Member postings for Carl Wilson 4

I think a lot depends on whether we are talking about cooling or lubrication. A flood of coolant will obviously do both. Sometimes a small amount of lubricant, as can be provided by a brush or squeezy bottle application, can be very beneficial, and is what is required as opposed to a coolant. This afternoon I was parting an aluminium bar and used a quantity of Ilocut 486 in this way. It made a big difference.

Edited By Carl Wilson 4 on 10/01/2014 18:13:00

Castrol Ilocut 486. This is non soluble cutting oil. I have done quite a lot of work in stainless and I have found that this is excellent.

A 20 litre container can be had at fairly reasonable cost. My coolant sump is full of it. I bought the 20 litre container over two years ago and it is still 2/3 full.

For hand tapping etc I tend to use Rocol RTD. I would agree that dabbing on coolant is rather pointless. If you need it then it has to be flood.

As for WD40...Some time ago I was closing my workshop up whilst I went away for my job. I sprayed WD40 on my machine surfaces, rotary table etc to try to discourage corrosion (my old workshop was in an unheated outbuilding). On my return after 6 weeks, corrosion had occurred but only where the WD40 had been sitting. I now don't use WD40 either in my home workshop or at work. If I want a water dispersant I use GT40 which is silicon based.

TIG brazing with sifbronze tig rods?

Hello all,

I have just stumbled across this thread after having commented on the content of ME on another part of this site. Stub Mandrel's list of ideas for content in MEW chimes with what I said about ME. I've also had copies of MEW on an ad hoc basis and I agree with the comments written here about it. Similar to my own views on ME. Far too many long drawn out constructional articles that are padded out and of little interest to most.

ME should be retitled to something along the lines of "Large Scale Railway Modeller"; there is more to engineering than steam and railways. I have found though that there is a great deal of hard core resistance to any sort of change and a lot of it emanates from here.

Happy Hogmanay to one and all.

Hello,

Yes, I'd agree, I have no less than three 1.5 HP Chinese single phase induction motors in my workshop, on my mill, bandsaw and compressor. They are decent enough units and well made. I am changing my mill motor for a 3 phase one to get variable speed. I should get smoother running and thus hypothetically a better finish too.

Hi Fizzy,

Could you be a bit more specific? What sort of motor and what is driving it? Would be interested to hear if you have the time.

Hi,

Sorry, you said in your original post it is made in ally...sorry for my numpty status.

Carl.

Hello,

It looks like it is made in aluminium alloy and I think it is a shell and tube exchanger. Mounted on a plate the way it is it almost looks like a display item. My thoughts are that it may be an apprentice test piece. So it would have been made to a drawing but won't be for any specific application. If it is your Grandad's apprentice test piece that might explain why he thought it important enough to hang on to it.

Carl.

Hello all,

Diane:-

Thank you for your post. Reading my reply to your earlier post I now find it sounds somewhat petulant and for that I apologise unreservedly. I appreciate that you are extremely busy and so I am grateful for your time.

I am at pains to stress that I am not attempting to pan the magazine. In my criticism above I have tried to include current articles that I think fit in with the themes I've outlined. I should add that I have just become a subscriber to ME, after several years of being an occasional reader.

Despite having had a workshop for several years my occasional bouts of "dipping my toe in the water" of the ME led me to believe that it was not aimed at me; Several other workshop owners of my acquaintance feel the same way. That said, I decided a month or so ago to take the plunge and give it another try. My comments are based on my previous intermittent experience and my more recent joined up one. I think that the magazine would be improved by a spread of articles as I have outlined and I would not be surprised to learn that the early ME followed such a model. I would not want to offend with my criticisms nor would I wish them to be entirely one sided. I have tried to remark on what I see as good points. Overall I would hope that my words are part of an overall healthy democracy.

KWIL and Ian:-

Thank you for your comments and for taking the time out to post. I am not seeking to turn the magazine into a "detailed Manual of How To Do It". Having worked in engineering all my life I have never yet come across such a thing, words only go so far and there is no real substitute for actually doing it. Whilst I'm not against seeing serialised construction articles completely disappear, I do think that it would be better to take the salient points out of these that concern technique and describe them in more detail.Obviously, a certain amount of background knowledge has to be assumed here.

I can tell you from my own experience in training people that the beginner in any subject will simply be intimidated by complex process descriptions that gloss over the detail. If the details of the process are described then the beginner is more likely to read around the subject and come to grips with it; the more experienced reader will not need to do this, and can enjoy reading about what may be an interesting technique.

