Search Results for 'arc euro'

[Keith Wardill 1Participant @keithwardill1]

This is a 'long shot' – when I first got my minilathe (too long ago!), i had similar problems, with poor finishes on almost everything I tried. AFter many trials and tribulations (including all the suggestions here), I changed the bearings in the headstock for taper rollers (supplied by Arc Euro) – the differnece was unbelieveable – no chatter or odd noises, and the finish was vastly improved.

I know this sounds drastic, but may be worth considering – I nearly dumped the lathe until I did this.

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

I take issue with your claim that it has a limited speed range

No VFD on the ex-work one, but IIRC it only had 8 speeds & wide variations between them ? I no longer have access to the machine (so cannot check to be certain) but I do recall having to run faster or slower that I wanted to on occasions. (A quick Googling says 12 speeds, 40-2500 rpm, but “our” machine has been modified by it’s original model engineer owner to run more slowly. 28 – 1750 rings a bell but, as above, I can no longer check for certain). So maybe my original comment was not altogether warranted.

Price drops on Chinese imports of this size used ? Seem to hold up pretty well on Ebay – probably helped by the quite large price increases on the new ones in recent years. A Warco BH600 has gone on today – will be interesting to see how it goes !

The difficulty with used European machines is getting a decent one (i.e. one not flogged to death in industry) for reasonable money.

[David LittlewoodParticipant @davidlittlewood51847]

Nigel,

 

You have a point about the feel of the M300 – indeed I made a similar reference above – but I take issue with your claim that it has a limited speed range. Mine – and I assume they are all the same – has marked speeds on the speed selector of 40 – 2500 rpm; with the VFD, the lowest setting gives about a 4 rpm speed, and since VFDs typically give a 10 -20% increase at their maximum it probably goes up to 2750 – 3000 rpm, at which point it gets quite scary and you have to check the maximum permitted speed for your chucks. What more do you want?

 

I did seriously consider getting a Warco geared head machine of about the same paper spec and price, and I’m still not sure why I went the way I did. One factor (not too important to me, might be to my heirs) is that a Warco 6.5″ lathe will lose over half its value the moment you buy it; a good second hand European lathe of the period when lathes were actually made here will have done all its depreciation and should still be worth a large fraction of what you paid for it.

 

David

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

A Clarke CL300 is a SIEG C2 mini-lathe. You may wish to consider downloading this prep.guide which is for a C3, which is a slightly bigger version of a C2. Many bits on the C3 are same as on the C2, except, motor, control board, rev counter, distance between centres and weight.

 

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/projects/prepguides/C3%20Mini-Lathe%20Preparation%20Guide.pdf

 

Ketan at ARC.

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Visitors to the various Model Engineering Shows are used to seeing us at the Harrogate Show in May and The Midlands Show in October.

This year we have decided to attend the show at Harrogate with a selection of machines only. We will not be selling any small tooling products at the show over the counter.
We will also not be providing a prepaid collection service as we did in the past.
We will only be taking orders for the machines for collection from our warehouse or for delivery after the show from our warehouse, based on availability.

While we are at the Harrogate Show, our business will also be operating normally, taking orders over our website, by telephone, and over the counter.

Unfortunately, we will not be attending the Midlands Show in October or any other shows this year.

We are taking this decision to be more cost efficient, and to try and deliver better value to our customers.

I have discussed this with David Clark and he has suggested that I explain my reasons in a little more detail, so here goes:

As some of you may be aware, our stock is connected in real time to our website. To maintain stock accuracy, we have to close our website during show times.
Last year, we found that we had to close our website for longer periods in preparation for, during and after the shows, so that we could always assure our customers of correct availability,
after the shows.

As our business grows and our product range increases, we would have to close our business down for even longer periods during show times, which in-turn would affect our overall sales.
Added to this, product costs have increased due to supplier labour costs, material costs and exchange rates.
At the same time, competition has increased with more traders chasing the same sales for smaller margins.

Therefore, to maintain stable growth, it is no longer cost effective for us to shut down for long periods during show times.

If anyone here belongs to a club and/or knows anyone who is visiting these shows, I will be grateful if you can pass on this message.

Everyone is welcome to visit and buy from us over the counter at our warehouse in Leicester, or via telephone, or via our website.

I apologise on behalf of everyone at Arc Euro Trade Ltd. for any inconvenience this may cause.

Ketan at ARC.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

I wanted to by some of these scales and rang ArcEuro as the website showed them as out of stock. They told me that they expect to have them again in March.

 

I bought two off eBay which arrived yesterday. Easy to fit, I put them on my Emco mill in a couple of hours although I still have to put some form of covers over them to keep swarf out.

 

You need to be realistic with your expectations of accuracy. They are based on the same technology as used in the ubiquitous Chinese calipers (which I find perform better than their published specs) but these igaging scales are aimed at woodworking machinery which is why the ‘seals’ are only intended to keep out dust.

