Member postings for Andrew Entwistle

The work GH1236 was single phase to start with and I bought a replacement 3-phase motor, Mitsubishi inverter and the Newton Tesla remote pendant to get variable speed. Even this job probably voided the warranty, especially as I interfaced to the original forward and reverse start/stop microswitches. Unless you intend to run the whole machine on 415V 3-phase I think a single phase machine + VFD and new motor is the simplest option. Might be worth a call or email to Newton Tesla as they will have been there before.

Andrew.

Lee, the same C-Max clutch slave failed at <40k and I think at 5 years old, costing £500.

Hi Dave, the sump had to come off for the job anyway so the oil pickup gauze was checked but all found to be spotless. Apparently in worse cases than mine even when the belt debris is picked off the gauze there can be some higher up which causes failure after the belt change.

Just had the timing and oil pump wet belts changed on our 9 year old 1.0 Ecoboost C-Max at 60,000 miles. Looks like there was a good chance of it failing before the 10 year / 150,000 mile interval! There are multiple cracks half the belt thickness deep, across the full width. Ours has always been serviced by me with the correct Castrol Magnatec Ford approved oil and I never used any additives or flushes that some say can attack the belts. According to the garage and talking to work colleagues there are many wet belts failing after only five years and as little as 40,000 miles, don't know how many as a percentage though.

i have used this approachable family firm for chemi-etching of stainless steel at work. Around £50 minimum order, but you can get quite a lot for that if you supply your own material and artwork;

Precision Photofabrication Developments Ltd

They are used to dealing with model engineers and can etch metals less than 0.05 mm thickness and also offer laser cutting.

Andrew.

Steve, you mentioned using the right oil, is that 5W20 fully synthetic? If so I am worried for our C-Max with 60k on the same engine.

Andrew.

I viewed the internals of a credit card using NIR illumination but can't find any photos. Here is an image of the chip and antenna from a disposable Dutch NFC train ticket. Illumination was from an 850nm LED and imaging using a compact digital camera with the IR filter removed and a visible block filter installed.

Edited By Andrew Entwistle on 29/05/2023 09:12:20

The markings here are 1 mm wide x 0.5 mm deep in acetal, with engraving wax melted in using a hot air gun and levelled off when set using a magic sponge (melamine) with water. The sponge does not abrade the plastic. The same technique works for aluminium, without marking the finish. The wax is more like a crayon than clockmakers dial wax which can be like sealing wax. I bough a pack of red, black and white on eBay but can't seem to find any at the moment.

Andrew.

Hi Martin,

The delay is also present in my mother's setup, unfortunately it is inherent in most Bluetooth connections. There is a lower latency variant of Bluetooth (APTX) but this is not used for these streamers. I don't know about connection reliability yet, but I expect it will be a problem as I often experience them with my Bluetooth devices.

Andrew.

I set up an Oticon Streamer 3.0 today to connect my mother's TV to her new NHS supplied Oticon Bluetooth compatible hearing aids. Just a matter of power cycling the hearing aids when the streamer box is first powered up to pair them, then connecting an audio signal to the streamer. In this case it was an optical TosLink cable to the TV, but analogue RCA phono connection is also supported. A phone app is used to select the streamer channel on the hearing aids, but this should also be possible from the hearing aid buttons.

Hi Lynne,

Something to consider when moving from halogen to LED lighting of machine tools is the stroboscopic effect of LEDs driven by most switched mode power supplies. This can make the moving chuck appear slow moving or even stationary. For this reason I have kept the halogen illumination for the lathe at work.

Andrew.

As Maurice also found, wiping with IPA has cleanly removed the sticky soft-touch layer from binoculars, a camera body and loudspeaker grille for me.

Andrew.

Hi Lawrence,

I have measured it as 12.5 / 11.1 mm 20 TPI and 60 degree angle, so 1/2" UNF

Andrew.

I just received a sewing machine 550W brushless servo motor and controller from VEVOR £65.99 including free 2-day delivery.

VEVOR 550W BRUSHLESS SERVO

Came with an A4 sheet manual which can also be downloaded as a pdf file via the QR code on the motor. I set it to 100 rpm minimum and 5000 rpm maximum with braking turned off and it runs amazingly quietly throughout. Torque at 100 rpm is enough that it is impossible to stall by gripping the pulley. I will replace the potentiometer intended for pedal control with a rotary pot.

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Entwistle on 07/09/2022 22:23:50

Since moving to cheap polished carbide 1/8" single flute cutters @3000rpm+ I have been able to leave the CNC unattended cutting soft aluminium to depths of 18mm, without the need for air jet/WD40/Paraffin/IPA to prevent clogging of cutters. I don't know if this success would scale up to 6mm/1/4" cutters though.

Andrew.

Hi Donald,

If you can accept the inevitable slight magnetic susceptibility I would go tor the amazon stainless which fits all of your specifications. Otherwise I would try Tufnol, available in 1mm sheets from direct-plastics.co.uk or another plastic.

Andrew.

Neutracon is the neutral version from decon that is fine for brass.

Andrew.

You could also consider an electronic leadscrew conversion that gives the convenience of a gearbox with the wider variety of thread pitches that change gears would offer. I use a gearbox lathe at work and a change gear lathe and am happy with either as I only cut different threads on the lathe a few times a year, I more often use thread milling on a CNC mill.

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Entwistle on 20/01/2022 20:46:12

Edited By Andrew Entwistle on 20/01/2022 20:48:43

I printed a replacement coffee percolator lid in PLA and annealed it overnight in an oven at 110C, which allowed it to then easily withstand the boiling water/coffee in use. It failed a couple of years later, but from a drop rather than from delamination.

Andrew.

Would probably want to adhesive lined heatshrink the socket as it has no appreciable strain relief and maybe not the capacity for the sheath. Perhaps straying too far from your 'safe' brief?

Edited By Andrew Entwistle on 01/09/2021 16:31:44