Member postings for Tim Stevens

When anyone asks me 'Where can I get it' but they do not say where they are, I wonder if they have really thought through their question. It always helps to stand in the shoes of the other bloke, and tell him what he needs to know - even if he might possibly already know it. Or her, of course.

Tim

To SoD who says: Apparently the purist British English is spoken and written in India.

I know exactly what you mean, but I'm also sure you meant 'purest' - most pure. A Purist, though, is one who makes a point of following a set of rules (rather than applying common sense or going with the flow) - and often the rules followed can be out of date or inappropriate.

As the two words sound the same, they should appear in the Ambiguous list - perhaps in a distinct category. When I read them they are distinct, but when I read them to you. confusion may arise.

But I would argue that both slang and jargon are necessary strands of a language, each particularly suited to certain circumstances and not elsewhere - just as 'Pure' language can be.

Cheers, Tim

And PS - to me Shop-made means bought, not home-made.

Edited By Tim Stevens on 29/04/2022 12:02:18

Shop = place to do things occurs in many compound words - spray shop, press-shop, assembly shop, welding shop, etc

And store = place to keep stuff, in paint store, cold store, feed store, etc.

And then, place where stuff just happens = room, as in drying room, wet room, cold room, store-room.

Tim

Bill - my grandfather was a joiner, and he had a top shop with the machinery in, and a bottom shop where he made gates and stuff that wouldn't go down the stairs. And he retired in about 1950. So, at least in the N of England, it goes back a fairly long way.

Cheers, Tim

And how about 'qualified'?

- as in His time at College was only a qualified success.

Along with 'graduated' - marked with a series of lines, or, paid his tutor a large sum on the quiet

Tim

Another Janus-word for your list - fast.

How do you make a horse fast - tie it to a post.

I expect you will end up at University, possibly at Reading, reading reading.

I enjoyed this thread - it was never coarse ...

Regards, Tim

It is my understanding that any book which is likely to be kept, as valuable or interesting to later generations, should be repaired using the same techniques and materials as it was when new. If you don't do this, you create real difficulties for a later conservator, as they won't know how to remove or restore your changes.

So, following Bill Phinn's advice above, use paste which is 'genuine' - original recipe - even if that means animal glue etc.

I try to apply the same principles when working on old vehicles. Sometimes a part has to be changed completely as the original is too far gone (etc). The changes are done using wherever possible the original holes, threads etc, and the old bits are kept in a (quite big) box so they can be handed on to the next owner.

Cheers, Tim

Edited By Tim Stevens on 20/04/2022 17:17:39

I'm sorry, but I have difficulty with an explanation which says 'forget molecular weights' and then quotes molecular weights.

Tim

But, SoD - the OP says he uses brass bulb holders, and four bulbs in series. So many of your concerns do not apply here, surely?

Tim

Threads are mainly intended to allow things to be tightened and remain tight. Friction holds things together, and the slope of the thread is low so that vibration (etc) cannot shake things loose.

But, there are threads for other purposes - I recall the both-ways threads on the spindle of a push screwdriver common in my youth*. But I guess that the threads (more likely to be called a scroll in this sort of case) were milled, rather than die-cut. Even if you could get good results with the first thread, the second is going to be difficult as you would be cutting across gaps in the metal and the die would jam.

*but - I guess - now obsolete because of cheap battery-electric drivers everywhere.

Sorry !

Tim

Ordinary paper and card is never used by bookbinders and conservators - they seek out, and pay extra for 'acid free paper and card'. The conclusion is that ordinary paper is treated with acid (to soften the wood pulp) and not properly neutralised. So, it attacks metals - especially in cold or damp conditions.

This is going to be a more common problem as plastic is phased out for 'use once' applications, such as packaging.

Cheers, Tim

PS: your title libels no-one. You are offering advice, not telling lies. A statement which is true is not a libel - and you have evidence of the facts.

Edited By Tim Stevens on 13/04/2022 10:22:30

If you get condensation when you start to heat the space, it is likely that the heating process produces damp air. For instance, a paraffin heater - simply because burning anything with hydrogen combined in it produces water vapour.

If you use electric heating, you won't get this problem - but you could still get condensation if, for example, you return to the garage after a frost (which cools everything down) and the day is warm (so the air that comes in with you can include a lot of moisture).

Removing the moisture using a de-humidifier will help in both cases - and delivers de-ionised water for all sorts of useful jobs (topping up car radiators, lead-acid batteries, etc).

