Member postings for I.M. OUTAHERE

I agree with Doug and Duncan, keep the electrical/elctronics content coming.

I think that some have missed the point with this design in it being aimed at readers who know little or nothing about electronics but would maybe like to try and build a simple cheap motor controller.

I have seen quite a few circuits designed by a local electronics mag that needed reviewing after publishing because of mis- prints or sometimes component specs between manufacturers differ a little causing problems. usually they just publish the modifications in the notes and errata section and life goes on.

There is also a section for the readers to submit improvements to the circuits published by the magazine - after being reviewed by the technical staff and there is some scope for this project to be modified , improved or added to by the readers and forum members.

Neil took the correct path in notifying of the error but i didn't see anything in his OP asking for a technical review of the project.

If you can improve on the design then do so and submit it to Neil for publishing and i have yet to see a decent design for 180v- 230v permanent magnet DC motors as it seems to me that no one wants to take a bite at that cherry for some reason , there are plenty of controller circuits/ projects for brush type AC motors .

My local Model Engineering mag has a section - sparks 'n' arcs that covers all sorts of electrical things and seems to be very popular especially amongst the Electric Loco builders .

I felt the article was easy to understand , got to the point without wandering off on some mathematical tangent that some electronics magazines tend to do a lot and didn't try to bamboozle the reader with technical guff that they really didn't need to know anyhow - i thank the Author for this and i thank Neil for whacking it In the Magazine- MORE OF PLEASE !!!!

Rant over!

Off to the workshop now to fit my new DRO kit and Tacho to my X2 mill - replacing the cheapie magnetic type DRO with glass scales + display as the cheapie set drove me mad with its constant failure in the accuracy department and fitting a new Tacho to replace the unit i built ten years ago because it will give a neater fit out - it is small enough to fit into the control box on the head above the emergency switch , the old one was in a jiffy box mounted to the column, worked ok but just ugly!

Ian.

Depending on what material you are cutting i wonder if you could make your own from silver steel ?

Then use that home made tap to make a die for the male thread ?

Just a thought.

I would be careful with that old compressor as you have no way of knowing what condition the the inside of the receiver is in it could be rusted out.

As for the pump check the valves are sealing and change the oil if you have to do much more than that it may well be cheaper to buy a small cheapie compressor.

You could mill out the mortice then square up the ends with a chisel.

Workshop practise series # 34 lathework a complete course by Harold Hall is another good book.

I can attest that the book that Roderick has mentioned to be one of the best around and you should be able to get a copy off Ebay dirt cheap.

Also have a look at anything written by Stan Bray ,he also wrote a few of the workshop practise series of books .

Easiest is to change the motor to single phase hare and forbes will do you a unit around $200.

You are going to pay at least that for the vfd then you have to wire it up- not difficult if you have basic electrical knowledge.

230v - single phase : good points

Mechanical change over but you may have issues with the pulley bore , metric or imperial etc

Bad points :

Single speed and run more noisily than 3 phase.

3 phase + vfd good points:

Quieter running, variable speed.

Bad points:

Needs to be wired in .

So it depends on what you want as the cost will be similar either way.

It is possible that the controller uses an insulated gate bipolar transistor and it has gone short circuit.

I was playing with a circuit i built to run a treadmill motor and popped a couple of these and the result was a motor going full pelt, i think my problem was the gate voltage i was applying but have not had time to investigate further.

There could be a regulator inside that controls the voltage of the pulse width modulated output and if this has gone awry it may have killed the IGBT.

The controller IC may have also died (output high) really need a scope to check waveform etc but a multimeter should show a voltage difference from off to full on at least you can see if something is changing as you turn the pot.

If you have little or no knowledge or experience with mains voltages best leave it well alone and seek help from someone that has. Try your local electronics repairman may be cheaper than a new board and they can up spec the damadged components if there are any available.

I gave up and went digital as i had e few issues go missing - probably Australia Post delivered to wrong address as i get a lot of mail from other addresses turning up here usually same house number but different street.

Now i have every issue with me to view when ever i want as long as i have signal on my mobile broadband !

Bliss !!!!!!

I mentioned just this on the comments for mr pete - no reply yet.

I also was thinking of its uses in a boring head for finishing cylinders but never thought of using plain old easy to get round HSS !

Thanks Jon !

Ian.

Nice work Danny !

I use a Neco Gauge for my cases and had pondered its uses for model IC engines to check crankshafts and camshafts.

Are you going to make an internal anvil so you can check case wall concentricity ?

They should have punted the twit that shot at your flag - it is really bad form to do this to someone on purpose .

I suppose the fly boys could use a flag similar to this as you can change the height of the pole to get wind readings at different heights.

I have a few books that i found helpful for shooting, applied ballistics by Brian Litz and competition reloading by Glen Zediker that were excellent reading.

To get back on topic i continued to work on my lathe bench mods and it is now 150mm lower and has screw down levelling feet ( mostly used to take any wobble out as the floor of my shed is far from flat ) so now painted and ready for ply carcass but now undecided if i want to paint the ply the same as the frame (deep ocean blue but looks more grey to me) or put a clear finish on the ply.

I enclosed my steel bench and fitted a new form ply top and the bare ply sides doIan brighten things up a little but if i do this to the lathe i will have to do the same for my X2 mill and C2 lathe !

Oh the heartache of decision !

