What Did You Buy Today?

SouthernChap said:
Well, it was yesterday actually, minutes after I decided I was going to give up trying to find one of the small 'old-iron' horizontal mills with a vertical head for something close to my budget (and we're talking the stub vertical heads, not the nice ones with a quill/fine feed; they're stupid money) and go back to my idea of an RF clone.

I got an email from Warco about their 60% summer sale, so I thought I'd take a quick gander to see if they had any tooling or accessories on sale that I fancied.

There, smack bang in the middle of rhe page, was a Warco 1994 Minor mill-drill (they do sometimes have refurbed-used machines for sale). From the pictures it looked very tidy and was 'middle-high' within my budget. Deciding it was a sign from God, I bought it.

£50 for delivery (I really am starting to loathe driving on the UK's motorways to go collect purchases, and turning up at some rando's door with a wad of cash isn't a comfortable experience either) and it will be here Friday.

Here what it looks like:
View attachment 494036

The one downside to this, is that this has made me reevaluate the setup of my workshop and I'm going to need to switch some of it around to optimally position this mill (especially now my workshop looks like 'Plastic Offcuts R Us':grin:).

So as a result, the mill will sit on a spare bit of unsuitable, cheap, inadequately rigid 'work-bench' for a while, until I work out exactly how I want things in that area to be. I'll give it a little pat and a hello and goodbye when I come into and leave the workshop though, just to make sure it knows it's wanted and hasn't been forgotten :big grin:.
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It came with it's own sneeze guard. Is that for it's or your protection when patting it on the way by?


Some times things just work out. Enjoy
 
Gnpenning said:
It came with it's own sneeze guard. Is that for it's or your protection when patting it on the way by?


Some times things just work out. Enjoy
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I figured it demanded it during the pandemic and is still a bit nervy of covid. :grin:
 
mmcmdl said:
So speaking of heat ,
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You pretty much have it. I will say "most" of the modern vehicles, because I don't know them all, have different size fittings for the hi pressure side when compared to the low pressure side. You get one of the "refill kits" for R134 and it should only fit on the low pressure side which is where you want to be. Some of these kits even offer an oil charge and or leak seal. If going for the oil charge, make sure you select the oil that is currently in / compatible with your AC system, there are a couple of different options.
 
mmcmdl said:
So speaking of heat , I have to re-charge my AC units on the F-250 and the Civic . I've recharged older vehicles but not these newer vehicles . Heard you could do damage if you don't know how ( which I don't ) . I believe hooking up the bottles on the lower port with the AC running and fill to the air inside gets down to 45 degrees . Is this correct ?
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Check for leaks first. Usually they have dye in the system to show any leaking.

Did an AC coil on my old 150 a few years ago. I had a vacuum pump, so bought a set of gauges to use with it. Pulled vacuum on the system overnight. First pull saw some pressure rise over a few hours (I suspect it was oil or water off gassing. Good to get out.). Pulled vac a few more hours, and left it overnight. Filled and checked pressures. Was good to go after that.
 
SouthernChap said:
Well, it was yesterday actually, minutes after I decided I was going to give up trying to find one of the small 'old-iron' horizontal mills with a vertical head for something close to my budget (and we're talking the stub vertical heads, not the nice ones with a quill/fine feed; they're stupid money) and go back to my idea of an RF clone.

I got an email from Warco about their 60% summer sale, so I thought I'd take a quick gander to see if they had any tooling or accessories on sale that I fancied.

There, smack bang in the middle of rhe page, was a Warco 1994 Minor mill-drill (they do sometimes have refurbed-used machines for sale). From the pictures it looked very tidy and was 'middle-high' within my budget. Deciding it was a sign from God, I bought it.

£50 for delivery (I really am starting to loathe driving on the UK's motorways to go collect purchases, and turning up at some rando's door with a wad of cash isn't a comfortable experience either) and it will be here Friday.

Here what it looks like:
View attachment 494036

The one downside to this, is that this has made me reevaluate the setup of my workshop and I'm going to need to switch some of it around to optimally position this mill (especially now my workshop looks like 'Plastic Offcuts R Us':grin:).

So as a result, the mill will sit on a spare bit of unsuitable, cheap, inadequately rigid 'work-bench' for a while, until I work out exactly how I want things in that area to be. I'll give it a little pat and a hello and goodbye when I come into and leave the workshop though, just to make sure it knows it's wanted and hasn't been forgotten :big grin:.
Click to expand...
I have an Rf30 clone and I am very satisfied with the amount of work it can do. I built a good bench for mine from 4x4 tubing 3/8". I also added a vevor power feed. Super simple addon but made it so much more useful.
 
Well, I've been through all the plastics I got and sorted it.

About half is going to a local 'Men's Shed' as it's either too damn big for me to machine or I have too much of it and I can only fit so much in the workshop. A few of the chaps there were very helpful in giving me the heads up on some good deals on kit last year so I'd like to pay it back a bit (haven't joined the group; I've never been very good at the club membership thing in the past but maybe I might join some day)

Here's some pics:

Going to the Men's Shed:

20240619_230709.jpg
(the red Total box is full of Tufnol and the smaller white box is full of green polypropylene blocks, all of the same size, about 3" x 1/2" x 3/4")

Staying in my shop:
20240619_230814.jpg
Plenty of Tufnol, lots of polypropylene, some acetal and some rubber (think I'll have enough to make a few machinist hammers!)

The shop needs a rethink due to the arrival of all of this stuff plus getting my mill. I've got a couple of benches coming; one from the auction company that I got the plastic from and one from eBay.

I'll stick some pics up when I've rearranged things. ;)
 
ChazzC said:
Just curious: Tufnol - glass or fabric (Micarta) laminate? In the 90’s I worked with a company that manufactured a range of composites (fiberglass/acrylic, carbon fiber & Asbestos).
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Maybe more like Phenolic?
 
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