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#14371 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:59 am
by Ant
I think these lathes are well worth updating, i was looking a while back at replacements and for something of similar capabilities and quality the entry price was around 2 grand.

Out if curiosity i had a look for md65's on fleabay this morning and there were plenty of bits but no complete machines.

So doing some measuring ive worked out i need a 12mm shim in order to get the toolpost high enough to put the cutter height in the middle of the adjustment range of the new toolpost. This is with a 3/8" tool in the holder, and gives 1/4" adjustment up and down which should be plenty, although i think the really little boring bar i have will probably need a shim under it in the carrier as it is only 5mm thick.

Worked out using the thickness of the top slide, the required shim thickness to get the cutter on centre, and the tool thickness of the current setup, and the height of the new toolpost from the base surface to the top of the tool when the carrier is in the middle of the adjustment range.
I will have to change the bolt, with the shim in place it will not be quite long enough, it will only engage a thread or two when tightened down which is a recipie for stripped threads. I could make the shim thinner but that will narrow the adjustment range considerably which is not much good.

I did find some m10 bolts in my stash of 'things that will come in useful' that are plenty long enough to cut down to the right size so thats sorted

Onwards!

#14372 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 2:42 pm
by Ant
Got the new toolpost on, had a go on a bit of scrap aluminium and it was well worth doing
It feels much smoother when cutting and the surface finish is much better than i expected. Even the nasty 1.5mm hss parting blade i tried before seems to feed in smoothly. Its still awful, but im not afraid its going to shatter and take my eye out

Ill put some pictures on later

#14373 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 4:47 pm
by Ant
couple of pics

ImageHobbymat md65 toolpost mod by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

here you can see the body of the toolpost with the turned 12mm aluminium shim under it and the test piece i just faced off in the chuck just to the right of it

here the dovetail with the carrier on it, pull the lever on the top to lock it in

ImageHobbymat md65 toolpost mod by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

and the carrier itself with the awful shite parting tool in it.

ImageHobbymat md65 toolpost mod by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

I have deliberately not cut the mounting bolt down as I wanted to be able to hold the bolt head still, and tighten the nut down instead of tightening the bolt down into the threads i cut into the cross slide. That way i avoid accidentally tightening it down and interfering with the leadscrew and the top of the slide dovetail as there is not much clearance between it and the underside of the cross slide.
This setup is much much more rigid than the top slide and original toolpost is, it also means i have easy access to the slide lock (the larger allen bolt where the gib adjusters are) and much more carriage travel when using a centre in the tailstock. The top slide interferes with the tailstock when the cross slide is wound in to a certain point.

happy with that

#14374 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:58 pm
by IslandPink
Good work and fantastic artistic lighting !

#14375 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 6:32 pm
by Ant
The lighting is completely accidental, its the fish tank lights on the blue spectrum behind and above where i took the picture, and a white led bulb in my work light aimed at it

#14376 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 7:48 pm
by Dave the bass
Altogether now , sing along...."Purple lathe.... purple lathe "!

#14377 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 8:18 pm
by IslandPink
:confused3: Aaarg !

Meanwhile - brief mention for Nick at Cranage :
https://www.hifipig.com/north-west-audi ... ig-report/
Scroll down about 80% of the way through this.

#14378 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 6:21 am
by Ray P
Interesting developments at Lowther mentioned too.

#14379 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:27 am
by ed
spiders...
everywhere.....
spiders..
spiders.....
we're doomed!

#14380 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:32 am
by Daniel Quinn
IslandPink wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 8:18 pm

Meanwhile - brief mention for Nick at Cranage :
https://www.hifipig.com/north-west-audi ... ig-report/
Scroll down about 80% of the way through this.
Bit difficult to judge when you don’t know how long it is , it goes on forever . Surely there’s a better way of signposting the relevant section?

#14381 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:34 am
by jack
ed wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:27 am spiders...
everywhere.....
spiders..
spiders.....
we're doomed!
Indeed! We were going to turn the sauna into a garden office in the summer... went in there for the first time in a while - and was greeted by the BIGGEST SPIDER I've seen for a while. It was living in the end of the 2 inch conduit that runs the internet etc. to the building.

There was a meeting of (8 vs. 2?) eyes. I was shocked. The spider dived into the end of the 50m conduit.

It's in there. Waiting, Watching...

#14382 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:41 am
by jack
Daniel Quinn wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:32 am
IslandPink wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 8:18 pm

Meanwhile - brief mention for Nick at Cranage :
https://www.hifipig.com/north-west-audi ... ig-report/
Scroll down about 80% of the way through this.
Bit difficult to judge when you don’t know how long it is , it goes on forever . Surely there’s a better way of signposting the relevant section?
You know that you can "search in page" for LongDog?

#14383 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:57 am
by ed
Daniel Quinn wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:32 am
Bit difficult to judge when you don’t know how long it is , it goes on forever . Surely there’s a better way of signposting the relevant section?
not sure which browser you might be using...but...
on the 3 that I have the right hand side slider indicates how long the page is...on mine(firefox) taking the slider down about 80% puts the browser in just about the right position...

but searching is more exact

#14384 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 1:06 pm
by JamesD
Fantastic to see the LongDog pics - love the Quasars getting there usual good reception :D

Surely the price is too low though for commercial pricing?

James

#14385 Re: Nothing In Particular

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 1:42 pm
by Nick
JamesD wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 1:06 pm Fantastic to see the LongDog pics - love the Quasars getting there usual good reception :D

Surely the price is too low though for commercial pricing?

James
Probably, I have just added up the parts cost, and it comes to £5663.20. Maybe add a bit more for some wire, and even more for packing cases. That was based on list price for everything, and $350 of transformer attenuators for the tweeters that you could probably use a lpad for. It also includes about £440 of fancy Mundorf inductors for the xover that still have not arrived, and the acrylic case for the xovers that did arrive but is waiting on the inductors.

But given all that, as its just an evening job putting all the bits someone else has built together, and soldering the xover together, it would do for me.

It did make me smile though when someone described them as a bit home made, I did point out that most of the things in the room were made at home. I do wonder what some folk think is the magic dust that is only available to "factory made" things.