Laminated Info

Just acquired a Super 7 lathe to replace the aged ML10 and because the lathe is new to me I've been printing out copies of all sorts of information to have at hand out in the shop.

Of course, a machinist work environment is not exactly paper friendly, what with stray chips, oil, etc.

The obvious answer is to laminate that information to keep in clean. Nothing new in that one, but in addition to that I decided to help my old eyes by doing the following:

A) ... I scanned and then scaled up the information as large as possible.

B) ... I cleaned and tweaked the images using some graphics programs. (I'm kind of an artsy sort, but this bit is strictly optional)

C) ... After spitting out the pages on the laser printer I spent some quality time adding color to make some of the information more obvious.

The images below tell the story. The color highlights were added with watercolor paint, but felt tip markers or color pencil would do just as well. The laminated covering protects the color as well as the information.

I did the same thing with cutting speed tables, tapping and clearance diameters, screw pitches, metric/imperial conversions and belt/pulley settings for speeds. (Tubal Cain's "Model Engineers Handbook" had most of the data and Excel provided a handy way to present the tables in A4). In my case I laminated two pages back to back, punched holes and joined all the sheets with two 1" keyrings so that I can easily leave it open at whichever table I need.

It looks like Myford's illustrations of change gear configurations are much clearer than Chester's, having seen your sheets I think I will have to draw up something similar for my son's lathe and add them to the stack.

Brian G

Very nice job.

I do similar laminations, without the smart colours, for lathe speed labels, pin on the wall cutting speed charts and front panel legends for things in boxes to identify switches et al.

Where I have several to lots of tables, data sheets, instructions et al that I want to get at without grubby paw prints I use the spiral wire binding, flip right over, A4 display books and just slide the printed pages into the pockets. Being wire bound they stay open and, if flipped over only need one A4 space put them on. Or use a big bulldog clip to hang them on a nail. My big bulldog hangs above and back of the surface plate to hold a drawing whilst I'm marking out with height gauge. Usually on a flat component held against an angle plate.

All my drawings go in clear punched pockets to store in lever arch ring binders. I have whiteboards close to both lathe and mill so I can use magnets to hold the drawings, still in their pockets, to the board for reference when making. Cut calculations, speed notes and other temporary stuff gets written on the whiteboard.

Workshop manuals get printed out, pocketed and filed in appropriate numbers of the fatter 4 ring binders. My Range Rover P38 manual (RAVE) is intended to be used electronically. Over a yard of shelf space to hold the printed one. Which took a while. Doing things that way makes it easy to temporarily assemble short single job manuals supplemented by things found on the internet. Useful internet stuff gets printed out and filed in more 4 ring binders.

Clive

All good ideas but a point to watch with transparent plastic wallets is that (unless the materials have improved which I doubt) over time they will lift the ink off the paper.

Plastic pouches can lift the ink from pages that have been printed with toner as in laser printers or photocopiers. It will not happen with ink jet printed sheets but then water can be a problem with ink being smeared. I once had a print from a wax transfer printer. Looked really good until I ran it through a laminator that spread the wax rather colourfully. The point is you have to chose a process to suit your needs and circumstances.

Martin C

My experience is that ink lift due to contact with plastic seems to be a very sporadic problem.

I have seen it in various places. Some unexpected. Such as some ring binders supplied via a Civil Service stationary contract which after about five years would lift laser print ink left in contact with the cover for more than a week. Big four ring type that looked to be a premium product.

So far I've not seen it with plastic pouches. Over the last quarter of a century I've used several varieties based on what was economically sensible, usual rule 2 steps up from the cheapest half decent supplier. Some of the known brands are very expensive and, in my experience, often seem inferior to my economical choices. Printer is an HP LaserJet 4MP with original HP toner. Which may or may not be a factor.

Clive

I've had no problems with laser print and proper lamination pouches.

The polypockets with a fine 'bobbly' surface work with laser printed/photocopied sheets. The smooth ones, in my experience, are the problem.

Bill