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Mine's a greeny blue Axminster pedestal machine, with a supposed capacity of 19mm in steel. Drilled all at once, anything over about 10mm in steel showed definite signs of triangularity. 13mm was about the limit provided you started at about 6mm and crept up to final size in 1mm steps. It had no...

Check cheaper cramps before use. The pin that secures the moving head to the screw is often in the wrong place. Drive it out with a pin punch and check that it sits in the groove in the screw, when under pressure. If not put washer(s) under the head to shim it into place. Ignore this and after a...

To silence fans/blowers, the industrial solution is to fit a silencer, which is rather like a sports car "straight through" silencer. You could line the inside of ~60 cm of 110 mm pvc soil pipe with glass fibre, covered by a layer of foam, leaving a central axial hole the same size or a bit...

As the block axis (not the knives) is not adjustable, everthing is usually alligned to this. The thicknessing table should be parallel to the block within a thou or two, this is often set by grub screws where the column disappears through the casting fixed to the case, underneath the...

Looks like Charnwood's version of Ax's 5300 bandsaw.

The Jet jig is really for bigger cambers; grind straight and then put on the camber at the next stage. An easy way which gives repeatable results is to use a cambered "Odate" diamond stone (~600 grit) after grinding. The curvature is only about 2 or 3 thou. Unfortunately they've got expensive as...

Any bit with a screw to draw it in is a no-no in a drill press. You could always grind it into a plain spur.... Most inexpensive drill presses have only one bearing supporting the chuck - the other (splined for drive) end wiggles a bit. It's often worth paying a few quid to get the parts...

First time back home with feet under desk since the Bash; just a huge thank you to Waka (and indulgent family!) for your open hospitality and extra generous sustenance. Great to see everyone, too! best regards, Ivan

Just had a look in the catalogue; 4ft tubes are rated at ~ 40 watts each, and 5ft ~65 watts. A 4ft tube produces ~2,750lm**, a 100W filament bulb about 1380lm (so two 100W bulbs=one 4ft tube, lightwise). A 20W energy saver produces ~1200lm for comparison. Five 4ft tubes are thus rated at...

I thought my Tiger 2500 was reasonable value when on offer at ~£150 ish. Tormek jigs fit, as do Jet. Tormek jigs the nicest made. This type of system really only good for grinding chisel/plane irons. To keep everything square forget the toolrest rest adjuster. Set the rest ~10mm above wheel...

Helo Alf, good to see you back; if you have forgotten what you were doing, you'll be a lucky XXXXer as you will have all the fun of discovery to enjoy over again!

FW seemed great when it was full of line drawings and lots of print ~20 yrs back; now looks a bit too "coffee table" for my liking, but I still subscribe. Gave up on F&C when it cut editorial pages by 20% recently, effectively upping the price. I agree about the Huntley decline, probably...

I can see how the pros justify the price. If not pro, apart from biscuits, a doweller could be more affordable for quick jobs (Freud at D&M Tools) although it may not be as versatile as the Mafell. Otherwise you can do a lot and quickly with a Woodrat, including cutting mortices for dominoes...

Harbo, I made up some big "T nuts" from ply which slide in the same place as the cam clamp. (they can slip behind the fences) With a length of studding you can the bolt stuff to the carriage (not too tight or you can't move it laterally!) My mortice rail and horizontal table fit this way...

Pretty sure I can make it if I can be fitted in some corner? If poss near Bob as also interested in variable (frequency) speed drive.

No overpriced Dutchy products here, I use **** (seed) oil.... From Tesco

Just as the £ fell against the euro I discovered Famag make HSS lip and spur bits sized in 0.5mm steps (fine-tools.com). Waiting for a £ recovery, and meantime using Tilgear chinese HSS lip and spur (by 0.5mm) which are very cheap and unfortunately not all that well ground. The lip/spur is OK...

If you look through Aldel's woodrat mods, you can see one pro who uses his as a tennon machine. The new style ali fence includes a ply facing, which can be adjusted to remove all the rattle in the carriage, even with no work cammed in. If you use the manual technique to rout circular items, you...

Rapeseed oil. I get mine from Tesco look for yellow flowers on cooking oil bottles.

I've had mine (Woodrat) for getting on for 10 years, and still like it. Also its versatility compared with other dovetail jigs etc. The machine works as the designer intended - for small scale cabinet making - until they introduced moulded nylon fences, which were not a succes*. They have...