Member postings for Mike Poole

I find drilling steel with a pistol drill it is easy to jam the drill if you deviate from the angle you started drilling at, breakthrough is difficult to control and the drill will wind itself in and jam, I think most drills will have enough power and inertia to make a chuck slip in a jam up. Even when the drill doesn't stop there will be torque variations while drilling as the flutes try to cut with each wobble.

Mike

I think gloves will not be a problem when grinding but wire brushing is a different proposition, leather gauntlets would be OK but anything that can be grabbed by the brush is dangerous, a leather apron is a good idea, I once stopped a drill mounted brush dead when it grabbed my pullover and wound it tight, grazes the tummy aswell.

Mike

Hiduminium applys to a family of aluminium alloys developed by/for Rolls Royce, the conrods for my original Triumph Trident are made from RR56 which was optmised as a high strength forging alloy. they must be pretty strong as they raced with standard rods and one occasion was documented where the engine was gunned to 10,000rpm to win a race, normal red line was 7,250rpm.

Mike

i think amazon and ebay sellers use an outrageous price when an item is out of stock, john Bradleys books seem to be available for about £32 from other sources, might be worth getting the library to get a copy to see whether buying would be useful.

Mike

Hi Paul, Tony Foale has a book about motorcycle frame design and building, I thought I had a copy but cannot find it,it seems quite a lot of money now at 53euros for a PDF copy. It may be worth getting the library to get a copy to see if it has any useful info.

Mike

Ps. It has chapters on materials and welding

Edited By Michael Poole on 04/08/2015 11:19:41

A few days ago it was reported that the sale of sheds to women was up 50% on the same period 2014. There may be some competion for garden space between the man cave and the she shed or maybe the indoor workshop could be on while "her indoors" becomes "her outdoors".

Mike

I found the first instruction on this sign to be totally at odds with my safety instruction on drilling machines.

Mike

Hi Ian, I think 3/16 UNF is 10-32. 10-32UNF was common on Austin Morris cars when they went unified before they were metricated in the 70s. I think it was used to replace 2BA

Mike

I have one of these and find it works very well, I searched for the barson item but they seemed to go for silly prices and the I came across one of these at Drill Service Horley. I like the idea of not using an impact tool on a machine spindle especially a hobby machine which has a lighter build than an industrial tool. The Barson was standard issue in the factory where I served my apprenticeship and is very useful to tap a drill into its taper and for one handed ejection. The opposing taper type ejector is also a one handed tool but you also need a small copper mallet to tap a drill into its taper.

Mike

Edited By Michael Poole on 06/07/2015 14:38:11

I used to live under the approach to Abingdon and well remember the Beverly, one year a Phantom at the Abingdon airshow managed to lift the roofs of the bungalows in Wootton, I think the RAF fixed every crack in every home in Wootton that year.

Mike

I suspect that to turn to fractions of a thou it will be necessary to master sharpening and setting the tool to a high standard, if using insert tooling the selection of tip and setting will still be important. The performance of a machine can be maximised in the hands of a skilled user. The old saying "a bad workman blames his tools" can often be true. A lathe of the highest quality may not deliver work of the highest standard unless the operator masters the setup of the machine and the material being turned. We all need to understand the limitations of the machine aswell as the limitations of the operator to get the best of our equipment.

Mike

I think we should be under no illusion that the machines and tooling that we buy from the suppliers who service the hobby market are built to a price and not the highest possible quality. What is remarkable is just how good this equipment is for the money. Most is fit for hobby purposes but may not have a long life in a production environment, but is is not aimed at that market. I think choosing your supplier carefully is important, they have a reputation to maintain and in turn choose their suppliers with care. People often post on this forum their good and bad experiences with suppliers. A realistic expectation of what you get for the price you pay must be adopted. If you pay £2000 for a lathe it will not be a Shaublin but it will be acceptably accurate and have a reasonable life in the hands of a hobbiest. There are many machine specific forums that will help in making a decision on future purchases. For small tooling I stick with suppliers who have served me well, this gives me peace of mind and rewards them with my loyalty.

Mike

If you are using a piece of Allen key as a shear pin be very careful until you replace with the correct item, they are extremely tough and may not be the weakest link any more.

Mike

The Drilltru is a lighter machine than the M4, the M4 has capacity of 7/8" and a speed range to suit 80-4000rpm with a gearbox to give a total of 10 speeds. The Drilltru has 5 speeds from 500-4000rpm which will limit its maximum drill size. The M4 has a very heavy table which if not fitted with the optional rise and fall mechanism tends to require some muscle power to adjust. Both machines are well made, it just depends what your needs are.

Mike

Edited By Michael Poole on 12/06/2015 19:13:12

Niko, one day I will think of an idea that someone hasn't already thought of.

Mike

I remember that Mr Pagan as mentioned above had the jaws of the Record vices in the school metal shop, surface ground smooth as the sort of work done in school did not demand grip jaws and made the pupils lives easier not having to deal with soft jaws all the time. I have often thought Record are missing a trick by not countersinking both side of the jaws so one side have grips and the other is smooth, a few minutes work to swap to grips when they are really needed.

Mike

When I was a schoolboy I found a 5" vice in a ditch at the end of our village, I managed to get it home on the rack of my bicycle. It had no jaws but I managed to unscrew the sheared off jaw screws and made some mild steel replacements in metalwork at school, Mr Pagan the metalwork master charged me 6p for material. The jaws lasted about 15 years before I replaced the vice, although they took a lot of punishment they could be tidied up with a file now and again. Only occasionally when using some heavy duty persuasion did I wish I had hard jaws with grip pattern, now I have a vice with hard grip jaws I find I use soft jaws much of the time. On your quest for alternative jaws maybe Faithfull brand would fit? if someone could measure the screw centers and size or if you post the centers and size of the record 23.

Mike

I have found that the most inspirational teachers I have had are ones who have worked in industry, I went to a grammer school where all the teachers had degrees from top 10 universities except for the metalwork teacher. He was a great guy who had started work aged 14 hand sanding buses in a factory, I still have the passion from those lessons 47 years ago. At tech college I had a lecturer for electronics who had worked in industry, his anecdotes about the practical applications brought the subject alive and made his lectures ones not to miss. Trigonometry has been the most useful thing I ever learned in maths, finding almost daily tasks for it in the workshop. I think it would be a very good thing if the teaching profession were able to attract more people from industry or business to inspire the young with their experience.

Mike

I have always thought that a stop button held in the buttocks would react faster than the one you hit with your hand or foot.

Mike

7.5 hp is just getting to the point where a star delta starter could be used in which case the delta connection may be for 415v and the star for 690v. Check the rating plate, just because you have a 6 teminal connection does not mean the delta voltage is 230v.

Mike