Member postings for Phil P

Hi Andy

My Union tool & cutter grinder works reasonably well as a surface grinder for the few odd jobs that I need to do.

Unfortunately they are not that easy to find second hand, but hey do turn up now and again. I made a bespoke head for mine so I could run the wheels at a faster speed, and it also fits the cross slide of the Myford if I need to do cylindrical grinding.

This shows it grinding accurate angles on the segments of my model mill engine flywheel.

This shows it set up on the lathe, it would obviously not be used without some protection from the grinding dust.

Phil

This company has a good range.

http://www.knupfer.info/

Phil

Having had chance to look at the other stuff on Facebook from this dealer, it turns out he is selling around sixteen machines that used to belong to my late father, I guess the chap who bought them from my dad must have died and this is his workshop now being cleared out.

Phil

Well I never

That is the very lathe that my late father restored many years ago, he sold it before he died probably around year 2000.

I often wondered what became of it, now I know. If I didn't already have one of my own I would buy it back in a flash.

Whatever possessed my dad to paint it bright yellow I will never know, but it makes it stand out from the crowd.

Phil

Depending on what you are doing you might be better off using a Woodruff key rather than a Feather key.
I usually make my own by parting off a slice of Silver Steel bar and cutting in half to make a couple of keys.

It does mean you also need a woodruff key cutter to produce the keyway in the shaft, but the woodruff key seems to be a lot more stable than a feather key as it goes much deeper into the shaft.

Some people make the mistake of using an endmill or slot drill of the same size as the key to produce a feather keyway in a shaft, but you will find if you try to do this the slot will often end up oversize due to the action of the cutting forces. You are better off using a smaller cutter and taking multiple passes to get the exact width you want.

I wont go on about how to cut the keyways in the mating part with the hole, suffice to say if you ever get the chance of some Marlco keyway broaches grab them while you can

Phil

Edited By Phil P on 11/10/2020 19:57:29

Hi Garry

Personally I would opt for buying a foot of proper key steel, it only costs a few quid a length.

Mild steel is always going to be a bit undersize on the square dimensions, and that assumes it is actually square as well. Key steel is made to much tighter tolerances as well as being a tougher grade of steel.

I have seen the results of using mild steel keys at work and it is not pretty, the keyway in the shaft gets chewed up as well as the key failing, so it will mean a lot of work to rectify it when it fails.

Just my 2p worth

Phil

+1 on the Pultra suggestion.

I have a fully tooled up 1770 on the cabinet stand and it takes up about the same same floor space as my Myford.

But you can fit a pultra into a space about half of that if you arrange the drive so it is under the bench. The Pultra can be fitted with loads of different attachments for all sorts of jobs, and you can add to the kit as you go along as it quite often comes up on ebay.

The build quality is second to none on these lathes and they seem to last forever.

Phil

Slotting with the Dremel works very well.

I removed the engine number plate from my Morris Minor engine with that method.

Phil

I have a slightly different method for attaching my vice onto a jig borer, the table has three radial tee slots so the normal methods do not really work.

This is what I came up with, it is a separate sub base which has location buttons underneath, one button goes into the central hole, the other goes into the front slot. The whole lot is then held down with custom made Tee Bolts.

You will see the vice is held down to the sub base with similar clamps to the others shown previously, and some additional cap head screws act as dowels to make sure it goes in the same place if removed for any reason.

Cap head screws are OK until they fill up with swarf, then it is a pain to have to clean them out before the vice can be removed. So I try and use hex head fasteners and spanners for this purpose if I can.

The vice can be removed and replaced with other tooling such as chucks and collets extremely quickly using this method.

And if I am working on very small parts I just hold a smaller vice in the main one.

Phil

Edited By Phil P on 27/09/2020 11:39:48

Jason

Can you reveal where to buy those holders and inserts please.

Thanks

Phil

Mike

A pal of mine has almost just completed the same clock and is currently running the movement on test.

He too has used ball races along with quite a few other mods to the Reeve design.

I just sent him the link to look at this one, and he was pleasantly surprised to see he was not the only one making it.

Phil

It is the same on many forums, people get upset about something or someone and spit their dummy out.

They make a big fuss and publicly announce that they are feeling hard done by and are about to depart the forum, then there is a flood of pleas from all their mates to try and beg them to stay on. It is in most cases just attention seeking.

I don't know Barrie and I honestly cannot remember any of his posts, so in this instance and not knowing the full circumstances it would be unfair of me to tar him with the same brush. But it is very common.

Phil

I get quite a few bits of random material from our scrap bin at work which so far have proved to be decent quality as you would expect.

But we have a twice yearly auction at our model engineering club and quite often there are materials to had for pennies, you should see my stock of cast iron, brass and aluminium bar built up over the years.

The steel obtained from the club auctions has been very dubious though, I always give each piece a trial machining before it goes into stock, I reckon around 60% of it I take to work and dump it in the scrap bin having marked it with a felt pen so I don't pick it out again later !!

Phil

I just use a lump of lead in my hand for setting parts in the vice.

I recycle old car batteries and melt the lead in a steel pot with my blowlamp, then pour it into a mould made from a short piece of round steel tube, about 1.5" dia and 2" long.

I have a few of these dotted around the workshop and they last ages without getting too deformed.

Not sure about the safety aspect of car battery recycling, so please take proper precautions if you do attempt it.

Phil

Pauline

I you wish to send me your email address via a PM, I will forward you a copy of the latest BMES newsletter to have a look at.

Phil

Pauline

I have sent you a PM with some information on local Model Engineering clubs.

Phil

The capstan tailstock unit looks very similar (but not identical) to the one I have on my Super 7

It fits an ML7 tailstock and was made by Cowells.

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=98925

Phil

Edited By Phil P on 21/08/2020 15:39:26

Edited By Phil P on 21/08/2020 15:40:30

I am sat working from home in the only available space............The conservatory.

Currently 37° with all doors and windows open and fan blowing.

Phil

Does anyone else use "factors" for working out what divisions you can use a particular dividing head or rotary table for ?

I have done charts for all of mine with the standard hole plates, and some that allow different indexing plates to be used from other units, so I can mix and match between different ones.

The excel spreadsheet table shows every possible division that will be available for each combination.

Phil

Edited By Phil P on 11/08/2020 21:26:51

My wife has Classic FM on constantly in the house and insists having it on in the car as well.

I dont mind it too much, but when in the workshop it is usually Pink Floyd / David Gilmour or Supertramp.

Phil