Member postings for SillyOldDuffer

In the trade this sort of problem is called "Dependency Hell" and it can be much, much more difficult and expensive to fix than this example.

Part of the problem is the assumption that Windows 10 or Linux are simple entities. They're not. I have two machines that came pre-loaded with Windows 10 and they aren't identical. Then , every time I've added software I've further changed my individual configurations. Usually the differences are benign, but there are no guarantees that what I've got is completely compatible with anyone else.

Dynamic Link Libraries aren't programs as such: rather they are collections of common functions in a library that can be called by on the fly by an executing process . (A process is a program that is running). This is a very convenient and efficient arrangement for sharing common code, but it's quite easy to get into difficulties like:

1. Program fails because a DLL it needs has never been installed.
2. Program fails because the DLL is on the machine, but can't be found because it is located in the wrong part of the file system
3. Program fails because it doesn't have permission to use the DLL
4. Program fails because it requires an earlier version of the DLL than you already have
5. Program fails because it requires a later version of the DLL than the one you have
6. You have two or programs that turn out to need different versions of the same DLL
7. An older Program fails because the DLL has been replaced by a newer, different DLL installed by something else.
8. Program fails because you installed another program that came with an incompatible version of the DLL you already had.
9. Program fails because it uses a DLL that uses another DLL that has one of the problems above
10. Program requires a DLL provided for compatibility reasons (like 32 to 64 bit), that is no longer supported. A DLL provided to let something work during transition from XP to Windows 7, might work on Windows 8, but break on Windows 10.
11. etc etc

This potential for DLL chaos is one of the reasons that IT managers usually forbid staff from loading their favourite home applications on a work computer, and why regular upgrading of a computer system is a "good thing". On the down side of regular upgrading, perfectly functional and paid for software can suddenly be rendered useless just because a upgraded DLL no longer supports your elderly configuration. Being forced to pay again for something you know works perfectly well is very annoying!

Although "Dependency Hell" can seem complicated and difficult and often is, it is also possible that the problem is easy to fix simply by installing the missing DLL after downloading it from a reputable source. Sometimes the individual DLL isn't available but can be got by installing a package (like the VB or VC runtimes) that includes it.

As Neil pointed out, be very careful where you get the DLL from. Fake DLLs are a classic way of getting evil into a computer.

Strictly speaking software ought to come with an install package that understands what all the necessary dependencies are and does it's best to automatically sort them out. Trouble is, putting a decent install package together can be more work than writing the blasted program in the first place.

Dave

1926! Even you must have been pure back then!

Second-hand story. My late father-in-law was absolutely terrified of cotton wool. He couldn't stand the sight of the stuff.

He was in Korea with the Army Catering Corps and was badly burned when the trench full of sand and petrol they were using as a giant cooker exploded. Apparently a colleague had already overfilled the trench with petrol just before poor Jim added a another full jerrycan, leant over and fired up his Zippo.

He was airlifted to a US Forces hospital in Japan where the long and painful treatment somehow ingrained a permanent aversion to cotton-wool. Thirty years later he was still having nightmares about being trapped in a fireball.

The correct name for stale urine used for industrial purposes is lant. Also, urine from women is generally unsuitable for conversion to lant due to their complicated hormones. But "Maiden's Water" was thought to be a superior product.

I know a lot of rubbish. If it wasn't for this forum my entire catalogue of useless knowledge would die with me...

Cheers,

Dave

That would be my guess too.

When I was a total beginner I often used 3.2 and/or 1/8" holes for M4 in brass and aluminium without breaking the tap. (Now I always use at least the recommended diameter drills: a broken tap jammed in the hole isn't worth the risk.)

Although delightfully cheap the tap I used with 3.2mm holes was new and sharp. I thought it was a bargain until I used it on mild steel. After tapping one hole it was hopelessly blunt.

Dave

"fabrique en angleterre" is a common stamping on older Meccano parts.

