Member postings for merlin

Yes, Reilang from Blackgates. There is a choice of two sizes, I think.

Having failed to find a supplier of fine wheels for my elderly double-ended 3000rpm five inch bench grinder I have decided to keep it for coarser work and buy a new one for which I can buy, or which already has, a 100 or 120 wheel for fine grinding of HSS lathe tools and perhaps a green grit or whatever is recommended for trimming tungsten carbide drills.

I think that it will have to take at least six inch (150mm) wheels to obtain the above grades.

I am very much out of date: please can anyone give me advice on a make

and a helpful supplier?

Thanks.

When I said that I was giving up trying to source a white wheel, I meant that I will now replace the old coarse wheel and carry on using it for HSS as I have for the past 18 years. A few weeks ago, feeling flush and wanting to try something new, I rang Abtec and others, but no go. Perhaps the small outside diam is the problem.

Thanks for all the information.

Not much point in saying this, but I am surprised that it is so difficult to buy a wheel for grinding HSS -lathe tools - surely a very common requirement in the ME world?

Perhaps the small 125mm diameter requirement is the problem.

I would have taken Geoge Thomas's advice and bought a white 80 or 100 grit wheel 30 years ago but I couldn't afford it then.

In one of my recent phone calls a supplier told me that I needed green grit for HSS.

I am pleased to see this conversation.

I have given up phoning and emailing suppliers to try to locate a 125mm diameter x 16mm wide x 13mm bore wheel suitable for fine hand grinding HSS lathe tools. Only one supplier could help me but he could only sell me two wheels at about £18 each, which was too much.

I have now put my old grey coarse wheel back on and resolved that one day, probably never, I will make sure that I can buy suitable 'special' wheels at the same time as buying a new bench grinder.

I would be pleased to learn more about these new-fangled (to me) diamond wheels: speeds, temperatures, grit equivalents, good and bad treatment, etc., but I don't know where to find the information. Has there been an MEW article?

I am having difficulty in finding a fine grit wheel for my 3000rpm bench grinder. I want to get a fine finish on HSS lathe tools so I guess I need an 80 grit, 125 x 16 (or a bit more) wide and to fit a 13mm shaft.

Does anyone know of a supplier?

Thanks

I am years out of date and have never used diamond tools. I am familiar with common straight abrasive wheels and their maintenance etc but I had better learn a bit more before spending a weeks wages (£10 without overtime) on diamond -bearing stuff. I can't find any explanations on the internet and nothing in my oldish books, so perhaps this is the place to ask for information.

Are 125mm diam. diamond wheels happy at 3000rpm?

Do They need regular clearing/cleaning when used with HSS lathe tools? Every few minutes?

Is the nomenclature the same ie does an 80-grade diamond wheel give the same result as an 80-grit abrasive wheel?

I think that a fine 100 grit wheel would tend to glaze and burn: does the same apply to diamong ones?

Thanks

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I would have made substantial fitted discs as you describe.

I have had no success in searching on the internet for a suitable wheel of the required size and grade.

Another problem is that I don't know the overall width of these cup and disc wheels but I guess that on one side they are well off-set from their bore, so take up more space inside the end guard than do the plain wheels. The end guards of my tiddly 15-year-old cheapo KEF grinder are fairly close to the wheels.

I could soldier on with what I have been using quite successfully for the past 15 years, or perhaps I could buy a slightly larger grinder, together with a soft wheel to fit.

Have I got more money than sense, I ask myself.

The reason for turning to this now is that when I first began model engineering about 25 years ago I soon became a disciple of George Thomas, who wrote so well and clearly in 'Model Engineer' at the time.

I made most of his attachments but, because I was then buying basic tools, I could'nt afford the soft wheel that he described in his articles.

Thanks.

I have a small KEF bench grinder which runs at 3000rpm and has two general purpose grey 125 x 16 wide x 13mm bore wheels, one coarse and the other a bit finer.

I want to replace the coarser one with a very fine and soft wheel for hand grinding an almost ready-to-use finish on my small hss lathe tools.

