Member postings for Brian Wood

Hello Keith,

My first port of call, but he didn't delve into the height of nuts, other things yes. Thanks though for the suggestion.

Brian

Hello Martin and Barry,

Thank you both for your trouble, it was just the information I was looking for. To trawl for it in BSI requires that you know which document number you are looking for, and having found it, pay £90 + to obtain a copy.

Thank you again, I greatly appreciate your help

Kind regards

Brian.

Hello all,

A rather odd question I know, I am doing some research and I am missing information that seems elusive.

Can anyone tell me please what the nut height is in the smaller BA sizes, from say 6BA down; is there a table somewhere which I can refer to?

Thank you for head scratching in advance.

Brian

Hello Dougie,

That might turn out to be the most pragmatic solution in the end. It has become an expensive exercise in frustration I'm sure.

Regards Brian

Hello Dougie,

It might be obvious and you don't say, but if your lathe has a Myford gearbox, then you can cut that thread directly just by selecting 18 tpi on the gearbox. If not then Ady 1 has shown you the alternative which will do just as well .

Regards

Brian

Steamer 1915-

Hello Steve, Yes of course you are right, chuck fitting doesn't come into it; must be going soft int ed.

Sorry to make a fool of myself really

Brian

Hello Chris,

Have you had the chuck off and back on again in the last 2 days? Register cleaning is a possible source of the problem.

Have you swapped the jaws round for another job in the meantime? Again this might be down to cleaning with swarf in the scroll.

No other ideas yet

Brian

Just a thought Chris, is there an interlock to prevent powered cross feed selection at the same time as copying to avoid a horrible crash?

It maybe there you should be looking for answers

Brian

Hello Michael,

Having made a recent study of obscure threads, including Lowenherz, 38 tpi at 0.668 mm pitch falls between the two Lowenherz sizes of 0.60 mm and 0.70 mm; 4BA at 0.660 mm pitch was actually the best match being only a few microns out.

The thread angle for the series was 53 degrees 8 minutes.

Regards

Brian

Hello Keith,

May I add another check, which unlike Andrew's doesn't need you to cut anything.

Taking your pictures as a guide with the clock moved from front to back of the box and the recorded difference of 0.17mm, what happens if you do the same test on the other side of the box without moving anything except the mounting of the clock?

Assuming the box is square, as it should be, then I would expectthose readings will be reversed. that will reassure you that the box at least is as you believe.

You don't I think say how you aligned the box in the first place, was it by try square across the table? Again, testing on the other side of the box with that, using the inside edge this time should give the same degree of fit. Now turn the square over and butt it up and repeat the steps above. If the try square is wrong that will show as a gap on both sides.

These are simple tests and cost nothing to do except a little more time. They may help you sort out which things are wrong. I think the box would be true from it's stated quality, the mill also to be right and the try square wrong in that order of probablity. Even testing with another try square might reveal something before you condemn the mill and it might save face if challenged as you are likely to be.

I hope that shed some light

Brian

Hello Michael,

Welcome aboard.

I can speak with about 65 years of Myford experience behind me. I agree with Martin that an ML7 would make an excellent starter for 10 and it will hold its value well if you look after it. TEE publishing sell useful books on the model, Ian Bradley's book will give you a lot of insight and background.

Weight is about 150 kg all up and you see them being offered in the sales section of this forum. I think that would be a safer place to buy from than leaping into ebay for example, you need to be careful there and know what to avoid.

A good bet is to take someone with you to view and assess whatever you have an interest in buying, don't just trust the seller, there is a great deal that can be concealed under a new paint job for example. I would be happy to help at a reasonable radius of Thirsk N Yorks

Good hunting, it's an interest for life!

Brian

Edited By Brian Wood on 12/02/2014 21:08:30

Edited By Brian Wood on 12/02/2014 21:11:55

Michael G and others

I have looked again at the MTM agreements. They use careful wording but I believe when you strip it down they say that an author gives them the right to publish your material in whichever magazine or medium operated by them in perpetuity. There is no mention of repeat fees for that exclusivity. The phrasing looks daunting and is quite intimidating and it does look as though they can claim the copyright.

However, as the author, you and only you will own the Copyright to your own material and I don't believe MTM or anyone else can prevent you publishing the work again elsewhere. The usual caveats of not just sending it out as a carbon copy as it appered in the MTM publication and/or copying the layout used by MTM would have to apply.