 

I have only done a very rough and ready check on the X axis scale and compared the digital value with the handwheel graduations. I got no discernible error over short distances but over the total travel of the table (400mm) there is a 0.4mm difference! Until I investigate further I don’t know the cause so it might even be the leadscrew.

 

 

Ian P

 

 

 

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

David have a look at Arc Euro Trade (Usual Disclaimer) I have seen their advert somewhere. I bought one of their dianond wheels and it grinds well

Rdgs

Dick

Edited By Richard Parsons on 02/02/2012 13:51:53

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Hi Rob

I’m a bit concerned about the ” bit of a wobble” on the chuck of your Fobco star – try a piece of (say) 1/4 in silver steel in the chuck – is this wobbling? If so are you able to measure how much wobble and discover why? As far as sensitive drilling goes (and if the silver steel is not wobbling) you might like to invest in one of these along with a suitable chuck That way you lock the quill of your Fobco and use fingertip pressure on the micro drill adapter so you will be able to ” feel it in”

 

Regards

 

Norman

 

 

[JohnFParticipant @johnf59703]

Rob, seems to me that your pillar drill is maybe to large and thus not sesitive enough for small drills? What type and size is it?

 

The Eclipse pin chucks I have found are not very accurate I would look for something better quality e.g. Albrecht or simmilar, I did buy a small Jacobs style chuck from Arc Euro and for the price very acceptable.

 

A smaller drill press might be best but an alternative would be a sensitive drilling attachment to use in you existing machine but be aware that you need much higher speeds for small drills.

 

Regards John

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Graham,

Can’t place what you are talking about but I understand the principle.

 

Arc carries these digital ‘dials’

 

But they need to operate on a 20 tpi screw or be geared to represent a 20 tpi screw for the encoder to count correctly.

 

At 20 tpi they are direct reading or with 10 tpi they give half / radius reading.

 

HTH.

 

John S.

 

PS. BTW they fit straight onto a Taig mill as they are on 1/2″ x 20 UNF screws.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Graham

 

Unless I have completely misunderstood your requirement what you are requesting/suggesting would be almost as complicated/expensive as a DRO with scales but have none of the advantages.

 

It would be fairly simple to fit a rotary encoder connected to a digital up/down counter to the leadscrews but it would need an encoder disk with at least twice as many increments as the standard dial just to get the same resolution. By the time backlash has been taken into account what you would end up with would not be very accurate.

 

I doubt you have zero electronic skills! but none would be needed anyway to fit a ready made DRO system. There are some simple ones these days and if you are happy with totally separate displays for each axis why not consider fitting the ‘igaging’ scales (Arc Euro have them). From the description they would need some extra encasing to stop swarf getting in, but for their accuracy they are very cheap, its similar to the very common Chinese calipers so not what you would call traceable standards but they are reasonably repeatable so fine for ME use rather than commercial production.

 

Ian P

 

 

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

The Arc Euro Trade article is very good, but I would take issue with their use of a copper-based grease as a form of lubricant.

 

This type of grease is actually an anti-seize compound and is more suited for use in hostile conditions where corrosion is likely to make subsequent dismantling difficult – it doesn’t have very good lubricating properties and I’d suggest a spot of oil or general pupose grease is used in its place on that machine.

 

 

Martin.

Edited By blowlamp on 25/01/2012 09:59:51

[WolfieParticipant @wolfie]

I cleaned mine out with some petrol on a rag. I did see a pdf on setting up a mill somewhere when I was researching mine. Could have been on ARC website.

 

Yeah here it is   http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/projects.aspx

about half way down is an article on setting up an X3, I would think the principles are the same.

Edited By Wolfie on 25/01/2012 09:05:18

[Peter2uatParticipant @peter2uat]

I have the same problem, trying to make them at Hobbystore understand, that we european customers might have a suscription with our supplier, but not with Hobbystore. So our subscription number is not registered with Hobbystore, and we therefore need a special solution to this problem.

 

The digital archive is free to all subscribers, at least that is what the information in the magazine says, and that is exactly what the editor wrote in his column too.

 

Three emails to Hobbystore and no positive reply yet, my last mail I sent a week ago.

only slightly annoyed?

[Michael HornerParticipant @michaelhorner54327]

Hi Ray

 

Too old to learn G-code! There’s a guy built a model deltec diesel engine with the help of CNC from what I can remember he didn’t take up CNC until after he retired. In his biograpghy he mused that he was to old but had a play, found out he could do it and the rest is history.

I’ve taught my self G-code, I’m not an expert but get it to do what I want JS did a posting with some G-code this was added to my knowledge and now has added some flexibility to my code.

 

My method of learning is to create desire, I am building the Whittle V8. For me to produce 8 of everything would drive me nuts, so for me CNC is the answer.

 

If you can produce a drawing in cad save it into a dxf format you can then open it in cut2d

save this to mach3 it’s then ready to mill. JS has mentioned this in a recent post where he was doing a demonstration at arceuro.

