Member postings for John Hinkley

Welcome, Paul,

If the first couple of lathes shown on lathes.co.uk are anything to go by, you've got a nice bit of kit there. How fortunate, too, to have three-phase available in your workshop. I can't help with your firework display, but, with more information and a photo or two, there are a lot of forum members au fait with all things electrickery who will be able to sort you out, I'm sure.

John

Google comes up with an advertisement for one which states that it is 4ft tall, 42inches long and 18inches front to back. Sadly no info on weight, just that it is very heavy and to bring help for transportation. I'd hazard a guess at around 150kg all up.

John

A search on YouTube turned this one up:

Repton radius turner set up and use

I haven't watched it myself as I have a home brew version. I have to say, the comments don't inspire confidence!

John

Bob,

You might get an idea or two from the articles in ME nos. 2963, 2965, 2967. According to the Perfecto shaper site, they describe motorising a Perfecto shaper, similar in design and layout to the Cowells/Adept ranges. The first article (only) is referenced here - under CONTENTS (2) . The rest of the site is quite interesting - if you have a penchant for hand operated shapers with a smattering of powered ones too. I offered some photos of my Perfecto to the site owner, but I never heard back from him.

John

I am a print and digital subscriber, but to MEW only and find that the digital version is consistently 6-7 days in advance of the print publishing date. To be fair, when I took out my subscription, one of the selling points was the fact that it gave you access to the magazine earlier than if bought at a newsagent. Pocketmags, in my experience often beat the access via this forum, but not by much.

John

Grumpy has my sympathy ...........

John

I'm not entirely sure if I understand the problem, but my initial thought was whether it would be possible to mount the ball turner on an angle plate or vertical slide and operate it that way at 90 deg to its intended orientation ? Can you post a link to the ball turner that you purchased?

John

That's very reassuring, Bernard. Thanks.

John

Not just today, but most of the weekend, I have been drawing up a design for a copy/taper-turning attachment for my lathe. Access to the rear of the lathe is restricted, so I wanted to be able to clamp it to the bed. See below:

The topslide is replaced by the replacement slide, which carries a stylus at the business end and is held in contact with the pattern by a couple of springs (not shown in the mock-up). The supports are clamped to the lathe bed , the left hand one being fixed near the headstock and the right hand one is free to slide on a steady bar until the pattern is in place, when it's also clamped to the bed. The pattern is made from flat material and is held in place by two thumbscrews. A couple of pointed hex socket grub screws prevent rotation of the pattern. The stylus rides on the pattern along its centreline.

I intend making a mock-up from MDF (because I've got quite a bit), before committing it to metal and I want to play a bit more with my cnc router.

Right angle corners will present a problem, I realise, should I encounter them, but careful use of the clasp nuts may help there.

The replacement slide takes the existing QCTP and is sized to ensure the the cutting tool will be on the lathe centreline.

If nothing else, it's kept my occupied for a while and will continue so to do, I expect.

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 10/10/2021 17:29:37

When I won a Shapeoko 3D router, I found myself in the position of not knowing anything about cnc except for the very basic principles. I was reasonably competent at producing "models" in Alibre Atom and used that experience to generate gcode for use with the Shapeoko. I downloaded Fusion 360 for free and although it meant learning a bit of Fusion 360, I became au fait with a lot of cnc terms - like adaptive clearing, 2D contours and suchlike. At least you could have a dabble for little or no outlay and "see" on screen how you would produce a particular part, using the simulate function in Fusion manufacture. The last thing I would do is go out and buy a machine to practice on - if that is what you are suggesting. Sounds a tad expensive to me. I made a short series of videos on my progress and lack of it on YouTube, starting here:

Andrew,

As I said in my reply, I'm not familiar with your mill, but now we know that the leadscrew has such a fine pitch, that would correspond to the perceived backlash. I was erroneously assuming the the screw was of the order of 2 or 3mm thread pitch.

I can only apologise for the divergence my comments on the forum software have brought. I hope you get some positive input to help you solve the problem, but in the meantime, your shimming seems to have provided a solution, albeit a temporary one.

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 01/10/2021 21:21:22

Andrew,

There's got to be more to your problem than 0.6mm end float in the nut to account for a whole turn of the wheel to take up the backlash. I would be looking at least a combination of worn leadscrew/nut combo and/or leadscrew axial location. I'm unfamiliar with your particular mill, but that much backlash should have a glaringly obvious solution, somewhere, if only one knows where to look.

As for the forum software - there was a rumour some months ago that it was going to be changed - not necessarily better, but different - to bring it into alignment with other forums in the MyTimeMedia family. The addition of a like button inevitably means a dislike one, too. A whole new can of worms and ample opportunity to sling mud, of which there's been too much of late in my opinion .

Most of us on here are of a mature age, shall we say, and have got used to its foibles and take our photos in landscape mode or manipulate them in photo editing software before uploading to an album to circumvent the rotation issue.

Good luck in your backlash hunt.

John

John,

I think you've answered your own question. I have used the cross-drill and nylon (strimmer cord) method a number of times with success. Just so long as the screw isn't subject to extreme torque, it should do the job satisfactorily.

John

You can lead a horse to water ....................

The use of "MODELENG" as a code is a common practice for businesses. By using different, discrete codes, depending on where they place their advertisements, it allows them to track the effectiveness of their advertising placement.

Ian, I assumed that Bob is based in the USA as he has used their spelling of modeling and not the usual English modelling. His profile suggests otherwise, though, without specifically stating a country of residence.

John

That size of dome lends itself ideally to a radius turning attachment.

John

Of course! I remember, now. Having seen the complexity of the one in the video, I can understand your reticence. Something to ponder in the long dark winter evenings, perhaps?

John

This has just flagged up on my feed from Clickspring. My word, what a fascinating watch and an exquisite result, as always.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yyrILbqgMQ

Well worth the 8 minutes or so watching. Mesmerising.

I seem to recall someone recently asking for help with a straight lining machine, but can't find it, now. Probably a bit overkill for what they were after and what a challenge to design and build. Anyone up for it?

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 21/09/2021 12:16:08

Chris,

I can't help with the Helicoil, which I venture to suggest is your best solution, but once you've decided on a course of action and if you need further assistance, I'm not too far away from you just east of Doncaster. If you require any help, drop me a PM with your contact details and I'm sure we can arrange something.

John

OOH!  Just posted and seen your photo!  Now that HAS been butchered, hasn't it?  I think you'll find that the topslide is cast iron - so difficult to weld.  You might get away with a brazed repair, but it won't be pretty.  If I was you, I'd look around for a replacement in better condition.

Offer still stands, though.

Edited By John Hinkley on 20/09/2021 10:27:36

I have had a Warco CY90 for a number of years and I can honestly say that it's done everything I've asked of it. A few points to note, however. The supplied blade didn't last too long. I replaced it with a bi-metal one from Tuffsaws (Well, two actually for when the first one broke - I'm still waiting for that to happen!) Then I found that its vice is not very good for holding short pieces of material. There are a number of solutions to this common problem. I modified an old drilling machine vice held in the saw vice, like this:

It copes with the bigger stuff as well and saves physical effort enormously. If I remember correctly, this was a chunk of 75mm diameter BMS:

The price has gone up considerably since I bought mine, but I still consider it a worthwhile investment.

John

Just remembered - I had to spend an hour or two, fettling the blade guide bearings etc to get it to cut square.

Edited By John Hinkley on 19/09/2021 17:32:51