“Metro”

No. 975
together
with one
of the
large
“Metros”.
Photographs
courtesy
Real
E?ographs

Then at exactly 4-1/4 in. from this, fit a disc of the securing rivets drilled. The rivets are 3/32 in.
steel a good fit in the strap (nominally l-1/2 in. dia. dia. soft iron and these should be countersunk
that is) and1/4 in. thick, or very slightly more. on both sides of the straps and Bled flush.
This can be held to the jig by a pin about 1/4 in. Assemble the whole valve gear now, using tem-
dia. a press fit in base and disc. porary brass pins as mentioned earlier. We must
Each eccentric rod and strap can now be next retrace our steps to deal with the leading
assembled on the jig, the exact length of rod wheels and spring gear.
determined, trimmed off, and the two holes for To be continued

Q U O R N
TOOL AND CUTTER GRINDER
that the hobs are difficult but not impossible to
make. However, once made they last for ever
and are cheaper than buying cutters at nearly a
pound a time.
The main casting should be machined in
by D. H. Chaddock, C.B.E. exactly the same way and preferably with the
same setting as the tool holder casting, particular
Part VI From page 252 care being taken over the longer 5/8in. hole which,
as previously explained, is the bearing for the
spiralling spindle. The spindle itself is conven-
WITH THE APPARATUS described in my last article, iently made from gin. diameter centreless
which incidentally is the subject of a patent appli- ground rod mild steel-the same material from
cation, once the cutter has been brought into the which the bar beds are made. The spring chuck
right relationship to the grinding wheel by using although simple will, if accurately made, hold’
the other adjustments with which the machine is cutters quite as accurately as a precision collet
provided it is only necessary to rock the spindle chuck. It is best turned at a single setting with
back and forth by hand for it to have imparted one end of the bar held in a four-jaw chuck and
to it at the same time the right spiral motion. the other supported in the fixed steady. The
When one tooth is finished by backing the hob thread must be lathe cut as must be the matching
out of engagement with the guide pin and thread in the closing nut. If the threads in either
re-engaging another start of thread the second are drunken or eccentric they may force the
and subsequent teeth can be ground in exact spring jaws out of truth when the chuck is closed.
conformity with the first. Once set up the opera- For work of this sort the writer does not
tion is extremely easy and can be performed attempt to produce fully-formed threads with
almost blindfold, certainly there is no need to rounded crests and roots. The extreme point of
peer at the work under a magnifying glass and the V form internal and external screw cutting
wonder how it is getting on. The only snag is tools are just broken and the crests of the corres-

MODEL ENGINEER 15 March 1974 289

ponding threads left with a perceptible flat. This verv nearlv the same number of teeth, for ex-
ensures that when a good fit is obtained the ample 45 and 46, and 20 and 21. If they are
threads are really bearing on the flanks and not used as a pair in a compound train the first will
hanging on the crests and roots which is fre- give a 2 per cent increase or decrease in pitch,
quently mistaken for a good fit. The central hole depending on which is the driver. The second
must be finished to size with a boring tool but pair give a 5 per cent variation and by using them
as it is rather long to finish to full depth this way both together, that is 20 to 21 up followed by
it is permissible, once a true start has been made, 46 to 45 down a 3 per cent variation is possible.
to finish to full depth with a D bit or even an For bigger differences it is probably better to
end mill used in lieu of a machine reamer. A change the largest wheel in the train to the next
hand reamer is not suitable as not only does it nearest size and to try corrections from the new
tend to follow an existing hole, which itself may train.
or may not be true, but the “lead” will prevent However for a start here are the calculated
the hole being brought to size for its full depth. pitches for an exact 30 deg. spiral angle and
Since most of the writer’s smaller cutters have trains o f gears which will cut them, near enough,
either 1/4 in. or 3/8 in. plain or screwed shanks he with an 8 t.p.i. leadscrew.
has two spindles, one of each size, on which how- Cutter Theoretical Gear Actual
ever the closing nut and the hobs are inter- Dia. ins. Pitch ins. Train Pitch ins.
changeable. The rest of the components in Fig.
35 call for no special comment except to note l/16 0.340087 60 50
that more ball handles are wanted, but that these - . - 0.340909
unlike those used on the rotating base are drilled 55 20
and tapped at 20deg. to the axis.
Studs are screwed into the main casting for the 3/32 0.510130 70 35
ball handles locking the guide and stop bars and - . - 0.510416
a short length of studding with a soft copper tip 30 20
screwed into a third ball handle to provide a
spindle lock. Once upon a time the writer always l/8 0.680175 60 50 40
made ‘proper’ studs with a plain portion in the 0.681818
middle until he learnt from recent research work 55 * 20 20
that studs screwed along their entire length and
secured with ‘Loctite’ have a better fatigue re- 5/32 0.850218 60 50 50
sistance than plain shank studs driven to refusal - . - . - 0.852278
in the ordinary way and are bettered only by high 55 20 20
class waisted studs. It is an additional bonus that
they are far easier to make ! 3/16 1.020262 70 40 35
This leaves us only with the problem of how to - . - . - 1.020833
make the hobs. The difficulty here is that although 30 20 20
most of the small end mills and slot drills that
the writer has examined have a spiral angle, 7/32 1.190306 60 50 38
- . - - - . - 1.187500
measured from the centre line of the cutter, of
approximately 30deg. it is not exactly so. Even 30 30 20
with one make of cutter the spiral angle seems
to vary somewhat with the range of sizes from l/4 1.360350 60 45 40
1/2 in. down to l/ 16 in. dia. If the spiral angle - . - . - 1.350000
really were 30 deg. it would be easy enough to 25 20 20
calculate the pitch from the formula:- Better trains than some of these can be found
P=n D tan 0 if other wheels are available, especially one with
=5.4414 D 34 teeth, but this is not usually to be found in an
where D is the cutter diameter and then to set up English screw-cutting lathe.
change wheels to cut this pitch. But a trial with Of course when one is making one’s own cutters
the cutter held in the lathe chuck and a dial test the pitch does not matter. Simply choose a pitch
indicator against one of the teeth may show that which is appropriate to the size of the cutter
as the leadscrew is slowly revolved the reading being made, say 3/8 in. pitch for a l/16 in. dia.
does not remain constant. The only thing to do cutter. This can be very easily got by gearing up
therefore is to ‘fiddle’ the gear train. Most lathes the leadscrew from the mandrel by 3: 1, a 60T
have change wheels with pairs of gears having wheel on the mandrel driving a 20T wheel on the

