Member postings for Gary Wooding

I fitted DRO and VFDs to my Centec - one for the spindle and one for the power feed. Both have forward/reverse/off switches. As John mentioned, the forward/reverse on the spindle is really good for tapping. I'd hate to go back to the single speed and direction days.

Just to underline John's excellent posts. A friend of mine converted a WM16 to CNC. His first attempt was a disappointment 'cos he thought he could economise by using the original lead-screws and compensate with Mach3 adjustments. It didn't work so he purchased ball-screws and then found what John has said, there wasn't sufficient room to fit the ball-nut on the table. Luckily we have a mutual friend who has a Bridgeport, so an afternoon spent measuring and milling solved the problem. The conversion works very well and noise has never been an issue - but it is in a shed away from the house.

I just get a small grey circle containing a white rectangle. Latest updates of both Firefox and Win10.

A bangle bracelet is, typically, a solid band that slips over the hand onto the wrist. If she is going to use a lathe she's going to waste a lot of material and make lots of swarf. The usual way is to bend strip metal and solder or weld it closed. I've made lots of bangles out of precious metal (gold, silver, etc), all from strip.

If she wants to use a lathe, then I would suggest a plastic, such as nylon or delrin.

Is it possible that Willy is unaware that traction engine boilers are an integral part of the body?

Better still - use a password manager KeePass is a good one, and its free. There are variants for Windows, Mac, and Android.

Edited By JasonB on 01/07/2016 09:49:40

Ali is terrible stuff to part. It tends to build-up on the tip of the parting tool which then cannot cut any more - resulting in a bang. If you hand feed you will feel the point when this build-up happens and can stop in order to remove the build-up. Power feed just keeps on pushing, and you now know the result.

I do work for the REMAP charity. Some years ago we had a big project (a very special wheelchair) that required several people for it's implementation. One of our members, a professed AutoCad expert, decided to do the drawings for us. He produced dimensions accurate to 0.0001" (there was no way we could work to that level). Some way through the actual build, one of the parts didn't fit - it was 1.0000" too big (but otherwise accurate to 1/10 thou). He had committed the cardinal sin of changing a dimension by hand, instead of redrawing the component so that AutoCad would dimension it.

I went on the Saturday; there was no problem with parking, but the same cannot be said about the admission queue. It appeared to be a single queue that stretched along the side parallel to the road. It wasn't until you got into the plaza that you could see the sign for advance ticket holders, but that was after unnecessarily queuing for some time with people wanting to buy tickets. The sign had been obscured by the queue when I initially walked up looking for the advanced admission door, so I went back to join the end of the only apparent queue..

I too thought the show was better than Harrogate, with some new models and more interesting exhibits. I found the TV-type information monitors somewhat confusing, leading to the initial assumption that stands being advertised could be found near the monitor showing the advert.

I'm certainly going next year.

And don't forget Autodesk's Fusion 360. It's a fully parametric 3D CAD system with animation, rendering, and built-in CAM processor (the same one that Solidworks charges an arm and a leg for). Best of all, remarkably, for hobbyists, students, and small businesses (<100k/yr), its absolutely free.

Hi Murray,

I've been using Ray Nash for pure argon - I had to buy a bottle from him, which he refills when required. Very fast and cost effective service. I just place the empty bottle in the wooden box he supplied and send it off. I'm just a satisfied customer.

He can be contacted at:

Green Lane Cottage, Coombe, St.Austell, Cornwall, PL26 7LP. Tel: 01726 882615, email: [email protected]

I downloaded it but the install to the default C:\Programs folder failed due to insufficient authorisation. I then tried installing to my own folder, which seemed to work, but then Windows Defender removed it because it detected malware. At this point I gave up. I'm using Win10.

Hi Niko

I've sent you a PM.

I've heard that starting some time in July the Win10 upgrades will incur a charge of something like £90, so if you are considering upgrading then a free forced upgrade could be a mixed blessing.

If this is a one-off drawing, and you really have no intention of using a program to create any other drawings, then post a hand-drawn picture of what you want and I (or anybody else) will be able to draw it with a program.

On the other hand, if you think you would like to use a drawing program in the future, then devote several days in learning one - it will be time well spent.

It an early 20thC model of a mid 19thC machine shop containing a lathe, shaper, drill, grinder etc, all working from overhead belting driven by a working steam engine.

I don't have Sky, so I'm probably way off beam, but I thought that it had a built-in catchup facility that needed a broadband connection. WRT the original post, 2GB is a ridiculously small amount nowadays, so does the basic Sky package really have that limit, or is it an old limit that could be raised on request? How does it cope with catchup?

I have a Centec 2B mill that came with 3ph motors running from a rotary converter, which was rather noisy and cumbersome. I changed the motors to delta and added Mitsubishi VFDs. I mostly leave the gears in the mid range and vary speed with the VFDs. Almost instant reverse is a bonus. I even do tapping under power by slowing the spindle right down and reversing every few revs to break the swarf. Haven't broken any taps yet (touch wood and cross fingers).

Hmmm,

I had a Win10 upgrade and reboot last night, and upgraded Firefox to the latest level (45.0) and still get a blank area instead of a video.

I just get a blank area where, I suppose, the video should appear. I'm using Firefox under Win10 x64.