Member postings for Ray Lyons

Have you seen their workshop manuals, free to download and far better than we get in the UK. I was lucky in getting the manual for my lathe before it was replaced by a newer model. If you are thinking of buying a Chinese machine in UK, you may wish to cross check with the Grizzly site to preview the manual. It seems to me that everything in USA is cheaper than in the UK, perhaps it is the scale of the sales

Somewhere, at the back of my garage is an oxygen generator. It used hydrogen peroxide and water to form oxygen contained in two small tanks . The whole thing is about the size of a mini inverter welder. If I remember rightly, peroxide came in 1 ltr bottles, bought 4 at a time. It came with its own gas torch with a screwed fitting for a Maps gas bottle held at the back. It worked OK for some time but I now use the semi professional bottles which are obtained on a single deposit payment and only need to pay for the cost of refill. Even better, I have now found a local agent for supplies which saves the cost of postage.

I made a couple of hives to the national standard some time ago. A time consuming job as it needed to cut and plane a lot of small parts. On reflection, I think it is much better to buy the kit for the National hive and assemble it yourself. This will ensure that all the internals fit such as the foundations for the honey.

Yes, I do compare but what is the alternative to MEW?. If there is a need to increase subscriptions, then surely the way to do it is to tell the subscriber rather than having to find out in a one line note in the digital edition box. When I telephoned, no reference was made to an increase in charges. Having bought the magazine from the start, I can only say that I now feel sore, not the best of customer relations. When I had a similar problem with my energy supplier it was easy to go elsewhere and saved a lot of money. The increase does not bother me greatly but the way it was introduced can only be described as poor, in my opinion, not a good customer relations effort.

The increase is about 23%, I thought only bankers and MPs see that kind of rise.

And I thought it was just a gremlin. Last week I had an EMail telling me about the latest edition of the magazine so I logged into the digital site, only to be advised in RED that my subscription was about to run out. I have been a subscriber for many years having bought from issue 1 so I telephoned to find the problem. Very helpful, should not have happened. All OK!!. Next thing I recd an EMail advising me that my subscription has been renewed at £14.63 per Q. I last paid £11.80 in August and when checking, I could cancel my existing subscription and renew for £13.50 every 3 months. (and get a free toy)

Sent them an EMail, they are looking into my query. Why fix something which is not broken.

I make enough typing errors myself not to be critical of others. When the magazine drops on my doormat it is a great pleasure. Hot coffee and a comfortable chair, then a couple of hours of sheer bliss. Keep up the good work Neil.

I have only seen one crash and that was at a local show in the mid 50s. A Provost trainer was being put through its paces by an experienced naval pilot . As it pulled out of a loop, directly opposite and facing us on the other side of the runway it seemed about 50-100 ft up when the plane dropped like a stone. There was a large fireball and the wings broke off, cart wheeling across the runway. It is still remains a vivid memory for me today. If I remember correctly, the cause was later attributed to downdraft

I have moved ML7s and S7s a few times. Now I use a piece of hardboard or better still a piece of board with a plastic surface. This is placed in the estate car floor and then the lathe, is put on a two wheel sack truck on top of a smooth board. I then reverse the truck onto the back of the car so that the handles rest into the boot. This then allows me with a bit of help, to lift the wheels of the truck up to boot height and then slide the lathe into the car. It is quite easy if the surface of the plastic or hardboard is wiped over with an oily rag before starting. Lifting the lathe onto a bench is best done with a car engine crane, readily available from the hire shop, although I have rigged up two gantries made of 4x2" timber and threaded rod to hoist and get into position, a long process but safe.

I bought the plans at the Bristol Exhibition a couple of years ago and decided to make one using mainly steel fabrication. When the warm weather comes, I hope to get back into the shed to complete, mainly screws and graduation marking to do. I agree with CB, the two bars do seem a bit frail and also they are only 5/8" diameter. I fabricated the securing bracket at the "fixed" end so that the rods are held in 1" sockets. I used the design method of securing the pieces together but because it is made of steel it leaves the option to weld if things start falling apart. I intend using an ER collet sprindle to hold the cutters and a spring loaded pin to index.

If the weather gets warmer, I will try to get some photos.

Its great to see the modern woodworker with his/her mobile workshop equipped with power tools. As an apprentice (many years ago) I worked on a building site where there were gangs of tradesmen assigned to certain jobs, roofs, joists, doors etc., At 19 I was in a group fitting and hanging doors,. There were about six of us, each working on our own in separate houses. The average door count to fit and hang was 10 a day. Locks and stops were followed to complete. "Penny" joints were required on all doors but I think we cheated by using a 1 1/2" oval nail to set the gap, usually enough for 3 coats of paint. The door bottom was measured and cut to a line scribed using the thickness of a folding rule run along the floor. This would be enough to just clear most standard carpet I would think that carpenters today, with all the power tools and jigs would finish a house in half the time. I wonder how much bonus they earn, I got an extra 10 shillings a week for completing two houses.

