Member postings for Roger Vane

Hi John

Suspect that you've locked one or more of the axes. i have TC 20, and if you go to the bottom RH corner of the screen there are 3 boxes which show the X, Y and Z positions for the cursor. Beside each one is a tick box which locks the position of the cursor for that axis - make sure that you haven't accidentally ticked one of them.

Other things to try -.

1 Look under 'modes / snaps' on the drop-down menus and make sure that you haven't selected 'ortho', as that will allow the cursor to move at right angles only.

2 With the line tool selected, right click and select 'local snap' - you may have selected ortho here - deselect it and all should be ok.

Please let us know what you find - good luck

Roger

Mine too - and i'm sober.

Hi Simon

Ideally, you should have teeth in contact with the workpiece at all times. if you can eliminate the interrupted cut altogether, then it's far kinder to the machine and to your cutter - the surface finish will almost certainly be better as well.

I have a good quality inserted tooth cutter - 50mm dia with 3 teeth - that I hardly use due to this problem.

As Stuart says, the entry angle is also reduced dramatically which will reduce the knocking - reducing the feed rate should also help. Give it a try - an old machinists trick that really works.

Good luck.

My subscription copy of ME 4715 arrived yesterday - unfortunately it had been damaged, presumably during the packing process.

i phoned Mortons and spoke to a very helpful lady, who told me that they would send a replacement copy.

The replacement copy arrived this morning - next day. Brilliant service - thank you Mortons.

Hi Stuart

Pleased that you've seen an improvement. Thanks for letting us know.

Hi

I have the same problem when using a large cutter on my VMC.- any other mill is likely to exhibit the same problem to a greater or lesser degree. The basic cause is down to the size of cutter vs material width.

Assuming that the aluminium is 19mm wide, with a 40mm diameter cutter (3 teeth) you have an interrupted cut for much of the cutter's rotation due to the lack of teeth in contact with the workpiece. This is a particular problem if the cutter is on the centre line of the workpiece.. Exactly the same situation as the 'knocking' of an interrupted cut on the lathe.

Moving the cutter so that the tooth just skims to edge of the material should improve the situation, although it probably won't eliminate it altogether. An alternative would be to use a cutter with more teeth, such as a shell mill.

Good luck - please let us know how you get on.

My car insurance renewal came in at 70% more than last year. Seems that i was loaded due to a minor coming together of mirrors - just a few hundred pounds, and I didn't even make a claim. All this despite having protected no-claims bonus.

Needless to say that i didn't renew, but went to a comparison site and found a better insurance for less than I paid last year - and a £20 Halfords gift card as a bonus. It pays to look around.

Slightly different topic, but once went to a dentist whose surname was Mercy

Although I started off with a Vertex K4, I also treated myself to a Warco DH-1 vice which I now use for most jobs. I find it to be very accurate, and with a 175mm jaw opening it covers most of my needs. The optional V-jaws and high-jaws make it even more versatile, Not cheap, but well worth considering if your machine is large enough to accept it.

Hi William

I destroyed the original rubber cover within the first 30 minutes or so of using the machine. it has been replaced by a piece of leathercloth which I find to be very effective and have only replaced once in the last 10 years (due to be replaced again in the near future). I have only covered the top of the knee and left the vertical column uncovered as i find that i use this space for a magnetic clock stand on occasions. Replacement of the original thick rubber sheet has given me an increase ib Y-axis travel.

On the subject of the X-axis DRO scale, I have mounted this on the front of the table, using the original slot intended for the table stops. I have made a new stop-bar and stops which fit outside the scale. You will find some pictures and a brief description included in a post by 'Steve Talbot 1' under the subject heading 'Using DROs' posted 30/05/2011. I also wrote this up for MEW, and it was published in issue 196.

Hope that this helps

Roger

Hi Vic

I have fitted a 4" riser to my VMC, and on raising the table the leadscrew will disengage before touching the retracted spindle nose. If you have managed to disengage the leadscrew on one occasion then you won't want to do it again, as it's a real pain to re-engage.

In reality, I don't have any real problems with disengagement as there is normally a chuck or some other tooling in the spindle. The 4" riser solves far more problems than it creates, and transforms the use of the machine.

I had one done last year - brilliant job.

No real discomfort and a really quick job - the surgeon did 9 of us in the morning session. Had mine done at 9.30 on the Monday morning and back home by midday. Sight 'blotchy' the following day when I removed the bandage (as expected) and by Saturday lunchtime I could clearly read number plates at the legal distance with that eye alone.

So, go for it. You will be amazed at how it changes your life - the gift of sight is wonderful.

Hi Cliff

I had a similar problem a few years ago, and traced it to run-out of the (big name) drill chuck that was holding the edge finder. On testing the runout on the chuck I found it to be around 0.004" TIR, which was playing havoc with accurate centring, even with an up-market edge finder.

Certainly it's worth clocking the chuck to check TIR - you may be shocked.