It was done to meet a French requirement for items to be marked with their country of origin during the 1920's. I don't think it necessarily means that the item has actually been to France, only that sales in France were a possibility.

The implication is that the gear pre-dates your lathe. No surprise that your early Myford shows evidence of repairs. I expect it's been loved by several previous owners.

Dave

Hi Danny,

I hate, loath and despise MTP because in my world it exists only to create awkward compatibility problems.

More positively, it's possible that your ground station supports MTP but it has to be configured manually. There may be an MTP option somewhere in the ground station's setup menu, assuming it has a setup menu that is. Sometimes the MTP option only appears in the setup list when an MTP device is physically connected.

It's likely that you are not alone with this. Keep googling: someone might suggest a solution. Does the supplier have a user forum? Internet feedback is a good way of inspiring suppliers to do better.

Dave

Good pics! Thanks for sharing.

Dave

My paper 4542 is late too. Worse things happen at sea...

Very interesting, an underwater railway!

More information and pictures here. The Belgian engine was "Built between 1882 - 1887 by Raismes - St. Leonard - Cockerill to metric system for French Canal Company"

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 06/09/2016 15:58:11

No wonder we poor beginners get confused by this hobby sometimes. It's a good job I didn't read this thread before ignorantly buying ER32 and finding they work fine for me.

My simple take is that the different collet designs, like all tools, are some sort of compromise. Which tool is 'best' depends on the job in hand, not on pure theory, heritage or opinion. A collet that does well in one circumstance will perform less well in others.

ER provides a wide clamping range and good grip provided the rod fits fully into the clamp. This is as you would expect because tt was designed to hold tools. ER is not good at holding short items that don't fit the clamp properly, but otherwise it has good 'general purpose' characteristics.

In comparison, R8 has a lower clamping force, but that force is applied most strongly at the front. This is useful, making R8 better than ER for gripping short work. If the work happens to be long enough to fit a ER collet fully, then ER is back in the game.

Collets have design goals other than grip, for example R8 was designed for rapid tool changing. Whether a characteristic like tool change speed is important or not depends on the job. The wide range of possible optimisations is why there are so many different types of collet available.

My advice to a beginner setting up an average home workshop is that you won't go far wrong with ER collets. Once you've had some 'hands-on' and know better what you're about, it becomes much easier to make an informed choice.

I'm surprised that a discussion about collets should become controversial. Fortunately there's no danger of the argument escalating into a rencontre though. The gentlemen could never agree on the best sort of duelling pistol.

I'm all for robust debate and there are some real gems in this thread. I just wonder if the forum needs a tea-room style section for free speech. Like the service in the Monty Python "I've come for an argument" sketch. ('No you haven't...)

If I'm talking rubbish again please say so. I'm here to learn as well as be entertained.

Cheers,

Dave

Best not to look too closely at some of our own efforts, like this example:

William Booth, a notorious forger, worked in Perry Barr, Birmingham. Using the manufacture of copper tokens as a cover, he began to produce forgeries of silver coins. He openly sent his base metal to Birmingham to be rolled to the required thickness. Eventually his activities attracted the attention of the authorities and he was arrested, convicted of forgery and hanged.

Hanging offences apart, Birmingham was famous across the world for producing imitations.

In the early sixties I was fortunate to live in Malta for a few years. The number of Maltese momentos that were actually 'Made in England' for the tourist trade was a family joke.

Later on 'Made in Hong Kong' swept a lot of the British tat away, and they also had a reputation for counterfeits. This was when Hong Kong was a British Crown Colony.

I don't see Chinese industry as being much different from anyone else's. They are just the latest in a long succession of countries to industrialise. Some of it is very good and some of it is very bad, most of it uses the same tooling and techniques as everyone else, except the kit they use is likely to be more modern simply because their economy is developing.

What I think of Chinese policy in respect of Tibet, Human Rights, and island grabbing etc. is best left unsaid.

Dave

Thanks Jason for confirming that the method I suggested isn't barking mad!

