Member postings for Robert Turner 1

Were old chains different to modern ones?

The modern roller chain was invented in 1880, so it is possible that Ford was using the older type of chain which had pins with no loose rollers on them. A lot of early chain driven bicycles had alternate 'missing' teeth on their sprockets, and I think the reason was something to do with the properties of this type of chain. From my limited experience of riding a bicycle so equipped, they are clunky and noisy, and feel very inefficient!

Rumour has it that Paul Merton and Robert Plant have been seen at garden railway shows over the past couple of years.

That's the one Michael! I did a bit of digging, and the seller is an horologist called Edmund Zygowski. He has a business called Motion Workshops.

I had a look at the Motionworkshops Facebook page, and he looks like an incredibly skilled guy.

Oh, and yes.... whenever I want to dream, I go onto the Anglo-Swiss website and drool at the Astoba UW1. The last one I saw for sale was £18,000, so I think I will keep dreaming.

Hello all

I recently saw these two machines for sale near Hamilton, Ontario. The seller describes them as Vertical and Horizontal universal Milling Machines, made by Tourdiamants of Switzerland.

Looking at the pics, I can't identify how they work or what they are designed to do! Lathes.co.uk has nothing on this manufacturer, and a web search brings up nothing, so does anyone have any ideas what they actually are?

The seller also has Hauser and Sip no.3 jig borers and a Kneller lathe for sale, so he is clearly a specialist toolmaker.

I have an old warco 6" metal bandsaw. It's not the 'standard' one that everyone sells, but it has a swivel feature for cutting at angles. It also came with a small table for use when the machine is vertical. I lost the original table in a house move ages ago, so I made a new one. I think it might be possible to modify the more usual non-swivelling type. I have more pictures in my album.

I remember having to machine the end of the casting to make sure the table was square to the blade once the table was on. Apart from that it was fairly easy. Apologies for the really crappy workshop.

Hope this helps

Car alternators are not really appropriate for small wind turbines, as they generate their power at 1,500-10,000 rpm. You would have to gear up your turbine quite a bit to get that sort of speed at the alternator, and there would be power loss associated with that gearing. Small home made turbines tend to use permanent magnet generators. I built a 300w, 5' diameter unit using the motor from a Fisher & Paykel direct-drive washing machine and a design from 'thebackshed.com'. Pretty straightforward Home Engineering stuff, but sadly, no 3D printed parts.

If you are looking for something one size up from the Cracker, I have just finished a revised version of the `Homemade Dacre` by Erik-Jan Stroetinger. If you google the names, you should be able to find free plans in AutoCAD format. I revised the drawings and expanded them for the imperial sized stock and fasteners available in Canada and to include all of the bodywork which isn`t shown on the original drawings.

If you`d like to send me a PM I can get a set of plans to you in PDF format.

I have a whole bunch of images and videos in my Photobucket album:

**LINK**

How about three 4" diameter by 13" long tanks laid side by side, connected together?

NGK spark plugs with numbers starting with 'C' have a 10mm x 1 thread, those beginning with 'D' are 12mm. Lots of heat and length ratings are available for the 10mm, as they are used in many Honda motorbikes from 50 cc up. The D sizes are not so common, but can be found. Halfords sell them in the Motorcycle parts section ( at least they used to when I lived in the UK)

>>Hey John - I know your comment was tongue in cheek, but all (AFAIK) houses/businesses have 220v coming in, I think they call it "split phase". Appliances like electric heaters, air conditioners, stoves, clothes dryers are all 220v

Yep, exactly right. I didn't throw any of my tools out when I emigrated to Canada. I just wired up the Garage for 220v. Businesses have either 220v split-phase, 120 / 208v three-phase or 600v three-phase supplies, depending on load. TBH, the voltage drop in the average 120v domestic wiring is pretty awful. Switching on the Hoover makes the lights flicker.

And if you think machine tools are expensive in the UK, try buying in Canada! There seems to be only about 1/10th of the range available here in the True North than in the US and what you can get is twice the price. Now the exchange rate with the pound is so terrible, I can't afford to buy from any of the cheap UK suppliers either.

I don't have a Milling Machine, so I use the MT3 taper in my Boxford headstock pretty much all the time. I've just spent a happy 2 hours in the barn swapping out an 'Optiset' centring microscope, a centre drill, a #50 drill and my crappy tapping tool 128 times, making the cylinder cover holes in four G scale loco cylinders.

Optiset in a 1/2" MT3 collet. (Does anyone else have one of these? Got it off ebay ages ago)

Crappy tapping tool - just an MT2 blank arbor and a drill chuck from 'Princess Auto'

Another eBay bargain - nice little boring head, being used as a flycutter.

If I ever get a mill, it will have to be an MT3 one, as all my tooling is this size.

The sales tax isn't much of a problem, but the terrible exchange rate is.... I've been buying ME sized fittings and parts from Roundhouse, and at nearly $2.10 to the pound, everything is really expensive.

Nothing better for a petrol head than an unexpected Merlin...... During my last summer in Chester before going to Uni (1987) the last flying Mosquito was based at RAF Sealand, so every weekend it would fly over on it's way to various air shows. Aural heaven...

A bit late for the thread about The Two Ronnies, but this (very rude) sketch from Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie was an excellent update to the 'Four Candles' sketch

http://youtu.be/noSOFIJdfwM

www.youtube.com/watch?v=noSOFIJdfwM

**LINK**

One of those links might work.

That's fantastic. Thanks to everyone who made this happen.

What a great site!

I've got one of these and it's really useful. I never got any instructions, and I would love to know how to make the more complex shapes. Is there any chance of someone posting the second part of the ME article that Ady posted, or is that pushing copyright too far for this board?

Does the Voith website still have the great simulator? If I remember right, there was a really spiffy animation of the system that showed you how you steered the boat by using a joystick. I don't know much about shipping, but I do know that the double-ended Halifax to Dartmouth ferries here in Nova Scotia have Voith-Schneider propulsion. They can sail in any direction, including sideways. When they reach the dock , they keep the props turning to force the boat against the side and end of the dock. That way they never have to tie them up and the turn around time is just a couple of minutes.

way, way off topic for this thread, by my plan a few years back was to see if the VS system could be applied to a vertical-axis wind turbine. I drew up a complete 12" = 1 foot prototype on AutoCAD but never got the chance to make it.

Hi Richard

Yes, he already has a similar gun with the mod made. Having looked at the price of solid Carbide cutters, I was thinking grinding might be better. The bolt certainly isn't case hardened, but it is hard.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I will get hold of a carbide end mill. My friend is under no illusions about the quality of his gun - I'm certainly not surprised that the global black market price of these things is only about $15. The materials aren't bad, but the tolerances are pretty loose.

I wonder if there's a gun enthusiast on the forum who can help.....

A friend of mine has asked me to modify the bolt of a Chinese-made SKS 52 assault rifle (don't worry, I am in Canada, and it's all legal). It's the square-section block that contains the firing pin, and as standard it is designed to prevent removal of the magazine if it is in the forward position. The mod is to mill off about 1.5 x 3mm off the bottom edges of the block.

Anyway, enough preamble... Does anyone know how hard this steel is? I will be milling with a 1/2" HSS end mill at about 1000 rpm max, on a Boxford with vertical slide. Does this sound feasible, or is the steel way too hard for that set up?

Any advice gratefully received.