I have written articles on servomechanisms and governors for another publication and so I have some idea of what it is like to make a piece understandable by the uninitiated and yet not "bore the socks off" the more experienced. A lot of the people I've associated with over the years have had an interest in engineering, some proffessional, some amateur and some both. All have always been deeply interested in discussing and speculating on any novel or intriguing engineering concepts and so I don't think that what I propose would bore the socks off of too many.

Your comment that if I don't like it I should write is a fair point and well made. If you would be interested in seeing something I have written you can find it here:- www.britishreactionresearch.blogspot.co.uk

Ian, I have seen solenoid engines (or, I suppose, electric motors) in another publication and very interesting they were too. I will have to try to find out what issue your article was in and have a look. I suspect you are a bit of a genius on the quiet.

Best wishes for the season,

Carl.

I guess that'll be a no then.

Diane,

Thank you for taking the time out to reply to my criticisms. I am really pleased to hear that these two interesting models will be the subject of more in depth articles.

Whilst I appreciate that you can only publish articles based on the copy you receive, I would like to see a change to the usual diet of serialised construction articles. I doubt that anyone actually builds along with the article; there is never sufficient detail provided to do so. Added to which, there is not enough on the methods employed to overcome machining and other fabrication difficulties. So these offerings fail on two counts. They are neither build log nor record of technique.

I can only speak for myself, but based on the above, here is what I'd like to see:-

1) Outline descriptions of models with the main part of the mechanism - an unusual valve gear, a gearbox or other interesting feature described in detail

2) As above but with the major mechanical aspect featured in depth in the next issue

3) Interesting or new workshop techniques, tips and tricks, for example machining set ups, welding, brazing etc. Detail on a specific problem and how this was solved.

4) Studies of interesting prototypes that might make good models, not just locomotives. Good work has been done recently with the article on the Harz Mountain railway - even though it was on loco's!

5) Engineering principles - Again current good example is the article on combustion in IC engines.

6) Engineering curios - interesting and unusual devices or mechanisms that might make good subjects for models.

7) Design concepts - information on boilers say, materials and methods of construction, notable types, interesting departures from the norm. Steam valve gear might be another topic that could be described, along with examples in the modelling world. May be combined with (5) above.

8) Machine tools - home built and conversions, e.g. to CNC, 3 phase conversion and so on. Good example in current issue of single to 3 phase conversion.

9) Experimental - Novel or interesting devices constructed to test a principle or new idea.

It is my belief that a mix of informative articles covering engineering theory and practice would make for a far more readable and interesting publication. It would then become a repository for amateur, model and experimental engineering technique and principles. The magazine that it has the potential to become and a true research resource for the future.

Thanks again for replying to my earlier comments,

Carl.

I agree that research is important but I do not see the pages of the ME as particularly fertile research material, regardless of my interests. There is simply not enough information contained within them. Whether or not this is down to editing I do not know. What I can say is that if the contributors are attempting to obscure the details of what they are doing then they are doing an excellent job.

Other articles promise much and deliver nothing. Don Allen's superb Union Pacific locomotive. Did we see it's internals or hear about how he overcame the various constructional challenges, and even what these challenges were? That would have made a subject for a follow up article. Likewise, we recently saw an excellent Tiger tank. The builder had gone on to construct a prototypical engine and transmission. The mechanism is the heart of the model, but we will not see it or read about how it was built.

So no, I won't be using the ME for research anytime soon.

Thanks for that useful and informative post that has added to and enriched the debate.

Hi John,

Thank you for taking the time out to pass on that information. I'm alright with setting up my tooling but I know that it can be a puzzling thing for people who are just starting out. Especially when many buy equipment from Arc, Chester etc and you get very little in the way of useful accessories with these machines.

I think the ME would be a good place to pass on this kind of thing.

While we are on the subject of book recommendations, I have found both these very useful:-

Basic Machining Reference Handbook - Meyers/Slattery - Industrial Press:- a great book full of how to's for when you haven't done something in a while and you have forgotten the process...happens to me a lot!

Machine Shop Trade Secrets - JA Harvey - Industrial Press:- Lots of great machining hints, tricks and tips from a chap who was an injection mould maker. Very good for the beginner and experienced alike.

Both of the above books are American so expect the usual slight differences in terminology etc, they are though extremely useful.

My two mainstays are from my training days, Workshop Practice Vol. 1 and 2 by Dr WA Chapman.

