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Member postings for John Haine

Here is a list of all the postings John Haine has made in our forums. Click on a thread name to jump to the thread.

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Thread: To CNC or not to CNC - that is the question.
13/01/2012 11:24:09
Having converted my S7 to CNC a couple of years ago I was in the process of converting an X1 mill but got a bit bogged down. So then I was on eBay and came across a Denford Novamill, minus its controller, which I bagged for just over £600. It is a beautifully British made machine, vastly better than any Chinese import at the same price and about the same size as the X1 in real machining terms. Break-out board and 3 stepper drives came from eBay as a package at just under £100 for the same drives that are available in the UK at about £40 each! (And they were delivered in under a week!) 36v 11amp PSU again off eBay for about £40. Then a lot of metal bashing and wiring to put the controller together (being an electronics engineer by trade the controller side isn't a problem, but really you don't have to do much more than connect wires to screw terminals). So if you shop around I reckon you can have an excellent machine for well under £1000 for the hardware.
 
If I was starting in this hobby again I personally would go straight for CNC for all the reasons that John S gives. CNC is the default mode for doing engineering these days, we don't need to preserve methods of manufacture that were traditional even in 1945 (IMHO)!
 

Thread: lathe query
11/01/2012 07:53:33
Tolerance, in a word.
Thread: Mill spindle trouble?
10/01/2012 12:56:16
Going back to slot cutting, when you said "plunge" was that using the manual quill feed or fine feed? Though one can happily use the manual feed for an ordinary drill, I would always use the fine feed with a slot drill.
Thread: Emco Unimat 3 - What's it worth?
09/01/2012 16:02:26
See...
...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/emco-unimat-lathe-/280802715913?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item4161256909
 
4 days to go and already £204. There are other items such as just the milling kit going for significantly more.
09/01/2012 08:51:55
Or do an ebay search on Unimat and see what they are fetching - generally very prices IMHO, probably reflect how much better they are than the average Asian product at similar "new" prices today.
Thread: Dehumidfier in shed would it help?
06/01/2012 16:06:51
In a word, yes! Go to Machine Mart and invest in a decent size one and expect to pay the thick end of £200. I don't need one in the workshop but we use one in the house and it is excellent. The one we have is this:
 
Thread: Milling Course
02/01/2012 18:31:34
If the depth isn't shown, I guess it may be a blind threaded hole, just work out how deep it has to be to fit the mating screw or bolt.
Thread: Cadmium, simple test for?
18/12/2011 18:23:04
Long ago in A-level chemistry learning qualitative analysis the test for cadmium was to look at the colour of a bunsen flame in which one held a little loop of wire with a drop of the salt on it. You could dissolve a bit of an unknown metal in some dilute acid. Bunsen had to be adjusted for a colourless flame first. IIRC cadmium gives a scarlet red flame. Our enlightened teacher encouraged us to set fire to small pieces of the metal on a gauze over a bunsen - lovely colour intense red flame. I don't think many of my chemistry classmates succumbed to anything nasty.
 
Anyway there's your answer. Rub a little acid (vinegar would probably do the trick) on the plating, then use the end of a bit of clean copper wire to pick up a little of the liquid and see if you get a red flame (before the copper gets too hot and gives you a green one).
Thread: Easy Change tool holders
14/12/2011 16:53:25
Actually 22mm in 5 inches for setting a sine bar...sorry.
Thread: 3 phase motor connections
14/12/2011 16:52:19
Mesh = Delta
 
If you could take/post a photo of the terminals it would help.
 
John.
Thread: Easy Change tool holders
13/12/2011 21:46:26
Thanks again David, I found it - issue 171 p36. No specific dimensions but does give the taper - "22mm in 1 inch".
 
Worth a go I think.
 
John.
 
 
 
13/12/2011 21:28:37
Thanks David, I'll try to hunt it down.
06/12/2011 22:23:12
I've acquired (ebay) a Denford Novamill which has a BT30 taper and came with an Easy Change adapter and two ER16 collet chucks to suit. I'd like to have some additional tool holders but Easy Change holders are very expensive, compared with the usual systems.
 
On the other hand, the Easy Change fitting looks like a straightforward turning job, especially using CNC, so I'm willing to have a go at making some. Can anyone share the dimensions of the Easy Change holder, the tapered end, please?
Thread: Why are milling machines so b****y expensive
03/12/2011 16:32:16
Buy used, British. I was looking at getting a Chinese mill adapted for CMCC but managed to get an ex college Denford for a third the price. The quality is in a totally different league.
Thread: Rotary Table
02/12/2011 20:42:26
Is anyone else a Lautard fan?
 
Lautard's Manouver:
 
Clamp down the rotary table and set it so its slots are at 45 degrees to the table slots.
 
Put an edge finder in the mill spindle. Position the mill table until the spindle is approximately on the X-centreline of the rotary table.
 
Lower the spindle and pick up the LH edge of the rotary table (moving the mill table in the X direction).
 
Raise the spindle and move the mill table L by half the rotary table diameter plus the CF diameter (call this total amount R).
 
Move the table in Y direction away from you by rather more than this, lower the spindle again and again pick up the rotary table edge moving the table only in Y. Move the mill table towards you by R.
 
Now pick up the LH table edge again and again move the table R to the left. Repeat in the Y direction again.
 
By this time the spindle will near as dammit over the table centre, but you could repeat the cycle again if you want.
 
This technique is useful if the table is already clamped and you want to centre it, and anyway can get as close as you want to exact centreing. It won't of course help center the work on the table!
 
This comes from "Machinist's Bedside Reader" by Guy Lautard, an excellent read (all 3 or 4 volumes).
Thread: Milling from a sheet
08/11/2011 16:54:31
Try Melamine with double-sided tape all over to stick down the sheet as well as clamps, keeps it flat as well as holding down the cut-out piece. Depth of cut so it only just kisses the melamine surface to minimise the abrasive problem. And, do you mean melamine of the modern plastic-foil covered stuff? With this the smooth layer is much thinner and I suspect much less robust, which is good for us as it should minimise cutter wear.
Thread: Books for model engineers
08/11/2011 16:46:18
I'm sorry to hear the news that George Daniels has died. I found the book at my local library, and then bought a copy in 1999, so it hasn't been out of print that long. As Dave Clark says it is a wonderful book, worth every penny not just for the text but also the illustrations.
Thread: Myford VM-B Milling Machine
04/10/2011 21:15:39
You still want a copy of the manual John?
23/09/2011 20:42:35
Hi, have sent a test message and re-sent the file and uploaded it to a file-sharing site which will email you a link. Something ought to work!
 
Cheers, John.
Thread: Using old washing machine motors
23/09/2011 13:22:07
The motor you have is series wound which is why it runs at such a high speed - you're lucky it didn't smear its commutator over the workshop. These motors need either to be run with a load such as a fan (as in a vacuum cleaner) or a speed controller to limit their maximum speed. There was an article in MEW several years ago on how to use a washing machine speed control module (which I think is available as a spare). Incidentally I doubt if many washing machines have induction motors as they inherently need variable speed which is difficult without an expensive VFD. Certainly our new one (a few months old) and the LG that it replaced used universal motors (which are very cheap to make), as given away by the characteristic commutator whine at higher speeds.
<< First < Prev 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 Next > Last >>
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