Member postings for Nicholas Farr

Hi Harold, exactly my thoughs, however I was thinking of making a deep enough and longer keep plate that would eliminate the two adjusting screws alltogether, even if it needed shimming to get the clearance right.

The problem with these two small grub screws, as you say Harold, has a tendency to tilt or twist the plate, but also they are a small point contact which of cause allows creep due to the loading v's area contact and after a while the jaw becomes sloppy again. full contact between jaw and keep plate would eliminate this.

Regards Nick.

Hi Ed, I have one of these, it is not perfect but it is not nearly as bad as yours.

Below is a photo of the underside of mine showing the block that holds the movable jaw down onto the vice bed to prevent the lift that yours looks as if it is doing. Yours may or may not the same, but you will notice in the photo two small holes diagonally to each other between the two cap head bolts. In these holes are two socket grub screws, which can be adjusted against the cap head bolts to give a minimum amount of lift in the movable jaw.

I've found the best way to adjust these, is to first back off the two grub screws and then nip the two cap head screws so there is no movement in the jaw. You can then back off the two cap head screws, say one flat at a time on each screw and then tighten the two grub screws. Continue this sequence until the jaw moves without binding and without to much slop either.

The underside of mine needs to be dressed on the mill, because the front end measures 15.11 mm while the back end is 14.9 and as it is adjusted at the moment, the movable jaw gets too tight at about 13 mm from closing. I have filed off the high points but it really needs milling parallel. When! I get round to doing that, I'll probably make a new block to cover a wider area of the underside.

I've only every used this for drilling, which it seems to be OK with, I didn't buy it with any intention of using it for milling.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 05/10/2012 00:28:28

Hi Andrew, no the shaper is not where I was thinking, I was looking at the corner just to the right hand side of your white milling machine. But it was getting a little late when I posted mine and my blinkers were almost staying shut.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 04/10/2012 06:29:23

Hi, well my camara don't seem to want to work in my garage at the moment, 'cause it's so cluttered up it might evoke some elf-n-safety issues. (not only that, but someone might say something too)

I do have one end of a small room just off my kitchen though, where I have an old office desk where I can tinker and fiddle with small items. (I think is was a pantry in the olden days) It also has some handy shelves in there as well, where I keep all me mics, verniers, levels, twist drills and other stuff that I don't leave in my garage. This room has also got a bit cluttered of late as well, with stuff starting to build up on top of one of the two fridge/freezers that I have in there also. There is not a lot of visable space to be seen on the office desk at the moment. Not at all orginised at present

Andrew, I think I might have spotted your shaper in the far corner behind that bench thingy in the first picture, but I'm probably wrong.

Regards Nick

Hi Wolfie, you could strip it down to the bear motor, but you are likely to need to do some mods to the shaft and end housing as suggested by Martin P, as they are normally dedicated motors for pumps.

**LINK**

The above link may give you an insight into the innards of the pump and the shaft arrangement. It's a different make to yours, but all these close-coupled pumps are fundamentally the same construction arrangement.

If you do decide to keep it as a pump, please do not run it dry, as you will most likely damage the sealing arrangement on the shaft.

Regards Nick.

Hi Wolfie, why not just bung it on Ebay and sell it as is.

Regards Nick.

Hi Jason, I've got the same thing, but mine is 27 days but only for MEW. I had the same thing last year and also for ME when that was due, but as David says it will update automatically.

Regards Nick.

Hi Monk, I think the "preferred method" is which one that you would like yourself, but do bear in mind what has been said about any dismantling that may be needed. Whichever method you use, it should not be sloppy in the holes, nor should you have force them through or have any shear forces on them.

The idea of bolts or rivets is for these to be in tension, thus applying enough friction between the two parts to transmit all the forces from one part to the other. The effect is they act as one solid part, and no shear forces are applyed to the fixings.

Regards Nick.

Hi Chris, IMHO, as a general rule, I would use black steel where the surface finish is of no real consequence, i.e. locomotive frames and any other general fabrication jobs. Black steel doesn't always machine to a good finish. Bright steel is much more suitable for the likes of the grinding rest and other tools of a simalar nature, but as Harold says, if a spec number is given, then that should be sought after.

