Member postings for John Hinkley

Nice looking handle, Mark. Glad it turned out so well for you.

John

pgk²,

So he did! I missed that on first read. I have no further questions, m'lud. I rest my case and my brain.

John

If I've understood your problem correctly, it could "simply" be that the head has slipped or been bumped out of tram. That would give the effect that you're describing. Have you checked it lately?

John

If it is racking ( rocking? ), why not just move the tool in away from the work on the retract pass? Then check that the lathe is cutting parallel. If it is, make further passes until the required size is acheived and Robert is your mother's brother.

John

I have made a similar keyway slotting tool for mine based on a design by Stefan Gotteswinter. (This is beginning to sound like hero-worship!) It's like Rod's, utilising a hole in the clapper box drilled by a previous owner, which I tapped and it's dog-point tip locates a hole in the toolholder block. The cutter holder is angled down by 5° :

And, ega, I've had another look at the video. If you slow it down and watch it a couple of frames at a time, you can detect that the tool does tip, albeit only slightly, though I assume that's dependent on the depth of cut. (Watch the securing bolt head as the tool drops off the end of the workpiece on the return stroke.

John

To respond to the above points:

NDIY - I appreciate that the force required will probably preclude the "reverse cut" method. I was merely proposing that as a possible solution. Like I said, my machine is powered so that I don't over-exert my ancient limbs!

roy entwisle - I had to go back and find Stefan's video here to remind myself that I wasn't dreaming it. He appears to be using a modified clapper box so that the tool cuts on the backstroke.  Compare this to his earlier "first cuts" video where the clapper box/tool relationship is conventionally arranged.

ega - see the video referred to above. The modified clapper box would seem to have the tool cutting edge nearly, if not exactly, below the pivot. I agree that the Perfecto would most likely be adversely affected by altering the cutting direction for the reasons you stated.

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 20/06/2020 10:15:11

Edited By John Hinkley on 20/06/2020 10:15:41

Edited By John Hinkley on 20/06/2020 10:16:27

Mark,

That handle is coming on a treat. Glad to have been of help I'm certain you will anyway, but be sure to post a picture of the finished article.

As for the debate around the cutter edge and clapper pivot point, Stefan Gotteswinter on YouTube used to have a shaper which he ran so that the tool cut on the backstroke such that the chips went towards the machine instead of pinging all around the workshop. I forget his reason, maybe it was merely to help to keep the floor clean? Would that satisfy the requirement? On the Perfecto, for reasons stated in one of my earlier posts, it would only require the tool to be reversed in the clapper box. Or have I missed the point?

John

You don't necessarily need a baseboard at all. Harold himself suggests an alternative method of securing the rest on his web site Harold Hall.

I've used the magnetic clamps to good effect myself, so I can recommend this modification from personal experience.

John

Baz,

That made me think! Having thunk, I had to go and check. Mine rotates as you surmised, in a clockwise direction, as viewed from the drive pulley side. Because the ram is directly connected to the rotating gear wheel, there is no slow cut - fast return motion imparted by a "conventional" rocking lever system. It therefore doesn't matter which way it rotates, in effect the only difference will be the direction of the automatic crossfeed will be reversed, catching out the unwary.

John

Martin,

Your latest post crossed with this one.  On my machine, there is no sign of a grub screw to retain the handle, so I assume it merely screws on.

Edited By John Hinkley on 18/06/2020 13:52:25

Dave,

Thanks for the clarification. Obviously my mods are of no use to you, then.

As for the gib adjustment, I just "take out the slack" as it were, until it just "feels" right! Don't suppose that's much help, either! As Martin has pointed out, the Grizzly manuals are available onlline. I have a slightly earlier copy and, interestingly, the page on adjusting the gibs only shows the positions of the adjusters on each axis. Furthermore, it says that there are two adjusters on the knee and saddle (one on either side) and then labels the pictures to include the table. I had to double-check mine and there is only one gib adjuster per axis. I don't think that I've ever read a specification, as such, regarding gib setting but then I'm not a trained engineer. Someone who is or was, or has served an apprenticeship may well be along to correct me.

