Member postings for Bob Stevenson

When I was a boy my Gran had a very clever can opener that worked very well,...this was in the late 50's and she told me it was the first thing she had when she married in 1910, so it was 'knocking on' even then.....

My best, oldest, easiest, neatest, most efficient can opener is the one on my Swiss Army knife which has been in my pocket for 34 years and works well every time with no moving parts other than my hand........

The answer is to have well sorted out rack with a space/location for everything.....it needs to be nice and visible so one can see at a glance whats missing etc

I was taught to ALWAYS replace everything in it's right place, and to ALWAYS pull the lathe over by hand while looking at the rack...if anything is missing then sort out where it is BEFORE turning the lathe on. This has stood me in very good stead during the intervening 50 or so years....

Dave (silly old duffer) is absolutely right about ALWAYS checking accuracy in BOTH directions whenever using a photocopy or computer scan as there is frequently an error in one direction. Personally, I never stick the drawing onto the brass but have had problems with drawing clock faces and then reducing to right size....a clock face which is very slightly 'not round' will seriously mess up your day!

............My local copy shop has very skilled owners who spare no trouble to make sure that my photocopies are exact by use of a steel rule on the screen of the copier. They are able to 'push' the screen image in one or other direction until my known dimension is exact on the screen. We then both check the finished copies.

The pallets DO space across 7 1/2 teeth but this is just the usual poor quality of JW writings.......... Cut out the escape wheel and loosely nail/pin it vertically, then make a set of pallets from a piece of tin plate and nail that up too,..then have a play of the action and you will soon get the idea. Once you have a nicely working tin plate model you can use that as the template to cut out/file up the real thing.

A quick flick thru 'The Watchmakers Lathe' by De Carle shows no listing for 'standard' as a make but does show a Lorch 'WW' type lathe that is virtually facsimile to that shown here in the photos....many/most of the small details and shapes of parts are identical, includins locking knobs etc. See illustration on page 132(fig.203) of old copy (2nd edition 1971)   Caption reads; 'Lorch lathe with ball thrust bearing'

Edited By Bob Stevenson on 10/02/2017 08:53:11

............but has anyone got the eurofriendly stuff to actually work?..........if you have then please tell us how!

Our main clock tutor at Epping Forest Horology Club is always at pains to impress upon us that clock making is mainly art and spares no chance to deny any engineering tendencies........ Whenever we get out our verniers he asks why we have them as they are actually for removing the nuts on radiators and other plumbing tasks.......micrometers are mostly used for cracking the shells of almonds according to him!

The top one is an American 'Millers Falls' item from 1878 catalogue.....

http://oldtoolheaven.com/hand_drills/drill1.htm

Get the retailer of the new cooker to take the old one away, preferably for no charge....then forget it and move on like a good consumer! Most modern cookers are not worth the length of copper wire that connects them!

Yes, the arbors are turned down at the ends to form the 'pivots'...ie parallel, highly polished bearing sections that ride in the broached bores in the plates. they should be hardened in a blow lamp flame to bright red and then tempered back carefully (I like to go just past 'straw'

Edited By Bob Stevenson on 29/12/2016 17:22:12

Welcome to 'wheelmakers angst'....

There's good and bad news;...it'll probably work,...but you will always 'KNOW' every time you look at the clock!

If you have already crossed out the spokes etc then keep going...if it's just the blank with teeth then do it again....clockmakers can prefer one or the other methods for various reasons .

Neil,....And apparently the '7x10' was actually 7x8......But Hey! lets not let creative marketting get in the way.....'tis the american way!

The Minolta 'Dimage' slide scanners are still highly praised by their users and feature in online forums and sites...also items come up regualarly on ebay and the US ebay site always has lots of both the scanners and the bits for them etc.

You could do a bit of research online and you might find something useful or someone who could draw round their slide holders and let you have the drawing. You might even find the items themselves for not very much!

Interesting, intriguing and amazing!

How many of these are you making?

I cut out clock wheel blanks by drilling centre then mounting in lathe and 'knifing' out the blank to size using a knife tool of my own making. It takes about 4 minutes to make one although sometimes I cut two, or very rarely, three at the same time. How long does it take to CNC these?....how long to design or program?

Yes, as Neil says, this is potentially a very nice item for milling small precise parts...take a look at the illustrations on the 'lathes uk' site and then see if you can find the other bits. You are looking for the spindle housing on it's slide which will have a backplate that matches the top of the main blue casting. Also there was/is a special motor mount that pivots for optimum belt traction.

......These are sought after and quite valuable tools now for good reasons.

Edited By Bob Stevenson on 07/11/2016 09:18:25

The base, up to the rotary table, is a BCA/Excel type jig borer. What the home made bit above it does I can't quite see, yet!

I was in a big WH Smith yesterday and saw that the Haynes manual publisher has apparently taken up the Meccano banner, even if not in name, by launching a series of meccano type sets to make various models;...a camper van and railway engine etc. The kits look quite well done with stainless meccano type parts and the original meccano ethos is clearly visible on the box illustrations.

I think this is a great idea as the meccano kit gave a uge amount to British ingenuity and the creative talent that is ours. I'm sure that micro computers for every kid is a great idea but a small meccano kit is the practical equivalent and also encourages the mechanical element in design and innovation. In my experience, adults can be easily divided up into those who had a meccano kit as a kid and those who did not!

The Haynes kits are a modest £14.99 and would be ideal for getting a grandson to start making up stuff this Christmas with some guidance and interest.....

it's a 'hold-fast'....it's for holding down a workpiece onto the benchtop so that it might be planed or sanded etc

There is another part not shown whicch is the small tube fitted to the bench that the toothed arm fits into...then the screw is adjusted so that the pivoted foot can hold the thickness of the workpiece.

EDIT;...a 'bench dog' is a metal stop that you place the workpiece against to pevent it sliding as you plane/sand.

Edited By Bob Stevenson on 05/11/2016 21:10:59

.....Hello Brian,...I have sent you an email just a minute ago!

...........Michael beat me to it!........

If you want to know what thread then shave down a spill of softwood and (carefully) screw it into the threaded hole then compare with a thread guage.

"wheel posts" are usually called 'arbours' but they are not usually threaded.......