Member postings for Perko7

Hi, just been relocating my 1929 Ideal lathe onto a new bench and thought I would resurrect the original motor mountings. They consist of slide rails upon which the motor sits, with t-nuts to hold it in place and horizontal bolts to adjust belt tension and pulley alignment, similar to the photo below but about 100 years older. I'm missing the t-nuts and wondered if anyone had some suggestions on what to use. The dimensions don't match any of the current metric t-nut sizes. I have made steel t-nuts previously (a bit tedious without a milling machine, just a bandsaw and files) so I'm not afraid to make them myself out of steel bar but wondered if something a bit easier to work with would suffice. I've got a decent lump of aluminium I could use. Other option is to modify some old square nuts which I have. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Brakes on the Prefect were mechanical, but when adjusted properly I could lock up all 4 wheels on bitumen. Didn't stay adjusted well for very long though, and large changes in temperature played havoc with them because of the big difference in length between the rods to the front and rear axles.

One of the good things about it was the thermo-syphon cooling system. No water pump, no thermostat, just a big tall radiator and a marginal fan. The hotter the engine got the faster the water would circulate. Never boiled once even in the Australian sub-tropical climate while driven by a teenager.

Re: After a de coke, valve grind and tune up, with a following wind, it was sometimes possible to see 60 mph on the speedo!

My first car was a 1949 Ford Prefect, 1172cc side valve, 10HP, 3-speed gearbox, transverse leaf springs, great car to learn how to drive properly.

Happy on the open road at about 40-45mph, I did see 60mph in it once, it was definitely accompanied by a 'following wind', everything clenched and eyes wide open .

Best V12 Jags were the three Tom Walkinshaw XJS V12's which came to the Bathurst 1000 motor race in Australia in 1985. https://www.whichcar.com.au/features/video-walkinshaws-v12-jaguar-meets-the-mountain

Awesome noise, very fast cars, and looked the part too. One eventually retired after a gentle nudge with another car broke a headlight and the broken glass got sucked straight into the engine air intake which did it no good.

You don't say how thin the aluminium is, but would a hole punch be a suitable method? I've made some in various sizes to punch bolt/stud holes in gasket material and found they work just fine on shim brass so maybe they would work on thin aluminium sheet too?

Like many others, one thing that annoys me is the progressive corruption of the English language by those too lazy to use it correctly, usually news presenters and tv journalists.

My top hates are: 'compared to' and 'different to' (Aarrrrgh) which should be 'compared with' and 'different from', vunnerable instead of vulnerable, 'coop' instead of 'coupe' (pronounced 'coopay' when describing a 2-door car, and beginning every sentence with 'So' as others have previously mentioned.

Bicycle mechanics used a variety of cleaners which are designed to get rid of road grime, oily residue etc without damaging paint or plastic components. Nut sure what brand/product names but a chat to them might prove useful.

+1 for enjoying this show. Not sure how many have been done, only seen it on our local Aussie TV this year.

Only gripe is I've never seen Jay Blades actually do any work!!

Shape the end but leave it a bit longer, then drill a 1mm hole near the end and grind or mill away the bit you don't want.

If the horn plates are rigidly attached (bolted or riveted) to the frames then they will all move together as one. The two different metals will try to expand at their individual rates but will be held captive by the rivets or bolts so both items will move together as a composite assembly. The different expansion rates will result in an increase in internal stress in each item and an increase in shear stress in the connecting rivets or bolts, but we are talking minute quantities at this size.

Thanks for those responses, nice work Jason.

I'm reasonably handy with a stick welder but don't have the gear for silver soldering larger objects. Thinking that fabricating with tabs and slots for accurate location, tack weld in position, then full weld, stress relieve, then machine working surfaces should provide a stable platform for further work. Have a friend who does wrought iron work, he has a suitable hearth to heat up largish bits like a completed crankcase to relieve welding stresses, but not for silver soldering.

Early days, probably won't be until next year that any metal is fabricated, but wanted to get an idea that it would be feasible. Will now start designing the bits.

