How tight is tight

[Graham Meek]

Hi Stuart,

I am glad I could be of help and glad it has all worked out for you, I am sorry I did not put 2 & 2 together and remember that you are Stuart with the Connoisseur, I must apologise.

Having dealt with many tens of people over the past 12 months as regards the various screwcutting clutches that I have designed I must admit I have lost track. I decided this morning that It was time to call it a day on any more designs, I have recently completed clutches for the Compact 8 and the Wabeco D6000, it is now time to move on and build some engines.

Any chance we might see the finished Connoisseur Dog Clutch as up until now I have only seen it in drawing form?



My best regards
Gray,

[Stuart]

Thanks Dave and Gray

I will take it off and clean it down and post a pic over the next couple of days so stay tuned


Stuart

[Graham Meek]

Hi Stuart,

An in-situ photograph is OK with me.

My best regards
Gray,

[Stuart]

Here you are Gray







the trip lever is still on the lathe

I have taken it off to make a few bits as they are a bit wee so the rpm has to get up to near top whack 3k RPM  at that speed its a bit on the tabs but as you know its only a 5 min job to swop over, for my setup its only of use in bottom belt 150 -1050 , the very though of those two reversing  contra rotating at a combined speed of + 6K rpm give me the willies

have run the lathe all morning at near on fully speed and all remains ok back end has the chill off and the bronze one is at its normal comfy hand on  if anyone is interested   lathe bed is at 15 deg c back end is at 18 deg c and the front one is at 30 deg c  which is norma for me

the main difference with the shims in the  AC bearings (inner ) is that the front bearing adjustment was more positive and therefor more controlled so all in all a good job or as the used to say on Scrap Heap Challenge  the Uk version  " its a proper job " until he messed with the governor on a Rolls Royce diesel engine whilst it was running, you can guess the result run away engine that ran on its sump oil


Stuart

[Graham Meek]

Hi Stuart,

Thank you for the photographs you made a very nice job of that. It is nice to notice close up that the plastic gears show hardly any signs of wear.

My best regards
Gray.

[Stuart]

Thanks Gray for your comments

its done a bit of work not a megga amount

the gears are Oilon as its name suggests its a oil loaded nylon, yes I am pleased that its holding up

for info
http://www.directplasticsonline.co.uk/OilonRod

Stuart

[Jo]

For the members who may not have seen this clutch any chance of providing a link to where they can read about it?

Jo

[Stuart]

now Jo that is a difficult one

its detailed in the book by none other but Graham Meek
http://www.teepublishing.co.uk/books/in-your-workshop/projects-for-your-workshop/

more info here
http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=49358


but as its copyright to Gray I cannot post any details

but I am sure that Gray will be able to sort something out

the one in the book is for the standard S7 and contains the drawings but the one shown is for the big bore for which I approached Gray and I measured up my lathe and Gray did the drawings then between us we sorted out a small niggle and the result is as shown

for those that do not know what a dog clutch does it is a device that is fitted to the very very expensive lathes ( megga Wonga ) and allows screw cutting up to a shoulder at speed with the trip bar stopping the leadsrew.

also the most important on a myford with its english leadscrew it will when fitted with a 34 t output gear allows metric threads to be cut on a lathe with a norton box , but as you well know you have to wind back the whole lathe with the leadscrew still engaged.

this device by its nature will only pick up the thread in one spot repeatedly so you set it all up and push the leaver towards the chuck and off we go the unit trip and with the lathe still running withdraw the tool and push the lever towards the tail stock and the carriage goes that way  . no need for a thread dial at all

but I am sure that Gray will fill in the bits I have left out after all its his design and a great job he did

Stuart

[Graham Meek]

Hi Stuart,

As I have said many times I just did the easy bit, you did all the hard work.

A version of this clutch comes out in the March edition of Engineering in Miniature to fit the Sieg C3 lathe.

Later this year there is a reprint of the Super 7 clutch coming out in Home Shop Machinist, which will be followed by Jim Schroeder's designed version to fit the Grizzly G0602 10X20 lathe.

A version was also worked out for the Warco BH600 lathe thanks to help from Graham Howe and drawings for this version are available at the following link, there is sure to be a Grizzly counterpart.

http://modelengineeringwebsite.com/Meek_screwcutting_clutch.html

Clutches have also been designed for the Myford ML7, the Emco Compact 8 and the Wabeco D6000, which is nearing completion. This last version has been a joint venture between Tom Hess and myself.

My best regards
Gray,

[steamer]

Great!

Maybe we can figure a way to get it on my South Bend!....

Dave

[Graham Meek]

Hi Dave,

That is what I have been hoping for, I did start drawing a version out to fit the Boxford but those who offered to help seemed to loose their enthusiasm and alas it has not been completed. Having spent sometime designing the various clutch versions over the past couple of years, my own projects are falling by the wayside so I decided to draw a line under the Wabeco version at the beginning of this year, in the hope that someone would pick-up where I left off.

I will endeavour to assist as best I can to get the Southbend version up and running, my dream lathe has always been a brand new Southbend found still in it's packing crate since the 1930's, well you can always dream.

My best regards
Gray,

[steamer]

Mine is Newly Reminted......

Full bed grind, and a full rescrape, new tailstock, full tooling.    Done and dusted.

Brand New.

Let me know if you need dimensions.    1951 Model A with a 4 1/2' bed.

Dave

[Graham Meek]

Dave,

You lucky man you, and there you go trying to get me to break my New Years Resolution, Oh well go on then.

May I suggest a new thread, (excuse the pun) for the Southbend  Screwcutting clutch? I shall need photographs to start off with to see if it is viable.

My best regards
Gray,

[steamer]

It only took two years to do the rebuild Gray....can't rush these things!

I'll send you some pictures later this evening.

Dave

[Stuart]

Dave

you will enjoy working with Gray on the project

its not true what he said about me doing the hard work I only supplied the requested dims. and built the prototype for the big bore he did the work in the design phase, there was only one errata on Gray 's drawing to do with the over travel stop but that all.

if it needs the ali block like mine it can be done on a manual mill /lathe ,thats how I did mine ( I have no CNC ) , it would be a walk in the park for a CNC mill , the hardest part for me was ensuring that the gear centres were accurate as there is no fudge factor its right or wrong , so you have to be very careful , but once thats over its normal turning

I will say that if the design for the actuator is the same , I guess it will be as its a proven one be careful you do not lose the 1/8 ball in the moving parts the over travel stop prevents this when in use but can happen when you are putting it together.

pat on back to self I did not lose mine but I think  Gray did twice and it took him a fair amount of time to get it out  , but I am sure you will be OK


Stuart