What Did You Do Today 2020

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

I recently saw an article that said that it was a good time for the greenies to go and chain themselves to a tree.

Paul

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Good god. We should never moan about the UK. That is horrific. Stay safe.

[I.M. OUTAHEREParticipant @i-m-outahere]

Good to hear you are going to somewhere safe Danny !

Still worried about Jim though .

It hit 49 deg here at Penrith which is close to where i live .

Fantastic to hear you are helping out in any way you can , best i can do is to donate some cash to the various bodies that are there to help .

dunno about what you reckon but it seems to me tha Gladys has a bigger set than scomo !

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Danny M2Z on 03/01/2020 09:36:33:

Today I got my fire plan ready. All important docos and stuff packed and ready to go.

Visited neighbours and we decided on a course of action. Luckily we are next to the lake so smoke is the biggest worry. House and workshop are replaceable, so we got pumps and hoses tested and selected cotton clothing and decent boots and gloves laid out.. Surrounding grass/stubble mowed to the bare earth. gutters cleaned and generators tested.

Tomorrow is forecast 46°C/115°F and windy so it's going to be a bad day for this part of Australia.

I included a map, X marks our little town.

* Danny M *

Best of luck to you and your neighbours Danny.

It's been bad enough seeing things unfold from here in the UK, it must be traumatic for everyone in Aus.

Neil

[Anonymous]

Good grief, 5000 posts. That's an awful lot of sitting bulls. And a lot of time spent sitting at the computer instead of in the workshop.

I've finally got my steel bar to make a former for the traction engine chimneys:

Bar is 500mm long and 100mm diameter. The fixed steady just fits, by a whisker! First job is to drill a centre and then make the flat pattern from sheet steel; blank was guillotined yesterday.

Andrew

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

My thoughts exactly S-O-D !!

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by john carruthers on 01/01/2020 09:18:21:

I ordered a set of mini saw blades (like slitting saws) from a Chinese supplier on xmas day, they arrived yesterday so I roughed out a 'scape wheel for the clock..

.

Thanks again for testing these, John

Mine arrived today, and they appear very good value

MichaelG.

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Knocked up a lifting beam over the last few days from 100 x 50 x 4mm wall pallet racking beams I scrounged before I retired. They had been scrapped because the loading figures couldn't be verified despite having all sorts of heavy castings on them for years. I got it all erected and working this afternoon just in time for a chap to come and collect the Myford so a light load to see how it performs. The trolly on the beam uses roller bearings for wheels and runs along the beam nicely. The real test will be when Warco bring my new GH1322 as that going where the Myford was after I've insulated the wall.

[Ian McVickersParticipant @ianmcvickers56553]

Finally got round to upgrading the lighting in the shop. All 8 4ft fittings now have 22w daylight led tubes, much better than the old standard tubes.

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Posted by Ian McVickers on 10/01/2020 18:12:24:

Finally got round to upgrading the lighting in the shop. All 8 4ft fittings now have 22w daylight led tubes, much better than the old standard tubes.

Sound good! Did you bypass the ballast Ian?

[Ian McVickersParticipant @ianmcvickers56553]

Henry, yes the ballasts were removed. The lamps just needed the supply connected to one end so it made fitting a bit easier as well. Starter not required either.

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Thanks Ian, I must look into this a bit more as my tubes are getting on a bi bit like me!

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Not today, but yesterday, I wanted to produce a female thread for a microphone stand.

That sounds straightforward enough, but microphone stands have the obscure thread of 5/8" X 27. At the museum we have hundreds of taps accumulated over the years from toolboxes donated to us. No luck there, I would have to singlepoint it on the lathe.

Of course the lathe did 26 or 28 tpi, and I was unlikely to be able to get the 27 with the limited number of changewheels available. Also, with the 16 size of threading inserts, the hole starting size of 0.588" was looking difficult. I got out a 12mm shank left hand holder and set it up in a four jaw chuck eccentrically and took off metal opposite the insert tip position. With a 1mm iso insert in the holder, I sacrificed part of the carbide with a diamond wheel until the tool would pass into the bore. Roger and I discussed the relative merits of going for 26 or 28 and jointly chose 26. I went for a sloppy fit of about 0.004" over the nominal size and the male part screwed in about 3/8" before starting to bind. The thread does not carry much over a pound of weight so it was a good result. I hope I remember to set forward on the lathe tomorrow before using it, although the chuck lock is fitted.

