Member postings for Eccentric Engineer

LOL, I don't intend stopping anytime soon Roger (probably keep going till I drop) but I certainly don't want to increase my workload any more than it is already. It would be nice to get some time to work on a couple of my own projects one of these days, the current project list far exceeds my expected lifespan

Yes things went a bit crazy there when Blondiehacks put out that video Roderick, I got what would normally be about 6 months worth of Turnado sales in four days. A great "problem" to have but it was a bit daunting. I'm still nowhere near caught up on backorders.

Hi all

Saw this thread after a customer mentioned it and just thought I'd drop in and explain why the UK distributor page had disappeared from the website.

After speaking to my sister a few months ago (she has been distributing my products in the UK and Europe for the past 15 years) she decided to step down as she was only really doing it to help me out towards the end.

Originally she was a stay at home mum and this was an additional bit of income for her, but since going back to work full time and having a growing family she doesn't have the time anymore. The local village post office closing down didn't help either as she now had to drive to the next village to post orders.

I'm afraid I'm not looking at getting a new distributor as I'm getting close to 60 and trying to slow down my workload now. The business is a one man band and I'm still working a minimum six days a week plus emailing customers in the evenings, so that slowdown part of the plan isn't working too well at the moment

One thing I would like to point out is that the UK price for all my products had to be higher than the Australian one anyway (including int shipping) as I had to air freight tools to the UK, pay VAT and import duty on them and then pay my sister a margin. All that had to be built in to the UK price upfront to make it worthwhile.
UK customs fees seem ridiculously expensive but there's not much I can do about that, maybe the two countries will work out a free trade agreement between them one of these days.

Sorry if I missed your enquiry Salty, I try to answer all enquiries but I've been swamped with emails and Turnado orders since the start of October when a YouTuber did a video about the product.

Cheers

Gary

P.S I was the one that moved Paul. Born in Blighty and did my time as a fitter at York Carriage Works (RIP )
I came here in 1989.

Hi Tony

Here's a couple of pictures (hopefully) of the backgear selector on my LAS. The bearing appears to be just a press fit on the eccentric but I didn't want to remove the whole spindle to take the shaft out for a picture sorry.

Hope that helps

Gary

My preference when it comes to countersinking metric socket head screws is to use a 90 degree spotting drill and do the csk before drilling the hole. The screw heads are a nominal diameter so you can slightly counterbore the hole below the surface and get a much tidier looking flush finish and not have the ring around the screw head like in JasonB's picture a few posts back. It also eliminates chatter doing it this way.

M3 = 6mm
M4 = 8mm
M5 = 10mm
M6 = 12mm
M8 = 16mm

With regards getting the right depth, that's best trialed on a piece of scrap first as the heads can differ between batches. Never had any issues with differing head diameters though.

Gary

The Melbourne Society of Model and Experimental Engineers will be holding the "Let's Make It" exhibition next weekend on the 6th and 7th of October at South Oakleigh College.

After a few years break we have tried to encompass a wider field of interests this year and hope this will inspire younger enthusiasts to become interested in actually making things again.
The show will include robotics, workshop built CNC machines, electronics,the Meccano club and the Horological Society, as well as traditional model engineering, IC engines, traders and much more.

ttps://www.model-engineer.co.uk/albums/member_album.asp?a=49204

Hi All

Just thought I'd clear up a slight misunderstanding about the brown colour of the Turnado tool posts.
They don't come from the casting plant like that; after I machine them I send them for a black oxide surface treatment and that's how they come back.
Steel turns jet black in a few minutes but for some reason cast iron only goes a deep brown, and that's only after they leave it in the bath for up to an hour.
I suspect it might be the lack of carbon in the cast iron that causes it but that's only a guess.

I really like the finish, it's almost an oxblood/ aged bronze colour.
Here's a few I prepared earlier

Hi All

Just thought I would add a couple of bits to the thread.
Eugene, If you are getting discolourisation on the tool bit it sounds more like the tool bit working temperature is too high and losing hardness.
The old 3/8" tool bits would have a lot more mass to dissipate the heat whereas the tool bits in the Diamond Holder are smaller, being 1/4" or 5/16" square. Perhaps drop the speed a bit or use some coolant to prolong tool life.

Crobalt/Stellite keep their hardness longer at elevated temperatures and that's why they work well on stainless..

