Member postings for Chris Gunn

Thanks JAS for showing practically that a hexagon can be held in the 4 jaw self centering chuck, that will save some time in the future. As said before I used it a lot building my 4CD for all the clevises and rod ends from square stock, and am using it quite often right now on the 6" Ruston proctor I am finishing for the same purposes. Once one has such a chuck plenty of items are easier to make from square stock rather than round, but it depends what your interest is.

Chris Gunn

MIchael, I read it, but not 100% convinced by the drawing. I will have a go when I get a minute and report back.

Chris Gunn

I have one and find it handy making clevises and so on, it will grip round of course, but not hexagon. A lot will depend on what you make, if you work with square a lot, then it will save loads of time faffing about with an independent jaw chuck. I often use mine to make rod ends that need to be rectangular in section, I do all the turning and cross drillin and so on, then mill the square to a rectangle.

Chris Gunn

Richard, as a Bantam user for 30 years or so, I would concur with Mike Poole. Try and sort out the red lever, if the lathe fell on its face the chances are you bent something. The lever on mine is quite slick in operation. When you get used to it, the red reversing lever is in exactly the right place for handy operation when tapping something, and you need to reverse swiftly. I would not want to reach up or over the lathe to reverse it in a hurry when tapping for example.

Chris Gunn

Chris, in my working life I used "Halfen" steel channel, this is about 50mm wide, 30mm high and will take tee nuts up to 12mm thread. this is much stronger than the rolled steel channels. I believe other sizes are available.

Chris Gunn

Plus one for the NFU, my local office is very helpful, I made a list of all my stuff, and my estimate of what it would cost to replace, it is surprising how it adds up. Don't forget your completed and part completed models, they add up as well. Preparing a list and giving the insurance a copy before you sign up is a great help if you need to make a claim. The price comparison sites do not cater for folks like us.

Chris Gunn

Choo Choo, you can make one from a countersink and a flle handle, or fit a countersink in a tap wrench, I like the Noga style of de-burrer, readily available and it can do big holes as well as small ones.

Chris Gunn

Matt, if you do not have any Loctite an interference fit is free!!!

I always fit my bushes this way, just polish one end a tad so it will start, squeeze it in and pop the reamer through afterwards.

Chris Gunn

Andy, full size fabricators use a linisher with a long belt, and a roller at the business end which will give the right radius when the tube is radiused. the tube is presented to the roller at the appropriate angle to give a right angle or any other joint angle by an adjustable tube rest. I wonder if you could make a small version using the 1/2" wide linishing bands that are used on the power files. These can be bought at Screwfix and Toolstation, (belts or files) my power file has a roller about 1/2 " diameter at the end, too big for what you want. It would all depend on how small a roller the belt would go round.

Chris Gunn

Colin, I use square plastic drain pipe to store much of my stock. Being square, one can fill any gap under the bench or by the side of a bench, with pieces of pipe, laid down horizontally, and it can be stacked vertically or horizontally, and no space is wasted. I also mark the ends of the bar with a white correction pen which stands out very well.

Chris Gunn

Bill, thanks for the info on the feed motors. I will pick them up on Sunday so I can have a look at what exactly is fitted to this machine, as I think it has been modified at some point.

Chris Gunn

Bill thanks a lot for the Centec manual link, I have just acquired 2 machines, 1 is a 2A horizontal, the other is a 2B with a vertical head and power feed, all on the big base with drip tray. I will have to see what they are like and decide which one to keep. They are both 3ph, 380v so I will need to change the motors. Would you happen to know if the power feed motor is a standard frame size?

Chris Gunn

Kettrinboy, that takes me back, I did my apprentiship at Timsons as well, but I was long gone by 1985.

Chris Gunn, another Kettrinboy

John, a source of fans with metal impellers are those used on central heating boilers.

Chris Gunn

I remember reading in some old issues of the ME magazine that Model engineers were recruited to make parts of shell fuses during WW1.

Chris Gunn

Not only do I clean the burrs off, I use a white correcting pen marker and mark the ends with the size so I can find the right size easy next time.

Chris Gunn

Roger, as the components are made of brass and you want a shallow fine thread why not use BSB threads, 26tpi, designed years ago for this sort of job. this is close to your 24tpi, and you can get taps and dies cheaply in 1/16" diameter increments. Just the job for lubricators which is what it seems like you are making.

Chris Gunn

Brian, why buy a foot when you can buy an inch from several of "our" suppliers? Much less hassle too.

Chris Gunn

Robin, I would make the links and drill/ream the holes for the bearings, just put the end of the reamer through so the hole is tight. then make a pin to fit the holes, assemble it all with the pin in place, weld, remove the pin, fettle the welds, then run the reamer through both holes to size, and the job is done.

Chris Gunn

I meant axial.

Chris