I think I will look at getting some size 11 inserts, the Chinese holders on ebay are less than £5 each.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Not today, but yesterday, I wanted to produce a female thread for a microphone stand.

That sounds straightforward enough, but microphone stands have the obscure thread of 5/8" X 27. At the museum we have hundreds of taps accumulated over the years from toolboxes donated to us. No luck there, I would have to singlepoint it on the lathe.

Of course the lathe did 26 or 28 tpi, and I was unlikely to be able to get the 27 with the limited number of changewheels available. Also, with the 16 size of threading inserts, the hole starting size of 0.588" was looking difficult. I got out a 12mm shank left hand holder and set it up in a four jaw chuck eccentrically and took off metal opposite the insert tip position. With a 1mm iso insert in the holder, I sacrificed part of the carbide with a diamond wheel until the tool would pass into the bore. Roger and I discussed the relative merits of going for 26 or 28 and jointly chose 26. I went for a sloppy fit of about 0.004" over the nominal size and the male part screwed in about 3/8" before starting to bind. The thread does not carry much over a pound of weight so it was a good result. I hope I remember to set forward on the lathe tomorrow before using it, although the chuck lock is fitted.

I think I will look at getting some size 11 inserts, the Chinese holders on ebay are less than £5 each.

[Anonymous]

Over the last couple of days I've been machining the taper on the chimney former for my traction engines. Roughing was done at 180rpm, 50 thou DOC and 8 thou/rev, so quite modest for me. The chips were coming off dark blue though. FInish cuts were at 370rpm and 4 thou per rev, DOC as required, but generally 5 to 10 thou. Here's the setup for a finishing cut, about 15 minutes per pass:

The template was marked out and filed, don't need super precision! Note the chimney fixing ring from the traction engine hanging on the tailstock quill to test fit and size. Although it's only a former I couldn't resist trying it in situ:

I've been in discussion with a forum member, via PM, regarding the purchase of such a relatively large lump of steel. I mentioned that I got a rather odd finish, and promised to post a picture. So here it is:

The material purports to be EN1A. The general finish is so-so. It measures 3.3µm Ra, which is ok but not brilliant. Of course that doesn't matter for my application. The really odd thing is the darker bands every ¼" or so. I can't think of anything on the lathe that is repeating at that distance. Although the template is hand crafted I doubt my filing would produce such a regular pattern. That leaves the material. Each dark band is a bit shiny, which I associate with harder material when turning with inserts. I wonder if this is something to do with the extrusion or drawing process? As an aside, when roughing I had some problems with chatter. The chatter distance was short. an 1/8" or less, and at random places. One time next to the tailstock, next time in the middle. And the tool never chattered in the same place twice. Once I'd done a few roughing pases the chatter never re-appeared.

The former has tarnished overnight in the engine assembly area, sorry entrance hall, which seems to indicate EN1A.

Andrew

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

Andrew, I have had exactly the same problems turning EN1A, thought it might be the Myford but got exactly the same result using the Holbrook. It doesn’t show up on short parts, like you I was turning a taper a couple of 2 Morse tapers actually, the finish was very smooth but banded just like yours. Would love to know what it is or what causes it.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 11/01/2020 11:37:47:

The general finish is so-so. It measures 3.3µm Ra, which is ok but not brilliant. Of course that doesn't matter for my application. The really odd thing is the darker bands every ¼" or so. I can't think of anything on the lathe that is repeating at that distance.

What's the leadscrew pitch?

Neil

[Anonymous]

And second prize goes to………..Neil, for an interesting idea. The leadscrew is 4tpi, so pitch is 1/4". But why second prize? That's because it's an industrial lathe, so the leadscrew is reserved for screwcutting. The power feeds are driven by a key that slides in a slotted shaft.

