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Member postings for John Coates

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

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Thread: Cutting steel plate
30/12/2010 13:08:10
Posted by CoalBurner on 29/11/2010 18:11:53:
I use an Evolution Rage 185mm Circular Saw for cutting MS plate. I must admit I was very sceptical at first but these saws are amazing. Max cut in MS is 6 mm however I have cut 12mm plate in 2 passes with no problems, no sparks, no heating, the metal is cool to touch immediately after cutting, see http://www.evolutionpowertools.co.uk/uk/evolution_rage.html


cheers

Graeme
 
 Thanks for this Graeme. I have just bought one for £100 inc P&P with a free diamond blade from here:
 
http://www.dm-tools.co.uk/product.php/section//sn/EVLRAGE185
Thread: Late delivery of magazines due to adverse weather
30/12/2010 12:42:42
Still waiting for MEW 172 in North Lincs
 
Hopefully at home tonight when I get home from work
Thread: Can I bore or slot drill instead of counterbore?
12/12/2010 21:49:02
Thanks dave and Kwil
 
Didn't think it would be a problem but doesn't hurt to ask in case I've missed something. Nothing worse than a buggered up work piece due to a newbie error
 
John 
12/12/2010 20:57:44
Am going 3 phase on the lathe and need to make an adapter plate to mount the new motor, basically to position the feet and raise the spindle up 10mm
 
Now the adapter plate needs two sets of holes - one set for the new motor which will be 10 x 1.5mm metric (as I have the bolts and the tap) and the other to fit the adapter plate to the headstock plate which will be 5/16th x 18 imperial (will buy allen head socket bolts). As the new motor will sit on top of the imperial holes they will have to be recessed so will need counterboring.
 
Now looking at buying counterbores seems costly just for the one I need (7/16th) and very costly for a set. So I thought maybe I could use my boring head or else a slot drill. Anyone see a problem with this method?
 
regards John
Thread: Aligning a round column mill between tooling changes
08/12/2010 12:32:12
Thanks guys
 
I think I'll go for CoalBurner's solution as I plan to move the mill and the end position might not be too favourable for access to walls
 
I tend to keep the mill head in the same position when doing indexing (is that the right word for what I'm doing - moving the workpiece between positions to carry out sequential operations?)
 
So having a rigid bar to control the alignment will not cause me problems and another member has messaged me about how such a device can be constructed
 
John
07/12/2010 22:55:28
Coalburner - unfortunately I only started my subscription at 160 
 
But a bracket at either end to which I could attach a solid bar sounds workable
 
And thanks wheeltapper for the laser level suggestion 
07/12/2010 20:51:29
Well the learning is progressing well and I am merrily milling and lathing (?)
 
One problem I am finding is when changing between the drill chuck, collet holder or boring head in the mill, because they are all different lengths, once the head is unlocked from the column, when winding the height adjust handle I lose alignment
 
My mill is a Chester Champion
 
Is there any way of retaining the relative position of the head during these changes or is my only way to mark the head and column with reference lines?
 
Thanks for any help
 
John
Thread: issue 171
24/11/2010 20:51:32
Got to wintry Lincolnshire today! brrrrrrrrrr ! On the dorrmat when I came home from work
 
Just finished my first pass through from cover to cover. Looks good
 
Really looking forward to fully reading the Aceria refurb as I want to do my 1947 Barker lathe, about which there is very little original documentation and of which I have none!
Must remember to take loads of photos in its current sorry state before I start on it
 
Ads for the Ally Pally show which I probably won't get to as a trip Darn Sarf costs a lot in car or on train from here. Harrogate seems so far a way boo hoo and I want some steel for all the stuff I want to make but am a tight Tyke and object to paying postage
 
Anyway - the mag and a whisky glass are calling me
Thread: Spindle for Raglan lathe
20/11/2010 21:17:15
There's one on ebay as well
 
Thread: Things they don't tell you in the books so I'm asking you lot
16/11/2010 12:54:13
Posted by chris stephens on 16/11/2010 11:22:57:
 
This thread has brought up an interesting point, any self taught machinist might not know what he should expect of a turning tool in the way of a finish. If you don't know what to expect how can you try to achieve it. I do see that anyone learning from a book or magazine and only having photographs to judge by is at a loss, just as publishers have problems trying to convey such information through grainy images. It is fairly easy to portray a torn surface but a shiny one gets lost in flare. It is rather like trying to show a picture of a mirror, but without any reflection in it.
chriStephens 
 
