Member postings for Mike London

You now know I am not a gardener!

Not sure if it is connected or not but there is a drum of what looks like nylon rope behind the machine, out of context with the rest of the surroundings.
The dust on the machine looks fibrous to me as if it has been handling material like canvas etc.
On the head are two square bolts possibly for clamping a punch or die over what is possibly an anvil where the corrugated wheel is. The tee handle on top possibly setting depth of punch as the whole pivoting upper arm looks like it may be lifted by the lever.

As a total guess in the dark, maybe it was for turning and folding over a rope edging and putting in eyelets etc. for tarpaulins, canvas sails etc?

As above, thoroughly recommend Tracy Tools.

Disappointed when they moved from West London many years ago and I could no longer visit and rummage through their large selection of tooling but their mail order has always been faultless and they attend a lot of the exhibitions. Excellent company to deal with.

I recently acquired some 3 BA screws from a company called GWR Fasteners Ltd. based in Owestry.

They stock and /or will make a large range of BA fasteners.

No connection apart from good service.

www.gwr-fasteners.co.uk

On Monday (15/02/21) at about 3 in the afternoon I ordered a fairly large heavy item from Arc Eurotrade. I was promised delivery on Wednesday (17/02/21).
On Tuesday (16/02/21) I received an email from RM parcel force with a tracking reference.
Checking the tracking reference I saw the parcel had been collected from Arc Euro at 16-15 Tuesday (16/02/21)
The Postman was knocking on my door with the parcel at 09-30 Wednesday (17/02/21).
Royal Mail delivered the parcel in 171/4 hours.

I have no connection with Arc Euro or Royal Mail. But I think that was fantastic service from both parties.

Please correct me if I am missing something but you have a varispeed head with all the the torque benefits.
Why not just have a phase converter and you then you don't have to worry about the machine electrics.

Is it possible to check inside your master socket to see what colour wires are actually connected to its input?

I think BT quite often run everything in their standard 4 core cable but may only use a couple of the conductors.

Old Mart beat me to it.

Edited By Mike London on 07/12/2020 15:49:21

If you are renting a Transit, can you you not rent a Luton with a tail lift?

Normally can lift a ton plus which should cope with a VMC intact and on the ground I used some short offcut lengths of scaffolding under base to manouver to position.
Saves dismantling and that is how I sold my VMC.

Andrew

Whilst fully understanding the priorities of life, I hope this will be a scaling down of forum activities rather than a complete disconnect.

As a fellow M300 and Bridgeport mill owner, it is good to know that there is someone out there with more knowledge than myself regarding these machines should a query arise.

Unfortunately the internet is a double edged sword, allowing people to easily connect but also allowing people to easily insult. My approach is just to develop a thicker skin.

But I hope as your life readjusts we will see you at some time back on the forum with your knowledge.

Good Luck

Mike

I have just noticed you said that you drilled and tapped the holes.
So my question is void but maybe the conjecture still stands!

Mike

I agree with Clive that the sight glass was probably a push fit, possibly with an "O" ring.
With your lathe in bits you are in a better position to find out.
I am certainly not taking mine to bits to find out!

Out of idle curiosity. Just going back to the swarf shield, which in your pictures is screwed to the headstock. Did those tapped holes exist or did you drill and tap. My headstock has no tapped holes.
The swarf shield is as illustrated in the manual and is sprung and wedged in to the cavity.
You have swarf clearance directly under the chuck, which of course the gap bed doesn't have, so there is a much greater build up of swarf adjacent to the headstock on the gap bed.
Just wondering if Harrisons thought it was a necessary item on the non gap bed lathe. Especially if accountants had a say in the matter!

Mike

Andrew has prempted me regarding the use of the mounting pads.

As for the oil sight glass I don't think it is possible to clean it. They are made of plastic and the oil ends up permanently staining and deteriorating the plastic. Mine is almost totally opaque. Impossible to use it to check oil level.
Not using the lathe as hard as industry, I haven't lost any noticable amounts of oil over the years. I occasionally lift the top off the headstock to check.
I doubt very much if replacements are available, would be interested to know if they are.

Mike

With out wishing to side track the thread.

Your pictures high light something I have never noticed before.
I was going to offer up a solution I used on my M300 gap bed.
But looking at your pictures I am surprised to see that Harrisons seem to have used totally different casting designs for the non gap bed and the gap bed.
The manual whilst showing the two beds do not show the differences in design.
Your non gap bed (correct me if I am wrong) appears to have swarf clearance through apertures in the rear wall of the bed.
My gap bed just has vertical clearance holes through the bed and a plain back wall with mounting facilities for accessories.

The question I would like to ask, is do you have on the back wall of your bed a plain area with tapped holes for mounting accessories?

Mike

I always used to scrounge the tins and still use them 40 years on.

At the same time discovered they fitted perfectly into an internal mail letter rack that was being thrown out. So cut down the letter rack to fit my bench. Very handy for those small items.

Rod

Thanks for link.

Mike

Without wishing to side track the thread.
Can any one recommend a decent oil gun to use with these push button oilers I have a Myford gun and a Harrison gun for respective lathes. They both leak like sieves and in use there is oil everywhere but you are never really sure how much has got past the ball to where it is needed.
Any body found an oil gun that appears to work satisfactorily?

I have to agree with the comment about the Chronos "T" shaped parting off blade.
It is now my parting off tool of choice.

The Eclipse blades are a pain. Because you have to grind in a rake it means you are limited to depth of cut before they jam and if you resharpen you then have to reset the height etc.
Inserted tips are good but I have found if I do have a jam it not only takes out the tip but often slightly damages the the tip holding part of the blade as well, so they don't hold a replacement tip so tightly which means you end up with another jam!
For what they are, replacement tip holding blades seem to be disproportionately expensive..

The Chronos "T" shaped blades are extremely rigid. Ensuring they are set square and at centre height and I have parted off 60mm diameter stock like a knife through butter. Just touch up the front face with a diamond hone to resharpen and the contoured top surface just curls the swarf clear.
(No connection with the company other than a very satisfied customer!)
(Anybody want to buy some surplus Eclipse blades?)

Both my belt sanders are older and British. Both have crowned pulleys and tracking.
Set up the tracking on a new belt and when I do some hard sanding and drag the belt to one side, release the pressure and it re-centres.

Maybe I am not keeping abreast with modern engineering practice.

If you look at any belt sander / linisher you will see a crowned pulley. It can give you an idea of scale and shape.