I think too that if an author expands on an original piece of work, even though part of it was published by MTM, it then becomes a new work and the author is free to take it to wherever he/she pleases.

If however my interpretation of all this is wrong and you will have sold your soul to the devil, then contributions will cease to appear and MTM will ultimately fold. I do hope that is not the case; to get it properly verified means seeing your solicitor at £xxx per hour.

Brian

Hello Neil,

The gearbox sounds like the Machin aluminium copy of the Sparey box shown in V8's link, they are available in kit form from Hemingway kits.

I agree with the others, take your time with the sales, there should be plenty of interest. Your Grandad would want the best for his equipment.

Kind regards

Brian

Hello Andrew,

I agree with you, a good rugged looking job and today's way to go IF you are suitably equipped.

There will be plenty like me without that sort of facility who might still find older methods more in their field of understanding.

Regards

Brian

Hello Neil,

Eureka, that's a name to conjure with! I made one sized up a bit to cut standard dimension 20 DP gear cutters, but it was hard going on the pawls when it came to making cutter blanks in boron through hardening steel.

I had two hardened pawls fold up under the strain. It even struggled making an aluminiun alloy test cutter! Admittedly that was for other reasons than pawl failure, but I came to appreciate the design rerquirements for relieving lathes as a result.

In the end I attacked things in a different way altogether which was much more successful and capable of putting in the torque needed to cut the relief using button cutters. It was hand powered and still required enough effort to regularly bend the 5/16 inch diameter steel handle used to pull it over! I estimate some 30 foot pounds of torque was needed to cut that stuff.

When time permits I am thinking of writing up an article on the whole experience for MEW if you think that would be of interest, wearing your new hat of course.

Regards

Brian

Hello Rebekah

I have commented before on your nice looking lathe. Before my present machinery I inherited my father's ML4 which he bought new in 1945

That had a 1 1/8" diameter plain spindle section and 12 tpi 1 1/8" Whit form thread on the nose for fitting on chucks etc. Knowing the rear vertical face to which chuck backplates etc could be screwed to a stop was true, as John Stephenson has described a perfectly valid correction if it is needed in detail, I modified the nose with a close fitting collar that I loctited to the plain section behind the nose thread.

With some careful reaching with long tools, it was then possible to turn a new diameter of 1 1/4" as a location diameter for the more up to date ML7 chucks, faceplates etc.

I seem to remember telling you about this dodge in our previous exchanges, it is well worth the little effort involved.

Brian

Gentlemen,

At the risk of sounding like a schoolmaster, what John Bromley described sounded very much like the early push button starters that relied solely on the load current drawn to trip out. There was NO protection for power failure and the 'overload' tripping could be varied with a rather crude slider gripped by a cheese headed screw.

These were roughly 4 inch square box shaped devices maybe 3 inches thick, the general pattern in the 1950's; times have thankfully moved forward.

My advice to John in his admittedly uncertain understanding of such things was to get a professional in to do it for him; I still stand by that. I am not even sure if John would know how to recognise the differences, so I join in with Keith Long and advise him not to use what he has acquired.

Brian

Hello John,

I wouldn't recommend it, those old units were very simple and didn't come with the no-volt release protection that is common pracrice on machine tools today. If your power fails, it automatically trips out, the old MEM's and others in that age group didn't and machines could start up again unexpectedly when power was restored if you hadn't taken steps to push the off button while the power was down..

There were many nasty accidents as a result.

If you have a friendly electrician he would provide and wire up a modern starter for you, I think you would be better trusting his experience this time.

Best wishes

Brian

Hello John,

I have in the past made a bush with a sawn out and carefully filed key slot on one side and fitted that to the bore of a pulley for a similar fix. Once the Loctite had set I drilled a small hole on the joint face to contain a locking pin and then turned the bore of the bush to finished size with light cuts.

It saved me hours of planing away using the broaching method and worked just fine

Brian.

Hello Gary,

I don't think you have much to lose by glueing it into a hole in perspex or tufnol, whatever you have, using a modern foaming polyurethane adhesive and leaving it over gentle heat overnight. It will give you a handle to grip and it works very well holding short ends on wooden handles for sawing in a bandsaw.

I recommend Everbuild Gater glue. If you are canny you can preshape the 'handle' to give you support underneath it to help resist slitting saw forces. Take it gently though.

It will clean up nicely afterwards too, just run the tap through to restore the 7BA hole.

Good luck

Brian