I also appreciate your useful tailstock 3-jaw suggestion. It could be done with a drill chuck in the diameters I most often hit this problem with and should be less of a fiddle.

Thanks also to the other contributors to the thread: lots of interesting suggestions for me to profit from.

Cheers,

Dave

PS Post crossed with Jason correcting tailstock chuck to drill chuck!  He got there first.

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 05/09/2016 16:06:07

Hi Jim,

I'm at the inexperienced end of the spectrum so I'll be interested to see what the experts make of this.

I'd use a bar across the body of the chuck to provide a flat surface against which the top of your plug can be pressed to get it at a right angle to the ways.

Then press the plug against the flat provided by the bar near the tip of the chuck and tighten the jaws.

I tap the bar out because of the trouble it will cause if it comes loose with the lathe turning!

Probably not the best way of doing the job but it might be 'good enough'.

I used two parallels as the bar only because they happened to be the right size to suit the bolt used as my example. Anything that provides a flat face to locate the work whilst allowing the jaws to be tightened on the job will do.

Cheers,

Dave

Yes indeed, but it's even more important that your passwords be random than long. It's too easy to guess what comes next in a sequence like 'abcde...'.

Dave

Quite right Nick, I should have said at least 8 or 9 characters. The big problem with long passwords is remembering them though. You must have a better memory than me!

Dave

The most surprising thing to me about the poll result is the mostly positive reaction to CNC.

I was similarly surprised with the recent "Should I buy a Metric or Imperial Lathe?" thread, which came down in heavily in favour of Metric. (With good reasons why Imperial might sometimes be more appropriate.)

It's hard to imagine results like that coming out a few years ago. Has something changed?

Dave

Wind is caused directly by energy from the sun, which delivers about 1.3kW per square metre at the earth's surface. Some is reflected back into space but a lot of it ends up evaporating sea-water and heating the atmosphere. As the world spins on a tilt, the energy appears as 'weather' and there's an awful lot of it. I don't think mankind could extract enough power from the system to disturb the weather much, and the sun shines every day.

So far as the tide goes the sums are beyond me, but again the forces involved are huge because the earth and moon are both large masses. As the tides have been moving the oceans of the world for millions of years, and the earth only slowing down slightly each year, it's unlikely that mankind could extract enough power to disturb the system.

The challenge is how to get at the energy in the first place.

It's worth solving the problem because burning as a way of obtaining power is bad. Apart from the destruction of irreplaceable minerals needed for making plastics and pharmaceuticals etc, relatively small rises of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere result in disproportionately large increases in global heat retention. As nature responds to warmth by generating even more Carbon Dioxide there's a serious risk of a run away. Extra heat causes changes in the way energy flows across the planet. The type of weather we get is likely to change permanently, where and how we get our food from will also change and there is a strong possibility of mass migrations as parts of the planet become incapable of sustaining their populations.

Scary stuff.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 04/09/2016 15:12:41

Sadly not really true.

Britain's proved recoverable coal reserve (2006 figures) was 3164 million tonnes. Of that we extract about 17 million tonnes per year.

3164 million tonnes sounds a lot until you find that world consumption of coal in 2011 was 7783 million tonnes. It means that Britain's entire coal reserve is only sufficient to satisfy world demand for just under 6 months.

'Recoverable' means coal that's worth extracting. The reserve would become somewhat larger if the sale price of coal rose sharply or if a cheaper way of getting it out were discovered. Unfortunately, a good deal of British coal is deep underground in very thin seams. Much of it is gob-smackingly expensive to extract.

Britain was once rich in mineral resources. Lead, tin, copper, iron, coal, arsenic, tungsten, limestone, clay and salt were all abundant and - at first - cheaply extracted, provided you ignore the human cost. It fuelled the Industrial Revolution. Today most of Britain's accessible mineral wealth has gone, which is why we can't simply wind the industrial clock back.

Dave

Failed joke...  Sorry

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 03/09/2016 19:58:35