Member postings for Paul Lousick

I have an ER32-MT3 collet chuck on my Southbend lathe and use a simple drawbar to hold it. Made from a piece of threaded rod and 2 hex nuts. The nuts are locked together and the inner one is machined to locate on the bore of the spindle. Only light pressure is required to hold the chuck in the spindle and will release with a slight tap on the end of the drawbar.

See if you can get a copy of Harold Halls book " Lathework a Complete Course" .

Lots of his projects are available on his web site to make your own tools and equipment . **LINK**

Tube and Pipe are not the same. Tube normally has thinner walls and specified by its OD. Pipe is bigger and heavier and specified by its nominal bore size and a schedule/wall thickness. (refer to British Standard Pipe tables for the actual pipe OD)

Pipe is specified by a nominal (average) bore size because the actual inside diameter varies, depending on the thickness of the wall. The OD has to be a standard diameter to mate with attached fittings. (elbows, tees, etc).

(Bore size for piping was used because it is an easier unit for calculating the volume of liquid contained in the pipe)

Lots of good suggestions for cutting the 2mm plate,. 5000 rpm mill, laser cutter, plasma cutter, etc, BUT how many model engineers with a basic home workshop have these tools or can afford to pay to have it done ? . I don't which is why I would rough cut it with an angle grinder and finish it on the mill.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 26/05/2022 10:34:19

I rough cut 2mm steel sheet with a thin blade in an angle grinder first then clean up on the mill.

If water based primer will not adhere to the surface, try an oil based primer. (This is also a solution if stains, etc keep leaching thru the primer). Most acrylic/water based paints will stick to oil based primer.

I doubt if anyone will stock the original type of bearing assembly but you could replace the balls if the guides are not worn,  Suppliers of ball bearings, here in Australia, also sell just the balls. Those in the UK should also do the same.

Is it possible to use a standard ball bearing with the same OD and make an insert for the centre that will engage with the location pins ?  Or a smaller bearing that will accept the location pins and make an addaptor for the bearing OD ?

Edited By Paul Lousick on 24/05/2022 12:58:55

Have a look on this site for a set of drawings to make a 90mm dia horizontal boiler. (may give you some ideas)

**LINK**

**LINK**

When running an electric motor on low speed, not only is the torque reduced but also the cooling fan speed which can cause overheating.

I have the identical die grinder and needs both hands to hold it and the motor will not stall when taking heavy cuts with a 12mm dia. carbide burr on the edge of a 12mm thick steel plate.

Like other cutters, rotary burrs come in different grades and it is worth paying a bit more for a quality carbide burr that will remain sharp under use.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 20/05/2022 04:38:35

I have had my Dremel for 5+ years, is used regularly and still works OK but it is only used for light work with cutting wheels, small grinding stones and polishers. For heavy work I use a 450W electric die grinder.

I have a hand gun type blaster running on an 8cfm compressor and it is very slow and barely scratches the surface on steel.

I have also used a decent blaster, running off a diesel powered compressor (used to run a jack hammer) with lots of volume and higher pressure and it will cut its way thru sheet steel if not careful.

A big for a bottle square.

Very easy to make on a lathe.

The traditional method is to "blue" the surface so that the scribe lines are more visible. I use a wide, felt tipped felt pen (Texta) instead of blueing ink.

Many of the fine tip marking pens will not write on metal. Sharpie (and others) sell paint pens, containing oil based paint which will write on almost any material but not available in fine point.

As you are working through a lathe course, why not turn it out of steel bar or cast iron and add another learning challenge ?

Also be aware that a bronze bush will squash slightly if it is a press fit with the housing. Commercial bushes are designed with a specific size/tolerance for the hole in the housing and the bore of the bush is made oversize to allow for the compression when it is installed. A reason to ream the bore to size after pressing in the bush.

An alternative is to machine the bush to the required bore diameter and make its OD a slide fit with the hole and use Loctite to secure it.

I'm not an expert either and I mainly use gas but keep a constant distance from the work and watch the puddle. If the puddle is building up increase your travel speed of reduce the feed setting.

I bought a cheap MIG welder made by Giantz in the new year sales which was a lemon and got my money back after 8 weeks haggling. Only by threatening to take my case to Consumer Affairs and post bad reviews on the internet. Now have a known brand (CIGWeld), sold here in Australia.

The wire feed speed is slower when starting an arc to build up heat for a second or 2, then speeds up to the wire setting.

And as Hooper has said, lots of Youtube training videos available.

Originally I was thinking that the slip reversing feature was a good idea for a small full size boat not a model. Something 12-20 foot long.like the one in the movie "The African Queen"

A friend used to have a 16' half cabin boat with a petrol engine that was started not by pulling on a rope around a pulley but by spinning the flywheel by hand. (what I call an old put-put type fishing boat). Turning the flywheel on a steam engine would be much easier and if in the correct position, the engine will self start when the steam is turned on.

I use ER32-3MT collet chucks on my mill, lathe and rotary table. As they all have a 3MT taper, I am able to take the job from one machine to the other without removing it from the collet. The chucks are not that expensive and I often need to use 2 at the same time. One to hold the job in the RT and a second to hold cutters in the mill. The majority of my jobs are short and do not need to extend into the lathe spindle. I use a 4-jaw chuck for parts that have to extend into the spindle.

I don't know the history of the original design and castings for the engine or where they were made..

Are AJ Reeves drawings based on those from Stuart Turner or their own ? Or are the HobbyCo drawings and castings supplied by Reeves or based on those by Stuart Turner ? I do not know.

HobbyCo still exists in Australia but is completely re-structured and no longer sell the same models.

Paul