Member postings for Bill Davies 2

In answer to Colin Brannigan,

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the blue book was "Greer and Howell". My copy, bought in 1968 for the City & Guilds 393 course, was a small hardbound book. I have a later version, "Mechanical Engineering Craft Studies," printed 1978, the first of two parts by the same authors for the CGLI 200 course, with a third part by Greer. This book is slimmer but A4 sized, with thin card covers. I think the 500 course came later than this.

As Mick B1 indicated in his answer, Chapman came in three volumes.

Nostalgically,

Bill

I've just seen this - I'm sorry to hear of John passing away. I've enjoyed his posts, I felt I knew hi, though of course I didn't. A great loss.

My commiserations to his family.

Bill

I took Mike's advice to Google and found some which similar, although nothing identical. There would appear to be a pad or (on some designs) a handle that makes use of the hole. My friend says he's been told it's a pecan nut cracker. I've never cracked those, so I don't know why it would be specific for this nut.

Many thanks, all.

I note, too, that the range of travel of the thread looks like the entire space inside the ring. So perhaps not a dedicated item. I discounted a puller due to the radius opposing the thread and the hole, and various other reasons.

I like the nutcracker! and Neil's nut splitter. I had wondered if it was half of an old scaffolding connector, the type to allow for angle between the tube, but it's nothing like the 'modern' split pattern. Bill's hanger and Simon's clamp of a pressurised bottle seem plausible, too.

It looks like a double start thread, if it is, then faster locking would be more important than applied force.

A friend sent a picture for me to identify. It's like a lathe dog but the wrong way round. The thread is on the vee side.

It has a countersunk hole on the other side. I guess it's some kind of clamp, but I've never seen anything like it.

Where I was apprenticed, we had a large Kendal and Gent. We produced machines in various sizes. To give some idea, here is a herringbone or double helical gear being produced by a horizontal gear shaper with two cutting heads:

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This gear has a gap, Sykes machines of this type could also cut a gear without a gap, making the gear stronger. This required shaper cutters ground in a way that each side of the tooth finished in the same plane.

Bill

Sean, I have use a 12mm end mill for squaring off a piece of 1/4" thick gauge plate, a couple of inches in width. Subsequently, when machining some mild steel blocks, the area where the gauge plate was cut was different in appearance, although there was no measurable difference in dimensions. I couldn't see any difference on the cutting edge, so I guess it burnished the edge rather than caused significant wear.

Bill

I went on Friday. I enjoyed seeing various models of machine tools, and had an interesting conversation with Mr H. Maurice Turnbull, who had his displays running from compressed air. He explained to me how he produced his own aluminium castings and cut his gears, originally with a fly cutter.

Like JasonB, I liked the creeper unit of the excavator - see my album. I videoed a lot, so few pics in the album.

The weather was nice all day, until I travelled back into Wales, where it worsened all the way back to Cardiff.

Bill

Or to avoid the wait in getting some blue, use a soft "lead" pencil. Rub it up and down the taper, at several points around the circumference. When we were grinding tapers, we used a chinagraph pencil, that would also involve a trip to the shops or a wait for the Post! In old turning books, they used to use chalk, but I wouldn't vouch for the accuracy.

Bill

I generally use the green scouring pads, and have used Brasso, which is a soft abrasive. As with woodwork, go with the 'grain' - in this case in line with the machining or grinding texture, otherwise it looks less accurate. But in fact, the discolouration has no measurable thickness (in an ordinary workshop), and as someone said recently, use will polish the discolouration away.

Remember that the surface will rust very readily, with the removal of any surface oil or oxidation, so a drop of oil or similar rubbed all over will help. I have used Lubowax, used by woodworkers to protect their cat iron tables, but it does leave a slight waxy surface.

Bill

Hi, James.

After doing what XD says above, I lifted mine with flat fabric straps around the circular part between the head and the vertical slide, where the protractor strip is mounted. I left the motor in place. I had my son to hand to stop the mill from swinging about on the cable, and carefully positioned it on a wooden stand. Take it easy, it is very heavy, although perhaps less intimidating to those already accustomed to moving machines or engines.

Regards, Bill

Taking Duncan's first link, the results will be consistent, if unlike the method taught to me as a young engineer, as mentioned above: driver over driven (times driver over driver ... - I know the example shown is pulleys).

Driver over driven is 40/120 = 1/3 0r 0.333...

RPM of output = RPM of input * 1/3 = 100 * 1/3 = 33.33... RPM

It looks to me like the level of course is using division, as again multiplication of the input by the ratio, as I was taught.

Bill

Vehicle Radiator sealant? Sodium silicate aka water glass. Not sure how well it would adhere to stainless steel.

Bill

...And the bicarb is said to provide the small amount of water to cause the CA to set. However, I would have expected the calcium oxide to be devoid of moisture as it would immediately react with any (i.e., quicklime converted to slaked lime). So perhaps it does act as a catalyst. But it sound like an unpleasant and very reactive ingredient in the adhesive or cement.

Bill

I'm just getting into the use of my GH Universal. The largest cuts I've taken so far are 3 x 6mm in mild steel (making tee nuts), using a 12mm end mill at 600 RPM, cutting dry and with 2-in-1 oil. I also get some rumbling from the headstock with these cuts, which disappears again with finishing cuts.

The end mill has been previously used quite a bit on aluminium and once on gauge plate. The gauge plate was significantly harder going than mild steel. The teeth don't look blunter but the surface finish is affected on cuts taken after the gauge plate. The gears do become a bit quieter after some running in. Keeping the jibs tight on non-moving axes, plus a bit on the sliding one, helps.

I have experience in using industrial mills, so the 'machine talks to me', and I adjust hand feed, etc., accordingly. The feed doesn't want to be too low, enough to load the cutter, but for those unaccustomed to machine tools, this is not woodwork!

Bill

I used to heat treat HSS tools in molten salt baths, well over 1000 degrees. It was uncomfortable to look at the baths. We removed any moisture or oil by placing the components in Wild Barfield electric furnaces, dry heat, any residue would have caused the salt bath to explode as any contamination vaporised.

The salt baths were 5/8" or 3/4" steel vessels, heated by gas, and would burn through fairly regularly. I have an itch, yet to be scratched, to do some home casting, but I wouldn't entertain this. Good luck with getting some of the salts. I don't think I could get to handle kilogram quantities of sodium cyanide these days. We also had antidote knocking around if we had a whiff of the fumes.

Good luck,

Bill

For a readable review of our energy alternatives, can I recommend David Mckay's website and book (which can be downloaded free as a pdf):

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It comes with plenty of numbers for those of us who like that kind of thing, but is very readable without chasing down the calculations. Sadly, the author died all too prematurely last year.

Bill

I find this strangely pleasing:

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Now for paperclips.

Bill

I was recently looking up details of my Record no. 3 and 4 vices, and noticed that earlier in the century, British manufacturers used vice, but Parkinson, Shipley, Yorkshire consistently used vise (1940 catalogue, also elsewhere). I would say previous to that, I have only seen 'vice' spelling in British documents, but going back further (farther) who knows? Woodworker/metalworker differences, like G-cramp/clamp (and trying not to mention C-clamp).

Bill