Member postings for Rod Renshaw

I will be going to the shows if they are not cancelled again.

If things get difficult and the shows have to be cancelled again, might there be more chance of a show being held if it were arranged as a series of outdoor stalls like an outdoor market - as there seems much less chance of catching a virus outside?

Rod

Ketan

Sometimes the male taper is formed directly on the end of a machine spindle, eg drilling machine spindle, and if the chuck becomes faulty the wedges are used to remove the chuck ready to replace it with a new one.

Rod

I have washed mine a few times by soaking it in warm water and washing up liquid in a bowl for a while. Then swishing it about in the bowl, then rinsing several times in warm water and then drying outside on the line. I took care to handle it gently as there is no reinforcing fabric in the plastic, so no wringing etc, it has to drip dry.. Easiest to do it in summer when it is warmer. It looks better after a wash, though the "Myford " logo is starting to fade, the plastic does not seem to come to any harm.

When it finally gives up the ghost, I am thinking of giving it to my talented neice to make a pattern from so she can sew up a new one in leatherette table cloth type material. Many bright patterns seem to be available in our local market and I rather fancy one with a pattern of Smarties. ( Like M&Ms)

Rod

I wonder if the items that Mike has inherited are intended for sharpening screwdrivers or gravers?

I have an original "Wishbone" sharpener ( is the buttterfly one similar?) which I bought many years ago. It does work for small (sub 3mm) drills though it takes time and practice. The original "whetstone" was too coarse, in my view, and I use a fine diamond bench stone instead. The original loupe was rubbish and had to be replaced, so I don't have very much of the original kit. I tend to buy new drills now because time is short and the economics seem to have changed.

Rod

Michael. I am not very equipped or expert at forensic photographs.

If you send me a PM with your postal address I will send you the gauge ( when it arrives) and you can analyse/ photograph/ post and tell us what you find, and then return the gauge in due course.( it's a bit cold in my workshop for doing fiddly things at the moment.)

Rod

I am finding these threads awefully fascinating and am amazed by the tenacity shown by some of the contributors.

Years ago I bought a set of the Starrett radius gauges on eBay for a small sum, Small sum because the set had the 4 mm gauge missing. I have used the set quite often and frequently missed having that 4mm gauge. Michael's link has spurred me into buying a 4 mm gauge from the Starrett website. I was very pleased to find that the 4 mm size gauge was little more thah half the cost of the very small one. Thanks for the link Michael.

R od

Welcome John.

I was struck by your comment about the journey rather than the destination. Reminded me of listening to the Reith Lectures about Artificial Intelligence. The lecturer was exploring the idea that AI machines and systems could take over all work needing to be done, leaving humans at a loose end. What would we do then? He posed the question "What is the difference between climbing Everest and being transported to the top by helicopter? - when both have the same desired result - that is, standing on the summit?

Rod

I agree with both John and Martin on the method.

Also you are lucky that you don't need the measurements to be precise. So you can cut the first and second face, then check for square with the best square you have available, then cut the second face again ( just a skim) if there is any error, using small pieces of shim or paper etc between the vice jaw and the first face to corrrect the squareness of the second and so on for each subsequent face. This is standard practice when accurate work has to be done with kit which may not be the very best. Any errors may be due to the machine vice itself or not thumping the workpiece down hard as you tighten the vice.

Rod

Further to Jason's suggestion above, I have found it possible to re-sharpen my punches when needed without annealing and re-hardening by using a carbide tipped lathe tool- the steel is hard but not that hard. Mine are a cheap generic set which sound as if they should be similar to yours, but not all sets may be the same hardness.

Rod

+1, agree with all above. For anyone who did not get the word, Macc Models counter service is open again after a period when Covid and a small shop space caused the service to be mail-order only.

Rod

I can't claim any personal expertise in this area but I am with the "thin nut on top" school because of Tubal Cain's explanation which included the fact that the bolt stretches and the nut compresses as the assembly is tightened. This factor, which renders most of the simple explanations void, is strangely missing from many of the counter arguments in previous posts.

Tom Walshaw ( Tubal Cain) worked in the heavy engineering industry most of his life until he became an academic and professor of applied engineering in later life. His analysis is good enough for me.

Rod

Sorry, just noticed Gary's post which I had not seen when I was typing mine, I agree with him .

Edited By Rod Renshaw on 19/12/2021 10:44:39

Interesting thread, everyone seems to have had different experiences.

Re Tim's thoughts on shapes of files, I think it was Tubal Cain who wrote that you can't file a flat surface with a flat file, the file has to be just a little convex.

I also liked the post on things learned at school. There was a comedian on the radio a few weeks ago, brought up in the East End, worked as a market porter, who explained that his school was a real cockney school who educated pupils for their future roles in life. He said they had big woodworking and metal working depts. In his second year he made an ashtray and in the third a corkscrew, and in the fourth year he made a pram. Well, it made me laugh.

Rod

Cast iron is the traditional material for things like tool-posts because it is heavy, it is easy to machine and it used to be cheap and easily available. It is very dirty to machine though, and a block of mild steel ( short length of section) will probably be cheaper, more available, less messy to machine and just as functional for this purpose.

Rod

Wonderful display. Like looking in an old-time silversmiths shop window.

Rod

Rotagrip used to do individual bits for clamp sets at ME shows but they were "industrial standard" items made of tough steel and quite expensive.

Harold Hall's, and also Tug's, clamp systems are easier to make than copies of the commercial step type clamp.

Rod

Some amazing posts on this thread, and then I read pgk pgk and returned to some semblance of sanity, and then had a laugh at A Smith's contribution. Hopefully Darwin will win in the end.

Rod

Left-handed aviation snips will cut a straight line or a curve to the left.

It's about the curve in the metal not the handedness of the operator.

Rod

Very odd.

I used to puzzle over this until someone suggested I should think of having a job to do directly in front of me. If I pick up a tool in my right hand and attack the job from the right hand side and the tool cuts cuts then it's a right hand tool.

The tool pictured in the link seems to me to be on it's side. If I mentally turn it so that the chip-breaker is on the top where it should be, then the tool will cut from left to right, so it's a left hand tool.

Anyone else see it differently?

Rod

Edited By Rod Renshaw on 17/11/2021 12:08:29

That may be so but many of those single-phase motors are 80 or more years old and have served 2 or three generations of ,model engineers, and are easily replaced by 3 phase motors and VFDs when they finally need repair or expire.

Rod

Lots of good advice on using a piercing saw above. I have piercing saws and used them sometimes but I am not as well practiced as many who have given the advice.

Looking at the original question I think I would try another way. I removed the hardened jaws from my bench vice years ago and have fitted 6" lengths of mild steel 1" X 1/2" BMS in their place, and these seem to give enough grip for my small work. A little file work and/ or selective packing between jaw and vice ensure that the jaws grip well along the top edge.

I would mark out as needed, and hold the part of the sheet intended to become the workpiece between the vice jaws with the marked line along the upper surface of the jaws. Then cut along the top of the jaws with whichever hacksaw came to hand. The jaws support the thin metal very well so it cannot vibrate and the jaws guide the saw so the cut almost has to be straight. The side of the blade just rests on the jaws, which act as a guide. The jaws do get scarred and worn but are easily corrected from time to time with file or milling machine and are replaced cheaply when needed.

Rod