The Night Mail

[jamie92208]

Slight change of plan today. As it's cool, as noted above, and French doesn't start till 10.30 I had a rush of blood to what passes for a brain.  The Woodshed tidied and the first stear of firewood stacked. Just 5 more to go.  If I can get 2 a day done I will be happy.  

 

Jamie

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Using machine tools effectively is probably summed up as 10% knowledge and 90% practice.

I'm not quite certain there Jamie, but i think the Big H just might be insinuating that you're a 'lazy so and so'. But of course I might be wrong and instead he might offering his services as a nine three quarters fingered lathe operator. I'll leave you to decide.

[New Haven Neil]

I used to be quite handy with machine tools, but, err, rather a lot of time has passed since then. Like 40 years. Pah.  I have used Colchester, Milner (edit - or was it Milnes?), Harrison, Myford and South Bend in descending order of size in my time, the Harrison being by far my favourite.

 

Some of the loft contents I had forgotten about are soon to be dispatched eastwards in exchange for things that are of more use to me now.  It is amazing what else you find when you rake through boxes looking for something you know you have - found two of those spam can things Olddudders mentions, one a fetching shade of light green as built.  No recall of buying it. The other is an 'Exeter', once worth more than gold of comparable weight due to under production or something.  I'm sure it is no more valuable than any other nowadays. 

Edited October 16, 2023 by New Haven Neil

[Tony_S]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Though I do have a shed of a certain size, I only have one lathe.  Rather small, a Unimat.  I just wish I knew how to use it properly.  I did manage to make something with it last week though. 

 

Jamie

I went to a school where every boy was expected to know how to use a lathe and mechanical calculators to prepare us for life in the late 20th century. I haven’t got a lathe or a mechanical calculator. 

[Dave Hunt]

5 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Though I do have a shed of a certain size, I only have one lathe.  Rather small, a Unimat.  I just wish I knew how to use it properly.  I did manage to make something with it last week though. 

 

Jamie

Somewhere in my s**d (oops, I nearly put shed there) I’ve got a beginners book on the Unimat 3. If I can find it I’ll send it to you when I get back from Spain.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

We spent a few days last week in the Parador at Nerja with some ex-schoolmates and spouses, which was very nice if a bit pocket damaging.

View from our room 

 

And from the bar

When we got back yesterday it was just in time to watch the last two RWC quarter finals, which were good games although I think that England will need a lot of luck against South Africa next Saturday.

 

At the moment I’m in a cafe in Competa while the women folk go shopping so I’ve taken the opportunity to invest in a breakfast bacon roll and coffee.

 

 Which should keep the inner man satisfied until this evening. Later on it will be time to check on my flotation characteristics again before the ritual G&T arrives.

 

Only a week to go.

 

Dave

[jamie92208]

51 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Somewhere in my s**d (oops, I nearly put shed there) I’ve got a beginners book on the Unimat 3. If I can find it I’ll send it to you when I get back from Spain.

 

Dave

Thanks Dave,  I bought the Unimat from Uncle T,who had got it from the estate of a former club member.  IIRC there was some documentation with it.  I may have the ook but will let you know.  There are quite a few attachments with it such as a 4 jaw chuck and a  milling attachment.   

 

Jamie

[monkeysarefun]

6 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

 Rather small, a Unimat.  I just wish I knew how to use it properly.  I did manage to make something with it last week though. 

 

Jamie

 

 

Awesome. I bought a second hand unimat SL  in 1978  when I was in 3rd form, using my pocket money at the time. I got an attachment every birthday or christmas so it ended up becoming  quite a workshop.

 

The motor always let it down though, bogging down at the merest application of  a tool to a workpiece. I fixed that recently via a 24V scooter motor and a variable speed control. Those scooter motors are cheap as curly  oven fries  but have ridiculous  torque ( or is it power? - whatever..)  nothing scares it now, I was sawing through some grey Ironbark a few weeks ago, which is insanely hard, and it didn't skip a beat.   5 stars.