Hi James,

Yes you can do this. What you need to do is get a 3 phase motor and an inverter. The inverter is a device that takes the incoming 240 volts single phase mains power and converts it, electronically, to 3 phase 240 volts. This can then be used to drive a 3 phase motor. The beauty of this is that by varying the frequency of the power to the motor it's speed can be varied. The inverter is capable of this frequency variation as well.

I have got a Chester Mill that I have to shift the belts on to change speeds and I am in the process of converting it to 3 phase operation from an inverter. These units are not particularly expensive, you can get inverters for £80-£120 and a suitable motor for your lathe in the region of £60-£70. I am going to post my conversion on here.

I used to have a Chester lathe/mill combo similar to your Clarke one and I got tired of changing the belts too! My slightly more drastic solution was to buy a Harrison M250. If you PM me I'd be glad to email you and let you know suppliers etc.

Hello Bazyle,

I just saw your post and felt I had to reply, purely because you have read "Trustee from the Toolroom"! What a fantastic author Nevil Shute was. I would recommend his books to anyone with an interest in engineering. Shute was himself an Aeronautical Engineer and worked on the R100 airship. Later on he formed his own Aircraft Manufacturing company, Airspeed. One of his books, Round The Bend, includes a mention of one of his own aircraft, the AIrspeed Ferry.

Shute often included an engineering element in his work as he was a great believer in "write what you know". As well as this, he is without doubt one of the finest observers and chroniclers of the vagaries of human emotion that I have ever read.

I don't agree with your views on clubs I'm afraid. They are a closed shop in my experience.

Edited By Carl Wilson 4 on 16/12/2013 13:46:20

Hello John,

I would tend to agree strongly with your comments. I had my engineering training and education in the Royal Air Force. There was a great emphasis on teaching and passing on knowledge. Indeed, as I progressed through the ranks teaching became so important that I was to do specific courses and modules on it.

When I left the military and started working in civilian industry the difference couldn't have been starker; here I found a "knowledge is power" culture. I have worked hard to change this. In my view, if I know one more thing than the guy standing next to me, I'm going to tell him that thing.

The model engineering world suffers from this condition to a great degree. There are lots of individuals who proudly state that they "do not suffer fools". Not knowing something does not make one a fool.

I am currently trying to compose an email to the ME magazine editorial staff. The ME is not worth it's cover price in my opinion. Drawn out serialisations of loco construction projects, one after the other, ad infinitum. Absolutely nobody is going to learn anything from this, with perhaps the occasional exception of an interesting set up in a photograph, sometimes in the background. Most people who want to build a loco are already doing so and do not need to follow these articles. I doubt whether anyone even is doing. Added to this, the articles are not particularly well written or informative and the photographs often leave a great deal to be desired. As an aside, many of the Workshop Practice series of books suffer from this flaw, perhaps because they've been culled from ME or MEW articles.

Rather than trawling through a loco construction article looking for interesting set ups or something that we can employ in our own workshops, lets have shorter more informative articles that are stand alone; when one of your usual contributors is building a loco and they devise an interesting set up, lets have that as a one to two page article. How to set up a milling vice or a rotary table, something that perplexes many. That might make a couple of pages. TIG welding and TIG brazing are techniques coming into this hobby, we could have something on that.

As a magazine it is unique in having almost nothing to READ.

Hello,

Interesting viewpoint. As someone who is an "outsider" I have to say that the model engineering world is quite possibly one of the most unwelcoming and discourteous I have ever come across.

I have had a lathe, mill, welding equipment etc and have been making things for many years. Since I was a teenager in fact. I am trained in engineering and spent a lot of my life in the aircraft industry. Despite all this I have never felt that the ME magazine was aimed at me and I still feel that way.

Now in my 40s, I have finally taken the plunge and become a part of this forum as I can put up with the pedants in exchange for the useful and helpful information passed on by those who are amenable to teaching and sharing.

Hello Bill,

Thanks for the info. It is a TECO inverter I have bought. An external speed control pot can be wired in, as it can be with the WEG, if you check your manual it should show you how to set this up in both hardware and software.

You are quite correct about the motor, my mill has a cap start/cap run single phase unit so that is why I obtained a three phase one.

I know what you mean about inverters. One of my responsibilities at work is to look after two large high speed winches. They each have two AC locomotive traction motors driven from huge Siemens inverters. Quite something.

Hello,

Single phase cap start/cap run motor hence will not work on the variable frequency three phase output of the inverter.

Many thanks for taking the time out to post. Hopefully the inverter should be here in the next few days.