OK, dumb question time . I am looking at making an engine based on the ETW design for the diesel roller described in ME many years ago. Obviously castings for this would be about as common as the proverbial. I have read elsewhere many times about cylinder and valve assemblies for steam engines being fabricated from bars and plates and silver soldered together, so what would stop the same process being used for an IC engine? Either silver solder or weld, clean up and machine afterwards. Would seem to be a lot easier, faster and cheaper than machining from solid. Any pitfalls I'm missing?

Another option is to clamp a decent heat sink onto the area already soldered before soldering the next area.

+1 on the comment from Clive Brown 1 about re-melting needing more heat than the original melt.

Spent about 6 months when I was about 16 working as an offsider to a milko (milk delivery truck) on Friday nights. Started about 10PM, finished about 6AM, Fascinating seeing the streets of my local area in the western suburbs of Brisbane during the small hours and witnessing some of the things that went on while most good folk were asleep. Pay was borderline on child slavery but usually managed to score a couple of flavoured milks at the end.

Spent about 12 months during first year of uni working 2 days/week at the Malleys factory in Buranda (inner southern suburbs of Brisbane) assembling oven doors and griller trays. Learnt about air tools (drills, screwdrivers, riveters etc) and assembly work in general. Also learnt the difference between dark grapes and black olives thanks to some of the migrants who I worked alongside and got to know. Pay was enough to buy my first car after 12 months which was a well-used 1949 Ford Prefect coupe ute (Aussie-built body) which in 1972 cost $120 from memory. Great little car, sometimes wish I still had it.

Would replacing the nylon with a stiff felt pad (the type used for putting under chair legs) be a potentially more long-lasting option?

Fantastic work, really well executed. I particularly like that you have maintained the correct scale proportions of the loco body and associated fittings. Can I ask what you used for the final drive to the axles? Also it seems like it might be a bit light for good traction, have you needed to add any ballast?

I am making a Qld Railways DL Class 2-6-0 diesel but don't have the skill to make my own engine so have used a 25cc Stihl brushcutter engine. Had to make a new inlet and exhaust so it would fit inside the engine compartment. Uses a tumbler reverse for forward/reverse and an angle grinder head for the final drive. Some photos in my album but still lots more work to do adding the finer details. Currently making handrail knobs but slow progress as we are moving house so most of the workshop is currently in storage .

From my experience with flat leather belts, they do flap a bit at speed but rubbing on a smooth surface like the shoulder of the back gear would not cause any problem. Mine will sometimes rub on the end of a piece of steel angle forming the motor mount, other than polishing the end of the angle no harm has resulted to the belt.

Noah, will PM you with some more info. Geoff Perkins

Contrary to Roger Best's post, there is a geometric relationship between the various arcs and lines but it is not clearly shown on the drawing. It can be worked out if you really want to be that accurate, but in my experience it is not really necessary as long as the critical dimensions (effective wheel diameter, effective width and depth of flange, and root radius) are close to the specified values.

IMO the best way to go about it would be to first face off each side of the casting to give you the overall thickness. Then turn a flat tread of 3-3/8" diameter ending in a square flange 1/8" thick and 3/32" deep to give the 3-9/16" overall diameter. Then reduce the flange thickness to 1/16" while forming the 1/16" radius at the root of the flange. Next, using a form tool and files (or just files) form the 1/32" flange radius and blend it into the root radius. Lastly turn the 3deg taper on the tread.

If you really want the accuracy of the given dimensions then I can mark up a drawing showing the relationships, but you would be hard-pressed to meet them exactly for all wheels unless you made a form tool having that compound shape.

If you are uncertain that wheels not exactly meeting the profile shown will still work, have a look at some earlier O scale and OO scale model railway wheels with cookie cutter flanges and no fillets. They still went around curves corners at high speed without derailing (at least most of the time) .

I had a similar problem with the hood on a diesel loco which had a raised vent cowl across the top. I soldered 7BA brass nuts to the underside of the hood to take the fixing screws. It was 1.2mm galvanised steel sheet hood so relatively easy to solder. Just used my normal 40W electric soldering iron and Bakers flux with standard electrical solder. Make sure both surfaces are scrupulously clean though. I used wooden sprung clothes pegs to hold them in place as they don't act as a heat sink like metal clamps would.