Member postings for Andrew Tinsley

Mark, I am surprised at your mention of bright mild steel. With all the maltreatment that the handles get, I thought it would be something more exotic!

Neil , maybe you are correct at that, most second hand vices seem to come with a built in kink.

Thank you both,

Andrew.

I have put up with the s shaped kink in the Record vice handle for long enough. Can anyone tell me what type of steel I should use for making a straight one?

Before you ask, I didn't bend it, the previous owner must have got a lump hammer to it!

Andrew.

You may be already up to temperature. The quoted colours are for the metal glowing in reasonably dark conditions. The full light of day usually screws things up and gives a false colour temperature. It took me a while to realise this and my first efforts at hardening and tempering were not very good.

Andrew.

I have read, or been told that if one uses a toothed belt for the final drive to the lathe mandrel, then you are likely to get a "pattern" on the turned surface. Is this fact or fable?

Andrew.

Using reamers is not quite as fool proof as you might think, even if you follow the rules. I always use machine reamers in a floating reamer holder. That way I get almost no cockups. Using a hand reamer quite often does not produce a round sized hole. This can happen with a sharp reamer that is used correctly.

I always play safe and use the floating reamer holder, it (almost) guarantees a good sized, round hole every time.

Andrew.

Hello Vic,

I never did manage to get the knack of using two hammers to split a ball joint!

Andrew.

I had a quick count and I made it about 35 and I suspect there are one or two more lurking around. If you think about it, then hammers fall into several categories, engineering, building, woodworking, guilding and panel beating, plus specials like sledge hammers and so on. It isn't difficult to accumulate an awful lot!

My own bête noir isn't hammers, but ball joint splitters. I can never find one when I need it and so buy yet another. Last time I had a mega tidy up, I found I had 9 of them of varying types!

Andrew.

Bob is absolutely correct. The object being sprayed should be warm if not hot. I ignored this when I resprayed my Midget dash, with black crackle paint. Result a disaster!

Cleaned it off and sprayed on a heated dashboard and the results were very good indeed. As I said in another post, It pays to read the instructions!

Andrew..

I have had a similar result from a pain killer for my muscle wasting disease. I suffered from severe side effects for a good 4 months. I eventually checked the instructions and found the side effects that I was suffering from were clearly listed. I stopped taking the pain killer and informed my doctor. Side effects disappeared within a week.

It PAYS to read the instructions!

Andrew.

I have had an exhaust valve spring break on my type 2 VW Camper (air cooled engine).I only noticed it when I did the regular tappet check. There was absolutely no difference in performance!

Andrew.

I have several Dewhurst switches in my workshop, some on very old machinery, so they have had some considerable use. Never had a problem with them in all my years of using them.

But then I suppose they are pretty useless.

Andrew.

Hello Neil,

My method is a more refined, scientific version of your father's! It is quite difficult to get it wrong, if you attack the neck. I have seen a CRT Implode and that was like a grenade going off. Difficult to replicate on demand, so not really a party piece.

Andrew.

My goodness! This didn't take long to get off topic!

Andrew.

Hello Bill,

Thanks for the lead. It looks interesting enough to join myself.

Andrew.

Hello,

Not quite model engineering, but I am having a bit of a workshop tidy up. Taking up space is a new Philips cathode ray tube dating from the 1980s (obviously colour!)

It seems a pity to scrap it and I know there are TV enthusiasts that rebuild old sets (usually valve and B&W from an earlier era) However I simply can't find any club, forum or website that deals with 1980s TVs.

If anyone knows of a suitable lead, please let me know. Otherwise the lump hammer will solve my problems!

Andrew.

P.S. After a lifetime involving high vacuum kit. I do know how to destroy a CRT safely!

P.P.S. I do have the type number somewhere!

I wonder where the sense of humour went? Nice one Michael.

Andrew.

Hi Shaun,

It is difficult to see what condition the lathe is in. It could be a relatively easy and cheap restoration or it could be a very expensive proposition. The lathe looks to be very neglected and as such it does ring alarm bells.

Before you start to spend money on it, try to get someone who knows their lathes to look it over. If you let people know your location, then I am sure that someone will give you a hand in assessing its condition. It is very difficult for a beginner to do this, you can get carried away if you are not careful. Just ask how I know!

Renovating a worn lathe can be a very expensive job! Especially if you have not got the skills to DIY.

Andrew.

Well for a start, it isn't a motor. It is a 12Volt car dynamo (or possibly 24volts if it is off an old lorry). So none of your standard mains or dc controllers are likely to work.

In the distant past, I used a dynamo in place of a 12 Volt motor and although it worked, I was a bit dubious as to long term reliability.

I would recommend that you don't be a cheapskate and get a proper 12 Volt DC motor. There are plenty around, you just need to know what you are looking for.

Andrew.

I tend to buy top quality brands, second hand on Ebay. I am lucky to have facilities so that I can sharpen them myself. Surprisingly most were excellent to reasonably sharp. Only a few have been blunt.

Recently I had to make a complex Church Door key and wanted the saws to be correct width. I never have any luck in trying to cut a larger slot than the width of the saw, using a couple of passes. So I purchased what I needed from Arc Eurotrade. The slitting saws were pretty damn good and the price was also good. I assume they come from China, but Ketan's QC always works for me and I have only ever had good stuff from Arc

The only other place I have tried was Tracy Tools, some were brand names, but heftily discounted.

Andrew.

Martin,

I always make my back plate register undersize by around 5 thou. If you make the holding screw holes oversize, then you have a cheap Griptru chuck that you can adjust to get zero run out for any work diameter you want.

Andrew.