Member postings for ronan walsh

You can use o1 or silver steel, full harden it by the usual heating to red heat, holding it for a few minutes and quenching. Then you can temper by putting the spring in a bath of lead and quenching.

I had a pair of Newman cams for a triumph twin a few years ago, and they appeared well made to me, no machining marks , nicely polished and nitrided. Other people i know have been critical of their products, one in particular had a problem with dimensions of a hole in the end of a cam for a japanese car, reckoned they did not want to know when he raised the issue with them.

Chuck it up for sale here and let it be used for its intended purpose. It would be terrible to use it for anything other than it was intended for. A bit like idiots using micrometers as G-clamps.

The problem with the A7/A10 cam wear, is a symptom of wear in the timing side bush, the oil pressure drops to a point where the pressure relief valve does not open, or open often enough to give the cam a shot of oil. Great engines apart from that though, and an end feed conversion to the crank see's this problem off.

Its the same in a lot of pass times. When i go to the shooting range, its like "The last of the summer wine". I think fellas in their 40's are about as young as it gets. The young people do show up, but they think it should be 100% fun all the time, instantly gratifying, and no work involved. I think it is like that with a lot of young people now.

Also having a "dirty hand job" is a bit of a stigma with the younger ones. I was proud to have an engineering trade, but now its all management and marketing and all that rubbish they want.

I think the problem is years ago, most people lived in houses rather than what are now comically called apartments, or it would be comical if young people did not have to take on a lifetimes debt for a place only slightly larger than Harry Potters cupboard under the stairs. If you think i am joking, have a look at one, terrible.

My grandparents, on both sides had very ordinary houses but with gardens large enough to make growing your own veg worthwhile, back when people had to do things like that. In both cases there was also enough room to build a pretty decent sized shed.

And as you all know once a shed is built, it makes a great bolt hole to hide from the wimmins/swmbo/'er indoors. Once in the shed you might as well do something, home brew, carpentry, fiddling with motorbikes or cars, model engineering, or all of the above.

That is something that is simply not going to be open to most younger people in the future, trying to re-enact the industrial revolution in a pokey apartment is simply something that is not going to happen. Even with modern houses, the developers cram as many of them onto a plot of land as possible, a friend has a garden just big enough to fit two wheely bins.

I have known very skilled people, Toolmakers, Fitters, Machinists, Cabinet makers, Carpenters, probably more skilled than most around now, who for nearly all of their working life used imperial. They seemed to cope alright. Also you speak as though imperial is dead and buried, its still used in America, and then by people here who work on American products, such as train locomotives, and aircraft.

I worked for years in a hose company, machining threads on fittings, making up hose assemblies etc, all in imperial, usually BSP, British standard pipe.

Oh yes Tim, i know all about time consuming engineering work, the amount of people who want a "quick job done for a tenner" who i tell to take a hike is quite large, i do not work for free.

As has been said if En24t is used, then the material is already heat treated, as for the cylindrical grinding, i am not so sure if its necessary in this case, i have access to a cylindrical grinder if i need it, and its very rare i do. I would think fine turning would fit the bill.

Why not use imperial and learn a new skill, nothing wrong with imperial, beats that nasty french metric hands down. I did this with a project, good imperial tools are very cheap, and dro's can work in both metric and inch.

Westley Richards gunmakers in Birmingham, excellent products that are exported worldwide. They have a large toolmakers shop next door that i believe do superb work for the MOD and is hush-hush mostly. CCM motorcycles in Bolton, doing really nice big cylinder motorcycles. Triumph motorcycles make their frames in malaysia, and have a plant in India, but i believe they only make small capacity machines for the asian market. So they produce their engines and everything else in Hinkley.

The problem is Manufacturing was left to rot for so long, worse it was actively discouraged, as everyone was going to work in services according to the uk government.

To those that advocate going to a specialist parts maker/supplier, i suggest going online and looking at the prices of their parts, excellent though they may be, they are eyewateringly expensive.

Looking at those shafts, there is perhaps £20 worth of steel in them, why not try to make them and if they do not work out, you have lost little. I would have a bash.

Alan i will be following this thread with interest, as i am into old motorcycles too. But am more of a BSA and Triumph man, but have lusted after a Velo for years.

I would agree with JohnF, en24t is easily available, very tough, and yet not too difficult to machine. I made a new central flywheel for a Norton commando crankshaft out of it years ago, to replace the original cast iron one, and really liked it.

Also consulting the fabulous book "The vintage motorcyclists workshop" by Radco, he says its suitable for shafts, spindles, connecting rods etc, and has good resistance to wear and shock loadings.

You should have a go at making the spindles, i think i would.

Just seen this now, terrible news. I used to buy "sporting gun" magazine every month since the mid 1980's. Always enjoyed Mikes practical maintenance and repair articles. RIP Mike.

Pity if they don't, really nice machines, very well built.

Have you checked the valves clearances ? I know you said you lapped them in, but has anything, Tappets etc, moved ? An old trick for getting pistons free in bores is to chuck boiling olive oil down the plug holes (on a petrol engine obviously) but it might work to get the rings moving.

I never heard of a cylinder bore being tapered like that deliberately, usually the other way around, with the top being worn. I was told any taper is a bad idea as it causes the rings to constantly expand and contract. What oil are you going to use ? Can you not take off the barrel and inspect the rings ?

Dave, quite a few people are building their own 3, or 4 cylinder ariel 2 strokes. Its a nice home workshopn project i would imagine. I do not know how easy of difficult it would be to do, as i am unfamiliar with the ariel engine. But you are correct, ariel made some really nice big singles, that they wisely did not tune up for maximum performance, and like the bsa b31/33, anyone i talk to who has one, really likes them.

Get yer self an Ariel three, saviour of the British motorcycle industry.............

But seriously, i was never into mopeds, though i did have a lend of a honda 70 for a while and found it fantastic in terms of reliability, fuel consumption etc, Little gems those honda step-throughs.