Member postings for SillyOldDuffer

A bead headed Dressmaker pin with a blob of plasticine makes a good wiggler.

Yes I've had a recent call from 'BT' as well. Mine spoke good English and had lots of convincing detail: my name, address and phone number, plus correct BT business details. They didn't know my account number . If they had known it I would still have told them to write to me.

It seems to be a slicker version of the Microsoft scam. I thought it was new but according to the web it's been about for a while.

What I didn't know until recently is that incoming telephone numbers (like email addresses) are easily faked. Caller-id doesn't verify that the caller is who they claim to be, in fact an apparently 'real' number may be part of the con.

I never provide sensitive details when rung up or emailed out of the blue. It's too risky.

Dave

I waded through quite a few pictures on lathes.co.uk last night in the hope of spotting this one. No luck so far. There are several similar English cantilever bed lathes but nothing spot on. Most of the possibilities are too small. It's rather like a Drummond/Myford but looks a bit rough to me. This night be because its a rear view of a lathe that's had a hard dirty life, or perhaps it's a copy.

The trouble with glue is that you have to get everything right and any deviations weaken the bond. I've had good results from superglue metal to metal chucking BUT:

• Everything has to be scrupulously clean
• Superglue has a very short shelf-life. Best to use new glue and use it up quickly.
• The materials being glued have to be compatible (as per the instructions)
• The bond is destroyed by heat. As cutting makes metal hot, you have to take care not to cook the joint.
• Gentle cuts - Superglue joints have low sheer strength.
• Gaps weaken the joint.

I've convinced myself that it helps to breath on the glue film just before making the joint. Could be imagining this!

A successful superglue joint can sometimes be broken with a sharp sideways tap and/or after a soak in Acetone Nail Varnish remover. I usually heat the item with a blowlamp (to something over 100C for a few minutes, not red-hot), and then - gloves on - tap it sideways with a hammer. Delicate parts I've done on an electric cooker ring. This is turned off as soon as the part gets too hot to touch, left a few minutes and then prised off while still warm. Rarely works first time for me - repeat heating as necessary.

Dave

The homo-erotic sub-text between Mitchell and Kasansky in 'Top Gun' went completely over my head. Now I realise that 'Jungle Street Girls' isn't about disaffected youth at all. It's actually a condemnation of 'over the top' Health & Safety. This is the scene in the film when H&S take the hero into custody for not wearing goggles.

Dave

JasonB has a good eye for dimensions: the bar is 18x18x100.

I re-tried pivoting this afternoon with much better results. Turning the work into the cutter (not climbing!) and cutting a full semicircle from 0 to 180° was straightforward. In retrospect cutting from 90° to 180 and back to 0° was a daft thing to do. I wasn't able to try the rotary table: visitors stopped play.

Dave

This is idle curiosity. I enjoy old films on the 'TalkingPictures' channel. It shows mostly British films 1930 - 1970. Part of the appeal is the street scenes, cars, ships, trains and workshops.

These clips are from 'Jungle Street Girls' made in 1961. It stars David McCallum before 'The Man from Uncle' and 'NCIS'. He plays a young thug and the film ends with him being dragged off screaming by the police to a quick trial and certain hanging. There are many scenes involving scantily clad ladies; obviously I ignored those.

When he's not causing mayhem our hero works in a garage. Can anyone identify the lathe he's using? And, as I've never seen a lathe in a garage, when did they stop using them for motor repairs?

Thanks,

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 29/11/2016 17:08:26

"As you probably don't have a rotary table (or you would have used it) " - but I do have a rotary table! Oh, the shame, the humiliation...

I'm going to try the rotary table and 'no climb milling' methods after lunch. With care and as advised the pivot method should work and it's quick to set up. Thinking about it last night I realised that a 4mm bolt in a 4 mm hole has a lot of slack: if a dig-in starts it's likely to grab, much like loose gibs make parting off iffy. There was more to doing the job than I thought, hence the boob.

