Member postings for David Colwill

The take off should be fairly easy, the main problem as I see it is landing it back in there!

Why not consider the posibility of buying a new manual machine and converting it. There are some financial savings to be made although these aren't great and you end up with a machine that you fully understand and can fix and maintain as required. There is such a wealth of information and support out there that this is possible even if you're not too hot at electronics.

As for CAM although I do have full 3D CAM available I tend to do Just about everything on Desk CNC which costs about £150 ish and is a doddle to use. I have looked at loads of CAM packages and have tried demo versions of many of them . I would steer clear of spending any serious cash until you are absolutely sure that you are getting something that you are happy with and have seen, used and made to work.

Just my two pennyworth

I'm in the processof rearanging my workshop. Currently the bridgeport is in the middle of a wall. Is it more efficient to have it in a corner?

Many thanks

David

"PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER".

Groucho Marx

I'm about to re arrange the layout of my workshop and am going to prouduce a CAD drawing of the floor. Then I can make templates of the machines which can be moved around to explore various layouts. Being lazy I felt sure that others before me would have produced DFX drawings of various machines, it seems not. I first tried searching for the lathes that I own,no joy. I then thought surley something as common as a super 7, still no joy.

Just a thought but seeing as we often have the same types of machine could we not store the outlines as DFX's for this pupose and make them available to all?

David.

There is a chap on www.homeworkshop.org.uk selling a ML10 for £550.00 with tooling. This would do all you would need and more. Don't hang around tho it will be gone soon.

David.

Ps I don't know this chap but was trying to justify a trip to the Wirral myself!

If I don't lock the quill on my bridgeport clone it will slowly pull in giving the same effect.

David

I have also struggled with surface grinding. I have managed to get reasonable results by trial and error. This surely would make a good article for MEW. I would be interested to know how often should the wheel be dressed and how do you compensate for wheel wear?

David

I'd love to buy your lead but fear the postage to the UK may be a tad out of my reach.

Face them off in 4-jaw, or clamp 4-jaw to table as a vice (very useful).

Good tip! I'm suprised I haven't heard it before.

Given the spate of recent postings some of you may wish to read some of the many delights here.

http://www.engrish.com/2011/10/did-i-mention-miserably/

Enjoy

You could always do what I did and CNC your bridgeport when you're ready

Mine is a 179 which I won by filling in one of those [not so] daft questionairs while waiting in RS. It is a fantastic piece of kit!

Some time ago I bought one of the hand held infra red thermometers (the type that has a laser spot) from Maplins for £19.99 on offer. I cheked it against my Fluke multimeter and it was suprisingly accurate. I've used it many times around the workshop and it is a very useful thing.

David.

Having gone through a number of smaller lathes mainly aimed at the hobby market I have now got 2 manual lathes, a Dean Smith & Grace 13 30 and a Smart and Brown 1024. Both are fantastic machines and were ex university. They are certainly a step up from the lighter hobby machines. The only pitfall in my opinion about owning a large lathe like the DSG is that changing chucks tends to be an operation involving much grunting and groaning and can leave you cursing when you're working on a tiny piece of square bar. I like the 1024 because it is small enough to manage without too much trouble but I often find myself wishing I still had my ML10.

David

The swarf is not a problem as it is is attracted to the face of the chuck and is easily wiped off when the chuck is de-energised.

Further to my earlier post I have now fitted the chuck to a spare back plate ( it would have been pretty useless otherwise ) and have had a play. It works surprisingly well. As an experiment I faced an M12 washer ( 13mm od 23mm id ) with few problems. I don't envisage doing anything this small but it's nice to know that I can. The only problems I had were slipping due to taking too heavy a cut but the centre piece held the washer central and there didn't seem to be any danger of it flying off.

So if you have one it could be a useful addition to your lathes armoury.