Search Results for 'arc euro'

[Chris VParticipant @chrisv]

Thank you Howard.

Next to my lack of knowledge is lack of time, so telling me exactly what gears I need for a slow feed is great. So far my power feed is not in action but I will look at what changewheels I have. I was kind of hoping to find some period wheels without the keyway but then was put off as had read DP & angles are not all the same. I'm not pretending to know exactly what that means but realise if they are not right the gears will not mesh properly which is all I really need to know right now. I will look for ex ML7 wheels to replace those I might need.

I was aware of mandrel handles and centre height gauges, I will PM you thanks, and look around at height gauge ideas, I certainly need one of those.

I had seen those boat type rocker tool posts available but the small one at arc euro is a 1/8" too big for my 3-1/8" centre height.

Cheers

Chris.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Sounds like an interesting project. I would be inclined to use silver steel for the bed and not harden it for fear of distortion. ER 11 collets should be fine unless you want to grip anything below 0.5 mm. This would be a good start for the head-stock spindle.

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Collets/ER-Milling-Collet-Chucks-Straight-Shank/ER11-Straight-Shank-Chuck-with-Mini-Nut

Russell

[Eddy CurrParticipant @eddycurr38053]

Posted by JasonB on 10/12/2019 20:08:21:

Eddy you should be able to get 1/8BSP or G1/8 plugs from e-bay, just use ebay.com rather than ebay.ca which will tend to give mostly NPT results.

Thank you. Yes, I've had success w/ searches on eBay.co.uk in the past, too. Thought I'd ask about preferred vendors here as I've had pleasant dealings w/ the likes of Arceuro and others in the past, just don't know who carries such fittings.

G1/8 is a new term for me. Can you elaborate a bit?

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by jamie creighton 1 on 10/12/2019 05:23:38:

Cheers Paul,

I bought a small blank of delrin to have a play at the weekend.

im still not sure what type of tooling to buy, anyone have a link please or a good dealer to buy from please?

Beware of plastics and metals difficult to machine! My start as a total beginner was dogged with problems caused by me assuming a metal-working lathe would obviously cope with anything. Not true! Plastics are usually gummy, pliable and easily damaged by heat. Many metals from finished products will have been carefully selected to suit a particular purpose and manufacturing process; zero consideration is given to chaps wanting to turn it on a small lathe! For example, aluminium window frames are made from an alloy intended to be extruded, too soft to machine well. There's a lot to learn about machining different materials.

I wasted months as a beginner. I may have been unlucky because my entire collection of scrap metal turned out to be carp. Buying EN1A was a revelation – it's a mild-steel specifically formulated for machining. Plenty of suppliers other than Metal Supermarkets, but their description is worth repeating:

EN1A is a low carbon-manganese free cutting steel suitable for machining using both automatic and CNC machines. EN1A is used for turned components, such as nuts, bolts, studs and hydraulic fittings.

EN1A, also known as 230M07, can be case hardened to produce components with enhanced wear resistance.

EN1A can also be supplied in a leaded grade, EN1A Pb, 230M07pb.

The leaded grade is particularly good for turning, it's about twice as machinable as ordinary mild steel.

Same advice when buying other metals especially Stainless Steel, Aluminium and Bronze: look for 'free-cutting' or 'suitable for machining' in the specification. Brasses are also somewhat variable, but they all seem to turn OK in a lathe. Plastics too need research.

The ground steel rods from old printers and scanners mostly turn well, but I have one that's incredibly hard. Tricky for beginners to identify if problems are down to the lathe, tool, material, or the operator. In the absence of a tutor, this forum, books, and YouTube all help, but be prepared to experiment.

Tools are another controversial subject. Personally I see little point in buying expensive high-end industrial cutters for occasional light use in my garage! Nor do I like the risk of buying from unknown web-sellers because there's more risk of factory rejects, 'too cheap' and counterfeit. (But people do get genuine bargains off ebay!)

