New Blocks on the Block

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

Posted by John Stevenson on 16/11/2011 20:16:06:

 

 

I HAD but been paid £3 17s 4d for the development.

 

John S.

 

£3.87 Not much of a bung although thats about a pint and a half of John Smiths at the prices around here

 

I must say I am quite tempted though (with the blocks John Smiths gives me brian dmage)

 

Regards

 

Paul

 

 

 

 

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Not £3.87

 

£3 17s 4d it was that long ago

 

John S.

[Anonymous]

……..and not a farthing more. Personally I’d take the £3.87p, it’s worth more.

 

Andrew

[Diane CarneyModerator @dianecarney30678]

The whole point of the forum is to exchange ideas and information, is it not?. Recommending a product is perfectly acceptable. Spam is not. If the net benefits to the purveyor of the said product are sufficient to allow him buy a bag of expensive chips – then it’s OK. Two bags? … hmmm, we would have to look into it.

 

Diane

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by Diane Carney on 16/11/2011 23:38:41:

… hmmm, we would have to look into it.

 

Diane

 

 

 

If that was at ower house it would be empty when you looked into it

[StovepipeParticipant @stovepipe]

I must wholeheartedly agree with Diane here. Bogs merely brought these to our notice, and whether we buy them or not is entirely an individual decision, not necessarily swayed by having them mentioned on here. Does someone responding to a question about the  suitability of a particular lathe constitute advertising ? I do not believe so.

 

Dennis

 

 

Edited By Stovepipe on 17/11/2011 12:08:28

[BogstandardParticipant @bogstandard]

I personally don’t give a monkey’s nuts, if something is worth bringing to the attention of others, then so be it. I’m not paid to do it, but a lot of people benefit from it, which is what forums should be about.

 

On the forums, I reckon over the last six months I have brought to the attention of other members about a dozen items, maybe more, no matter where the source be from, as long as it is normally freely available and from the UK, unless it is something really special.

 

A few examples from the top of my head, a 9″ slotted Myford faceplate from RDG to fit the Myford (this fits on the adaptor of my 6″ RT and effectively makes it into a 9″ one), a compact electric hoist from Lidl, for lifting heavy bits in the shop, digiverns from the same source, Richon Tools for cheap cutters etc etc, and now these very handy little blocks.

 

I have been thanked many times for bringing such items to peoples attention, and they have gone out and purchased them.

 

I don’t know how many of these blocks Arc Euro has in stock (and they are not available from anywhere else) but I am sure that from the reaction from people I have let know, they just might be getting short of stock sometime soon. In fact, I have just bought a second set of each yesterday, as I personally have found a good use for them in my own shop.

 

 

John

[EtheAv8rParticipant @etheav8r]

Thanks John, you dun good.

 

All you did was bring to our attention something that you found, used and thought was a good and usefull bit of kit, so you kindly passsed it on. It was then left to the individual to determine if they wanted to have a look, to purchase or not – as it happens I ordered two sets of each ‘cos I thought they woz good too.

 

One of the good aspects of a forum such as this is exchange of information, tips and good product finds. The comments regarding gaining some financial advantage seem pretty daft to me.

[Hugh GilhespieParticipant @hughgilhespie56163]

I think it’s appalling. Blatant advertising. No one should buy these blocks…………

 

At least until after I’ve got the one’s I’ve ordered

[Billy MillsParticipant @billymills]

Thanks to both Johns and DC2 too. There have been lots of times when I have been very grateful for the odd word of wisdom posted on a forum or an idea from a magazine article or a chat with someone at a show. That’s what it should be about, learning about new stuff and picking up on clever ideas so that workshop time gets even better and life gets richer.

 

Although it just happens to be a very rare event here it comes. Thank you to the Johns, Mikes, Chrisses, Richards, MGJ and all of the other innovative and creative people who do make this and other forums such a rich seam of useful information. And thank you to DC1 and DC2 for being moderate moderators and producing such good mags.

 

 

Billy.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

I’m not bothered about the ‘advertising’ boloney, all that matter to me is that someone brought them to my attention. I had seen them on the ARC website but flicked passed the picture of them and never really studied the details.

 

Now that Bogstandard has pointed out their benefits I shall definately getting some.

 

I think Bogstandard deserves a vote of thanks

 

 

Ian Phillips

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Hi Folks,

 

I think the confusion is because some of us thought that John (Bogs) and John (John Stevenson) were the same person .

