Hi Rik,

you have used the available space very well. I am sure you will enjoy youre nbew machinery. My slightly bigger lathe makes quite a bit of noise when running.

Thor

Hi James,

i don't have the 3 version, but an older one. On this the total length of the column is nearly 300mm.

It seems that you can buy the mill/drill attachment from Pro Machine Tools if you want a new one.

Thor

Hi Ed,

first time I have heard that the gear change knob has jumped out of position. On my slightly large milling machine there is a spring loaded ball that holds the knob in Hi or Lo position. Never experienced any movement of that knob on my machine. Your sound proofing sounds interesting.

Thor

Hi Brian,

sorry I forgot to link to the plan, glad Andy solved that. Here's another plan for another tube bender. Roy, if you can get Woods metal that works well for filling the tubes before bending.

Thor

Hi Mike,

If you want to buy one may be this will be OK? You can of course build your own tube bender. You may have to fill the tubes with salt or something before bending. This will reduce the chance of the pipe collapsing when bending. Place the tube in water after bending to dissolve the salt.

Thor

Hi Ed,

I too have used varifocals for over a decade. As Sid and Andy says, it takes some time to get used to them. For most of my work I use my varifocal glasses, sometimes for small work a magnifying lamp in addition since I also need more light. I guess that's getting old.

Thor

Hi Mike,

I too have tried to turn and drill rubber (hard kind), and as Gray says, use sharp tools. Haven't tried freezing, must try that next time.

Thor

Hi Baldric,

if you have a chuck or 4-jaw turning a soft centre is no problem, mild steel (like EN 3) should do the job when skimmed before use.

Thor

Hi Alan,

if your headstock bearings is lubricated with oil, a socalled "hydraulic oil" with an ISO VG of 32 could be used (Shell Tellus, Esso Nuto etc.). I assume you use a "slideway oil" like Shell Tonna (ISO VG 68) on the ways?

Regards

Thor

Hi Steve,

to upload photos to this site you click "My photos" in the My account window. Then click "Create a Photo Album", give the album a name and the click Add Photo.

Regards

Thor

Edited By Thor on 07/06/2013 18:19:22

Hi Neil,

Your VFD project sounds interesting, I have a lathe that I plan to put a 3-phase motor and inverter on. I am looking forward to hear about your rebuild.

Thor

Hi Anthony,

I have made extra change gears (module 1) for my Emco lathe. I used homemade cutters and a homemade dividing head. The process isn't difficult. Ivan Law's book: Gears and Gear Cutting explains both the theory behind gears and how to make gear cutters and gears.

Thor

Edited By Thor on 04/06/2013 14:03:33

Hi Rik, congratulations with your new WM 16. Sorry to hear about your troubles getting it to run. The micro switch in the chuck guard gave me trouble to, had to open it up and adjust it to work correctly.

Thor

Hi Frank,

when your membership in the Colchester Yahoo group is approved there is a manual for Colchester Student (from 1967) in the Files section. This is probably for an older model than yours.

You should be able to buy one from lathes.co.

Thor

Hi Frank,

have you tried asking the ColchesterLathe-User group on Yahoo? They may be able to help you.

Regards

Thor

Tony, if you add sodium carbonate gradually to the residue until it stops fizzing it should be a neutral or slightly alkaline salt solution that you can dispose of in the drain. And as you say, 10L is a small amount and when diluted poses no problem.

Thor

Thanks for a handy tip John, where I live hot rolled steel (similar to your A36?) is readily available and I use it fairly often. I suppose you use rubber gloves and eye protection when handling HCl.

Thor

Hi Chris,

the tool rest doesn't look quick and dirty to me. Seems to be adjustable in all needed ways? Nice work.

Paul, thew handles you suggests are exactly what I used on mine, they work very well.

Thor

Hi Mike,

not sure if you can download digital issues directly, but in the Magazine viewer there is a "Print this page" option at the top. If you have installed a "PDF printer" on your computer you can print a page to PDF that is stored on your computer. You will get separate PDF files for each page.

Thor

Geir, I think a 6" RT should fit well on a HBM BF25, I have the same milling machine and a 4" RT that I think is on the small side. So I am trying to make a slightly larger rotary table - 120mm(almost 5" - after a description found here.

Thor