I prefer established UK based sellers. Mostly ArcEuroTrade, Warco and Tracy Tools (for Drills, Taps & Dies), but I've also used RDG, MachineMart and several others without grief. While hobby vendors rarely sell the best possible tools they're OK for my purposes. (The reason the best possible tools aren't carried is probably economic. While Model Engineers are keen to own good tools they are rarely prepared to pay full price for them! Impossible, I think, to profit selling good tools to hobbyists because most of 'em have tiny budgets.)

I guess anyone starting with a second-hand MD65 isn't a serious professional machinist intending to make a living from it. Compromise is the order of the day. As a beginner my advice is avoid cheap and nasty, and don't get hung up on 'quality'.

There's debate about HSS vs Carbide. HSS is more general purpose, but it needs to be kept sharp. That means buying a grinder and learning how to use it! There are chaps who find grinding easy, others – like me – struggle. Carbide inserts avoid sharpening problems: tad expensive to buy but very easy to use. I mostly use Carbide for convenience (at least 80% of the time) but switch to HSS when carbide doesn't produce a good finish(rare), or when a specially shaped tool is needed for awkward corners or fine work. Depends on what you're doing. Owners of powerful fast lathes turning big lumps will likely prefer carbide, small lathes used for delicate work will probably do better with HSS, as will big slow lathes. I used carbide OK on a mini-lathe, which is similar size/speed to the MD65, but I wasn't making clocks!

Carbide inserts are available in a deeply confusing multitude of sizes and shapes. Hobby suppliers like ArcEuroTrade tend to stock the types useful to hobbyists, and you won't go far wrong buying them. Chaps who know what they're doing never recommend sets, but I recommend sets for beginners because beginners seldom know what they need or even exactly what they want a lathe for. Though I'm unlikely to buy a set now, I found sets invaluable for learning.

The December issue of Model Engineer's Workshop Magazine includes a printed ArcEuroTrade Catalogue. Buy one! Both magazine and catalogue give a good idea of what's available and who sells it.

Dave

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

It's not usual to fit them to the saddle but if you want to put it in the tailstock you need an arbor with MT2 one end and a suitable tapered end on the other to fit the chuck. Hopefully it will have a B or JT number on it which indicates what the taper is.

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

At £200 for the table and tailstock that is a very good buy, it certainly looks to be the ArcEuro one and I have only heard good things about it.

[Bill Davies 2Participant @billdavies2]

Here is a 6 inch rotary table:

ArcEuroTrade rotary table

[Clive Brown 1Participant @clivebrown1]

Looks like those sold by ArcEuroTrade? A good buy.

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

If your lathe has enough swing, Arc Euro Trade list a 180mm faceplate for the SC4 which I think (I'd suggest ringing first rather than trust me) has a 72mm register.

Brian G

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

Austin, good advice from Dave, and an excellent choice to buy from Arc Euro. Our local Men in Sheds bought a mini lathe from them about 4 years ago, it really gets tested by some of the most ham fisted blokes I have ever encountered and is still running well. Although my machines a bigger, I have been buying tooling from Arc Euro for very many years and always found the very helpful and good on price. No connection to the company, just a satisfied customer.

Dek.

[Austin O’HaraParticipant @austinohara24453]

Many thanks Dave and two Bills for leading me away from the white elephant path.

I have decided I will ask ArcEuroTrade to supply me initially with the Sieg SC3-400 and later with the Sieg SX2P Mill when it is in stock.

Austin

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Step blocks give a similar result and are designed for supporting items for machining, not sure I would rely on a friction joint to hold up under clamping and milling forces

Arc Eurotrade sell a set that may suit your needs but there are lots of other suppliers as well,

Martin C

 

Edited By Martin Connelly on 03/12/2019 19:38:24

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

I have a Warco MiniMill (X2 clone) and have found that the rubber bellows simply do not last in my workshop (garage). Generally they split in one or more of the creases. The originals did not last: I have used Arc Euro Trades bellows, they did not last. I have even tried gluing, using rubber glue from a cycle repair kit, pieces of old cycle inner tube over the splits – and still they split. I have tried using pieces cut from an old lorry innertube, but as there was no concertina effect, the tube just bunches up in use. The latest idea is to use one of Harold Hall's ideas, that of using folded cardboard "varnished" on both sides with polyurethane lacquer. Unfortunately, I still get bunching up because it appears that the varnished cardboard is too stiff.

