Member postings for RICHARD GREEN 2

I've always used Clarkson type collet chucks for holding milling cutters with 1" or larger shanks,

I recently bought a very nice Vertex ER40 collet chuck with a 40 INT taper,

My question is this,..... The Clarkson collet is threaded onto the shank of the cutter, and the collet is held firmly into the body of the chuck, when tightened the cutter cannot move up or down at all during heavy cuts,

However, the Vertex collet only grips the cutter on the plain part of it's diameter, and is not threaded onto the cutter at all, and I'm concerned that under load and taking heavy cuts the cutter would be able to move in the collet,

What do you think ?

Richard.

Does anyone know where I can get spares for an Ajax SR2 3ft radial drill ?

I need a return spring for the down feed lever, I've been on to Ajax but they havn't got any spares for a 1960's machine,

They could make a spring, but that sounds expensive for a one off.

Any contacts would be helpfull,

Richard.

Ian,

Try a company called "Pinstructure" in Redditch, they do shim washers from a 10th of a mm thick up to 1mm thick, and loads of other useful fixings etc. 01527 67999 .

Richard.

Chris,

I am currently building a 6" Burrell traction engine to the EKP design, and have almost finished cutting the gears myself, ( have a look at my photos ), If I can be of any help please contact me on [email protected] ,

Are you working from plans , or have you designed it yourself, you could always use the EKP castings.

Richard.

John is not saying anything is running out of true, He's saying the new cutters he's bought are a poor fit in the Clarkson holder.

Richard.

Hello John, If the genuine Clarkson FC3 cutter fits perfectly in the Clarkson cutter holder , there can't be much wrong with either item, are the extra FC3 cutters that you bought foreign imports or what ?

They could be imported rubbish , not on size with no quality control !

Buy some more genuine Clarkson cutters , and see how they fit.

Richard.

This morning whilst having my breakfast, I was listening to radio2, the Chris Evans show,

The "children in need" auction was taking place,

Several people were bidding over £100,000 for stuff.

Chris was saying "come on , don't lose it for the sake of another £15,000.

Now, I do think that "children in need" is a very worthy cause and I support the whole idea of it, so don't slag me off for being a miserable old man,

But what chance have I or anyone else got of making a bid on the auction , when these sort of figures are offered ?

I've worked hard for 40 years, paid off the mortgage, equipped a lovely commercial machine shop, but if I need to spend say £2000 on a secondhand mill , I really have to sit down and think about how much I can afford,

I thought there was a recession going on,

Am I living in a different world ?

Richard.

Edited By RICHARD GREEN 2 on 15/11/2012 09:40:43

Hello Mark,

Your calculations are correct, 53 hole plate, 1 full turn and 37 holes, will give you 53 divisions on a 90-1 rotary table.

Here is a picture of a 95 tooth 6DP gear I cut last week, on a rotary table.

Richard.

Edited By RICHARD GREEN 2 on 14/11/2012 09:44:28

Thanks John, thats a good idea !

Richard.

Andrew,

These gears are 6DP, but the differential bevels will be 4DP, I have a dedlock chuck so thats a possibility,

On a USA website someone used an ER 40 collet chuck to hold the horizontal shaft , but I was a bit concerned that the shaft could move in the collet during use, the large nut on the end of the arbor would be trying to pull the shaft out of the collet,I've got to cut 124 teeth on the gear so don't want anything to move or come loose, and mess the job up.

Richard.

Andrew,

I think making my own arbor is probably my best option at the moment,

The TOS mill has got a 40 INT spindle taper, and I have adaptors to convert this down to 3 and 4 morse, so I could make a new arbor with a morse taper and drawbolt thread in the end, and screwcut the other end for the nut, I could make it as long as required.

Richard.

Here are a few pictures to show you what I'm doing,

These gears are for a 6" Burrell traction engine, the large one in the pictures is 19"diameter, and fills the capacity of the Elliott U2 mill,

The largest gear I've got to cut is 21" diameter and weighs at least 200 lbs (100 kg) , and won't fit in the mill,

I've got a larger TOS FA3A mill that will take 250 kg on the table, but I still need the longer arbor, so the gear blank can fit in the mill without touching the main casting or the outer support bracket.

Perhaps someone might have another way round my problem ?

Richard.

Hello Bazyle, Yes I've tried them, but the 20" is the longest they sell,

I've got a 20" arbor and a 22" arbor, but need the 26" one to do one job.

Richard.

Does anyone know where I can buy an arbor for a horizontal milling machine, that is 1" diameter and 26" long from the flange to the outer end, with a 40 INT taper,

New or used would be OK, I've tried some tool suppliers and ebay , but cant seem to find one.

Richard.

I went to the Midlands show on the Thursday, I thought it was OK, got everything I wanted , plus a few extras , chatted with several strangers in the cafe, had a nice time.

Richard.

Hello Sarah,

Yes, my compound engine will have cast iron piston rings, I will make them myself to fit the new bore sizes,

Piston rings are not too difficult to make, and are a very satisfying little project .

Stub, I did state in my previous reply that "Machinerys Handbook" is a reference book,

Sarah was asking about interference fits, "Machinerys Handbook" has got all the information on shrink fits, press fits, running fits and every other kind of "fit" that she will ever need.

Richard.

Hello Sarah,

Get a copy of "Machinery's Handbook " it will tell you all you need to know about proper engineering , loads of copies on ebay , it's a 3" thick reference book that covers most things you'll ever need to know.

Personally, I think I would make a cast iron liner for your engine and loctite it in place,

I've got a Stuart compound marine engine that I bought part built, with a similar problem to yours, whoever started my engine made a nice job of it , but then left it in a damp shed for some considerable time, this has resulted in the larger cylinder going rusty in one place, there is not enough metal to re-bore it , so I had planned to fit a loctited cast iron liner.

The pistons have still to be made, so I can make them to suit the new bore diameters.

Richard.

Tony,

Grinding lathe tools is the most basic thing we do when starting to learn lathe work,

If you don't have a go at it , then you'll never get the hang of it, It's not clever or wildly technical, it's just got to be right for the job you are doing at the time.

If you've got a threading tool angle gauge ( probably less than £5 ) and a grinder, you'll never need to buy any threading tools at all.

Like John says, there is no need for carbide threading tools on a manual lathe at all,

Richard.

It would only have taken 5 minutes or so to have ground an HSS tool to 55 degrees, you've got a tool angle gauge, it would have been a far better job than buying that rubbish that you did buy, and wouldn't have cost you anything.

Richard.

Hello Ianmac,

Acetylene is far hotter than propane, I think you have overheated the job and the silver solder has bubbled, due to too much heat,

Saying that, I always use oxy acetylene for silver soldering and brazing on model and full size steam engine jobs.

You've just got to be awake and have your mind on what you are doing, There's not much time between the silver solder not being hot enough, and then being too hot.

Richard.