Member postings for Simon Collier

There were threaded holes for jacking screws. I got it all apart. It was interesting to see how it works. I had never given it a thought. There was brass swarf in behind the scroll probably because brass makes the smallest chips. I cleaned it all and put it back together and somewhat to my surprise, it is much more accurate, so it was well worth the effort.

My chuck has become very inaccurate, so I finally decided to try to take it apart to remove and clean the scroll properly. I've removed all screws and the camlocks. Now what? How do I get the back plate off, or should I even try?

Thanks John. I put the DTI on the bed with the needle on top of the chuck and tried to pull the chuck upwards. Got about 0.04 mm with some effort. I tried a facing cut on largish stainless, but the original sprung single toolpost started bouncing.

Almost a year ago I got (for a song) a Myford ML-7 as a second lathe. It has proved very handy, more so than I would have predicted, helped by the fact that its chuck is very accurate. How would I know if the spindle bearings are worn? I have no reason to believe there is a problem, but what would the symptoms be?

You can do small things in a big lathe, but not big things in a small lathe. I think Myfords are too small and too expensive. You pay for history and mystique, not capacity.

What a lot of information. Thank you all. If I can gain access to the lathe soon, I will start with oil and a soft cloth, then work up. I had no idea scotchbrites had abrasives in them; I thought they were just nylon or similar. I normally use well worn ex kitchen ones for delicate things. I also have some grade 0000 steel wool I bought years ago for woodwork but never used. The ACF50 looks impressive. Given how hard it is to remove half a thou from a part spinning in the lathe with the determined application of a strip of emery, I am not too worried about removing metal to a ruinous degree.

Thanks for the replies. It is still in the late owner's workshop, not mine. All I could do during a brief viewing was find some WD40 and spray it all, not ideal but better than nothing for now.

This shows it.

I have just seen a lathe from a deceased estate in as new condition, with immaculate paint, etc., It has a custom make vinyl cover, and the 4 jaw was still unused in its original bag. It is a Hercus, probably 1960's. However, unaccountably, there was surface rust on the ways. At some point, it must have been uncovered for a significant period, I suspect after sudden illness or accident, as the gentleman took great care of his tools. The question is, how much of a problem is this? Will it come off with a rub over with oiled 1000 grit wet and dry or what? Otherwise this is one of those dream finds. Think Super 7, only bigger, 4-1/2 c.h. I think.

Simon

Thanks to Jason, Paul and Ketan for your advice. The z axis readout is OK now: I removed and replaced the battery and it unfroze. Simple I know, but it has never done this before. It is alkaline, as they are more readily available, but I will get some silver oxide batteries.

The lathe is a Hafco AL 76. It came with the readout, possibly fitted by the supplier, Hare and Forbes, Sydney. At least the new unit just plugged straight in to the leads from the scales.

I will now use a copper hammer on the mill. The reason I did not was that, when I drifted out tools from the lathe spindle 5MT taper, it tightened up the tapered roller bearings, which then had to be adjusted by the service bloke. So I made up a system to press out tooling which is more complicated and slower then my system for the mill.

Jason, I am guessing you also have a bigger mill for you traction engine parts. My SX3 is OK for 5" gauge loco stuff, but I wouldn't think it adequate for TE parts.

Ketan, the lathe is a 6" ch Chinese and the digital readout came fitted, an Easson unit. I often use mills in the drill chuck (too lazy to change over) which is fine when doing "facing" type cuts, but if doing deep cuts with the side of the cutter, they will climb out of the chuck into the work. Which brings me to chuck removal. I was originally advised by the supplier that one unscrews the drawbar a bit and hits it with a hammer. I became unhappy with this and made a stub of drawbar thread (1/2 Whitworth) glued to a cap screw, and use a long bar with a bit of hex key in the end. I remove the drawbar, use the extended key to screw the stub into the end of the 3MT spindle in the machine, and then use a wedge through the slots to break the taper. What do other people do?

Getting back to the actual machine, I have a Super X3 which is now 9 years old. It is an accurate, capable machine which I really like. However the board for the speed controls failed and I had the service guy out to replace it (from Hare and Forbes, Sydney). Also, the touch panel plastic had broken up and was replaced. A couple of the plastic handles have broken off the feed arms, and the tapping function, operated by the buttons on the end of the feed handles, now doesn't work. It would require a new main board to fix, and being labour intensive, was going to cost about $1000 (half the cost of the machine). Just now, the LCD z axis display for the spindle fine feed has failed. On my lathe, the digital readout display failed and no boards are available for that model now, so I had no option but to pay $600 for a new one (after I had sulked for about a year). I don't know whether my experience is reasonable or not, given the price of the machines, but it is intensely annoying.

I was after a bit of 1/4 stainless rod once, and a bloke at a fabricators gave me a length, but I told him I thought it was 6 mm. I measured it when I got home and it was 6 mm. I had no reference. I am continually amazed in the workshop what the eye can discriminate.

I have started my kit and am up to the first image of John's thread. I find turning radial grooves difficult so I used a 2 mm carbide end mill and set up drilled and parted discs of LG2 on the rotary table on the mill. I first attempted this with the laser cut discs provided but they raised huge burrs which made it difficult to see, and impossible to test fit the o-ring. My long M6 screws are too long but about 3 mm so I will either cut them down or use spacers. It would be much better if all the laser cut steel discs in the kit were CNC machined instead, but I suppose Garry does what is most economical to keep prices down.

It was protesting against your betrayal.

As kids, we used to melt lead to make fishing sinkers in a tin can on the electric stove. Bent a bit of a spout in the rim first. Of course, the food tins weren't plastic lined as they are now.

A very interesting post, Neil. I am aware of the perceptual and psychological factors involved. I even did Psych. 1 at uni many long years ago, and there was a unit on perception. And, Anna, I remembered your post and tried to find it to add to when I started this thread, but I couldn't. As for plastic models, I used to make WW2 48 scale kits, and the same colour, say RAF dark green, from different hobby paint companies, Gunze, Tamiya, Humbrol, etc were all different. As for Luftwaffe colours, "minefield" doesn't cover it! I had planned to paint a large surface for just the reasons outlined, but I am unlikely to get around to it.

I bought myself this kit for Christmas. It is under the Christmas tree, unopened. Your posts fill me with trepidation, just from the amount of work. I am thinking I should have bought the finished article.

Some great suggestions, thanks everyone. Luckily there is a paint place not far away from me who are very helpful and knowlegeable and supply the now hard-to-get automotive enamel. I do have an iphone so will try Michael's suggestion. My initial idea, which got a bit lost, was that, assuming quite a few people have Chris' book, they could have a look at the picture on page 15 and say if they thought it was about their idea of LNER green or not. If, as Martin suggested, the paint chip is as authentic as you'll get, then I don't like it, as it is darker than any photo or model loco I have seen, and is almost like BR green.

I have a livery data sheet for B1s from Phoenix, which has paint chips glued in. I had some paint matched to the Doncaster chip and painted it on a test piece. It doesn't look right, being darker than I expected (but it matched the chip). I can't buy Craftmaster or Phoenix paint, as nanny state rules prohibit shipping it overseas. Looking at Chris Vine's book, the colour of the loco looks different in different pictures, depending on light, shadow, sun, indoors etc.. Same with pictures on the internet. I think the picture on the cover looks good, and especially the picture of the washout plugs on page 15. I am thinking of mixing Humbrol colours to match the latter and have that made up in automotive enamel. Does anyone, especially LNER enthusiasts, have an opinion on this? I am by no means a fanatic about colour but I would like it to be vaguely right.