Neil Hemingway Kits

Going back to the early nineties I purchased a fair number of kits from Neil Hemingway and spent many an hour with him putting the world to rights. During lock down I have got round to making some of these. One of them H86 has got me stumped. I had thought it was the bending roll kit but checking it against the parts list I am not so sure although there may be some other parts in another box. I wonder if anyone has an original kit list from Neil which may throw some light on the issue and save me searching numerous boxes for end plates and gears. I have spoken to Hemingways Kits but alas they do not have an original list and have re numbered their kits.

Tidy between centre boring bars.

Here is an extract from the 1995 catalogue when the kit cost £21.74 (now £60.90)

The bending rolls were H31 at £53.48.

Edited By ega on 02/07/2020 22:52:41

Edited By ega on 02/07/2020 22:56:07

Thanks for that it is just the information I was hoping for.

One of our club members, Alan, made those a couple of years ago and I remember him bringing them along to he club to show us. Sadly he passed away a few months later so may not have had the chance to use them. I do know he enjoyed how they had turned out.

I've made that boring-bars set, and am part-way through making their tool-grinder.

I've not yet graduated the boring-bar adjusters, but since the marks would be a long way from any fiducial line I may leave them plain and instead either directly measure the tool or use feeler-gauges. (The latter based on techniques I learnt years ago when working on a bench-drill in a sub-contract engineering company.)

A point that puzzles me a bit about the 'Worden' Tool-grinder is why, having gone to the trouble and customer's expense of (probably CNC-) engraving a big, clear degrees arc on the table, they did not have the numbers engraved too. Instead the instructions tells you how to make a simple jig for stamping them, but that risks slightly uneven marking and worse, distorting the plate.

I would suggest manufacturing cost which would need to be passed on to the purchaser.

.

The logic probably goes something like :

It’s a hobby, Sir ...

We need to to provide something interesting and creative for you to do

MichaelG.

.

Note: My wife sees many similar situations in Patchwork:

... Pre-cut strips of fabric, in ‘Jelly Rolls’ etc. etc.

MichaelG:

My understanding of the Worden design philosophy is that it was an attempt to harness modern manufacturing techniques to produce a tool that could be made quickly and easily which does rather run counter to the motivation you suggested.

I believe that under the present owner the trend has been to simplify the construction of parts of the Hemingway range.

To make the graduated strip at home you'd need a rotary table etc. But simple hand tools will stampvthe numbers.

A point that puzzles me a bit about the 'Worden' Tool-grinder is why, having gone to the trouble and customer's expense of (probably CNC-) engraving a big, clear degrees arc on the table, they did not have the numbers engraved too.

I doubt that the degree markings will be engraved, they will most likely have been stamped in by the CNC punch that punched the pieces from the parent sheet. So no great expense to add the marks if this is the case.

Be thankful that you got a version with the graduated table - my Worden is an early version & doesn't have these marks at all (just a plain table) so, at a guess, the sheet metal supplier had upgraded to a CNC punch with an indexable punch holder between the inital design (bearing rail near the wheel) & the later one (bearing rail at the rear). If you look closely at the marks, you will probably find the longer lines are made by stamping two short lines end to end, so only one tool required. Adding numbers would have required a lot more tools (0 to 9) & the CNC punches I have seen (which is admittedly not many !) didn't have very large tool carousels. I believe that some more modern machines also have a laser, so then laser engraving of the numbers would then be a viable option.

Nigel B.

Nigel,

Thank you for your very clear ‘production engineering’ analysis; it makes a lot of sense.

... or at least it did, until I read this on the Hemingway page:

[quote] The table assembly arrives engraved with 0 -180 divisions. [/quote]

MichaelG.

I'll let you know when my kit arrives It seems there is a 12 day delay though.

David

or at least it did, until I read this on the Hemingway page:

[quote] The table assembly arrives engraved with 0 -180 divisions. [/quote]

As my machine does not have the markings, Michael, I can't say for certain. But Tony Jeffree has a build log for a later machine with some vey clear pictures here

Photo 20 is a close-up of the table & the graduations look more like punched than engraved to me - the raised areas around each mark can be seen where Tony stoned them off. The ends of the marks are square, where engraved marks would have rounded ends ?

Nigel B.

Thanks for that, Nigel ... I agree completely

Probably just ‘a turn of phrase’ by Hemingway.

MichaelG.

Some interesting comments about the Worden. Here are further extracts from the 1995 catalogue:

The table is said to be engraved; another "turn of phrase"?

I think I once knew why the Worden was so called; can anyone remind me?

Here's my Worden table:

The tenths lines look like they have been punched by a chisel tool and the tens by a slightly bigger tool on a larger radius. The numbers were added by me using, if I remember correctly, a jig suggested by Tony.

The Worden is named after Worden Park in Leyland where the Leyland Society of Model Engineers have their track.

Stay well,

Rod

Roderick Jenkins:

Thank you.

Thinking about Leyland vehicles makes me wonder if there is something about the air in that part of the country!

PS The number punching on your table has come out very well and, I assume, without loss of flatness. It helps to have the digits separated by the line.

Edited By ega on 04/07/2020 15:28:54

I bought a Worden kit second hand, so am unaware of the age. On mine, the table was engraved with degree marks and numbers.

Maybe cost reduction deleted the numbers on later production? The Hemingway marque has had at least two more owners since the original design.

Howard