Member postings for Paul Lousick

Hi Rob,

Congratulations with running your loco. One of the skills you will learn is to maintain the fire and water while on-the-go although a bit awkward on a little engine. I drive a full size traction engine and one of the procedures is to clean the firebox and tubes after every steaming. Sometimes clean the tubes more than once per day if they are dirty and not producing enough steam.

Cheers, Paul.

Have you considered using a flat bottom end mill ?

Hi Lee,

Welcome to the group. I would suggest that you join a club in your area that has an interest in model engineering or model locomotives. Club members are always willing to advise you of where to start. I live in Sydney, Australia but I am.sure that there should be one in your area. Lots of good information on the internet and Youtube.

Paul.

Hi David,

It sounds as if you are "climb milling" which does exactly as you describe, pulls the work into the tool and jerks unless you have a lead screw with no backlash. Try feeding in the opposite direction which is "conventional milling". This will only apply a load to one side of the nut on the screw and should eliminate the jerk.

Paul.

Hi Dave,

I have an old Southbend lathe which has only has a lead screw for screw cutting, which I can engage for turning along the job but work the cross slide manually. Cross slide travel on a small lathe is not that big and does not need power feed. There was an article recently in MEW about using a windscreen motor to drive the leadscrew.

Paul.

Hi Clive, Retirement from your job is their loss and your gain and means you will have more time in the workshop to enjoy your hobby. I also have a Seig SX3 mill which came with a factory power feed. It is bolted to the end of the table and has a tang which drives the slot in the end of the lead screw. It has been OK but I have had the controller board replaced once under warranty. If making your own, a variable speed motor is all you need to control the X-axis. If you want to convert the mill to CNC, you will need stepper motors and will also need power feed on the Y-axis and also on the Z if you want to mill in 3 dimensions. The standard screws are normally changed to ball screws to reduce friction and back-lash.

Hi Brian, I fitted an Eason ES-14 DRO with glass scales and would recommend it. Previously had installed 2 sets of cheap scales which both failed. The Eason has heaps of functions including PCD. The one I use the most is the centre find function. (Just reference the LH and RH (or front and back) positions and push the 1/2 button and the display is set to the Zero position). It will also calculate the positions on the X & Y axis to machine a radius. Also in the Z direction if you have 3 scales.

Paul.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 12/09/2015 13:18:53

Edited By Paul Lousick on 12/09/2015 13:20:37

Edited By Paul Lousick on 12/09/2015 13:21:09

Dave,

A power feed on the x-axis of a mill is a great accessory. Easier to use the the correct feed rate when cutting and saves a lot of arm work. Some are available to suit particular machines but you may have to adapt one to suit yours. Stores that sell milling machines and lathes have them. Advertised on flee-bay for about $300 - $500. You can also build your own using a car windscreen motor or a stepper motor if you want to go the CNC way. (do a Google search for designs).  I would fit a DRO before I would fit a power feed, but both are a must have for easier machining.

Paul.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 12/09/2015 07:26:21

Used for machining a radius corner. Used a milling cutter with similar tips to machine a "J" weld preparation on the edge of a plate which required a 4mm radius.  Rotate the cutter tip when it gets blunt to get a new, sharp edge.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 09/09/2015 00:19:07

Give the ball a tap with a hammer to seat it into valve body. If the valve still leaks, discard the ball as it may now be damaged by the hammer blow and replace it with a new ball.

Paul.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 28/08/2015 23:23:49

Hi Matt,

The 9" Southbend is a great lathe and $500 is good value. I paid $650 Australian for mine. It was sold here as a Southbend and also manufactured in Australia as a Hercus. There are lots of spare parts and accessories available on the internet. The play in the cross slide between the threaded spindle and the nut is not a problem. Most lathes have some backlash here but it does not affect the accuracy of the work because the load applied to the spindle is only on one side of the thread. (the normal practice is to back-off the cross slide and then advance it to the cutting position, eliminating any backlash errors).

If the 3 Jaw does not centre accurately, check if the jaws have been assembled in the correct positions. Each slot should be marked with a corresponding number of the jaw. If in the correct position and still off centre, the jaws can be ground to improve accuracy. Replacement chucks are available but you will have to find one with the same mounting thread, alternatively you can buy or make a threaded backplate and mount the chuck to the backplate. (I think that the Southbend uses the same spindle thread as a Myford). Different tool posts can be fitted to the T-slot on the cross slide. My lathe only has a single T-slot on the cross slide but an optional cross slide with multiple slots was originally available. My lathe only has imperial gears but can cut metric threads with the aid of a 127 tooth gear.