 

I have no problem with Bogs promoting the other john’s product, and was suggesting that if Bogs had made it cl;ear he wasn’t connected the confusion would not have arisen.

 

John (S) can hardly be blamed for someone else liking his idea (which is an excellent one by the way!)

 

Sadly my suggestion appears to have cause more bluster and confusion, not helped end it!

 

Neil

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Guys,

It seems to me that it would be a shame if one was reluctant to pass on good information to the forum for fear of being accused of “commercialism”.

chriStephens

 

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Posted by chris stephens on 17/11/2011 23:33:52:

Hi Guys,

It seems to me that it would be a shame if one was reluctant to pass on good information to the forum for fear of being accused of “commercialism”.

chriStephens

 

Hi Chris,

 

I agree entirely There is a much more blatant sales pitch over on HMEM. The comments here are much more restrained. I’m not sure of the comments by some about a ‘declaration of no commercial interest’ (see Neil’s posting above).  JS and Bogs have been friends for a while and have worked in cooperation at times,often complimenting each other’s work. Does it matter if there are financial interests involved?

 

Regards

 

T

Edited By Terryd on 18/11/2011 06:28:07

[BogstandardParticipant @bogstandard]

Terry,

 

John S and myself have known each other for a few years, purely on a machining level, NEVER financially. More towards my other side of things, helping other people not as fortunate as ourselves to get into the workshop.

 

If people have a bit of machinery, tooling, raw materials or equipment that they no longer require, they drop it off at my house for storage, then I try to find it a good home amongst disabled model engineers, or people who don’t have the money available to buy it themselves. The only cost to them is that they have to pick it up from my house. A bit like a charity shop for model engineers.

 

John S has helped me greatly, more so with the help of his greater experience.

 

I only have to hear a cry from one of the people I am in contact with, and if I cannot help them, a quick email to John and he usually has the answer to the problem. John S is a mine of information and has most probably forgotten more than I will ever know, but he gives me information, if possible, for the asking. A bit like myself, rough and ready on the outside, but peel back a few layers, you end up with a fluffy bunny.

Sorry John, for spoiling your ‘hard man’ reputation.

 

BTW, I have sitting in storage at this time, a small pair of pneumatic tyred wheelchair wheels (about 10″ overall diameter and very good quality) and a scroll saw, the same as this one, donated from my own workshop. It seems that everyone I know already has one, or no room in their tiny shop for it.

 

Scroll Saw

 

If you know some unfortunate who lives within easy striking distance of myself (Crewe, Cheshire) who could put either of these items to a good use, then they are FOC.

If you are not needy, then a reasonable donation to Christies Cancer unit in Manchester will be required for either of them.

 

Sorry for the blatant advertising.

 

 

John

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

JESUS H CHRIST ON A PUSH BIKE

 

Don’t put words into my mouth.

 

First off I don’t work for ARC, I work for myself and probably 80 odd customers.

I do subcontract work for ARC as I also do work for 4 other companies who advertise in MEW.

 

I have no financial ties to ARC over what they sell, I sort problems out, vet drawings and designs then stand back. I’ll bet not many people know that the KX series of CNC mills were designed and built in the UK, then shipped to China, a refreshing thought these days.

The manual was written in English [ actually a local dialect called Ilson ] over here.

 

Any support and problems with these machines is paid for directly by Sieg in China, ARC has no input on that.

 

What is it with you guys that someone can’t make a heads up post?

Is it that you are welded to your armchair as you can’t go outside into the workshop and actually DO something ?

 

Of course not I forget, you can’t buy a lathe because it was advertised in the comic’s and so it’s blatantly commercial. You have to dream up anything you want to make because you can’t buy a kit or castings, again blatantly commercial.

 

Why are you even reading this web page there are ADVERTS on it.

 

For depletive expletived grow up or go back to the stone age.

 

John S.

 

PS, this post follows on from John Moores post [ bogs ] it is not a reply to bogs but the rest of you whining fairies. You know who you are.

Edited By John Stevenson on 18/11/2011 09:23:29

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Now that the air has cleared … May I return to the engineering?

Bogstandard provides a link to his [very useful] review on the HMEM site. This includes the comment:
“You can see from this shot that the screws, even though fairly close on the small blocks, don’t overhang the sides at all, so no real problems on that score. I suppose you could use half height heads if you were picky.

