Member postings for Bazyle

A putter is rather an awkward shape for a manual mill which is mostly best for square angles. I would suggest a hacksaw and file would be far more effective in getting a prototype made. If you are thinking of mass production after that you would be better off going to a subcontractor with CNC.

Also as precision to a thou is probably not necessary some sort of copying system might do from a wood or plastic larger master.

Alan,

I think the support bars may already be sagging under their own weight apart from the difficulty in moving them. The leadscrew would be similar plus difficult/dexpensive. I would suggest tubes for the carriage support and looking at tensioned wire or toothed belt for the traverse. Winding the wire around a drum converts length into angular movement and a gear train.

One of the factors in leadscrews is the thread angle. Big lathes have quite course treads eg 4tpi but on a 1.5 to 2 in dia rod. A small lathe might be 8 tpi on a 3/4 in dia. That might give you some idea.

For us engineers a DIY wind turbine would seem to be the most interesting option.

see **LINK**

A home made turbine to Hugh Piggott's design is ecenomically viable without subsidy (which DIY won't get) until you have to pay for a planning application which wipes out 3 years generation saving.

Obviously this is not the forum for this subject so try this one **LINK** which despite being set up by a business is less commercial than this forum ( which barely is at all) and is generally agreed to be the best renewable venue on the net. Renewable energy always looks attractive and 'free' but never is half as good as it looks. There is just one thing everyone should do though and that is insulate their workshop and not with a miserable 40mm but at least 4 inches of Kingspan or Celotex which is equivalent to 8 inches of fibre.

For electricity (called PV) look for the cost per kwp (the p is just 'produced'. A few years ago it was >£3k but now should be <£1.5k however mostly it isn't because the industry is dominated by ex double glazing salesmen. DIY is not elligable for subsidy so they have you over a barrel. Battery storage is not ecenomical at all unless the batteries are free.

Solar hot water (using 30 off 47mm 'tubes' is viable for a typical family of 4 if and ONLY if you are already having to replace the cylinder AND do it DIY. Any variation from the above may look like free energy but it really isn't . I have checked the sums repeatedly but it is all very close to the edge of being ecenomical.

edit - sorry about the smilies, they insert themsielves instead of closing brackets.

Edited By Bazyle on 28/06/2012 17:35:10

A few thou certainly doesn't prohibit it being used for an awful lot of normal work. It would be worth plotting the error per inch all along to fully assess the problem.

By scrap man I assume you mean either offering it to somone who does feel it worthwhile or recycling the usable bits.

Perhaps they could be improved with ptfe sheet ?

Ali slides of various forms (extrusions) are popular with 3D printing and various lightweight CNC machines.

To keep numbers of sections under control perhaps those with few posts could be reviewed and amalgamated from time to time eg CNC & the other CNC and a new area started, as with many forums, for "chitchat" for people who want to drivel on about sport.

A file? Isn't that where the computer stores the CNC instructions?

Similar 'hands' problem in electronics. Some people create electrostatic damage and some don't.

No fewer than 7 potential errors exist in the Y axis.

1 The y axis slide on the base must be 90 degrees to tthe column

2 the table x slides must be parallel wrt the y axis slides

3 the x axis slides must be parallel to the table top

4 the head slides must be parallel to the column

5 the quill slide must be parallel to the head slides

6 the spindle must be parallel to the quill

7 the spindle taper must be aligned to the spindle.

On average positive errors cancel the negative ones but on probability sometimes they will all add up in the wrong direction.

No wonder the top machines cost a bundle.

Your Drummond has served several users for decades with probably just the occasional new belt.. 'Progress' means anything that relies on electronics for speed control rather than changing pulleys will have needed 5-10 new electric bits to reach the same age. You might want to hang on to the old lathe to kee you going whlie you wait for repair parts.

You could look at a simpler Boxford - ie CUD but not TUD which would be a a step up but not as pricey as AUD or BUD.

Thanks Norman. Some excellent work there from both modeller and photographer. My happy snappy efforts will be more like a rusty chisel to your new Myford.

As I'm going to the Bristol show for the first time this year perhps some of the photographers could display a few of their pictures from last year to give me an idea of what to expect.?

In a few years perhaps we will see 'streetview' like tours.

Flypresses are another quandry being often referred to as No1, No2 etc,

Frank, it sounds like yours was just badly made if cast iron as CI doesn't take to well to bending. I suggest for machining the base you find someone with a shaper perhaps mounting it sideways and cutting downwards or a special L shaped extended toolholder.

How about the equivalent of the old litho waggon sides? I think it takes certain artistic skill rather than just making a low resolution image to get the effect of light on the bolts to make them look 3D.

I bought my flypress off a railway modeller and it came with diestamps for embossing cardboard for waggon sides. I gave them to a friend but wonder how it would work now with thin pastic sheet for larger scales instead of vac forming,.

Perhaps the computer element involved in this model making is a way to get a new generation interested.

You don't need a mill or even a vertical slide for the small Stuarts. Don't be put off by "£500-£1000" for tooling as again a Stuart can be built with <£50 if you don't get carried away with boxed sets of taps and dies and sets of carbide tools. Actually the 10V can be built without a lathe just hand tools if you find the article in ME with instructions.

Depends on your location but there are often adequate lathes going at auction for <£200 but you might need the advice of a club member on some of the strange stuff out there. Basic tools are probably also available from a club bring and buy, and some club exhibitions.

Some of these tool sets are a bit like supermarkets trying to sell you more sliced ham or whatever than you really wanted. Since you only really need half a dozen different shapes they have to invent a few unnecessary ones to bulk up the 'bargain 12 tools for the price of 6'.

Is it this one **LINK**?

The only thing that might catch you out is the black knob in the middle of the 3 armed down feed control. This is tightened to lock it to the fine downfeed wheel on the front and loosened to release but these things sometimes need a nudge to make them actually release. After setting the height with this when milling lock the quill (the bit that moves up and down) with whatever knob or lever you can find probably on the left of the head before starting to cut.

The rest is obvious.

Welcome ot the forum but please make the titles of your posts meaningful so that people can find them in the future otherwise we end up with 500 posts all 'help'.

The material must be rather dependent on type of car and age. It can't be plain cast iron anymore but is probably alloyed and heat treated to remove the weakening carbon flakes of plain cast iron. Perhaps someone with a small sample living in a university town could trot along to their metallurgy department to lubricate a student into examining it.

The problem with some of the suggestions for paint like substances is that if you don't clen them off the surface pate before drying then they can be a bit of a nuisance to get off and non setting is the target. Layout blue needs the opposite property which is why fast evaporating alcohol is the normal solvent..

The requirement is some pigment in which every single particle is fractions of a thou thick. Cheapo paints might have some coarse bits in.

Before commercial blue came along I believe red lead and chrome yellow (yeah yeah shock horror poisons alert) were used for the colouring but not sure of the carrier - glycerine for water based or vaseline for oil based perhaps.

When a 4 flute cutter tooth is just starting to cut in a slot hole advancing sideways there is another tooth 90 degrees in advance that is flat against the metal opposing the advance into the work and hence needing more force to push the cutter along. A two flute cutter has no such problem so is able to advance more easily when cutting over it's full width enabling deeper cuts with less stress.

A 4 flute is meant to be used to be used along the side or the work so that is is only cutting over less than half its width but the extra teeth mean faster removal and smoother finish.

3 flutes are a compromise for both tasks.