Member postings for Johnboy25

Bob & all... I much prefer a good quality floor paint such as the epoxy type as previously mentioned especially if I was starting with a new workshop & garage. I like rubber matting in front of the machinery. The type that has a round hole pattern which I've bought off eBay. When you drop small screws or components they don't disappear never to be seen again but seem to get captured in the holes! The rubber mats are also good in cold conditions in helping to keep you feet warm & reduce fatigue when standing for a long periods of time. Make the workshop look professional too!

Regards

John

Hi Michael and all. Perhaps that was a bit unfair re. pricing. A tin or tube goes a long way and it does do what it says on the tin! I did buy some of the Cleancut in 350mg plastic bottle a while back - that was a case of how much? But again you pays your money and takes your choice.

From the link I see they sell Micrometer Engineers Marking Blue - now who was asking about that the other day on the forum?

John

Ah... Rocol RTD. The stuffs brilliant but you almost need a second mortgage to buy a small bottle! Still what price on something that works well?

John

Sorry.. Wrong page!

**LINK**

Sam... Are these what you're looking for?

**LINK**

John

Hi.. I think Arceurotrade have MT 2 & 3 arbors that have thread for either a draw bar or tang.

John

Brian. Somewhere in the grey matter I think I can remember the same question being asked too many years ago to remember and I was told that stainless steel can be tested with copper sulphate solution. Stainless doesn't take on a copper deposit. Not sure if this applies to the magnetic grades of stainless steel. Perhaps someone can advise on this as I'm not a metallurgist. Something to experiment when I can get some copper sulphate crystals!

Reminds me of those days when I had a Lotts chemistry set!

John

Vic... If you go down the conduit and single cables route, the spec for conduit cables in single colours is 6491X for normal PVC insulation or 6491B for low smoke requirements. For a ring main for an area of up to 100 square metres (if you're lucky enough to have a large workshop!) it can be wired in 2.5 sq. mm with a 32 Amp MCB overload protection device. You can have as many 13 Amp socket outlets you want as diversity considerations assume that you won't be able to draw more than 32 Amp load at anyone time! I much favour separate supplies to motor circuits but there's no reason why you couldn't drop off a spur to the lathe or mill. Again you're not likely to to drawing much current at anyone time unless you have multiple heaters and a kettle! It mainly common sense really to know what you can an can't run at anyone time.

If you're going to be using an arc welder I certainly would recommend a separate supply outlet in correctly rated cable & MCB to suit. One more point, if your using inverter drives be aware that RCD's don't like the inrush current which can trip them out. This can be overcome by separate circuit to the inverter not being fed via the RCD.

As mention end previously - it should be installed or a least certified & tested by a competent electrician. It bugs me that as I'm a qualified electrical engineer I still need to have my work inspected to meet with the Part P building regs! I hope all of this may be helpful.

John

Hi all

"Ah... An interesting topic stroboscopic effects with different types of lighting" - as my college lecture said... Perhaps this is why I can remember some of the details after 40 years! Well yes it is desirable for industrial premises if not an HSE requirement to have twin style fluorescent light fittings installed where rotating machinery is being used. Single tube fittings will produce a 100 Hz ripple effect with the lamps peak light intensity output on the positive & negative part of each cycle. i.e. double the 50 Hz mains frequency. And to quote my old lecturer "... you can't have flicker" which quickly became that years most used phrase! I digress, twin tube fittings are or were produced with one tube leading the supply and one tube lagging thereby reducing the stroboscopic tenancies. If the light fitting has a modern electronic high frequency ballast fitted the stroboscopic is virtually eliminated.

The electronic switch starter replacements are more expensive but they do extend the tube life by reducing the starting filaments from burning out prematurely if the old type of starter fails.

Another point of interest before you all fall asleep with boredom... Have you ever wonder what other benefit there is with low voltage lamps on machine tools other than 12 or 24 Volts being considerably safer from electric shock than 230 Volt mains? Well the answer is that a filament lamp being a reasonable Wattage will have a larger thermal inertia thereby reducing a stroboscopic effect of the lamp.

One last point if your building your own LED lighting some LED's are designed with their own circuity to enable them to run off AC or DC supplies - Please be aware that if your supply is an AC type powered by a transformer, the stroboscopic effect could be considerable. Ideally your LED's ought to be powered by a DC regulated and smoothed supply. I've also experienced early GU10 LED replacements having major strobing effects.