Some tools may require steels such as gauge plate or silver steel, black or bright steel will not be an alternative for these.

Regards Nick.

Hi Brian, they are 18 DP and 14.5 PA by 0.375" in width.

Regards Nick.

Hi, you could try Colledge Engineering, see this **LINK**

GLR Distrubtors Ltd see this **LINK** also do Gauge plate.

Usual disclamers.

Regards Nick.

Hi, quite agree Neil, my Disco amp I built back in the 70's had EL84 output Valves, it was a stereo one and had a bootiful sound.

Regards Nick.

Hi, looking good already Nobby, the change wheels have come up a treat.

Regards Nick.

Hi, when I first started working for my last employer back in 1970 they used HF acid in industrial sand production. I never knew what part it played in the process, as I was just a young-en then, just got told not to go near that bit of kit. Luckily they discontinued it's use shortly after I started there, so never had much to do with it. However I knew then that it could not be put in glass bottles as it would just eat it's way through. They still used it in the lab in small quantities though, and about 25 years ago I asked if I could have a small amount for etching a bit of glass. They let me have some, but only on condition that I sign a well documented disclaimer that the company would not be held responsible for it's use or disposal and I had to accept and sign for some special burn cream. Apparently you can't feel it burning through your skin.

Regards Nick.

Hi Steve, you've just reminded me that I got a self assembly bedside cabinet about three months or so ago, just had a look, and no, that hasn't even got out of the box yet either. It might my fault though, cause I haven't cut the plastic strapping off yet, you know! the stuff that your not supposed to carry it with when you buy it. Maybe I should cut it off and see if anything happens within the next month.

Regards Nick.

Hi Sid, well my browser is IE9.

Regards Nick.

Hi Sid, I have a spell checker in my Google Toolbar, which works fine in this editor. My SCYAT is disabled.

Regards Nick.

Hi Nobby, I should have realised that it was a collar with pins through the gear and into the leadscrew. Same type of keying that you get with the old Drummond and one or two other makes of lathe from that era. Martin's obsevations said it all really. I'd say the threaded hole up the middle of the leadscrew would be for a set screw for retaining it all together when in use, as I suspect that the gear and the collar are normally just a sliding fit.

Hope the rest of the rebuild goes OK and I bet it will look a nice machine when it's finished.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 22/08/2012 21:28:18

Hi, the twist drill quality will make a lot of difference. The sensitivity of the drilling machine shouldn't be too great an issue for that size of twist drill, IMO, provided your not using a "Bill Massive" machine. A good quality bench drill of the 1/2" type should be able to be used quite successively, while using suitable coolant/lubrication.

Many years ago I used to get an annual major maintenance job which entailed making up 144 5/16" mild steel rods, where each end had a 3/32" hole drilled for a split pin. I used to cut all the rods to length and dress the ends. I had a piece of square bar which was drilled down the end by about 1/2" to fit the rods snugly and a 3/32" hole was drilled cross-ways through the hole at the distance the holes had to be drilled in from the ends of the rods. This square bar was case hardened and was set up in the drill vice with the 3/32" cross hole lined up with twist drill in the chuck. All the rod ends were then spotted to the width of the drill in this square jig. The jig was then removed and the vice jaws set far enough apart to allow the twist drill to have the same clearance each side, but close enough to support the rods. Each rod end was then held by hand on the vice jaws and were drilled. A little soluble cutting oil mix was squirted on each one from a washing up liquid bottle to help cutting and the drill was withdrawn frequently to clear the swarf.

I could drill all these rods both ends using only one twist drill and without re-sharping it, and that was a total of 288 holes, and still had the twist drill to drill more holes in other things. We used Dormer twist drills at that time FWIW.

Regards Nick.

Hi Nobby, might there be a small grub screw or two inbetween the teeth. If all else fails, maybe you could take the handwheel off the other end and withdraw the leadscrew, and then maybe get a better look at how it is fixed on.

Regards Nick.