 
A nail and head impact point Chris
 
Exactly what I was trying to say. All the books (WPS, Sparey, Geo Thomas) I have bought presume a basic level of familiarity with what is trying to be done that they don't cover it. They will talk about DOC, feed rate, speed etc but it takes a lot of trial and effort (and smashed tools I found) before the learning process starts to fill in those blank bits that were probably the foundations of apprenticeships. This is probably because they are aimed at the professional engineer turning their hand to home / model engineering and are talking peer to peer. Mind you reading some of the tales about apprenticeships on the web it seems to have involved long periods doing mundane stuff before you got to get hands on with the machines.
 
Ah well back to the learning - tonight, once the kids are bathed and in bed, when the garage is nicely cool, as I'm at work now !
 
John
16/11/2010 08:36:46
Well I must admit I had a good look at the Barker when I ventured into the garage last night between 8 - 10pm. A bit nippy but several layers and working under three lamps helped warm me up
 
Had a need to make some 5mm thick 20mm dia 8mm bored washers to help fix the new chuck to the mill table as the 8mm studs I had made had bent the thin washers I had borrowed off some bolts.
 
Thinking about what Chris S had said I rotated the top slide to 30 degrees from the lengthwise axis so it cleared the tailstock and took all my cuts with it in this position. And I must say it made a real difference to working with the lathe. Facing, turning down to 20mm dia, drilling out to 8mm, were all a doddle.
 
Other than having to swap the speed wheels over to switch between high speed turning and low speed drilling and parting, it was a lot better. But then I am slowly buying the bits necessary to go 3 phase so soon all that gear swapping won't be a problem.
 
You guys with apprenticeships behind you have an advantage in knowing what to do and I am glad you pass this on to newbies like me. As I said, some of the basics as to how to orientate the top slide, take a cut, are missed out from some of the books.
 
John
15/11/2010 19:34:02
Posted by chris stephens on 15/11/2010 16:49:18:
Hi John,
A curious configuration of top slide you have there. Still, all that matters is  you are comfortable with it that way, even though it would not suit all.
 
Aha! Think I know what you mean now Chris
 
First of all I checked I was calling things by the right name and after checking my Sparey, I am
 
And yes I did have my top slide in line with my cross slide but then I find sometimes I have to orientate things this way to get the tool in the right position for boring or facing as otherwise the top slide fouls the tailstock as I seem to have a lathe with a very substantial (read wide) saddle
 
But what I think you mean by "curious" is that my cross slide should be used to advance the cutter across the lathe i.e. perpendicular to the workpiece which is lengthwise between the head and tail stocks, and the top slide set parallel with the workpiece to advance the tool towards or away from the chuck i.e. along the workpiece
 
Correct?

John

15/11/2010 16:33:18
Posted by chris stephens on 15/11/2010 13:34:39:
Re, Knurling, You can move the knurls sideways while it is knurling to widen the knurled   area, the answer seems too simple as though I misread your question. Did you get top slide and cross slide confused?
 
No - the top slide was perpendicular to the workpiece on the same axis as the cross slide. They both have the same range of movement (one revolution of the handle = 1/10th of an inch or 100 thou) so I use whichever is the most convenient. For this job with my nose close up by the workpiece to look at the knurling the top slide handle was in the most favourable position
15/11/2010 12:34:01
Thanks guys
 
Swarf - we have metal and glass collected from our house by the Council but I'll bet the guys won't want my swarf alongside the beer cans and wine bottles in the kerbside box! Looks like the chocolate boxes will have to wait until there's a tip run
 
Cutting - thanks for confirming that my "spiral cut on the return trip" was something I shouldn't be doing. As you rightly say the finishing cut is a single pass at the highest speed my lathe can muster
 
Knurling - will try slowest speed and cutting fluid. As to whether its a straight or diamond knurl I have no idea. This industrial 2 wheel tool is what I bought:
 
 
Thanks for the link to the knurling thread
 
John
14/11/2010 21:47:23
Where to dispose of swarf
Have been collecting all my swarf since I started learning in May but am at a loss what to do with it. I try and recycle everything but don't know if scrap merchants will take it. What do you guys do?
 
