SHED MATTERS 2

[David Whipp]

A good sleep gives sound solutions for me...

[Stanley]

A good day. Up early, all the site stuff and emails dealt with and an article written for the paper by 07:30. Walked Jack and was on the job by 08:15. Measured up , marked and cut the wood, perfect fit first time, it had to be thumped into place with a heavy hammer. Two 4" 10s screws in each end and the job was done.



Here's a close up of the offcut from the bearer. Very close grained. This is the wood Johnny got in 1925 to build his first bench at Federation street. Very hard and tough.



Last of all a tighten up of the holding down bolts on the miller and a cut on the bronze block. All is well, almost as solid as it would be on a heavy steel bench. Nodding has gone away. Not a bad day..... (and F1 quali and two hours sleep as well!)

[Stanley]

PS. I remembered to check that the drawers still open smoothly in the chest after the pressure of the bearer came on. All is well, smooth as silk.
I'll be in there today to carry on the reorganisation of the bench.

[Stanley]

Later, after Watching Sochi and having my two hours in bed. Another good day, no article written but....



Everyone has a little glory hole like this, a place where small objects get chucked during the course of shed work. The original intention was to clear this out, put all the bits where they ought to be and make room for my micrometers and small tackle. You won't be surprised to hear that I never got round to it.... Instead I carried on with the tidying round the mill.



Anyone who worked for Henry Brown and Sons a hundred years ago would recognise what this is. A cast iron slide valve lid (cast at Ouzledale Foundry on Forty Steps of course) for one of the donkey engines that Brown's made when Johnny Pickles was foreman. This is a spare that was never used and Newton always used it for a surface plate. When I got two good surface plates from the Tommy Robinson sale at Rochdale I gave Newton the smaller one and he gave me this. I used it at one time as a base for a small drill I made but never used and it has spent years leaned up against the wall on the other side of the mill. It got moved this morning, cleaned up and it will live here but with the other dressed side up.



I decided then to have a more refined look at my ready mounted cutting tools in the blocks for the Harrison tool post. I went through them again, checking shapes, regrinding on the new wheel which is so much more free-cutting and runs much cooler. So far so good but then I decided to address one of my demons! I have always dreaded parting off, for some reason I broke more parting tools than you could poke a stick at. The only one that gave me any success and put a stop to my experiments was the patent parting tool holder you have all seen me use.
Watching other blokes parting off with no problems on Youtube showed me where I thought I was going wrong. I learned my parting form blokes who had started their turning careers on foot treadled machines and the object of the exercise was to use the thinnest tool possible on the lowest speed and keep the effort of turning the lathe to a minimum. So I found a heavier parting tool, sharpened it properly and had a crack at it using a higher speed, a good feed and plenty of oil. Nowt to it of course, completely successful. Problem solved!
So I never got round to the odds and sods but they'll keep until another day... A bit further on towards a better organised shed!

[micktoon]

Hi Stanley, you are really getting back into the swing of shed life now I know what you mean about the ideas coming just as you are falling asleep , my problem is I can remember I thought of a good idea but not what the idea was the next morning
Looks like you have the parting off figured out, my mate John who does the Youtube videos always says don't back off and keep constant feed going and it will work a treat which seems to be what you have done..........Grinder sorted out , fly cutters made , parting and other lathe tools sorted and the bench fixed , it looks like you will be ready for production soon.
Keep up the good work.

Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

Post It notes Mick. As soon as you get an idea write it on a sticky to remind you. That's what I do as otherwise I forget them. Particularly subjects for articles....
I'll be in there again today and I think your mate John is dead right.
Later at 11:00. Nice to sit down after over four hours on my feet! I started this morning by cleaning the Harrison up and binning the swarf. Then I attacked the glory tray and put the good stuff where it should be and binned the rest. Next job was to clean my surface plate, not a big job as I always look after it.



Next I went through what I needed close to hand instead of running to various drawers and treasure chests. So I now have all my mikes, indicators, thread gauges, 'T' gauges for internals and callipers in one compact area. All a great improvement!



That was supposed to be it for the day but as I was typing the above a thought struck me. Can you remember me saying I got two surface plates and gave one to Newton? That one came back home with the 1927 lathe and it was sat in the front room. It's a proper plate, webbed underneath and on three legs so it always sits firm. It's always been a bit big to sit by the little lathe so I swapped it round with the slide valve cover. It weighs a ton and bugger me, when I staggered into the shed and got it on the bench it fouled the left hand cross-feed handle on the mill. My mind raced through alternatives like making a smaller hand-wheel and then it struck me, why do I need two handles anyway? I only ever use one at once and the left hand one was always the one where I barked my knuckles on a spanner lay on the bench so I ripped it off. Problem solved.



