Member postings for Rod Renshaw

Stuart's photo illustrates well that most bluing methods (with the exception of the gentle heating to tempering colour method explained by Martin in his post above) result in a black or nearly black colour. I wonder why it got to be called bluing?

Rod

Can I suggest the use of watchmakers storage "pots" for smaller items. The pots are like old fashioned pill boxes but now usually made of aluminium or plastic with transparent plastic windows in the lids. The pots are usually sold in a flat case ( rather like a largish tobacco tin ) made of plastic or aluminium and containing 12-24 pots.

Cost is about £10.00 a case. Pots are available from about 3/4 '' to 1.5'' diameter by about 3/4" deep. So compact, economical, and dustproof, but mostly useful for small parts. Sorry I am so c*ap at photos but lots of illustrations on the web.

Rod

Edited By Rod Renshaw on 13/03/2023 17:50:37

I had planned to go today but was discouraged by the thought that the weather yesterday might have prevented many of the exhibitors from getting to the showground and getting set up.

The weather here in Cheshire today is better than forecast, so I should be able to get to Harrogate but some of the cross Pennine roads are still closed so tomorrow may well be the better day for me.

I would be grateful if anyone who does get to the show today could post to advise if the exhibitors and traders have been able to attend.

Rod

The main UK sales tax is Value Added Tax ((VAT), and as far as I know, this tax is not payable on sales by private individuals

Rod

Nice, clean looking lathe. You will get a lot of use and fun with that.. I would not worry unduly about the switch.

While Roy is theoretically correct. and use in Industry under the beady eye of a Health and Safety person might require a separate on /off switch, in practice Rod's post is more realistic for the use most amateurs make of their machines.

What may happen is that in many years time the switch may fail and have to be repaired or replaced, but it's rather  unlikely to happen in your lifetime. The fact that there is no separate on/off switch on your purchase suggests strongly that the previous owner also thought along these lines.

Edited By Rod Renshaw on 10/02/2023 18:34:06

I saw one of these sets ( or one like it) on display at a traction engine rally once. The owner had it in steam and powering the engine/ generator set to produce power to light a lamp

. The owner said that the boiler was effectively in 2 halves which screwed together so it could be disassembled for cleaning out.

On active service the water would often have had to come from streams or pools etc, I don't remember seeing a boiler feed pump or any boiler drain valves. The set seemed quite a big heavy thing but I suppose in the days of valve/ tube radios it was needed to recharge the accumulators without making a noise.

Rod

If you are equipped to tap and thread your own screws the ME range of threads includes sizes such as 1/4 " x 40 TPI, so one whole turn will move the screw 0.025" ( like an Imperial micrometer.) If you need finer than this then John's suggestion of differential screws is worth further investigation. Some combinations will give very fine adjustments,

I am not completely sure from your post that you have entirely understood the working of a differential system, Apologies if I am wrong.

Rod

There was a hint in one of the Mags (MEW? ) recently suggesting milling a slot out of the centre of the width of the low end of the triangular riser blocks to avoid/ reduce the tendency for the clamp bolt and the riser to foul each other.

The Romans could build mostly straight roads because, as the all conquering heroes they imagined themselves to be, they were not concerned with anything that pre-existed their invasion except the physical geography, and marching troops could manage steep gradients better than any carts of the period. I accept that the roads were used by travellers and traders, but that was after the roads were built. It's not easy to imagine civilians being consulted about the network before it was built.

The medieval road layout and routes may well have been influenced by land ownership issues and emerging trade needs, just as the canal and rail networks were influenced in later centuries.

I accept the detailed posts about the geography above but I sometimes wonder if the Roman roads were built first, in the right general direction, eg" North," and the towns and forts etc grew up alongside the roads. So, perhaps the problem of how they built the road from town to town does not really exist at all. Remember that before the Romans came there were only small settlements, of little interest to Romans, to them the land was all much the same, effectively a blank canvas, with a few tribes wandering about.

Imagine the Roman commander coming ashore at Kent (or wherever) He does not need to build a road to Ilchester ( which does not yet exist) but rather wants to conquer the tribes to the North who he has heard of but does not really know the location of. He tells his squaddies "Build a road in a Northerly direction and we will find them pesky Brits." And as the road is built the army builds way-stations for the troops and the ones in good locations become towns in due course. Could it have been like that? And if so, there is no need for long distance "navigation."

