Member postings for Neil Wyatt

Hand tools don't mean hard work if they are sharp and used as a steady pace.

My vote goes with those suggesting a hardpoint woodsaw with a piece of wood as a guide. A few minutes to make the cut, and then a couple of minutes draw filing (pulling a file sideways along the edge) to tidy up.

For 4" cuts in 3mm mild steel (that's 1/3 as long) I can do the job in a couple of minutes with a hacksaw, cutting to a line then draw filing.

A jig saw is no faster than a handsaw and can be harder to get a straight line, IME.

Your mileage may vary!

Neil

Take care with gas heaters for other reasons - they aren't suited to small rooms., even if relatively well ventilated. One on a two sections (of three) was enough to trip a CO sensor in our conservatory which is 14x8, bigger than many workshops after being on for a few hours.

Neil

Hi Norman,

If I sharpen up one of my 11.5mm slot drills and take off another few thou to tidy it up (assuming I can reset it accurately enough) it will make a fine paperweight.

Neil

Apologies for the crummy phone picture and the machining marks on the V, but I ought to show you my bench block.

Neil

My gosh, what a lot of tosh.

After actually consulting a (shorter) Oxford Dictionary:

A rule is a graduated thing for measuring c.f. a slide rule (who ever heard of a slide ruler?)

A ruler is a straight edge for drawing straight lines.

The fact that some things can be used for both purposescreates an ambiguity.

Anyway, if I was Britannia, I'd waive the rules.

Neil

ETW designed a slotting head for the Myford that was basically a large angle plate to which the topslide was attached so that a connecting rod from a driving plate on the spindle could work it up and down.

Neil

> John's joke.

"So this is what you earthlings call hu-mour"

Neil

You are thinking of a rose bit. Described by Tubal Cain in ME also in one of his WPS books. File four teeth on the end of a hollow cylinder of silver steel (copy an end mill, but don't bother with flutes), harden and temper.

> 2004 Vol 193 no., 4228, page 214. Setting up the Clarke CL 300M lathe. Both these in ME.

Comes highly recommended

Most of the time I use a bar clamped to the toolpost with a hole in it, just ahead of the tool tip. I've reduced the diameter of 1/16" welding rods this way.

Neil

Cyberpunk /= steanmpunk

Two great 'steampunk' book series (meant for teenagers but good for adults) are "His Dark Materials" and "The Hungry City" series. I suppose a lot of HG Wells, Jules Verne and some of Michael Moorcock's writing fits the genre too.

Enough OT from me too.

Neil

That's no mystery, it's a blueprint. Brings back memories of a diazo room full of ultra-violet light and the smell of ammonia.

Neil

I grok you, Jason.

Neil

Haven't seen a Viscount for years. They were always flying over home when I was a boy.

Neil

> It turned out it was 504 counts per rev.

You can imagine the designer sniggering "This one will fox the skip-monkeys!"

Neil

Michael,

That was part of my plan, although it doesn't give me a flat top, but I've been offered a chance to get it surface ground

Neil

HI Clive,

I've been facing 2 3/4" blanks to make wheels for a driving trolley. It doesn't matter that they won't sit flat (although it is irritating). However, I will have two oversize slices of steel left at the end, and I want one to become a bench block. It will need good flat and parallel faces if it is to sit still and be useful for temporary jigs etc.

Neil

Steampunk - a movement that blends Victorian sensibilities, materials and technologies with a modern obsession with gadgets. Modern technology in a Victorian style (e.g. brass & mahogany computer keyboard) or modern concepts implemented with Victorian technology (e.g. steam powered tanks).

Neil

You're probably right Les.

Neil

It's a Nikon 520D bridge camera, 18MP with 1000mm equivalent zoom and full manual. The high pixel count and long lens lets you get very fine detail.

It doesn't do RAW format, only jpeg but the compression is low in fine mode and I can't see any artefacts. This was at 400ASA (I meant to try 80, but forgot).

Neil

I'd space the bars apart by 120 thou at one end, perhaps with some intermediate spacers, and screw them to an equally long or longer base bar of accurate section using location dowels and countersunk screws into the underside of the bars (won't affect their use).

Now make some sort of guide jig on the mill table to allow you to align the base bar centrally under a 60-degree cutter and truly parallel with the long axis of the mill table. Fitting each bar in turn you can machine them in lengths of 18" at a time, unclamping and moving the base bar along to a new section.

Done well, any step between sections should be well under a thou and could be removed by hand finishing a short section.

Neil

Lovely machine Martin, you have a PM.

Neil