Member postings for Martin Dilly 2

Many thanks for the speedy reply. That seems to coincide with my manual, so maybe there was an earlier edition with the duff gen. I'll go and investigate after a spot of lunch.

The saddle on my Hobbymat shows some vertical play when I lift the topslide. I have the Hobbymat manual but have a dim recollection that I was once told the forcing and clamp screws are numbered the wrong way in the text. It describes the centre Allen screw as the forcing screw (which I assume bears against the far side of the saddle casting) and the outer two as the locking screws (which would be tapped into the far side of the casting to close the gap when tightened). I'm a bit nervous about doing anything too extreme in the way of over-stressing what is probably a fairly fragile casting.

Can anybody please advise?

Michael,

Very many thanks for that; should keep me occupied for the next few days. From a quick read it looks as if mine is missing some sort of friction element to make the direction setting lever to stay where it's moved to.

No wonder patent agents charge a lot!

Martin

I just spotted a patent number on this, 468,243, and thought that might produce a drawing or some details. However, Googling it bought up several different Verdict guages with completely different mechanisms and no drawings. Another blind alley...

Yes, it really is a Verdict (or so it says on the dial), but I suspect it's pretty elderly, as you suggest. I'll ponder some more. Maybe a trip to a Museum of Bygones...

I thought I'd attached three photos to yesterday's post but nothing seems to have happened. Let's try again.

Thanks for all the advice gents. I'll give it my full attention later.

I've been given an elderly Verdict DTI (lever arm type) which appears to have a fault. The needle fails to return to zero with no load and on opening it I'm unclear how it is supposed to. The hair spring engages with the internal arm, but it's not clear whether the small knob-ended lever does what it should do; it biases the needle one way or the other but there seems to be no other centring action to do this.

I can take a picture but not sure if I can post it here.

Any help would be welcome; seems a shame just to bin it.

I have used a length of kitchen worksurface as the top of my garage work bench and have another length filling up garage space. It's white with a laminate top and radiused edge, about 1 1/2 inches thick, 2 feet wide and 5 ft. 8 inches long. It's currently living at West Wickham (BR4 0QW), so if it would be of use to anyone, f.o.c., please contact me. Due to size and weight you'd need to collect it yourself.