Member postings for Jo

Why are you using a 1mm cutter? Wrong tool .

Jo

No much easier by hand

Jo

At 1.2mm lets be honest you could drive a tank and full artillery regiment through such a huge hole! They are not in any way difficult.

When I cut the slots on the S&P that Jason pointed you at earlier I had a major problem.. I foolishly initially cut them 0.6mm wide and then wasted a lot of time cutting them wider. Wider is easy. You can always find methods to make it a simple job more difficult or choose to use tools that are not up to the job .

When I scale the S&P down to 1/12th scale I will be doing slots 0.4mm by 2.3mm long. I think I know how to do them but you will have to wait to see my solution.

Jo

There are a number of different types of DA collet chucks, most are designed to be used in industry CNC machines. Some are relatively thin around the collet so I would guess that they are designed to be used in the (capstan) tailstock or down cavities where the space for the tool is limited and as you say Ian they are not designed for high axial loads and one I have has a hair lined crack where someone has abused it. But I also have numerous with integral 30 Int tapers.... So clearly designed for use in the nose of milling machines.

The latest Cowells collet chuck uses the DA200 collets and is excellent.

Jo

My guess would be that as the patent was dated 1973 cheap copies would not have been created until the patent ran out so that would be +20 years, then allow a few years for the traders to wake up to the opportunities and for us to start asking for them.

I am personally surprised that the, in my view, far superior DA collet system is not more widely used in our model making.

Jo

I am not sure why you are worried about spares...very few mini lathes will have been used so much as to need repairs.

Thread cutting... Are you really going to cut threads? Are what you are looking to cut so obscure? Most people on smaller lathes use a tailstock die holder to cut threads.

Small brass parts: Small means many things to many people. I will happily turn sub 1mm parts on my watch maker's turns that cost me £10. Then my Hobbymat or Cowells is great... Brass is easy to turn. So the question is what accuracy are you looking for?

You need to be a bit clearer in your needs, before we can suggest something. The Toyo 210 is a cracking little lathe and will knock the spots off any of the chinese cheapies everyday of the week and spares are available through Proxxon (same lathe).

Jo

The traction engine meeting is at Stratfield Saye village hall because that is where the organiser Clive lives. but renting a village hall is not cheap I think we get about 50 members and we pay £3 each for the day.

A ME club is likely to allow us to use their club house with a small donation towards the heating costs... I am currently only a member of Guildford, so that is all I could offer. I am only too happy for someone else to organise a venue: Just be warned Model engineers and their money are not easily parted....

Jo

Good that means he has the full set: he said 13 in his post. Also do you have the picture of the valve gear and the correction to the goveror.

Jo

You should have 16 sheets in the set not 13, so I am not sure which you are missing.

The Throp Corliss engine designs are a simple design and so long as you have access to a lathe/mill/indexing head should present no real problems. Some of the set ups are featured in the second of the Workshop practise series of books, which was written by him.

You will find more information in my cross compound build here: **LINK** It is a big engine: I am not sure where I will store mine once it is complete (or if I will be able to lift it!)

Jo

Bazyle,

If you know of an existing ME club that has a good model engine group then please tell us. I know for a fact that there is not enough interested members in GMES to form one.

Jo

If we can get say 10 people interested, I would be willing to approach GMES about using the clubhouse for a Saturday or Sunday. And there is a possible speaker, who lives not far from there....

Jo

Rather than starting a "club", why not something like our Sothern Counties Traction Engine Group? We rent a village hall three times a year and get together for a chat, bring along work in progress and have a guest speaker.

I am sure one of the ME clubs would let us use their clubhouse for an initial meeting to see if there was sufficient local interest.

Jo

Sadly the railway side of a society might bring in revenue but my experience is that their ability to spend money far exceeds their contribution.

I had hoped that my demo at the last GMES rally would have attracted new members to the club: I don't think we got any this year. But I know that the MEM membership rose rapidly around the show time.

Niloch: Andover is a long way for me and a very long way for Jason to travel, especially in the evening. And I would worry that something like my 1/6th S&P is rather a long way from the sort of simple engine you would get at that type of evening, it is likely to scare off someone thinking about building their first model stationary engine.

Jo

Ed, You are less than 10 miles from me... I am still looking for a club in the area that shows an active interest in model Stationary engines.

When John Day died Guildford really lost its prime focus on stationary engines, I put on a large stationary engine display at the GMES show last year (along with my turning demo) but there was little club member interest. I gave in taking my engines to their bits and pieces again because of the lack of interest from the loco enthusiasts.

Jo

Yes make things very secure but a determined thief will always get in and once they know you are an opportunity they will come back for more .

Assuming that no one in the area knows you have a workshop or your hobbies (sadly this is where helping out neighbours is not such a good idea) then they are likely to be opportunist thieves, so they will round here they steal lawn tractors, in urban areas DIY tools seems to be the rage. If you don't want them turning everything upside down then a few easily replaceable items on show will save a lot of grief for those items that are irreplaceable.

If the thief knows what you have and are stealing to order then they will come prepared for any level of security. There was one case where they lifted the roof of someone's workshop and craned out his locos/machine tools. It was so obvious that no bypasses questioned if what they were doing was legitimate.

Jo

Sorry Andrew I disagree, a larger machine does not necessarily mean better, it depends on the item you are trying to make: I would not attempt to machine the same things on my Harrison mill as I would on my BCA or the Sixis 101. What is key to all of these machines is the rigity and quality of construction. Modern far eastern mills are made to a price and they represent very good beginners machines. Unlike second hand European/US machines, far eastern tools do not yet hold their value this could be beause the earlier ones where not to the same standard as the moderns ones, I could not say.

As for the two hobbiest machines that Mark has identified: Mark you really need to go and have a look at them. If you accept that the machines are a starting point, with some TLC you will be able to clean them up, make adjustments and maybe modifications to get them to meet your own requirements. They are both very powerful for their weight and will be capable of shifting metal, how accuratley they machine will depend on their adjustment and your ability to keep them adjusted.

Some suppliers will do you a starters kit with their mills, which will give you many of the items that you will need to buy yourself to get going.

Jo

Yes there are too many rivet counters amongst Locomotive fanatics who don't realise how they come over, they are a real turn off.

Jo

Wasn't Doris not one of the series that was published as a small booklet? I think I have a copy of it at home.

Jo

One of the other electronic apprentices in my year used a mill on his "C" blocks. He got his ear bent and had to do E blocks instead by hand, whilst we continued with the original C blocks.

Being forced to learn how to file was one of the best things I was ever taught, that and the use of a cold chisel .

Jo

If you have a height vernier and are missing the scriber then M-DRO will sell you a replacement. I recently picked up one from them for my 24" Chesterman, ok it had a metric width but a little tickle with a milling cutter on each side of the shank took it to the right size. The scriber will not reach the surface plate on that one, only on the diddly little 12" ones.

One thing to look out for: My 12" Mitutoyo has a really useful magnifier lens mounted above the scale to help read the vernier guage. I must make one for the larger Chesterman.

Jo