What can you do with a Quorn?

I would say the answer to all your questions is yes - I part built one with father, but we have never finished it. And lathe tools etc! Prof Chaddock designed the machine when he was making a model of a BRM vee

8 racing car engine without the use of castings. He needed small ball nosed slot drills for the crankcase finning which were unavailable commercially. He designed the Quorn to make them.

Steve

Sheffield

The easiest way to find out out what the Quorn can do is to join the Yahoo Quorn-users group.

The easiest way to find out what YOU can do is to build a Quorn.

Norm

Yes to all three with qualification.

Endmills are easy to sharpen, no problems.

Ball endmills can also be done but life is easier with the micrometer accessory. Chaddock's book gives details on how to build it.

Drill bits cannot be sharpened on the normal conical relief without another accessory. However... a four facet grind is possible without any extra attachments and once you have used a drill bit sharpened in this way, you won't be turning back. There's a pic of a 4 facet grind being done, bottom of page ->

If you are curious as to the machines capabilities, it might be worth buying Chaddocks book. Half the book is dedicated to building the machine, the other half to operating, so it gives a good idea of what it can do.

Yes. Joined that. Looking back through uk.rec.models.engineering saw reference to PG offline to download the quorn group from Yahoo. Started on my reading. Thanks to John Stevenson for the tip posted in July 2006 topic on Quorn in this usenet group.

From what I've gleaned, that statement is quite true. Sorta like a final exam on machining.

Wes

I'm searching for a retailer in the States that has a copy available. Powells, my favorite machining book retailer, was out.

BTW, you have a very nice website with info on the Quorn and other things.

Question: in

That tool looks like it is designed to cut variable length scribe marks. Any plans for it? I can noodle it out but a drawing is priceless.

Then in

solves the marking issue since I can't imagine hand stamping anything repetatively and having it look nice. The Chinese are right, a picture is worth 1000 words.

Thanks,

Wes

If you're US based, try Martin Model. They do the castings, should do the book as well. If you are still stuck, ordering from the UK shouldn't cost a frightening amount in postage.

This is the graduating tool from Hemingway kits, they may be able to do a drawing only for overseas.

Alternatively, J A Radford describes one in "Improvements & Accessories For Your Lathe".

That's the G H Thomas UPT (Universal Pillar Tool), it's invaluable for this kind of work.

Thought as much...

I'll give them a call today. I had a bid in on a quorn casting set with manuals on ebay but I didn't bid high enough before I left for work.

Thanks,

Wes

Darn. Shipping from England is very expensive. When it comes to shipping, it isn't such a small world yet.

The important thing is that, due to your pictures, I've seen examples. Thanks,

Wes

The main operation seems to consist of looking at the castings and saying "I must finish that one day".

20 to 30 years is apparently a fairly normal construction time span for them.

Now stop that. It's getting closer to the top of the list every year.

Mark Rand RTFM

I was bidding on a set of castings, plus other bits, on ebay last night. The seller evidently thought he had waited to finish one too long and was selling it. I got outbid after I left for work. I wonder if the gent that won it will be selling it a bit more completed a few years down the road? ;)

Wes

You'll find the kit more rusted, for sure. :-)

The Quorn is a nice thing, but involves a lot of sub-projects to finish. Certainly not a "I-have-a-3-in-1-and-can-do-it-in-a-week".

Nick

Sandblasting makes it shiny in 5 minutes. Then it can collect new rust under

*your* bench. :-)

I'm very interested in it! A good soul sent me the book (buy it!) in return for 4 feed rolls for his MIG/MAG. Read the book cover to cover in both directions. Well it is a nice thing to have, but I think it is quite a pain to set it up for one offs. That is stopping me (currently) from building one. My T&C-grinding shop makes modifications to mills for quite a reasonably price, so this also stops me. But he doesn't do it on a Saturday night and not 'til the next day. This is a plus. Also, it think it is not very stable (but stable enough), no experience with it, users certainly know more than I just can guess.

The construction is very clever. I thought about my own version (just playing mind-games) and always ended in a ... Quorn with slight modifications. Certainly better to build something prooven than a new design. Maybe change some dimensions and adapt it for different collets, but that's all I *would* do.

OK, I'll start with the spindle soon ...

Nick

Sounds like a cue for a "1001 uses for a dead Quorn" thread to me ;-)

Regards, Tony

Assuming you are referring to 190088714378, it seemed like a bit of oil would have been helpful. I can't say much since I found a lyman .58 cal bullet mold in my trunk that shouldn't have been left there so long. Thankfully the rust is not in the cavity. :)

I saw a reference back a bit that you were interested in one. Did you start or finish one?

Wes

I'm on a scraping-break, I thought. Got a new lathe and had to scrape the tailstock down by 0.1mm. Took 3..4 hours and I got all the geometry right. :-) That lathe has some problems and the dealer told that it will be scraped. He will come by this week and have a look at it. When I'm through with add-on's for the lathe, I'll go back to the grinder.

Nick

Ah but I can get some free vapor corrosion inhibiting paper (VCI) for free from work. Just have to mine the trash containers.

I just called the US distributor for Quorn items to order the book. He just sold the last one so he is waiting for a new shipment. I put it on order and will just have to wait.

Btw, Model Engine Builder just hit my debit card for the subscription I ordered last month. I was suprised how long they waited. Maybe there is a copy ready to be mailed.

You are probably still scraping in that grinder...

Wes