Rod

Using the groma was rather like using 3 poles and a length of string, but using a line of sight between plumb lines rather than a length of string. We made gromas at Scout camp many years ago, very low tech, but work well. I suppose the Roman legions had lots of manpower to set up multiple gromas along a stretch of countryside needing a road.

Looked at in detail, most Roman roads are a series of straight lines with slight but distinct angles between the straights, often at the tops of hills, which strengthens the lines of sight arguments. I like the idea of straight roads because the Romans could not steer, not seen that theory before. Not sure if it's true though, the Roman road network was a military project intended for the fast movement of troops. And the Roman legions marched. I imagine the Roman commander saying to the "squaddies" "Build a road to over there" and the squaddies just went straight ahead ignoring any pre-existing tracks or settlements or anything smaller than a mountain.

I agree with Tim about the absence of a road network before the Romans. Very sparse population, settlements at a distance from each other and mostly self sufficient, almost no wheeled transport of any kind, tracks for any pedestrians and pack animals would take the easiest path which in turn would vary with the season and the weather. Most transport may well have been by water.

I seem to remember a friendly contest on one of the archeology programs between a few chaps with a groma and a few with a satnav pole. The task was to set out a Roman marching camp. And I think the men with the groma won.

Rod

I wonder about the "levelling" of the lathe for accurate parallel turning, would this have to be done again after each move?

Rod

Sorry, did not see previous post while I was typing mine.

Edited By Rod Renshaw on 19/01/2023 18:46:10

+1 for Standard Araldite. When I consider how much time and effort I put into making something, or the potential consequences of a repair failing in service, the relatively small cost of a tube of branded glue seems trivial compared to the confidence I feel that the joint will be as good as I can make it. As Duncan said some posts ago, warming the glue makes it a lot easier to mix, and a really though mix is definitely needed with all epoxies. Warming the completed joint ( on a radiator or similar, not with a blowtorch! ) certainly speeds up the setting time and I think it makes the joint stronger.

I suppose if I used a lot of epoxy I would try different generic types until I found one which was cheaper and in which I had accumulated some confidence, but I am only an occasional user.

Rod

Old Mart, Interesting!

Just looked at the Proper Job, Glastonbury, site. They have rapid at £1.50, as you said, but no standard. I wonder if the price difference is between a generic product and I am not saying there is anything wrong with it, and a (the? ) brand leader rather than between Standard and Rapid?

Rod

Old Mart, can that price difference be typical? I have never noticed such a big difference.

A quick look on Amazon (Other suppliers are said to be available ) shows Araldite ( other brands are available ) Standard and Rapid at the same price. Is it possible you are comparing epoxy and "Super glue" which I understand are not the same thing?

Rod

In the i newspaper last Saturday there was an article suggesting that new green energy schemes, windfarms etc, may have to wait 10-20 years to be connected to the grid because of lack of capacity or cables in the wrong places. Can this be true? It seems to make a nonsense of efforts to meet renewable targets. Can anyone with knowledge of the electricity distribution industry comment please.

Ketan

Parcel arrived, safe and well, at lunchtime today, delivered by Parcelforce, so I have been twice lucky.

Thanks for the service.

Regards

Rod

Brian and Tony,

That's the thing, I had forgotten the Flip- up name. Thanks for doing the research. Very simple and looks very useful.

There are lots of hits once you have "flip -up toolholder" to search for and I would suggest anyone who has not seen them to look at the videos of the toolholder in action. The user only has to run the lathe spindle forward and back while watching the tool traverse the work and add the cut at the end of each pass. There is no need for a Tubal Cain style dead stop on the cross slide or a George Thomas style retracting topslide, and no thread dial indicator in sight!

Rod

Anyone remember the recent posts on the forum regarding a screwcutting tool with a loose lifting piece which automatically lifts and retraces it's path when the lathe is reversed ready for the next cut?

The video of this shows the thing in use and it looks a lot easier than the usual methods when cutting a thread for which the half nuts must stay closed. I can't remember what it was called or find it via the search facility, but I am sure someone can

Rod

I have no practical experience of this but I can remember reading of a loco builder who faced the same issue and who weakened the intermediate spring leaves on his model by milling out a long thin section of metal in the centre of each leaf. So his spring looked ok when assembled, and it had the right rate for the model loco's weight.. I don't know if this tactic is well known.

Rod

Ketan

Yes, very lucky, still my lucky experience has encouraged me to order something from you as well, so I am hoping to be lucky twice.

I suppose you have a difficult balance to strike at the moment between offering goods for sale and managing expectations of timeous delivery.

Rod