What Did You Do Today (2017)

[Martin Botting 2Participant @martinbotting2]

Finished a two day marathon of fitting an M-DRO 2 axis DRO to my Warco "economy" mill drill. Much head clunking and knuckle scraping. Grey iron dust in the pores, Drill, tap, making brackets.

It's up and running I am amazed, I never knew there were so many numbers behind the decimal point in imperial! I coughed and the numbers at the end went up, I guess if the wind changes I will have to allow for it when I do some fly cutting.

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

On the way home from work today I was behind a low loader with what I believe to be a Collett 4000 gallon tender with GW and a center badge painted on the sides. The truck almost took out a couple of cars due to the rear wheel steer and fairly tight bends through Bristol.

Ed.

[John GardenerParticipant @johngardener91897]

It may not look much but today I made a spare base pin for my Ruger Old Army black powder revolver. Commercially they are like hen's teeth but now thanks to my new (very limited) skills, hen's teeth no longer for me. Mine is the nearer one to the camera

 

What's more surprising is that it fits!!!

 

Edited By John Gardener on 21/02/2017 23:56:25

Edited By John Gardener on 21/02/2017 23:58:32

[John GardenerParticipant @johngardener91897]

Grumpy Old Man?

 

This morning I emailed a UK company to ask if an ER32 collet they were selling at a decent price (ok I accept that it won't be a top class item but my other 'cheap imports' are serving me well); anyway, I asked if it came with a drawbar and, if not, what thread it was. I was told that they don't look at them and I should refer to the item description. I replied that I had looked again, at the item description and could find no reference to a drawbar which is probably why I asked the blinking question in the first place. Shop elsewhere I think. Unless I'm doing something wrong – again?

Edited By John Gardener on 22/02/2017 11:41:54

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

John

I assume that you are refering to a E32 Collet Chuck rather than just a the collet itself. In which case I agree that the company in question should know and should have published, as most do, the size of the thread for fitting to a draw bar. With regard to supplying a draw bar with the collet chuck then I am not surprised they can't give an answer as this will depend on the machine that the chuck is going to be mounted on.

Cheers

Martin W

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I've never seen a site offering drawbars at all. They normally come with the mill and might be imperial or metric depending on age. Never seen a lathe come with or have available a chuck drawbar, only occasionally a hollow one for 5C or 3C collets.

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

With a spindle mounted collet chuck surely the drawbar size will depend on the type/size of arbor, it seems that std sizes are used but can be imperial or metric which adds to thee confusion if no draw bar thread size is given.

Emgee

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

I have checked Arc, Chester, RDG & Warco and they all specify the draw bar thread for all of their collet chucks either metric or imperial.

Martin W

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

Probably not a problem with newer machines but a real nuisance with older ones. MT2 collets and tooling comes with at least 3 different drawbar threads. Not fun if you have a captive drawbar and low headroom when you have to tilt the head to remove the drawbar. Dave

[John GardenerParticipant @johngardener91897]

Martin, yes, my post isn’t clear, I did mean the chuck.

Bazyle, I have the Clark CMD10 which of course, came with the drawbar for the drill chuck. I bought a set of Posilock 2MT which did not and of course are a different thread, bought in the days when I knew even less than nothing about machining. Even making a drawbar was a bit of a challenge then.

I thought I might look at the ER type as they seem to offer a better range of sizes, some, as Martin says, do offer a chuck complete with drawbar and even specify the thread.

Whilst I realise that given my budget, and that I am reluctant to spend a huge chunk of my ‘disposable’; I am going to get ‘cheap imports’ rather than precision German ones for instance, I thought that I might purchase from a UK based company as this one had them in stock. I also realise that companies like Chronos/RGD /ARC etc. import stuff but not in my budget range. In truth, I want something to take an 18mm Ball nosed end-mill for the base pins in my earlier post which will, I hope give me a better profile than running a 16mm, the biggest I can find a Posilock, back across the work repeatedly. Am I making sense here?

Anyway thanks guys, all this is very helpful and most welcome.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Posted by John Gardener on 22/02/2017 17:41:38:

Martin, yes, my post isn’t clear, I did mean the chuck.

