Table of contents for May 2022 in Model Engineer & Workshop

A Change in Ownership As of the first of April, Model Engineers’ Workshop, along with Model Engineer, Radio Control Models and Electronics and Model Boats have been transferred to the publisher Mortons. I’m pleased to reassure readers and subscribers that this doesn’t mean any sudden changes, and the same team will be working on MEW. In the medium term, Mortons are open to some positive changes readers have asked for. Many readers will already know and read other Mortons titles, such as many motorbike and rail related magazines. Mortons also have much experience in organising and promoting exhibitions and shows, and hopefully this expertise will benefit their new modelling titles in the future. Here’s the official announcement: MyTime Media Ltd announces the sale of four of its brands to Mortons…

Using my Dore Westbury mill, a 19 mm diameter hole was being drilled in the workhead of a small clone of a Bridgeport turret mill in order to install a quill clamp as part of its conversion from stepper motor drive to manual operation. The spindle rotation of the Dore Westbury began to hesitate and then slip, accompanied by unhappy noises from within the gearbox. This short article describes what had gone wrong and what I did to put matters right. Background information As a lockdown project for a friend, I was entrusted with both making and fitting manual drive to the workhead on the ram of a Bridgeport type turret mill. This mill is identified as Model 830 VS on the Chester website. An almost identical machine (with a…

In a recent article (MEW 312) I described a simple sliding angle grinder stand, photo 1, that used 3D printed parts for the sliding components. This simple stand facilitates accurate cuts at 90 degrees, 45 degrees and parallel to the angle grinder blade. In practice the stand has worked well but with use a few small improvements have been made. The cutting surface The original surface was the melamine board that was the base of the whole unit. Very quickly this became very dirty and cut about directly under the disc blade. My first thought was to cover the cutting surface with a sheet of 3mm steel plate. However, in the midst of the Covid 19 crisis this was not readily available and instead I have just added a sheet…

The chuck I am dealing with is a 4inch Pratt Burnerd three-jaw, specially made for a Myford ML7 lathe. It is approximately 40 years old so you may find different arrangements on any later, updated versions, photo 1. Under most circumstances, when cleaning is required, it is possible to just remove the jaws with the chuck key as usual and with a small screwdriver blade scrape out any swarf in the scroll whilst turning it with the chuck key and clean the jaw teeth and slides but don’t add oil or grease. Complete dismantling should only be necessary occasionally. However, this does necessitate resetting the centralisation upon rebuilding. Complete dismantling should only be necessary occasionally. However, this does necessitate resetting the centralisation upon rebuilding. The body is mounted with three…

A good number of years ago I treated myself a quick change tool holder set for my elderly Myford 7, illustrated in photo 1 with my shop made tangential turning tool. I found the magic of setting individual tools to centre height, exchanging them for others and then returning the first without having to reset the centre height. This led to the purchase of more and then more holders including a long reach one. I found myself requiring yet more holders but the ones I ordered from a previous supplier would not fit. These were replaced but the replacements would not fit so were returned. Where to now? I managed for a while but then took up the challenge of finding more holders that would fit and a supplier sent…

When contemplating converting my pillar mill/drill to CNC I noticed the bellows between table and pillar was perished. Looking for a replacement I could not find a suitable one. In any case I did not like the original one as swarf collects in the grooves which prevents moving the table fully back. This requires regular clearing which is annoying. To me cleaning bellows is as much fun as completing a tax return. This all meant devising my own solution that was easy to clean and would not clog. My thinking was that few high folds would be best. So why not no fold? This led to my solution that is best described by photo 1. A metal plate is bent as shown and attached to the table with a piano…

WHETHER MODEL or full size, it is essential for many pipes and joints to be proof against leakage of pressure and liquids and, at the same time, it must be possible to dismantle and reassemble them. Meeting the different conditions calls for a variety of joints and washers, since what is acceptable in one application may not be suitable in another. Some joints need to be pulled very firmly together and withstand considerable heat, for exam le, motorcycle and car cylinder cads, the former using thin annealed copper joints, the latter copper-asbestos gaskets. Other joints require to be pulled firmly together and withstand the action of petrol or oil, for which reason taps and union fittings usually seat on a thin fibre washer. Where there is less pressure, cork washers…

Sooner or later every hobby engineer ends up making their own tools and jigs. Whether this is to save money, to solve a problem there isn’t a commercial tool for or just for the experience doesn’t matter -there is a real satisfaction to be had from using a well-made tool that you created yourself. For your first home-built tool it is a good idea to start with a commercial kit, but as you confidence grows you can try building a published design or even inventing your own tools and adopting other people’s designs. Tools from Kits There are several companies who specialise in kits or castings for making workshop tooling. College Engineering Supplies stock castings for various useful items such as vices and clamping sets as well as the Jacobs…

TIP OF THE MONTH WINNER! This month’s winner is Peter Love with a sneaky tip for making a flexible clamp for use with his milling machine. I have very recently taken out of service my 1980’s Alpine mill and replaced it with a new Axminster ZX30M, much to my wife’s bemusement I then set about taking it to pieces and fitted (1) a Three axis DRO (2) a Three phase motor and VFD (3) a Spindle speed RPM readout ( more on that in another MEW submission ) and (4) a Powered cross table assembly, however, a nuisance that I have never got to grips with is a solid fixing point for a DTI. I made a split clamp that worked ok but the aesthetics would have made any machinist…

The design for this very useful tool is far from new, the one that I use is a hand me down from my toolmaker father and I well remember him using it in his workshop in the fifties. Its primary use is around the drilling machine, but such is the nature of the tool that it has seen service at some time or another on all the machines in my home workshop and some other uses besides. The tool itself consists of two plates screwed together accurately to form an angle block. The sizes of the two plates are not critical, those shown in the drawings are really intended as a guide for those with a classic 312” centre height lathe who would want to do the bulk of the…

Welding is the joining of two metals by melting them together with a filler material. It is one of the strongest ways of joining metals and is well suited to fabricating metal structures from plate, tube or even sheet. Most steels are easily welded but cast iron, stainless steel and aluminium require more expertise and special filler metals. The high temperatures required mean that some specialist equipment is needed. Common to all welding is the need for goggles to cut down the light, heat and ultra-violet radiation given off. For gas welding there is relatively little UV and the light is less intense so a simple pair of welder’s goggle is adequate, but for electrical welding fullface protection is essential. Most hobby welding sets include a basic face shield but…