Table of contents for February 2025 in Model Engineer & Workshop

Important News for All Readers After almost thirty-five years, the decision has been made to re-combine the spin-off title Model Engineers’ Workshop into Model Engineer. The new title will be monthly and continue the numbering of Model Engineer and will be titled Model Engineer & Workshop, a nod to the magazine's original title "The Model Engineer & Electrician" as well as MEW. So this issue will be the last under the present masthead; 25 years and 348 issues on. Look out for Model Engineer & Workshop appearing in February as the March 2025 issue. If you have an existing subscription you will continue to receive ME&W. There are many different permutations of readership and subscriptions, complicated by around a quarter of the readership taking both titles. All subscribers will be…

As a young engineer, I started 3D printing when I was 13 and it's been one of the most exciting parts of my journey so far. I have been fascinated by how a spool of plastic wire can be turned into an intricate 3D model right in front of me with only a few clicks of a button. Since then, I have found that 3D printing is a valuable tool that I find entrances me for hours as it offers a unique blend of complexity, userfriendliness, and excitement. In this article, I want to share how 3D printing has changed the way I look at the engineering world, how it has captured my imagination, the types of projects I have tackled and want to tackle, and my dreams of expanding…

In December, we received the sad news that Cherry Hill, née Hinds, probably one of the most skilled practitioners our hobby has ever seen, passed away on the 3rd of that month. I had the pleasure of meeting Cherry a few times and was in awe of the minute detail of her models and the incredible quality of finish that she achieved. She first learned her machining skills in her father’s workshop, established around a 1913 Pittler lathe, which had originally been used to produce munitions parts. On page 8, we have republished an exceptional article by my predecessor as MEW Editor, Geoff Sheppard, who visited Cherry in her workshop and interviewed her for a 2008 special publication. A member of the Society of Model and Experimental Engineers for over…

I have a hearing disability but am still very conscious of noises. A lot of "noises” can give you a warning that something is not quite right. It was now time to investigate and hopefully cure the problem The noise seemed to be coming from the area at the end of the operating shaft where the lever engages, photo 1. I have never looked at this area in detail before but it was time to dismantle it. The parts are shown, exploded, in "relative” positions in photo 2. The main casting on the left fits over the end of the headstock and is held in place with a screw that clamps the casting to the headstock. The operating lever is hinged to this. The remaining parts, when assembled, engage with…

Grafting a Dore-Westbury Mk 2 mill head onto a Tom Senior mill was described in MEW 325 (ref. 1) but what was not included in that story of uniting these two machines was fitting the DRO system. This article describes what was needed to complete that work. For several reasons, not the least being working out how to do so without severely limiting the table and cross-slide motions, meant that this aspect of the conversion was left to be tackled as a separate piece of work. Also included as an unexpected job is a description of what had to be done to correct the sudden onset of increasing stiffness in the cross-slide motion. It had become urgent, so it had to be tackled first. Correcting the tight cross slide movement…

3D Modeling Software & Tools Fusion 360 https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview?term=1-YEAR&tab=subscription Alibre Design https://www.alibre.com/ Free CAD https://www.freecad.org/ Designspark https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/home Onshape https://www.onshape.com/en/ Sketchup https://www.sketchup.com/ OpenSCAD https://openscad.org/ Moment of Inspiration http://moi3d.com/ Rhinocerous https://www.rhino3d.com/ Blender https://www.blender.org/ Meshmixer https://meshmixer.com/ STL View http://www.freestlview.com/ CAM Software Alibre Workshop https://www.alibre.com/workshop/ MeshCAM https://www.grzsoftware.com/ Heeks CNC https://sites.google.com/site/heekscad Freemill https://mecsoft.com/products/freemill/ NC Controller Software & Hardware Mach 3 & Mach 4 https://www.machsupport.com/software/mach3/ Planet CNC https://planet-cnc.com/ UCCNC https://cncdrive.com/UCCNC.html Eding CNC https://edingcnc.com/ GRBL https://github.com/grbl Linux CNC http://linuxcnc.org/ Smooth Stepper https://warp9td.com/ Estlcam http://www.estlcam.de/ 3D Model Libraries GrabCAD https://grabcad.com/ Thingyverse https://www.thingiverse.com/ Ameede https://www.ameede.net/category/3d-for-cnc/…