Thanks all for your suggestions. I have just been up to have a look and strip down to identify the problem.

The motor is a capacitor start so I was surprised that it could be stalled at 1/2 HP but looking again, it appears to be "geared" up where the drive belt cover is larger at the motor end than that at the sprindle. Its all constructed with pressed steel sections, bolted together with mainly 2mm Phillips head screws.The main drive sprindle is fitted with ball races, the outer being held in place by a pressed metal cap secured to the side plate with 3 small screws. I suppose the things must be jig or robot built to get the alignment right. Anyway, I found the problem to be the bottom cover plate where it had come in contact with the belt and the two fixing anchors have been ground away.

Now all back together and test run. The motor only gets warm after running for an extended period but Bob is right, light pressure is only required to get results. After all, it is only a DIY machine. Many thanks to all, I think this one can be put to bed now, although I still have to devise a fitting to secure that bottom cover plate.

Several months ago, before the onset of winter I was making a disk sander but family commitments took me away from the shed and the cold weather until now. Realising how much time was being taken up on making simple items I decided to spend some of savings on a new combined disk and belt sander from EBay.

After unpacking, I tried it out just to make sure that the motor worked and tested with a piece of wood and all seemed ok. Today, I went up to the shed to use the sander only to find that it would not start with the belt under tension. Releasing the belt, the motor started but any real pressure on either the belt or disk will stall the motor. At first I thought that it could have been dampness caused by over winter in the unheated shed (actually the back end of the garage) so I left the machine to run for about 1/2 hour but found little improvement in the power. After running, the end cap on the belt sprindle was very hot as was the motor. The motor is rated at 375W and when I compare it to the same power motor on my drill, it is only about half the physical size.

Looks as if I have bought another lemon and now thinking of making a shaft to replace the motor and drive this by a larger motor positioned away from the sander.

Anyone with experience of these machines, your comments please except for chucking it in the bin.

At least you have got a sprindle and bearings. My first lathe, a very old Drummond, came with the bare headstock, the seller saying that it would be an easy task for a professional turner to make and fit the missing bits. Anyway, I made them myself. I will not go into detail but the bearings were tapered in the headstock and as I did not have any bronze of a suitable diameter, these were turned from steel and bored out to take bronze sleeves. These were shrink fitted and reamed before splitting. This setup lasted me for many years and was a great introduction to the hobby.

Your lathe looks great and I hope you have as much joy as I had with your first projects.

When I moved home and downsized, selling my large SIP mig welder, I bought one of these Clarke no gas jobs. Not as good as the SIP mainly because of the very course controls, just two rocker switches high/low. The performance was acceptable but not good enough for finer work, say car body panels. The main advantage is the ability to use it outside where even a draught will destroy the gas welding.

Shortly after moving, a neighbour saw me using the mig and wondered if the flux coated wire would work on his Professional Cebora. By professional, I mean that like the SIP it was on wheels with provision for fitting a large gas bottle on the back. I fitted it up for him and although there was no polarity switch, I found the welding was easy and smooth. I put that down to the quality of the welder and the ability to use the controls for fine tuning.

On the Clarke welder, there is a small plastic tube for use with a mini gas bottle but I have not bothered to set it up. Nothing in the instructions about reversing polarity. Perhaps with the coarse controls it would not make any difference.

Hi Les,

On my grinder, the motor can be turned through 180d so that the drive shafts are reversed. I usually use the right hand threaded end for surface grinding to avoid having to set the cutters up to grind on the left side of the machine. With the rotary switch, it is an easy mistake to turn the motor in the wrong direction which fortunately for me,on the very rare occasion has resulted in a loose wheel and not the disaster which could result.

Ray

Hi Mark,

I have a similar grinder but mine is fitted with a single phase motor with a very old type rotary switch mounted on top of the motor. I have seen photos of one which has been converted using a bench grinder. Don't know about the electrics but the shafts on mine have one end right hand threaded and the other left handed. Have to be careful to switch the motor in the right direction on start up.

At one time I attended evening classes at our local college where they had a number of large lathes, mainly Colchester Mascots. Because each session was only 2 hours duration, I would try for a machine which was set up with a chuck to suit my task. On some occasions, I had to change the chuck, what a job. Even then as a young man, I felt the strain of lifting such a large lump of metal so when a new college was built about 25 years ago and the chance came to purchase one of the Colchesters, I declined an the basis that with old age, strength decreases and I could well see myself doing time in the hernia ward.

Thanks for that. I had a feeling that it was the new operating system and last night, I downloaded an update which fixed the problem. Now printing direct from the page.

I tried again later and failed to print from the page. Went back to my old computer running Windows Vista and printed out no problem so it must be something to do with Windows 8. I will have another go later but at least I still have access using the old computer.