Member postings for Robert Dodds

Hi CT,

Looking at the instructions with the kit contents in your LINK I think you will require two more of the vertical strips if you are going to fit out to two windows. My guess is they make contact with only two of the three strips at each end.
I note one spade connector is up and on the other side is pointing down so you end up with three lengths of triple wire tape forming the circuit.

I guess you should see if Holden will supply you with two extra vertical strips to let you use your spare element strip on a second window and then wire the two assemblies in series to avoid the chances of overheating.

HTH
Bob D

Redex used to market these for checking compression through the spark plug hole. Most useful on multi cylinder engines to check for burnt valves or broken rings.

Bob D

Jim
Are you aware of the detail on Grayson (and many other) lathes on archive website
http://www.lathes.co.uk/grayson/index.html
It also points you in the direction of a book, The Amateur's Lathe, avidly read by many.

Bob D

Plasma,
I don't dispute your Blackbird story but how do you decide whats leaked away and whats burnt when you're doing Mach 2?.

Pattern makers still have separate rulers with allowances to suit the metal being cast. Chesterman Rabone offer a set of 4, one standard and three to suit Iron, steel and brass. (aluminium alloy is generally the same as brass). Trouble is there are far fewer local foundries than in our forefather's days so you don't see many of them nowadays. You got to go East to find them today.

Mike,
Not only temperature has a potential impact on machines. My head scratcher was a multi head driller that misaligned with the seasons and that arose from the building having been built with one corner on a wet clay bed that expanded in the wet winter months and induced a twist into the suspended first floor where the machine was sited and then shrank through the summer months. Pneumatic isolation mounts with just three reference points sorted it out but the machine did lean a bit in the winter!!
But the holes were in the right place.

As a lifelong cackhander I reckon the standard lathe was designed for us. Your body is naturally further away from the chuck and it's even better if the saddle wheel is to the right of the cross slide.
Best of all is when a lefty does any hand tool work, the left hand is tucked back and the right hand goes over the tailstock whereas the right hander has a left arm very near the chuck. Not discussing the pro and cons of Chuck guards at this point.

Regards Bob D

AJW,
Don't know the detail of your doors but I would be looking at the lengths of toothed rack as used to motor gates open and closed. A metre length for under £20 and a bit cut off could be used to slide in and out of mesh to either lock or release the doors.
Regards

Bob D

Alistair,

There are plenty of sources for TCMT 1603-04 but they are Tungsten Carbide not High Speed Steel. Are you sure about the HSS bit?
Google throws up hobby supplies with a range of prices. See what you think.

Bob D

Robert,
Pure guesswork, but have you got any photos that you could compare this machine to the pictures of lathes.co.uk who show details of an "Early 13" Harrison lathe" which just happens to list in the text 40" between centres so giving you the 1340 number.
worth a punt

Bob D

Swarf,

I think you've "nailed it" The top bit does look remarkably like a wood screw thread.

Regards Bob D

Trying to tidy up and checking the contents of long forgotten boxes of assorted screws I spotted half a dozen of these today.



They are in steel, either 3/16 BSF or 2 BA with a Phillips type head but what is the purpose of the L.H. threaded portion just under the head?

Regards Bob D

The fight for recognition was lost when the English spelling adopted Engineer as opposed to Ingenieur. The continentals associate it with ingenuity whilst the English more often think of blue coated mechanics and the Americans drive locomotives. C'est la vie!

Bob D

Peak4 wrote

After reading your comment, I just cheated and went to Grotto's album, called "Brake", so I guess a 6" long plate with a 60º included angle along one edge to form the blade for a sheet metal bending tool.
I was actually thinking about making one yesterday, hence I'd already pondered on a workholding method, then subsequently read the thread about 13 useful items for the workshop.

The light really shone bright when you down load the whole set of vice brake drawings that Michael Gilligan provided the link to.
Grotto,
Are you going to split the 6" length into 3 pieces as per Jonathan Maes design? Having them split and moveable will, I think, make the brake more flexible to use.

