College Engineering Supply Castings Alternatives?

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Hello

I would like to start working through my Workshop Practice Series books, but a good proportion of the projects, including one that underpins the rest of the series for the mill, involve using castings from College Engineering Supply. Teasingly, their site still has pictures and links for them, but you cannot add them to basket. When I emailed them about 8 months ago, they said they were out of stock. The site is still the same, with no add to basket, and another thread on this forum said they had no plans to make them anymore, back in 2016!

So I guess I am looking for an alternative to CES for these castings. The two I need first are the angle plate and the screw jack.

I know I could just buy them, or maybe make them from something else, but I like following a course 'as is' so I know I am covering everything the author intended. Am I out of luck?

Cheers

Ross

Edited By Ross Lloyd 1 on 06/06/2018 15:53:11

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

there is a seller on e-bay who sells various castings that used to do the casting for the old owners, I have bought flywheel castings from him that CES used to do a she still has the patterns. May be worth asking him if he has any other patterns.

Screw jacks would be cheaper from CI bar but the angle plates with the webs would suit being done from castings

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Posted by JasonB on 06/06/2018 15:57:48:

there is a seller on e-bay who sells various castings that used to do the casting for the old owners, I have bought flywheel castings from him that CES used to do a she still has the patterns. May be worth asking him if he has any other patterns.

Screw jacks would be cheaper from CI bar but the angle plates with the webs would suit being done from castings

Thanks, I will message them. If not maybe I can figure out how to make the angle plate from flat stock. Would be a nice excuse to buy some slot drills for my mill and borrow the old man's welder.

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

Not very sporting of CES is it?……

How about Hemingway Kits, they list angle plates and such like?

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Posted by John Rudd on 06/06/2018 17:06:40:

Not very sporting of CES is it?……

How about Hemingway Kits, they list angle plates and such like?

They have some plates, unfortunately they are not quite what the book calls for. I could buy two, cut them off and weld them, but i think it might be cheaper to just suck it up and buy an angle plate, especially as its needed for later projects.

Either that or its time to build that backyard foundry I have been hankering after

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

Oh well, apologies my recommendation falls short of your requirement……

Just trying to help…..

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Sorry if I came across that way, your suggestion was well appreciated! I had looked at their site earlier today. Rather than dismissing your post it was more a shrug at knowing I need to go down a different path with it.

Cheers

Ross

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by Ross Lloyd 1 on 06/06/2018 21:23:22:

They have some plates, unfortunately they are not quite what the book calls for. I could buy two, cut them off and weld them, but i think it might be cheaper to just suck it up and buy an angle plate, especially as its needed for later projects.

Either that or its time to build that backyard foundry I have been hankering after

best of luck welding cast iron. For an angle plate you could weld 2 bits of MS. Get the blanks plasma cut and you would have the slots already in

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Posted by duncan webster on 06/06/2018 22:13:00:

Posted by Ross Lloyd 1 on 06/06/2018 21:23:22:

They have some plates, unfortunately they are not quite what the book calls for. I could buy two, cut them off and weld them, but i think it might be cheaper to just suck it up and buy an angle plate, especially as its needed for later projects.

Either that or its time to build that backyard foundry I have been hankering after

best of luck welding cast iron. For an angle plate you could weld 2 bits of MS. Get the blanks plasma cut and you would have the slots already in

Thanks Duncan, I will bear that in mind

Cheers

Ross

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Posted by JasonB on 06/06/2018 15:57:48:

there is a seller on e-bay who sells various castings that used to do the casting for the old owners, I have bought flywheel castings from him that CES used to do a she still has the patterns. May be worth asking him if he has any other patterns.

Screw jacks would be cheaper from CI bar but the angle plates with the webs would suit being done from castings

Hi Jason

Lee got back to me, despite being on holiday in France! Now thats dedication He said he would message me in full to discuss after he gets back, as he may be able to sort some extra castings out. I wonder if there are other folk wanting to do the books here who might also be interested, make it worth his while with a bulk order?

Cheers

Ross

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I imagine that CES found nobody actually bought castings for such common items available finished at less than they could get castings made for.

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Posted by Bazyle on 06/06/2018 23:06:40:

I imagine that CES found nobody actually bought castings for such common items available finished at less than they could get castings made for.

Apparently the business changed hands and these items were kind of filed away. I agree, you could get the items for less and nicely finished. In the book its an exercise to get physical experience of machining raw castings. I don't mind paying for experience and in any case, I get to use my new mill a bit more

 

Edited By Ross Lloyd 1 on 06/06/2018 23:17:25

[ZanParticipant @zan]

Its well and good to make your own angle plate and gain experience, but you will find that a perfectly true ground new one foom several of the big suppliers is cheaper than the casting you are trying to buy

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

I made my own Myford-sized angle plates from a piece of scrap 6" x 4" angle iron from the local tip recycle shop. The thickness of the steel is well thick enough to make small angle plates, say the usual 2" x 4" and the like. I cut the material down to size in a friction disc cut-off saw. Made the slots with a combination of drilling, hacksawing, milling and filing, depending on my bent on the day. Raw angle iron is not perfectly square so the two flat surfaces were machined with a flycutter held in the lathe chuck and the angle plate bolted to the cross slide. A bit of hand scraping with blue on a glass plate finished them off just so.