I noticed on the picture that there's a brass plate on it. Just for interest it reads,'Reconditioned by Hindley Brothers, Crown Works, Chelmsford'.
Right, that really is close of play! I am now surface plated.....

[Stanley]

Just got up after me two hours asleep in bed and couldn't resist going out to check on the improvements. It's all going to work OK. By the way, the other essential bench tackle is in the grey drawer under the plate and in the top drawer of the chest of drawers under the mill.Lots of stuff right to hand and a good permanent measuring surface ready to use. Aother improvement!

[Stanley]

Have you ever come across what I call 'The Kenwood Mixer' syndrome? You buy a mixer with all the gadgets, stow it neatly away in a cupboard and it's easier to use a whisk than get it out. The same thing applies in the shed I think. If something isn't to hand you tend not to use it. So last night I got my adjustable parallels out and they are going to live nearer the bench! Same applies to the box set of Roebuck parallels which are sitting on top of the small drawers over the bench.

[Stanley]

This is the last of the current round of improvements. When I forced the new bearer into place under the mill I upset the levelling so this morning I addressed the problem. It was a mile out so I had to mill a packing strip for the back left hand corner and luckily enough found a shim just the right size for the front left hand corner. You can't see the bubble on the very sensitive level but it's dead centre after re-tightening the holding down bolts. I think I'll attack the Hemingway kit for the fly cutter tomorrow....

[Stanley]

I didn't get in the shed yesterday, too many things intervened. However, this morning I got mail from Mick who had seen something on Ebay LINK which he thought he recognised.



He was right! The Stockmaster cabinet sold on Ebay for £250 is exactly the same as the one that sits on my bench next to the VM. I got it when I bought some stuff out of a workshop a long time ago. It looks as though it was a good investment. See the Ebay link for full details, it's a brilliant solution for storing small objects.

11:00. I've had three hours in the shed and walked Jack so I thought I'd report while the Oxtail Stew is warming for dinner.
I went in determined not to fall into the comfortable trap of displacement activity under the guise of 'improvements' it's a way of bottling out of testing myself so I read the instructions that came with the fly-cutter kit from Hemingway and set to to make it.



The first instruction was to face the ends of the square stock in the 4 jaw chuck. I knew the chuck had to come off because the main turning is offset and between centres so I cheated. A good 3 jaw will hold square stock accurately enough to face the ends. I like cheating....

I then started to drill the hole of the cutter and the drilled and threaded holes for the 6mm grub screws that will hold the tool eventually. No problem, marked it out and found my first problem, I can't see well enough to locate the end of the punch on the mark for the drill. Big does and little does and juggling with a magnifying glass and I got it near enough. I drilled the hole but then realised that what I had read as four and five sixteents was actually four and fifteen sixteenths! That's why there are two tool holder holes in the stock!



Not to worry, it won't affect the job apart from weakening the bar slightly....
Then I got onto drilling and tapping the 6mm holes into the cutter for the grub screws. What a bloody fiddle, nothing is easy but in the end I got them done and then would you believe dropped the tiny grub screw I was trying in the holes to make sure I had it right. Out with the torch and the magnifying glass and it took me nearly 15 minutes to find it, I had to do this because all mine are Imperial...
Never mind, on to the next hole that needed drilling and tapping. A 4mm screw in the other end to stop the bar coming right through the body of the mandrel. Got the hole on the right place found the right tapping size drill and then broke my 4mm tap in the hole.... I'm sure this was because I can't see well enough. No Matter, I turned the piece over, sharpened my tap and tried again from the other side. Broke the tap again! managed to get that bit out of the hole and tried to drive the broken tap out of the other end of the hole with a nice piece of 3mm silver steel. No go, it's as fast as a thief so I ground the sharp edges of the protruding piece and left it. The screw isn't needed actually and I might get inventive later on and get the broken bit out. Whatever.
So no serious mistakes but what I have found out is that small close marking and fitting is very hard and you have to be very patient...
That's enough honest endeavour for one day, I shall have my Oxtail stew and then watch some videos of Mick's mate John who posts on Youtube as Doubleboost. He does a lot of swearing too.....

[Stanley]

I was watching Mick's friend John (Doubleboost) making a dividing head last night and he makes me laugh. I watch him making the same mistakes that I am guilty of and swearing at himself. I don't often laugh out loud but John can do it for me!
John reminded me of something I have to do before I get round to turning the current work piece between centres so there will be a touch of legitimate displacement activity next time I am in the shed but it won't be today. I am determined to get in front of the paper with the articles so I can concentrate on the shed.

