What did you do today (2015)

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

Made some room in the shed by manoeuvring the 1/6th tiger tank out (for sale if anyone's interested &nbsp. Loads more floor space now. Raised the lathe 3 inches and hopefully should be much more comfortable to use.

Fly-cut the back lawn. The weeds don't half grow fast with that Aftercut stuff!

Ed.

[Capstan SpeakingParticipant @capstanspeaking95294]

Posted by Steven Greenhough on 29/05/2015 21:27:04:

Ok guys, broken taps and drills…

The material is EN3B according to the eBay sellers description. Shouldn't be a problem?

Well if you were actually asking, then no, not a problem. It's much stronger and a bit less free machining than EN1 but it's still mild and quite amenable.

It doesn't give a great finish normally and usually comes in 6m+ black hot rolled. It's much cheaper than EN1a bright.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

JS,

Lady friend has had an unbelievable effect – cannot believe it, but we can actually see the floor!

Cheers to her

Geoff – Family in house moving mood

[frank brownParticipant @frankbrown22225]

Re-fitted the saddle/apron/leadscrew and gear box to my lathe. This was after I had taken the rash decision to "re-grind" the front of the bed. And it seems to have worked. There is no rattle and I can use the same front shear clamping right along the front of the bed without the saddle getting stuck. The only down side which I consider minimal is that the last "10" (width of saddle) of the bed is inaccessible , which is a small price for 75% of the bed seeming to be OK. .

Frank

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 30/05/2015 14:39:29:

Posted by Oompa Lumpa on 29/05/2015 09:33:45:

Now it's photos like that I wanted for the photo competiton

Looks at wrist – you have 36 hours…

Neil

Just nipping out to the garage with my camera to let some fireworks off….

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

Posted by Steven Greenhough on 29/05/2015 21:27:04:

Ok guys, broken taps and drills…

I had a though, would a 2.0 mm Diamond Wheel Point 7103 in a Dremel?

Bob

[Steven GreenhoughParticipant @stevengreenhough56335]

Bob, is that suggestion as an extraction operation? There’s a dremel in the house but I’ve never used it… no idea what bits n bobs are with it.

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

More of a removal process as apposed to extraction, may take a bit of time and effort but nothing to lose.

Bob

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> does it have induction hardened bedways and if it does can you run a file across them? and cut them?

You can't make cast iron rock hard. I did a bit of digging and I found a reference that suggests hardnesses for 30-50 HRC.

Neil

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by Ian Parkin on 30/05/2015 15:00:49:

John

whats special about the headstock centre ?

does it have induction hardened bedways and if it does can you run a file across them? and cut them?

.

The headstock centre is one of those stubby 4 1/2 Morse or similar with an MT3 in the centre of it. Not that special but hard to find when you want one.

It says it has induction hardened bed ways, red sticker just visible against apron handwheel in first pic but I'm not going to try with a file.

Cast will harden but not to the same Brinnell as steel so often people try a file but it still cuts.

What they should say is Induction hardened harder than plain cast iron. I think that explains it better.

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Today I went for a ride on this.

The Durango to Silverton Narrow gauge railway, 3 1/2 hours somewhere over 37 miles of continuous climbing from Durango to Silverton in Colorado. Lots of tight bends and photo opportunities.

Very Alpine like.

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

Posted by John Stevenson on 30/05/2015 22:30:52:

Posted by Ian Parkin on 30/05/2015 15:00:49:

John

whats special about the headstock centre ?

does it have induction hardened bedways and if it does can you run a file across them? and cut them?

.

The headstock centre is one of those stubby 4 1/2 Morse or similar with an MT3 in the centre of it. Not that special but hard to find when you want one.

It says it has induction hardened bed ways, red sticker just visible against apron handwheel in first pic but I'm not going to try with a file.

Cast will harden but not to the same Brinnell as steel so often people try a file but it still cuts.

What they should say is Induction hardened harder than plain cast iron. I think that explains it better.

It was just in a previous post you had mentioned that even an induction hardened bed was still very soft

my student which hasn't got a sticker on it a file wont touch it at all at teh end by the tailstock …can you see if a bed has been hardened? colour change?

also mine hasnt got a serial number on the bed does that mean its been reground?