It has prompted me to go an measure the bands though. They're nearer 5mm apart, but are inconsistent. Some are 6mm, and some way more than that. The finish does seem to vary slightly within each band. I don't know if the same occurred when roughing as the finish was awful; torn and rough as a badgers rear end.

I don't generally have this problem with EN1A. I have seen something similar once before when I was starting out. The material was supposed to be EN1A, but it would turn beautifully for a varying distance and then suddenly change to rough, and then back again. I got thoroughly depressed and was considering following the advice of the late JohnS, vis take up knitting. The steel was bought from an engineering tool shop in Cambridge. At the time I visited a local machine shop to discuss getting a box CNC machined for work. I mentioned my problem and they said "we don't buy from X, their material is crap".

Andrew

[Phil PParticipant @philp]

I once had a similar problem on my Harrison L5A, I tried just about everything to no avail.

It eventually turned out to be a faulty cage in the front taper roller bearing, new bearings were fitted 25 years ago and it has been OK ever since.

Phil

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

What pitch is the rack along the front of the bed?

Would be interesting to try a straight cut once you have finished doing the chimneys to see if you still get the pattern

[Anonymous]

A rough estimate of rack pitch is 5.5mm, which corresponds to Mod1.75, give or take a bit.

Andrew

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

[ At the risk of attracting ridicule from Hopper ]

Have you considered the possibility that the gear driving the slotted shaft is slightly eccentric ?

This could induce a number of interesting cyclic variations.

MichaelG.

[Joseph Noci 1Participant @josephnoci1]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 11/01/2020 11:37:47:

Over the last couple of days I've been machining the taper on the chimney former for my traction engines. Roughing was done at 180rpm, 50 thou DOC and 8 thou/rev, so quite modest for me. The chips were coming off dark blue though. FInish cuts were at 370rpm and 4 thou per rev, DOC as required, but generally 5 to 10 thou. Here's the setup for a finishing cut, about 15 minutes per pass:

I've been in discussion with a forum member, via PM, regarding the purchase of such a relatively large lump of steel. I mentioned that I got a rather odd finish, and promised to post a picture. So here it is:

The material purports to be EN1A. The general finish is so-so. It measures 3.3µm Ra, which is ok but not brilliant. Of course that doesn't matter for my application. The really odd thing is the darker bands every ¼" or so. I can't think of anything on the lathe that is repeating at that distance. Although the template is hand crafted I doubt my filing would produce such a regular pattern. That leaves the material. Each dark band is a bit shiny, which I associate with harder material when turning with inserts. I wonder if this is something to do with the extrusion or drawing process? As an aside, when roughing I had some problems with chatter. The chatter distance was short. an 1/8" or less, and at random places. One time next to the tailstock, next time in the middle. And the tool never chattered in the same place twice. Once I'd done a few roughing pases the chatter never re-appeared.

The former has tarnished overnight in the engine assembly area, sorry entrance hall, which seems to indicate EN1A.

Andrew

Maybe just changing feet while I open my mouth here, but…

I do not know that lathe at all, but is that a taper turning guide/attachment/mechanism hanging from the rear?

If not, how did you cut the taper – using a taper guide plate of some sort? What keeps the cross slide bearing up against the guide? Or does the lathe have a change gear set that drives saddle and cross slide synced somehow? I would presume the finish has something in whatever mechanism controlled the taper section..

Both feet firmly in mouth now..

[David Davies 8Participant @daviddavies8]

Joseph

the device at the rear of the lathe is a Colchester-Hepworth hydraulic copying attachment. You can see one in action on Keith Fenner,s Colchester-Clausing lathe on his you tube channel.

I don,t know its details but the rear mounted tool post follows the path taken by a stylus in contact with a previously prepared pattern mounted at the rear of the lathe bed as the saddle advances.

HTH

Dave

[Anonymous]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 12/01/2020 11:06:23:

Have you considered the possibility that the gear driving the slotted shaft is slightly eccentric ?

In a word 'no', but I haven't seen the effect before, either sliding or facing.

Andrew

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