Member postings for Andrew Tinsley

Hi Martin,

I did mean to say firmware and not driver. HP have now removed all the old firmware from their site. Now what a surprise!

Fortunately a 3rd party supplier has the needed firmware on their site, for you to down load. A very welcome two fingers to HP.

Andrew.

There was a time when all you had was HSS. People seemed to manage quite well too.

Andrew.

Plus one for that!. I would not feel too safe around soft soldered copper pipes carrying steam at 170 centigrade!

I find silver soldering joints easier and quicker than using soft solder, as a bonus.

Andrew

Can't see a thing about new technology. What am I missing?

Andrew.

Hello everyone,

I just tried a 1/4" BSF screw and although a touch loose, it will be good enough for what need to do. Effectively I want to make a male to female adapter bush to go from the old Parker Hale male thread to a 9.5 x 1.0 mm female thread.The bush needs a hole through it, otherwise you can't see the target!

I shall threadlock the 1/4 BSF thread into the sight body, so the slightly slack fit will not be a problem. Still curious as to what the thread is, but getting the job done is more important.

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.

Andrew.

Hello Tony,

Interesting suggestion for a 26 tpi x 0.25" cycle thread. The threaded depth is only 0.2" so the slight mismatch in tpi would not matter, better than a rattle fit 0 BA. Cycle thread is 60 degree and my eyesight tells me that the thread angle is less than this (may well be wrong!)

For all practical purposes I think that a 26tpi x 0.25 thread is likely to be the nearest to what I have. Advancing years an eyesight doesn't want to get involved in screwcutting in small sizes, so I will get a 26 tpi x 1/4" screw and see if it is close enough!

Andrew,

P.S. Hold on why am I talking British cycle thread, when a 1/4" BSF thread will do the job!

Hello Michael,

The sight is from the early 1950's I would be amazed that Parker Hale would use a metric thread. But stranger things have happened! I have checked for 25 and 26 tpi and the thread is definitely between those limits. It seems to be a pretty definite 0 BA pitch. It is very difficult to see if the thread angle is 47.5 degrees. However an 0 BA thread gauge seems to block out virtually all the light so I suspect the angle is closer to 47.5 than 55. I have run out of bulbs for my shadow graph so I am stuck for a better means of measurement, until I order up some replacements.

I will check for an M6 size, it certainly isn't a worn thread, as I doubt it has ever been unscrewed since it was made (no reason to do so). If it is M6 then it has been truncated. The crests appear bright and the rest is black, so it could be so,

Andrew.

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I am modifying a Parker Hale back.sight to take modern eyepieces, The thread size is giving me some hassle as far as identification is concerned.

The diameter of the thread is 0.249" and the pitch is an excellent match to my 0 BA thread gauge..Unfortunately the diameter of an 0 BA thread should be 0.236" and indeed an 0 BA screw is a rattle fit in the threaded aperture.

I have some comprehensive books on screw threads, but I can't find anything that matches. Just wondering if Parker Hale had their own standards or is there a series of gunsmith threads that I am not aware of?

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 19/04/2021 11:26:04

Just had the same problem with an HP laser printer. Been using 3rd party toners for a couple of years with excellent results. Then HP did an "upgrade" and now the printer won't recognise the cartridges.

Looks as though I will need to find an earlier driver version (from where I know not) and simply forbid upgrades. Might not bother HP but that is the last time I buy any of their products.

Andrew.

That would be good if it works. I know a little about metal spraying, but not too sure if white metal alloy would spray too well, because of its low melting point.

Anyone really knowledgeable about metal spraying?

Andrew.

P.S. I have in the distant past, cast white metal bearings for full size locos. (Scraping axle boxes is hard work when you have to put the box on and off the wheel journal) . It would be an easy job to remetal or simply add a layer of white metal onto ML7 bearings. I am not even sure that the ML7 bearings have a backing. Making new ones should be pretty straightforward.

