Member postings for Steven Vine

PLEASE. Just leave things as they are. It does not need fixing. It aint broke.

Steve (avid daily reader)

Be like Bill

Went to Ikea today and picked up a sturdy tool trolley for the workshop. The Raskog is 30 pounds with an Ikea Family card.

Edited By Steven Vine on 15/09/2015 20:06:37

Re: setting the max current for motors. Why do you want to limit the motor current? An industrial electrician told me that a motor draws the current that it needs. I would have thought that if the VFD is a match for the motor HP then you would not need to set the max current.

Re: the ramp up ramp down. On my 3 VFDs (if I remember correctly) the ramp is established by setting the time you want for the motor to reach full speed/frequency, and the time you want for the motor to come to a stop (soft start, soft stop). I would have thought it would be ok to use one ramp setting for 2 dissimilar motors.

Steve

Hi Robin

I presume you only want to run one motor at a time. My manual states that one must not cut the power between the inverter and a motor while the inverter is delivering power, ie. don't put a switch between the inverter and the motor. To my mind, if you turn off the inverter at the mains, manually transfer and connect the 3 output wires to the second motor, and then turn the inverter on, then there should be no problem. So, connect a 3 pole, double throw, switch (with a high enough rating and good and firm switch contacts) to the 3 wires coming out of the inverter. Connect the both motors to this switch. DO NOT EVER EVER move that switch while the inverter is energised or if there is a voltage on any of the 3 wires, or if the motor is turning (inductive load?). Turn off the inverter, wait, then move the switch. I can't see why this would not work.

My concern is; does anything happen with the inverter when the switch contacts are moved when the inverter has just been powered off but 'is still warm'.

I've never done this (would like to also), so I stand to be corrected.

Steve

Edit : I just saw Donkeys post after posting this. Yeah, instead of a switch, manually swap the motors over using 3 pin plugs and a single socket connected to the inverter.

Edited By Steven Vine on 20/08/2015 08:55:37

Did the W10 install. It took a long time but went well. I had to do a factory reset twice during the W8.1 install on this 7 year old machine, so I was pleased it went ok this time around.

I had to manually start the update for the video controller as that device had a driver problem, but Windows found one ok, so that was fixed easily.

I had to reinstall a couple of programs, to reregister their dlls etc.

Its basically virtually all the old stuff dressed up differently. So, once more, I am going to have to learn where everything is again. What a pain.

All in all, not a bad install experience at all.

Steve

inking geofencing !!

Edited By Steven Vine on 09/08/2015 01:33:46

Hi Peter

There are rules to be followed and you can test it yourself. You should do some calculations. Read the K.N.Harris boiler book.

How are you going to 'firmly bolt' the end plates on?

Steve

Gate Machinery in Watford are UK distributors. Gate sell Rong Fu.

This should explain it, at the bottom

**LINK**

Steve

Hi Michael

Thanks very much for that HSE link, interesting reading. And an interesting point you raise about the wheel width (thickness) at the bore. In that HSE guide, the section on mounting and spindles states the following:-

Spindles
33 The spindle should be long enough and threaded to a sufficient length to
ensure that when the wheel and flanges are mounted, there will be enough thread
for full engagement of the nut on the spindle. The thread should extend inside the
flange but not into the hole in the wheel.

The last sentence is interesting. I just measured the unthreaded portion of the end of the Clarkson spindle and it is around 10mm. So, I deduce that a wheel should be no wider (thicker) than 10mm at the bore, else a portion of the wheel bore will sit on the threaded portion of the spindle.

So it seems to me that it is not right to put a 6 inch diameter wheel, 20mm wide on there (which is in fact what I temporarily did with unease).

Steve

I would think so as well; I am no expert so take my advice with caution. The Mark1 machine came with a 1/4inch thin, 5 inch wheel. The basic original guard consisted of a small arc of steel, similar to a mudguard. Later ones came with a more substantial hood. So yes you will probably have to redo your guard. Off the top of my head, the machine is 2800rpm motor, 4000 rpm spindle speed with the original pulleys. If you have a beat up old machine then check your motor and pulleys in case they have been changed/replaced and are giving a different speed. I did temporarily mount a 6 inch wheel with some flanges once and used that for a while. If I remember correctly, with a thick wheel and flanges there was not much room left to do the nut up, and if I remember it did not feel 'right' having that size on it (but it might just have been my ignorance). I easily found some small cup wheels on ebay (if you dare!). I got some 3 an 4 inch cup wheels from a local engineering supply firm; the type that supplies tools, materials, and consumables to workshops. Depends what you want, but maybe consider the aluminium diamond wheels from Chronos etc

Also consider using adequate flanges to support the wheel. A read of the Factories Act and regulations may shed more light, as you have to be competent to mount a wheel. Below is a page from the March Operators manual (not Clarkson but virtually the same) . Maximum wheel width at bore 1/4inch!

Hi Ron

Nice idea. And if it works for you then it is correct, and bugger what anyone else says. That said I welcome negative comments as it makes me aware of things I may not have considered.

