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Member postings for Stuart Bridger

Here is a list of all the postings Stuart Bridger has made in our forums. Click on a thread name to jump to the thread.

Thread: What Did You Do Today (2016)
02/04/2016 17:18:35

A small triumph today, sucessfully cut a single point thread. Only the second time I have done it. the first being in the apprentice training school at Brooklands in 1980. Made a 1/8 BSP adapter. Minor false start, when I got 56TPI instead of 28 with an error reading the gearbox tables on my Chippie. It fits and seals on my airbrush hose. A small achievement, but a step on the road....

Thread: Inverter Tripping RCD
02/04/2016 17:11:17

The supply to my inverter was professionally installed and on the advice of the inverter supplier is not via an RCD. It has a 20 A breaker and two independent earth connections.

Thread: Droop and rein
16/03/2016 18:55:30

When I saw the tetle "Droop and Rein", I thought "I recognise that". Then I read the content and realised it was from my time at Brooklands 1980-1987, so they must have still been going then. Alas no photo's.

Bob, Have you seen this site before?

https://sites.google.com/site/rawkinssu/home

Stuart

Thread: Long-term battery charging
12/03/2016 11:53:19

Optimate chargers are great. http://accumate.co.uk/cg020001.htm They are designed both for long term trickle and will recover sulphated batteries. We have one we use for charging 12V batteries for clay pigeon traps. It has recovered batteries that fail to charge on conventional chargers.

Thread: Inverter problem
06/03/2016 18:36:45

Andy,

The honorable Mr Stevenson I am sure has the cause spot on. The error is an Over Voltage Trip. This is most likely caused by an over aggressive setting on the deceleration time. The default on this inverter is 10 seconds. It may well have been configured to a shorter time, whcih is unsuitable for the machine. This can be changed with the appropriate parameter.

The user manual can be found at https://www.inverterdrive.com/file/LS-Starvert-iC5-Manual

These manuals can be a bit daunting to the unitiated, but if you read through and then work through the config method, it should become clear.

Good luck!

Thread: Airbrush thread
19/02/2016 18:41:23

A bit late, but my new Sparmax ARISM is 1/8" BSP

Thread: Hot Bulb and Glow Plug Difference
01/01/2016 18:57:38

The Bolinder hot bulb engines (usually deployed in marine applications) had an interesting injector design. The fuel spray could be varied much like a garden hose nozzle. Under heavy load, the it would be set for a fine jet, that went straight through the bulb chamber into the cylinder. Under light load or idling, the jet was adjusted into a broad cone, that sprayed the fuel onto the walls of the bulb chamber to keep it hot.

Thread: Finishing - Brush, rattlecan or airbrush?
23/12/2015 11:45:58

From memory of my time in the aircraft industry, it was mostly vapour phase degreasers followed by a boil in a mild caustic soda solution. Another memory from my apprenticeship days, I did a stint in the labs on a project researching surface treatment for bonding Titanium. No vapour phase plant in the lab, so it was raw tric on a rag to degrease the test samples before going into the "magic" solution we were testing . I forgot to open the window one morning and soon got very dizzy with a banging head. Those were the days.

23/12/2015 10:42:58

Nice to see how this thread has developed, it has answered all my questions. I have also treated myself to an airbrush for Christmas, now have to learn a new skill. Thanks to all who have contributed.

Edited By Stuart Bridger on 23/12/2015 10:43:39

21/12/2015 11:58:11

Good feedback, yes I agree an airbrush/compresor would be an investment. As for future work. sill to decide on my follow-up model from the 10V. It's predecessor was a wooden ship model, all painted via brush and that does show up as not being the greatest finish

Thread: Three cornered Philips type screwdriver
21/12/2015 11:44:44

+1 on the security bit set. I bought one from Screwfix at a very sensible price and it has got me out of trouble many times.

Thread: Finishing - Brush, rattlecan or airbrush?
21/12/2015 10:23:08

Having just completed the maching on my Stuart 10V, my thoughts turn to finishing. Options are brush, rattlecan or should I invest in an airbrush? Any recommendations out there? Clearly brushing is the cheapest and airbrush at the higher cost, with the added complexity of cleaning. Is the improved finish worth the investment?

Thread: Numerical machining - before CNC
15/12/2015 08:17:44

I too was an apprentice at Brooklands, although it was British Aerospace in my day. Terry Rawkins site, linked to above, brings back some great memories. Terry was there some years before me, but the same kit was still in use to make the Wind Tunnel models. There was a very interesting if somewhat eccentric guy, writing programs for model making. This used a very innovative technique at the time which I think they called watermarking. This machined the model profiles (which had to be extremely accurate due to scaling effects) by machining contours. Simple today with 3D modelling, but then it was done the hard way.

I did a 3month stint on the 13 x 9 Wind Tunnel as part of my technician apprenticeship, one of the more interesting placements. I was lucky enough to see a project from end to end. It was a piece of 3rd party work for a radar manufacturer, where we measured the impact of wind against a radar antennna with the impact of ice accretions. I even wrote up most of the report. Exciting stuff for a young, inqusitive 18 year old.

Thread: Chipmaster power issues
30/11/2015 09:01:00

I am getting abit out of my depth here, but it could be an issue with the contactor. The contactor thermal overload COULD be dropping out if the phases are imbalanced, which they will be with a static converter. But 15 seconds does sound a bit quick for what is not really a fault current, just an imbalance.

29/11/2015 20:42:02

The Clarke converter is a static phase converter, which AFAIK is not ideal for a lathe. The third phase is provided by a phase shift capacitor, the value of which is controlled by the switches on the front of the panel. The ideal capacitor setting will depend on the motor load, which on a lathe will not be constant. Have you tried all settings?

Also if the contactor is not holding in, then it could be that the control circuit is being fed from the "artificial" phase. The Clarke manual does cover this.

On my chipmaster I went for a VFD installation, which works like a dream, but it did require ripping out the exsiting control wiring and replacing with the low voltage DC VFD controls. Also critical here was that the original 1963 motor was not dual voltage, so I run the 415V motor with a 240V VFD uing a 29Hz base frequency setting. This was using the technique described at https://www.inverterdrive.com/HowTo/240V-Supply-to-a-400V-AC-Motor/

Thread: Stuart 10H and 10V build thread
20/11/2015 16:19:36

My only tip for an absolute beginnner, learned the hard way, is not to tackle the cylinder casting too early in the build. I followed the order in "Building a Vertical Steam Engine. The cylinder casting is not easy to set-up and does require some precision, so I would recommend leaving it until some confidence has been gained. I also found during this stage that my lathe wasn't turning parallel, but that is another story...

19/11/2015 14:32:58

Just finished the "core build" on my first model, which is a 10V. I am currently at the "running in" stage before I strip down for finishing. i will be following with interest to see how how the various tasks are tackled.

Thread: THE 2016 MODEL ENGINEER EXHIBITION
28/10/2015 08:27:44

Great venue. Where I gained my core engineering skills, not the museum, but the previous occupier of the site...
It certainly adds value to a days visit as it is a fascinating museum. It also brings back great memories personally albeit with a great regret about the facilities that were lost when BAe closed the site.

Thread: Circlip removal
15/10/2015 10:03:09

Simply Bearings have a good range of quality Circlip pliers at a sensible price. No assocation with the company other than as a happy customer.

Thread: A Shooting Brake (NOT an estate car! )
09/10/2015 16:49:14

Choke is an interesting subject in the clay shooting world. 10 years ago in the UK you should see loads of people changing chokes at every stand during competitions. Now it is quite unusual, so the "fad" has gone away somewhat.

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