Member postings for David Colwill

Why not have a longish single article describing the machine and its features with a link to a self published book.

Simple.

Regards.

David.

I seem to remember a Warco BH600 I had developing a bad case of gear noise. I think there was a sleeve that held two gears together that ran on a stud, I found that it was badly worn and made a new one out of brass. Anyway have a look for worn bushes etc and try a little grease on the studs (if you haven't already).

Regards.

David.

G&M tools have a Bofxord router at £850 + vat. This would have the mechanical work done for you ( and to a better standard than an import ). You would of course need to update the electronics but there is plenty of help available for that and you could be up and running fairly quickly.

In your shoes I would be looking for something by Boxford or Denford.

Good look.

David.

Another vote for Stefan.

I too came across him recently. It's good to watch someone plan then calmly and carefully execute a project with the minimum of fuss.

Regards.

David.

If you put a 3 morse blank in the tailstock, drill it out and finish with a 2 morse taper reamer you would have an adapter that you could use for fine work. You would need a witness mark on it as it would only be true in one position. Not the best solution maybe but cheap and easy.

Regards.

David

I think that you have first got to identify exactly what sort of taper / collets it has. From that you can look into how much and how rare they are. If it takes a fairly common collet then Ebay is your friend if not can you buy / make an adapter to say 2 morse taper. Although a homemade adapter is going to lose you some accuracy, you should still be well above that which you would get from a "Chester mini milling machine".

If the machine is in good order then I would definitely get it. Used Swiss machinery in good order holds its value very well and is delightful to use. As long as you can get up and running (a morse taper adapter) then you can take the time to find any rare bits at the right price. An upside to very rare collets is that the people who can correctly identify them are also pretty rare, so they can turn up for peanuts if you can wait.

Good luck.

David

Aldi have these on offer 23-8-15 https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/sun-23-aug/product-detail/ps/p/cutting-and-grinding-discs-1/

There are other bits including an angle grinder cutoff attachment and a sanding kit.

Regards.

David.

I have fitted new graphics cards (GeForce 210 @ £22.00 each) to my PC's that I use for drawing and more memory in one of them. I was looking to upgrade my CAM software which would have been in the order of £300 / £500, so spending £60 on bits for the computers was not an issue. Since doing this I have not had any further problems. I think these problems crop up when using the onboard graphics. The cpu in the slowest computer is 2.6GHz. I should point out that both of the computers are over a year old and were about the cheapest I could get at the time.

I'm still finding my way round but am very happy so far.

What did I do today? I attempted to get this thread onto page 100

I have watched a fair few videos on youtube and I rarely pay any attention to the health and safety aspect of them. I will always watch as many videos on a subject that I'm interested in and distill the information into a form that suits me. After that if I am going to use any of the techniques I have learned then the health and safety is my concern.

Anyone who is relying on the internet to keep them safe is a dead duck IMHO.

Also I think that it is very informative to see other peoples take on things even when I think that they are getting it wrong.

At the end of the day my safety and well being are my concern and it is up to me and nobody else to make sure that I don't injure myself. As I believe that I am one of the most important people in my particular universe I take this very seriously.

For anyone wishing to learn about health and safety, there are videos about that and they should fill in the gaps. See here :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZUgUcRoQV4&list=PLJ9yBwThb-JxqPqw-7R7okEFqc2J9jHCl

Just my thoughts.

Regards.

David.

My reasoning for suggesting Fusion 360 was simple. Since the original poster has no experience we know he's in for a bit of a slog, so why not invest that time in something that is:-

1) Up to date.

2) Free. (unless he uses it to turn over more than $100K pa)

3) Has a massive team of developers working flat out by the looks of it.

4) Very helpful forums.

5) Capable of very much more than he will ever need.

6) He can easily share his work with other people if he wants to.

I have been very impressed with the attitude of Autodesk regarding this product. It isn't often you see such a big company being so open about what they are doing. I'm sure it isn't perfect but the how much is a licence for Solidworks. As for using 2D I can't see the point. 3D is easier to use now that I'm used to it. The only time I use 2D is for creating DXF files for C.A.M software. Oh wait a minute Fusion has a cam module with Mach 3 posts.

I agree with Nigel above but have found modern 3D cad (I've only used Cubify design and Fusion) easier to get on with than any 2D package.

Just my thoughts.

David

Fusion 360 by Autodesk is free. It is a full 3D package. While it is probably more complicated than you would need it does have lots of support. Since you have no experience you may as well gain it on something current. It also allows for assembling parts that you have drawn. There are plenty of youtube videos showing its capabilities.

Regards.

David.

I have a 5in Bosch bench grinder which is quite compact. I don't think they sell them anymore but there are others about. It is significantly smaller than the 6in types. Mine is mounted on a board but doesn't need to be. I fitted diamond wheels to mine (easily done) and leave it sat on a shelf until needed.

Regards.

David.

Well at least mine runs the right way. It isn't difficult to tell because some speeds run faster in reverse but if you don't care then this won't matter to you.

Still it's not nice to think of these lovely machines being neglected like this.

Regards.

David.

Hi,

Most of us are aware that if we take a piece of bright drawn mild steel, skim one side of it flat and leave it, when we come to check it, the machined side will no longer be flat.

So how do I avoid this?

Stress relieving by heating to bright red seems to be one way. I would be interested to find a reliable method and any formulas for time / thickness / rate of cooling.

I have also heard that hot rolled or black steel is better as there is less stress in the material due to the temperature that it is worked at. I would like to hear any comments about this.

Guage plate or ground flat stock is supposed to be good in this respect but is quite expensive and it is not always necessary to use this grade of material. Again any thoughts / experiences?

Next if all this is happening in flat bar what about round?

Whilst I realise that for most things that I make none of this is necessary, There are occasions that I would be prepared to go to some trouble and would like to know how best to go about it.

I do have facilities for heating materials, so it is perhaps not so difficult but I would welcome the voices of experience before embarking on any particular route.

Many thanks.

David.

I believe that the reason Taig / Peatol supply machines as kits is to do with health and safety. I was told by the Peatol chap in Birmingham, that they don't have to supply belt guards etc if it's a kit.

Regards.

David.

Known in the trade as a brain fart!

(not that I've ever done one)

Good point. I hadn't thought of that. It's certainly something to bear in mind.

Regards.

David.

Or a cold chisel and your teeth

I think that any of your ideas about the fracture could be right. I don't think you will ever know for sure.

I think it would be more useful to use your old plate to fix a second toolpost to hold a parting tool upside down as far back as practical. I have this arrangement on my Smart and Brown and it is very convenient.

As to the old toolpost how far does the cam turn round? If it isn't turning far enough, removing some metal off the cam may help it. I would try putting it in the lathe and applying a powerfile or even just emery paper (covered of course) and see if that improves it.

Regards.

David.