Can anyone advise me as to the grade that I should get and where I could buy it? I guess that if the centre hole is oversize I can make up a pair of thick washers to fit the spindle. The grit size would be 100 or 120 but I don't know about the binder and modern materials.

It should be a cup wheel so that I can use the side, I think.

Thanks

I have always cut out bits of cardboard more or less to scale and shuffle those around on a sheet of paper. Leave a long thin bit to denote the space needed for long items protruding from the headstock mandrel.

You don't need a computer programme or even a computer, just a rule and a pair of scissors.

I think that anyone buying drawings or plans could reasonably expect at least an additional slip of paper listing any available corrections.

A few years ago I bought a quite expensive book on the construction of a clock, which contained many unclear statements, some printing mistakes and much out-of-date information. I wrote a letter of complaint but received no reply from the author.

I expected the challenge to be in the making of the clock, but it is in understanding the book.

After having bought an old worn-out Smart & Brown (still using it) I studied any back numbers of 'Model Engineer' and 'E.I.M.' that I could lay my hands on. I then spent a year or more reading and following the writings of George Thomas, whose attitude I much admired. I made his small drilling machine, radius turning tool and the Versatile Dividing Head, graduating tool, all of which have been very useful. G.H.T's instructions are very helpful.

Join a club as soon as possible.

Good luck.

I use shelves left and right behind the drill. The metal boxes are clearly labelled with a felt-tip pen. The sets that have been ground for brass use have the box fronts painted yellow and the drills themselves have been rough ground or emeried off at an angle on the blank end, so that I can quickly identify them.

I would be interested in any simple way of holding the box open so that it can't guillotine my fingers at the slightest opportunity. Perhaps a pad glued underneath at the front so the box is leaning back slightly?

I once made an analemma and looked for information on the internet. I wonder whether she retired rich.

I have used diff/back axle EP80 or EP90 oil or similar for the mainspring. If the ends of the barrel are skeletonised you will be relying on a good fairly air-tight overall clock case to avoid a grinding paste forming, but that applies everywhere.

I would have thought that a tiny drop of clock oil is all that is needed anywhere else on the clock, clicks included.

Sorry, I can't follow this. How do I get to the Google seach box with a tickable box saying 'only search the Model Engineer website'?

I can't remember ever seeing a red box on Google.

Thanks

I went to the recent Manchester Show; by train from Lincs to a hotel in the city, then by bus to the show on Saturday. This gave me a rare and special holiday to see M.O.S.I. and a few other interesting places in the city.

I enjoyed the show, which I expected to be smallish, but there were more mod eng stalls, dealers and clubs, than I thought there would be. There was plenty of space in the hall so another metre on all of the aisles would have been welcome. Like most people there, I entered clutching my secret hoard of money in a little poly bag and, whilst feeling lucky and excited to be there, I concentrated on tools (for clockmaking) and prices, working quickly whilst there were fewer people there.

There didn't seem to be any reason for breaking concentration to look downwards. I do hope that I wasn't one of those who prodded the gent in the wheelchair - I wouldn't want to do that at any price. I sympathise and will try to remember what he says, but I can't see things improving much.

I was surprised at the value placed on secondhand books which seemed to me to be on obscure subjects - £40 was not uncommon. Figures like that tend to put me off from spending valuable time at the stall browsing through the other books to the left and right of them just because I have £3 burning a hole in my pocket. I would have expected the £30 - £40 ones to be apart from the cheaper ones and away from light fingers. Perhaps they were all £40! The dealers know their business best, of course.

Being new to this forum I don't understand the reference to E.I.M., presumably the Tee Pub organisation. I wish that they still did their packs of brass, aly, etc.

Although not an aeroplane man I enjoyed seeing and hearing the Vulcan. The tean deserved the applause.

Perhaps I misremember, but about ten years ago when I went to a mod eng exhibition at Harrogate, I had a very long walk from the cat to the hall (and back) which would have been no fun in the rain, or if I had bought something heavy.

I sense that there are tensions in the forum between business interests; I hope that they work in our favour.

My father used to say that you only needed three sheets: a cleaner, a wiper and a polisher.