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Got a bit fed up with my old lathe (Emco compact 5) and put it on the market. It sold within 1 hour.  New toy arrived yesterday.  Now I have no excuse. There are 2 model railway related projects in the pipeline.

 

My new toy

51051925093_7ab3c50c76_b.jpg20210318_213217

 

 

Edited by Vecchio
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8 hours ago, Vecchio said:

Got a bit fed up with my old lathe (Emco compact 5) and put it on the market. It sold within 1 hour.  New toy arrived yesterday.  Now I have no excuse. There are 2 model railway related projects in the pipeline.

 

My new toy

51051925093_7ab3c50c76_b.jpg20210318_213217

 

 

 

It should be able to accommodate the smallest quick-change toolpost like this. I have found it to be a very worthwhile investment.

EDIT: You should be able to mount it on the compound without any shims or spacers. I only have them under the tool post as shown here so that I can swap tools between two lathes without having to adjust each tool's height. (I now seem to have acquired eleven tool holders of various forms :))

 

DSCN5038.JPG.59fd511bb7db23fc544216a794a4c8bb.JPG

Edited by AndyID
Moinfo
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No fear, have one on order already from ARC eurotrade. Will need a bit of machining as my lathe has a boss at the bottom of the bolt, but this is part of the game. I had one as well on my old lathe, and they are really worth the money. Set up properly once per holder and then forget it!

 

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Difficult to work with steel, specially parting off. The bed is not stiff enough for these jobs, you get easily vibrations which show as a pattern on the surface you have worked on. And yes, I have adjusted all gib strips as good as possible to avoid any unwanted movements.

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1 hour ago, Vecchio said:

Difficult to work with steel, specially parting off. The bed is not stiff enough for these jobs, you get easily vibrations which show as a pattern on the surface you have worked on. And yes, I have adjusted all gib strips as good as possible to avoid any unwanted movements.

'

I like to use leaded steel when I can get it. Much easier to machine.

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It worked well with cast iron (made 3 stuart and turner machines), brass or aluminium. Also I shouldnt say anything bad about my compact 5, it served me 38 years, made all kind of parts for my model railway, I made hundrets of insulators (they didn't insulate as they were from brass) for my overhead lines. So not a bad machine, but with its limits.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All, The weathers been so nice here in the UK this last couple of day's that I decided to get out into the workshop and make another index plate ( yes I've got more gears to make for de snitzlton locomotive) .

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Here's the new 39, 45,50 and 55 hole index plate made as previously described - drilled and countersunk with a centre drill.

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After recounting the number of holes in the first plate virtually every time I needed to make a new gear, I decided to engrave the plates with a Taylor Hobson 2D pantograph.

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After engraving, the numbers are given a dose of felt tip pen, and then lightly rubbed with emery paper / cloth.

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All done, not bad for a couple of day's work. Now perhaps I should spring clean the workshop.

 

Edited by snitzl
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You better work in your workshop! I enjoy lovely temperatures and no need to take out the old gas heater (who is bad for all metal surfaces as it produces a lot of humidity...)

Spring cleaning can be done whenever you feel like it...

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 16/02/2021 at 15:52, halfwit said:

Another item to look for if you own a U3 is a watchmakers collet adaptor. The business end is hardened and ground and fits in the end of the spindle, with a drawbar which fits inside the spindle and clamps the (threaded) 8mm watchmakers collets. One of the advantages of this accessory is the availability of stepped collets, very useful for holding small wheels and gears for facing/boring etc.

Here's a little additional information regarding 8mm watchmaker collets (stepped collets).

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The above, is a list of 8mm collet manufacturers with thread and body details, notice the two variation's in thread diameters, I have both types i my collection and therefore also require two draw bars.

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The stepped collets are numbered 1 to 5 with a range of approximatley 4.0mm dia to 22.0mm dia in 0.2mm increments.

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Here's a small bogie wheel mounted in a stepped collet. The one negative learned so far is that the crankpin on driver wheels, get's in the way when mounted as illustrated above.

 

The collet dimensional nformation listed above was obtained from Sherline's site, the PDF can be obtained here Sherline PDF.

 

Hope this snippet, is of use to someone.

 

Regards Snitzl

Edited by snitzl
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Fohrman also make stepped chucks which can be held in a 3 jaw. I have a few, good quality, but not as easy to use as the watchmakers type. As for watchmakers lathes themselves, Donald DeCarle's book on the subject is useful, especially regarding the various collets and their uses (although it has to be said that a lot of the information will be of little use to us, but it is interesting to know how the machines are supposed to be used).

 

Two thread types are used with 8mm watchmakers collets, B8 (40TPI )and WW (.625mm pitch). B8 collets will work with a WW drawbar, but WW collets will bind in a B8 'bar. Luckily my drawbar works with both.

 

Collets made by different manufacturers vary slightly in length as well, mine are a mixture but I've not had problems with them in use. 

