Member postings for I.M. OUTAHERE

The old style auger drills had a square drive head and the chuck from one of the hand brace style drills could possibly be adapted as they were two jaw but i'm not sure how small the square hole was when fully closed .

Must grab one next time i go to the local junk yard !

I recently purchased a hand tapping chuck from little machine shop ( usual disclaimer and freight was a killer) that is designed to fit in a standard drill chuck mounted in the tailstockor drill pess.

This allows the tap to be aligned but is only turned by hand so very sensitive and made for small taps .

Looks a bit like a big pin chuck with a turned section on the end to fit the drill chuck.

Ian

I don't know how many of these i have used over the last 25yrs to make a myriad of timing, flashingand pwm circuits-but it would be in the hundreds and i never bothered to find out who invented it !

He must have been a remarkable person as the 555 in its lifespan has been and still is a versatile little chip.

Ian

Hi Michael.

Thats a good idea and adding a plate with a slightly larger diameter could make the rotary table more versatile .

I am now thinking of making a backplate but more in the line of it being a sub- table that will have radial slotsfor for small tee nuts and tapped holes for clamps so i can mount odd shaped pieces to it and it will also allow both 3 and 4 jaw chucks or a small angle plate to be fitted.

Looks like i will have to spend yet another weekend in the workshop !

Bugger !

Ian

Have you checked the mounting hardware for the cutter ?

Maybe something is not seating properly in the spindle or collet ?

Maybe if you could post a photo of a piece showing the rough cut it may jog someones memory .

IAN

Hi Tony .

The important thing really is to ensure that the piece you want to machine is running true in the chuck as you can use a wiggler / centre finder to find the centre using the X&Yco-ordinates .

I will run through how i set up my table from scratch but some may have a quicker way .

I have turned a mandrel that is round and parrallel with a 2mt taper on one end as this fits my rotary table and the other end has a large centre that is also tapped 8x1.25 mm so i can slide a tube over the end then fit a large washer and screw in a bolt to extract the mandrel from the taper without moving the roary table and the mandrel is long enough to protrude from the chuck by 25mm.

I fit the mandrel to the rotary table and clock it with a DTI to ensure it runs dead true then i carefully fit the chuck over this mandrel , gently tighten the jaws and nip up the clamp bolts for the chuck .

I then re - check the mandrel is running true and if it is all good i fully tighten the clamp bolts.

I fit a dead centre in the mill spindle and roughly locate the rotary table where i want it on the mill .

Then i simply locate the dead centre into the centre in the end of the mandrel and as i do the whole lot of this operation with the worm disengaged i give it a turn to ensure the centre is seated.

I then lock the spindle of the mill (z axis) and fit and tighten the clamps for the rotary table , i also lock the mill table and zero my X&Y readouts/dials.

If youre chuck is already mounted to the rotary table and running true you could mount up a piece of round bar (silver steel or something that has been turned round and parrallel ) in a collet in the spindle and then clamp this in the chuck to locate the rotary table but this will not indicate the runout of your chuck .

IAN

Hi all.

That would be fantastic David i will look forward to it .

Bob I take it that you used a pram to deliver papers ?

Thats one thing i haven't seen in a long time - a paper boy /girl !

Nowdays they would get mugged for the money .

These days they use a van and a machine similar to a clay pidgeon thrower and travel at speed so no one can catch them !

But eventually they too will be nothing more than a fond memory as the march of progress grinds its way along .

Ian

The worst thing will be the loss of employement for those that work in the printing industry etc and it is happening on a global level .

Eventually newsagents will cease to exist as slowly but surely everything is going digital even the newspapers .

At least the publication is to continue .

One thing i noticed was mention of video content and that leads me to a question, is there video footage of some of the model engineering exibitions in the UK that i can view online ?

Preferably something a little longer than a 2min youtube video and maybe with some inteviews of the entrants etc .

Ian

Hi all.

The fire was probably caused by a faulty controller or how they mounted the led unit .

I think Led lighting wil eventually get rid of those poisonous flourecent lights - one day !

John Fletcher 1 please check your message box .

Ian

I've been using a set of indexable tools and found the set of tips that came with the set to be rubbish and now have to spend even more money buying a set of quality tips .

I went back my tangential holder and if it gets blunt it takes only a minute to sharpen the tool , i also sharpen the other end so have 2 cutting tools ready to go .

