Member postings for Andyf

Thanks, John and Dias. The reason I asked is that Googling "Redthane" didn't show up anywhere I could order it over the net; engineering suppliers are a bit thin on the ground around here. The Chronos belting looks like a clone; the description of the 3/8" diameter says it is clear coloured, rather than red, but two metres won't cost much so I'll give it a try. .

Andy

PS RS Components also sell it, but only up to 8mm. They say their heater belt joining device is an "essential accessory", but at over £400 (nearer £500 if VAT isn't included), I think I'll give it a miss!

Hi John,

In the Madmodder thread you referred to, the link to Polyproducts doesn't seem to work. I'm looking for a couple of metres; any idea who the current UK stockists are?

Andy

Edited By Andyf on 12/07/2012 00:24:25

Hi Leanne,

I do know of someone whose leadscrew gear quadrant (the plate to which the shafts of the two gears attached) was badly made, with the gears so close that neutral couldn't be achieved. When changing, one gear started going into mesh before the other was fully disengaged. I had bought a quadrant LINK from Little Machine Shop in the US for a failed project, so didn't need it and passed it on. That solved his problem, which may be the same as yours.

Clarke branded lathes are sold by Machine Mart in the UK, and they boast a spares department, but that item won't often be requested so they might have to order it. LMS carries a pretty comprehensive stock of spares, and the shipping charges are relatively reasonable. They were very prompt with my order; it took about 9 days to arrive.

Andy

Why not? Maybe use a tyre pump to force air into the top of a sealed vessel containing suds, to act as a low-pressure reservoir so the flow doesn't stop when you lift your foot ready for the next push.

Your idea reminds me of an advert in a prewar Army and Navy Store catalogue: a portable shower for explorers etc to take into the jungle. It comprised a footpump with a long rubber hose leading to a ring of rubber tubing with holes in it. You stood in a bowl of water with the ring round your neck and pumped away, no doubt wearing your solar topee for the further amusement of the local tribesmen. Best to wash your face in the water first, I suppose.

Andy

Graham,

Is this the part LINK?

Little Machine Shop has a very good reputation in the US for minilathe spares. They will ship stuff to the UK (I've used them) so it might be worth checking to see how much the postal charges would be. Not prohibitive in my case, and arrived a week later, but you could try taking an order through to the checkout to see how much it would cost.

Andy

Not entirely on the point, but I've been a .22 target shooter for more years and cartridges than I care to remember. I recall going to the BSA factory when they still produced Martini actioned small-bore target rifles. An old chap equipped with a mallet and two pads straightened up the barrels after machining , sighting through the bore to a skylight and knocking them into shape

I still have a 1960s BSA Mk 3 which shoots straighter than I can.

Andy

As Clive says, it takes a long time to recoup the capital outlay, which leads to the following questions:

How long does the guarantee on the panels last? If they cease working after it runs out, you would have to buy replacements.

To what extent, and for how long, are the utility companies obliged to hold the prices at which they buy any surplus electricity from you? The trouble with any long-term government-backed scheme is that the goalposts might be moved before things have run their course.

If you decide to move house, would the presence of the panels help or hinder a sale, and would they add anything to the value of your home?

I understand that some schemes involve you (in effect) in renting your roof to a solar energy company, so you have little (if any) initial outlay. Personally. I wouldn't do that, in case it affected a future sale. In any case, if you have a mortgage,leasing out your roof would need the lender's consent.

Andy

Edited By Andyf on 28/06/2012 14:22:07

Would wick oilers, which use a sort of capillary siphon, be satisfactory? I have just made some tiny ones for the spindle of an old Perris lathe, and they seem to work well - see bottom of this page LINK

Andy

JD, it's just a facetious reference to plain sugar, like the stuff some folk add to their tea or coffee. Was this article in a magazine, or on the Internet? If the latter, have you a link to it?

Andy

Ian, bit off topic this, but I've just been addressing that issue on the same lathe, badged as a Warco WM180, with a computer fan: < http://andysmachines.weebly.com/motor-cooling-fan.html >

Andy

Edited By Andyf on 24/05/2012 22:24:13

The "to bolt down or not?" question frequently comes up on the Yahoo 7x12 minilathe forum. The majority subscribe to Ketan's view. To quote from a recent post from a member there:

"Strength varies as the square of the scaling factor. Weight varies as the cube. So while our little 7x lathes are ten times smaller than a big machine, and are therefore only 1/1000 as heavy, they are 10 times more rigid. Those who wear both a belt & suspenders as well as relying on a few safety pins will enjoy bolting their 7x machines to a carefully trued & level surface. I find the rubber feet ample."

Some cut shallow depressions in the bench to locate the rubber feet. Others are mindful that lathes are a little top-heavy and add spreaders to the bed casting, moving the rubber feet to to the spreader ends, to stop any tendency of the lathe to tip over. No doubt some do both.

Andy

Hard luck, Graham!

If it’s any comfort to you, I fitted a 1.5HP motor from an Ebay broken treadmill (though at £15 it seems I was robbed!), to my milling machine and use a KBIC240 board to drive it. The on/off switch is on the input (AC mains in) side. The KBIC board survived initial experiments with the original flywheel in place, and has now been in use for 2-3 years.

