Member postings for Thor

Heating and dipping in oil can give a nice black finish. I usually use linseed oil on a small piece of cloth, heat the part and apply the oil until I get the finish I want. In my experience this will give some rust protection, especially if you wipe a bit of oil onto the parts occasionally.

Thor

Steve, it depends on whether the MT1 part is through hardened or just case hardened, may it isn't very hard at all. I have cut a case-hardened shank by using a carbide tool to get through the hard skin before using a hacksaw. It was then possible to drill into the cut end (drill was a bit blunt afterwards). Good luck.

Thor

I use my normal varifocal glasses and a face shield, as Nick says, much cheaper and it protects the hole of my face.

Thor

I haven't compared the internals of 38mm and 26mm spindle bore sizes, but I'm very glad I bought the 290 lathe with 38mm bore since I turn 30mm bars quite often. If there were room in my small workshop for a lathe with 50mm bore I would seriously considered such a lathe.

Thor

I have turned small steam engines, 150mm dia. steel backplates, hard steel bars, light alloy and brass, it works well for the work I do. If you can get an Emco 11 in good condition, buy it.

Thor

Hi Nathan,

I have an older 290 lathe with 38mm spindle bore and MT3 tailstock. It has served me well for 6 years. The EML290 you mention look very similar to mine except for the Camlock spindle nose (and the paintwork of course). A Camlock spindle nose was on my wishlist but I wasn't able to find one where I live.

Thor

I have made a few items in 316 stainless steel and never had any problems using carbide insert tooling. As John says, reduce the speed and make sure you have a sufficient depth of cut and a high enough feed rate. If the tool just rubs the 316 will workharden. I use a plastic bottle to squirt a few drops of thin oil on the cutting area.

Thor

My uncle had one in the sixties but soon replaced it. The Dauphine wasn't the only rear engine car of that time, both VW, Porsche and Fiat had rear engine cars, I remember the beetle could be tricky to drive on icy roads.

Thor

Hi Bill,

I guess it depends on how often (and hard) you intend to run the engine. Bronze is harder and the bearing will last longer. On most of my small engines that I just run for demonstration purposes I just use brass.

Thor

Hi Robin,

Where I live we have had fibre optic internet for many years, price is slightly higher than you pay now for ADSL. I just tried the link Rob provided and got a ping of 2ms and upload and download speeds just over 40Mbps. I can get much higher speeds if I'm willing to pay, but the current speed works well for me.

Thor

On my lathe with a 3mm pitch leadscrew (Trapez form and not Acme I assumed) there is 3mm between each "groove" so I needed a gear with about the same tooth spacing. A very large module 1 gear (i.e. rack) has a tooth spacing of about 3.14mm. I used an ordinary (home made) module 1 gear cutter, and as Michael Gilligan says: "anything that meshes without jamming would suffice". So you could buy one cheap 30T gear in module 2 and try.

There was a discussion on Practical Machinist here, about thread dial indicators on metric lathes. Scroll down a bit and read Clive603 post 07:07AM From this it seems at least some Harrison lathes uses a 30T gear on the thread indicator.

Thor.

Edited By Thor on 23/07/2019 10:22:05

Hi Michael Cross,

On my lathe (a bit maller than yours) with a 3mm pitch leadscrew I made a 28T module 1 gear from a piece of Delrin for the threading dial, I assume that on your lathe it should be possible to use a module 2 gear. I know the tooth spacing might be a bit on the large side.

Thor

Hi Jim,

I have one for 2mm inserts and one for 3mm, they work well.

Thor

Hi Jed,

I have a 30mm diameter Glanze with 3 inserts and it works well on my milling machine that is slightly smaller than your SX3. I also have a 63mm facemill and both facemills work OK on my milling machine, depth of cut is of course limited when using the largest so your SX3 should not have any problems with a 50mm facemill. Just remember to use quality inserts.

Thor

Hi Ron,

The files section of the 920Lathe is here, the file might be ABetterCompound.pdf.

Thor

Hi Brian,

Steve's mod was one of those who inspired me to make the longer travel topslide. I have added two photos that I hope may explain how I made it. The arrows in the two photos point to the same countersunk hole/screw, No.1 is the base with a recess on the underside, 1b is a ring that fits inside the recess, 2 is the bottom of the topslide and 3 is the top. The two M6 countersunk screws fits into threaded holes in 1b.

Thor

Edited By Thor on 19/07/2019 08:04:24

This is the version I use on my small lathe, has worked very well for many years.

Thor

The mandrel I made has a taper not far from what you find on Morse tapers and the sleeve will hold even if the nut isn't used. I use a brass drift to knock the sleeve off. I have used the sleeve to finish turn gear wheels and pulleys so I need a good grip.

Thor

Hi Pierre,

Could this link be of any help?

Thor

Some of the HSS cutters I have are Dormer, they work very well but are expensive. I have also bought HSS cutters from Tracy Tools and ArcEurotrade and they have worked OK for me. I also have cheap cutters that I regrind and use for roughing.

Thor