[Stanley]

It's been a good morning, I wrote an article, got into the shed and walked Jack. Things were going well until I realised that what i was sure was a noon appointment for a flu jab was actually 09:00! Bugger!! I'll have to ring the surgery on Monday and grovel....
Back to the shed. I told you there was going to be some displacement activity but all in a good cause. Watching John on Youtube the other day reminded me that it was a long time since I had checked the alignment of my tailstock. I got a piece of ground finish 1" silver steel out of the treasure chest and popped a centre in each end. The three jaw is accurate and the centres will be OK.



I popped the centre into the mandrel and a centre into the tailstock. Made sure the centres were tight and set up an indicator clock on the cross slide. I checked it three times and the alignment is perfect. The needle on the clock stays rock solid as you traverse from one end of the bar to the other. In fact it was so still that at first I didn't believe it was touching! But it was and all is well. All lathes vary a bit over the years and it says something for Harrison that this one is so stable. However, I think you might have noticed the problem!



The mandrel is No. 5 Morse taper and I haven't got one that big so I use q 5 to 4 adapter. No way am I going to get a drive onto the work-piece so we moved to Plan B.



I popped the three jaw back on and an adapter that will take the No 2 Morse taper centre off the 1927 lathe in the front room. Now I have to work out a driver.....

[Stanley]

No, it isn't a burglary or a bomb attack. It's the shed last night after I had a better idea for my dead centre at the headstock. I had to delve into a treasure chest under the lathe to find the bits I wanted.... More later today.

[Stanley]

I'm lucky enough to have a set of collets and a draw-bar made especially for the Harrison lathe. So I got them out last night and this morning det up a collet with a piece of silver steel in it. I set the top slide to 30 degrees and turned myself a nice little centre. It doesn't have to be hardened because it won't move, it's just for location.



That looks a bit better! I found a driver that was just right and here it is yoked up in place. I used to use string for stopping any chatter on the driving pin but thanks to Mick's mate John for the brilliant idea of using a plastic cable tie. Could have been made for the job!



No problems with the turning apart from the fact that I took a bit too much off and ended up under 3/4". No sweat, I shall bore the hole on the arb or to suit the arm. Cause was misreading my calliper gauge! Bloody eyes....



Close of play. I sawed the end off that had the bit of broken tap in it, popped it back into the three jaw and faced and chamfered the cut end. All that needs to be done on this now is to file out the 1/4" hole square to take the cutting bit. That’ll be a laugh.....

[Stanley]

Two hours honest endeavour. The job was to file the 1/4" round hole square to take the 1/4" square cutter. I had exactly the right file, a 1/4" taper but no handle with a small enough hole to take the very sharp tang. I am too old a dog to do dangerous things like use a file without a handle so I had to set to. Cut a piece of broom handle, found a piece of 3/4" copper pipe and made a ferrule. Then turn the end of the handle down until the ferrule drove on to it nice and tight, drill a hole to start the tang and knock it in. I had the file.
Filing round holes square is tedious at the best of times but it's a lot worse when you can't see straight. I went at it as carefully as possible and eventually got it reasonably square.



Here's the result, the grub screws for locking the cutter are in place and tight. All that's needed now is to sharpen it. So tomorrow we start on the body of the cutter, the arbor....
PS I vacuumed the sawdust off the lathe.... I hate wood in the shed!

[doubleboost]

I was watching Mick's friend John (Doubleboost) making a dividing head last night and he makes me laugh. I watch him making the same mistakes that I am guilty of and swearing at himself. I don't often laugh out loud but John can do it for me!
John reminded me of something I have to do before I get round to turning the current work piece between centres so there will be a touch of legitimate displacement activity next time I am in the shed but it won't be today. I am determined to get in front of the paper with the articles so I can concentrate on the shed.

Nice to see you enjoyed my mistakes
John

[Stanley]

John! Lovely to get word from you! I'm on Dividing head 21 at the moment and enjoying every minute. (In case any of you haven't picked up on my posts about Doubleboost on Youtube, go and have a look. A very interesting and highly skilled bloke in a shed doing wonderful things.)
I suppose Mick has told you about my eyes buggering the shed up for over 18 months. It's largely thanks to you that I got my mojo back and went in there again. I envy you the digital readout on the mill, it would make things a lot easier for me at the moment, reading scales is a major operation involving torches, magnifying glasses and a lot more swearing than you do! (Eyes are improving after the operation and every chance that in a month or two I can get new glasses which might improve things. Your safety warnings about wearing glasses are spot on, people don't realise what a handicap it can be....
The skill you have that I envy most is casting. I'm too old, too poor and to constricted to think about venturing into that but all the blokes that started me off were cast iron men, everything started in the foundry.
Picking up a lot of tips from you. I've always used ball bearing shells for parallels and next thing I'm going to make is the brilliant little gizmo made out of a small ball bearing on an accurate arbor.
Send me an email at the Address below with your postal address and I'll pop a book in the post for you that might interest you the next time you have Man Flu. (By the way, Sparey is one of my bibles too....)
Thanks for posting, tell that bum Mick that he's doing too much sculpture, it's bad for him!

