Member postings for Oompa Lumpa

In order to get your pinky caught in the belt you must first lean across the spinning chuck. Breaking one of the cardinal rules of lathe operation.

In my experience, (actually owning one) the belt is no hazard at all. The chuck on the other hand.......

graham.

Rather late to the party here but I see we have some Air-Gun Royalty contributing. It's a small world is airgunning (and about to become much smaller in Scots-land - but lets not go there). I have observed arguments for and against 12ft lbs rage on many forums and my observation is we are stuck with it and that is pretty much the end of it.

Plenty of people have built airguns in their sheds and gone on to become quite famous in the world of airgunning: Bowkett, Whiscome and Ripley just to name a few. So why not build an airgun? Here is one that inspires me?

the link to further pics HERE

Personally I am building a double rifle in 22 Hornet for myself but this looks like a really nice effort. I think If I had built that I would have stopped there and gone on to other things I am also a great fan of Set Triggers - but each to their own eh?

Air rifles are great though, easy to biuld, modify and tune. Get yourself a little Chronograph and easy to keep it all below 12 ft. Lbs. I like the FWB 601 Vic, but I have an old and trusty FWB 300s which can outshoot me all day long, I love some of the vintage stuff. I also have a Sharp Innova somewhere with Target sights on it - can't imagine you would win anything though, apart from the "Big Biceps" competition.

Well, off back in to the Bat Cave for another day's toil. Though made that much more interesting by my restoration of a .500 Express Double rifle made by some outfit or other called Boss and Co. Looking down the bores is like looking down a pair of binoculars! But I am sure this will make it's way into a thread all of it's own.

graham.

Yes, but I think it is ambidextrous though as there is a steady rest (shown not so well in the top photograph) that looks "woodworking-ish".

graham.

But new to me. A friend of mine who has an antiques shop called me up last week and said "I have a chap here trying to sell me a lathe, do you want it?

What is it? was the obvious first question, "it's nice" was the answer so essentially I bought a pig in a poke. I had absolutely no idea at all as to what I had bought but I wasn't disappointed with the purchase, it is a lovely antique lathe with all the "bits" and it is actually in a very useable condition. I will not be using it of course, I have something else in mind for it (no - I will not be cutting it up/otherwise destroying it) but if anyone could give me any idea as to it's possible origins (other than from Jeff at the antique shop) I would be grateful as I am going to be asked the question innumerable times I would imagine.

22" between centres and 31/4" from the bed to the centre of the chuck. Lovely thing it is too. No chuck key though

graham.

Would love another good pair, Sweden is a great place to go Clog shopping (?). Now there's an idea!

graham.

I really could use a couple ounces of Kasenit if anyone has any to spare. I will happily pay for it and the postage from anywhere.

Alternatively I will happily show my Ar*e in Burtons window if that works?

Thanks in advance,

graham.

When in the Deep-Doo-Doo, only a Roller Box will do!

I have "lost" a part, belonging to someone else - so need to make a replacement really quick!

Still not finished it, so back to the Bat Cave!

graham.

From some of the comments above, I have deduced that:

Some members here are members as long as everything is going their way, and will dump you like a shot if they disagree with anything you do, also zero tolerance for a technical issue (which makes me question what the hell they are doing here in the first place).

More people than I thought don't have a life and a popup on a free forum which is, by and large, populated by good decent people who will help you out if you are stuck is the_End_of_The_World for some.

graham.

As some of you know, my friend Ian was involved in a rather serious accident last November and has been unable to work since, car accident, long story.

Anyhow, Ian had a fabulous workshop full of EDM machines and wire cutting machines. This facility I have lost. Not to worry, with help from Les I have set off on a journey to build quite a sophisticated EDM Machine. Another friend, aware that I am on-a-mission with this, sent me this link. It takes EDM machining to a whole new place:

EDM PRINTING?

graham.

Ahh, The article I read implied that the whole assembly was welded, I will re-read that and send you a copy John. It was of interest to me because that Lewis I have has the cosmetic issue of the sleeving being quite noticeable. I will take some pictures so people can see what it is about.

graham.

Silicone is rarely used in Dive Regulators and indeed diving equipment generally nowadays. Commonly used is ChristoLube which is really good but I personally prefer to use Tribolube 71, you can use it in any pre-charged air rifle or pistol secure that it won't cause you any problems. Never had an airgun explode because of the wrong grease though. Now, mixing Oxygen and Grease, that would cause some pyrotechnics!

Not cheap though.
graham.

That indeed used to be the case but very rarely nowadays. Depending which gun, soft soldered barrels sometimes cannot be hot blued. Mostly Silver Soldered is the case and the silver blues well. I have a .410 that was recently blacked and the soft solder is quite visible down both barrels. Modern factory produced production line guns are welded.

The trick with double guns - and this covers both shotguns and double rifles is "regulating" the barrels so no matter which barrel you discharge, the shot or bullet arrives at the same place. With a bit of luck, JohnF will be along in a minute and may better explain as this is something he does regularly and can describe far more eloquently than I can..

Finally, many, many early guns were Rust Blued, a technique which does not require Hot Blueing Tanks and there is no danger of seperation due to heat.

graham.

Spent a rather enjoyable morning at Worseley Clay shooting ground trying out my "new" gun. A venerable GE Lewis of Birmingham side by side in 12 guage. Just rebuilt by my good self and I have to say, it shoots lovely. Did a round of a hundred between my pal and I and found a cartridge it likes.

I am not especially good with a shotgun, but that doesn't detract at all from the fun, I can thoroughly recommend it if you get the chance, the old girl is a hundred and fifteen this year, so I was using light loads. We took young Tom along for the ride and here he is trying her out for size. He is only fifteen, but has a much better reaction time than I so I only let him play for a short time before he showed us up

Do we have a diameter for this tube?

graham.

Went to see one of my cousins girls, Ruby is five months pregnant and before she became pregnant, weighed in at a little over 1000 lbs. You really wouldn;t want her to stand on your toes!

Hand feeds and actually responds to her name, a huge beast. Very impressive and they are more pets than "just cattle" you can see from their condition (he has two, mother and daughter) that they are spoiled.

And a broken drill every time

Fun though.

graham.

Last night I made a windy, windy handle for the spindle to make single point close threading that much easier, come on, we have all done it, used the chuck key to rotate the chuck (nightmare when the chuck loosens!). Ended up being made all from stainless, I didn't plan it that way but the offcuts I had in the right size were all stainless, even the threaded bar. Handle was from a C3 though.

so then this morning I rewarded myself with a trip to the range, drilling the 12mm plate on the right was pretty straightforward but the 15mm plate on the left is proving obstinate. Need to give 'em a bit more vim methinks and try again

graham.

(for those that would like to know - this is a .270 round with a 130 grain bullet on top of 43 grains of Hodgdon 4895)

Nearly had (another) heart attack this morning. Thought I had missed Chester Machine Tools open day at Hawarden.

It is the last week of June - not the first! So still a couple of weeks to go. It is at their HQ at Hawarden if that is any help to anyone. I will be there without fail. Apparently I can fondle as many machines as I want AND it's not even a criminal offence!

graham.

Yus. You are quite right, sodium filled valves too.

graham.

Anything he wants I would imagine.

graham.