Search results

In one of my other hobbies - restoring old jukeboxes - I had to restore a "ballbearing" raceway - a Zink diecast part that had become badly brinelled - so much so that it no longer rotated properly I pondered how I could replicate the 1/16" radius required for the 1/8" diameter balls - then it...

I have been using a cluster diamond for dressing my bench grinder wheels. This was a nearly worn-out unit from a centreless grinder and has lasted years. A friend asked if I could find him one - no luck - not at a reasonable price. Then I came up with this idea using the clusters off a Ø5"...

This is a hexagonal mount ER32 collet chuck I use for milling hexagons :- I just open the vice rotate the hex shank and continue - accurate enough for spanner flats and hexagons. An a lot easier than mounting the dividing head or rotary table. See also my thread on using such a cheap and...

I built the original as a proof of concept and to confound the curious :- I have exhibited this every year at our local modeling club as a curiosity. However it's always been pug-ugly and I figured I needed to tart it up some. Top Left - Beginning to look old. Top Right - I normally use an old...

I had to turn out 24 eccentric pins :- Tedious to clock each one in a 4 jaw, so I mounted my ER32 collet chuck in my 4-jaw for a "production Run :- Top Left - my ER32 on a home made adaptor flange - fits my lathe - extra holes adapt to my mill and dividing head. Mid-Left - the castellations...

This may be an old trick but its new to me. My hobby lathe does not have coolant and trying to dribble in HP cutting oil whilst parting off it tends to throw it out before it does anything useful. How to deliver coolant to the cutting edge ? Then it dawned on me to use a syringe :- Delivered...

Has anyone tried to wire cut the developed shape of a piston ring ? I am thinking of trying it so I'm just throwing this in to see if it is not just another barking mad idea by yours truly. Couldn't find much useful on the internet so I thought I'd just give it a whirl. Comments would be...

Finally finished and a better video :- Music Credit Oxygene Part IV Jean-Michael Jarre (publishing requirement by YouTube - damn they have smart software). Drawings attached. HYPO2.DWG = Acad10 file HYP2Model(1) = A0 Singles sheet print of the drawing (you have to print it big to get the...

If you simply clamp a short length part in an ER type collet it will tend to close bell mouthed and does not secure the part well. In order to prevent this it is necessary to support the rear of the the collet vis :- In this example I needed to turn a bearing bush with a shoulder in the middle...

I was in contemplative mood and playing with my hypocycloid engine and wondering what else I might - as an engineer - accomplish with its strange motions. See prior Hypocycloid :- Hypocycloidal Engine It suddenly dawned on me that any point on the PCD of the pinion gear will describe a...

I have never found a suitable vice for my mini-mill - either too small or too big - particularly too high. So I have for some years been using a pair of those cheap 4 inch "drill press" vices which as supplied are near useless for accurate work but with a bit of work can be remarkably useful...

I needed a long series drill (below - for obvious reasons) - simply drilled a piece of rod and used Locktite stud lock to secure. The shank end is a little smaller than the drill and allows the adhesive to wick in and was ready to use in a few minutes. A quick heat with a butane torch to...

I am going to rewind my single phase lathe motor from 220 single phase 50Hz. To 220V three phase 125Hz and run it off a single phase VFD (variable frequency drive) and in the process increase the motor's output nearly three times. I will cover this in a sequence of posts. Those of you with only...

My design of the Mathew Murray Hypocycloidal drive gear which translates linear to rotary motion - always wanted to build this mechanism. And a clip of it running You can follow the build thread here... Hypocycloidal Engine I per usual have posted the drawings under downloads...

Plans for this engine In ACAD.dwg or *.DXF (zipped) plus a single A0 sheet *.PDF And a clip of it running You can follow the build notes at Hypocycloidal Engine I have the build notes in MSword.docx (11Mb) or pdf (6Mb) - too big to post - but you can contact me via a personal message -...

The Hypocycloidal design always intrigued me as I could not see any valid reason for going to such extremes when a simple crank would suffice – that was until I discovered that this was to work around various patents that had been lodged covering the crankshaft. (Edit) I started this post...

Since this is a fairly long post, I'm going post the first part and the remainder as an attached PDF file. Gear Cutting – Home Engineering Style. It is possible using AutoCad or similar drafting package to develop you own custom (as well as standard) gear profiles. From this you can also make...

I was given this as a gift since I'm a petrol head :- Meant as a tyre tread depth gauge, I have found it to be perfectly useful as a depth gauge for machining. The plastic body is a bit of a put off and its cheap as chips - but in spite of this is accurate enough for most purposes. Its compact...

In response to a thread on troubleshooting compression problems, I thought I would share this tip which I use on full size engines (I haven't tried it on a model yet) - but the principal is the same. Very useful where access is tight / restricted / small. Make an airline fitting to fit into...

I bought a cheap Chinese 4 jaw scroll chuck - actually a woodwork chuck and adapted it for use on my lathe - mostly as a die holder. The "Soft Jaws" are actually scrap from a waterjet cutting operation but I did add the slots and holes to use the scrap - I've got a bagfull. I made a 2MT shank...