Member postings for HOWARDT

Rang Morton yesterday regarding problem with subscription renewal, the person I talked to said it should be fixed by the end of the week, we will see.

I have a Russian version, which I have had for at least forty years. Fixed magnification and no lights but s deal in the office under a desk lamp. Cheaper Amazon version with interchangeable lenses and light is in the workshop.

I had a SX2P and got used to cutting mostly steel with solid carbide cutters from 3 to 8mm diameter dry and held in an ER collet chuck. Since moving to a larger machine I still do the same except when cutting larger widths I use cutters from 12 to 50mm diameter usually held in an R8 collet. Use very little HSS in either the mill or the lathe although I trained using HSS many years ago.

You could try these, Goodwin Precision, not used them and no affiliation just looked on their site occasionally.

Not sure you could swage it down much before the risk of it cracking, there is always that a crack is hidden inside the pipe and let’s go when you are not there.. I would sooner drain it down and install a control valve.

In a mass part production environment most soft metals are thread formed not cut. The main problem is getting a reasonably accurately sized hole as with small thread pitches there is little to deform. I would drill a smaller hole first then open it out to the required size, I do this for my small cutting taps to get a better sized hole and therefore better fit thread.

The house I lived in from the age of five, 1956, had the main LMS line running in a cut at the end of it. My dad built a platform about three feet high that I could stand on to watch the trains go by. He was into photography so I have a few picture taken just up the end of the raod which was farming land in those days. One of my mothers uncles was an engine driver but by the time I knew him he had retired. Like most of us on here we witnessed the demise of the system, closure of lines, removal f stations which eventually got built over. Now we are seeing the loss of petrol stations and pubs.

My integral single car garage protrudes half from the house. The part built out from the house has a uninsulated roof with cement board on the inside. The up and over door I covered with foil insulation and this made enough difference that I manage without further insulation. Some heat does come from the wall mounted combi boiler which is in the garage but not much as it is normally off while I am in there. If I was staying I would insulate the single brick external wall which is beyond the house and add insulation to the roof. Additional heat in the form of a small electric heater would be enough for occasional use.

I doubt that would work as you would end up with little thread as you are trying to cut a shallower thread into only the crests of the 1.5. Easy enough to make one or find a local job shot that can.

Watching the Hairy Bikers the other night and they were in the rhubarb triangle. Love rhubarb but it doesn’t appear in our shops for long for some reason. While looking it up found that Wakefield have a rhubarb festival in February, may decide to go if the weather is good. I used to have a few plants at the previous house and may get some more when we move next time.

If you have a mill you could do what I did with some wheels. Mill and bore the boss, make a mandrel with a driving pin to drive against a spoke (you could just rely on friction if the boss diameter is big enough). Mount the assembly in the mill spindle and a turning tool in the vice then turn away.

I doubt with increasing energy prices that model materials in any form will come down in price. Years ago steel prices trebled and we had to buy a tonne at a time of a particular size just to get it. Watching YouTube videos on building wooden structures they say board prices have dropped over the last twelve months where as an email I get each month from a UK supplier tells me all building materials are rising some months between 5 and 20%. I generally have a bigger buy and bite the bullet sourcing all from a known relatively local supplier, but even then some sizes are not always available.

We use some IKEA zip locks as wipeable and reusable, mainly for freezer use. They come in boxes with two different sizes, very durable and the zip lock continues to work not like some.

You may find RAL colour matches are an extra subscription, so you may have to get the closest match by varying the separate colour chanels.

Dependant on any fine features you would probably better with EN8 or 16. They would be better in unhardened state than En1 or 3, but could be heat treated to suit requirements.

When I bought a small Stewart steam engine kit it had all the BA fittings with it, so I bought the required taps and dies from Chronos as all my other threading stuff is metric. Those I bought were nor expensive and worked for the small amount I used them, I also bought some ME kit to suit. Unless you are young and serious about building lots of imperial thngs then yes go HSS but otherwise good carbon steel will do.

Had a SX2P Sieg 3MT, now a GH Universal Warco R8. Have stuck with er25, some 3MT shanks I turned down to fit 18 or 20mm R8 holders. As other have said small er size is adequate for most slotting and small tool work, you may want a dedicated holder for larger diameter tools. When I used to work Bridgeports mostly used a Clarkson holder and only switched for facing work. Using a straight 18/20/ 3/4” allows you to create a tooling system like Tormech system.

When my father was alive I had a similar problem, he used a wheelchair to get around his bungalow but would fall at times either from a chair or bed and end up lying on the floor overnight. As he only had bad legs and couldn't use them to lift himself, he needed me to lift him onto a seat. I thought of this problem and the main difficulty is getting something under them initially to use as a support to lift. Most places that have to do this use two people, one either side to lift under the arms, difficult for one person particularly if the person struggles. Probably something along the lines of a screw lift chair with bars which could be slipped under a person even without lifting them to do so would work. Air cushions would be difficult to slide under a person unless you had room to roll them to the side and back, again difficult with a non co-operative one. Maybe there is something out there in the medical apparatus field that would work but I think most places that would have a use for it just use two people (or more0.

I always work on the basis of 1x bolt dia depth in steel and 2x in cast iron. These contact lengths are for full thread depth, so add a little to cover any chamfers. These contact lengths are in excess of the length at which the bolt will strip before breaking. So your bolt should be 25+16, 40 or 45 mm long.

Just had a parcel delivered by Post Office. Ordered Monday for next day delivery, according to tracking seems to have got hung up in Bristol main depot for most of yesterday before getting to my local office today. Not bad for a strike day.