Member postings for Mike Poole

One thing to check is that the sleeve in in the correct position relative to the key hole, I had a problem with the key not fitting properly which turned out to be the sleeve having moved. It is only located by friction but should be pushed up to a hard stop.

Mike

I replaced one of the bushes in my drill with a phosphor bronze replacement, it lasted very well until it was stolen.

Mike

I think I have the Central Point Software Option board around somewhere which was able to circumvent some of the tricks employed for copy protection of floppy discs. Some friends bought it while over in the USA but somehow I finished up being the keeper of the equipment. Of course we only used it to make backups of protected discs😉

Mike

We always seem to be talking about removing twist when setting a lathe up, surely we should be talking about not introducing twist by poorly installing the lathe. One would hope that a lathe bed was not twisted when it was manufactured and the casting was properly seasoned before it became a lathe bed. Of course many lathes will have a history by the time they reach our hands and previous abuse may have damaged the bed. I often think a three point mounting could avoid the ham fisted harming the bed but if the bed has developed a twist for whatever reason it would be difficult to correct it.

Mike

Sometimes the only important feature of a parallel is that it is parallel and it has a matched pair. Other times the dimension is important as well, perhaps setting up work on a surface table for marking out will require accurate parallelism and dimension.

Mike

It was quite common practice to use BA for sizes below 1\4” . 0BA is 6mm x 1mm pitch the thread angle is the big difference between standard metric. The seemingly odd sizes in the BA series are because the next smaller size is 90% of the preceding size in diameter and pitch which throws up the odd sizes.

Mike

Our postie must regret going on holiday, when she returns she has to deliver all the post that piled up while she was away.

Mike

They look like a wire ended lamp to me, how sure are you that they are LEDs?

Mike

My grandfather lived through the arrival of the motor car to seeing men on the moon, he just missed the personal computer.

Mike

I think we are racing towards a Brave New World, Huxley will prove to be rather late with his projected date.

Mike

I volunteered to re-cloth the youth club pool table, I didn’t measure the table when I ordered the cloth but come the day to do the job the cloth was too small. As a tournament had been arranged and the table now had no cloth I had to do a quick 180mile round trip to exchange the cloth, good job I started early that day as I did get the job done for the evening tournament.

Mike

The ML7 and ML7R both had the long cross slide as an option so those are probably the longest. The Super 7 had quite a long slide as standard but the power cross feed version is a different again but probably a similar length. Lengths of suitable threaded rod are available but will need work to turn them into a complete feed screw.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 06/05/2023 12:39:40

I think coolant might cause some sogginess, a decent dry cut with carbide may be a fire risk but apart from those snags you could be on to something

Mike

It would seem an unusual brand to counterfeit as files are not a high volume product. Tome Feteira are a respected brand these days as the old familiar brands have disappeared. If I was going to counterfeit files I think I would be stamping them with Vallorbe which is probably a more widely recognised brand. It may be worth an email to Tome Feteira with a picture to see if they recognise the branding as theirs from days gone by. If you could write it in Portuguese they may be impressed.

Mike

I used the fine diamond lap I use for carbide router cutters to improve the feel of a cheap but not the cheapest caliper, it is silky smooth now. I just gave all the guide surfaces of the scale a minimal rub with the lap but did nothing with the sliding head guides.

Mike

I think the thread fit is not so important if the chuck fitment is a register. Some early lathes did not have the register surfaces so the thread was more important. If the mounting has register surfaces then my feeling is that the thread should not compete with the register and should just allow the register to locate the chuck and the thread hold it against the register faces.

Mike

I accept the points Martin and Jason make but if concentricity is critical you will need a quick confirmation check with a clock as you never know when a swarf chip is undermining your expected accuracy. I was taught that a 3 jaw is an everyday general purpose work holder and the accuracy and repeatability should always be questioned. Of course for many jobs concentricity is not critical and a decent chuck in good condition will be entirely satisfactory. For the few moments required to just position an indicator and spin the job to check that all is well could save a job from a random burr, dirt or swarf particle upsetting things. Changing chucks and collets or machining soft jaws takes time so only doing it when the job demands it will save time and effort. The case was made by the late Commander Barker for machining the backplate register for the chuck body undersize to allow the chuck to be adjusted to run true and the bolts tightened, a poor man’s Griptru. When you consider the construction of a scroll chuck it is miraculous that they are as accurate as they are.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 23/04/2023 20:42:29

The only chuck that has no runout is the 4 jaw independent and this is only if you have the patience or desire to adjust it to that level. Any self centering chuck will have a tolerance and this can vary with the work diameter, the scroll mechanism can eat a swarf chip at any time and lose the accuracy you thought it had. If you need the surface you are holding in the jaws to be concentric with the surface you are machining then you will need to check with an indicator it is within the tolerance you require. I have no idea of the runout of my three jaw chucks because it does not matter to me. If the job needs to be concentric and cannot be completed without repositioning then it will have to be remounted in an independent jaw chuck or a collet. The accuracy or a three jaw should be of little concern for most work and some thought given to the order of operations can often make the runout irrelevant.
Mike

A school friend and I used to go down the scrap yard and scrounge lawnmower engines, they used to let us roam round the yard unsupervised and never charged us for the treasures we found. I still have a Suffolk engine and a Villiers two stroke with a brass flywheel. To run the Villiers I mounted it on a frame and made a petrol tank out of a 1 quart oil can with the cap from a one gallon oil can soldered onto the side. Although the cap was not vented it never gave a problem, I doubt I ran the contraption long enough for the non vented cap to starve the engine. Much more fun than a PlayStation I think. I discovered how a piston ported 2 stroke and side valve 4 stroke worked from these adventures.
Mike

After 55 years of being told to set tools on centre height I think that will be a hard habit to break. I wonder if centre height which is a definite position is easier for the novice to get right than getting into trouble with the tip set too high.

Mike