The tool is only as good as the piece of HSS it's holding so the ones I supply with the Diamond Tool Holders are good quality M42 CoHSS made by Sutton Tools who are a large Australian manufacturer of industrial grade cutting tools.
Whether they are as good as the old stuff I have no idea, but that's the best I'm able to supply

Cheers
Gary

Hi All

Howard contacted me to say he was having some issues with chatter and that he thought the problem was due to a fault with the supplied HSS toolbit as it had a chamfer down one corner.
This is actually a small radius that I grind down the front corner of each HSS and Crobalt tool bit to improve surface finish and reinforce the cutting edge. Much the same as an indexable carbide tip has a radius on each corner.for the same reason.

Howard sent me some pictures of his setup and it was clear the problem was because the tool bit was set way too high up and the holder was extended out from the tool post about 20mm, so rigidity was significantly reduced.

After dropping the toolbit to the recommended height and re-positioning the holder hard up against the toolpost the chatter issue has been eliminated.

Cheers to everyone who dropped by the stand on the weekend and it was good to see a lot of familiar faces again from the past few years

Cheers

Gary

Hi All

Thought I'd just clear up the confusion with the carbide tipped "T" type blades question.

I used to sell a 1mm and a 1.6mm wide blade with a brazed on carbide strip about 16mm long but I didn't sell many as they were quite expensive so I discontinued them a while back.

If anyone really needs one they can still be purchased through Somma Tooling in the US but I've just had a look at their website and a 1/1/6" tipped blade is now US$44.50 + postage so fairly pricey.

They also make solid carbide ones if you want to fork out US$83.50. You wouldn't want to snap it on the first job

Cheers

Gary

Eccentric Engineering

The slag inclusions are really too small for the drill idea but thanks for the thoughts Ady1.

How on earth did you think 'heat treating' would get rid of burrs on a laser cut part?

Tony

Ah perhaps I'd better explain the issue fully.
The bright mild steel that the laser cutter uses is quite ductile which I assume is so it can be readily bent in a press like the brackets for the grinding table.
The ductility means that the steel is a bit gummy when machining. When you drill a part the exit hole leaves a larger rag than normal and that has to be removed each time with a countersink or deburring tool, a bit of a pain but not the end of the world.

I would say the steel has been pickled to achieve the ductility as it has too low a carbon content for proper heat treatment.
After speaking to the heat treater we decided to try a heat and quench to see if it would remove the effects of the pickling.
As I mentioned above, that worked fine, small rags and the swarf tends to chip now rather than longer strings when turning. The downside is the cleaning up I've had to do.

Having worked on some of the parts and discovered how hard they are around the laser-cut surface, I assumed Gary intended the heat treating to reduce that hardness and allow burr removal subsequently.

To be honest I haven't had any issues with tool wear but I do try and make sure the first cut is deep enough to get all the way through the skin into clean metal.

I tried putting all the parts through my vibratory finisher after the acid dip, it didn't take off any of the inclusions but did give them a nice polished look

Thanks for the tip Neil but I had the guys down at the blackening plant put them in the acid dip for 20 minutes and it did nothing apart from cost $250. I assume brick cleaner is a type of acid ?

Also tried a wire wheel and the sand blaster. Sand blaster might have done the job eventually but I'd have been there till Christmas.

I'll bring along a couple of bits to the exhibition and have a competition to see who comes up with the best way of getting the slag off

Hi all,
Thanks for that Jimmeh, Yes, I’ve been uploading videos over the past few days on how to build and use the Acute Sharpener.
I’ve tried to include machining hints and tips and alternative options/setups where possible. I was looking at doing a voice over but ended up going with subtitles: at least that way you can pause the video for anything that’s not clear.

I’ve made a few improvements to the kit since it was first launched.
The end caps with the “O” rings are now supplied as a CNC machined item as they were one of the trickier items to make.
I’ve been able to find screws 5mm shorter for the table adjustment so they don’t have to be cut down anymore and the fence is now supplied virtually finished, it just needs one 4 mm hole drilled.

I thought I’d solved the burring issue on the laser cut discs recently by getting them heat treated. Unfortunately it was not to be. The trial parts went fine and machined without leaving rags but when I had the rest of them done they came back from the heat treaters with slag/scale inclusions from the furnace all over the surfaces .
Now I’ve got 2500 laser cut parts that I have to individually remove the slag from with emery tape and a scraper. Ah well, we live and learn.

We’ll be attending the Doncaster Show later this month so I’ve been filming and editing solidly for a bunch of weeks now to try and finally get the DVD finished. Apologies to all our customers for the time it’s taken.
The videos on YouTube will be the same as that used for the DVD.

Well I’d better get back to editing Part 2 of the Work Arm video so I can get it on YouTube and hope to see some of you at Doncaster (stand 97) on the 20th-22nd May.

Cheers
Gary

Hi All

IDP, sorry you haven't heard back from us yet, was it me you tried contacting about the book or my sister Tania ?

