Member postings for Gordon Tarling

Dave, thanks for the reply. Sorry to say that it wasn't worth the call to ARC yesterday - the person I spoke to wasn't very helpful at all and didn't seem to know anything about pre-ordering one. He could only suggest that I paid a visit to take a look at the one they have there - not terribly helpful for those that don't live 'just round the corner'.

I've determined that a Sieg SX2.7 mill would be just about perfect for me, if a little pricey. Axminster tools are selling it, (at a price!) but I can't find another seller in the UK. I saw mention of Arc Eurotrade possibly stocking it, but it seems that's a possible maybe at the moment. Does anyone know of another UK stockist?

Edited By Gordon Tarling 1 on 08/06/2016 18:43:45

Reilang make a range of oil guns, I have one which works very well for the oil nipples on my lathe. Grease guns won't work very well (if at all) for oil.

Oh, that's a very handy site to know about and it would appear that they may have what I need. Many thanks, Martin!

I am in need of some seamless brass tube of 1/2" diameter and approx 12" long. However, I also need similar tube to telescope with it, both inside and outside. I have seen the K&S metals that many 'model' shops seem to stock, but I'd much prefer something with a slightly thicker wall than their standard 0.014" which is commonly found. The K&S website seems to show a few sizes with 0.029 wall thickness, but I have no idea who might stock this in the UK -any help appreciated!

I use Convert all the time - it doesn't need installing, just runs from the .exe file. Sorry, don't know if there's an equivalent for non-Windows systems.

If you have an email from the person concerned, cut and paste the email header into this website Then you can see where the email originated. One I had recently was shown as originating in Lagos, Nigeria, then skipped through two USA locations before I got it. It never hurts to check!

Michael - as other have said, insulation is really the key - add as much insulation to walls and roof as you can. Those evaporative coolers might sound good, but they increase the amount of moisture in the air a fair bit, which is not really what you want in a workshop where rust could be a problem. Also, on a hot and sultry day, do you really want to increase the humidity in your workshop? I'm not regretting fitting a fixed air conditioner in my workshop - £400 to buy, I installed it, then paid a local company £100 to commission it. The bonus is that it's also a heat pump, which keeps the shop warm in winter.

Gordon

Ian - Steam will always be white and fluffy. Smoke is darker and sometimes even looks black. My understanding is that there are times that the blower is used to increase the draw through the boiler and this results in lots of steam from the chimney. When the loco is running well, the blower will normally be turned off, hence the darker smoke.

Eric - I wondered that, too. I feel it must be something to do with requirements to run a steam loco on a network which doesn't normally see steam.

FWIW, I don't have an Ipad and can see the pictures fine on my Surface Pro.

I went to the show on Friday and felt it was slightly 'flat' compared to previous years. There seemed to be fewer club stands, as well as fewer traders, but I managed to get (mostly) what I went for and even got a bargain new 100mm 4 jaw self-centering chuck on a Myford backplate for only £40, so went home happy!

For the life of me, I don't know why we didn't adopt the US satellite radio system. It was just brilliant when I used it in a car while on holiday a couple of years ago. Anyway, Internet radio is the way to go in poor FM/DAB reception areas. If you don't have an internet connection in your workshop, a pair of 'Homeplugs' works well and is very easy to get working - that's what I'm using and the workshop is around 25m from the house.

MalcB - for the uninitiated, who are 'they'?

Edited By Gordon Tarling 1 on 11/01/2016 08:42:28

I'm near Grantham, Lincs and bought a DAB/FM/Internet radio/Ipod dock device for my workshop. Dab reception is awful, FM reception only slightly better, so I now mainly use Internet Radio - no problems with that!

I love Windows 10! I've installed it on my desktop, laptop and tablet and had no real problems at all. I just love the fact that a photo I take with my Windows phone automatically appears on all the other devices - some sort of magic! I have to admit that I uninstalled it on my tablet at first, then I discovered tablet mode, re-installed it and now wouldn't want to go back.

David - there never has been a Windows 9 - Microsoft's story is that they wanted to have a fresh start which distanced the new OS from previous versions. My son works in IT and his story is that the number 9 is considered unlucky in some cultures, so it was skipped.

If you don't already have the airbrush equipment, then brushing is probably the best way to go. I've painted one or two small steam engines with a soft brush and Humbrol enamel and have been quite pleased with the results. Make sure you use the correct primer for whichever metal you're painting.

IMHO, you pay a premium for buying from Axminster, whilst Arc seem to offer excellent value for money and, if you read posts on this forum, their service is first class.

Thanks chaps, some very valid points made, particularly regarding drilling wood, which is a large part of my drilling operations. I think I'll follow John W1's advice, buy the mill and then put the bench drill away and see how I fare with just that. If I still find a need for the bench drill, I'll look at fettling it for further use and find some bench space for it. Thanks for all the advice!

Gordon

Thanks for the advice chaps. Just about what I'd figured. Whilst I'd like to have both machines, I'm quite pushed for workshop space and it would be nice to have only the one machine.

Jeff - I think the spindle to table distance is what's bothering me most - at the moment, my bench drill has a chuck to table dimension of 370mm - whilst it's rarely used to its full extent, a mill is not going to come anywhere near this distance. In fact the mill that's currently top of my list has a spindle to table distance of only 285mm maximum, which will probably be reduced by a fair bit when a chuck is fitted. I've not heard of a 'Golden Goose' chuck before - I'll have to investigate!

As my Far Eastern bench drill is starting to make worn out bearing noises, I'm considering replacing it with a milling machine. I think the milling capability would be very handy at times, plus my drilling of a series of holes ought to become more accurate. Is using a milling machine to replace a bench drill a viable proposition, or is it limited in some way and I'm still going to need the bench drill for some jobs?