Member postings for Paul Lousick

My memory is not as good as it used to be, and I did say less than 0.01mm, so I went to the workshop to check it.

I can lower the quill by 0.005mm increments and lock it in that position. I am using Easson scales which have a resolution of 5µm.

Hi Chris,

Mine is the same mill and I always use the fine adjust knob to lower the cutter and don't have a problem. As I have said, I can do fine finishing cuts of less than 0.1mm. The fine adjust wheel has a positive feel and a slight turn will raise or lower the quill without any backlash. The quill height does not change when I lock it in position.

The RF-45 milling machines are designed by Rong Fu in Taiwan. Mine was made there but sold in Australia buy Machinery House as a HM-46. There are lots of other clones and I believe the ZX45 is made in China. I'm not sure it they are made to a different standard but I recommend the one I have.

My mill/drill is a HM-46 machine with a geared head and dovetail column and filled with a DRO. (another clone of the RF-45 made by Rong Fu and similar to the ZX45)

Raising and lowering the column with the crank lever on the column is a cause feed and I use the quill for fine adjustment.

I can lower the quill buy less than 0.1mm for fine cuts.. It does not change when I lock the quill.

You could be right Duncan. The tank locos with water storage at the side of the boiler are separated from the boiler so would not get overly hot and not have cavitation problems. My experience has been mainly with traction and portable engines and not so much with rail locomotives. The Case traction engine is fitted with a heat exchanger but I am not sure of how it is piped.

This is a site for Model Engineering, not gardening.

Are these models of tomatoes ?????

Nigel,

A friend of mine has a home railway with 7-1/4" locos and uses old computer fans to fire the engines. They get covered in soot which has to be shaken off and they have to be replaced on a regular basis.

The mechanical water pump is normally driven from the crankshaft or layshaft, which on a traction engine is near the hornplates at the rear end of the boiler but on a portable steam engine, the crankshaft is at the front of the boiler as on this Marshall Britannia at our club.

Mechanical pumps are not affected by hot water and some engines have heat exchangers that use steam to pre-heat the water before it is pumped into the boiler. Others have water tanks mounted on the side of the boiler to capture heat.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 07/03/2022 22:09:34

Whistles sound muck much better on steam than on air. (although muck on air could be appropriate)

"the term "ripping" is a bit unfortunate" but the term "roughing" is and is. Ripping is not term that is normally associated with precision. (eg. Ripping a piece of paper instead of cutting a piece of paper).

Whistles sound muck better on steam than on air.

SOD. " Does anyone have any figures for full-size or model locomotives? ". This is data from the Lunkenheimer catalogue published in 1912

From the table, for a 2" whistle with a 1/2" pipe fitting it requires 0.24 cu.ft of air per second at 40 psi to blow it. (An air compressor that can deliver 14 cfm. )

Paul

"UK terms vs US for metals"

The other metal that they have in the US is that light weight silver coloured (or should I say colored ?) one called "aluminum" which is similar to "aluminium" used in the UK and here in Australia.

Paul.

WARNING:

Ensure that roughing cutter is securely fitted to the mill because the spiral flute tries to pull the cutter out of the collet in the spindle and can dig into the work (or mill table) Don't ask how I know

Chime whistles are multiple whistles combined into the one structure and as you have said, the 1/2" BSP fitting is big and probably used 1/2" NB pipe.

Standard 1/2" NB pipe has an OD of 21.3mm and an ID of 15.7mm. So is 1/4" OD (6.35mm) tube with a bore of approx. 5mm going to work. (Note. The size stated for pipe refers to its nominal inside diameter, not its OD. Unlike tube which refers to its OD)

It is going to require a lot of air/steam to make a decent sound. I would use a minimum of 12mm tube, preferably 16mm OD

Paul

A better description in the post title of what you are wanting would get better results.

Drawings of a metric version of the Minnie can be found here to download: **LINK**

Iain,

A specific title about electric traction engines would get more answers.

This is a previous post om ME. **LINK**

Paul.

A bit difficult to add a chip breaker plate to the top of an Eccentric Engineering  tangential cutter. Grinding a groove behind the cutting edge could work but would have to be done each time after re-sharpening. (easy, quick sharpening with the supplied jig is an advantage with these cutters)

Carbide inserts for the lathe are available with and without a chip breaker. Those without can use a bolt-on chip breaker as shown in this Youtube video. **LINK**

Also a lot of different QCTP holders, demonstrated by Joe Pieczynski

Paul

Edited By Paul Lousick on 25/02/2022 06:38:03

As above, I use a carbide tool for roughing and the TT for the final cuts and don't have any problem.

As Fizzy said, practice first to perfect the technique and to determine how much the tube stretches. Bending is one of the least accurate engineering processes. Shown here bending 5/16" tube with the fixed handle mounted in a vice.

held i

These are cheap benders from eBay and they work OK on copper tube. Important to anneal the tube before bending or it will kink and not produce a smooth bend.

The large bender is for 1/4", 5/16" & 3/8" OD tube with a bend radius to the centre of the tube of approx 1". Bend angle = 180 deg because of the offset handles.

The smaller bender is for 1/8", 3/16" & 1/4" OD tube with a bend radius to the centre of the tube of approx 5/8". Bend angle = 90 deg.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 23/02/2022 01:28:01

As you are giving them away, why not scan them so anyone interested could download them

One of the requirements was that the material should have some rust resistance. Gauge plate and silver steal have good wear properties but will rust.