If you tried Tania sometime in the last few days she may not have got the message or call yet as she has a stand at the Stitches and Craft exhibition in Harrogate this weekend.
She makes and sells Textile artworks and engineering tooling, it's an obvious link really

I'll email Tania to make sure she received your enquiry and I'm sure she'll send you a reply as soon as she gets back.

On another note.
I've finally decided to launch the Acute Sharpener parts kits on the website shop but without the DVD at the moment as the filming is taking so long. At least customers such as John that are confident enough to build it from the drawings can get started now.
My workload over the last six months just hasn't allowed me to find all the additional hours required for the filming and editing of the DVD which I had no idea would take so long, so I apologise to all the customers that have been waiting all this time for the kits.
Tania should be receiving another shipment of kits from me later this week by the way.

Well done on the excellent build thread John, it looks like you're almost finished now.

Cheers

Gary

Hi All

A couple of posters mentioned the Acute Tool Sharpening System earlier so I just thought I'd let you know there's now a demo video of the sharpener on the "What's New" section of the website.

The video explains the major components and how the table attaches to a bench grinder, how to set cutting angles, and I show it sharpening a lathe tool and a two flute slot drill/ end mill.

If you want to have a look just click the orange ad on the right.

Unfortunately, trying to find time to finish the DVD manual of how to build and use the system has delayed it's launch on the website shop. The DVD is taking way longer than expected but I'm getting there slowly.

Cheers
Gary
Eccentric Engineering

Hey Raymond

Yes the OT Myford doesn't look quite as shiny as it does in those pictures anymore . One of these days I'll have to polish it up and make a You Tube video of it working.

Hi Dsel

You are welcome to come along to the MSMEE (Melbourne Society of Model and Experimental Engineers) club night to see if that suits you.

We have a meeting every second Friday of the month and usually have a speaker, or one of the members will do a talk on a workshop related subject. Members often bring items along for "models on the table" and there's a library for borrowing books and magazines.

Tonight is our yearly auction where members can redistribute all the stuff they thought was a good idea to buy at the time

If you do drop in come up and say hello, look for the guy wearing the weird glasses on the stage.

Here's a link to the website for some more information.

**LINK**

Hey Raymond

Both myself and the MSMEE had stands up at Bendigo on the weekend and it was great.

They did a terrific job of organising the event and I'll be going up again for the next show for sure.

Cheers

Gary

Hi All

Thanks for the positive comments about the Acute Tool Sharpening System.
I've been having a look through the thread and thought I'd endeavour to explain a couple of questions that have come up about the sharpener.

To try and minimise any slop in the links I have used Acetal bushes in the 6mm reamed holes in the links.
The bushes are about 0.1 - 0.2mm thicker than the link material and when you tighten the screw down on the bush it expands it enough to take out any play.
You can tweak the links this way so that they move freely but don't have any slop. It also helps to keep out grinding dust, doesn't need lubricating, and means the bushes can be replaced instead of the links if they wear over time.
Originally I tried using custom shoulder bolts and also bronze bushes. But as Neil mentions, you would have to make the parts extremely accurate as any clearance is multiplied through the four pairs of pivots.

Most of the holes in the laser cut components have been spot drilled to minimize marking out or the need for a dividing head or mill DRO. They are not through pilot drilled, just a 90 degree cone like a large centre punch mark about 2.5mm diameter done with a spotting drill.

I haven't put the drawings and kit up on the shop yet as I'm still trying to complete the DVD manual that comes with them on how to build and use the system.

I had hoped to have the DVD finished soon after returning from Harrogate, but I've been snowed under with a lot of other jobs at the moment.
Apologies to the customers who bought the drawings and kits at the show, I'll try and forward your DVD as soon as I can.

I'll put the prices for the various items on the UK distributor page as soon as they are finalised and the first batch of kits are shipped to my sister in Lancaster, she handles the sales in the UK.

I have a "What's New" page on the website so if anyone wants to find out any new information about the sharpener, other new products, or content on the website, they will be added to there. Just click our ad on the right hand side of this screen and click "What's New" in the menu at the top of our website.

Cheers
Gary
Eccentric Engineering

Had trouble finding him through the site, but if you google "model engineer Gerard Dean" his profile page should come up at the top of the list.

Hi Hawk

The guy who built the Tiger tank is Gerard Dean from Melbourne. He's a member on this forum so you should be able to message him.

Gary

Thanks for the tip-off Joe, I hadn't noticed that, no it wasn't a deliberate attempt to be eccentric .

ME modified the ad when they went to the wider format and must have accidentally added an extra i, I'll ask them to correct it.

Cheers

Gary