Edited October 16, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Dave Hunt]

40 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Thanks Dave,  I bought the Unimat from Uncle T,who had got it from the estate of a former club member.  IIRC there was some documentation with it.  I may have the ook but will let you know.  There are quite a few attachments with it such as a 4 jaw chuck and a  milling attachment.   

 

Jamie

The book I have is, IIRC, The Book Of The Unimat 3 by Laidlaw Dickson.

 

If you have the milling attachment I think it is worth trying to get an extra motor as it saves a lot of faffing about changing over from lathe to milling machine. I did have one but a ‘friend’ ‘borrowed’ it some years ago and I haven’t seen it since; must try to get another one.

 

Dave

[polybear]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Milnes?

 

Milnes it is.  Lathes.co.uk is your friend......

[New Haven Neil]

7 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Milnes it is.  Lathes.co.uk is your friend......

 

Thanks PB.

 

This was obviously clouding the memory:

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/milners-tower

 

Although this description misses the fact that the top of the tower, seen in silhouette from Port Erin at the end of the day mimics the shape of a Milner safe key head.

[Tony_S]

Aditi decided after much weather forecast perusal that today was the last day we could apply the preservative stain to her sheds.  She was mainly concerned about the big shed she calls a summerhouse. All done except for back of the medium shed as it will need emptying and dragging out to do the back wall. I thought I had finished for the day but Aditi asked for a road pin so she could support some floppy plants. This turned out to be could I hit it hard enough with a sledgehammer before she  adjusted the plants.

Tony

Edited October 16, 2023 by Tony_S

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

The book I have is, IIRC, The Book Of The Unimat 3 by Laidlaw Dickson.

 

If you have the milling attachment I think it is worth trying to get an extra motor as it saves a lot of faffing about changing over from lathe to milling machine. I did have one but a ‘friend’ ‘borrowed’ it some years ago and I haven’t seen it since; must try to get another one.

 

Dave

Thanks again.  The milli g attachment does have it's own motor.  I'll check the books later.  2 more tears of wood stacked with some help from the boss.  That's half of it done in a day. 

 

Jamie

[PupCam]

7 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Using machine tools effectively is probably summed up as 10% knowledge and 90% practice.

 

Very true but it has to be the correct 10%  most of which is common sense if you think long and hard e.g.  

    1) Make sure adequate material is gripped

    2) Don't try machining long unsupported overhangs

    3) Start with small, light cuts and always cuts appropriate to the material, the tool and the machine

    4) Set the tool to centre height*  i.e. the cutting point of the tool is at the same height above the bed as the axis through the centre of the chuck and tail stock 

    5) Even a baby lathe can bite.   That is not to put anyone off but just to make them aware.

     etc etc

 

      * Perhaps the  MOST IMPORTANT general requirement but not an obvious one

 

"Making the most of the Unimat" by Rex Tingey is a good little book particularly detailing as it does the many improvement projects for the mini beast although there is very little on the basic operations of turning, boring, facing and form tools & parting off which pretty much covers the basic operations that beginners will need.    I'll see if I can find some useful works on the subject.

 

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

We spent a few days last week in the Parador at Nerja with some ex-schoolmates and spouses, which was very nice if a bit pocket damaging.

View from our room 

 

And from the bar

When we got back yesterday it was just in time to watch the last two RWC quarter finals, which were good games although I think that England will need a lot of luck against South Africa next Saturday.

 

At the moment I’m in a cafe in Competa while the women folk go shopping so I’ve taken the opportunity to invest in a breakfast bacon roll and coffee.

 

 Which should keep the inner man satisfied until this evening. Later on it will be time to check on my flotation characteristics again before the ritual G&T arrives.

 

Only a week to go.

 

Dave

 

Looks like absolute Hell!