[micktoon]

Hi Stanley , glad you have been enjoying Johns videos I looks like my sculpting / carving will lead me into a little metal working too as I now need to make a 'pointing machine' , not really a machine as we know it , more of a gauge, like a height gauge but a 3D version. The funny thing is I had planned on making something like this before I even knew they existed , Just shows when needs must you start thinking of how to do a task and find out someone else had the same thoughts hundreds of years ago ! This is the sort of thing I mean , it transfers location depths, heights from your clay model to gauge where to carve on your wood block http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/pointing-mach ... 2ed7b47483 .............I could do without having to make one right now but thats life lol.
Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

Good, I was missing you..... John's videos are addictive, I never got in the shed yesterday because other matters got in the way so in the little time I had left I watched more of the dividing head. He reminded me of something that has been on my mind for a while.



As for reinventing the wheel. I once invented Critical Path Analysis and was really pissed off when it was pointed out to me that I had been beaten to the post.....
Later at 11:40.
Well it's nice to sit down, I have been doing good works in the shed.



No prizes for noticing the difference. The Harrison light and its bracket took up a lot of room and was very clumsy. Because of that I didn't use it a lot and as you can see, getting rid of it hasn't half opened things up.



I had the small flexible neck table lamp going spare and it will do the job. A bit of digging and I found two good brackets that could be made to fit and half an hour later I've got a massive increase in available space handy to the lathe. I wanted to carry on and finish the job but 3 hours is enough, it was a pleasure to sit down!

[Stanley]

I cracked at tea-time and went back in to glue and pin a moulding on the back edge of the shelf so it would be cured and ready for re-organising this morning. A sensible bloke would have taken the shelf off to hammer the pins in but Stanley decided to chance it.... A half blind man hammering pins into a very hard piece of Keruing next to an expensive double glazed window.... I ask you! However, the providence that looks after drunken men and idiots was on duty and all went well.... Very pleased and looking forward to populating it!

Later at 11:30.





First time I have sat down since 08:00. This honest endeavour lark is satisfying but very tiring! As you can see I haven't been wasting my time. I now have more shelf room than stuff to put on them! That's a first, for 12 years I have been managing with what I had after the initial move in which was done in a big hurry. Mind you, I got it right the first time, I have never felt the need to rearrange where the tackle is. Anyway, stuff is close to hand now, all I have to do is get used to the new arrangement! That's enough for today, I shall have my dinner and watch John talking about pin chucks....

[micktoon]

A good days work Stanley, glad you got away with the window and the hammering. You might have seen the flexible lamp John has on his lathe and mill Stanley, you can get two types from Ikea a clip on like this http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00169635/ and a one with a base that can be removed and the lamp attatched to an angle bracket etc like this http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00169659/ They are LED and have a built in 12 volt transformer in the plug with a switch in the long wire lead. Nice and bright and good value even for a Yorkshireman at £10 . One of the advantages of them is the light part is very light weight so the stem and lamp are slim so its not in the way.
If you have not got an Ikea handy but want any let me know.
Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

Morning Mick, I was tempted by the flexible Ikea lamps but as I had the other going spare I decided to use that one. Mind you, there is always the HM.... Have you got the book I wrote about Brown and Pickles? If not, let me know. I am sending John one as I think it might interest him, I ordered two and if you haven't got it the second copy is yours. If I posted both of them to him, do you see him frequently? Or have I to send them separately.
I keep going into the shed and looking at the improvements! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Funnily enough the best thing about it is that there is no clutter in the suds tray of the lathe and now it's clean it looks far better.
Time now to stop improving and finish the Hemingway fly cutter......



I got all me jobs done and was in the shed by 09:30 so I got an hour in. The cutter bar is finished apart from sharpening the cutter, today was the body. It was surprising how much out of truth the small piece of stock was that came with the kit. It almost looked as though it had been reclaimed from old stock. Still, never mind, soon had it faced off and reversed in the chuck for turning down to 3/4" for the miller chuck.



