Workshop assets – Page 5 – Woody's Workshop

May 19, 2021May 21, 2021

Laser cutting line modification to Femi NG120ABS bandsaw

Quick and Easy Cutting Set Up

I recently acquired a Femi NG120ABS bandsaw which you might think seems a bit strange given how much I talk on this site about my Burgess BK3 bandsaw. I regard them as two different animals.

The Femi has replaced my Kennedy for cutting stock ready for milling. The Femi auto feed facility means it can be left unattended while I get on with other things.

The BK3 upgraded with my modified guide assemblies is a more precise ‘cutting to a line’ device with the benefit of a wide throat for cutting sheet stock.

I am impressed by the Femi and by its performance. Speed of cut is excellent and build quality is very good. The vice action clamps well and is very rigid.

The one frustration with the Femi has been when loading material ready for cutting. You have to iteratively and repeatedly move the stock in the vice to match where you want the blade to be cut. This is easier with long pieces of stock but when you have a heavy short chuck of metal block with not much left between the jaws it becomes a juggling act. Likewise when cutting off line such as mitres. These situations mean constantly raising and lowering the cutting arm to check you have it in the right place.

I have created a battery powered laser line module that mounts on the Femi blade guide and which will show where the blade will cut. It clearly isn’t for everyone’s taste but it makes life just a bit more simple ! As Jimmy Diresta says … ‘I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it’.

femi bandsaw laser alignment guide — Image showing the laser alignment guide mounted on the Femi NG120ABS bandsaw

Here is a pdf file containing the write up giving details.

Femi Laser Module Mk 2

Due to demand here are the Gerber and STEP files for the project

Femi_files and notes

Because of the interest shown, if there is sufficient demand I could arrange for some PCBs to be manufactured offshore. Let me know via the email in the footer.

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May 4, 2021May 4, 2021

Milling vice stop for non grooved vice jaws

Another Job Ticked Off

There are a number of lower cost CNC milling vices (vises) available on the market that do not have jaw geometry with grooves for tooling fixtures and vice stops. Admittedly their jaws could be machined to add this facility but many of these vices have hardened jaws which presents more of a problem.

My CNC vice came from the UK supplier ARCeurotrade and is from their ARC Versatile SG Iron Milling Vices range. I have the 100mm wide jaw version and the jaws are just over 11mm (7/16″) thick.

I have a simple plate that acts as a stop that is flush with the end of the jaws. This makes use of existing holes in the vice body but often I need to have a stop internal to the jaw footprint. Juggling then results with all manner of Heath Robinson solutions.

My design is simple and clamps onto the thickness of the jaws.

There are two M3 clamping screws and there is enough adjustment on these to allow a parallel to also be gripped should it be needed.

CNC vice stop showing clamping onto the vice jaw and also when used with a parallel

I allowed for two positions for the stop rod and the rod is held with a grub screw in each. There is a central burr clearance neck on the rod so the grub screw does not damage the surface of the rod and make removal difficult. Clearly the rod could be simplified to have just a single fixed position.

The rod can have rounded ends or it can have ball bearings glued into a cavity on each end of the rod. The ball bearings would give a higher resilience to damage.

So nothing really complicated or rocket science with just an hour or so of workshop pleasure. The size can be adjusted to suit your vice jaws and the material can be whatever is in the junk box.

Here is a link to the 2D drawings that were created in Fusion 360.

CNC vice stop Drawing v3

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April 12, 2021June 7, 2021

Burgess BK3 replacement lower blade guide

Burgess BK3 Final Modification – Lower Blade Guide

This is the final piece in my Burgess BK3 bandsaw upgrade jigsaw. Having successfully replaced the top guide with a double bearing assembly my attention turned to the lower guide. Using the same principle as the upper guide I came up with the following assembly.

Burgess BK3 bandsaw replacement lower guide assembly — Stylised Fusion 360 image of the replacement lower guide assembly on my Burgess BK3 bandsaw

This seems to work well and is straightforward to implement. The bearings are standard 1/2″ size parts from Bearing Boys. These need a small brass bush to mount them on the sliding brass blocks. The blocks need a single M3 washer to space the bearing from the block and the body.

The blade pressure roller is made from silver steel and can be heat treated to improve wear from the blade edge.

The mounting bracket arm picks up on the original M5 mounting screw concept. The bracket could be milled onto the main body as a CNC operation but the two part assembly works fine and is very rigid in operation.

Here is a set of drawings for my BK3 lower guide assembly

The link below is a complete set of notes and drawings pulled into one ZIP file to cover all the modifications I have done and separately document in my blog and other author’s notes that I have come across. I hope that helps.

Updated file link to BK3 Modifications v2

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February 10, 2021June 7, 2021

Fogbuster update on my Myford Super 7 lathe

Plan B Fogbuster Mounting on the Myford lathe

Of late there has been a long thread running about Fogbuster use on the MEW forum. This set me thinking. The forum debate centred on whether mist lubricant or flood coolant was more or less healthy. For hobbyists the consensus seemed to favour the mist coolant. This was with the proviso that the jet and coolant mix is carefully balanced. An interesting point was made about ensuring the air stream was pointing away from the operator to avoid blowback. If all is good you should not be able to smell the lubricant. (N.B. I use QualiChem Xtreme Cut 250C at around 8% dilution).

