Member postings for Carl Wilson 4

Look at this:-

**LINK**

It is fascinating, Ruby Loftus and Laura Knight (with fag in mouth!) at the unveiling of the painting of the former by the latter. It also shows filmed footage Ruby working at her lathe. Her faceplate does not seem to be going quite as fast in the actual footage of her working.

I've loved this picture for years but never really thought about the points being brought up here. As you say Neil, the blurred faceplate or chuck and the way the coolant is flying off makes the lathe seem to be going very fast for a screwcutting job. Especially since it had to be so precise. That said, she was probably considerably better than I am.

Looking at the bottom portion of the cylinder she is turning, and at the top left edge too, it seems the diameter is larger than it is deeper inside the part. Perhaps she is boring the part to size before starting the screwcutting operation? This could have been one of the operations in "Screwing a Breech Ring"

With regard to the interrupted thread on a breech, would a Bofors gun have had this? I thought it was a quick firing type of anti aircraft weapon in which the shells were dropped into a slot in a stack, rather than loaded one by one into the breech. I know that there is an interrupted thread type breech in the background of the picture. I'm sure someone can shed light on this.

Edited By Carl Wilson 4 on 14/02/2014 18:20:23

Thank you, but he doesn't get paid enough.

Almost everything shown in the magazine is vastly complex for it's purpose. It is often also ridiculously esoteric. In a recent issue we find "Cutting gears for a Cowells Lathe"...A bonny machine and no mistake, but how many people have got one? The article should just have been about gear cutting.

I know what you are going to say. You are going to say that if I want to learn about gear cutting then there are plenty of (no doubt Workshop Practice series) books about it and tutorials on the internet. I know that. I've read some of the books and watched the videos. There are books and videos on every aspect of anything that might legitimately find it's way into the magazine. So why bother with a magazine? Because I want to read about how an individual who might not be too far removed from me in terms of background and skill approached the problem, the mistakes they made and how they avoided them in future. In short, I want something to inspire and educate me.

In the same issue I mention above there is the beginning of something called "Teach In 2014". This is a serialised account of how to set up a workshop. All good information. However, this is EXACTLY the sort of thing that should come out as a "special" stand alone publication. Do not attempt at this point to tell me that this is not possible, because it was done by MEW with exactly the same information a few years ago. I know because I have that special on my bookshelf. So the current serialisation is padding.

Leaving aside the above, in the same issue the article on replacing lathe bearings was good, as was the item on the fly press. The piece on holding short ends for cutting with a bandsaw was also interesting. 

Shorter, more concentrated articles on core subjects would be better. The brushless motor is a great example. Its principle of operation, construction, IC's that can be used to drive it. A good, solid hit of high technical content. At the moment we often get a small amount of technical information spread far too thinly.

Edited By Carl Wilson 4 on 14/02/2014 17:39:04

An interesting character she was. One of those girls who had an innate ability for practical engineering that would have lain totally undiscovered had it not been for the war.

After the war she was offered a place on an Engineering Course at a college. She declined, preferring to move to Canada with her fiance who had survived the war and had been demobbed.

Edited By Carl Wilson 4 on 13/02/2014 12:27:27

The old armchair epithet, brought into play whenever someone disagrees with the status quo. I'm not a bad welder but I'm not good enough to fuse myself to a Parker Knoll.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but whenever one is expressed that doesn't fit in with the cognoscenti the furniture metaphors get trotted out.

Why are there so many "whingers" here and none on the HSM/MW forum? I wonder why that could be.

3 pages, 5, 7, you get the idea. Concise and informative would make for a more enjoyable read is all I'm saying. And I do not think I am alone.

Edited By Carl Wilson 4 on 11/02/2014 22:36:22

Edited By Carl Wilson 4 on 11/02/2014 22:58:09

Hello Ian, it isn't Nobby who has the cracked bull wheel, but me, Carl. Thanks for your post, that is a good idea for a repair scheme.

You can see it doesn't so there is really no need to be facetious. I was and am trying to make the point that much in MEW is long winded, esoteric and digressive. It can be and in fact is done better, so we can all hope for a better and more informative magazine. Seeking to undermine the points that I and others have made about the shortcomings of ME and MEW only further reinforces the image of a cliquey, elitist set of publications that are aimed at and controlled by and for a select few.

I just read your article on cams in HSM, 7 pages. That is the sort of thing I'm talking about. It was excellent by the way.

Yes, we are talking about different magazines. I was attempting to compare Machinist's Workshop to MEW. Home Shop Machinist is also excellent. In the current episode, out of 14 articles (16 if you include a classified page and a Advertisers index) only two are serialised.

In the current issue of Machinist's Workshop, we find:-

An Unusual 4 Jaw Chuck For Clockmakers:- Constructional article with description and photographs, 41/2 pages.

A Studebaker Hydraulic Vice:- Restoration article, 21/2 pages.

Cold Casting with RTV:- Making rubber bushes using RTV, 1 page.

Give Your Vice Swivel Jaws and Pads:- Simple mod to give angled jaws to milling vice, 1 page.

Improve Leadscrew Reverse Latch on Mini Lathe:- What it says on the tin, Constructional article, 2 pages.

Machine Rebuilding: Bearing Surface Renewal:- Serialised, machine rebuild, this episode concentrates on surface grinding, 7 pages.

An Accurate Experiment:- Gunsmithing article, not really relevant to British readers but interesting nonetheless, 2 pages.

A Vertical Shear bit for the Lathe:- essentially a gunsmithing article but covering a ground up finishing tool, 21/2 pages.

