Member postings for Monoman

I'm pleased that this topic has raised so much interest and so many thoughtful contributions.

I don’t think I want to comment further on the various historic ignition processes. My concern really is with building an operating model which should be capable of powering an Excavator. The 3 VQBN was specifically developed to power the Ruston-Bucyrus 19-RB.

As Howard has mentioned noise' part of my wish is to end up with a machine which has the atmosphere of the original, which probably means the noise as well.

I have used the ME Index thoughtfully supplied by Phil (Weary) and there are several entries in volumes 210 and 211 about George Punter’s Lister build. I believe that his earlier 4 cylinder engine may relate more to my hopes.

The video of it is at

**LINK**

On the assumption that I will eventually produce a working model I will be only too pleased to shoe it here.

Jerry

Neil,

Thanks for your interest, pedantic or not

My question has nothing whatsoever to do with model aircraft, radio controlled or otherwise. The power to weight ratio of these machines would probably preclude them from any form of flight.

If you have any knowledge of Ruston Diesels would you mind sharing it?

You will know of course that Rudolf Diesel was not the actual inventor of these engines which now are now known by his name. He should though be credited with considerable advances in the technology; his patent was 1897.. Barrton at Hornsbys built the first compression ignition engine in 1892, Akroyd held the patent. Hornsbys amalgamated with Rustons to become Ruston andHornsby Ltd. and the engine in which I am interested is one of a long line of very successful products.

Perhaps the matter of injection presure has always separated the generality of compression ignition engines from what you may be thinking of as a Diesel. Aren't desinitions always an object of debate?

Rustons always called them diesels and that's good enough for me.

Jerry

Here is the picture -

I should have provided a picture, this one from the Ruston-Bucyrus literature. This engine was developed around 1940 and was supplied for the war effort. For itrs primary application it was required to run at its rated speed 950rpm for a full working day, being started at clocking-on time, revved up to its working speed and kept there conmstantly unti kn=bocing-off time.

Reliabilty was the name of the game.

I have much of the currently available data about this workhorse but as some of you have remarked there are some difficult items to produce, especially the fuel delivery mechanism.

Thanks Phil for the ME Index. I will implement a search.

Jerry

On YTube there are 2 Diesel Engine videos of model Diesel engines made by George Punter; a Lister single cylinder and a freelance 4 cylinder.

I believe he did a write-up ME at some time in the past. The videos were dated for the Lister in 2012 and the 4 cylinder scratchbuild in 2009.

Does any one have memories of these models, and even better, can tell me which magazine one or other was in or can lend me copies odr photocopies.

I want to build a 3 cylinder Diesel to power a model I am currently building, the full-size version of which was powered by a Ruston VQBN 54 bhp.

If anyone has any advice, other than 'dont bother' I would most appreciative.

Many thanks

Jerry

I trust you know what the 'small hard bits' are.

If you buy shellac, flake or otherwise, from a reliable source, not trying to get the lowest price possible, you should not find any 'small hard bits'. Even now in 2017 those bits, which are not at all healthy in concentration, may be found in shellac as it arrives from Asia.

Shellac is a product of the Lac beetle. Look it up. Wikipedia has a long article on the subject. The process is not exactly as that article says. If you watch the process at first hand, at least in the former colonies of the Raj, the deposit is not scraped off but the twigs are / were heated by villagers over an open flame. The lac melted and was colected in bowls. Subsequent processing is used for purification.

Latterly the process has been updated as the producer countries have industrialised.

Shellac is used in and on foods! Price is a good indicator of quality.

Jerry

Last post is side view of gear selectors, gearbox, partly disassembled and external end view.

If you should think of removing the gearbox cover then consider carefully. 1 there are locating pins hidden beneathe the paint and 2 the selectors need patience to reassemble correctly.

NOTE My machine is a GH1322.

Jerry

Here are some photos of my GH1322 side view, gearbox cover and gear change selectos.

I don't think that is the end of a shaft. I have a Warco GH 1322 which has a very similar gear box.

I would expect that to be the fill plug for the gearbox, if you look carefully you can see the allen key recess. The plug is a BSP taper and might need tightening. I did a full overhaul of my machine this summer and had a careful look at all the parts.

Jerry

Brian,

Please see my note above from this morning. I am pretty sure your clock is almost identical to mine.

Tomorrow I will hope to put up a picture of mine. It would seem sensible to suggest that you first determine whether your clock has the necessary components to support weights. Please see one of the clock parts suppliers such as HS Walsh or Cousins for some pictures of the various types of movements. I do not think I have seen a Vienna Regulator clock without weights On the matter of price, I think it unlikely your father would have given you his without an accompanying suggestion of its value if it is a Vienna. You might also have 3 winding holes on the dial.