Bazyle, I have the Clark CMD10 which of course, came with the drawbar for the drill chuck. I bought a set of Posilock 2MT which did not and of course are a different thread, bought in the days when I knew even less than nothing about machining. Even making a drawbar was a bit of a challenge then.

I thought I might look at the ER type as they seem to offer a better range of sizes, some, as Martin says, do offer a chuck complete with drawbar and even specify the thread.

Whilst I realise that given my budget, and that I am reluctant to spend a huge chunk of my ‘disposable’; I am going to get ‘cheap imports’ rather than precision German ones for instance, I thought that I might purchase from a UK based company as this one had them in stock. I also realise that companies like Chronos/RGD /ARC etc. import stuff but not in my budget range. In truth, I want something to take an 18mm Ball nosed end-mill for the base pins in my earlier post which will, I hope give me a better profile than running a 16mm, the biggest I can find a Posilock, back across the work repeatedly. Am I making sense here?

Anyway thanks guys, all this is very helpful and most welcome.

Whilst you might find some means of holding an 18mm ball nosed end mill in a Clarke CMD10 I cannot imagine it doing any serious, or even near serious, removal of metal. It might be you are machining plastic or wood in which case it should cope but the CMD10 is a small machine withe limited workspace volume, a lot of the daylight at least, will be lost with the cutter holder you end up with.

Whilst not having the size flexibility of ER collets, direct MT2 collets are the best option for the CMD10. If you want to use ER then the holder has to fit in the MT2 spindle taper and moves the cutter further from the spindle bearings and the rigidity is made worse. ER16 might not be too bad but ER25 or 32 are really not to be recommended.

I could not see any reference to 'Base Pins' in your earlier posts but reitterate that an 18mm diameter cutter is a bit risky in such a small, low powered machine.

Ian P

[John GardenerParticipant @johngardener91897]

Ian, Thank you, the proper name for the pin I posted above is 'base pin' sorry for the confusion.

Thank you also for your advice on use of the mill/drill , I have gotten used to (Mainly because I know no better) the limitations of the machine and have blown a number of overload fuses in my inexperience/haste!

The point you make about the collets is taken, with thanks again.

Kind regards

John

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Posted by John Gardener on 22/02/2017 22:21:33:

Ian, Thank you, the proper name for the pin I posted above is 'base pin' sorry for the confusion.

Thank you also for your advice on use of the mill/drill , I have gotten used to (Mainly because I know no better) the limitations of the machine and have blown a number of overload fuses in my inexperience/haste!

The point you make about the collets is taken, with thanks again.

Kind regards

John

Having now established that base pins is the correct name for the base pins you were referring to I am still in the dark as to what these actually are, and what the 9mm radius ball ended cutter might cut on them?

I dont really need to know, but just curious

Ian P

[John GardenerParticipant @johngardener91897]

Ian,

The base pin is the part marked 54 on the diagram. Ruger don't make this excellent revolver any more and don't support it. I tried for a long time to get a replacement as they do break. All sources, home and abroad proved bare.

Making one, given my new hobby, seemed like a good idea. The logitudinal concave hollow at the muzzle and is the radius of the barrel and is nearer 18mm. I know that my current kit will allow me only a 16mm ball nosed and, given the advice already received I know now that it will not be easy to do it all in one go. I am hoping, if I can, to reduce the number of passes and protracted polishing out time. I have already passed one on to a friend who is making a suitable donation to his favourite charity, in theory, the quicker I make them the quicker someone's charity benefits. Sorry to go on, having a tea break from the domestics at the moment.

[Nick HughesParticipant @nickhughes97026]

Hi John,

18mm Ball Nose cutters with a 16mm shank, are available **LINK**

Because of the small machine you are using, I suggest roughing out with smaller cutters first, leaving only a minimum of material to be removed in a clean up pass.

Hope this helps.

Nick.

Edited By Nick Hughes on 23/02/2017 16:16:04

[John GardenerParticipant @johngardener91897]

Nick, brilliant! Thank you for the link and the tip.

