No Idea

Your right there equipment really is nice but eye wateringly expensive . Lucky I have a friend who’s company use a lot of their tools so he managed to get it for a reasonable price for me. Amazingly it fits the Proxxon vice with no modification required

Just a couple of pictures of the tooling plate which will be better for my needs as I only mill wood. I like the way I can just unbolt the vice and then have loads of points that I can use the hold downs with. Its quick and simple and also protects the bed.

Its a Sherline 5410 - I've been really impressed with it so far.

Bill I never would have guessed the age of your mill it still looks great. I don't understand why though T bolts have the thread all of the way through. If they were blind holes we would get less marks on the table and probably less man made distortion too. Thanks for the pics

Hi Roger - Luckily I've found a supplier in the UK so my shipping costs this time are minimal. But as I ordered the standard and stepped hold downs I have quite a few T nuts etc. The quality are very good and I'm glad that I bought them. Thanks Jim - I do have two draw bar collets and they are quite expensive and yes the cutter has to be within .001" to fit correctly according to the instructions. Any chance you could recommend a make of collet chuck or two that I could have a look at. I did make a mistake - I ordered a tooling plate as I have used these in the past. Anyway after paying for it I realised that I have a mill and just could have made one. I've been out of the game for too long but I did laugh at myself. I'll get some pictures up next week but it is a good bit of kit which is easily dialled in with a DTI.

Thanks PRS 👍. I have to keep things clean and tidy as I work in our spare room

Hi Clogger I followed line “e” on the plans. The line is only drawn on the starboard side of the plan and is not reflected on the port side. To solve this I ran a centre line down some tracing paper and traced the starboard side. I then flipped the paper over to get the same profile on the port side.

wefalck thanks very much for this information as this is exactly the kind of thing that I need to learn. Although I did a tool making apprenticeship in the 80's things have changed so much since then. I currently have two collets (3mm and 1/8") which are secured using a draw bar for this mill and are rated to 12K RPM. I like this system as it has few interfaces and from my two day experience of this mill its a very very secure holding system which also seems to runs true. My curiosity and other posts on this forum made me think that maybe an ER16 system may be better for my needs. Also when you look at the Sherline spindle its threaded like a mill chuck should be there. I guess this is something to do with the lathe. I'm on a very different learning curve here but one which I'll hopefully understand soon Mark

Hi wefalck and thanks for your comments I don't actually know what an ER collet chuck is? I've just assumed that it is an adjustable collet chuck that fits many sizes? I only machine wood and use very few shank sizes - however a Sherline collet in the UK is £27 or if you like $35 a go. So over here 3 collets is the best part of $100 so I was wondering if there was maybe an equivalent way for a reasonable price. Thanks for the advice on the tool makers vices I'll have a good look on the internet Mark

Hi Bill and Joe and thanks for your comments Bill - I've actually ordered the step blocks as I thought that my Proxxon one's would be adequate and fit but the don't. They should be here next week and I've also ordered the T bolts too. Interestingly I've also found that the headstock bearings heat up on high speed and I've even adjusted the end play on the preset nut as per the instructions. They don't get so hot though that I can't touch the headstock so I'll see how that goes. The instructions say that the bearings cannot be damaged by heat and if I have any problems I'll contact Sherline but its nice to hear that its just not me. I've found that I do not get tear out or chip out at the higher speed which is very encouraging. Bill and Thistle17 - I've already got a tilting table but I have seen the rotary table. Thanks for the advice here as I thought that I would need one of these at some point. They look extremely well made so I'll get saving for one. Thanks Mark

Hi All Following on from a thread regarding whether buying a mill was justified or not, I've upgraded to a Sherline mill from my Proxxon mill. I really cannot compare this to my Proxxon mill as this is in a very different league and I've been more than surprised by just how good it is. In fact I'm really surprised just how good it is. Being from the UK tools imported from the USA carry quite a tariff but I'm used to that having bought a Byrnes saw. As I use mainly only small end mills I invested in the 10k RPM pulley accessories which works great and cutting just wood there is more than enough power in this mill to do the job. So my question is........what accessories would you recommend? I keep on reading about ER - 16 collet chucks but I don't really know what they are. I'm guessing that they are contractable collect chucks but are these things really worth getting? I have found that most of the cutting shanks that I use are either 3mm or 1/8" so simple collets may do the job. Any advice / experience would be welcome Thanks Mark

Sorry for the lack of updates but I'm waiting on a small adjustable angle plate to be delivered for my mill vice. I've now been told it will probably be a couple more weeks yet So while I've been waiting I have made the assembly jig which turned out to be a project in itself! It's very sturdy and holds the keel firmly and straight. I used the station line on frame 15 as my datum for everything to line up and its seems to have gone ok. I did find that when I curved the upper platform it shortened the aperture a little so once it was bolted in place it did need slightly adjusting it to allow for this shrinkage. I've roughly tried a few frames and they seem to fit nicely apart from the first four frames at the bow. I've checked them on the plans and I've left them a little on the thick side. So I reckon that if I sand them down to their correct size they should fit ok but I'll worry about that nearer the time. Here's a few pictures