Made a versatile dividing head body entirely from bits of scrap steel welded together too. So there are alternatives to castings.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Good fastener suppliers have joining nuts which are basically long hex nuts for joining lengths of studding. One of these plus a selection of bolts of different lengths, with one end of the nut and the top of the bolt head faced off square, make perfectly satisfactory jacks at minimal cost.

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

Why not buy some cheap Chinese angle plates. In my limited experience. The ones I have seen are not square and the slots are rough. Just treat them as castings and machine them properly.

If the castings are made available then go that route. I don't think that economics come into it. Just a way of gaining valuable experience!

Andrew.

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Posted by Andrew Tinsley on 07/06/2018 10:46:23:

Why not buy some cheap Chinese angle plates. In my limited experience. The ones I have seen are not square and the slots are rough. Just treat them as castings and machine them properly.

If the castings are made available then go that route. I don't think that economics come into it. Just a way of gaining valuable experience!

Andrew.

Haha yep, thats what I am all about right now, just learning and gaining as much experience as I can

Those cheapo angle plates don't sound like a half bad idea at all, thanks!

[Ross Lloyd 1Participant @rosslloyd1]

Posted by Hopper on 07/06/2018 05:54:05:

I made my own Myford-sized angle plates from a piece of scrap 6" x 4" angle iron from the local tip recycle shop. The thickness of the steel is well thick enough to make small angle plates, say the usual 2" x 4" and the like. I cut the material down to size in a friction disc cut-off saw. Made the slots with a combination of drilling, hacksawing, milling and filing, depending on my bent on the day. Raw angle iron is not perfectly square so the two flat surfaces were machined with a flycutter held in the lathe chuck and the angle plate bolted to the cross slide. A bit of hand scraping with blue on a glass plate finished them off just so.

Made a versatile dividing head body entirely from bits of scrap steel welded together too. So there are alternatives to castings.

This sounds great, thank you

[Gas_mantle.Participant @gas_mantle]

I've bought wheel castings from the ebay guy so I can say he is a genuine seller and the items I've bought from him have all been great.

As for other castings, I wouldn't necessarily be interested in angle plates or screw jacks etc but if people were clubbing together to try and buy something that is ordinarily is difficult to buy then I may be interested.

I wish he'd make more styles of flywheel

[Peter Ellis 5Participant @peterellis5]

Hi

I´ve dropped the guy a line to see whether he can supply drawings for an ex CES Machine Vice. I´ve had the castings for 30 years and now need to make it. If anyone has made one or has the drawings, I would be pleased to hear from them. The number 585A is cast into them.

TIA

Cheers

[Peter Ellis 5Participant @peterellis5]

Michael has kindly worked out that the castings are 565, not 585.

Still looking for drawings or a pic of the innards of a made one !

Cheers

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Posted by Hopper on 07/06/2018 05:54:05:

I made my own Myford-sized angle plates from a piece of scrap 6" x 4" angle iron from the local tip recycle shop. The thickness of the steel is well thick enough to make small angle plates, say the usual 2" x 4" and the like. I cut the material down to size in a friction disc cut-off saw. Made the slots with a combination of drilling, hacksawing, milling and filing, depending on my bent on the day. Raw angle iron is not perfectly square so the two flat surfaces were machined with a flycutter held in the lathe chuck and the angle plate bolted to the cross slide. A bit of hand scraping with blue on a glass plate finished them off just so.

Made a versatile dividing head body entirely from bits of scrap steel welded together too. So there are alternatives to castings.

A friend of mine is a brilliant welder/fabricator and it is amazing how he approaches a job, a machinist seems to think about removing material to reveal a finished article whereas a fabricator adds material to reach the required item followed by minimal machining as required.

Mike

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Posted by Andrew Tinsley on 07/06/2018 10:46:23:

Why not buy some cheap Chinese angle plates. In my limited experience. The ones I have seen are not square and the slots are rough. Just treat them as castings and machine them properly.

If the castings are made available then go that route. I don't think that economics come into it. Just a way of gaining valuable experience!

Andrew.

Same is true of a Keats Plate I purchased – a bit annoyed when I finally got around to using it and thought "I'd better check it, just in case". It's on the TUIT list….

[Peter Ellis 5Participant @peterellis5]

Posted by Gas_mantle. on 23/06/2018 13:51:33:

I've bought wheel castings from the ebay guy so I can say he is a genuine seller and the items I've bought from him have all been great.

I am amazed that it is proving to be so difficult finding anything on these vice castings when thousands must have been made in colleges alone. The design is not showing up anywhere !

Cheers

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