Member postings for GaryM

Edited By Gary Marland on 03/02/2013 21:58:35

Hi,

I'm in the process of building a bench for my new mill. The handwheel for raising the head (Z-axis) is at the front corner of the base and is lower than the base. Therefore should I raise the base above the bench surface or should I have the handwheel overhanging the edge of the bench. Sorry if this is a stupid question but as I haven't used a milling machine before I wanted to get it right before putting the mill on it. It weighs 160kg so I don't really want to be taking it on and off that often.

Any other tips welcome too.

Gary

Great set of photos Neil. Every time I see pics on here of things people have built it really encourages me to get on with building something myself. It's a hell of a learning curve though. After my first year of model engineering (admittedly, lucky if I get one day a week) I still spend more time reading how to do stuff than doing it. Must try harder this year.

Gary

Hi,

Just letting people know about a programme on BBC 4 tonight. "The joy of train sets: the model railway story". 9pm Wednesday 23/1/2013. Some of us might enjoy it.

Gary

Hi Neil,

No mention at all in the catalogue

"pas de deux" ? Isn't that "father of twins" ?

Gary

In the time this thread has been running I have taken delivery of my new milling machine (from Arc), taken the packing case off it, been out and bought the wood to make a bench for it, borrowed a mitre saw to cut it up and been to work. Can't wait to get it cutting some metal, however at 160 kg the biggest problem is going to be getting it up onto the bench. Another engineering problem

Hope you enjoy using whatever machine you buy Steve.

Gary

(a beginner with one year's experience)

Alan, Neil's article is in MEW 199 February 2013.

Gary

So inspiring to see something a bit different. Good camera work too. Thanks for posting Terry.

Gary

Thanks for pointing that out Michael, hadn't spotted it.

Gary

Hi Callum

There is a huge amount of useful info on this forum but as Jeff says the search function is rubbish. I find that if you put the following text into Google with the item of interest in place of 'workshop' you will get much better results.

site:model-engineer.co.uk workshop

I've gained a lot of knowledge in my first year from the helpful folk here.

Gary

Ron,

I bought a set of these from Machine Mart when I started:

**LINK**

They seem ok to me but I'm only a novice. Also bought the metric equivalents at the same time. Then later I bought a set of metric 1.0mm to 6.0mm in 0.1mm increments from Arc as I found the 0.5mm increments of the Machine Mart set were too large for some reamed holes.

Gary

Website here

**LINK**

I'll be there this weekend. Probably on Sunday. If you visit and you are local you could always consider joining the society, it's only £15 and they don't get any help from public funds.

Gary

They are also sold at Argos for £7.99. I bought one two weeks ago. I'm hoping it will be flat enough for my needs, but haven't checked it yet. Got the idea from a previous thread on here.

Gary

Hi Lee,

I got my mini-lathe just less than a year ago and I bought one of the sets of carbide tipped tools like these:

**LINK**

I thought they would get me started as I didn't fancy making my own from HSS blanks (not having used a bench grinder for about thirty years). After making a few parts for my first little engine I was getting a bit disappointed with the poor finish so decided to have a go at grinding a simple knife tool. I though I would be doing well if it performed similarly to the carbide tools but was amazed at the improved finish considering this was my first attempt. So as others have said, have a go at making some tooling yourself. Lawrence Sparey's book "The Amateur's Lathe" which although a bit dated is a great starting point.

Gary

Siddley, you're never alone when you're a member of this forum.

Thanks to everyone for their encouraging comments through my first year of model engineering. Hoping to get in the workshop after Christmas Day to make a start on the S50.

Gary

I think IMHO is normally taken as In My Humble Opinion although David Cameron may disagree

Isn't it the case that any electric circuit that doesn't have a mechanical on/off switch is going to have a small drain on the battery when switched off, as part of the circuit at least needs to be powered up continuously to respond to the momentary press on the switch? Although, it's thirty years since I worked in electronics so a little rusty.

Gary

The document Les linked to is on LittleMachineShops web site here:-

**LINK**

HTH

Gary

Hi David,

I have the ED16SB from Axminster that you linked to but only bought it about a year ago. I've found it to be as good as I was expecting for a cheapish pillar drill bearing in mind that it was my first proper piece of workshop equipment. The equivalent woodworking drill is the WD16SB which was the same price when I bought mine but now seems to be quite a bit dearer. These two are identical apart from the table and the thing that is not obvious from the pictures is that the table on the woodworking drill has slots that go right through whereas the engineering one has T-slots. I think I might have found the woodworking table more useful in practice but I am a newbie.

Gary