Member postings for Bikepete

There's a pic of the whole unit in his album which may or may not appear below. Not what I understand as a typical spindex.

At the risk of joining JS in the smartarse corner... no experience of that particular unit but:

- tried removing those allen head grub screws then twisting the index ring? Might just screw off...

- There's what looks like some sort of lock nut with spanner grooves (at about 4 and 10 o clock) within the indexing ring and outside the spindle itself. Make up a tool and try rotating this...

- Also be worth poking something down the keyway visible at 3 o clock on the spindle to see where it is engaged with something...hard to see on the pic but I assume the lock nut as above is NOT fixed to it...

- Also poke/shine a light into the hole at 12 o clock - check for another grub screw?

- Bit unlikely given the index hole spacing but you could look for (and feel with your fingers for in non visible section) any holes running radially inwards from the edge of the index wheel - might be more grubscrews...

FWIW I found an old and rather rough Elliott Selecta single phase bench grinder at a boot sale for £15 - new bearings were just over a tenner IIRC and after a clean and with these in place it is smooth as silk. I have a cheap B&Q one too and the Elliott is way quieter and with less vibration, plus it has decently solid rests. It's a bit taller but has much the same footprint as far as bench space goes. Anyway what I'm saying is don't discount getting an older industrial type one and replacing the bearings - if you can find one given your location, or a seller willing to send...

It may be a bit of a last resort but I'm wondering if that could be 'single phase motor vibration' - a pattern from torsional vibrations feeding through from cogging. Bit impractical to suggest trying a three phase alternative but as per this PM thread:

**LINK**

you could maybe try with belts very slack to see if that helps... assuming other owners of the same machine don't see it (also on single phase) it's possible you have an especially poor motor in that regard...

Four. Great inspiration to get on and make some progress building my CNC mill...

To save anyone else curious the bother of googling, the device in question appears to be this one:

**LINK**

and the "usual ME supplier" is Chronos:

**LINK**

and to find a price you have to go to:

**LINK**

where it appears to sell for £89 inc VAT.

Edited By Bikepete on 28/03/2014 10:43:04

A small toolmaker's clamp will also work as an emergency tap wrench if nothing else is to hand, though it's less than elegant.

Is it mining Bitcoins or something similar?

I'll poke my head over the parapet here as John has reminded me of one thing I've often found odd in MEW - a strange reticence to mention prices. They matter for some of us... and I've never understood why some writers seem so shy about them? Obviously prices will change over time but the date they're relevant for is on the front of the mag. Especially for less usual items. I recall an article about fitting a magnetic clutch for a lathe - interesting but without a price no idea whether it was even a possibility to look into.

A few other hopefully constructive thoughts:

- I always liked reading the 'workshop visit' articles - always interesting to see people's set-ups, storage ideas and projects. Would welcome some more of those. Now here's a good place for pseudonyms as there are legitimate concerns if identifiable.

- There have been some great 'techniques' articles recently - e.g. metal blackening, injection moulding (tank tracks), and the fly press. More welcome - bringing new techniques (affordably) to the home workshop so as to be able to do new things is just what makes the mag worth subscribing to for me.

- Wonder if there'd be interest in a 'featured machine tool or machine type' each issue - what it's used for, main makers names, a bit of history (from lathes.co.uk?), how much they go for nowadays, things to watch for if buying, etc? Old hands might know it all but newbies maybe not... but they'll see this ex-industrial stuff at secondhand dealers (including the various advertisers or come across it cheap on Ebay and background might help... e.g. old English bench/pillar drills (Union, Fobco, Pollard, Elliott etc), high speed bench drills, Senior/Alexander/Deckel/other interesting milling or multipurpose machines, gear hobbers, filing machines, presses (broaching, toggle, rack, fly), metal folders (Edwards etc), shapers, planers, Dynascopes... or even bits of small tooling with something clever/desirable/unusual about them e.g. Swindens/Gressel vices, Multifix/Tripan QCTPs, optical rotary tables, hydraulic milling machine vices, Centricators, etc?

and finally...

Re David Clark's workshop/shed series: worth mentioning perhaps that in most places with a bit of population there are concrete sectional garages regularly coming up on Ebay, Gumtree, local small ads etc, typically £50/£100 if you dismantle and take it away, bit better than £1500ish. There are also masses of secondhand double glazed doors and windows too, some new (mis-measured) and some used (replaced/upgraded) which you can use for better insulation and (somewhat) improved security on any shed compared to a single pane of glass (cut or build the shed to suit the door/window you've bought cheap).