Member postings for James Alford

"I suppose that is one of the things with this site covering Model Engineer as well as Model Engineer's workshop as it covers a much more diverse subject matter."

Is the "Model Engineer's workshop" another forum as well as another magazine?

Regards,

James.

Knitting needles, depending upon length needed? They come in all sorts of sizes, are rigid and have do not seem to be affected by a damp atmosphere. I have a tub of them which I use as picks and "things". I bought a large bundle from the charity shop for next to nothing. Obviously, these are currently shut, but e-bay or Gumtree might have some.

Regards,

James.

I confess that I had not considered joining the 16mm Association. Also, your comment about your SADMES club prompted me to look at the local VAMES club, which I had half-forgotten about. They have a large site at a steam preservation centre nearby and have gauge G and 0 gauge tracks, as well as 7 ¼”, 5” and 3 ½” gauges.

James.

Good evening, Will,

Thank you for your reply and for the information, which is just what I was hoping to find. I would greatly appreciate any pictures which you may be able to post.

One year, I should like to build a steam locomotive. Much as a 3 1/2" or similar engine has an appeal, the cost is a major consideration. Smaller engines using 0 gauge track have an appeal (I have a Mamod narrow gauge engine already), but the track is very dear. Something using 00 track appeals because of the cost of track, the small size appeals in itself and it would be well within the scope of my small lathe.

Regards,

James.

Thank you for all of the information. I have found some information about AA Sherwood's engines which is interesting. I have joined the OOlivesteam site, but it seems to be all about Hornby products, rather than steam per se.

I shall have a look at the rest of the suggestions as well.

Regards,

James.

Alan,

Thank you fo rthe link. I cannot work out whether that group is just about Hornby models or 00 gauge steam in general. However, I have signed up to find out. I shall update this thread when my application has been approved.

Regards,

James.

I have seen a few 00 gauge live steam locomotives on YouTube recently; models which are not the commercial Hornby products, but seemingly home built.

Purely out of curiosity, I should like to see either some plans for such small models or a build log for one. It must be quite precision modelling. Sadly, I have not been able to find anything. Does anyone know of any such plans, web sites or videoes?

Regards,

James.

How does your collet chuck attach to the backplate? Mine are held together with three bolts. When I first tested the run out on a tool held in the collet, there was a fair bit of run out (I cannot recall how much). I found that the three bolts securing the two components were tightened to different amounts, creating the run out. Careful adjustment of the tightness of these bolts reduced the run out substantially and gave repeatable results.

James.

A friend of mine runs his own manufacturing business. His website lists all of his products, along with pictures, but he offers no on-line ordering. He considered it, but finds that demand for his products varies widely, some being ordered once in a blue moon, others fairly regularly. Having on-line ordering would need him to spend a lot longer maintaining stock records on the website and holding larger stocks of products which may not sell quickly enough to make justify the investment. Relying on customers ringing or e-mailing means that he can respond to demand more quickly and avoid costly investment in products which do not sell.

Regards,

James.

Leaving aside how well either will work as planned, I have used both a cheap Silverline die grinder and a comparably priced US Pro tool. I found the US Pro die grinder was much more effective, needing less air, but still having plenty of power. A friend uses the US Pro die grinders in his business restoring cars and finds them to last well.

Regards,

James.

Just to underline the inconsistency with threads on the Flexispeed Meteor: I have two lead screws which have the same number of TPI, but have different thread forms. One is quite square in section, whereas the other is much more triangular. Similalry, I have a spare cross slide and the gib screws are not interchangeable between the spare and the slide on the machine.

Regards,

James.

Thank you, both, for the suggestions and advice. I shall try some of the "Orange Flux" instead of the plumbers' flux which I have been using.

Regards,

James.

I am soldering some fine brass mesh to some steel frames. I have been using a white paste flux from B&Q and washing it off to avoid the flux turning the mesh green. This then means that I need to thoroughly warm and dry the thing afterwards to avoid the frame rusting.

Can anyone recommend a flux which could be used and which would not need washing off and would not corrode the mesh?

Regards,

James.

That takes me back, somewhat.

John,

Like you, I worked in the old Strowger exchanges in the later years, moving into "traffic" in 1986. They were noisy places. I am sure that my hearing was dulled by the constant racket.

This is the type of solenoid Lifting Solenoids which I plan to use. I bought one from e-Bay as an experiment and have found someone in this country selling five more unwanted solenoids for a very reasonable price.

Regards,

James.

John,

I confess that I have used relay and solenoid loosely. Originally, I was going to use realys, but then looked at the type of solenoid which has a sliding plunger to push or pull the mechanism. My wife's comments when I had it running with just one such solenoid made it clear that alternatives would be needed due to the noise. I have now settled on the type of solenoid which is just a round electro-magnet without any form of plunger or arm. I propose to design and build a mechanism which retains a tiny air gap between the face of the magnet and the activating arm to avoid noise.

I toyed with the idea of stepper motors, but I really like to the idea of a clock with lots of levers and arms rocking away. It might all prove to be unworkable, but I shall give it a go.

We used to have synchronised electro-mechanical clocks at the telephone exchanges where I worked. I cannot recall the make or any details, other than that they were not exactly silent.

Regards,

James.

John.

I am a way off from starting the clock itself as I am still vacillating over the design. However, I have programmed six pins on the Uno to operate at different intervals. One will operate each second, one each minute and one each hour. A fourth will be used to strike the quarter hours, a fifth to chime the hours and the last one will mark the days. I have used a RTC to ensure that it keeps proper time and it has a LCD display to check the time.

Mechanically, there will be a lifting solenoid connected as the load on each transistor. This solenoid will pull a lever which will advance the hands, strike the hours, ring the chimes and mark the day appropriately. This stage is well in the future still.

Regards,

James.

I have sent yo a private message.

James.

What size box do you need? I have a few odd things spare and am in Aylesbury

A quick update. I borrowed a set of imperial setting gauges and was pleased to find that the micrometers are accurate and that the anvils are all parallel.

Regards,

James.