I would never make it as an interior designer - i paint every thing the same colour ,usually what ever i have the most of so when i purchased 4lt of navy blue killrust for my trailer guess what colour most of my workshop ended up being!

Ian.

My mid sized lathe is very similar to the wm250 although not as nice but similar size.

The original stand which cost around $200 au was horrible so i ended up making a steel cabinet using 50mm RHS and enclosing it with 12mm plywood , it has a drawer ,with storage underneath on one side and a vertical slide out rack that stores my drill chucks , the face plate and 4 jaw for the lathe.

Mine is on castors to facilitate easy moving if needed but is held in place by some brackets to my bench which is weighed down with a few hundred kilos of metal stock

If you can weld ( even roughly) i feel it is the way to go but a sturdy plywood bench with timber bracing will also work ,structural plywood is more stable than plain old timber .

I'm just in the process of modifying that lathe cabinet as i made it a little high stupidly believing that the extra height would be better for my back , problem just transferred to my shoulders as i have to lift my arms up from a natural position to wind the cross slide, as Duncan posted naval height is about right or upto elbow height if you like a little more height but i wouldn't go any higher .

The other stupid mistake was setting the lathe too far back as i initially liked the small shelf at the front to keep my measuring tools on but the means to see what is going on in around the cutting tool or when threading or boring i have to half climb over the lathe so it will be getting moved forward and a tool rack added the the splash gaurd

I recently purchased a bigger machine that came with the generic stand and it will be going to scrap as well as i don't like that stand either , basically two rectangular boxes standing on their end joined with a piece of 1.5 - 2mm sheet and the mounting holes that hold it down to the floor are in a pocket so you cant locate the machine then dyna bolt it down , you have to set it up ,mark it , pull it back out ,drill ,set the dyna bolts then lift it into postion and bolt down - way too much work and it is very unstable if not bolted to the floor.

Don't start me off about the stand for my big mill ,once again very flimsy and cost over $200 i could have made a steel one for half that !

All these machines and stands came from the same supplier here in Australia - won't mention who though !

Ian

Thanks Michael and Nick,

I think a good clean and lube is in order then bolt it to my bench.

Probably end up with a countersink bit in it .

Ian

Hi everyone,

I picked this up on Ebay and would like to know more about it but it has no makers name on it - may have been on the front cover but this looks like it may be home made and not the original.

It works fine and will be used as a sort of pillar drill for tapping etc although i need to lock the auto feed on it ( works by rotating the flywheel on top as best as i can see)

For $17 i reckon it was worth it even just for the curiosity factor !

It is around 400 mm high at maximum .

Wish i knew how to rotate the pictures !

Ian

Try ebay look for switch mode power supply , at least 5 amps you may get one local but more likely from china,if you have issues with start up current a series resistor to limit the supply output to 80-90% of rated output followed by some large value capacitors ( in parallel) will help to buffer this.

The old tranny/ rectifier unit from a second hand battery charger will be the cheapest , i would go for 6amps minimum but that's just me ! Maybe you could incorporate this into the machine base so it is hidden ?

I just took a look at my laptop supply and it can supply 19v up to 3.6 amps and measures 110x45x35 mm so that may be another avenue also. A regulator circuit or maybe an old regulator out of a car alternator to sort out getting the 19v down to the 13.5 v the motor is designed to operate from then i would use a pulse width modulated speed controller as this will give you a more precise control on motor speed.

One thing i have never tried is running two switch mode supplies in parallel to give a higher current rating - might be worth blowing up some old phone chargers to see what happens !

Ian

As far as i can see the Australian model engineering site is working but i'm not sure what you are looking for?

I know they down sized a few thing because of space and financial viability , they no longer sell the workshop practice series but e&j winter sell them now as do plough books.

I'm also not sure of the search function as i never knew there was one .

If you are getting a message that the site is unavailable etc try your browser settings or a different search engine maybe .

Ian

It was mr pete that started the ball rolling as he put me onto kieth fenner who mentioned adam booth who mentioned tom lipton and bouble boost and i picked through thier liked videos to find others.

One other one i watch is myfordboy he does a lot of casting videos but he uses subtitles instead of voice over.

Ian

I found the one about chip formation very interesting and have yet to find one i didn't learn something from.

On my OP his name is miss spelt it is Marc Lecuyer but youtube will probably lead you to the same channel anyhow.

Ian.

Hi all,

I have been trawling through some youtube videos and recently came across a channel that i think makes some of the best instructional videos i have seen .

This guy was a professional teacher until he retired and the videos are presented pretty much as if you were one of his students in the machine shop / metalworking trade .

Sure if you've been there and done it all these are not for you but if your just starting out or have a thirst for knowledge like i do then give them a go .

Search youtube for either:
THATLAZYMACHINIST or Mac Lecuyer .

Ian

Thanks John !

Now why didn't think of that !

Now i can clean off my magnetic welding clamps as well!

Back to the OP

The magnet wont move around when you rotate the tram head and it also draws the steel nib down onto it ensuring accuracy.

Ian

Hi Brian,

Not familiar with the Sherline but have aTaig and you can buy here in Australia but may not be what you want- also may be worthwhile looking at some of the small sieg lathes available from ausiee .com.au.

The Sherline will cost you though , I'm sure there were a few advertisers in AME but will have to dig out some old copies as the current one shows nothing but I think it was miniature steam pty ltd that sold them.

occasionally one will come up on EBAY but it was 4 months or more since I saw the last one and as usual it is a long way away and they wont post !

Ian