The clock I have is totally driven by springs, for the time and for the striker.

I have done my homework on my clock to establish its provenance. That does not have the same meaning as you might hear used on 'Antiques Roadshow'.

The clock came from a house in East London, in either Bethnal Green or Shoreditch. Unfortunately as the East End was heavily bombed in WWII my father was unable whilst he was alive to show me where it came from. I think it unlikely anyone whose home was in that area in the 1920s could have afforded an expensive clock, but there were many small clock & watch retailers who may have carried these in their stock.

These clocks were mass produced in Germany and are known in the trade as Black Forest clocks. The movement is very simple and, although it has a compensating pendulum, it takes some patience over the changing seasons to keep it running to time. As you have already discovered the clock needs to be hung absolutely upright in the X, Y and Z planes. Our house has flat walls against which it is happy to live, but eventually I marked the wall to ensure the side-to-side level. As you have seen on yours the movement is adjustable in the fore&aft direction

The pendulum on your clock, whilst unlike mine in appearance has the same adjusting screw ( very sensitive) and an identical 3-hook hanger. I found it impossible to engage the hook other than in its correct position.

I hope this will help you to decide what sort of clock you own.

Jerry

Edited By Monoman on 17/10/2017 15:24:52

I have on our sitting room wall a very similar clock which was my father's. He had it from the 1920.s when it was in my Grandmother;s house.

It runs perfectly since it was serviced by a clockmaker in Kent about 20 years ago. As in the example in the OPs pictures the very decorative (?) pieces on the top and bottom are missing. But they modern re-makes are available, we never got them as they are very Victorian, or perhaps Black Forest in character.

Our old time local clockmaker in Notts showed us the German makers original catalogue which had photographs of our clock and all the similar ones available at that time. Although I would not want to let go of my clock he estimated the current value around £350 in working condition. I had only taken it to him for him to show me the correct way to synchronise the striking with the time.

It strikes the number of hours with a single strike at the halves. I regard it as something to remember my father by. He kept it working and I remember it was always 5 (or was it 10) minutes fast.

Both the strikes are loud enough to hear throughout the house, especially when I'm trying to get to sleep.

Jerry

I have an HP15C on my desk at the moment. It goes everywhere with me. I has all the scientific functions I need, together with programmablity and constant memory. It's in use everyday.

I bought it in 1979 for £106 and have recently been offered over £400 for it. It fits in a shirt pocket, (I don't have one of those) and in a suit jacket pocket without a bulge.I have only had to put new batteries in mine twice in that length of time.It came with a users guide and a solutions guide full of useful programs.

HP no longer make this scientific calculator, the scientific community can keep this sort of gadget functioning fore years, but the HP 12C financial calculator is still selling. The 15C was made as a special a few years back and they sold like hot cakes. If you can find one expect to pay a lot.

For lovers of HP calculators there is an active group of users who hold annual meetings to discuss all the HP models, new and old.

Monoman

Hi Charadam,

This is one of the cases where, dependant on your view of the Commission, the EU has been ahead of any other jurisdiction in the World.

Everyone who manufactures or imports any chemical substance, in whatever form on its own or as part of a mixture into the Community has to do a REACH assessment, The outcome of the assessment might decide that at one extreme a full REACH dossier must be prepared and submitted, at the other end that no dossier is needed for several reasons: may be it is on the exemptions list, (search 'REACH Exemption' perhaps the quantities are below the current tonnage amount etc..etc..

Maybe there was a cunning plan. In the years during which REACH was being developed and written, it was notable that the Member States who pushed for such legislation were ones where the chemical industry was only of minor importance. Britain and Germany being the biggest were less enthusiastic. Just look how few manufacturers there are now. You might think you are buying something made in the EU but it might be produced in China or another country with low labour costs. REACH compliance then becomes the responsibility of the importer. You might be surprised to find that the Chinese set up a compliance unit in Dublin manage REACH Registration for their companies (they also work for non Chinese businesses).

One motivation of the promoters was to make the industry take on the role of assessing the lifetime safety of any chemical 'placed on the market' in the EU. That is from manufacture to disposal. As you might imagine this is requires a lot of effort. In most cases the necessary data already exists but has been spread across many locations. Finding all this is and preparing the dossier can cost as much as a million pounds sterling. A typical example concerns the white pigment commonly used in nearly everything, paper. paint, plastics, dental implants, toothpaste... etc. too many to enumerate.where the dossier reputedly cost in excess of £400,000. The dossier is as extensive as any produced for a pharmaceutical product.

I could go on, but you might by now be thinking "Too much Information"

Let me know if you want any more detail.