 

image.png.7f7f8d8e6c3fd188f65548532c320d28.png

Edited by halfwit
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At the moment, it does seem that Fohrmann won't supply to the UK, in the future maybe they will, so mentioning them is I believe relevant. And not everyone on here lives in the UK.

 

Anyway, here's one in use holding a wheel to be faced to length;

 

image.png.ad64289a4916fa3d2ecb033beefc3755.png

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30 minutes ago, halfwit said:

At the moment, it does seem that Fohrmann won't supply to the UK, in the future maybe they will, so mentioning them is I believe relevant. And not everyone on here lives in the UK.

 

Anyway, here's one in use holding a wheel to be faced to length;

 

image.png.ad64289a4916fa3d2ecb033beefc3755.png

 

OK for facing but not so good for boring. The three-jaw would introduce some runout. Better to use a four-jaw for that (except it's a pain to setup :D)

 

Edit: My mistake. A four-jaw won't work!

Edited by AndyID
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Profile turning and boring need to be done in the same set-up for maximum concentricity. Which is what I do, parting off after then facing to length. Although using a watchmakers step collet would improve matters if one did need to bore after turning for any reason.

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It’s worth remembering that where a repeatable setup is required a chuck with soft jaws is well worth having.  Most reputable chuck makers will supply soft jaws with the chuck. I use a four jaw self centering, which has both hard and soft jaws and was quite reasonably priced.  I also find it very useful for turning square stock.
 

As an example of a typical use, here is a wheel which has been reprofiled with a form tool.  The wheel was held on a mandrel which clamped the tyre to prevent straining the delecate plastic spokes. The soft jaws have been machined to form a recess which will hold the wheel for boring the centre hole for the axle.  As six are required I can be sure that the next five will run just as true as the first one.

 

Ian.

 

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Edited by ian@stenochs
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12 hours ago, ian@stenochs said:

It’s worth remembering that where a repeatable setup is required a chuck with soft jaws is well worth having.  Most reputable chuck makers will supply soft jaws with the chuck. I use a four jaw self centering, which has both hard and soft jaws and was quite reasonably priced.  I also find it very useful for turning square stock.
 

As an example of a typical use, here is a wheel which has been reprofiled with a form tool.  The wheel was held on a mandrel which clamped the tyre to prevent straining the delecate plastic spokes. The soft jaws have been machined to form a recess which will hold the wheel for boring the centre hole for the axle.  As six are required I can be sure that the next five will run just as true as the first one.

 

Ian.

 

Possibly a bit less expensive :)

 

DSCN5001.JPG.2a4a9b89d8a39636b22cf029edc10924.JPG

 

It's an off-cut of teak flooring attached to a backplate. The wheel flange is an interference fit with the teak. Negligible runout. Of course it's only good until it's separated from the backplate.

 

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On 11/04/2021 at 18:12, AndyID said:

The three-jaw would introduce some runout.

Better to use a (split) collet, as suggested. 

 

Working in 7mm scale with steel tyres, I have never had a problem with any of this. 

 

David

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On 12/04/2021 at 17:36, ian@stenochs said:

 As six are required I can be sure that the next five will run just as true as the first one.

 

For a newbie could you explain: what gives this guarantee? The fact that you won't slacken the chuck?

 

I'd like to see a photo of the arrangement you used when profiling the tyre -- next time perhaps?

 

Thanks a lot -- this thread is very helpful.


Ben

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1 hour ago, readingtype said:

 

For a newbie could you explain: what gives this guarantee? The fact that you won't slacken the chuck?

 

I'd like to see a photo of the arrangement you used when profiling the tyre -- next time perhaps?

 

Thanks a lot -- this thread is very helpful.


Ben


Ben,

 

The jaws are clamped onto a piece of round bar using the inside face of the jaw and noting which chuck key socket that was used to tighten them. The step in the chuck is now turned to the diameter of the object to be held.  The round bar is removed, using the noted socket, and the workpiece placed in the chuck.  As long as the chuck remains on the lathe parts held in the turned step will always run true.  Note this only works for workpieces all of the same diameter, as my 6 wheels in the example given.


The setup I use to profile the tyres is shown below.  The mandrel is held in the chuck and the wheel clamped onto the tyre with a substantial washer and screws, shown before tightening up in the picture.  There is no strain put upon the spokes.  The tyre profile is done at slow speed with a form tool which I mount on a rear tool post so that the swarf drops away from the cutting edge and cannot get jammed.  The tool is fed very slowly and I note the reading when the first tyre is correct size.  All the other wheels are turned to the same setting and are automatically all the same size and profile.

 

When using a form tool it is important that the saddle is locked and there is no play in the cross slide, a smear of cutting fluid and a stoned cutting edge also helps give a fine surface finish.

 

Ian.

 

C6B09256-9FA5-4AFC-B1CC-4B5F88B5B758.jpeg.8029a52c03bfa079374895c916982f6d.jpeg

 

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