All this makes for a very interesting read with some good solid constructional material. Readers are invited to contact the authors by email if the have any queries. I know that HSM and MW also have a thriving forum. The copy of HSM I have also contains 14 main articles, 8 of which are constructional and only 2 of which are serialised. So HSM and MW prove It CAN be done.

I take the point about serialisation to an extent. However, I would venture to suggest that serialisation is used in MEW to compensate for lack of copy and to ensure repeat purchases. And before anyone tells me that if I want something I should write it myself, that argument does not stand up to scrutiny since it is the job of the magazine's staff to recruit good writers and commission potential articles. There are plenty of great ideas for constructional and tooling articles on the forums with people who I'm sure would not take much persuading.

With regard to articles of a few pages length, the ME copies of old also prove that it definitely CAN be done.It is all down to the writing. Much of the stuff in MEW and ME is rambling and full of digression. Perhaps this is precisely so that the articles can be serialised. I have looked at several ME backnumbers from the 40s to the 70s and they are generally informative and interesting whilst retaining brevity.

I really don't mind what people call themselves either in here or anywhere else. I accept the idea of a nom de plume for the editor when copy is needed. Hubert Lansley did the same as "Spanner" in the Meccano Magazine, for many years. That said, this sort of thing adds to the air of elitism in ME and MEW.

I wish to make it known that I do not intend my comments to be inflammatory or to offend anyone. I would simply like to see a Quality British Workshop Magazine rather than having to buy an American one.

Edited again By JasonB to separate quoted text from reply

Edited By JasonB on 11/02/2014 20:50:05

Hello Nobby,

It is a lovely machine that you have, and the photos you show are inspiring me to make a good job of the restoration I'm doing. Have you seen the information pack that Tony Griffiths (lathes.co.uk) does on Drummonds? It includes a number of useful drawings.

I have just come in from cleaning all the parts in a bath of toluene and then applying nitromors to all the painted surfaces. Once the paint is off and then these parts are degreased in the toluene the whole lot will be ready to go in the Deox-C.

I've started examining the piece parts now that the dirt is off. So far I've discovered that my bull wheel has a crack right across the grub screw hole.

Yes, you could do that. What you could also do is just use your own name. You could use this as an opportunity to break with the cliquey, clubby, secret squirrel mentality that pervades both MEW and ME. "We" may all know who you are, (I didn't have a clue) but is anyone else likely to who comes to the magazine as a newcomer? They won't, but then the esoteric nature of most of the projects and the fact that they are serialised will likely make them put it back on the shelf. Serialised projects mean that if someone has just equipped a workshop, or is thinking "that looks like an interesting hobby, I'd like to try it", they come in at part 3 and so are excluded and thereby dissuaded from going further. Thus is the elitist nature of both magazines perpetuated.

I can hear the voices now, I'm one of the whingers and whiners on here. I'm not, I'm someone that wants to see these magazines print something worth keeping on my bench for future reference. I'm someone that wants to see them succeed.

I ordered one copy each of The Home Shop Machinist and Machinist's Workshop from the US recently. I did this in order to compare them with ME/MEW. The difference is like night and day. Articles on tooling, techniques, hints and tips, all self contained and occupying three pages at the most. I've already alluded to the sort of thing that could be included further up the thread. ME and MEW could be excellent publications but it is time for the little "in" nicknames and elitism to be got rid of. Otherwise you may well find that you have no magazine to edit.

Edited by JasonB to separate quoted text from reply

Edited By JasonB on 11/02/2014 17:07:21

Tailstock stripped down, good progress made on cleaning all the piece parts. Pressure washed the inside of the bed casting today in order to remove all of the accumulated swarf, dirt and oil.

The next thing is to remove all of the paint from the components.

There is quite a lot of surface corrosion on most of the parts. Notable in this regard are the backplate, chuck and saddle.

The reason I was fastidious about removing any trace of oil from the bed (and I will be with all the other parts) is that I intend to treat the whole lot in a large container of Bilt Hamber Deox-C.

Yes. We could post pictures of making swarf and then a rarefied elite of cognoscenti could post telling us how we are doing it all wrong.

Oh wait. That is what does happen.

As an engineer I can tell you that the glass is neither half full nor half empty. It is 50% too large.

Indeed it does. I've been watching this for some time, and trying to remember where I'd read something that seemed apposite. I can always remember having read something, but never where...I eventually found it:-

"A true understanding and humble estimate of oneself is the highest and most valuable of all lessons. To take no account of oneself, but always to think well and highly of others, is the highest wisdom and perfection. Should you see another person openly doing evil, or carrying out a wicked purpose, do not on that account consider yourself better than him, for you cannot tell for how long you will remain in a state of grace. We are all frail; consider none more frail than yourself."

It was in Thomas-a-Kempis in the end.

Frost Report was some meeting of minds wasn't it? I think that was were messrs Barker and Corbett first worked together.

PL Hill sales, good friendly service.

Thank you Lofty, for deigning to let me know what I can and can't do. I'm sorry I have bored you. You chose to read the post and then chose to comment on it. Not model engineering related? The supplier I'm having troubles with is a VFD and motor specialist, so I'd have thought there was some relevance there.

By grouping together and sharing information about suppliers we help each other and prevent unscrupulous dealers getting away with murder. I thank all those who have posted helpful links that have saved me much time researching the sales of goods/distance selling regulations.

I did not ask for the contributions from all the armchair Rumpoles out there. And then you wonder why no-one wants anything to do with your ME clubs.