Member postings for pgk pgk

First thought..I wonder if one could stiffen the inside with say an aluminium or plastic rod and then use a guillotine with a stop for the length. The guillotine would need a base board, metal strip edge and then a heavy blade (good kitchen knife or cleaver hinged at one end. If you can find one of those cleavers with a hole at the blade end for a hinging bolt... You then need two stops... one for length and one to stop the tube rolling away from the blade as you cut.

Second thought... If you're happy enough doing the cutting with a knife then make up a jig .. the rod resting between two closely spaced pairs of bearings.. it'll sit in the angle between a pair of bearings and be able to rotate.. and bridged across from the other pair gives you a gap to cut into. A raised block and stop at one end for the length and a guide for the knife. You should be able to build something robust enough out of timber for thin tube like this. Rolling the tube under the knife should give a clean straight cut??

Third thought.. hunt around for tiny brass spacers in that size and buy a bundle. It's the sort of thing that is used in small races to space the id of bearings so may be worth a google search.

I own a small hobby farm in very rural Wales.. so finding stuff can be challenging. The gardens are extensive (let alone the actual meadows and woodlands)

This rod end issue became more curious. I set it up in the mill to skim the broken thread flat before drilling.. had a happy accident when i set the rough cut endmill a tad low and caught the side of one remaining thread.. when the stud spun out! I had just one same thread bolt in my 'old bolt' box.. so made a temorary repair to find that the track rod end doesn't sit right in the taper anyway and is different to the rod end on the other end - so a previous gash repair.

I wasn't too suprised to find my fix failed just at the end of cutting the lawns.

I've tried to remove the opposite rod end but it won't tap out. Access to it is through a mess of hydraulic hoses and it'd be challenging to strip all that out of the way. the lazy answer is scrounge up a proper rod end from a dealer for this mower if parts can be sourced - although I may go for a second fix redrilling the old threads out to a larger size. This side is (I guess) a 5/16 thead compared to the other side at 7/16. And the gash bolt I used wasn't high tensile. I;ve got some high tensile M10's about for a second temp fix...

This mower is really only of scrap value and more a playtime project.. though if I can get it cutting well enough it'd save me a load of time compared to my present ride-on for the amount of 3+ acres of lawn i have.

I appreciate the cautious advice and warnings but it's not going to be near any roads or verges. Trees will be a bigger hazard and access around my ponds means crawling speed.

I;ve spent more on filters and lubricants than the machine cost and it has a lot of other issues I may need help with to slowly tidy it up.

I just nipped out to the shed pre-brekkie and ran a file over the broken thread end. It takes a file fine so hopefully will be drillable. I'm still new enough at this that i didn't think to test that yesterday

My limited experience with digital verniers (and all things engineering ).. I wouldn't trust their accuracy at those sorts of resolutions. Where i use mine to check inside diameters that matter i usualy cross check across the inside jaws with a micrometer. Also when awkward access means i can't get my micrometer in for an outside dimension but the vernier will fit (a short stub remaining) then I again micrometer across the inside jaws to check.

Simplest suggestion is to ask the scritineers what brand they use and what they do to calibrate.

On these tolerances if you did get consistent readings on your vernier.. albeit a dubious actual number..then i'd be inclined to cross check against feeler guages o see how the vernier reads at such fine references

It is a track rod end. About 25yrs old US origin but actually parts may be available with some hassle. The ball housing looks to be two parts pressed into a circular chamber that has the threaded stem that adjusts into the rod itself (I hope that makes sense) I see no way of getting a good enough grip with any sort of puller.. the flanges of the pressed in sections are tight against the central section.

I've finally managed to get it off the track rod itself.. (which also needs straightening) And I think I've figured how to hold it for an attempt at drilling tomorrow. I found two bits of squared scrap with 8mm slots. Set vertically each side of the tapered section I get 4 contact points that trap the taper without needing to hold onto the housing.

While in reality I'll probably eyeball the alignment of the drill it would be possible to cut/file progressive tapers on those slots and keep test fitting until they both sat snug with the same angle.

If I have to try finding a replacement then I suppose a temporary rod with straight washers and bolts through the plates with the female tapers would get the mower useable for the time being. Steering is by a ram to one wheel with the track rod pairing both.

My problem...An ancient 5-gang mower and parts may not be available. One end of the rear track rod has come adrift due to a broken thread section.

The part is a ball joint in it;s housing then a conical section with the thread in the end of the cone. the cone sits in its mating hole and is held by a nut to the broken thread.

I'm not sure if the threaded section is all one part or a stud into the end of the cone. It really looks one piece. The options I've come up with since there's 2 threads still showing is to try an stick weld a nut to the end of the thread (the only welder i have). And if that fails or it is one piece then find a way of mountng the cone ito my mill vice, drill out and retap/stud or helicoil.

So how to get this vertical? the concial section is about an inch long so not really much length to cope with measuring errors on two points. the thin end (guesstimated) about 1/2 inch.

If theres a sneaky way of measuring the angle then perhaps i can bore a conical hole to mate with it through a rectangular block, split and clamp so it's held vertical for the drilling task?

How about 2 different size washers and measure their spacing and ID's? If the washers are equal thickness.

Do you need a DPM if using a damp-proof screed?

Some many years ago I decided to rip up old cork tiles in the utility room of that house. After spending an hour failing to get one off the floor i lost my temper and decided to bury the lot under a 3" screed and retile with ceramics - there was a step down into the room anyway.

