Member postings for Ian Johnson 1

Thanks John your video shows off the model nicely, and it works quite well, I didn't realise the wick needs to be so close to the cylinder.

IanJ

Mmmm sounds like a challenge to make it go! But as usual we have some good advice on here thanks. I've not used meths for years, last time was in a Mamod engine, nearly burnt the kitchen down! So meths it is then!

I'll start by gathering together the metal, should have enough bits in the offcut bin.

I'll have a cup of tea, think of some ornate artistic design for the feet and plinth and fire up the KX1 (it's been idle for a while now) and see which parts I can make by CNC or manual machines. Should keep me occupied over winter.

IanJ

Thanks for the link Vic some interesting stuff there. That's a nice little engine, but only run for a few minutes! maybe that's why the plans were free? But I'll probably go with the plans I have and see how it goes.

IanJ

While having a tidy up today I came across an old Model Engineer plan for a vacuum engine. Designed by Jan Ridders of the Netherlands. It was free in issue 4323.

It looks relatively easy to machine, it's a nice small size and I've not made a vacuum engine before so I thought why not give it a go!

Has anyone made this model?

IanJ

During my apprenticeship we used blue marking out for bright metal like mild steel or aluminium, and white marking out for dark metal like cast iron.

Getting a contrast when marking out makes things a lot easier to see.

IanJ

Try the new Sharpie 'Pro' felt tip marker pen, it writes on oily or wet surfaces. Bought one today from the local supermarket £3

IanJ

Great idea to use local businesses, and that blacksmith now has another product he can sell.

My local(ish) blacksmith is snowed under with work and is no longer taking any extra work on.

IanJ

That makes sense If it's not being used in confined spaces

IanJ

These are the same sort of people who put the detectors in plastic bags to keep them dry, and these are the same sort of people who die in confined spaces!

It looks very similar to the sensors fitted in confined space entry multi gas detectors.

Try contacting hire shops who sell or hire Crowcon gas detectors or similar devices. I recommend you speak to the service dept guys not the sales office.

Edit: similar to those fitted to the Crowcon Triple plus+

IanJ

Edited By Ian Johnson 1 on 10/08/2020 17:11:26

That's an impressive test Barrie, might try it on my KX1 although my dial gauges are 0.001" and are plenty accurate enough for me. If I got a one micron dial gauge I think I'd end up in the loony bin searching for the mythical lost micron!

IanJ

I bought my KX1 from arc euro over four years ago. Soon after I bought it arc euro had issues with back up and servicing of the machines, so decided to exit the CNC market. Axminster as far as know still sell them under their own banner and colours, in an enclosure. But due to the coronavirus may be having difficulty getting machines.

Can't remember the last time I saw one for sale, I think people keep hold of them because they are good machines.

IanJ

I agree with mick above, conversions always seem to me to be a compromise between a purpose built CNC and converted manual machine.

I also have a Sieg KX1 and think it's a great little purpose made CNC mill. I've not inspected every single piece of work it has done, although everything has come out pretty darn good, it is advertised at 0.01mm repeatability. So just under half a thou isn't too bad, not far off the accuracy you are after.

A purpose made machine looks like the sensible option.

IanJ

Thanks very much for the link John, some very impressive g code there. It'll take a while to get my head around thread milling, so don't hold your breath for any projects any time soon!

IanJ

Just read through your archive post John, very interesting, it looks like thread milling is do-able! I like the idea of using an old tap.

One job which comes to mind is machining lens adapters for filters etc. These have a very fine pitch and not a lot of them, going to a shoulder.

IanJ

Thanks for the link Martin I forgot about the excellent Vectric tutorials.

The only sticking point for me is the cost of the cutters which are quite expensive, I have a feeling I would break a few until I got the hang of it.

IanJ

I use Vectric Vcarve desktop for programming jobs on my Sieg KX1 mill, and last night I upgraded to the latest version 10.5, free of charge, which was nice.

Amongst the new upgrades is the facility to thread mill which I have never done before. Some of you may use Fusion 360 and the like which has the capability, but this is new territory for me.

So my questions are: has anyone done thread milling on the KX1 (or KX3)? Any tips? Which program did you use? If it was Vectric Vcarve that would be a bonus!

Ian J

Very nice, a good looking model. Well done

IanJ

Aha! Good idea! But then all the other pieces would look rubbish and for the next 20 years I would be looking at them wishing I had made something that looked pretty