My personal view is that it is caused by the cold winter temperatures in my uninsulated garage.

Peter G. Shaw

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Would one of the bellows from ARC fit the bill, a call to them may confirm if there is a direct fit or mods needed

Link

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

These you mean?

I use mine as a convertor for holding small drills in an ER32 collet chuck rather than expecting the knurled wheel to be brilliant in hand-pressure sensitive mode. I doubt the device would work quite as well as a proper sensitive pillar drill running at high speed, but I've never used one.

Ketan's device is effective for what I want – a way of holding sub 2mm drills in a conventional milling machine quill. And, my mill performs better as a drill than my pillar drill, especially with small diameter drills. With care I don't break that many but it's not unknown.

I plan to buy a Dremel stand next time I do a PCB. The milling machine is a bit clumsy for doing lots of tiny holes.

Dave

[John Mitchell 9Participant @johnmitchell9]

Posted by not done it yet on 01/12/2019 12:30:43:

Personally, I would not recommend a second hand machine model to a business operator. Certainly not a machine type which could be 50 years old.

Yes, they may well be perfectly adequate, in good condition and fully serviceable. The only second hand machine I would recommend to a friend, is one that I had seen, or one from a reputable reconditioner or supplier.

We don’t even seem to be able to recommend a particular type or size in this instance. Every time I have had to apply for capital expenditure, I was expected to have a specification for the item and it had to be shown that the proposed purchase fulfilled that specification.

Less than £2000, ‘it has to be ready out of the box’ and of needing to be ‘compact’ is not a particularly complete specification but that really limits the suppliers.

My advice would be to go to Arceurotrade and others for some expert advice from regular suppliers to industry. Most on here are hobbyists or sole traders, who can operate under a different set of conditions.

Further, a lathe needs to be fixed to a rigid base, not just carted around and plonked on a bench, if consistency and accuracy is to be maintained/ assured. A robust trolley/bench with wheels could be adequate, but a permanent home is clearly the preferred option. At least for a business operator.

Maybe a good 3-D printer would better suit the needs, rather than a lathe? Make the part, circulate to suppliers for something in the material required and modify if needed. Most screws, nuts and bolts have already been invented by someone, somewhere. Another possibility is advertising for a local retired hobbyist who would like some pin money.

Many thanks for your input. We're only a small outfit of a few welders and fabricators. Not at all a big business of any kind. In many ways the management is closer to hands on, "fix it with what you've got" mindset than a "business operator". For years we've contracted out the work to a local engineering firm that has grown big time and now works on big contracts. Our relationships go way back so have not changed but for them it's becoming difficult to serve our "small" needs.

There is a local grandpa with a lathe that we can use but we often need things done on a short turn around time and it's difficult to get him to stick to that. So by god we're getting a lathe! Again, if it's small enough it may reside on a bench. We've just not got the room for a standalone lathe, that's why I keep obsessing about the compact design. Not the watchmaker type granted but 500mm between the centres is more than we need for this lathe to handle.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Personally, I would not recommend a second hand machine model to a business operator. Certainly not a machine type which could be 50 years old.

Yes, they may well be perfectly adequate, in good condition and fully serviceable. The only second hand machine I would recommend to a friend, is one that I had seen, or one from a reputable reconditioner or supplier.

We don’t even seem to be able to recommend a particular type or size in this instance. Every time I have had to apply for capital expenditure, I was expected to have a specification for the item and it had to be shown that the proposed purchase fulfilled that specification.

Less than £2000, ‘it has to be ready out of the box’ and of needing to be ‘compact’ is not a particularly complete specification but that really limits the suppliers.

My advice would be to go to Arceurotrade and others for some expert advice from regular suppliers to industry. Most on here are hobbyists or sole traders, who can operate under a different set of conditions.

