Member postings for I.M. OUTAHERE

Merry Christmas mate , i hope you will get out for a fish over the break - you might need the exercise after eating all that !

Merry Christmas also to yourself and family John !

Edited By XD 351 on 25/12/2018 08:01:52

Merry Christmas to all

Even though 2018 aint quite done yet -

I would also like to say a big thank you to all of the forum members who have posted in 2018 as you have made this forum one with the most diversified set of topics i have ever seen !

Also a big thanks to the moderators for keeping it all on the straight and narrow , after reading another post on the spamming that we usually never see it became clear to me that there is a LOT of work that goes on behind the scenes that we never realise ! Thanks to all involved .

Ian.

Check out the puller / press this guy builds !

https://youtu.be/_qNbUKjNXLo

Wait until you get hit with a drone control levy ! Do you honestly think the government is going to pay for it !

That gear is for the power long / cross feed , i have worse in my lathe and it still works i would have a real close look at the half nuts though .

A great deal can be done by using the grooves machined into the chuck face and visually aligning the jaws with them this will get you close - then use an indicator as colin has described .

If all the above is true then there needs to be a dedicated thread for VFD interference issues because anyone wanting to use one on any lathe needs to be aware of this . There is no reason why you couldn't use the same set up shown with a dc treadmill motor . I am not trying to promote the virtues of a vfd set up , just show how i have done it and so that those who may be interested may gain some insight or ideas .

With my ultrasonic cleaner i fitted  a  commercially available unit because one of the driver boards had failed and destroyed the inductor so  the  new filter covered all the boards . 

When i was a kid i worked out  that a small dc motor running flat out would cause an interference stripe across the tele which drove my old lady mad especially when the daily soap opera was on - she never worked out what caused it otherwise I wouldn't be here .🤪 

Edited By XD 351 on 21/12/2018 10:02:24

Here is the general arrangement of th belt tenshioner , nothing special just a sliding spring loaded block that locks into the grooves in the shaft . I still have to make a handle withthe mechanism to make pulling up the sliding block ( screwed to the end of the cap screw and is located in a slot in the main body ) . This arrangement also allows the motor to be locked forward so the belt is loose .

Edited By XD 351 on 21/12/2018 05:28:16

Straight after watching that story on the morning news they had another story of how drones can be used in a positive way - they were using them to fly in medicine to remote areas in Vanuatu. I can see things being strictly controlled and you will have to have a licence to buy one . The problem is once programmed top end units fly themselves so easy for a neanderthal to operate not like an rc plane or chopper that takes skill and concentration to fly and you are limited with radio power .

Edited By XD 351 on 20/12/2018 21:18:59

You may have to back the half nut adjustment screws off a little to get them to release also .

The only advice i can offer is to stay away from the low powered units - less than 150 amp as they are useless . I had a minimig 120 for years and it was good for light stuff like car panels but struggled with 3 mm stuff . I bought a Chinese made rossi - supposedly 200amp but i doubt it - but it works fine and runs 0.8 wire ok . I wouldn't buy one of those mig ,tig , stick units as I'm not a fan of multi use machines , the mig / stick units are ok but if you want tig save your money up and buy a good quality tig . I think you will find tha these cheap migs are a bit like minilathes , many made in the same factory just different looking housing ,

Have you confirmed that they were from mytime media ? ( i think that is who runs the show ) i never rely on anything that comes through emails for subs renewal especially links , i log in to this site and do it from there as there are so many scams out there now you never know where they are coming from . The fact that they got your name wrong would be a red flag to me .

Now that i have the motor bolted on and the v belt fitted i can see what you mean Neil ! I will have to make up some sort of arrangement to pivot the motor up to change speeds and i am thinking of using a mechanism similar to a car handbrake to lock the motor down and tension the belt .

What tool geometry are you using ?

I usually threaten my pc with a 5 lb hammer - works for me !

The reason this lathe was set up with a VFD and 3 ph motor was because when I bought it off ebay it had been dropped off a forklift damaging the cross feed screw and gear cover , this meant it was used as a spare parts machine so it came with no motor or controller .

The VFD cost the same as a replacement driver board and the motor was similar .

Back then brushless motors were not around - well not on mini lathes anyhow , it was bought as a stuff around with it project in mind .

I had a rear toolpost on one of my lathes , mainly because it had a screw on chuck and it did fix my parting off woes which were caused by the flimsy compound slide / toolpost on the unit . My bigger lathe and mini lathe have bolt on chucks so i just use an inverted parting off tool and run the lathe in reverse . One thing with rear toolpost though is if you leave them in place they can get in the way of other operations . You will find that if you don't use the compound slide often maybe removing this and fitting a more solid arrangement similar to the gibraltar style toolpost or an adaptation of it will serve you better . One thing i noticed when using my minilathe last time was the gib strip on the cross slide isn't thick enough , this means it rides on the tips of the grub screws and not the inside of the dovetail , this provides a pivot point and allows the cross slide to rock when under load . A simple spacer strip fixes the problem and I remember doing the same thing to my old lathe - it made a difference on many fronts !

If you crash the machine it won't matter much if its 1/2 hp or 1 hp you are going to break something . You just have to remember to drive it like the lower power unit even though the power and temptation is there to push it harder . I still have the nylon gears in the tumbler as they act as a safety stop for the leadscrew and i do intend to play with the belt tension of the poly v belt to allow some slip if i get to aggressive with the machine . I'm hoping that the weight of the motor will be sufficient for the v belt tension but I won't know that until i use the machine and this would also allow some slip if needed . The motor is actually a 0.55 kw unit so 3/4 hp , i always thought it was a 1 hp unit - why i dunno.

Never going to shoot a newcomer down in flames for asking a question Ron! If you don't ask you never learn !

Edited By XD 351 on 16/12/2018 11:33:51

Joseph Bazagette according to wikipedia was recommended for the job by another brilliant engineer - Brunel .

Where do we really draw the line on the term " Engineer " ? Do we go back to the time of Archimedes, Da Vinci or the Egyptians that buit the pyramids , maybe the Aztecs ? What about the Romans ? If memory serves me correctly they set up the first sewer system In England .

The core of all Engineering is math , you cannot have one without the other .

The question is not "What have Engineers ever done for us " but rather what would life be like without them !

I know the brass they make amunition out of is gummy stuff so you may have a grade of brass that is designed for forming .