Member postings for Doddy

I think quality wise its much better than a lot of the other especially those seen on ebay and youtube, the fit and finish is much better than I was expecting, the tool holders fit on a dovetailed slide with gib strip, all three fit snug without any major adjustment of the gib, just slacked the lock screw. I wasn't expecting that. The lathe tool holder is a bit cheapo but the other accessories are well made and well finished, the paint and finish is much better than my lathe and milling machine

The only down side is the lack of instructions, but for me that is the interesting part, working out how to use and set it up. As an apprentice many years ago I spent a week or two messing about with a Clarkson which stood unloved in the corner of the machine shop. I got great satisfaction when some of the machinist started asking me to sharpen and dress some of their tooling (most just went to the stores for new due to the time required)

The best part for me is I now falling asleep thinking about using it ~ Not laying awake thinking about buying or making a Tool Cutter Grinder

I did convert an Emco Unimat once over its OK just to dress up the ends of milling cutters but lack the rigidity ~ This thing is really solid ~ it's 50Kg

Got fed up of thinking should I buy a Universal Tool Cutter Grinder, yes I know there are loads of thoughts about this subject, yes I know you can buy loads of new drills, milling cutter, etc for the price. What the hell ~ I just went and got one after several years thinking about which to make or buy, make, model, size, where from and all that.

Well I just went and got this.....

Its from RDG Tools, well made, good fit and finish, everything is smooth and tight, I'm really impressed for the money and I'm going to enjoy fiddling in the shop with it ~ Yes I know some of the other are easier to use and are smaller, but you can only sharpen the ends of milling cutters. I really do love messing with machine tools and this will give me no end of fun playing with it.

The quality is much better than the photos on the web page show

Its from RDG Tools (check out the web page, its under new tools, scroll right down to the bottom of the page)

Will put up some more pictures, and don't hesitate to ask any questions ~ will do my best to answer, I'm no expert, just enjoy playing in the workshop

Just been given a couple of castings to make a small adjustable angle plate (think these maybe from CES)

I'm guessing as I have no plans that the two 'fitted' bolts and the mounting lugs are critical ~ My question is should these fitted bolts be plan straight through or tapered ?

Never worry too much if you make a mistake ~ you can always remake the part, or make a special bolt !

here's the link to my mod on my WM14 mill ~ Motor Cooling Fan and Temperature Gauge

For Stainless Steel I find "Rocol RTD cutting fluid" a must, it makes a world of differance, even with HSS drills

Edited By Dodweld on 24/08/2013 20:10:25

Edited By Dodweld on 24/08/2013 20:11:01

Not scientific but I use to let my motor get hand hot then let it cool, since fitting the fan and thermometer it runs to a similar "hand hot" temperature of 50'C so I,ve set myself a limit of 40'C. I work until my thermometer nears 40'C, finish my cut then allow to cool, the fan only takes a few minutes to reduce the temperature back down to 30'C but this is only when taking cuts which are really too big. Just milled the spokes on a brass flywheel, 1/4 inch slot drill, slow feed, and the temperature never rose above 35'C the ambient temperature in the workshop at 21'C

The fan only cools the motor, the only thing I did to the control board was use some heats sink paste to ensure a good thermal connection to the case.

It has been a worth while modification and something I could recommend doing

See my photos on my album

Edited By Dodweld on 17/08/2013 16:52:55

Fan mod to my WM14 here http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=85711

Edited By Dodweld on 16/08/2013 18:02:05

Turned the handle on my rotary table the wrong way ! Making a Fly Wheel for the OBG Beam, wanted 6 spokes but end up with 3! As soon as I moved the handle I knew I'd gone wrong ~ Could of made the spokes thinner but as it was my first attempt used it as practice, and knew I needed to made it in brass Much better

Mr Humphries, my instructor had three rules for speeds and feeds

Rule1. Coolant

Rule2. Coolant

Rule.3 Start slowly, Feed slowly,when the swaf or chips start to make a noise like frying beacon and eggs slow down a little

My biggest problem in the home workshop is the lack of a coolant pump and suds tray on my milling machine, stuck with using RTD spray or a soluble oil in a hand spray, can get a bit messy but Mr Humphries words always stay with me even though it was 30 years ago

Look, listen and feel what the cutter is telling you. Its up to you as the operator, speed and feed tables are theoretical values and good starting place.

To my cost I failed to realise the importance of scale too, whilst using my small home milling machine the feed and speed felt about right to me, but after several cuts with a large cutter I burnt out the motor, so now the size and depth of cut (tooth load) is much much less than what the book says !