I spent the last 20 years grinding cutting tools from tool steel and still do so if needed but i find my tangential tool does 90% of what i need with less hassle .

If i need an extra fine finish i use tha tangential tool to rough it and finish with a custom ground tool , it only takes a second to index it around on the toolpost and means this tool does a minimum of work and will stay sharp for longer .

I put a small radius on the corner of the tool to aid in a better finish and this is done along the corner over the entire length of the piece of tool steel using a diamind file i also grind the other end so its tip uses this radius as well .

I have a small chineese lathe and for what it cost i have no complaints other than it not having a reverse gear for the leadscrew but this will be sorted by about lunchtime today .

I use a rear mounted tool for two reasons :

Ridgidity - the compound slide on these machines are relatively small and flex very easily so need to be removed and a higher toolpost mounted , something similar to the Gibraltar type of toolpost .

This means more work as you need to remove and replace the compound slide as needed but by setting the compound slide parrallel to the cross slide helps a little as the forces are acting along the dovetail of the compound slide and not across them .

I went to the rear toolpost and never looked back !

More versatillity - the rear post also allows more tools to be mounted , say for instance a chamfering tool and the parting tool on the rear post and cutting and threading tools on the front post .

I find a tool with a tip ground with a point that has a 90 degree included angle is good for cutting 45 degree chamfers and saves having to change the angle of the front cutting tool .

IAN

Hi Ian.

Thats a cosy looking workshop and being brick will keep the noise down as well .

I recommend that when one is seting up lighting to close all of the doors and pull the shades on the windows because you want the lighting set up so it is suitable for for night time as you don't want the lighting level to change or get worse if the outside conditions change or it gets dark .

I'm currently testing out 2 LED floodlights i purchased as a kit here in Australia and so far so good. .They are fitted to either side of my mill and give of a brilliant white light , no heat , cost next to nothing to run and for $59 AU a pair i feel pretty good value .

Only drawback is building the circuit board up if you have no idea about Electronics but with only a hand full of components on the board , a good set of instructions as supplied i think anyone with a soldering iron could do it .

Ian

Hi all

Thanks for the replies i will hang on to these tips and re use .

Ian

Hi all .

I have a few old replacable carbide tips floating around the workshop and wondered if anyone has tried to braze them onto a tool shank ?

Seems to be a waste of a carbide tip if they get pegged into the bin because the tip is chipped and could be re- ground after brazing it onto a shank .

The ones i have are made with the chip breaker on one side only and have 3 points (triangle shape ) with the TiNi coating .

IAN

Hi Wolfie.

It sounds like the piece you are trying to machine is lifting when you tighten the vice .

Did you check to see if the parrallel is loose when you tighten the vice as the piece you wish to machine should be pulled down onto the parrallel and the parrallel should not be able to be moved easily .

I use a small plastic hammer (brass is also good) to lightly tap the piece down as i tighten the vice and then i check to see if i can move the parrallel and if i can i try again until the parrallel is tight.

You can set up a DTI over the piece and check for lift as you tighten the vice .

If your parrallel is good you can also use it tram the vice to make sure its fixed jaw is parrallel to either the x or y axis and the vice bed is parrallel to the top of the mill table .

You didn't mention what type of vice you are using as some are notorious for this problem and the one i got with my machine is now just a handy doorstop !

Ian

Thanks swarf thats what i wanted to know so i can grind up a cutting tool .

I thought it odd for it to be a UNF thread but that was all i could find on the internet that matched the thread pitch .

I will still make mandrel for this because it is a handy thing to have as i can set it up on my lathe to machine other items for the dividing head in the future or it can be used as a master thread gauge to check any female threads i need to make for anything else i wish to screw onto the dividing head .

The dividing head will be used for making gears and to mark out dials etc so the cutting forces will be at 90 degrees to the spindle thread but i may include a locking system just for piece of mind .

I have a rotary table that i use for machining slots , radii etc and the chuck is bolted to a mounting plate so it cannot come loose .

Thanks to all for the replies .

Ian .

Hi all .

I am about to set up my vertex dividing head with a three jaw chuck 5 inch - (130mm) and do not want to modify the 6 inch (150mm ) back plate as supplied because i want to save it in case i pick up a chuck to suit in the future .