The installation on my Tormach PCNC440 is fine with respect to blowback at the operator. Both nozzles are on flexible mountings and can be easily directed towards the back of the mill. (See prior post).

My installation just completed on my Myford Super 7 is not quite so perfect. I was using a T slot at the back of the saddle as the nozzle mounting. This meant the nozzle was playing on the back of the workpiece and towards the operator. Perhaps with hindsight not the most healthy option. OK so I don’t use lubricant on the lathe that much as most of my work is brass and aluminium so maybe less of a critical issue. Because of the infrequent use I wanted the Fogbuster to be quickly demountable until the next steel job comes along, hence the T slot idea.

I have a Myford Quick Change Toolpost fitted on the Super 7 which has two tool holder positions at right angles to each other. It struck me that the Fogbuster could be mounted in the QCTP unused slot. This would allow the air jet and lubricant to point forwards towards the workpiece. Normally I would have the empty slot on the far side face so a boring bar can be dropped into place. By rotating the QCTP through 180 degrees the spare slot would sit nearest the operator and be ideal for the Fogbuster.

I didn’t really want to dedicate a steel tool holder to the Fogbuster so I created a 3D printed version. This picked up on the prior mounting holes I had modelled in the flexible clamp.

I needed to make sure my 3D printed profile was a good fit in the QCTP so after fully modelling it I moved the time line in Fusion back to the profile extrude and reduced this from 26mm to 5mm and ran a test print on just a 5mm depth version. This allowed a quick print to be done which gave me feedback to do some minor edits. The timeline then was dragged fully forward and a full size print run. Try doing that as easily and quickly in steel ?

The pseudo toolholder 3D print ran in around 90 minutes and looked and fitted well. To finish off, I turned up a small clamping button to match the normal clamping and height adjustment screw on the QCTP.

Hey presto a new Fogbuster forward facing mounting ready to go.

Close up of Fogbuster mounting using the Myford QCTP — Fogbuster mounting using the Myford QCTP

Overview of Fogbuster mounting on a Myford QCTP

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February 3, 2021February 3, 2021

Having it and not needing it or Needing it and not having it ?

Changing the Drive Belt on a Cowells ME90 Lathe

One of the posters that Jimmy Diresta sells says “I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it”. The saying is apt and often strikes home. This is not just in terms of larger workshop assets but also in the small scheme of things like workshop tooling. You know the time you spent making a jig for a job and thought ‘all that extra time and effort to just make that and what do I do with the tooling now ?’

I think it is a saying that is close to the heart of many hobbyist no matter what the medium you are working in. It does explain why our workshops are full of ‘stuff’ that we accumulate on the ‘just in case’ basis. How many screwdrivers do we really need ? The answer of course is ‘one more’.

I believe there should be a sub clause to Jimmy’s poster – “Needing it and Having it yet not being able to Use It”.

I have a Cowells ME90 mini lathe which is a beautiful piece of engineering and I seem to remember it was my first real mechanical engineering purchase. For 364 days of the year it sits looking forlorn at the back of the bench asking to be valued, loved and used. When it is called into use it is indispensable. Usually. On a recent once in a blue moon 365th day when it and only it could perform a task for me I found the drive belt to the headstock had perished. You could almost see the grin on the ME90s face. Gottcha mate, serves you right for not looking after me.

Thankfully the drive belts are standard sewing machine belts (#MB410) and are readily available both direct from Cowells or numerous sources on the Internet including Amazon. A replacement was ordered and it arrived quite quickly.

Now to the nub of the problem – how to fit the belt ? Looking at the headstock it suggested that maybe the whole assembly had to be lifted off and split but the cap head screws for this which went down into the baseplate did not want to budge. I looked at the spindle and it seemed to have differing diameters that at first glance would not allow it to be removed out of the bearing mounts.

Cowells ME90 headstock assembly for reference while following the belt replacement instructions working left to right

Rather than risk a regretful step I emailed Cowells and very quickly got a support reply from Colin. For all future intrepid belt changers here are his instructions : –

The only way to fit the belt between the 3 step pulleys is to dismantle the headstock assembly.

Its quite simple really:-

Start at the left hand side of the headstock.

1, Unscrew the knurled gear retaining nut.

2, Pull off the 20 tooth gear ( be careful not to lose the tiny Woodruffe key beneath it).

3, Unscrew the round adjuster nut that butts against the large (64t) gear. -You can use a pair of pliers/grips if you put some emery cloth in their jaws.

4, Slacken the M5 grub screw ( or take it out) in the 64t gear.

5, Pull this gear off. (If it is reluctant to budge then, its probably due to a burr underneath- see below for advice).

6, Slacken the M4 grub screw( or remove) in the little collar that abuts the headstock pulley inside the headstock channel.

7, Slacken (or remove) the grub screw in the central vee of the headstock pulley.

8, Slacken the tension on the two bearing adjuster journals- these are the large cap head screws you see on the top face of the headstock body.

9, It should now be possible for the headstock spindle to eject toward the tailstock.

Clean all parts thoroughly and re-assemble in reverse.


If you have trouble removing the 64t gear then, make sure all grub screws are removed as above. Screw back on the knurled gear retaining nut and with a hide mallet, gently tap the headstock spindle toward the tailstock.

As I said in my thank you reply to Colin, I felt like a hybrid version of ‘stupid boy Pike’ and ‘Rodney you plonker’. (UK sitcom specific joke).

Enough said ?

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