What an amazing build - that is absolutely beautiful 👍

Thanks Mark and I hope so too. I'm finding with building this ship that I just cannot cover all eventualities no matter how hard I try. I'm certain that all model builders have the same thoughts. Cheers again as I really appreciate your comments

Thanks Eamonn that's nice of you to say.....but don't zoom in too closely as I have still made a few simple errors. The rising wood is now complete and its a nice part of the boat to make. The shorter piece is the hardest to make as its thickness rises just before the apron. I positioned it dry using tree nails to make sure that I got good alignment which made the gluing up nice and easy. I also trial fitted a couple of frames......they are very snug and needed a little bit of fettling with a file but the fit on the rising wood is good. My next job is the wing transom and I'll make a start on this sometime over the weekend when I get some more time. Cheers Mark

Take two........😆 I'm very glad to say that I'm now back on track I've remade all of the keel parts and they are very nice and straight! The only extra piece added is the stem head knee and I've also pre-shaped the saddle for the bowsprit. I'm now going to get on with the rising wood.

Hi Gerard - thanks for the nice comment. It’s the original plan that is slightly distorted and having looked further it would appear to have only affected the stem. If I place tracing paper over the assembled stem and plot the main points, it is slightly different on the exploded stem. I’m glad that I have resolved my problem but I’ve not heard from Ancre yet. Maybe they will post me another copy of plan 2. Either way I have a solution so will be able to continue. It’s a minor problem I believe with the printing of this one sheet on what are lovely plans.

Hi Gerard Thanks for the reply - As soon as I discovered this issue I was quite certain that its a printing issue. I'll wait for Ancre to check their prints as obviously if this part is wrong others could be too. I just need to know from them that the main assembled drawing is correct and I'll use that instead. Thanks again Mark

Oh on the positive side I have remade the sternson and extensions. I corrected all of the errors of my own making so this is far better than the original one that I made. I did have to jiggle the scarfs though probably for the same reason as above I've just not have time to have a detailed look at that. Quite honestly it doesn't matter as this version lines up exactly with the main plan 😉

Hi All I have a problem - or should I say I've found a problem. As you know I'm currently remaking the keel parts due to the stem not being straight. So I remade the stem parts and yet again the parts were not aligned as they should be. So I put it down to my mistake and made them again - yep you've guessed it they were also misaligned. I seemed to have to make lots of corrections on the scarf joints no matter how carefully I machined them. Even then they just were not quite right. I think I was lucky in my first original attempt to get them to line up. Maybe beginners luck! So I checked the plans and I have found them to have errors. The stem on the exploded part of the plan which is marked by "B" on the attached photo has different dimensions to the stem marked "A" on the main plan. Its about 1mm different which has a big impact on the scarf joint dimensions too. I have been using the exploded plan to gain my templates so basically I have been wasting my time and loads of wood too. The obvious solution would be to use the main plan and cut the pieces out of that; but if thats so why have the exploded parts? I'm certain that Ancre have no idea of this problem so I've dropped them an email to let them know. I'll wait for their reply before I do anymore work but I'm sure that they will be surprised. My guess is that the error occurred at the printers and has nothing to do with them. I've asked them to check their drawings and I'll send them detailed photo's if that will help. I'll keep you up to date as things move forward. Mark

I had a similar issue with my last build as I needed some large diameter tube. I used aluminium in the end https://www.speedymetals.com/pc-2442-8368-1316-rd-6061-t6511-aluminum-extruded.aspx

Hi Tony - yes it’s clean but not straight 😂. I’m working on putting this right at the moment. If you look at the back of the monograph you will find the scantlings which give the timber sizes. What it won’t tell you though is the overall quantity that you need. I’ve found this to be unimportant as the time scale required to build this ship is long so if you like just buy what you need to get going. Or do what I did and just buy a load of lumber from your supplier and make them very happy people 👍

I made this today entirely from start to finish (except for the tapered rabbet which was filed by hand) on an MF70. Is it up to the job - damn right it is! The thing that this tiny mill has over its much bigger counterparts is spindle speed. You can get up to 20,000 rpm which on a small cutter virtually eliminates chip out. This is one of my go to tools and wouldn't be without it.

That’s a very nice job vaddoc. In regards to the gaps rather than using filler I would fill the gap with wood glue and then sand the hull whilst the glue is still wet. That may just fill them up and it would also be the correct colour.

Thanks for the nice comments all. I’ve made a start and it won’t take me long. There’s only a few pieces to make and I’m in no rush. I’ll keep you posted as I just want this build to be right