Hello Michael,

I didn't have to skim my shaft, so it wasn't a problem. I did a friends lathe which did need a few thou skimmed. I finished up with a non contact line at the bearing joint, it wasn't more than a few degrees either side of the joint., I just left it at that and it has performed well over a good few years.

I could have skimmed the top half of the bearings and made some improvement, but why bother when it all worked without trouble. No doubt the perfectionists will not like it, but then they would probably purchased the hardened mandrel and phosphor bronze bearings from Myford.

Andrew.

RDG /Myford do a new hardened shaft and bronze bearings. But at a price! The old white metal bearings are extremely thick and they can be re-scraped. The shaft may well need a skim, but you can scrape the old bearings to suit. It will lower your centre height a touch, but who cares when the refurb will cost you nothing.

I hoarded the last set of new white metal bearings in captivity, but when I came to do the job, I just scraped my old bearings in and sold the new bearings for a large amount of cash.

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 17/04/2021 14:57:16

Hello Mick,

A good magnifying glass should have been the obvious answer! It just never crossed my mind. Hardening and then filing is proof positive, but I wanted a less involved answer (being lazy!).Mind you if I was going to use it for a complex turning job, then I would go the hardening route. Too lazy to do the job twice if I got the wrong material!

Thanks everyone for putting me straight,

Andrew.

Thanks Emgee, I suppose turning the samples would be a good way. Not too sure about a spark test, I didn't think there was much difference between the two. Just my memory and I stand to be corrected!

Andrew.

I suppose ones preference for torches and burners is a very personal thing. I have and use both Bullfinch and Sievert kit and I prefer the Bullfinch range. I have not checked recently. but I believe the Bullfinch range is a touch cheaper than the Sievert gear.

Regards,

Andrew.

My stock of silver steel and bright mild steel rod have become mixed. I have sorted out the lengths of silver steel (usually 330 mm long or so) Some of the other material has been sawn down and I really can't tell the difference by eye.

I suppose I can mike up the diameters, which should sort out the high tolerance silver steel. I am just curious if there is another method?

Regards,

Andrew.

I find the modern Sievert torches (especially the pilot light version) to be expensive. I have a very comprehensive range of both Sievert and Bullfinch torches and burners. I much prefer the Bullfinch range. Hamilton Gas do both ranges at very competitive rates.

Clive's recommendation for burner sizes is on the money. I would always go up on burner size, you can always turn down the regulator to suit. The usual problems that people find when starting silver soldering is they don't have enough heat. A good brazing hearth is essential in my view.

Andrew.

Most people change to LED tubes when the old discharge tubes are getting past it. They then are impressed with the increased illumination. They fail to realise they would have got the same effect if they had fitted new fluorescent tubes.

I did that test and found the LED tubes didn't give any brighter illumination than the fluorescent tubes. The LED tubes are certainly are more energy efficient so that is a big plus. Lifetime is usually less than claimed, usually two reasons for that. LED lifetime is critically dependent on temperature , so if they get warm the lifetime drops on alarmingly. The second reason is that some manufacturers claim the lifetime to be that of the LEDs, NOT the driver electronics. Usually the driver electronics fail before the LEDs!

Andrew.

I eventually got around to dismantling the Altivar 11 and cut open the sealed block. Unfortunately there is no chance of repairing it.

I took the part number from the block and did a search for it. I found a Chinese company selling new ones for £15 and £4 postage. So one is now on order. The last item I had from China took a couple of weeks to arrive, so hopefully I should have a working VFD by that time.

I will report back with the results,

Andrew.

Hello Howard,

I must admit that things like the noise in reverse that get my attention. If I can't see any good reason for it then I do get somewhat wound up. The bearing that I removed was in good condition, once I was able to get a good look at it. I measured 3 thou as the clearance between the shaft and the old bearing. The new bearing and reduced diameter shaft had the same clearance! I can't see why the deep score on the shaft could cause the noise in reverse.

Still a result is a result.

Thanks ,

Andrew