Member postings for Gordon Tarling

My mother hailed from Milngavie and I can remember her taking me to see the Railplane when we were on a visit to my grandparents. Not sure of the date, but I'm guessing late 50's. I seem to recall seeing the elevated track running round the perimeter of a field, but the evidence presented in this thread leads me to think I must be mistaken. Only wish I'd owned a camera then, but that came a little later in life.

There used to be a chap in Wales who would hand carve any prop you wanted, but I'm sorry to say that he's long gone now. It may well be worth contacting Menz in Germany, they were very accommodating when I needed a L/H 26 x 12 prop for my Tiger Moth. They made me two custom props and didn't print their brand logo on the props, to make it easier for me to finish them. Ask them, all they can say is 'no'.

In some places in the USA, it's illegal to reverse into a parking space. The reasoning being that many cars there don't have front number plates, so law enforcement patrols need to be able to see the rear number plate. Personally, I prefer to reverse in to a space where I can, which is why I once received a telling off whilst on holiday in the US!

Sorry, I haven't built their mill engine, but I did build their #8 V twin from the machined kit - it all went together very easily and runs well on air. My only real 'gripe' is the fact that they use those horrible domed cheesehead screws with US threads, so not easy to substitute something better looking.

NDIY - I think you need to review Ohm's law. If the resistance of the lead increases, then the voltage dropped across it will increase and the current through the load will DECREASE. Martin C is right.

I had a local company anodise some steam engine parts for me a couple of years ago and they made an excellent job of it. Price was very reasonable, too. Suggest you trawl the yellow pages for a local company, then either call them or walk in their door and see what they can do for you. This who I used - **LINK**

I think it might be better to use an electric motor to power the boat, with an electronic sound unit - much easier to adjust power required for the size of the boat. You can also then 'tailor' the sounds to achieve what you want.

When I made my own airbrush compressor unit, I found that the compressor from a freezer had a higher output than one from a fridge. As has already been said, you do need to be able to check or top up the oil level if you want it to have a long life. Mine worked well for may years.

As apprentices (apprentii?), we were required to produce a '3 way fit' - circle square and triangle piece had to fit into the appropriate holes in a piece of 1/4 steel plate. Some made it look easy, but many struggled, including myself.

I found a used Emco Compact 8 for a little less than £450. Now, I may have been lucky, but it was barely used, though 'old'. I've been very impressed with its performance so far and have no trouble parting off 1" steel bar just with a parting tool in the toolpost. My only real 'gripe' is that accessories are hard to find and tend to be expensive, but I'm really only yearning for a fixed steady. They do appear on Ebay from time to time, which is how I found mine.

Graham industries does sell a set of hex head bolts for these engines - even comes with the appropriate sized box spanner. Linky

Lubricant isn't normally required. Experiment with speed, you'll know when it's correct as the metal 'sings' to you when it's cutting well. ALWAYS use eye protection, as a brass chip in the eye is no joke and can't be removed with a magnet.

I'm baffled here - how can it be a bit heavier than balsa, but much lighter?

Ketan - Yes, all understood regarding getting electrical items approved for use in the UK - it can be a long and expensive road.

While I'm sure that there are advantages in using something like Machine DRO's magnetic scales, I feel they are rather expensive compared to the amount of use they're going to get. I'll give ARC's I-gaging type scales a try to start with and take it from there. While I'm perfectly capable of going down what you call 'the creative route', I'd rather devote my leisure time to the pursuit of my main hobby and simply purchase the gizmos that I need for the workshop if possible.

Gordon

While ARC don't do shows any more, I'd suggest that you pay them a visit if you possibly can. They're very helpful and won't rush you at all. Furthermore, you may even be offered a cup of tea.

Ketan - thanks. IMHO, it'd be good if ARC did get involved, but that's entirely your decision.

Oldiron - thanks for that. I'm tempted to buy all the bits from the US, but bothered by delivery and customs charges, so I've ordered the interface from Blu-dro and my son will bring it back with him on his next business trip. As far as the scales go, I think I'll just buy them from ARC, as I feel I should be supporting British businesses where I can. Can anyone confirm that the ARC scales will work with the Yuriy's interface?

Colin - thanks, good to know that you're happy with the system. I'm still investigating scales, but at the moment, I'm preferring the look and price of those from Little Machine Shop.

Robin - I do have a scope, though it's a few years since I used it. Assuming you were seeing jittering on the output of the scale read head, perhaps it is filtered out in the display software?

Graeme - thanks, good to know that you're happy with the system.

Robin - I have no idea why you found the magnetic scales to be jittery, but I'd have thought that was more a function of the interface than the scales themselves.

John - Some photos would be very useful thanks.

Thanks for that John. I'd seen those and dismissed them previously, as I felt it would be a terrible shame to buy them and not use the displays. They also appear to be a bit vulnerable to swarf etc. - how have you found them? Currently considering buying the system from Little Machine Shop.

Thinking of equipping my Sieg SX2P mill with the Yuri's Toys DRO system - has anyone used this system and if you have, what scales have you used?