Titivating a Wire EDM Machine

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awemawson:
The 'curtain rails' have cleaned up really well. It took quite some soaking, and scraping, and certain bits were so caked I had to sand blast them, but the result is more than acceptable. Quite surprising seeing what a state they were in :ddb:

awemawson:
So in the absence of any other ideas I took the bull by the horns and removed the 'tray' that surrounds the work area. 32 screws later it was off giving far better access to the rusted screws

awemawson:
Fortunately the rubber gaskets that seals the tray to the main base remained stuck firmly on the tray and came away cleanly with it. There is evidence of silicone sealant having been applied previously to this joint and I will probably do the same on re-assembly.

So the next job is to fabricate some sort of drill guiding jig to clamp on to avoid boo-boos.

However I have to stop now as I'm due to collect 'Robert the Boar' from Kent. 'Blossom the Sow' is hopefully coming in to season and needs covering to produce a litter that will be ready to wean in early spring.

awemawson:
So Robert the Boar is now playing Piggy Back with Blossom and I can return to drilling out rusty screws !

The front screw had just the slightest bit still protruding, so I could use it to centre the jig. Jig comprised a bar, through drilled 5 mm (tapping size for 6 mm) and counter bored 5.8 mm to accept the short screw stub. This I clamped on and drilled through, and eventually it came out nice and concentric,as when I was re-tapping it I could feel I was following the original thread, just clearing it.

I started using my air drill, reasoning that it was more controllable in this confined space, but it didn't have enough umph and the mains electric was called in to help.

awemawson:
Now the front screw was easy to centre using the jig. Nothing protruding on the rear one, so I had to use my 'Optical Centre Punch'. Not the easiest of places to use it, especially as I had to rig a torch to get enough light into it, but it worked ok

The previous screw had drilled out happily using ordinary HSS jobber drills - not this one. Even a brand new unused drill wouldn't touch it :bugeye: I ended up taking a trip to our nearest 'tool shop' - really just imported Chinese stuff in the main, and getting a cobalt drill. Out of stock in 5 mm, ended up drilling through at 4.5 mm and then managed to clear the last 1/2 mm with an hss drill.

Again this hole tapped out nicely following the original threads, so a success, but what a palavour just for two rusty screws :bugeye:

Now I know what I want for Christmas - a set of cobalt drills - went through like butter :lol:

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