So the bottom draw in the workshop has a few milling cutters which are a bit dull and have lost their edge. Always wanted a ToolCutter Grinder and one day I'm sure I'll make a Quorn, Stent, Worden or go and buy one. Up until now I've always though about the cost of a Tool Cutter Grinder Vs the price of a new cutter. Looking at the growing pile of blunt and chipped cutters there are a few that only require the edge "touching up" so heres my solution, yes it needs a guard and few other mods but I just made it to see if the results were OK. The only real problem is I can only sharpen the ends of Slot drills and End mills and not the sides and the diamond disk is turning down across the cutting edge rather than away from the cutting edge, but it hardly leaves a burr the block milled with a 6degree and 8degree angle and two mounting holes square to theses facessquared up an off cut of angle iron a mounted it central to the 3mm deep slotadded a stop screw and clamping boltmachined a carrier stub with 12mm x 1mm pitch threadscrewed to Unimat SL nose and machined in-situ to take the Diamond Grinding WheelDiamond wheel runs true as stub cut in postionMade a Riser Block to fit under the headstock of the lathe - this has to be 20mm thick so the Unimat Headstock clamp worksMilling cutter aligned horizontal with vernier on surface plate so as each cutting edge is sharpened in turn the are square and the stop screw ensures correct depth of cutsmall light cuts feeding the cross slide. E25 Collet Block ensures correct alignment

The fan is 240v origanally from Maplins , 13watt 85mA so supply is taken from the fused side mains supply chocolate block before the PCB. Runs all the time the power is on, so it cools the motor once I've finished the cut. Just add a temperature guage too

Just a little mod to my Warco Mill, the motor burnt out after four years of use, guess these temperatures didn't help, or was it that last cut (too deep and too fast a feed), so added computer cooling fan and vent to top cover (used to run with cover removed). I've now added a temperature guage to the motor, so now I know when its time for a cool beer! Me not the mill LOL

#After 4 years use my Warco WM14 mill motor finally gave the ghost and died on me. It has at times worked quite hard, sometimes taking cuts bigger than I should have, usually rushing to finish a job. The motor has run quite hot, so I used to run it with the cover removed. Cover removed to help with keeping things cool. with a little help from Don (big thankyou) at Warco Spares, I got my new motor, very quickly delivered and well packed. Removed the top plate to which gave me chance to inspect the plastic idler gear which some people manage to break, some say this is a weak point, but again after 4years it shows no wear or broken teeth. I think its possibly a good idea so as not to smash the whole gear drive should something happen Plastic gear - easy to replace, Another thing I wanted to look at whilst replacing the motor and threading the cable to the control box was the suggestion by some that this cable can become trapped whilst tilting the head. Not sure if this is possible as the cable run straight down and throught the top plate into the control boxwhen looking up from below the tilting hinge point, locking bolt is external to the cable route, so I can't see how it would be possible to doGuess its something to watchout for on older models. Hopeful my new motor will last a little longer, (I promise not to take exessive cuts honest) as I've fitted a computer case fan from Maplins to the motor cover and put a vent it the topThis should help keep things cooler, Thinking about it my little Emco Unimat motor should only be run for a few minutes at a time as its not a continously rated motor and gets hot too - might just fit a digital thermometer too....... Once again I'm very pleased with my little Warco WM14 Milling machine it has served me well for nearly 4 years, and with the help of Warco I'm sure it will keep going much longer

Edited By Dodweld on 16/07/2013 16:48:10

I'm from Yorkshire and I take exception to your comment "hard nosed yorkshire types"

I hope you don't take that view if you ever meet me !

I don't have any connection to RDG other than a happy customer

How easy was it to remove the bearing outer race from the headstock casting ?

Eccentricity may manifest itself as shaft to bore mis alignment (STBM) and/or dynamic run out (DRO).

Even with a good oil supply, high speed turbine shafts can suffer "oil whirl" leading to major vibration issues

Eccentricity and dynamic run out a usually due to mis alignment, more a "sloppy fit" in this case

Shame you'll not be there with a selection of you're latest small items

The whole point of the show for me is to "feel the goods"

Yes I spend a lot of money online, but I also enjoy spending a pocket full of cash on the day (don't tell her indoors, she'd have a fit if she knew how much)

If other traders follow suit then its unlikely I'll bother to go to the show and I live quite near

Guess this will be the slippery slope of the show and my money will get spent in the "High Street" out shopping with the girls, they know how to spend money, They spend all day "feeling the goods" in the high street shop then come home and go online and buy it cheaper

All it takes is temptation - No goodies on show - No spendy my money 

Hope you give away some top quality catalogues

Edited By David Dodwell on 24/03/2012 07:28:55

When I worked for the CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board) there was a standard specification for everything ~ Yes you've guess it ! even toilet paper

as approved by the Standards Committee in November 1960 specification06/0500/5

It even had to meet the requirements of British Standards BS3137 "Method of Determining Busting Strength of Paper" and I quote "the toilet paper shall fail at a pressure not less than 7.5 lb.per.square inch"

I'm not too sure but I think 7.5psi is about 2 tins of beans or a curry and 8 pint of John Smiths !

Edited By David Dodwell on 10/03/2012 09:45:01

Edited By David Dodwell on 07/11/2011 09:07:47