Member postings for Andrew Tinsley

Hello,

It is easy enough to drill and tap some more holes and use appropriate grub screws to do as you suggest. I am not a great fan of brass gib strips. I have always used ground flat stock for this application. Having said that a lot of folk do use brass. You pay your money and takes your choice!

Andrew.

Hello Niall

Have sent you a PM.

Andrew.

The last time i used hallite washers was many years ago. I got them from BSS (British Steam Specialites). It is worth a try if they are still trading.

Andrew.

Using an ultrasonic cleaner with just water isn't too smart. You will need a surfactant of some sort even if it is just washing up liquid.

There isn't just one correct surfactant, it depends on what you want to clean. There is plenty of information on the web to make the right choice.

Andrew.

I had one of these motor, which was used during factory shutdown to power an equally old air compressor when the main compressors were off. Very reliable too. It dated from the time the factory was a "shadow factory" making Merlin magnetos!Andrew,

P.S. I fired it up last about 25 years ago. Factory demolished by GE of the USA.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 08/07/2020 21:12:05

A very good reason to put a bigger motor on a machine is when it is operated on a VFD. It gives back the torque you loose when operating the motor at lower speed.

Temptation is overcome by current limiting the motor via the VFD for normal operation.

Andrew.

I have a pair of ratchet crimping tools for crimping car battery leads amongst other things. (so they are hefty!)

The ratchet pawl has snapped across the hole that it rotates about. As usual, no manufacturers spares are available. The pawl is almost certainly made from 1/8" gauge plate and then hardened.. The break is a clean fracture, so the gauge plate has been hardened with perhaps little or no tempering "let down".

I can easily make another pawl or two and I have a small furnace to harden and if necessary, temper the end product Any suggestions for a tempering temperature.? Or should I just harden them without any further heat treatment? The way the pawl has snapped seems to suggest a very hard and brittle condition.

Thanks,

Andrew.

For what it is worth. The lifetime of an LED is critically dependent on the ambient temperature. Get too many in a localised volume and the lifetime drops very rapidly Good LED bulbs have a very efficient heatsinks. As for drivers depends on the design and quality of components.

Andrew.

Hello Bill and co,

I seem to have screwed up with my last posting, so here goes again. Apparently Wilesco is still in business and they have a main agent here in UK. After an inquiring email, I found that virtually every spare was available. The boiler is only a little more expensive than buying the raw materials, so I will go with that.

I really must apologise for not making sure that the message had been posted. Quite why the post disappeared I really don't know. I am very embarrassed that Bill dug out his Wilesco plant and is offering me some dimensions. Thank you for that Bill and very sorry you were troubled for nothing.

At least the grandchildren will get their hands on the plant, sooner than if I had to make the boiler!

Thanks to everyone,

Andrew.

Hello Paul,

Yes it was indeed that boiler that exploded. I watched the fiasco from the shore. I never actually saw the boiler, only the steam launch in full flight. Fred told me that he had soft soldered the place where the gauge glass had been. Only now, some 30 years later, do I understand what he meant by this, having seen seen a photo of the boiler!

I have now found that Wilesco still exist and they have an agent in this country (Forest Classics). It would seem that I can buy a boiler for the Wilesco at a reasonable price. The photos of the boiler look as though they are stainless. If that is the case, I am not sure what Fred had soft soldered and I shall never find out as he died at the turn of the century.

The explosion was quite quite shattering, bits of steam launch flying in the air! Fred had used a butane fired heater and no safety valve, what the pressure was when the shell let go is mind boggling. I thought that it would be a quiet afternoon watching the launch chuff around. I didn't think for a minute that he was a lunatic.

Andrew.

I was given this some 30 years ago. The boiler was modified and used in a model steam launch. The person concerned didn't use a safety valve in this modification. There was a spectacular boiler explosion and the launch sank!

So I have everything except the boiler and my steam mad grandchildren are pestering me to make another boiler, so they can play with it. I was going to make a Mamod style boiler, until I saw a photo of the complete D16. The boiler has a large glass window in the "firing end" and appears to be made of tinplate ( which I doubt!). The large diameter glass window has quite thrown me and I am intrigued as to how that all hangs together.

If anyone has a D16 I would appreciate some good photos and also what the boiler material is (brass?). I would like to make a reasonable replica of the original boiler. If I can't find out sufficient details, I shall just have to make a Mamod equivalent.

Thanks,

Andrew.

Dave,

Leaving aside the physics of ejectors. I have carried out tests running ejectors on both compressed air and steam and within the limits of experimental error, steam and compressed air produce the same ultimate vacuum for a given pressure

The steam used was not super heated and a maximum pressure of both steam and compressed air was 80psi. with a minimum pressure of 15psi .I used 3 designs of ejector and all showed the same results on steam and compressed air. Although the efficiency varied between designs (The Doug Brown design was the best).

If you wish to dispute the results then you are welcome to carry out your own tests. I would be interested to see the results.

Andrew.

Tubal Cain's (T D Walshaw) Book on springs in the Workshop Series is an invaluable source of information, worth buying if you want to know how to make springs.

Andrew.

An ejector is a simple case of a venturi effect , Simple applied Bernoulli theory. As Stephen says, there is little difference in performance (if any) between running an ejector on steam or compressed air.

I agree entirely with Stephen in that the Doug Brown ejector is the best of published designs that I have constructed. My practical results do not support Dave's speculation.

Andrew.

I believe that "steam having more energy than compressed air" is somewhat misleading. Ejectors work on Bernoulli's principle. Nothing to do with steam condensing and liberating energy.

My ejectors work on air and steam. In fact a little better on air, which I find surprising. Although this is probably due to gauge calibration.

Andrew.

Ejectors will work on compressed air, but injectors won't.

Andrew.

Hello,

I just took a look at the Grizzly manual. Although the fuses specify 250 V working. I strongly suspect their current ratings will be for the US Market and their mains is likely to about 120 volts. If so, you need to half the current values for UK 240 Volt supplies.

Andrew.

If going the VFD route, then it is worth putting in a more powerful motor, if it will fit. The reason being that at lower RPM the torque available is reduced with a VFD.. Putting in a more powerful motor returns the torque to a higher figure.

Andrew.

Was the Hylomar new or have you had it for some time? I have never had the slightest problem with Hylomar. If you carried out the cleaning procedure to the letter, then perhaps you had a faulty batch?

Andrew.

I quite often use scrap material, but only if it is about correct dimension and it machines OK. I can't really see a problem if you keep to those rules.

Andrew.