[SpurryParticipant @spurry]

John

Not sure if you have tried the step method of cutting a curved groove. The principle is that you use a smallish cutter say 6mm and groove the required hollow in steps, which either be large or small, depending on how much patience you have.

Your large radius cutter would then just have to shave off the tops of the steps to give you the shape you desire.

HTH

Pete

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Today in addition to completing my kitchen preparation for the plasterers to come in I also made a surface ground shim 50mm in diameter to raise the toolpost on my lathe so that I can now use the same holder on each lathe without having to reset the centre height each time. Wasn't sure it would work but it's just the job.

The lady of the house is getting her way with the industrial light rig for the kitchen so I also modified a 54mm brass gate valve to fit on the 48mm scaffolding tubes which carry the lights. I know it sounds weird but it looks cool.

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

Posted by Tractor man on 23/02/2017 19:31:20:

The lady of the house is getting her way with the industrial light rig for the kitchen so I also modified a 54mm brass gate valve to fit on the 48mm scaffolding tubes which carry the lights. I know it sounds weird but it looks cool.

Are you actually using scaffold tubing or Key Klamp handrailing with all the attendant junctions.?

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 23/02/2017 21:00:34

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Does starting an argument with Insurers over not writing off car for the headlamp broken by a falling tree branch, count?

Most annoying was that if we hadn't taken home a sick friend, we wouldn't have been there!

Ah well, life never was fair. Awaiting quote from the local approved repairer, to see if that will change the box ticking corporate mind. Why scrap a car that is not much more than cosmetically damaged, and otherwise good.

Looks like we are going to be in the market for a small car with a spare wheel and a proper handbrake!

Gripe over Workshop time should cheer me up a bit

Howard

[JAParticipant @ja]

Howard

I may be slow at picking things up but I am not sure where you are coming from.

My little experience with insurance companies, mainly with broken motorcycles, have not been all bad. OK, they were slow and I managed to be civil with them but in all cases the outcome was satisfactory. The only time I had to deal with an insurance company about a car they were aggressive and I had to calm them down (somehow they wanted to take me to court for perjury, why I don't know). Perhaps this is something to do with the difference between bike and car owners?

If you can slow things down and find someone who will listen.

I did believe in insurance brokers but now realise not all of them are what they appear to be, particularly with motorcycle insurance.

Anyway I wish you the best in handling them.

JA

Edited By JA on 23/02/2017 23:17:31

Edited By JA on 23/02/2017 23:19:11

[russellParticipant @russell]

if your vehicle is 'written off' do you have the option to 'buy back' – that is, assuming you can get the damage repaired at a sensible price 'outside' the insurance company process (eg, DIY). In Oz, a write off really means the repair cost is higher than the value of the vehicle, so that limits how much they will pay for the repair. (repair of my sons corolla recently being a case in point). a couple of hours repaired the damage 'functionally' if not cosmetically, and i banked a cheque for the value. I then had to re-insure the car, which required only an assertion that it was roadworthy, not even a test to prove this.

(for completeness, there are also 'statutory writeoffs' which have suffered damage deemed irreparable and therefore not registerable, and there is a 'written off register' for newer cars which have higher requirements to repair, mainly to prevent 'rebirthing'. )

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

Howard, I have had noproblem in the past with insurers. Nearly all my old cars were not financially viable. A Minor 1000 with a dented wing might be a 'write off' to them but to me it was a few rusted bolts to undo and new wings bolted on.(I thought I may as well do both).
The insured value was only £250 so it didn't take much to push it over the edge.
A crumpled Marina had to be reMOT'd before they would accept it again.
I don't know how they work these days.
In all cases they submitted the cheque for the insured value and I "disposed of the vehicle to my best adavantage" (repaired it).

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Twice I've 'bought back' a car with 'cosmetic' damage. Back in the 80s there were no issues, the later one I had to get it re-mot'd and had the option of paying for a special check to get the write-off taken off the log (IIRC).

<edit> I have to admit the RX7 that had tthe bonnet flip up at ~70mph was a bit more than cosmetic…

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 24/02/2017 08:57:56

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Quite right on the key clamp issue, not scaffolding clamps. My mistake lol.

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