Member postings for Mike Poole

Saw table

this thread has some pictures of the Myford saw table.

Mike

Myford used to make a saw table to mount on the cross slide. The blade was basically a 5” diameter slitting saw mounted between centres. The table could be adjusted for height and the work clamped to it. The metal cutoff saw in our workshop was a very substantial machine with a fine toothed HSS blade. The chop saw type machine by Evolution Rage seem to control the depth of cut with the design of the blade, the control of chips and any broken tips should be contained by the guards but I can imagine the hot chips will scatter widely as the cutting speed is still quite high although slower than the wood only machines. I know a very competent woodworker who lost two fingers to a circular saw, they don’t even blink if you offer your fingers to them.

Mike

If using an unfamiliar tool then checking these things is essential before cutting metal. It is not always obvious if a machine is metric or imperial so make some checks. The cross slide being calibrated for diameter or radius is a classic area of confusion, I would hesitate to attribute the convention to an Atlantic divide as British machines are not consistently one way or the other.

Mike

Plastic tubing will be somewhat out of keeping with the equipment you describe, using bundy tubing to bring the oil points to a central point could simplify the task and was used to simplify the lubrication of some of our old overhead conveyor systems. Battery powered and timed lubricators are available but these probably fail the cost test of your application. It sounds like you require an automatic timed system and it is difficult to imagine how this could be achieved at low cost. There are plenty of solutions where cost is covered by labour saving but for a volunteer labour force it is difficult to offset the cost against labour saving. Getting the balance right between over and under lubrication is difficult, over lubrication is messy and under lubrication can be disastrous Manually visiting each point does give feedback on the situation of each lubrication point.

Mike

I and all my mates had to wear a snood in the machine shop when I was an apprentice safety glasses were mandatory and gloves totally forbidden. The picture of a finger and all the tendons pulled out of the forearm lives with me more than fifty years later as a warning not to wear gloves when operating machinery, in particular a drilling machine. The picture of a scrotum with dermatitis was a warning not to keep oily wipers in your pocket, I imagine girls have a slightly different problem in that area.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 16/04/2023 19:29:28

The instructions for a VFD are often a pretty heavy read even when well written. As you move further up the range of VFDs they have more and more options to be configured which will require some appreciation of motor theory to make useful choices. They will often run a motor with very few parameters requiring adjustment straight out of the box and will probably default to using the service/commissioning buttons on the front panel. The inputs and outputs are often configurable to interface to manual controls or control systems. Often options are available to operate the drive from the various networks used for control systems and there is plenty of choice, Canbus, modbus, interbus, profinet, devicenet, control net and plenty of others. Some of these network options may be included but an option card will often be required. I notice there is an RS485 connection on the drawing so a datalink of some type is available though the protocol used would need some research. Most of us at home just want a simple button station and pot for speed control so a read up on the options available from the parameters for the l/O ports is required.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 12/04/2023 19:15:00

Once a machine has reached the tipping point then a human will not be able to recover the situation, if you are lucky then escape without injury is a good result. I was thinking that anchoring to a wall or the floor with a cable could constrain the machine from reaching its tipping point rather like the tall furniture restraints recommended these days.

Mike

I fully endorse checking properly for isolation but in an ideal world a multimeter cannot be recommended due to the increased chance of user error. Back in the real world it is unlikely that any of us will have a tester and proving unit so we are back to the multimeter that many of us are likely to have. Check that the multimeter is set correctly by testing a known source then check L-N, L-E, and N-E then prove the multimeter is still working on a known source, of course if you have turned all the power off rather than one circuit the source may now be off which is why a proper tester has an independently powered proving unit. Although the proper test gear which is expensive and unlikely to be in anyone’s toolkit who isn’t a working electrician the process of checking is valid with whatever test equipment you have. I find it difficult to recommend shorting cables to earth to ensure they are isolated as if you get it wrong and it is still alive the flash and bang and the possible expulsion of molten copper could injure you. This may be marginally be better than electrocution. If you totally lack any test equipment then working on mains voltage equipment should be avoided.

Mike

Parkside

probably this company.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 03/04/2023 13:13:05

The contracted out deduction seems a well kept secret, the method of calculation does not seem to be published. If you want to know what years you were contracted out the DWP refer you to check your tax code for the years of interest and expect you to refer to old payslips or ask your pension provider. To be able to perform the calculation they must have the relevant information about you but seem unwilling to share it with you. As HMRC and the DWP seem able to work together to issue us a tax code then surely one of them if not both have a record of our code for every change ever made, I can view my NI contributions for most years apart from my first three but they do state that I was fully paid up for those years. It would be nice if all our data that DWP and HMRC hold on us was readily available online rather than the limited selection they give us access to.

Mike

Peter, the state pension was increased by CPI which was 10.1% last September which is the month that determines the increase to be applied the following April, if your pension is increased by RPI which has been running around the 15% range that may account for the difference. My pension is increased by RPI but capped at 5% so this year is bit of a loser for me. I suppose the years when RPI is under 5% are a winner when others are getting CPI increases that are generally lower than RPI.

Mike

If the jaws are still a good fit in the body then regrinding the workholding faces could be an option. This has been covered in other threads here and a Google search will find plenty of advice and demonstrations.

Mike

I think advice on long term storage of a VFD will be found in reputable manufacturers literature. This came to our attention as our stores held extensive stocks of spare drives but as they are very reliable the turnover could be very slow. When I retired a plan to do a regular power up on drives in stock was being put together. The process you have described above was much like the recommended one for our drives. As we held spares for breakdowns it was critical that drives were ready to go, just install and load the parameter backup and go.

Mike

It may be worth setting parameter 19 to 230V and running the motor in delta, if the input of 230V can keep the DC link stable then the motor may develop full power..

Mike

Silver steel is a readily available high carbon steel and a reasonable screwdriver can be made from it. Heat treatment is straightforward, heat to red heat and quench in water, clean and polish and heat gently to temper to the colour required, blue is usually suitable for a screwdriver. Case hardening will give a hard wearing surface but the core will not be the tough steel needed for a screwdriver. If the intended use is for light duty assembly work rather than some heavy duty screw driving then case hardened steel might be suitable.

Mike

I was 11 months old when he said it but it obviously stuck in my parents mind as I heard the quote on quite a few occasions.

Mike

It was Supermac, Harold MacMillan the Earl of Stockton.

Mike

Mine came on Monday but as our regular postie is on holiday a big bundle arrived.

Mike

The fixed jaw must be square and can be used as a reference, using a round bar between the moving jaw and the work should ensure the work seats firmly against the fixed jaw. Also consider that a vice may flex if it is tightened over enthusiastically and is not of the most massive construction. Zero moving jaw lift is probably impossible but on a high quality vice in good condition it will be small. The design of a Kurt vice does attempt to eliminate jaw lift.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 25/03/2023 10:20:19

I notice Stefan Gotteswinter uses a 6 jaw chuck, he doesn’t seem to be a man who would not have a very good reason to use one when required.
Mike