Regards, Tim

A further factor is the attachment of the bullet (etc) to the insulation itself, and the nature of the insulation. Decent solder-type connectors (including bullets) include a clamp around the insulation of the wire. This is more effective if the clamping is done after the soldering has cooled - otherwise any clamp is filled with melted insulation which can be cut through. Yes, this does slow down the attachment process, but adds the stiffness of the insulation to that of the wire in vibration cases. In my mind, doing this sort of connection 'properly' is part of the discipline - it used to be called craftsmanship.

Modern harness wire for vehicles tends to be insulated with a stiff version of PVC - with less, or different, plasticiser. This results in a stiffer wire, and one of smaller diameter - easier to feed through small spaces. The behaviour of rubber insulation is quite different from this more-rigid PVC.

Regards, Tim

There is a serious corrosion problem with almost all the motorcycle-bullet sleeves currently on the market. The ones sized just over 4mm diameter, not the Japanese sizes. The originals had a tinned brass sleeve, but for some years they seem to be tinned steel. OK when new, but in the damp, the sleeve rusts inside. Nothing to do with flux, just the weather and the space - damp gets in, with salt in the winter, and the mixture of brass bullet and steel sleeve causes electrolytic corrosion. This creates resistance in the joint, and then the corrosion really gets going.

There are some bronze-coloured sleeves which are not double-ended, the sleeve has a crimp or solder fitting at one end. They seem much better. Personally, I do not have a professional factory crimping machine, so I do the best I can with hand crimpers, and then fill the joint with solder. It works for me.

Any theory about heat shrink keeping the water out does not fit with my experience, and the idea that copper wire will harden with heat is contrary to the science - honest!

Regards - Tim (ex BSA, ex Norton, ex Hesketh)

When In was looking for a manual for my Chester 20v mill, I came across one (a manual) from Optimum which answered a lot of my questions. Why Chester couldn't do the same I never discovered. So, at least then (ten years ago) the Optimum mill range was almost identical to Chester's offerings. And it is still going.

Cheers, Tim

The effect of Hydrochloric acid is likely to depend on the grade of stainless used. There are 'marine' grades used for yatch chandlery which are much more resistant to sea water corrosion. And the main problem in sea water is the chloride content.

And PS - we learn above that chlorine bubbled through HCl is used instead of aqua regia to attack gold. Could this possibly have been a mis-remembering and the conc acid involved was nitiric. perhaps?

Regards, Tim

Use Scotchbrite by all means, but you don't need to revolve the balls. just add a few drops of oil to a fine Scotchbrite sheet and massage each ball for about the same period. This will take the gloss off in a way that should show no particular direction in the texture.

By Scotchbrite I mean the plastic mesh stuff like posh pan scourers, in which fine abrasive is embedded - available from eg Axminster whose customers use it to dull the gloss on varnish etc.

Cheers, Tim

As a regular contributor to Motorcycle Sport, when it was a Tee production, I await developments with interest. And so does my wife, who was the MCS editor's secretary and girl-friday for several interesting years up to 1980.

Regards, Tim

Further to Clive's helpful list of spanner sizes, there is 1/8 Whitworth -

0.340 inches = 8.636 mm.

This is the nominal size of the hexagon, so in practice it might be rather smaller. Stahlwille say their 1/8W spanners are (or rather were, sadly) 8.70 - 8.80 mm between flats.

I'm sorry I did not add the size details to my original response - I was imagining that engineers might have the spanners to hand. [The lowest form of wit, I suggest, is better than no wit at all.]

As regards a source of old-fashioned-sized nipples, I would try the various suppliers of stuff for vintage cars and motor bicycles. They tend to have old-stock supplies for restoration pedants, but some of these firms, organised by owners clubs, limit their clients to club members only.

Cheers, Tim

The answer, as usual, is 'it all depends'. This time, identifying a thread depends first on where it was made, and secondly, when.

Anything made in North America will generally have 'unified' threads unless it was made before WW2 or after 2000.
Before, there were SAE threads and American Threads, mostly the same as unified. A clue is that the hexagons fit AF (inch) spanners. After, there might be Metric or even ISO metric threads and mm spanner sizes.

Europe except UK, and Japan, will be metric in one form or another, and post ww2 generally ISO metric.

The UK has a wide range of options, with Whitworth and BSF etc up to about 1950, then Unified, and Metric from about 1990. BA is rather a special case, still in UK use for some things, mainly electrical switches, plugs etc, and with their own range of spanners.

The main clue, I suggest, for grease nipples is the size of the relevant spanner.

Sorry - if it was easy you would be taught it at school.

Cheers, Tim