OH (typically) demanded the whole job complete within 3 days. Further investigation found bare earth under a section of lino at one end of the room. I dug that down 6 inches, layed wall battens to screed from.. hand mixed some 30 wheelbarrows of concrete with x/s waterproof additive and covered the lot. 2 days later I started tiling - got told off for it taking nearly 5 days to finish the whole job (shesh!) but there was never a damp issue

Ordinary heat shrink tubing is available in a huge range of sizes.. cheapest source i know is **LINK**

There's also loom tape as an option when you can;t get over the end of something and that plumbing tape stuff thats a self amalgamating rubber **LINK**

I'm no electronics guy either but for r/c night flying we tend to use this stuff **LINK** connected directly through a 3-cell lipo - so around 12.5 down to 11.5v and a huge current possible with the high C rated lipos. They work fine without extra restistances and are cheap enough to replace if they ever do fail. HK also do cheap good heatshrink and silicone covered wires.

Should be fine with a regulated 12v DC supply

If choosing the r/c servo route then instead of worrying about specific 90deg range I'd have thought mounting the servo such that a lever from it goes full range while the valve does it's 90deg (as opposed to spindle to spindle connection).

Modifying something like one of these to control it should be possible **LINK**

...a reallly heavy, fast spinning gyroscope attached to the tripod....

It might be a problem if there's a second object you want to observe...

2-part epoxy putty like milliput...?

It;s been a long time since i used excel like that but you should be able to make conditional searches using 'IF' & 'AND' over ranges of cells.

You should also be able to run a datasort on more than one column to end up with a short list of your criteria.

<<I cannot make the whole sheet a database as it is constantly changing, lines are always getting added, inserted or deleted.>>

Not sure i understand that statement - it's what databases do. But i must admit that my foray into developing my own complex databases was finally abandoned using access - the front end was always in the way.

67mm seems to be a common plumbing diameter albeit most i found were 1.2mm = 18swg and likely not an ideal copper type. If I recall correctly then i read somewhere it was used more in france at that diameter?

I'm curious as to whether that price includes vat and what they charge for delivery. It also looks that they don't list gas regs etc so might e an extra. A 60% duty cycle on a cheap machine strikes me as optimistic.. but great of true.

I was wonderign about this one..**LINK**

as scale goes up then weight will be a 3-dimensional i.e cubic relationship.

so if we take the 2" scale as as a baseline:

2" = 1 cubed = 1 = 30kg.

3" scale = 1.5; cubed=3.375 x30kg = 101.25kg.

4" scale= 2 cubed = 8 x30kg = 240Kg

Much closer to your figures....

I'm in the mood to throw a few of my own thoughts into the mix. The georgian period covers over a century of time and a polific variation in windows and doors. Goergians didn't have double glazing or much central heating and did have maids and home help. They ddnt have microwaves, on demand gas fired hot water or soft toilet paper.

In other words we wouldn't really want to live like a georgian had to so any renovations will tend to be 'in the style of' rather than authentic repros as in sash windows with better thermal insuation and double (or triple) glazing that don't stick or rattle.

If one takes that approach then the end result only has to look 'right'.. how you achieve it doesn't then matter - gorilla glue, epoxy, dowels - whatever hidden, functional strong joint you like. They also had a limited paint palette doubtless laced with copious amounts of lead.

I reached the conclusion that doors, architraves and internal woodwork is best unpainted.. stained, varnished or just waxed - makes future redec and maitenance a heck of a lot easier.

Yes, there's great satisfaction in hand-making this sort of stuff - just as the georgina chippy would have hand chopped his joints and then boiled up that smelly granular glue to stick it all together.. all the while his grandfather nagging at him for using modern stuff when he could could save money by havesting bluebells and making his own sticky...

( putting my stirring stick away now)

I had plenty of time to think about mine. The chester crusader has ended up with the cabinets on raising adjustable feet, just far enough from the wall that i can squeeze behind to get at the electrical cabinet and motor and the back access suds pump cabinet. My sit and think at table is to the headstock end which also gives change gear access. the mill is to the tailstock end with a small clearance gap for the table travel and when I can find the 'roundtuit' then it's a simple matter to t-off from the suds pump and share it with the mill. The only downside to being away from the wall is I can't hang stuff on the wall and reach over. But then if i did I couldn't squeeze behind anyway!

I managed to get into the shed tonight. Part2 is working out better - learning from part one. This part is slightly shorter, same width and double the thickness and to make a raised 'hollow' boss to fit in part one's groove.

One reversed jaw on the 4-jaw with a pair of parallels clamped each side of the opposite jaws for set-up and i was able to get a decent hold proud of all jaw parts so no danger of catching the tool. And no need to DTI the face. I've limited cut depth to 0.75mm since it's facing cuts that start intermittent; to reduce the chances of tilting the part. The lath could take a heavier cut but I'm not in a rush. Power crossfeed is giving a nice finish on this hot-rolled.

All I have to do is avoid stuffing up making the mating circle....

We went off topic a bit with the glue.. that was wood lathe stuff when its thicker material.

I'd flycut the plate through the rust and scale on the mill before it went on the lathe..

Because the hole was towards one end of the plate it wasn't possible to have all four jaws reversed. To centre the groove position one of the reversed jaws overlapped the centre enough to interfer with the other pair clamping down if reversed (rectangular plate)