Paul.

Car accessory stores sell high temperature silicon gasket material for use on car engines.

Your spindle looks as it it has a similar set up to my Southbend lathe, probably about the same vintage. No bearings, just a shaft running in cast iron. Mine did not even have a grub screw, just a key and an interference fit with the pulley and shaft. Removed mine by holding a piece of hardwood on the end of the shaft and then giving the wood a decent whack with a big hammer. One it starts to move it should come off with lighter hits.

Paul.

15 thou out of round at the smokebox is what I would call very accurate. It is not a pressure joint and can easily be sealed with heat resistant gasket sealant, graphite type or similar. Full size riveted seam boilers had gaps bigger than this and were sealed by peening the plates with a chisel to seal the gap. These had to seal against the full boiler pressure.

Paul.

3D CAD is not necessary. It is only another tool that makes it easier and often faster to manufacture something. Most things that are done in 3D could be done with a pencil and paper. But would you prefer to use a slide rule or log tables instead of a calculator or a computer ?

I started my career on a drawing board. Production increased significantly when 2D CAD become available and then again with 3D. Learning 3D in the early days was a long learning curve and to become proficient to create drawings to a comparable standard to ones which were previously created by hand could take 2 - 3 months of training and practice. Modern software is much easier and faster to master. I started with Autocad version 9, then ProEngineer, then Solidworks.

Most 3D models are created by sketching a 2D shape (x and y direction) on a plane or surface and then extruded in the z direction to give it thickness. (eg. To create a part 100 x 200 x 20. Draw a rectangle 100 x 200 and then extrude it 20 in the z direction) With conventional CAD software, the size of the model is controlled by sketching the x,y,z lengths to scale. The size of the model is changed by modifying the sketch. The dimensions for the model are a reference of what was sketched.

Advanced 3D CAD produces Paramertic models where the size of the model is controlled by the dimensions. They are created in a similar way but the size of the model is controlled by the dimensions. eg. To change the length from 200 to 300, you click on the dimension and the model changes. Much quicker !

The 3D models are used as the reference for producing 2D drawings. Projected views, sections, details are quickly made. The models are excellent for checking the compatibility with mating parts and reduces the drawing checking time. If it fits in the model it should fit together when manufactured (if it has been modeled correctly in the first place).

I am building a model steam traction engine from a set of drawings which I purchased. But these drawings are not 100% correct and lack a lot of detail. Also the size of available material is not available and the drawings have to be modified. Therefore I have modeled the engine in 3D before I start machining. There are hundreds of parts which need changing. Much easier and cheaper to fix a problem in the computer model than in the workshop.

The 3D model allows me to check how everything goes together. The model can also be animated to show problems. I can rotate the flywheel and see the motion of the piston and connecting rods and check the position of the slide valve to see where it opens and closes thru the cycle. The drawings are linked to the model and if the model is modified, the drawings are automatically updated and therefore never out of date. 3D models also contain heaps of other information such as its volume, mass, centre of gravity and can be used for determining the stresses within the parts. 2D drawings can be used for profile cutting parts and 3D for creating casting molds and sent to 3D printers.

Paul.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 23/08/2015 01:34:22

A 950mm rod appears to be too long to place under the head of your BF50 mill (unless I am looking at the specification for the wrong mill), so rotate the mill head by 90 degrees to drill horizontally.

Mount the rod on the table with vee blocks. Vee blocks to be secured to the table separately to the rod.

Centre the drill to the end of rod and drill the hole. The mill will now be positioned to drill (and tap) all of the holes.

Paul.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 18/08/2015 23:49:23

The Diamond tool holder sold by Eccentric Engineering (also advertised in MEW) is a great HSS tool. It comes with a grinding jig which makes it very easy to sharpen on a standard bench grinder. Well worth the expense of the purchase.

Paul.

Get him to print the files with a different pdf printer instead of the one in TurboCad.

Lots of free ones to download like PDFCreator, Bullzip PDF, doPDF, etc

Another option to restore the spindle is to have it electro plated to build it up, then have it ground back to size.

Paul.

The width of the ARC T-nuts for a 10mm slot is 14.7mm.

Hi John,

Not sure of what you mean by " limited angle range to keep the steps locked together with no chance of slipping". I use my clamp set all of the time and have never had one slip. A must have if you are mounting jobs on the mill.

They have M10 bolts(screws ?) and has a set of blocks which can hold items up to 90mm high. It comes with a range of bolts of varying length up up 180mm and some extra long nuts for joining two bolts together. Spacers can be positioned under the step blocks if they are not high enough.

Paul.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 15/08/2015 00:43:43