Member postings for FMES

Whatever you decide to do jason, it's a great thread, personally I would go for a 'Volume 2'

Lofty

I was thinking more along the lines of 'ouchiness' involving **LINK**

I must be honest I had never heard of a spotting drill prior to this thread, so consequently have never used them.

I can't see how they would be useful for drilling lathe center holes so I don't have a use for them there.

Looking back over the years I can only think that the times I have broken a center drill was when it was used in a jacobs type chuck rather than a R8 collet, and I don't think the center drills that I have are anything special make wise.

The last job that needed a 1mm pilot hole through some 1.6mm brass, a spotting drill would not have fitted in either my chuck or collet whereas a standard center drill did, owing to its larger shank.

I don't think i do anything that requires 'micron' tolerances - the nearest 'thou' is good enough, so effectively I cant justify the expense of buying spotting drills for a limited application.

Horses for courses I think.

Lofty

Could it be the 'inside' of the front panel?

Edited By Lofty76 on 14/10/2013 08:43:24

Mines 22' x 16' (approx 6.7 x 4.9 meters?) and I keep thinking I should have gone bigger

Edited By Lofty76 on 12/10/2013 15:42:43

Laser edge finder, especially when setting up the mill DRO

Hi Oliver,

Can't quite visualise what you are trying to do, how would a new crankshaft alter the exhaust position?

Hi, there are a couple of differences, the material being one, the 'Pea' cylinders are normally cast iron and simplex are gunmetal, the bores are the same, but simplex stroke is 1/8th longer (should be adaptable), the only awkward thing I can see is that the steam inlet enters the side of the valve chest on Simplex, through the frames, whereas the Pea inlet goes into the top of the valve chest between the cover and the frames.

Whether there is enough meat on the Valve chest to allow for this inlet fitting on the Simplex cylinders I'm not sure, but you may be able to modify the chest cover to take the steam pipe.

One thing I noticed with mine is that it develops a very high vacuum on the overun with the regulator shut so I fitted snifting valves to the dead center of the chest cover, these if required could always be offset.

Hope this is of help

Lofty

You might find that a lot of people are using these techniques to prevent spambots for unwanted access.

You may find it useful to use it yourself if you get the myriad of unwanted spams in your personal email accounts as many do.

I used a fibreglass cord seal from a boiler, it was about 3mm in diameter, wrapped around the copper pipe and then sealed with plaster of paris.

Its still good after 25 years on my loco.

Nearest I can find is **LINK**

hope this helps.

... and the answer was?

Nope, that doesn't seem to work, I get one posting that I sent last January, but can see everything in a big heap under 'My Posts'.

Profile can be found in 'Settings'

Better that the £8.99 on Amazon.

Can you actually do the calculations without a cylinder indicator diagram?

Reg, I think you may have underestimated the 'Power of the Pea'

Something for your grandson might be a 3.5 " Tich if thats all the pulling pwer that you need.

Edited By Lofty76 on 22/09/2013 18:40:02

Hi Reg,

I have a 5" 'Pea that I built in the late eighties with a non-superheated boiler, it steams well and is a superb puller for its size, I have had on occasion 4 trucks with 4-6 passengers each plus me on a driving trolley on a level track with no pulling problems.

I would agree with Fizzy, but not for the same reasons, that superheating is not really required, I don't think Jack Buckler ever designed it in the first instance, and the additional lubricating problems that it brings.

I never used the displacement lubricators anyway, preferring to opt for a pumped system.

I would offer advice on the safety valves as the are not big enough to comply with the modern test requirements, the boiler produces a LOT of steam and the stock valves cannot keep up with the 10% requirements (on my boiler anyway), which required upsizing the ports.

Hope this is of help

Lofty

Mike,

Look at the tailstock end of the lathe, and on the very end is a box usually with a clear plastic cover.

This is the forward / reverse switch. now look on the other side and you will see a round shaft heading toward the carriage, at the carriage it is connected to a lever which has indents for forward / stop/ reverse.

Its just to the right of the main carriage handwheel

Lofty

I thought David wanted it for checking gear mesh etc. it also works quite well as a marking agent if you mix a little with some meths or other rapidly evaporating substance.

Hi David,

I bought a small tin of Stuarts Micrometer Blue years ago and its still lasting, a little goes an awful long way so to speak

**LINK**

Lofty

Drove up there this afternoon, nice little display, not too much in the way of steam but plenty of stationary engines, classic cars, bikes, and an Allegro (!!), loads of different tat to look at but managed to resist buying anything.

Good people to talk to and a well worthy cause to support.

Lofty