I hope this throws some light on the subject! From an electronics & electrical engineer of many years standing!

Regards

John

Hi all...

I've been a follower of LED lighting for many years now - only wished I'd patented the LED traffic light mod idea when I had first thought of it when I first started using multi chip LED indicator lamps! For LED lighting have a look at http://www.bltdirect.com/products.php?adcid=adwords&gclid=CNjOs9HkpMACFZTLtAodLT4A9A (Usual disclaimer) I've bought some LED GU10 halogen replacements which are still going some 5 years ago.

Regards

John

Edited By Johnboy25 on 21/08/2014 17:50:15

Edited By Johnboy25 on 21/08/2014 17:51:29

Ian...

what a nice bit of kit this is! You could always make a DRO with it. Dividing the output down to a more usefull pulse per rev number using an Arduino micro controller board and a bit of code....

John

Edited By Johnboy25 on 06/04/2014 20:46:11

Hi Michael..

This certainly looks the job including the professional drawings detailing it. I too would like to see this in MEW.

John

Hi Geoff

I agree - take useful bits off & bin the rest. Have a look on eBay for some Hellerman strippers.

For the back pain I'd recommend Voltarol gel. The other week I lifted a spare Bridgeport motor into the workshop and after a day or so I knew about it! Voltarol sorted my back out in two days!!!

I saw a coffee mug at the car boot sale the other day - it had 'Work is for people without anything better to do' on it - I should have bought it!

John

Congratulations Clive on your retirement.

I'm busy with my five year plan being almost half way though it getting all of my toys up together for a productive retirement. It's not that I'm wishing my life away but I believe you need to plan ahead and have a reason for getting out of bed after all those year of work! So keep up the good work and enjoy yourself!

Regards John

Hi... If the tool holders are about 50mm long by 35mm approx (Myford size) and look like their quality items - They may made by aandrprecisionltd (eBay seller name) They don't have any for sale at the moment but may be worth a try. They are a copy of the Dickson quick change tool post & holders.

Click on for more dimensional info.  http://www.lathes.co.uk/latheparts/page13.html

Regards John

Edited By Johnboy25 on 27/11/2013 21:52:56

I've just read the digital article on the design & build of the DRO using pre-manufactured encoder & Arduino micro controller. When I saw this I quickly became engrossed in the concept & implementation of the system. I've been collecting parts based on an Arduino for a digital RPM & multifuction cutting speed calculator for various machine tools that I have. Fortunately being an Electronics & Electrical Engineer this doesn't phase me too much! I'm very greatfull to see this type of article being offered up although I can understand the more mechanical type frowning under their breath! Like it or not electronics are playing an increasingly larger part in our lives than perhaps some would like. To sum up - thanks for the article & being able to see the installed version. John H.

Hi Ross.

Your photo's remind me of the state my Bridgeport was in when had it delivered! I've had great success with Castrol Greentec motorcycle cleaner. As a lot of the crap is dried on water based suds this stuff works really well. I get it from Halford in litre spray bottles as thats the only size Castrol sell it in. I will get some of the Coma Hyperclean to try myself as suggested above.

Regards

John

p.s. mine has the one shot lub system. It was fitted as an factory fitted option I believe. I have seen retrofit kits for sale. Mine needs a looking at as the plunger is stuck and won't pull out. Another little job I have not sorted yet!

Edited By Johnboy25 on 25/09/2013 17:35:26

Hi Ross.

Your photo's remind me of the state my Bridgeport was in when had it delivered! I've had great success with Castrol Greentec motorcycle cleaner. As a lot of the crap is dried on water based suds this stuff works really well. I get it from Halford in litre spray bottles as thats the only size Castrol sell it in. I will get some of the Coma Hyperclean to try myself as suggested above.

Regards

John

Hi Michael.

On thing I would suggest is to run a tap or die over the thread just to make sure it's free to adjust with your fingers when cold if you haven't done already and to apply some Copper Slip anti-sieze compound. It works for me! Hope that helps.

John

Hi Jason. I've just purchase a Bridgeport and I'm about to arrange transportation back to my place. I'm a long standing Electrical Engineer with some years of experience with control systems and motor inverter drives. I would be happy to share information on controlling my Bridgy with safety in mind using an inverter on the thre phase motor. If that's any help. John