were 1-offs with the exception of the plates, which were a matching pair. The CNC-milled finish was also a great deal easier to finish to a high standard than it would have been if they had been cut out using hand methods.
 
I think clockmaking was part of model engineering last time I looked, and as observed above, CNC machining has a place in that activity.
 
Regards,
Tony
Thread: D bit grinder work head calculations
08/05/2011 18:43:40
Posted by David Clark 1 on 06/05/2011 17:01:30:
Hi There
What started this thread off was an engraving cutter, not a D bit.
An engraving cutter is backed off on an angle and relieved in its diameter so it cuts.

Edited By David Clark 1 on 06/05/2011 17:03:11

I agree - I believe the OP is talking about engraving cutters. The ones I have bought, commercially ground, in the past have (as you point out) a flat ground at the cutting edge to give the right relief angle, which avoids the problem mentioned earlier in this thread.
 
Pantograph Services have a nice document that shows how this works - see "cutter geometry" on this page:
 
http://www.pantograph.co.uk/engraving-cutters-diamonds.htm

Regards,
Tony
 
08/05/2011 18:35:31
Posted by Steve Garnett on 05/05/2011 17:55:38:
I've got the ultimate grinder for you, Norman - it's a Steworndent!
I would have thought a Squorn would be more appropriate
 
Regards,
Tony
Thread: Dam Busters Channel Four tonight
03/05/2011 15:20:38
Posted by Mike on 03/05/2011 14:59:56:
The subject is of special interest to me as my late father was sent to 617 Squadron to help prepare the Lancasters for the Dams raid. He was an expert on aircraft electrical systems.
Mike -
 
Your father may well have known one of my uncles in that case - he worked in Barnes Wallis's team.
 
Regards,
Tony
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