John

I'm not entirely sure what you want to achieve by removing the fine feed mechanism, but if you just want to be able measure spindle vertical travel, have a look at the way I did it:

If that's the sort of thing you're after, I can add more photos to the album. The project uses the existing mounting holes and allows the retention of the downfeed wheel.

John

There you go, Mark - two better offers! But just in case ega's handle has gone permanent walkabout or you don't fancy a Myford one, I've made a quick sketch of mine. I have had to approximate the radii of the twirly bit as I didn't have an easy way to measure the curvatures, so you can suit the design to your own requirements. I've done the dimensions in decimal inches, too, so that I can use my calipers. (I normally work in metric.) It looks like your graduated dial is thicker than mine (at 0.385inch)  so that might explain the shortened appearance of the attachment thread.

HTH,

John

Smiley removal edit

Edited By John Hinkley on 18/06/2020 09:58:15

Mark,

Mine is a motorised Perfecto but the downfeed arrangement looks the same according to the pictures on this site:

Perfecto shaper stuff

At first glance, it looks like the Rabbi has been at your downfeed screw! I'll have a look and measure up tomorrow morning and let you have some details if you haven't been offered anything else by then.

John

M-Machine for me , too. I have used this eBay seller with good, reliable results at a reasonable price. Delivery is (was) usually next day:

Steel City Gavin

Good selection of regular sizes in varying lengths, or cut to order.

John

I'm lucky enough to have a small engraving machine and I might try putting a milling cutter in the spindle and use one of the original gears as a pattern.  Set the pantograph ratio to 1:1 and off you. It might take a while, depending on the material, but would save a lot of faffing around with CAD and rotary tables. 'Course, you'd need to have access to an engraver, otherwise dig out that rotab!

John

edited for spelling and appalling grammar!

Edited By John Hinkley on 16/06/2020 07:50:44

Carl,

Try Noggin End Metals for a start. I've not used them, myself, but the very name suggests they will fulfil your needs. I seem to remember seeing them at the last Doncaster show, displaying all manner of "useful" bits.

Noggin End link

John

To digress slightly and pick up on the point made by Emgee, above, my mill has an R8 spindle and I normally use an ER25 chuck to hold cutters and drills. I also have an ER32 chuck for the occasional use of larger cutters up to 20mmØ. On the very rare occasions when I've needed extra clearance that the ER25 chuck precludes, I've used an ER11 parallel shank chuck in a10mm R8 collet, held directly in the spindle. Obviously you'd have to use an MT3 collet, but the principle is the same. If you need greater capacity than the ER11 gives, an ER20 will give a little more wriggle room, up to 13mmØ as stated elsewhere. There is the additional minor benefit of an increase in throat height available with this set-up.

John

Peter (Spink),

With apologies for jumping in on this thread, but I've been researching stepper motors for a new project and happened upon such covers on a UK site. Only problem is I didn't save the site and can't for the life of me remember where I saw it! That doesn't help you, I know, but an internet search came up with this site, among others, though it's in the USA, so postage would cost a couple of limbs. The search also produced a diy design on thingiverse.

Nema 23 end cover

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 06/06/2020 20:05:32

Just to round off my earlier posts re. balancing grinding wheels, I found some steel strip from machine delivery lurking in an old box of bits and used a couple of lengths of that, clamped to the original jig with offcuts of aluminium as shown. There is sufficient wriggle room to level the "blades" on the mill table to give an acceptable result:

If I find it necessary, I will fit a larger base with three levelling screws, but the mill table appears to be satisfactorily level as it is, so far.

Once again, thanks to the many respondents who pitched in with ideas and suggestions.

John

Looks like a Fobco Seven Eight pillar drill to me. See here:

Link

.... About half way down the page.

John