Quorn castings

Hi all, I've been think of building a quorn tool grinder for awhile now but seen to be having problems getting castings for it. There is a set on ebay but I have no idea of the price of a set of castings for it. Any one who roughly how much a new set goes for and where I might get them that's not in the US. Thanks for any help, Mark.

Hi Mark,

Try **LINK** I have just bought a new casting (that I have messed up) from them at very resonable price.

I bought a casting kit in 1996 from them and now have the idea that it should be finished on the kits 20 year anneversary in 2016, so we have to see how that works out. Lars-G in Sweden

Thanks Lars, that's just what I needed.

Shouldn't have many problems.

Rumour has it that there are 5,389 sets unmachined under Model Engineers benches all over the world just so they can say "I have a Quorn "

It's a right of passage.

Wow that many, well within two years I am determing to finish my kit so I can say "I have a working Quorn"

But that was not entirely tru as there seems to be an enormous amount of different work that can be done with a Quorn so I suppose it never will be totaly complete, always new accessorys to be made.

Lars-G

Can I introduce a word of caution here. I finally completed my Quorn last year, only took 19 years from buying the castings, and while I like it a lot and have used it a fair bit, I would not repeat the process now. I can well understand the attraction of building and owning a Quorn and as a machining exercise it was great fun, but from a financial point of view it simply does not add up.

If I was starting now I would look at some of the simpler designs that are around. For all its beauty the Quorn is fiddly to set up and if , like me, you just need it for drills and end mills, the simpler designs would be a lot cheaper to make and much quicker to build.

Doug

I agree with Doug. I made one once. I kept a log (the only time I have ever done such a thing). It took me 260 hours. I hardly ever used it and sold it. I now have a Worden which is much quicker to set up and use for general lathe tool and end mill sharpening. Not as versatile as the Quorn but the Worden suits my needs much better.

Your mileage may vary.

Rod

My father made a Quorn which I inherited. I have made a new work head to take R8 collets. I also hardly ever use it, and nor did he as far as I can tell. It's over complicated, has some odd aspects of design, and I think that probably the Worden or one of the other "table based" designs would be a better choice.

Hmm well that's something to think about. I'll take a look at the Worden. The quorn is a very pretty machine when finished but you guys opinions carries some weight in my book. Thanks.

A word of advice, if you go ahead with the quorn, use hard chrome bar for the base bars and column. Don't bother with the coarse thread on the column, drill and slot it the way Martin Gregory did on his, much better method of height adjustment for the head.

If you go for a worden, I would suggest modifying that to give height adjustment for the motor, I've done this on mine and it is a worthwhile mod.

I used the column left over from my quorn but any piece of 1 1/4" bar would do.

Edited By CoalBurner on 09/05/2014 13:47:34

When I was building my Quorn I thought about using hard chrome bar as suggested by CoalBurner but could not find a supplier willing to supply the small amount needed. Is there a supplier in the UK able to supply small lengths?

Doug

I haven't yet and may never build a Quorn, but I've studied the book more than a bit, and put a lot of thought into all the machining steps that are involved. Probably today hardened and ground linear shafting would be the best material to use. There's a lot of items that have been invented since Prof. Chaddock wrote the book. But hardened bars or not, the bored castings that slide on those bars aren't hardened and they ARE going to get grinding dust embeded in them. So one way or another it's going to cause wear. The main recommendation is to either use no lube on the bars, or a dry type, so the idea is the grinding dust will just slide off the bars. I'll admit those bare polished bars look pretty nice, but it's a more than poor design for what we have available to us today that Chaddock didn't have. Off road motor cycles, trucks, etc deal with the problem by using rubber like "boots" to keep precision fitting items like the front forks and shocks clean and dust free. If I was building a Quorn I'd still use that hardened linear shafting, but I'd use those off road shaft boots to keep the grinding dust from ever touching and then wearing the parts.

Pete

Edited By Pete on 10/05/2014 19:21:14

there are a full set of castings on e bay at the moment I think they are asking £380.finishing to day with no bids.they are under welding metal working.

Hello Marc mc

I visited the Harrogate show on Friday and Saturday and spotted a set of Quorn castings for sale at £195, the dealer selling them was Quillstar, I think also known as Trade Sales Direct.

Edited By Lathejack on 11/05/2014 13:36:01

One stall had a cardboard box with 'quorn kit' written on it, I am sure it was up for less than £100, although I may have missed a '1'.

I only saw two quorns...

Neil

Hello Douglas,

Supply of hard chromed bar---- you need to think outside the box and see what your local hydraulics supplier can offer for ram material.

Rams come in all diameters and they will cut to your required length; buy the matching seals while you are at it to wipe them clean as you use the finished Quorn.

I made a full length taper turning attachment using 18mm diameter bar as the guide, it works a treat.

Regards Brian