Jerry

Hi Charles,

Thank you for your prompt comments and elucidation of the situaition with dibutyl phthalate ( DBP) as an example.

You have picked on an example of a substance which was formerly used extensively as a plasticiser in many mixtures: plastics and paints were common users. It was cheap and effective.

DBP was banned from use in the EU about twenty years ago as it was considered an endocrine disruptor. You may recall the situation was reported extensively in the British newspapers. Not always in a calm fashion. It was one of the substances which was cited as an example in the discussions which lead to the impetus to regulate, REACH was the outcome.

I am not versed in the formulation of explosives but in the plastics and paint industries other plasticisers were found as substitutes. I would be surprised if some work has not been done in the explosives field.

In your earlier post you indicated the suppliers who have achieved REACH compliance signified by the possession of a Registration numb some 18 characters long awarded by the ECHA - European Chemicals Agency, set-up to oversee the implementation of REACH . They were all EU suppliers as far as I know. Those which are not Registered seem to all be in the US where REACH has not reached except as a talking point..

You may have gathered that I have some involvement with both REACH and the chemical industries, my career extending back some 51 years was blighted by REACH and the demise of the British chemical industry which it caused as most manufacturing went to China and India.

Jerry

Caradam,

Could you please expand on why the substances/ingredients in these powders are not REACH compliant?

Have they just no been Registered or perhaps not Evaluated or not Authorised? If they have been available on the EU market place before the latest REACH deadline they should have been only available in small quantities, <100 tonne per annum total across all of the Community, since the previous deadline.of 31st May 2013.

Since one of the stated purposes of REACH was to encourage substitution I presume that some of the larger participants in the market place will have looked at the Authorisation possibilities before letting go of what seems a large market. Perhaps they will have taken the view that the military market, which is exempt from the provisions of REACH is where their future lies. Perhaps the lack of interest by the US in REACH and its priciples has some influence..

Monoman

Lactic acid = C₃H₆O₃ an organic acid most familiar source is milk, which can be drunk safely by most of the population.

Orthophosphoric acid = H₃O₄P a mineral acid most commonly found in engineering in phosphating plants where it is used to produce iron phosphate or zinc phosphate coatings. You would not enjoy the effect of drinking phosphoric acid.

You might need to forget everything you ever knew about the contents of the chemicals you used in past times. The EC Commission has, through its child the ECHA, completely changed the landscape of chemistry and chemical formulation over the past 12 years or so, by its policy of substituting 'hazardous' chemicals with 'safer' ones. In most cases reducing the performance of the available products.

Jenolite is NOT phosphoric but is Lactic acid.

While on the subject of BS pipe threads can I ask if anyone has a technique or ideas on making BSPT (taper) threads? I am mainly interested in external but any suggestions also for internal.

The sizes are given are all over the text books and other tables but its the concept of turning a taper and a thread without a taper turning attachment that fascinates me

This is not just a theoretical interest, I have a need for some 3/8" and 1/4" taper plugs and would rather make my own than buy ready made.

Jerry

To clarify the situation in relation to Muszzer’s post above, toxicity is defined in Europe .

If you are concerned may I suggest you firstly study The REACH Regulations EC1907/2006,. EC1272/2008 etc. which is currently(2017) being amended and updated.

The acronym REACH means the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals.

Currently there are in excess of thirty thousand pages of Regulations, Amendments, Proposals etc, etc ….together with the classification s in the Annexes to the Regulation. Substances subject to Authorisation appear in Annex XIV.

The European Chemical Agency has a comprehensive website which explains the legislation in considerable detail and covers the hazards which you mention in your post of 6/07/2017 .

It includes definitions, at some length in Chapter 2 article 3.

This is a Regulation which is directly acting in Member States. Its principles have been largely accepted around the World, including the US and Canada.

Under this Regulation every chemical substance has to be evaluated, even if it is then decided that the Regulation does not apply, for example in such areas as Medicines. Without the initial evaluation it is not possible to know whether the Regulation applies or not.

If you then acquire a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for the chemical (substance or mixture) in which you are interested you see how the data in the various sections has been arrived at.

You might find it interesting and more likely useful if you are considering the use of any chemical. In any case as we are all trying to achieve the best safety we can in our hobby we should endeavour to obtain a safety data sheet. Indeed those of us who are working for other people, paid or unpaid ,should have an SDS provided by the supplier, who is obliged by the Regulations to provide without charge.

Mono

I too have a Warco VMC, older than the Vario. A very good machine not as sturdy as the Bridgports at work but quite sufficient in the home workshop. I looked carefully at chuck options and chose the R8 version which I have never regretted. This version accepts screw-in , Clarkson type, cutters which never slip or tilt and are as good as any industrial chucking arrangement.

Jerry