 

Hope this helps

Cheers Mike.

[David LittlewoodParticipant @davidlittlewood51847]

Bill,

 

I also have had an FB2 for many years. It has proved an excellent buy; fine for light and medium milling, not quite rigid enough for really heavy work, but this is not a problem for amateur work as there is nothing you cannot do in stages. It also makes an excellent precision drilling machine. The only problem I have had is that several of the plastic cable glands have broken, but I have not seen the need to replace them yet.

 

I have the genuine Emco ER25/2MT collet holder and it is excellent quality, though rather expensive and probably hard to find now. I think many of the sets available today will serve well if you go to a reputable supplier; I suggest you look at this set, I’ve been happy with the quality of tooling from this suplier.

 

Like Steamdave above my quill leaks oil slowly; it’s not a problem, I only need to top up the oil every 2-3 years. His suggestion about making the drawbar is spot on; I had a solid M10 Emco one supplied with the machine, but had to make a 3/8″ BSW one for some other tooling in exactly the way he described. It has worked fine for 25 years and shown no sign of coming adrift.

 

I have never felt the need for a spindle lock. Despite what the above-quoted website says, the Emco recommended method of removing 2MT tooling works fine and places no stress on the gears. You do need the special forcing nut to do it, but if you didn’t get one with the machine they are easy to make; ask here for details. It helps if you don’t pull the tooling too hard into the taper socket or it gets hard to remove – by whatever method you use.

 

The biggest improvement I made to mine was to fit a 3-axis DRO system (from Machine-DRO). This has transformed the accuracy of the work I can do.

 

David

 

PS – this website must be one of the flakiest I have used. I just typed the above and then it just jumped back to the home page and my words had disappeared; the back button revealed a blank box. Had to type it all out again. This is not the first time it has done this to me (perhaps it’s trying to tell me something!)

 

D

Edited By David Littlewood on 17/01/2012 15:39:21

Edited By David Littlewood on 17/01/2012 15:42:37

Edited By David Littlewood on 17/01/2012 15:43:59

[Mark SalzedoParticipant @marksalzedo65030]

Hello,

 

I am thinking of buying a Chinese Toolco lathe. I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has experience of these lathes. And how do they compare to Warco, Chester or Arc Euro Trade?

 

Many thanks,

Mark

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Harold,

 

I was very pleased to see you had joined this debate and very interested in your posts.

 

However, in spite of what you said re grinding on the corner of the wheel I have a query. A diamond cup and/or saucer wheel such as ArcEuroTrade supply have a wheel width of only 10mm max, and a depth of “grit” of only 3mm.

 

Would you still advocate grinding across the corner of such a wheel, or across the width?

 

ChrisH 

 

Edited By ChrisH on 15/01/2012 20:34:59

Edited By ChrisH on 15/01/2012 20:35:21

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Thanks Clive,

 

I was just contemplating which of several large piles and ciupboards to search in for the manwel too!

 

For anyone else who comes later the manual is at: Old style X2 Manual

 

I understand better now; it’s more like the mini-lathe than I realised! A chance to lube teh gears and see if they really are metal in my machine.

 

Neil

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Arc Euro have under machine spares have exploded diagrams of milling machines in their range.

 

Clive

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Take a look here http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/projects/d_wheels/dwdoc.html

 

 

 

Martin.

[mickParticipant @mick65121]

It’s proberly better to start off with a manual machine to establish a skill base, then if you still want to get envolved with CNC, then get a dedicated machine, so you’ll have a fully manual mill for the all the usual milling, plus a CNC for complicated profiles etc. In my experience a combo machine suffers if the the speed ranges have to be manualy altered at every tool change. Most modern cutting tools ( 2mm to 12mm diameter) will operate at speeds between 4500 and 7000 RPM no manual combo machine will give you this range of speeds.

I’ve got a mill/drill which cost under £500.0 that was five years ago, and its still doing every thing I ask of it. My CNC is a KX1 form Arc euro trade and is a great little machine, which is in virtually every day use. CNC even with conversational programing does take a while to come to grips with and enjoy the full potentional, a working knowledge of G codes and programme construction is usefull, especially when it comes to editing a wizard generated programe.

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Re the comments about diamond cup/saucer grinding wheels. They seem to be a good idea and would like to try one, but first I would like to add my voice to Terry’s query to ask do they last?

 

I ask as looking at a section through the wheel on the Arc Euro Trade website the actual abrasive bit is only 3mm thick. I realise that it would be only used for fine cuts on tool sharpening, but even so, 3mm doesn’t sound much?

 

Anyone out there with knowledge on this?

 

Chris

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Hi Bob,

Try going back to the business that supplies this mill (Arc Euro??) and ask for advice, even if you did not buy new. If its A.E., speak to Ketan. If its Warco, speak to Roger Warren. I have purchased goods from both in the past and found both of them very pleasant to deal with.

Good luck. Regards,

John.