Andy

Les, like Pat D, you must be blessed with infinite patience to chase down all those PCB tracks!

Thanks for the offer, but I shan't take you up on it, not wanting to put too much on my website about machines I don't own. But I'm a member of the Yahoo X Series Mills Group and Madmodder, so I've bookmarked your web pages in case queries about the X3 circuitry are raised on either of those forums.

For completeness, you didn't make a note of any identifying marks etched con to the PCB, did you? Sieg seem to change the boards in their products every now and again.

Regards,

Andyf

Les, I think the poor quality one is for an earlier version of the KBIC/KBLC (they are essentially the same) series, when all the components had leads. Even though the modern KBIC 240 I bought a few years back has many surface mount components, a copy of that diagram was in the manual, though it has since been dropped.

There are differences between the circuit in the old diagram and the one in your second link , which was drawn up by Pat Darragh to go in the files of the Yahoo 7x12 Group. Pat kindly allowed me to reproduce it on my website, together with his components list, parts placement photo and diagram for the auxiliary board, so it would be available to folk who aren't members of that group.

I did manage to locate a couple of suppliers for the power diodes - D8020L rather than D8010L, but that just means they are rated at 20A rather than 10A, which might make them last a bit longer: < http://parts.digikey.co.uk/1/1/264192-rectifier-800v-20a-220-d8020l.html > . They charge a lot for shipping, though the diodes are not expensive at about £2 each.
and < http://www.dalbani.co.uk/catalogue/product_details.php?id=34855 >. I don't know how much they charge for shipping, because you have to register on the site before ordering.

There are bound to be equivalents available, of course.

Andyf

Edited By Andyf on 12/04/2012 22:13:13

I wonder if it would be possible to use a bar with a tapered end instead of the dial indicator. Manipulate the cross-slide so the point stays in contact with the template. That way, you couldn't go in too deep. It would also partly remove some of the inaccuracies which would arise if the dial indicator had a rounded end, so that on the rounded parts of the template, its contact would be on the side of its end, rather than at the tip. With a finely tapered bar, this would not happen, except where the curves on the template were getting close to perpendicular to the spindle axis.

Just a thought, and it may be impractical. .

Andy.

You might contact someone who repairs old barometers (Google "barometer repairs" ) and see if they will make you an offer.

Andy

Edited By Andyf on 11/04/2012 09:25:14

This completely innocuous US site deals in parts for folk who want to make pens:

http://www.penisland.net/

Maybe it was chosen because it's easily remembered.

Andy

To my mind, ChrisH, there are two sorts of saddle stop.

The first is only useful if you are traversing the saddle by hand, and consists of something like the one Neil (Stubmandrel) has shown. On repeated cuts, the saddle bumps up against it, stpping the saddle in the same place each time. For obvious reasons, you can't use it when the saddle is being traversed under power.

The second sort can be used under power, because it either:

(a) cuts off power to the motor when the saddle reaches a predetermined point; this is tricky, because inertia in the motor and spindle may cause problems with repeatability, and trailing wires to switches are needed.

(b) disconnects the power feed by triggering a dog clutch on the leadscrew (as on a Cowells lathe) or by opening the half nuts. I made one which opens the half nuts, which is shown here:

< http://andysmachines.weebly.com/semi-automatic-saddle-stop.html >.

I got the idea from John "GadgetBuilder", though the geography of my lathe meant I could work more in two dimensions than three. His is here:

< http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/ThreadingTools.html#AutoStop >

Andy

Hi Dave,

You may get a bit of help from Little Machine Shop's trouble-shooting guide here:

< http://littlemachineshop.com/Reference/DriveTroubleshooting.pdf >.

If you haven't come across them before, LMS is the main US source of spares and

info for lathes which (like yours) originate from the Seig factory in China.

Andy

PS: I had difficulty reading your initial post, because a banner advert down the RH side of

my screen obscured much of it, which is why there are a lot of carriage returns and hence

wide line spacing in this reply, and in the copy of the post which I've pasted in below.

I found the excellent post created a while back on the forum a couple of years ago

http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=38809&p=1

This board is the CL250 version ther actual pcb markings 'Xin Yun Electront SMD-FC250.

What happens is when the speed pot is advanced it goes from a standing to almost full

speed, from about 10 o'clock position, the speed is controllable slightly from this point!

It works perfect on a Lamp load varying very steadily but not the motor.... yet the motor

runs comfortably on a 12V DC bench top power supply.

As mentioned in the post I did some checks these are checking the post these are

measuring the pot and checking the voltage between pins 2 & 3 varys between 0 & 12V.

I've recapped using 105 deg. low ESR types.

If it comes to replacing the SMDs I can do that being in the trade... this fault is bugging

me, thinking it's around the feedback circuitry... be interesting to see what happens on

a 'dummy load' drawing an amp or two, which I've never tried yet.

The motor kicks better than the Co-op donkey when starting from a stop to full speed!

This board used the open type trimmers not the multi-turn trim pots.

Clues anyone pleas? Thanks

Dave

Unfortunately, I can't really read your post because a banner advert obscures the RH side of it

It sounds like the problem may have been the result of worn-out brushes, Mike. A timely reminder that I should check mine in the morning! Bit of a nuisance to get the motor out, but it might save £75.....

Andy