Wave Washer in Myford Resettable Dial Article, MEW 328

A UK reader has asked about a source for the EPL25 wave washer used to set the friction in the resettable Myford dials in MEW 328. Apparently not all suppliers worldwide use this code number for the 25mm x 32mm wave washer.

UK online supplier Bearingboys.co.uk stocks Wave Spring Washer W61510 that will do the job HERE. It is very slightly smaller than the nominal size but should fit the dials without needing to change any dimensions from the drawings.

They also stock the required 32mm internal circlip, listed as D1300/0320.

Your local bearing shop may well stock them too. The wave washers are used to set the preload on bearings in electric motors, so a commonly used item. And the 32mm internal circlip is a standard size. 32mm being the size bore it fits into, so it will be a bit bigger in its uncompressed state.

Happy twiddling.

Pete Barker

I'm in the middle of making a pair of these dials using the W61510 wave washer from Bearing Boys, The wave washer supplied must be slightly different to the ones it is designed for. The wave measured .100" instead of the .125" stated in the article, and my impression is that the washer is a bit less wavy and a bit more weedy than the design one. After a bit of experimentation on a dummy hub I've made the .220" length on the hub drawing .260" and the step that the wave washer fits over .040" long instead of the specified .080". This gives what I feel is the right amount of resistance whilst adjusting ok, might have made the adjustment a little stiffer than some might like but in this case I think it suits the application. It's to fit a shaper rather than a lathe, so some of the hub details have been altered, but otherwise everything else is to the published drawings and it all goes together well. Just something to bear in mind if using the wave washers supplied by Bearing Boys. Their service was excellent, washers and circlips arrived morning after ordering. Graduation and stamping next, I made some spare dials, just in case!

Dave

Edited By Dave Wootton on 05/06/2023 13:33:09

Edited By Dave Wootton on 05/06/2023 13:34:56

Just been out and reassembled both dials with their respective hubs, washers and circlips, just to check the feel of the adjustment, and found the action to be pretty much the same as the factory dials on my 254, so I don't thnk the dimensions I've given above are too far off. couple of pictures of both the dials fitted together and of one fitted to the cross feed on the shaper.

This one seems to be a bit more wavey with a 3.5mm height compared to the bearing boys 2.2mm

Much cheaper too!

I notice that's an EPL 24 yet it has a 25mm bore, I might have missed that as I'm sure I searched for an EPL25, never mind it all worked fine with a little adjustment.

Edited By Dave Wootton on 05/06/2023 17:19:20

I just googled "wave washer" and got hundreds of answers instantly.

Good info there Dave and Jason. Thanks. I have asked Neil to put a note in the next mag to help others with the search.

If I just Google it, I get plenty of Australian suppliers, who all seem to use the EPL25 number, but not much else, probably due to my location and the wisdom of Google.

Dave, your dials are looking good. Great to see the design being adapted to other machines already. Now you only have the fiddly bit of all the lines and numbers to go! Keep us posted.

Edited By Hopper on 05/06/2023 23:57:14

Finished making and fitting the dials from Hoppers excellent article in MEW, adapted slightly to fit a shaper the basic design follows the published drawings. Indexing of the graduations was done using the hacksaw blade ratchet detent from the article. I had to fiddle about with the change gears a bit to do it on my 254 as the changewheel arrangement is different, but with a couple of idlers in there it all worked out fine. The ratchet idea was so much easier than the fraught time spent graduating a small rotary table with a dividing head. Numbers were stamped in a GHT pillar tool as the fittings for stamping were already made, one great tip in the article is using masking tape for initially setting up the stamping, a very slight but seeable impression can be made in the tape.There was one bozo moment when I put the stamp in the jig 90deg out, but a drop of soft solder and some filing and it can't be seen easily. Pictures show the dials fitted to my Acorn shaper which is undergoing a rebuild, had to make a narrow ring to carry the fiducial mark for the cross feed, the only modification needed was two small tapped holes to retain this. The downfeed dial is tapped 3/8 BSF as was the original. Altogether a very interesting little job that was a pleasant change from all the cleaning and painting. Well done Hopper!

Edited By Dave Wootton on 09/06/2023 17:53:03

If you don't have a bozo moment every once in while you're not doing anything, nice job by the way.

Thanks Dave, it looks good. Great to see my design in use. I like the tip about filling the duff number with solder and restamping. I might have to give it a try on that misaligned 0 on mine where the cheap number punch was made off-centre. Yes I liked the hacksaw-blade ratchet idea a lot too. I think I picked the basic principle of that up from one of the old books by Ian Bradley (Duplex) and it certainly works well.

If the washers you have are not stiff enough you could try stacking a couple.. This gives higher force and slightly increased height.

Robert.

That design looks a lot like the resetable dials Ivan Law used to sell for the ML7.

Excellent numbering and knurling on Dave's sample pictured.

Emgee

I haven't come across that one. There is nothing new under the sun. I suspect the ones currently sold by Myford as an upgrade are similar too, although I have only seen a website picture of the outside, not the internals. I would not think they would go to the expense and complexity of a GH Thomas style dial with springs and brass plungers etc when a cheap wave washer does the trick. Or they might use a rubber o-ring or even a piece of straight spring steel in a milled slot, as some other dials do. I decided against rubber o-ring as they deteriorate over time and against the straight piece of spring steel because of the difficulty machining the tiny slot for it in the outer dial ring and the faffing about making the flat spring. The wave washer is nice and simple.

Edited By Hopper on 11/06/2023 01:33:14

I noticed a Chinese seller, who is doing stainless steel wave washers. The equivalent washer to the one Hopper used is £2.99 for twenty. At that price, it is on a slow delivery. I have ordered twenty and will report back when they arrive.

I am just being curious as I have already purchased my requirements from Caleb.

Andrew.

P.S. The 32mm internal circlip, I got from an Ebay seller at £4.13 for a pack of 10. Seems it is worth searching around for a good deal.

The Chinese wave washers have arrived and they are dead ringers for the much more expensive Caleb version. The only difference that I can see are the Chinese ones are stainless and the Caleb ones appear to be spring steel. They both have the same "stiffness" when bent..

Can't be bad for a price of £2.99 for twenty. Delivery was much quicker than expected. Don't forget the pack of 10, 32mm internal circlips for £4.13, again from Ebay.

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 05/07/2023 17:23:48