Brian

I had an imperial edge finder with a fixed probe and which used a 12-volt battery and filament bulb. As happens with these things, a heavy over-run led to concerns about accuracy. I then searched the market for an edge finder with a ball-end which could be displaced and then return to position in the case of an over-run. They were certainly available at the time, but with body diameters of either 20mm or 32mm they were far too large for my use.

So, I started to develop my own with a ball ended probe, initially using a 12-volt battery and a filament bulb. Although it worked, I soon became frustrated with the poor response and short battery life.

The next stage was to move to using an LED with a flat cell battery, and I’ve found it very responsive in use with good repeatability.

The design has a 1/2” diameter body and a 1/4” diameter ball, although the ball diameter can be changed within reason if you can find a ball of the correct diameter.

I have written it up as an article, complete with detailed drawings and Neil has it in the queue for publication in MEW, so if you can afford to wait for a while then making your own could be an option.

Martin

The edge finder works by completing an electrical circuit when the probe touches the workpiece. That circuit goes from the probe, through the workpiece and machine back to the probe, and as long as everything in the circuit is electrically conductive then the edge finder lights up.

Maidstone Engineering list 3/32" flats - 3/4" and 1" wide. (Phone no: 01580 890066)

Vic

Maybe I have a 'belt allergy', and I guess that it's down to personal preference in the end. I would agree that it only takes less than a minute to change belt ratios, but I found from using the mill / drill that I could do that many times in a day which adds up to a considerable amount of lost productive time. Even though it is for hobby use, the lost productive time is important, particularly if time available to be spent in the workshop is limited.

However, there are other benefits to using a variable speed drive apart from changing speeds (which is instantaneous). The standard VMC only has 9 speeds, whereas the variable speed drive has as many as you want at the turn of a knob. Also, with the Newton Tesla remote control box there is also a 'jog' function, which I find invaluable for tapping holes under power. The Warco variable speed VMC was not available until recently.

I was so impressed with the inverter drive that I have also fitted my Myford with a package, as has a friend. Neither of us would wish to return to belt changing on a regular basis.

As for the raising block, I found that I really needed that extra headroom for the type of work that I undertake, and the tooling that I use. Had I been able to buy one 'off the shelf' then certainly I would have done so, but requests to Warco to supply proved unsuccessful.

In praise of the Warco VMC …..

Although I'd love a Bridgeport, it would be far too large for my workshop and has features which I would probably never use. As my best alternative, around 10 years ago I purchased a VMC from Warco.

After using a mill / drill for many years, the VMC is pure luxury, although I have personalised it somewhat. Firstly, I ordered a non-stock machine as I wanted imperial lead screws, an R8 spindle (far better than MT), and a 3 phase motor - delivery was around 6 months, which was ideal as I was moving the workshop at the time. I also ordered the wide drip tray which I considered essential.

In order to use the machine the first job was to fit an inverter from Newton Tesla, complete with their remote control box. This was a huge improvement over the standard belt changing system that I'd been using with the mill / drill.

I also fitted 3-axis digital readouts, with the X-axis scale fitted to the front of the table so as not to restrict Y-axis movement. Other additions have included two small LED lights (home designed and made), a full coolant system and revised X / Y axis stops.

Overall, I have found the VMC to be a good, solid and accurate machine which has done everything asked of it, although it did have one limitation which irritated me. I found that the distance between the spindle nose and table was insufficient for my needs - the solution was a 4" raising block which I made from Meehanite. This is just about possible on my Super 7 using a 6" 4-jaw chuck with a screwed body rather than the backplate style.

Just one more addition to make, and that's to add a digital scale to the quill down feed, complete with a revised quill stop.

Would I recommend the VMC for consideration? Certainly.

PS If anyone is interested in the fitment of the X-axis DRO (with new table stops) to the front of the table, the LED lights or the raising block then I have covered these with articles in either ME or MEW.

Could we please include a detailed article about lining as well? Bad lining can ruin a good paint job.

Thanks

Roger

I took a different approach to blowlamp when removing the quill from my Warco VMC, which I believe is basically the same as the Myford version.

Following removal of the depth stop threaded rod and nuts I removed the guide block - this is held onto the quill with a single M5 capscrew. To release the quill itself, wind it downwards using the downfeed lever until the quill disengages from the drive pinion, taking care to provide support as it is released. One word of warning here - control the return of the lever rather than just release it as the return spring is quite strong and it will hurt if the lever hits you. Reassembly is the same procedure in reverse - wind the handle down and re-engage the pinion.

It is worth supporting the quill on the machine table (onto a piece of wood to protect the table surface). In that way you will have control of the quill by moving the knee up or down.

RDG did have some special 'Dickson' style holders that fit the '7' tool post designed to overcome your problem - they are deeper and have a cut-out at the bottom and can hang over the front of the top slide (so that they can take larger tools)..

I bought mine from their eBay shop, but can't see them at the moment. Might be worth a phone call.

Good luck.