Just one criticism, if it was me making them, I would have gone for one size smaller threads in each set, 5mm & 6mm, they would have been plenty strong enough. But that is just me being picky, maybe they need to be that larger size for some reason.”

Now; it is worth noting the enormous difference between ISO [metric series] caphead screws and the “proper” Allen screws that were used in ToolRooms when Starrett first designed their blocks. The head size was much smaller in relation to the shank, and similarly, the clearance hole size was smaller. … These were the next best thing to dowel-pins!
M6 capheads are crude things by comparison; the specified clearance hole is way too big, and the head size is enlarged to conceal the sloppy fit. They are better suited to IKEA furniture.

An open request to John Stevenson:
Would you please suggest to ARC, that they might offer a version with either UNF or BSF threads, and the appropriate clearance holes?
… This would make a Good Thing even Better.

MichaelG.

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Posted by ady on 16/11/2011 11:22:24:
I’m just stimulating and encouraging some technical conversation bogs

Yeah right.

 

Regards,

Tony

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Posted by Chris Trice on 16/11/2011 22:32:56:

The disclaimer has always been pretty pointless in my view since how would you know the person making the claim wasn’t lying? It’s meaningless. It’s a bit like auctions that offer a certificate of authenticity signed by the seller. And ultimately, it doesn’t matter. I’m cool with people letting others know about a cool bit of gear whether they or someone else is selling it. A brief single plug is different from the untargetted spam that gets up everyone’s nose.

Well said Chris.

 

Regards,

Tony

[S.D.L.Participant @s-d-l]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 18/11/2011 10:30:38:

An open request to John Stevenson:
Would you please suggest to ARC, that they might offer a version with either UNF or BSF threads, and the appropriate clearance holes?
… This would make a Good Thing even Better.

MichaelG.

 

 

The choice of clearance whole size is down to the designer, it can be as close as you want with the proviso that the location of any holes has to be more accurate,

 

Why would anyone design a revised / new product to us a screw that has been obsolete for 30 years or more (BSF).

 

They look good to me as all of Johns other products for Arc-Euro do, Ordered mine as soon as they were flagged here.

 

Steve Larner

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

 

 

Posted by Bogstandard on 18/11/2011 09:01:56:

Terry,

 

John S and myself have known each other for a few years, purely on a machining level, NEVER financially. More towards my other side of things, helping other people not as fortunate as ourselves to get into the workshop………………….

 

Hi John,

 

I did’t say anything about financial cooperation and if anyone thought that was the implication they are mistaken.If there was an implication of financial links it was unintentional and I would apologise.

 

I merely said that you sometimes collaborated with John S (as friends do), as you have commented both here and on HMEM.

 

Best regards

 

Terry

[StovepipeParticipant @stovepipe]

Well, I’ve ordered mine from ARC, courtesy of Bogs pointing out the item.

Can anyone solve that age-old conundrum – what thread is used to tap “a monkey’s nuts” ?

 

Dennis

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Thanks to John (Bogs) for bringing this to our attention and to John S for designing these blocks.

Ordered mine yesterday and they arrived in the post this morning.

 

They are very well made and finished, just a shame they don’t come with a couple of screws, but that is a very minor criticism.

 

Graeme

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Steve [S.D.L.]

“Why would anyone …”

Quite simply … for all the reasons that I gave.
O.K. perhaps UNF is a better choice than BSF but the fact remains that Allen screws in both these series were better proportioned [for precision engineering use] than the current metric ones.

In my opinion; a thing only becomes obselete if the proposed replacement is better.

If you can let me know of anywhere that I can obtain metric series, high tensile caphead screws; with small diameter heads and fine tolerances, then I shall happily withdraw my suggestion.

MichaelG.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Michael,

WERE better is probably the correct term.

Have you measured ant modern made UNF allen head screws up lately?

 

Sorry gone down the road of easier/ cheaper to make with baggy tolerances.

 

Anyway can you image the supply problems if there are three different threads on the market ? The smaller set wouldn’t be able to handle 1/4″ UNF so you would be down to the numbered unified series 6-32 and ilk.

 

That would be a logistical minefield in any other country than the USA.

 

Never going to happen from this direction.

 

In answer to your last query if you want small heads [ why ? they don’t touch or overlap ? ] and tight tolerances then go to an Aerospace supply company, please let us know how much they are per 100 ?

 

John S.

Edited By John Stevenson on 18/11/2011 12:23:30

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