JS's quote

"Also induction hardened bed ways are a joke. Everybody relates the hardening to what you get on vise jaws and tools. Forget it, by the virtue of being cast iron and not steel the most you will get is 23 -24 Rockwell which is what soft steel is to start with."

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I finished the piston for the 5cc aero and lapped it into the cylinder yesterday so thought I would put all the bits together today and see what happened. As it was raining I only ran it briefly in the shed, need to spend a bit more time adjusting the needle as it dies out if I take my finget off the venturi. Probably not a bad thing as if it were allowed to run full bore I'd soon gas myself even with door and windows open

 

J

PS the reason for teh Italian title if you are not watching direct on youtube is

"Scratch built 5cc glow engine based on the 1952 design by Gianilo Passuello but scaled up by a factor of 1.2 to take the original 3cc upto approx 5cc"

Edited By JasonB on 31/05/2015 17:10:08

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I machined off the cast iron blade guides for my new to me Startrite bandsaw (wood) to a new surface. These old machies were often in schools and now let loose for hobyists but well worn. For us machining the guides is trivial but quite daunting or expensive for a woodworker so if you know anyone with one do them a favour and do it for them.

The back guide is supposed to be a rod with a carbide button but mine are mild steel with many grooves worn in seemingly original as it is the oldest model. Looked at the price of 10mm carbide rod and decided to give HSS a go and see how it wears.

I may make roller guides someday as per modern practice but actually the CI guides allow blade support to within a few mm of the job for better accuracy.

Next job is to make a mitre fence. Have you seen the price! There's simple ally casting and extrusion versions at over £100.

[DrDaveParticipant @drdave]

Having fitted handwheel dial to the lathe, I finished screw for my machine vice. Oh what a joy to be able to turn to a shoulder at last! Why could Myford not fit something like this as standard?

The bad news is that the screw for the vice does not fit the nut. It screws in a short way and then jams. A check with a thread gauge showed that the 16 TPI die that I used cut a different pitch: peeved, to say the least! It is not easy (for me) to photograph, but you can see the problem below.

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

.

Had a quick experimental play with the Inverted parting tool holder made by eccentric engineering that I bought from them at the Harrogate show.

It's really intended to be positioned in a rear tool post. But my Boxford does not have provision for one. So I just ran the lathe in reverse. – First impressions are very good and I hope this remains the same when it comes to doing something other than slicing steel like an Italian would do with Salami.

Nick

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

Dodge game parting off in reverse on a Boxford, assuming you are using a standard chuck, as there is a good chance the chuck will wind it's self off.

Bob

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by Bob Brown 1 on 31/05/2015 21:06:37:

Dodge game parting off in reverse on a Boxford, assuming you are using a standard chuck, as there is a good chance the chuck will wind it's self off.

Bob

.

Thanks for your concern Bob.

But the Boxford has a D1-3 camlock fitting so no thread on chuck to unscrew.

Cheers, Nick

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

Ah! a late Boxford but not the sort of thing to do on an under drive machine.

Bob

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Talking Boxford, at the Harrogate show I bought a new 3 jaw chuck and back plate. The back was 'so called premachined' however I had to set it up on the 4 jaw and machine the bore to fit the nose mandrel.

Whilst doing so I found I could move the spindle- side ways and made the dial guage move a couple of thou! I tried to get the same to happen if I moved the chuck vertically, did not seem to move in this plane!

I tried at the rear end of the spindle at the tumbler reverse end, Same thing!

Has anyone had this problem and how can I take the play out?

5" model A mid 70's build -metric -I think?

Brian

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

There is a spindle adjustment at the back of the spindle 687/666 in the pic below.

Bob

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I spent an enjoyable pair of hours enjoying the hospitality of Polly Engineering in Long Eaton. Some very impressive machinery and interesting ways of working, of which there will be more said in a future issue of MEW, but for now you might enjoy this striking blue loco – Polly has got a new dress!

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 01/06/2015 18:09:27

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Cromwell Tools have just issued the June News lette, worth a look for cutter bargains.

Clive

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Clive

Is the newsletter something they send out by post?

I cannot see any reference to a newsletter on their website, so I wonder if you have the only copy!

Ian P

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Like me you would have to visit an outlet, as you are in Cheshire there are 3 based in Cheshire, 1 in warrington and another in Deeside and the 3rd. in Bootle. Perhaps a phone call to one of these my get you a news letter.

Clive

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