 

Alan

[Tony_S]

17 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

Very true but it has to be the correct 10%  most of which is common sense if you think long and hard e.g.  

    1) Make sure adequate material is gripped

    2) Don't try machining long unsupported overhangs

    3) Start with small, light cuts and always cuts appropriate to the material, the tool and the machine

    4) Set the tool to centre height*  i.e. the cutting point of the tool is at the same height above the bed as the axis through the centre of the chuck and tail stock 

    5) Even a baby lathe can bite.   That is not to put anyone off but just to make them aware.

     etc etc

 

      * Perhaps the  MOST IMPORTANT general requirement but not an obvious one

 

"Making the most of the Unimat" by Rex Tingey is a good little book particularly detailing as it does the many improvement projects for the mini beast although there is very little on the basic operations of turning, boring, facing and form tools & parting off which pretty much covers the basic operations that beginners will need.    I'll see if I can find some useful works on the subject.

 

 

Looks like absolute Hell!

 

Alan

I can clearly remember similar instructions from basic lathe use at school. Especially number 4. School didn’t have any baby lathes! Some people managed to have accidents, swarf or chuck key incidents spring to mind. 

[PupCam]

12 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

............................. or chuck key incidents spring to mind. 

 

The very first thing drilled into us over and over again was NEVER LEAVE A CHUCK KEY IN A CHUCK!

 

To this very day if I see a lathe quietly sitting there with a key in the chuck I feel distinctly uneasy.  Such was the power of the message embedded by Robbie Stancombe, the turning instructor 50 years ago.   

 

I bet @polybear agrees!

 

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

The only time my little Unimat bit me was when I did exactly one of the things that Puppers warned against above. I put a piece of brass bar in the chuck that was too long to be unsupported by a centre in the tail stock but being lazy didn’t bother to do that and whammo! DH is clouted on the forehead by an angry lump of brass. An inch lower and an eye would have gone. Lesson learned as they say.

 

Dave

Edited October 16, 2023 by Dave Hunt

[Dave Hunt]

?

Edited October 16, 2023 by Dave Hunt
Dunno what happened there

[Dave Hunt]

9 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

 

 

And this Polybear told you to what??

 

 

Dave

[polybear]

16 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

The only time my little Unimat bit me was when I did exactly one of the things that Puppers warned against above. I put a piece of brass bar in the chuck that was too long to be unsupported by a centre in the tail stock but being lazy didn’t bother to do that and whammo! DH is clouted on the forehead by an angry lump of brass. An inch lower and an eye would have gone. Lesson learned as they say.

 

Dave

 

Bear wears a full face mask rather than safety glasses/goggles for that very reason.

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I went to a school where every boy was expected to know how to use a lathe and mechanical calculators to prepare us for life in the late 20th century. I haven’t got a lathe or a mechanical calculator. 

And how's your life been without that knowledge.

[polybear]

19 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

 

 

Is that a rather young Puppers by any chance?

They'd done away with those sexy caps in my day.

Good photo of Robbie "Ape Sh1t" Stancombe by the way.

Dunno who the other Geezer is.

[AndyID]

Monster coal train derailment in Colorado has blocked Interstate 25.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Aditi decided after much weather forecast perusal that today was the last day we could apply the preservative stain to her sheds.  She was mainly concerned about the big shed she calls a summerhouse. All done except for back of the medium shed as it will need emptying and dragging out to do the back wall. I thought I had finished for the day but Aditi asked for a road pin so she could support some floppy plants. This turned out to be could I hit it hard enough with a sledgehammer before she  adjusted the plants.

Tony

That's a bit much isn't it hitting your much beloved with a sledge hammer. Just out of curiosity how's the road pin doing.

[newbryford]

2 minutes ago, AndyID said:

Monster coal train derailment in Colorado has blocked Interstate 25.

 

Unfortunately there is a fatality.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/16/us/coal-train-derailment-driver-death-colorado/index.html