Turning - how to return a RH cut
As I am a newbie I have been getting better with the finish on my turned pieces. But when say RH cutting I concentrate on the depth of cut and rate of feed but once i've reached the end of the cut I don't know whether to return it (a) under power which puts a spiral on the workpiece or (b) with the power off but that puts a cut line into the workpiece. If the answer is to back the cutting tool off, then I never seem to get back to the same setting on the dials e.g. cut at 40 thou, back off, wind back to start, turn feed handle back to 40 thou and the cutter is either not touching the workpiece or too deep, which I guess is the infamous backlash in the slide screw? Can I be saved?
 
Knurling wider than the width of the knurl wheel
Just tried putting my first knurl on today and it wasn't great. Got the knurl perpendicular to the workpiece. Now it is one of those clamp types but the workpiece was larger than the tool so the two knurl wheels were at about 7 o'clock and 11 o'clock. I tightened the knurl tool to clamp the wheels onto the piece then turned the top slide feed to advance it into the workpiece. Cut a knurl into the shoulder I had left but it wasn't very deep even though I advanced the top slide. Then I had more shoulder to knurl but I couldn't seem to pick up the cut I had done. How do you do it? Maybe I need to but the different knurl wheels (coarse, fine etc)
 
That'll do for now chaps! Help your padowan  
 
John 
Thread: Cutting threads with dies
01/11/2010 21:17:53
Posted by Stub Mandrel on 01/11/2010 20:59:00:
If an M3 tap is slipping in a properly tightened drill chuck, then perhaps the tap is blunt, you haven't got good lubricant or the hole is too small. Try using a hole for 65% thread engagement (2.65mm for M3). Forcing teh tap to turn could just result in a breakage.

Hi Neil

Sorry for not mentioning the tap is 8mm x 1.25. I realised that I should be lubricating the cutting as I snapped the tap tonight. I've got soluble cutting fluid. Managed to get the tap out (it was a cheap metric set £14 from the local auto store some years ago before I got into this home engineering lark) by filing the top square and getting a wrench on it. Since got the top of the shaft all nice and square on the grinder so it fits back into the tapping wrench for further use until I buy a better quality one.
 
Mea culpa !
 
John 
01/11/2010 20:41:29
Posted by ady on 01/11/2010 19:40:00:
If I'm using taps and concentricity etc is important, I cut the first thread on the lathe and use it to guide the tap.

I agree. I tried to cut the first threads in the drill chuck in the mill but it didn't get in far enough as the tap started to turn in the chuck. I intend to make a kind of collet, with a circular bore for the round shaft of the tap and a square bore at the end for the square section at the end of the tap. This should hold the tap tight so all I need is a collet holder with a locating hole for  tommy bar to be able to turn the tap into the body of the material to cut the thread. This will be on an MT3 shaft so it can go in either the mill or the lathe tailstock

01/11/2010 12:49:01
Oh forgot to add. In a tap set what is the difference between the first, second and plug taps?
 
I presume first means first cut and second the second cut (?) but plug has me
01/11/2010 12:46:13
Am wanting to cut some threads to make various workshop tools and am making a die holder for my lathe tailstock and mill spindle. The lathe is imperial so I bought some imperial taps and dies at Harrogate (1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 7/16", 5/8") to go with a metric set I already had.
 
Now some of these have a split in them (imperial) and some are solid (metric). When I make the die holder am I supposed to design it so that grub screws close the split up for the imperials to get the right thread cut? The metric ones will just have to hold the die centrally
 
Never thought about this until I got to making the die holders and thought I had better check with you lot before making a costly mistake !
 
John
Thread: Metric vs Imperial - Practical or Traditional?
25/10/2010 12:59:11
An interesting thread
 
As a newbie who has never done any engineering beyond re-assembling motorbike engines and their tolerances, I have been having fun trying to establish in my mind the value of thou's.
 
I have just got to the point where I can visualise 40 thou being one millimetre and work things out from there with one thou being 0.025mm but thats too small for me to grasp as a concept
 
Having a metric mill and an imperial lathe means I am going to have to be able to interchange dimensions in my head.
 
The lathe will be enhanced by tooling with imperial threads to fit to the 5/8th holes in the cross slide. But I'm with John Coleman and am making up a set of new T-nuts to take standard M8 threaded bar as the 3/8th set I bought doesn't have the right lengths for my milling table or vertical slide
 
And as for beer I prefer ale
 
"Why are pirates? ................... because they aaaargh" 
 
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