I'll throw in something about castors. I recently made a dolly with four castors to temporarily move a 163kg machine about. Like a fool I installed 4 castors rated at 50kg each, thinking that would give me 200kg for the dolly (and it did when all was static). The dolly worked well and I could push the machine around without problem. Disaster struck when I went over a small step in the floor. Two or three of the wheels lifted, putting up to 163kg on one castor. Needless to say the castor wheel broke and caused me all sorts of problems. I installed new castors rated at 200kg each and all's right in the world.

Steve

Hi Peter

If the Kelly Kettles does not get it moving then you could try a car foot pump. It should provide enough pressure to get it turning over for a test.

Nice build, I've enjoyed following this.

Steve

Crikey, it's only a joke. If you can't have a joke .....

Turn it out of a round. Then heat the thick end to cherry red, and beat it into a nice square on the anvil. Let's not make things too hard here.

Maybe you got it too hot and burnt out the flux using the OA, or maybe you melted the solder instead of letting the job melt the solder. I'm no pro, but I heat the job up and continually test with the solder (out of the flame) until it runs. The flux remains good this way and the solder wets. If it is not wetting then the flux is not doing its job.

Steve

I saw the advert pop up a few times. I just closed it. I cannot even tell you what the advert contained. With years of Internetting under my belt, I have trained myself to automatically dismiss the trash without thought, and just read what I want to read. Ads and trash are everywhere now, you just got to learn to switch off to it, because it is not going to go away.

Steve

A quick search shows that the zip tie, cable tie, ty-rap, or whatever you want to call it, was invented in America in 1958 by R.Howard and H.Betts. Howard & Betts introduced the cable tie with the name Ty-Rap. The Wikipedia article states 'The name [zip-tie] probably comes from the installation of a cable tie which produces a "zip" sound as the pawl rides the slope of teeth.'. The Electrician that trained me called it a Ty-Rap.

**LINK**

Steve

Ah, the old zip tie trick. Is there anything they can't do? I lost one of my balls a good few years ago, I think it's under the bench somewhere. You can reuse those things if you flip the catch up with something fine. Steve

Absolute Beginner

I've been going around in circles for a couple of years now. Here are a few personal idle thoughts to open this out a bit more. My opinion ,desire, and final decision, will probably change again next week!

That VMC. Most people who have one seem to be pleased with it and would get it again (though there are a few that would not). I keep coming back to the VMC because it has a knee, a belt drive, and a conventional common motor. There are no gears or electronics board to go wrong further down the line in years to come (but then who's to say they will go wrong!). My engineer Uncle brushed off the height and travel limitation issues with the comment ' there are always ways to get around things'. He does a lot of his work on a Centec, though he does have a bigger mill. Anyway, let's say a 13mm drill bit sticks out of a chuck by 120mm ish. Say you need another 20mm to insert and remove the bit to avoid moving your work in the xy. Say your keyless chuck sticks out 100mm. That's around 240mm of your 345mm taken up. That leaves you 105mm for a vice and/or work piece. If your workpiece is 105mm tall then it could be clamped directly to the table and worked on. If your workpiece is smaller then it can go in the vice. If you are using a 6mm drill bit then you will have another 40mm or more to play with. You could always drill the big stuff in a decent Drill Press, and avoid the height limitations on the VMC. If you were certain you will be working on big stuff all day long, day in day out, then your decision would be easy. You could make a head spacer, which is a simple thing to do. That will overcome many problems and should give you bags of room. End mills and their holders will probably work out around 100mm or more less than the 13mm drill bit and chuck set up, so you will be able to attack most bigger workpieces (100+105mm) without too much trouble and heartache I would have thought. As is always mentioned, your choice of machine will depend on the type of machining you will be doing. As a home machinist/hobbyist you probably have no clea idea what you will be machining further down the line, hence the dilemma of going for rigidity/mass with small daylight, or a lighter machine with bags of daylight. Coupled with the fact that your mill choice has to be fitted within the confines of a meagre sized workplace/shed and you have a nightmare decision to make. If you were buying a machine for paid work purposes then you would have a much better idea of the size you would need; which would keep you from going around in circles so much, and lead you to a firmer decision.

Some guy on another forum (I think it was JS) commented on the fact that you WILL be running out of daylight and travel as you progress in your work. He also commented that the difference in the weight between a VMC and say a RF45 is not enormous. What I got from that comment was that the daylight was more valuable than the mass/rigidity advantage of the VMC. This started me in circles again, as I then started to favour the RF45 type with the greater travel. But then I preferred the belt drive and knee of the VMC. Dizzy or what!

I'm sure if you got a VMC and altered your bench, or if you got the biggest bench mill that you could possible stand on your bench, then you would end up being very pleased with either. If you hit a limitation further down the line then you will overcome it.

Maybe having a get out plan will push you towards a decision. Buy one that you fancy the most and that seems to be the best deal and easiste to get hold of, safe in the thought that you can always sell it on in good condition at a later date for not too much loss (there will be buyers) and move onto a different machine more suitable to your needs at that time. Once you got a machine though, you'll love it and it will be a keeper, despite its limitations.

Steve

Obviously he's looking to rig the next World Snooker tournament.

Hi Vic

Fantastic, many thanks. That's exactly the info I was after. I had guestimated the depth to be around 27inches. Back to the drawing board yet again.

Steve