Member postings for colin hawes

I would use mild steel as I would be very doubtful that the cast iron threads would be strong enough. Colin

Nearly all of my micrometers were bought about 60 years ago so I am very happy to see imperial dimensions as it saves me from having to convert from mm. When I bought a mini mill, some time ago, I got the "imperial" version ...Big mistake; it has metric leadscrews with nonsense dials so I added a DRO. I am happy to work in metric or imperial anyway it's just that I already have imperial measuring tools. Colin

I have made several collet chucks using mild steel. One of them at my club has had quite a lot of use with no problems. Colin

I'm still hoping to read what bearing material as a matter of interest. Colin

I use a flat oilstone 25x80mm with white spirit or paraffin to clean recently rusty marks. Colin

Made a 50 tooth aluminium change wheel for my Drummond lathe. Colin

Make sure the tailstock is aligned near correctly ,use a high speed because it's a small drill, peck and withdraw the drill several times adding a bit of lick, oil or coolant each time; works well for me! Colin

I don't know about the Warco Major but my Warco Minimlll has a hole in the quill housing that can be aligned with the the spindle to lock it. One rotates the spindle by hand until the holes align and insert a steel bar. This a useful feature I say this in case the Warco Major has this hole which would take any strain off the gears with reference to my previous comment Colin

Try doing the same thing again. Leave it for a while under pressure then, still under pressure, add more force by giving the drawbar a clout. Also more force can be added by givng   the collet nut spanner a good clout to create a shock load.   Colin

Edited By colin hawes on 19/08/2022 12:18:31

Use the collet holder nut to apply force on tubular packing between nut and spindle nose. Colin

Useful tip? I have soft soldered cutters, taps and drills into mild steel extensions to get close to obstructions still using my ER 20 collets .Colin

Most times that I use the three jaw chuck I only tighten it in one place and it is accurate, however, if I have particularly heavy machining to do I have found that if I use all tree key holes the job is held more firmly. Can this be due to three times the friction at the scroll gears ? Colin

I repaired a cracked chuck screw with my cheap stick welder. To avoid a problem with penetration into the square socket I placed a piece of square aluminium in it acting on my theory that I can't weld the aluminium. It worked perfectly and I'm certainly no expert at welding. The chuck has been OK for at least ten years. I can't believe that a chuck screw would be made of cast iron. Colin

My cheap bench drill failed to start in the same way and it was due to the under rated capacitor failing; it had a 250v capacitor but for reliability it needs to have a 380v rating .the replacement capacitor is a little bigger and required a larger housing as it is in an exposed position. The original just lasted the guarantee but the replacement has worked for many years. Colin

Regarding power disruption I was taught that "outage" is an accidental power failure whereas "cut" is a deliberate disconnection . Colin

I met Ted at a Brighton Modelworld exhibition where we discussed articles I had written for M.E.; he was very pleasant to talk to and I would like to offer my condolences. Colin

If you intend running two aluminium surfaces together with a close fit you will soon have a problem with embedded metal dust and also run a very high risk of "cold welding " the surfaces together. Colin

If you rely on using the clutch to take readings it is easy to inadvertently include a speck of swarf as it is not felt ; it is my opinion that finger touch on the thimble is more likely to show up such an event . Although I confess I've never experienced it on a micrometer, I have seen a clock digital display with a number giving a wrong figure due ,presumably, to the connecting matrix becoming faulty and losing a part of the digit. Colin

Reading inaccuracy caused by a reading circuit problem giving a believable false reading. A mechanical instrument can't present such a reading. Colin