Table of contents for August 2024 in Model Engineer & Workshop

I’m grateful to reader, Chris Delger, who has kindly sent me a catalogue for the 1954 Model Engineer Exhibition. I have only had it a day or two, and running to ninetysix pages plus covers I’ve only had the chance to have a quick skim, but there are many interesting snippets. The exhibition was opened by the Prince of the Netherlands, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, pictured in RAF uniform. It’s fascinating to look up his Wikipedia page. Naturally the most interesting of the competition classes was ‘Tools and Workshop Appliances’. Entrants were not afraid to tackle challenging projects, I will list them in full: A Turpin type universal dividing head; 0-1 inch micrometer; compound slide rest for a drilling machine; Duplex engraver, 2 ¼” instrument lathe, watchmaker’s combination lathe and…

TIP OF THE MONTH WINNER! Rotten Eggs (and how to avoid them). This month’s winner is John Lawmon from Oxfordshire, who doesn’t enjoy the smell of old cutting fluid. About six years ago the coolant sump for my newly acquired surface grinder started to smell of rotten eggs. A little research found that bacteria feasting anaerobically on the iron particles were responsible for the smell. Once that discovery was made it was obvious that if the sump could be aerated with oxygen the anaerobic bacteria would die. A fish tank pump quickly followed, and the smell has not returned since installing the pump over five years ago. I have now extended the concept to my flood coolant metallurgical chop saw which was experiencing a similar problem. The attached images show…

Readers! We want to hear from you! Drop us a line sharing your advice, questions or opinions. Why not send us a picture of your latest workshop creation, or that strange tool you found in a boot sale? Email your contributions to meweditor@mortons.co.uk. Bandsaw Modifications Dear Neil, I bought the July issue of MEW as front cover illustrated clamping on a modified bandsaw. However the only source of information was the two pictures, one on the cover and one on page 3. As the owner of a similar bandsaw I would have liked more information on how the modification was made. I am at a loss to know why the jaws as supplied are of unequal length as if the saw is used to cut an angle, then it moves…

DCC for Railway Modellers Many readers of MEW are model railway enthusiasts, and they may well find this book interesting and informative. DCC is ‘digital command and control’ – systems that allow the independent control of multiple locomotives on the same track. The book starts with a fascinating section on the history of DCC, which surprisingly has a history back to a Lionel system in the 1940s that used frequency control to operate two locos. From the 1960s things got ever more sophisticated and today DCC is a sophisticated system whose protocol is defined by the National Model Railroad Association. The book explains DCC in detail and also shatters many misconceptions about the systems. It then moves onto the practicalities of track design and wiring; along the way there are…

Most Model Engineers start making screw threads using taps and dies, then progress to turned threads made on a lathe. But there are alternatives, some more practical than others. For example I remember seeing a leadscrew from a large planing machine exhibited in the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry when it was located in Newall St. I stood in awe of this exhibit, tens of feet long, several inches in diameter and all made by hand. Alternative thread making techniques, not so demanding on manual skills, might include thread rolling and thread whirling. I have some long high tensile bolts with Whitworth threads which I watched being rolled before carrying them back to my workshop for use on the milling table. Then there were the whirled threads I encountered…

Defining a cutting pathway Previously it was explained that the stepper motors are controlled in a way that moves the guide-plate through a pathway that is defined as a series of straight lines between positions called waymarkers. A pathway around a new template is defined by moving the follower, under manual control, from the REF position to the position chosen for the first waymarker, such as where the follower first contacts the template. This position is then stored by pressing the appropriate pair of buttons on the control box. The follower is then moved manually to what one judges to be the next suitable position around the template and that position is stored. As explained previously, the sprung connection between the guide-plate and the template follower arm allows the follower…

Main Body Part 3 From a piece of 2” square by 85mm long aluminium alloy, using a four-jaw chuck locate on the centre of the square, face off and drill and bore 25mm to a close sliding fit on the ER32 collet holder. Turn round in the chuck and face off to length. Mark out and drill and tap as required. Try and get the depth of the two 90-degree countersinks exactly the same and secure a ¼” stainless steel ball bearing in each of the countersinks with two-part epoxy resin to act as a pivot point for the cam tilt action, photo 23. Cam Holder Part 5 This is made from 2” square box section steel tube, orientate it so that the welded seem will be at the bottom…

BEGINNERS WORKSHOP These articles by Geometer (Ian Bradley) were written about half a century ago. While they contain much good advice, they also contain references to things that may be out of date or describe practices or materials that we would not use today either because much better ways are available of for safety reasons. These articles are offered for their historic interest and because they may inspire more modern approaches as well as reminding us how our hobby was practiced in the past. THERE ARE TIMES when even the simplest operation would be greatly facilitated if one had a third hand. In some instances, of course, work cannot proceed unless assistance is available or means are devised to enable one to work single handed. This is especially pertinent when…

Opening Times are Thursday – Saturday 10am – 4.30pm. Sunday 10am - 4pm. Tickets cost Adult £13.00, Senior Citizen £12.00, Child (5-14 inclusive) £5.00 A full list of confirmed exhibitors to date is available at www.midlandsmodelengineering.co.uk as well as the competition entry form and advance tickets. The Stevenson Trophy At this year’s exhibition, the John Stevenson Trophy will be awarded in association with Model Engineers’ Workshop and the www.model-engineer.co.uk website. This competition is awarded for excellence in practical and useful workshop equipment. For more information on the competition and how to enter your work visit www.modelengineer.co.uk. Note that the competition is held online so you don’t need to get your entries to the exhibition. The Model Engineers' Workshop Talks Programme Following the successful and well attended talks at last year’s…

Since getting the SIEG SX2.7 at the start of the Milling for Beginners series (starts in MEW 261) I have found during use a few items that could be improved upon. Some of these are specific to the SX2.7, others could be applied to any machine. Spindle Spanner The supplied pin spanner that is used to hold the spindle while either tightening/loosening tooling or releasing/tightening the drawbar has tapered pins which I found tended to easily ramp out of the holes when being used. My remedy for this was to file off the back of the pins where they had been peined over so that they were flush with the spanner body and then drive the pins out of the holes with a parallel punch. New pins with parallel sides…

Most, if not all, of us have stood bashing a sheet of thin gauge metal around an off cut of bar, a drain pipe, or even thought of using the milk saucepan “looks about the right size”. We have probably also promised ourselves that the next time we have cause to bend a nice curve we shall use a set of home-made rollers. Rollers which never get made. Well this winter “plans were laid”. Forsaking my full-size drawing board I pulled out the small A3 size one, sat in my chair, put another tot of embalming fluid in the glass, and settled to get something down on paper. The operation of these things is pretty straight forward. Two rotating rollers, geared together, pull the sheet metal between them and a…