290 MODEL ENGINEER 15 March 1974

 CUT

TRULY CONCENTRIC WITH O.D.

R IN G 1 OFF MS. SPINDLE 1 O F F EACH SIZE 5/8" G R O U N D M S .

3l8’

HOB BLANK DURAL NUT I OFF MS. GUIDE PIN I OFF CHMS.

3:1a DRILL AND Yl$’ 3/k

T A P 2 B . A ./ -t,,

GUIDE BAR 1 OFF

?-’ :
1/2"x 3/16" B.D.M.S. STOP BAR I OFF MS. BALL HANDLE 6 OFF MS

FIG. 35
leadscrew and will give a spiral angle of just over the second and subsequent starts, but since all the
27-1/2 deg. Once made, the same hob can of recommended trains but two start with a 60T
course be repeatedly used for resharpening all wheel it is far easier, more reliable and more
the cutters made from it without any further, accurate to use this to index each start of thread
worries about the pitch - it will always agree by dis-engaging, counting the number of teeth
exactly. and reengaging with the right angular displace-
Once a suitable train of gears has been found ment. But do not, under any circumstances, dis-
and set up, cutting the hob is simple enough. The engage either the leadscrew clutch, the saddle nut
same set-up as that shown in Fig. 8 for cutting or the tumbler reverse when using these highly
the quick pitch thread in the vertical column compound trains otherwise you will never pick
can be used, but because the material is light up the thread again. Wind the saddle back by the
alloy, much higher speeds and feeds can be used. leadscrew handle.
Each hob should have as many starts of thread Other hobs can be made for special purposes.
as the cutter has teeth. That is to say 2 for a slot A particularly useful one has a straightforward
mill, 3 for the ‘throw away’ type of cutter and 4 20 t.p.i. Vee form thread, engaging of course a
or 5 for a standard end mill. This can be done Vee-pointed guide pin. With it plain shank cutters,
traversing the top-slide the requisite amount to cut even if hardened, can have threads ground on

MODEL ENGINEER 15 March 1974 291

them to make them suitable for use in ‘Clarkson’ clamped to the vertical column of the machine
and ‘Clare’ type self-locking collet chucks. and comprises two round bars one of which car-
An essential adjunct to any cutter grinder is a ries, at its outer end, the blade which forms the
tooth rest. With its aid many cutters can be actual tooth rest. It can therefore be set at any
ground without any dividing attachment what- height or distance to suit the work in hand or the
ever, each tooth as it is in turn brought into diameter of the wheel being used. It can also be
contact with the rest making the cutter self- used inverted, that is mounted on the vertical
indexing. This is particularly useful for cutters column above the wheelhead and with the blade
with large numbers of teeth and for which a pointing downwards, if, in certain circumstances,
suitable dividing plate may not always be avail- this gives a better view of the work.
able. The details shown in Fig. 37 should not present
The Quom tooth rest shown in Fig. 36 is any difficulties. To be continued

FIG 3 6 TOOTH REST GENERAL ARRANGEMENT

1
D R I L L 5/l6’ DIA S P O T CHAMFER 4 CORNER5
FACE 5/8” DIA I+ s/s”
, \I/I~‘sAw CUT+

CLOSE FIT
FOR VERTICAL

COLLAR I OFF C.I.

CLAMP 1 O F F 3/4" SQ. BDMS.

I
B E ”CUTTER14
:” I”-“”

BARS. 1 OFF EACH 1/2" DIA BDMS. TYPICAL BLADE

FIG 37

292 MODEL ENGINEER 15 March 1974