Myford Open Day.... Who is going, and When ?

[Richmond]

Well, I shall be there on Friday with my mate Harry.

He is tall, and skinny and I am short and fat. So comments like little and large, or Laurel and Hardy might be appropriate....

We could arrange to meet in the pub bar at the end of the road where Myford is located ?

1pm ??

Any takers ?

Rgds
Keith

[Tony K]

Looks like not many takers then!
Reckon on going Saturday.
Tried to find out opening and closing times (not the Hop Pole - Myford ) but looks like it's a secret, unless it is their normal open times.
Cannot find anything on their website about the event.

[wayne]

Been today, some good bargains to be had on the second hand front, especial the second hand big bore connoisseur I bought. Also some good demonstrations going on, and Brian and Darren and other fitters on hand to answer technical questions , For me this last aspect is worth the visit alone.

[Steve M. W]

Tony

try this

www.myford.com/html/open-week.html

Went today worth the visit for the demos and got some cheap metal.

Steve

[Richmond]

Went yesterday, as other have said, some bargains to be had, and Darren et al helping with techy questions.

Felt like "Billy No Mates" in the Hop Pole though, no one turned up

Spent some considerable time talking to Ivan Law. He has some good projects on the go, and I hope to visit his workshop sometime this summer . He is the most unassuming man in ME I think, very down to earth and a real gent!

The cylindrical grinder he had on show was using a Quorn head, in fact it was D.H. Chaddocks original prototype. He is redesigning the head to use a more powerful motor and mounting system.

Also saw a small EDM system running and I might have a go at one later this year, it actually seems quite simple.

Keith

[brozier]

Yeah I saw the EDM machine - I liked it a lot - quite the most simple one I've seen.

In fact I've bought most of the bits I didn't have off ebay this weekend so will have a go a building something similar shortly.

One of the Doris cylinder castings has a tap buried in it which the builders son sheepishly owned up to :-) I would have a go at shattering it but the tap bottomed out before it snapped so is the full length of the hole.

My artist girlfriend was wanting a way of producing stamp for sealing wax quickly and I thoink this might work quite well as you can erode profiles ans well as holes...

I always spend a fortune at Myfords open days. Ive bought some linked belts to try out - apparently they are brilliant for damping out vibration from single phase motors.

Cheers
Bryan

[AndrewP]

Ok, I can't bear it any longer guys, that is 2 references to a simple edm machine but no details! please tell me more - I might have to make mk3 (or possibly 4).

Cheers, Andy

[circlip]

Don't do it Keith and Bryan, keep him dangling, we had to put up with three pages of will he / won't he blow himself/the neighbors/the county up with his wild ideas, it's got to be worth the wait. Ian.

[AndrewP]

3 pages? ahum it was all of 7 ! If you're going to create a monster best make it a good un Andy

I admit I had no idea what a sigma connoisseur was so I looked it up - nice, drool - maybe I'lll paint my Perfecto green.

[Richmond]

I could always write an article on it....... would come out in MEW about November time ?? ;D

I think he would be on mk12 by then

[brozier]

Well I could tell you .... but then I'd have to kill you ;-)

I'm waiting for an email from the guy from SMEE who was explaining it I'll put it on my web site if that arrives.

As I'm not cruel - it's a 12V solenoid set to work as a trembler using a micro switch and there is a separate 70V DC supply to the tip which dis-charges a 600uF capacitor through a 10 Ohm 100W resistor.

I think you ended up with something similar.

The nice thing about the demo was the shaped holes e.g. want to make a hex nut driver? use a bit of hex shaped brass as a electrode. Want a square hole? no problemo....

Cheers
Bryan

[circlip]

Electrodes we used, to blast through toolsteels and carbide, to make bits shaped as my forum name were always copper. Since you've capitulated Bryan, was the electrode submerged and if so what was the flushing liquid? Again in industry it was Paraffin. Regards Ian.

[brozier]

For the demo he didn't have any fluid despite there being a plastic tray for it, though he did mention Paraffin was the preferred option.

He'd based his design on a slighty ropier setup from an old American magazine. That used mains light bulbs as the current limiting resistor (10 Ohm).

Cheers
Bryan

[AndrewP]

Thanks Bryan - a straight copy of mine then with the odd number changed to disguise the source. That's a pity, I was hoping for something radical.
I have tried brass and copper electrodes and find brass best, probably because my solenoid is a bit of a brute and tends to bend thin copper ones.
Paraffin and suds used, suds seems to give a cleaner cut, perhaps because it is like a flood coolant system and gives better flushing.
Round, square, hex, triangular all no problem
My Lord clip - I haven't had a good bang in my workshop for years, not since the NI3 episode which I'm not supposed to mention - oops.
I wonder if I wrote mine up in "Muddle Engineer" style I could get it in print.

Andy