I can get a backplate with the required 1-1/8x12tpi thread that fits a Myford lathe and would like to know the thread angle for this as i will need to machine a stub mandrel to fit so i can machine the register for the chuck .

Am i correct in believing that this thread is 1-1/8x12 unf ?

Ian

I know of a few magazines that give a dicount for a longer subscriptions ; ie 24 or 36 months maybe 10% cheaper or if you subscribe to both mags then the second one is at a dicounted rate .

What if you had a yearly prize that is more substantial that UK subscribers names could be put into a draw and hold this draw at one of the exhibitions ?

Hi Clive .

Although i haven't used it on a steam engine but have used it I/C engines ,pipe fittings etc and that Loctite master gasket .

It won't harden until it is compressed between surfaces and from memory can fill up to .020 with the correct primer .

It is what i use to seal crankcases on outboard motors, mowers , motorcycles etc and seems to work better than anything else for metal to metal gasket faces .

Actually i have used this to glue a broken gasket back together and it still didn't leak !

The only issue i see may be pressure .

Ian

Edited By IAN B on 29/05/2012 04:49:57

Hi Alan .

What you set up depends on a few things :

What sort of set up do you have for a Mill ?

Does it have a chip/coolant tray or is it just mounted to a bench ?

What tooling are you using , HSS ot TC orTCT .

Are you facing/surfacing or milling slots or side milling ?

How much cash you want to spend and how often will it get used .

Ok so if you're using HSS ( i suspect ) and just facing /surfacing - a drip feed is all you need but if you are milling slots some more flow to wash away the chips can help .

If your mill is mounted directly to a bench without a tray you won't want anything more than few drops here and there as it will run everywhere .

If you are facing and can use carbide cutters (TC) or carbide tipped (TCT) i wouldn't bother with coolant .

A simple set up is a plastic drink bottle, plastic hose (fish tank airaitor hose works well ) and a small valve (from fishtank airaitor system as well) just fill the bottle then hang it up over the mill and use gravity for drip feed , there are some complete drip feed units available from machinery suppliers so you don't need to make one up if you don't mind forking out the cash for a bottle and a hose .

If you need a flood system then a system specifically designed for this is the way to go and your local machinery supply shop will set you up but $$$$

For very small work i just use an old SINGER OIL bottle filled with some made up coolant and drip it onto the work by hand as i feed the cutter along , also good for the drilling machine .

I don't know what the new cutting fluids are like for lifespan ? when i used to operate roll grinders about 20yrs ago we had to empty every tank for Christmas as the 4 week holiday was long enough for it to go rancid .

And watch out for the splash ! i ended up making some removable gaurds to stop coolant getting away from me especially with small cutters running at a higher speed .

Ian

Hi Alan .

I would do a search on the internet to see if there are any gunsmithing sites or any footage of inletting a stock on youtube .

I take it that you are inletting the Barrel slot ?

Is the Receiver /Action inletted yet ?

What is the stock made of ?

Is this rifle a modern sporter or is it an older military rifle .303 or a Mauser etc ( the barrels were mostly encased in timber )

You will find there is a good chance that the Barrel is tapered so using a 30 mm cutter will leave a parrallel slot and this means the gap at the sides will either get bigger (if the cutter is the same dia as the thickend of the barrel) or get smaller because the cutter is the same dia as the thinner end of the barrel .

Is the barrel to be full floated ? ( not touching the stock anywhere except directly in front of the receiver /action) so the slot needs to be half a millimeter or more wider and deeper than the barrel

Are you going to Glass bed the action or barrel ( an epoxy used to fill gaps around the receiver and can be used to supprot the barrel but it is usually only the receiver that gets done .)

I used a home made rasp to get it close then fettled it with sandpaper wrapped around different sized mandrels , it took some time and patience but worked well .

For the rasp i used the blade for one of those cheese grater type wood rasps , the type that has a removable /replacable blade .then i cut out a piece and rolled it around a mandrel that was made to allow for the thickness of the blade and depth of its cutting teeth .

I then tack welded it arond the mandrel an welded on a handle .

It didnt take long to get the groove roughed out .

When ever you do anything to a firearm it will affect the accuracy of it so be carefull .

Ian

Edited By IAN B on 11/05/2012 22:21:42