What I like about the Rotary Table approach is that, once set up, it should be much more rigid and idiot proof. I want to prove to myself that pivottng works if climb milling is avoided, but thereafter I shall use the Rotary Table. The amount of force generated by a dig-in is surprising and it could be hurtful. As I'm a little prone to carelessness I shall feel more confident with the work well clamped down.

Thanks again,

Dave

I'm pretty sure my occasional squeals are due to bearings as well. I'm in no hurry to replace the fan while the lathe works OK and the noise intermittent. It's tempting to tidy up the wiring while I'm in the box. But as it's a cosmetic improvement I probably won't bother - if it ain't bust don't fix it.

Dave

Gosh I'm embarrassed! Now I'm educated it's obvious that this is a job for a rotary table. Another lesson learned.

Thanks for being gentle with me,

Ta

Dave

Another bad day in my workshop!

I'm trying to make this item (part of a jig) out of 18x18mm mild-steel bar:

I attempted to make the item by offering the end of the bar up to a 20mm 4 flute cutter. Once aligned with the cutter, I pivoted the bar on a 4mm bolt through the hole. The bolt went through a similar bar clamped in a mill vice with a nut underneath.

I did half the radius with no problem but doing the other side required climb milling. Almost immediately I had a violent dig-in that damaged the work, bent the pivot, and moved the vice.

What's the best way of making a part like this? My method was too exciting!

Thanks,

Dave

Rod and JA : that's exactly what I thought. Then I read about the "Bloom of Thymaridas" in Wikipaedia's 'History of Algebra'. Although based on geometry and not a fully developed algebra, it does include solving simultaneous linear equations in Euclid's time and place. That's my interpretation anyway. But I admit my maths knowledge is sadly limited.

Dave

Snap! Mine does it when first starting on a cold day, but not always.

As the fan blows air as normal and the noise stops after a bit, I'm waiting for the problem to worsen before I fix it. It looks as if the VFD will have to come out to get at the fan and I'm not sure how it's mounted. Can you share the details if you do yours first?

I don't think the fan is a good example of its type: - the bearings were noisy from new,very reminiscent of the fan that came in a dirt cheap computer PSU I bought.

Thanks,

Dave

I'd have bet the farm on that being wrong! Now I'm not so sure. At school I was taught that the Ancient Greeks did not have algebra. I was misled. Or not paying attention. Either way it's a good job I'm not a betting man.

Dave

As a metal cutting tool material Carbon steel has one huge disadvantage. It loses hardness when it gets hot and goes blunt, perhaps at temperatures as low as 120C. As its other properties are suitable Carbon Steel is a good choice for hand tools (like files) because they are unlikely to get very hot.

Tool bits in a machine are a different matter, They can easily get much hotter than 120C. Flood cooling and light cuts help, but commercial productivity is low whenever Carbon Steel tooling is used. Manufacturing was revolutionised by HSS because it remains hard up to red-heat temperatures, and carbide has even better heat performance.

For amateur use speed doesn't matter as much. Carbon steel can be made sharper than HSS, which in turn is sharper than carbide. And for many purposes sharpness may be more desirable than cutting speed.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 28/11/2016 11:45:22

I assume Steve didn't need an aircraft to make the return journey. Eating a 10 layer Nacho platter would be enough to put me into orbit...

Dave

+1!

Very impressive Joe. Not only is it clean and tidy, but you have a hefty fire extinguisher.

Lots of cross-over between technology hobbies here. Electronics, amateur radio, computing, microscopy, astronomy, horology and the rest all snuggled up with model and mechanical engineering, which I suppose is the mother lode. You may be the only one with an interest in transoceanic tropospheric ducting though!

Dave

JA has a point doesn't he? In this case "the speak of the street" is very misleading. It's akin to that TV Programme that told us Wrought Iron is made by hammering Cast Iron.

I don't suppose it matters much if you always buy "NOX" from a reputable source who knows what you're using it for. A very different story if it "fell off the back of a lorry".

Dave

I liked the bit where a smartly dressed boy in an Eton Collar steps in to fit the giant rubber band!