Member postings for Bob Unitt 1

I apologise for the tone of my post, it was a bit too much of a 'knee-jerk' reaction. Well done for supporting a charity, even if it is a museum dedicated to weaponry...

Harry - check your PC for trojans and viruses, they may have got it direct from your machine's address book.

Please educate us as to what your modest skills and facilities have produced for the benefit of society recently...

Personally, I enjoy Blue Heeler's posts about the engines he's bought, assembled, modified, made accessories for etc.. I certainly don't see it as 'advertising', and don't think it's out-of-place on this forum (or any of the others he posts to).

Thanks. It was a silly question in a way - I've built a Lady Stephanie (see my profile pic) that runs nicely on air or steam, but that was 25 years ago so I can't remember what clearance I gave it or why

Thanks. I think I have the right 'fit' - with both cylinder-end covers fitted it's much harder to move the piston if I block the passage-ends on the valve-face with my fingers. Does the same clearance apply when running with steam rather than air ?

I'm making Kennion's 'Tina' mill-engine. I've completed the cylinder (gunmetal, 1" bore) and the piston (gunmetal, 1" diameter). The piston is 3/8" wide, with a 1/8" groove for graphited yarn packing. I'll initially run this engine on air, but may want to try it on steam in the future.

What clearance should I allow between the piston and the cylinder ?

I wasn't suggesting you shouldn't do such checks, just the general "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" of the situation. I do such checks myself, and have certain sites and tools I trust, but my faith in them isn't absolute.

You can't be sure that a site isn't compromised in some way, as the definition of a successful compromise is that you can't detect that it's happened.

Even the big-boys can be infected - some years ago a colleague of mine went to a major IBM developer's conference in California, returning with a conference-provided CD of tools and information. On his return he found an urgent email from IBM - "DON'T OPEN THAT CD, IT'S GOT VIRUS !".

Why would you trust an online website purporting to check other websites any more than you would trust any other online website ? Does not compute...

Thanks folks, and especially thanks to those who PM'd me. Hopefully I've found a local source now.

I agree. Sorry - I was trying to be humorous...

What's the Soluble Cutting Oil recommendation these days ? I've just used up the last of my ancient stock of 'Biokool GP', and the only supplier of that that I can find won't ship it anywhere. What's an alternative that I can get delivered to my humble hovel in wild west Wales ?

But is it scam if these ladies actually deliver these photographs/services ?

Ketan - thank you, that was fascinating.

It's worth a look at these videos from BigCliveDotCom on the safety of these combined mains and USB sockets :-

A look inside a (crap) double gang socket with USB outlets.

Exploded British General USB socket

I wouldn't buy one after watching those videos.

How long is the draw-bar ? At my last home I had to cut a little hole in the ceiling of the workshop to insert or remove the draw-bar in my VM-B, fortunately there was about 1/2" clearance under the floorboard of the bedroom above.

Edited By Bob Unitt 1 on 30/04/2023 18:36:52

(Yesterday) Brewed 40 pints of IPA (from a kit). Made a new shelf for bottling same. Did a bit of 'make do and mend' to some dodgy fencing. Looked at 'Tina' and told myself I really ought to get back to a bit of machining - perhaps today ?

Definitely a Trojan - it's identical to the one I have on my desk, which I built 25 years ago.

eta: Trojan drawings are still available from Reeves if you need them.

Edited By Bob Unitt 1 on 11/04/2023 15:15:10

Leave it till they arrive, it'll give them something to do...

Similar story from early this century - a city hospital (Hereford, IIRC) was having an extension built, and decided to make the roof an ambulance-helicopter pad, to increases the car-parking spaces. Before the extension was even finished they bought a new helicopter, which was too heavy for the rooftop helipad. Needless to say the car-park ended up with even less spaces than before they started, as the (larger) helicopter had to land there instead.

Edited By Bob Unitt 1 on 09/04/2023 13:45:31