Member postings for David Lawrence 2

As for qualified electritions, i have been to 3 photo studios in my time to sort out a problem with the electrics. once at the national phyisical labs in Teddington were the electrition blow a 200 amp fuse twice and then a 900 amp fuse in the street putting the whole labs in darkness. Then at the middelsex hospital in London which no earth on the 2nd floor, removed by the in house guys and not put back. Then at a suppliers shop ware a newly quilified sparks had put a screw right through the ring main cable, not once but 6 times. all these installations had not been tested with an avo meter or better. as for my workshop i put in ega round trunking at roof level and had severl drop down tubes to double sockets which looks good and should last a few years.

" splitting a hammond organ" was something i saw happining in a music shop in 1974. Macaris in the Charing Cross road, London. The guy in the shop was using a power jigsaw just to cut through the pollished wooden case.Rather him than me. I was working for a band at the time as a roadie and our Hammond was not split and it took 3 of us to get it out of the flight case, Guitar amps are still made with valves and they seam to have kept to valve business going for the last 40 years. musicians still want old style amps built with tag strips and not pcb's. I think its a business thats keeps looking backwards at the 50's and 60's and not forward.

hi all, Thanks for all the ideas about bricking up my garage door. Lots more to think about now, regards David

Hi all, I am about to buy a house in Whitehaven, Cumbria, with a large garage which i want to use as a workshop. Bricking up the up and over door will give me more useful space for workbenches and keep the cold out. Has anybody done this and what should i look out for. Garage has a side door as well for access. I was thinking of putting in a window in the new brick wall to give me some light. thanks for looking

Update on removing laquer.

Thanks for all the ideas, tried Acetone and Meths, no joy. bought some clock laquer remover from M & P.

No Joy still trying

David

Hi all, I am restoring a Bulle electric clock and most of the brasswork has been laquered in the past but is in a poor state. Any ideas of how to remove the laquer so i can polish the brass again. i have tried chemical paint stripper but it did do that much. regards David

Hi all, Update to the stripped gears. Thanks for all the advice, having removed some covers it looks like the news is good, the toothed drive belt has some teeth missing and the belt broke in half removing it. So a new drive belt may all thats needed, The drive shaft and layshaft seem ok, so it looks like it got off OK, The stainless steel chuck back plate lives to fight back another day. I have had the lathe for 12 years and its the frist time i have had any trouble like this. I should stick too what i know, Aluminium and Brass. David

Hi all, Just been machining a chuck backplate on my mini lathe, light cuts, the tool dug in into what i think is a stanless steel backplate, big noise and screms from the head stock. I think i must have stripped some gears as the backplate bearly rotates now. I see on the Arc euro site they sell all sorts of gears for these small latrhes. Question is has anybody had to replace some of these gears and how to do it. is it a 2 hour job or 2 days, thanks for looking

just about to use some small ball bearings in a clock and small milling spindle. 22mm o/d 12 mm bore. I have been looking at some articals which say wash out the new grease/oil from the bearing and re grease with new, and some say dont bother, some clock guys run them dry. So whats the best option. the clock bearings will do around 1 rev per hour and the milling spindle 3000 revs per min. thanks for the help. David

Ebay has now taken off this add. i did buy the dvd on friday, came yestarday. it is just OK scans of the books, pictures arn't great but it does show you what is in the book before you pay £ 8.00 for the real thing. Some pictures used in mags and books are years old and should be reshot on colour but nobody bothers in this trade. I was at Ally Paly yesterday looking for ane milling machine, lots to see, none of them powered up. How can they try to sell you a machine for £ 1200 but you can try it. If I go to the pro photographic shows to look at lighting all the gear is on and working and flashing, most odd.

I see that a few exhibition clocks now have gold plated frames. Any thoughts on whare to go for this service in the UK and how much it might cost. David

Having run a commercial workshop for 27 years we only had 1 inspection 20 years ago, he looked at the air compressor tank, fire extinquishers ( cant spell) and that was that. took about 4 mins. i asked him about electrical PAT testing of gear, the rules had just come in, and he knew nothing about it. all a bit odd. the fire officers come around every year looking at heaters, gas bottles etc with out fail. David

6082 Ali or HE30 wont anodise that well, we use it in Photographic lighting equipment for its strength, the lower grade HE9 will anodise well but its not as strong. my own experence with anodising is fustrating, using some stock from the scrap box is a mistake as you dont know what grade ot is, the anodising can be patchy and looks poor, Anodising in the shed is possible with basic gear and makes items look much better, worth a try, but only with known grades of Ali. David

Hi all, nothing wrong with that switch but it needs a relay as well to turn the motor on. Often the relay or contactor is in another box away from the motor so vibration does not shake it apart. best thing would be to buy the no volt release switch from axminster tolls and put this switch unit back on e bay. david

Thanks for all your help on this subject, nice to know there is some help out there. David

does anybody use marking / layout blue any more to coat metal to show up scrib marks. trying to buy some but it looks like a hard job. want to coat some clock wheels to show up scrib marks etc. does everybody use a newer marker pen these days. been out of the scene for some years and lost touch with things a bit, as for the price of brass these days !!! thanks for your time, David