Member postings for Phil Stevenson

I grew up in Northern Ireland and followed bike racing closely throughout my youth like many others. Of course I had bikes and specialised in taking them apart then failing to put them together again; that was as close to engineering as I ever got and I still have many of my original tools. At 65 years old I have seen remarkably few dead bodies and have only ever seen one oerson get killed. Andy Manship (Yamaha?) came off right in front of us at the NW200 early seventies and hit a curb etc at some speed. A harrowing memory. If you don't get bikes and bike racing so be it, each to his own. I personally still find it one of the greatest visceral thrills imaginable (from the armchair in my case) as do many others. There is a film about the amazing Dunlop family which is inspiring, gut-wrenching, fascinating etc which explains how they couldn't resist facing the awful danger of racing. Closer to home, I believe bikes are a great source of interest to young people in making them wonder about engines and pick up a spanner.

Running two hours late by the time she got to Solihull and beyond. I still can't believe I stood on Dorridge platform for over two hours (two flippin' hours!) waiting, waiting, waiting with all sorts of rumours buzzing up and down the mob. Worth the wait? Of course it was!! No matter how many times I see her, I still get a thrill.

Bookkeeper is in the middle of the link I posted. Is this the one you're thiking of or is there another?

I should have seen the worms wriggling in their can! Who am I to say you are right or wrong? I'm doubting the misconception I've been labouring under for years now. My word is ranchhand but I can only find a correct attribution to this spelling in American English. UK English suggests all these words are two words or hyphenated.

Worms back in their can and lid sealed for now.

Given that there is no definitive authority on language, just traditional bodies who postulate on what is correct, you can make up what you want and call it legitimate. That's how language evolves for better or worse. This lot would say you are "not really" correct Neil. sss

Words with sss are either hyphenated or one s is dropped, vis Mick's examples.

As an aside can anyone guess the (allegedly) only word in the English language with 2 consecutive h's? I hesitate to ask this as someone is bound to know of more than one ....

How about a movement to oppose all movements that pick a month to lecture the rest of us what to do, not do, not eat, not drink, scratch or pick. I, and everyone with an IQ in at least double figures, is perfectly capable of making their own lifestyle decisions without some self-appointed do-gooder stating the bleeding obvious to earn their 15 minutes of fame.

Just re-read this and sorry, not trying to have a pop at any fellow posters on here!

Edited By Phil Stevenson on 08/02/2019 10:45:50

Having had my knuckles rapped earlier in this post for veering towards politics (a fair cop), things seem to have veered well away from the tech of drones to delve back into politics and even religion without comment from the mods (no sex, yet). Does that mean I can start to talk about the success or otherwise of terrorism again?

Second biggest political party in NI (and significant influence on the biggest party by headcases on the other side), devolved government (when they stop playing with themselves), representation at Westminster (if and when SF ever decide to take their seats). I'm most definitely no apologist for any of them, but they will argue that little of this would have been achieved without years of mindless violence. Moderate politics has been snuffed out in Northern Ireland due to decades of terrorism. Not exactly terrorism, but female suffrage was brought about by significant civil disobedience, Gandhi had his moments (albeit peaceful) and Nelson Mandela is perhaps the best known example of "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". There are many examples around the world where illegal violence against innocent civilians has resulted in great social change whether we like the smell of it or not. Sorry to have rattled on ... Time for a Christmas sherry and a mince pie. Peace and love to everyone.

What timber? Big difference in tooling requirements between pine and boxwood and every shade of grey in between. Also different cuts needed for parallel grain and end grain on most timbers. The round polished carbide tips mentioned above work pretty well for end grain of denser timbers. The ideal answer is to learn the techniques of woodturning as Mike suggests above in order to get a good shape and finish but that's quite a learning curve. A sharp HSS knife tool driven by lead screw will give you a decent parallel cut.

The tool looks just like a hand chaser as would be used by a woodturner. Very commonly done in some forms of wood and exotic material turning. I once watched the now deceased Bill Jones make up a chess king out of about 6 pieces of ivory (or more likely imitation ivory), all individually turned and hand threaded to fit together to form the finished piece in order to maximise the use of the material. Hand threading lidded boxes is pretty commonly done nowadays, usually in boxwood, African blackwood and other very dense timbers to take and hold a fine thread. There is definitely a knack to doing it but if you are shown the technique by someone who knows, you will have a fair chance of making a functional male and a female thread within an hour. Lots of stuff on Youtube as usual eg **LINK**. Hand chaser sets are available for wood turning. I know nothing about hand chasing metal, you may not be surprised to hear ....

And Screwfix sell it **LINK**

I always understood that many sell by-type dates were there because of the packaging more than the food inside. Tin cans have a limited life (yes I know somebody had a bully beef sandwich from a WW1 tin and they lived to be 105), Plastic bottles of water are dated because of leaching of the plastic components into the water.

Thanks Jason. Wasn't sure if you had to be a member to read the post. Assuming you won't be able to post a reply I'll volunteer to act as an intermediary (within reason).

I may regret ever getting involved but there is a lady on a well known woodturning forum who wants rid of an old Selig Sonnenthal lathe in return for a contribution on behalf of her late father. With all respect to the lady she has little idea about the lathe and just wants rid quickly She's in Teignmouth Devon. I doubt if most of the woodturners have much more idea but it's got to be of some interest to someone on here. Can you see the post via this link? **LINK**

The finish does indeed look factory fresh, but I still don't understand why the i/d is 2mm offset from the largely unuseable o/d. Maybe just for use as a depth gauge? Intriguing!

Yes Chris, you are right, this is not a standard dial vernier. This dial is for fine adjustment only. I'd be very interested in seeing your video!

Thanks all as ever.

Harking back to the wonders of current British manufacturing, I wasn't aware until now that the mighty Guhring have a manufacturing plant in Birmingham. **LINK**

Thanks Michael it definitely looks like the vernier has been modified. What's left of the left hand o/d shoulder is 2mm short of the i/d hand. Strange but it must have served a purpose. My question was really about where the measuring point for the i/d starts on the gauge. The only way I can see to do this is to use the depth gauge to fix a starting point. It will never be that accurate but will suffice for my woodworking efforts. If I get ambitious I may even try to make up a filler piece to bring the gauge back to it's original purpose.

Thanks Eric. Yes the Mitotoyo may well be a special mod. I think there is something printed on the back which may identify it as such. I'll try to get a picture up. So much to learn!

Sorry David, not a good picture but it is triangular as Eric has just identified.

Thank for your help.