Search results

Very clever indeed!

For many many years I always thought the name meant something about raising Cain with model boiler tubes. Doh! I'm sure Mr Pete in the USA was blissfully unaware of Tom Walshaw's nom-de-plume when he took the Bible's first metalworker for his own net handle. Why would anyone in America know...

If the bar is bent, the end will move around in a circle, causing your dial indicator to show runout. even if the chuck is running dead true. An out-of-round piece of bar will show a runout reading right next to the jaws, even in a perfect chuck. Other sources of ground bar includes gudgeon...

How do you know that piece of bar is not bent or deformed? Have you tried other pieces? Or some ground bar out of a computer printer etc.?

You might take a look at the relative bores and strokes of power and displacer cylinders on established designs that are known to work. I sat down and did this once and came up with some rules of thumb about relative sizes but all I remember is that yes, displacer is much bigger than power...

^^^ Yes, when you think about it there is no reason that a three jaw should be the default selfcentring chuck. Probably just tradition based on economy of manufacture. As you say, better grip with a four jaw and really, how often do you need to grip hex bar? And if you do you can grip it in the...

I've had very good service from small drill bits from Tracy Tools in the UK. Reasonably priced too.

Herbie, where are you buying leaded steel in Australia? My local supplier never heard of it.

Yes I think the dangers of drilling are underestimated. Lathes look bigger and scarier but I read somewhere that the highest incidence of workshop injuries involve drills and drill presses. I was caught myself a few years back drilling about a 2 or 3mm hole in a piece of brass held in a small...

Carb off an old whipper snipper might get you going.

I cut left hand threads using conventional forward rotation. Just start the thread at the chuck end and cut towards the tailstock. Likewise for cutting tapers, intsead of reverse rotation, I turn the boring bar upside down and cut on the back side of the job. But there are a couple ways to...

As well as reducing oil supply, you could look at putting on a crankcase breather with reed valve so crankcase pressure can escape but air can not be sucked back in.

6061 or similar aluminium rods with bronze inserts would work well too. I would not use brass. Too soft to withstand the pounding a big end cops. A leaded bronze such as SAE 660 should work OK. I would not use phosphor bronze unless the steel shaft is hardened.

A much simpler formula taught when I was an apprentice: For HSS tooling, on mild steel: 400 divided by job diameter (in inches) = RPM. For carbide tooling, double the RPM found by the above formula. For brass or aluminium, double the RPM. For cast iron or alloy tool steel etc, halve the RPM...

Try your nearest Bohler Uddeholm branch. Or order it from overseas. Often works out cheaper anyway.

I wouldn't lap a bronze bushing. The abrasive particles will stick in the bronze and forevermore wear away at the shaft. +1 on reaming should be good enough for a crankshaft on an old banger (or a newly made model thereof). Or even boring. But as Charles Lamont said, it's best to ream the pair...

That should do you nicely then. Have fun with your old lathe. They can become quite addictive. Some perverse pleasure in doing precision work on something so old and unlikely!

Be careful with phosphor bronze. It is usually very hard and can wear an unhardened steel spindle. Lathe spindles of the ML4 era were typically not hardened. So you might be better to use a leaded bronze that is more suitable for use on unhardened shafting. Look for SAE 660 Bronze or C93200, aka...

It's not just model engines. Restoring old motorcycles is the same. Getting it started the first time is not the end of the job. There is always a list of things that need tinkering with the first few hundred miles or more before the job is finished. Same with full-sized industrial machinery...

You are better off to use a vertical slide on a lathe for milling. It is more sturdy than either a vertical milling head attachment or a cobbled up drill press. Many many model engines were made this way in the 100 years or so before cheap Chinese milling machines became available. Avoid the...