Here's where I was at knocking off time. All faced and set up and reducing the shank. I was tempted to carry on but I know the limits of my legs! All ready for a flying start tomorrow.... By the way, the new set up is fine I'll soon stop reaching for tackle in the wrong place!

[Stanley]

John struck again yesterday at teatime. I was watching his video on setting four jaw chucks and noticed how he stored his chuck keys. I remembered I had a nice stainless steel pipe rack made as a foreigner for my mate Ted Lawson by a fitter at Rolls Royce. When Ted stopped smoking his pipe he gave it to me but I already had a nice wooden one and it never got used, it became one of those things that are too good to throw away. John triggered me, I went into the shed and put my hands on it straight away (The trick is to remember where you put these things for safety!). Ten minutes overtime and I have a further improvement....

11:45. It's been a busy morning again.I was hampered a bit by having to go for my flu jab so I didn't get into the shed until well after 09:00. Straight into straightforward turning and I soon had the body of the fly-cutter finished to size and nicely chamfered off. No polishing this is tool finish. Just shows what can be done by attending to your sharpening and honing.



I disregarded all the complicated machining instructions in the Hemingway leaflet. I set the arbor up, took a very light skim over the top with a fly cutter and this gave me a register for the top. Measured the centre for the hole and punched it, then a centre drill and I'm ready to start drilling before boring out to size (If I need to, I have a lot of drills in 64ths and will probably get close enough without boring.



Next job was to take the ETM collet chuck out ready for the Morse taper drills and here I hit a problem. The taper on the chuck was as fast as a thief. I haven't a taper wedge big enough for the slot and the one supplied with the machine is useless so what to do? This is where experience comes in. I used the one that was too small but put the next one down in from the other side as an opposing wedge. We used to call them 'folding wedges' when they are used like this. No problem then, it soon broke the seal. Memo to Stanley, when you put it back on don't tighten the draw bar up so much and put a bit of Copaslip anti seize grease on the taper!
That's enough for today. dinner and a nice sit down!

[micktoon]

Hi Stanley , you are well and truely back in the shed now , I am impressed with all you improvements, they all make things easier as your on with a job. Its handy having them chuck keys in the rack too, it will take you a few days to get into the habit of reaching in the right direction for the new location I bet.
Keep up the good work .
Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

I'm enjoying it. Biggest problem is I am getting so many good ideas from watching videos I have a list of tools I want to make. I went in there last night and sorted out some small ball bearings so I can make a couple of John's edge finders....

I have a silly problem.



I have this 4MT arbor that fits my VM. I think it's for mounting small circular cutters and slitting saws but have never used it and have no clear idea. I have a feeling I've forgotten something. Any ideas?

11:20. Jack walked again and dinner made. Nice to sit down. Not a bad morning on the whole, I was right about the hole for the toolbar, no reaming needed, a 23/32" drill was exactly right. It was an old drill that has been badly treated so I put an edge on it and pushed on making the classic mistake of not slowing the mill down so I burned the corners off it! I spent a bit of time on it grinding it back, slowed the mill down and bored the hole but the drill is set on oner side for some proper TLC. Plenty of meat left in it, it just wants cleaning and sharpening properly. A bit of de-burring and the bar was a good fit.



Not a big job to drill and tap for the holding screw and by dinnertime it was finished apart from sharpening the cutter and trying it out.



During the course of the morning I put the collet chuck back on the mill, didn't tighten it too much and remembered to smear the taper with Copaslip anti seize grease! I deserve my afternoon sleep....

I had a good two hours sleep and cane down like a giant refreshed! It won't surprise you to hear that I went out to the shed and sharpened the cutter. Got it all set up and switched the mill on but turned it off immediately because there was a funny vibration in the quill. It wasn't speed and it puzzled me, evidently something to do with the cutter because I had no problems drilling this morning. In the end I did what any good engineer would do, flooded the quill with oil. Now my cheap Taiwan mill is not a Bridgeport or anywhere near. It doesn't even have lubricating points on the quill, I think they were hoping people would wear them out quickly and buy another! All you can do is flood everything with oil and I do it occasionally and eventually it stops running out at the chuck. So I did this and after a few minutes running it quietened down, probably just telling me it was thirsty! I found a nasty rusty piece of steel which had forgotten its parentage, popped it in the chuck, put the mill on its lowest speed, 140rpm and had a go. One false start, it wasn't a good cut so I adjusted the relief on the back of the cutter and that did the trick. It did a good job, clean chips and a reasonable finish. I have no doubt that a bit of tweaking of the cutter will make it even better. Thing is that I can now mill up to 6" wide in one pass and I'm sure that will come in useful. Cleaned everything up and put the cutter to bed in the tool chest. Tomorrow we can play with something else!