Member postings for Stuart Bridger

This is a bit of fun, an web page that allows you to superimpose the ship anywhere on a world map to get the sheer scale **LINK**

Tracy Tools have a good range of threaded shank milling cutters

I am in 100% agreement with everything being said.
"safety" systems like lane deviation, surely i you can't keep between the lanes, you shouldn't be behind the wheel.
My biggest gripe is reserved for multi-function touch screens. With physical buttons, you instinctively learn the location and adjust the temperature. enable demisting, etc without taking your eyes off the road. How do you do that with a touch screen?
I will be hanging onto by 10.5 year old Saab as long as I can.

I would also recommend a gunstock oil finish. I am a fan of CCL products.

I will put my hands up and admit that I am a hi-fi fan. My investment in Hi-Fi way exceeds the value of my workshop.

That said the digital part of the system uses standard Ethernet patch leads costing a few pounds. The argument used for the esoteric USB and network cables is reducing the noise transmission from the digital to analogue domain rather than the quality of the signal itself. I don't buy it and I agree that there is a lot of snake oil in the industry. None of purchases have been made without auditioning first.

The comments about made about no difference between bell wire and a quality speaker cable clearly come from those who have never heard the latter. I will happily admit to spending £40/m on cables and it was the best investment I made, with a dramatic improvement.

I have had friends round (before lockdown) who like music but don't have a quality playback system and they have been blown away by the sound quality.

I started with a 2 axis console and X and Y scales on my Warco VMC. I did miss the ability to set depth. When the console failed I replaced it with a 3 axis unit. Eventually i fitted the z scale on the knee. This made a lot of difference. Ideally I I would like to put a scale on the quill with a summing unit to complete the setup.

Mitutoyo all the way. I started out with a couple of cheap no-name calipers.
They ate batteries. Moving to Mitutoyo means that I don't have to change the battery virtually every time I go into the workshop.

I have had the Vertex VA4 for a number of years and rate it like all the Vertex kit I have.
Nominally a 4" vice with 102 mm width and 103mm opening.

Good overview here Link

Maybe you are over thinking this. Just make the bearings a good fit on the shaft leave a bit of play in the bearing seats. Install the crankshaft and just nip up the bearings with a good running fit.

UPT nominally completed.

Just need to make up custom washers so the Kipp handles sit nicer.

I have done a bit of airbrushing with Humbrol and use their genuine thinners. Seems short sighted to risk the finish of your model for the small cost of the correct product.

Friend of mine in the shipping business has just made the following comments on the China container situation.

"We are estimating sometime between June and August for things to settle down..
Up to around August last year rates were $1500-$1700 and now $12-$14k port depending. Also have Pearl season surcharge of $900 and port congestion fees of $350-$550 line depending on top.
I expect the “new normal” rate will settle somewhere around the $3500-$5000 mark when it does eventually settle down."

Summarising posts above, you have three options

1) get true three phase installed by your utility company
+ Lathe just plugs in
- potentially very expensive
2) Install a rotary converter
+ Lathe just plugs in
- Noisy and takes up space
3) Convert the lathe to VFD
+ Low cost and adds variable speed with additional flexibility
- Some work needed to integrate the VFD and change control circuits to work with the VFD
That said there are preconfigured packages from people like Newton Tesla
- Potential issue if your motor can't be reconfigured for delta (240V) operation.

FWIW I went for option 3 with my Colchester Chipmaster, and got great help from Inverter Drive Supermarket in specifying exactly what was needed. They have a useful "how to" page Link

Best thing is not to look at the death figures they can always and are being argued over. Cumulative figures are only of interest to journalists.
The real issue is the number of patients being hospitalised and the capacity to treat.
The scary thing is that during the first wave, I knew of very few cases. but currently I am hearing about a lot of people locally who have tested positive, a number in hospital and sadly some deaths

I don't recall having any issues with my 10V piston rod.
Floating Tailstock die holder and decent quality sharp dies are the answer as other have said.
I hadn't discovered Trefolex when i built my 10V but that has been a revelation when threading since.

The trouble with any TV documentary style programme is that it will never been enough for those with in-depth knowledge of the subject. But then why are experts watching something they already know about? It is interesting to see which skills are focused on and which are glossed over though. Suzie Fletcher's saddlery skills seem to get a lot of attention. Perhaps the producers joust don't think machining is photogenic enough. Likewise we see more of cleaning of clock components than reassembly. If it inspires any to take up a craft that is good for me.

Some 20+ years ago, I was involved in supplying a new computer system to a parcels company who shall be nameless. The servers had to be shipped to each parcel depot and quite understandably they wanted to use their own network for the delivery. Their IT department insisted that we used a special service designed for tracking specific hazardous materials rather than the standard service to ensure the kit got delivered. We were somewhat bemused by this.

I enjoy it. There are some fantastic skills on show. I wish that they would state how many hours work went into each project though. Also if it encourages more repair rather than scrap and replace, that must be good.

ISO 10 slideway oil?? That sounds very low viscosity for the task?
Most suppliers list ISO 32 as the lowest viscosity with tackifying agents added that help the oils to stick to non vertical surfaces.