Bob D

Ashley,
This topic came up in 2014 and I copy a part of the thread with my photo of the modified arbor and drill chuck.
The thread was entitled "0MT drill chuck" under Workshop tools and tooling but I don't seem able to reference it directly for you.
Hope this helps

Bob D

Extract from 18/12/2014 thread, 0MT drill chuck

A photo of my turned down, cut down RDG arbor ready to fit to the chuck
The as turned taper needed a bit of lapping paste and polishing up to get it to grip reasonably in the tailstock socket
Note the flats on the 15mm shoulder dia. to allow a13mm spanner to tighten/undo the arbor from the drill chuck

Bob D

Edited By Robert Dodds on 18/12/2014 19:39:23

Thats very good..Wish my little lathe did tapers!I was wondering about cutting the top off, leaving the narrow part the right lenght then welding a little blank on and use a die for the thread..Then I realised I need a straight shank with a 0mt to get it in the lathe chuck to turn it .I m on the trail of a short one..

U J,
I'm not clear what stage you're at. Does your little lathe let the small end of an M0 into it's sockets or are you, like me, unable to even start the standard M0 into the hole. Neil called the Adept a M00 and thats not a bad definition.
If Adept is what you've got then taper turning is probably involved but if you can get an M0 stubby into the headstock spindle taper you can proceed from there. cut off the excess leaving enough to turn a screwed spigot, say M4 or M5 on the end.
Now make a screwed bush out of say 15mm dia bar, matching your M4/M5 and rough turn to size for your drill chuck. To get best concentricity mount the part finished bush on the stubby arbor, put it back in your headstock spindle and turn the remaining dias true. Die the thread for your chuck, assemble it and go drill some holes.
I would not do any welding, too many stresses and distorsion. All normal cutting tends to tighten the threads up so there is little chance of things coming loose unexpectedly.
If you are stuck wiith lathe that has no facility for offsetting the tailstock, like the Adept, and want to do a slow taper there are simple attachments to put an adjustable centre on the tailstock barrel. these often use the MT hole but can also mount straight onto the outside diameter of the barrel. Making from scratch can be a bit involved but simpler designs should be possible with little more than a lathe with chuck and a pillar drill.
The frustrating part is setting it up to accurately match an existing, M00 say, taper

Bob D

The cross hole that is mentioned is, for me, quite important. Stick a tommy bar through it and it makes it easy to extract chucks, centres etc. from the tailstock. As you wind back the barrel the bar strikes against the nose of the tailstock and out pops the chuck, centre, why.

Regards Bob D

Its worthwhile checking the door construction.
Mine has a channel section all round the door edge and at the bottom it fills with wind blown rain which then overflows from the channel and spills over inside the garage. Not easy to cure!
I tried drain holes in the bottom channel but these gather debris and are high maintenance.

Bob D

Simon,

The pity is your plug will cost more than the furnace!
But C'est la vie.

Bob D

Simon,
Is this assortment of any use. I can't find dimensions on the site but could be worth a call or email to check dimensions.

https://www.pmseurope.com/collections/electrical-plugs

Bob D

The thing that will really test you bearings (and lathe as well), seeing that its an independent 4 jaw, is mounting a relatively heavy job off centre to the chuck and then running at too high a speed. Your centrifugal forces far exceed the static loading!

Bob D

Can anyone shed light on a process I vaguely recall for crack testing Brass Cartridge cases. Cases were either dipped or rubbed over with "snake oil " that turned them silver except where there was a crack ( from the deep drawing process) that appeared as an uncoated line. Rejected of course!

I seem to remember that mercury was involved so the whole process will be considered "iffy" today.

Bob D

Georgineer,

I'm sure you are right. Choose your style from any of dozens of online sites.One site refers to it as a Repro!

Bob D