The remarkable thing about Cherry Hill’s workshop is that it is quite unremarkable – except that it is so clean and tidy. For a facility that has produced a succession of models that have been awarded eight Duke of Edinburgh Trophies as well as many Gold and Silver Medals, trophies and other awards, this is a workshop which is modestly equipped. True that all the machine tools which populate it are of excellent quality, but it is just a small collection of nice lathes, milling machines and drilling machines plus a bandsaw, a couple of off-hand grinders and a filing machine. All this goes to emphasize the point that the quality and complexity of the items produced there are a tribute to the skill of the operator and her ability…

I have had my 920 lathe for a long time and with the many modifications made it does everything asked of it, including both large and very small jobs. I sometimes wished I had a smaller second lathe for some of the small parts, as well as when the larger lathe is set up doing a job and not wanting to disturb it. It could also be a bit more transportable, allowing its use in more comfortable surroundings if needs arose. One day a Pultra 1750 lathe crossed my path, and the size seemed to be not too big, not too small, just right as baby bear would say. It came fitted with a small 3 jaw chuck on the spindle and only had a couple of the collets. The…

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. Thoughts on the Changes from a Former Editor Hi Neil, thanks for your email about the title change; congratulations on your expanded role. Some perspective comments may be of use. Our local society started as “Perth Society of Model & Experimental Engineers” in the early 20th century. I joined in 1978, when the club met every Monday in the clubroom/workshop attended by most members (around 30) most of whom had construction projects on the go, usually traction or stationary engines. Over the years the club has become…

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. GEOMETER explains — IN ASSEMBLIES where bolts would be impracticable, studs are an alternative to setscrews and, being permanently fitted, possess advantages. Obviously there is no wear of threads in holes fitted with studs, nor possibility of mistakes in assemblies where different lengths of setscrews would…

Photograph 1 shows a pair of skates from the sixties. It's possible to use them for making a "rolling box", very convenient to stock the odds and ends of wrought iron and other material under the stairs, as can be seen in photo 2. For this, the skates are dismantled and bolted under a piece of 15mm thick plywood, and a fruit crate is screwed on the opposite side, see photo 3. If it happens that you're not old enough to get this type of skate from your attic, it's possible to buy the lowprice casters seen in photo 4. Photograph 5 shows a "rolling drawer" using this type of casters, set in the bottom of the tools cupboard, paint cans are used to stock the steel odds and ends,…

The Worden tool and cutter grinder is very good for making and sharpening basic lathe tools for turning and facing. I have recently been preparing some tooling prior to having a go at clock making and this has required the manufacture of some tool bits out of round HSS stock for insertion into holders for fly cutting. This is the sort of job that a ‘D’ bit grinder would do very well but when using the standard tool holders on the Worden the tool is held too low in relation to the grinding wheel to produce the classic perpendicular transition from the D profile to the circular profile of the tool. The solution is to ensure that the tool to be ground is somewhere near the centre height of the…

Rivets in the smaller scales – in my case 7mm:1ft., commonly known as 0 gauge for standard gauge railway models - are ornamental and not a functional fastening as on the prototype. They can be modelled by drilling small holes and soldering entomological pins in place. This technique was favoured by one of the past great model railway makers, Geoff. Pember. Unfortunately even on thin brass or nickel silver this can be taxing on small drills. The alternative is to emboss the metal withapoint. This forms a sort of mole hill to represent the rivet. Producing a neat rivet this way, however, requires both a point and an anvil with a tiny relevant sized hole. These must be aligned with each other and a controlled limit on the impression made…

A Marking Out Aid For Flat Steel. TIP OF THE MONTH WINNER! This month’s winner is Nicholas Farr, who has found a way of using repurposed magnets to simplify marking out sheet steel. I fixed two identical magnets from old computer hard drives to a piece of plywood, measuring approximately 560mm × 330mm × 9mm thick. These were set about 200mm apart for my job but can be repositioned for other jobs. Two advantages of using these magnets are firstly to lift the steel up, so that try squares etc. can be more easily used without the work hanging over the edge of the bench, and secondly, it stops the work sliding about, as these magnets are fairly strong, but caution needs to be used when placing the steel onto…

Photograph 15 shows how the electronic components have been brought together in a single enclosure together with a tachometer module that displays the spindle speed. This is based on a Hall Effect sensor and a magnet mounted on the top of the spindle shaft, photos 16 and 17). The DC voltage of the spindle power supply was originally factory-set to 12V by a miniature potentiometer on the circuit board and this was replaced with a 10K Ohm potentiometer wired to the enclosure’s front panel and fitted with a chunky aluminium knob. A recess in the rear of this knob and an end stop restricts the knob’s rotation and thus the voltage swing between limits that the power supply can tolerate without whining, photo 18. By combining positions of the 2-step…