Further, a lathe needs to be fixed to a rigid base, not just carted around and plonked on a bench, if consistency and accuracy is to be maintained/ assured. A robust trolley/bench with wheels could be adequate, but a permanent home is clearly the preferred option. At least for a business operator.

Maybe a good 3-D printer would better suit the needs, rather than a lathe? Make the part, circulate to suppliers for something in the material required and modify if needed. Most screws, nuts and bolts have already been invented by someone, somewhere. Another possibility is advertising for a local retired hobbyist who would like some pin money.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

As trade use is likely to invalidate any gaurantee from any hobby supplier why pay extra for it from Axminster, One from Arc will cost less

[COLIN MARTIN 2Participant @colinmartin2]

The bearings are available from Arc Euro Trade and are a direct replacement for the standard ones. I'll try to post some pictures.

[Niels AbildgaardParticipant @nielsabildgaard33719]

Posted by COLIN MARTIN 2 on 28/11/2019 10:16:33:

UPDATE:

after much thought, I've decided that I can only decide after I know what I am going to need!! It is a bit illogical to buy the same size lathe with just a bigger chuck (even though it is a higher spec) without knowing if it will do the job, therefore I have decided to upgrade my existing lathe and see how I get on with that, then go from there.

I have bought a 100mm chuck (on special offer at the moment from Arc Euro Trade) and a pair of angular thrust bearings, which I hope will stiffen up the spindle, and a new spindle with the flange which takes the 100mm chuck. Big thank you to Arc Euro Trade which sent out the parts for next day delivery and Simon at SPG Tools who supplied the spindle and was most helpful.

I was pleasantly surprised when stripping out the spindle and bearings: after reading a lot of negativity about the quality of workmanship on the mini lathe, I found that the parts were pretty well made, although not awe-inspiring like some engineering, the parts are solid and certainly of acceptable quality. I had expected the Chinese bearings to be shot after about fifteen year's use, but both spun perfectly smoothly and with no trace of play, so in future I will have no hesitation in buying Chinese bearings.

Can we see pictures of spindles side by side and bearings?

It will then be possible to construct the ultimate mini lathe spindle and I will be rich on saturday.

Something along these lines

Edited By Niels Abildgaard on 28/11/2019 12:07:04

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

+1 for SC3 from ArcEuro – unless the bench space is an issue as the next job may be longer so SC3 was my choice in place of the SC2.

You need to include the tools that you need to complete your jobs as well, so the collets Robert suggested and a drill chuck as well as cutting tools ought to be on your list – but buy as you need and don't try to get everything possible at once – I suspect many of us have bought things to fully equip a lathe that have never been used in practice!

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Catalogue arrived yesterday, nice to see items in good clear pictures, with all codes, prices clearly defined, binned #10. thanks arc Euro.

George.

[Phil H1Participant @philh196021]

Vic,

Just to add – mine came from ArcEurotrade. If you are doing the polish and display type thing – I'd say that it is excellent.

Phil H

[COLIN MARTIN 2Participant @colinmartin2]

UPDATE:

after much thought, I've decided that I can only decide after I know what I am going to need!! It is a bit illogical to buy the same size lathe with just a bigger chuck (even though it is a higher spec) without knowing if it will do the job, therefore I have decided to upgrade my existing lathe and see how I get on with that, then go from there.

I have bought a 100mm chuck (on special offer at the moment from Arc Euro Trade) and a pair of angular thrust bearings, which I hope will stiffen up the spindle, and a new spindle with the flange which takes the 100mm chuck. Big thank you to Arc Euro Trade which sent out the parts for next day delivery and Simon at SPG Tools who supplied the spindle and was most helpful.

I was pleasantly surprised when stripping out the spindle and bearings: after reading a lot of negativity about the quality of workmanship on the mini lathe, I found that the parts were pretty well made, although not awe-inspiring like some engineering, the parts are solid and certainly of acceptable quality. I had expected the Chinese bearings to be shot after about fifteen year's use, but both spun perfectly smoothly and with no trace of play, so in future I will have no hesitation in buying Chinese bearings.