Intro – a Cambridge hobbyist

[milesincamParticipant @milesincam]

Hello all,

I’m a scientist in Cambridge, also a keen woodworker and sometime machinist.  I enjoy the use of a good condition Myford 7, which I’m still learning how best to use. I’ve had exposure to larger lathes, and classic Bridgeport type mills, so I am still hoping to find a small but good mill to add to the workshop.

I look forward to being able to ask questions of more experienced folk, and also to answer when i can…

cheers

Miles

[paul rushmerParticipant @paulrushmer83015]

Welcome Miles

I am in Haverhill not far from you. Have you thought about joining the cambridge club? As for a mill if you can get one in have a bridgeport! you can do small jobs in them I was drilling 0.8mm holes in 1.6mm pins with the one at work the other day!

Paul

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

And me somewhere in between.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Welcome to the Forum

Yes, Go and join the Cambridge Club You will meet fellow hobbyists, and learn from them face to face.

Howard

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Hello Miles, Sound advice to join a club and welcome to the party. I’m not so far from you up near Hunstanton. Which Myford 7 do you use ? An ML 7 or Super 7. Best wishes, Noel.

[Julie AnnParticipant @julieann]

Welcome to the forum. I live in a village between Cambridge and Cambourne, on the A428, and one of my mills is a Bridgeport.

I visited the Cambridge club many years ago but sadly it wasn’t a good experience and I’ve never been back.

Julie

[Beardy MikeParticipant @beardymike]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Great to have you here – I’m another Cambridgeshire face, living nearer St Ives. If the Cambridge club isn’t your cup of tea then we’d be glad to have you at Royston (RADMES).</p>
Mike

[milesincamParticipant @milesincam]

Dear members, thanks very much for your warm reception and helpful suggestions.  I hope to have time to look into local clubs and perhaps meet some of you there.  At work I used to have access to a nice Harrison, a big Colchester, and a couple of mills, a Bridgeport and a modern Chinese one whose name I never knew. Plus a very skilled and knowledgeable expert machinist who was in charge.  Having left to work solo, I miss the workshop facilities!  Like Paul’s reply I had previously made some quite demanding small parts on the Bridgeport, it seemed to behave pretty well and allowed good manual control.  I’d like to find a tabletop mill rather than a full size one, with a similar “nice to use” feel to it.

My lathe is a standard ML7, not a Super. Inherited from a friend, and in very good condition. His father had it as his works machine in the 1950s/60s and when he retired, they sent it off to Myfords for a complete regrind and then gave it to him as a retirement gift.  I suppose they thought he could build his own pocket-watch with it 🙂

I’ve just acquired a ML1, also in great condition, as a gift for my father-in-law.  It has a 7/8″ 9TPI spindle so a sleeve to bring it up to ML7 size looks like a good idea, otherwise getting chucks etc will be impossible.  It does have one chuck, a really lovely 3″ Burnerd, but allowing faceplates etc will be useful and there is nothing out there in 7/8″.  So that is going to be a nice little ML7 project…

Julie – I have another engineering friend in Highfields, and it’s a very short drive from home in town – perhaps I might visit and admire your mills at some point?  What is the non-Bridgeport one?

cheers all,

Miles

 

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I dropped in on the Cambridge club in 2019 as I was unusually in the city on a Sunday. They weren’t busy with public running and not expecting unannounced visitors but couldn’t have been friendlier. A great way to get a free cup of tea!. I got a tour of their facilities both on foot and by steam train and shown the workshop. I have had the same kind of experience at every club I have visited including 3 in Melbourne and 3 in California. Clubs members are always friendly but a few have poor interpersonal skills as applies in every walk of life and occasionally if one such is the first contact someone has and they don’t try to talk to anyone else then it seems to colour their response.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Hello Miles,

I am in Peterborough

A good idea to make an adaptor to mount “standard Myford” chucks to be fitted to the ML1

Some time ago I made one for someone with an early ML4

Don’t forget spanner flats to allow removal when required!

[milesincam]

On milesincam Said:

Julie – I have another engineering friend in Highfields, and it’s a very short drive from home in town – perhaps I might visit and admire your mills at some point?  What is the non-Bridgeport one?

My other mills are a large (by home workshop standards) universal horizontal mill and a 4-axis CNC mill.

There was another model engineer in my street, about 20 houses down from me. Many years ago I bought a Taylor Hobson engraver from him via Ebay. Despite saying he’d visit he never did. Given that he was significantly older than me I suspect he is now ensconced in the workshop in the sky.

You are welcome to visit; I’ll send a private message.

Julie

[Roy BirchParticipant @roybirch29994]

Julie

I do not know how long ago you visited Cambridge but I was the membership secretary a few years ago, we are a club that is growing the membership and we attract a lot of inquiries to join the club annually, these members come from all walks of life and always get a warm welcome and a ride around on the trains, I personally meet everyone who applies to be a member.  For some reason the Cambridge club does get a lot of knocks but I wrote an article in answer to the question about someone joining a club and seemed to be ignored, the gentlemen said that he went to a club and no one spoke to him, I asked him the question of did he introduce himself, he said he was a bit shy, I said to him that you cannot expect members to come running over and when members arrive they will naturally move towards the people that they know, sometimes overlooking a stranger in the mix.

To anyone who is reading this, if you would like to come down to Cambridge please let me know, incidentally I am the Chairman at the club.

milesincam- I will be at the club this Saturday running a private party so if you have time do call in, I am there from 11.30am until 5.30pm and interestingly I was once a cabinet maker, also we have a member at the moment selling a small mill if you are interested.

 

Kind Regards

 

Roy

[Roy Birch]

On Roy Birch Said:

Julie

I do not know how long ago you visited Cambridge….

At least 20 years ago, may be longer.

Julie

[Roy BirchParticipant @roybirch29994]

Hello Julie

The invitation is also there for you if you would like to come down I would be happy to meet you, the place has changed dramatically in the last 20 years, it is now a lot bigger and a lot more track to ride, the current set up is a lot different to that time, is the person you talk of at highfields building 2 traction engines?

Kind Regards

Roy

[Roy Birch]

On Roy Birch Said:

…is the person you talk of at highfields building 2 traction engines?

No, he was building a steam locomotive, 5″ gauge if I recall correctly.

Julie

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