Member postings for Jim Nic

That's an interesting looking engine, i've not seen that before. Looks well made too.

Jim

They look good Steve. What a shame about the half tooth after all the work that went in to it. I look forward to seeing the assembly.

Jim

Double posting removed

Edited By Jim Nic on 20/12/2020 20:26:43

Ouch!!

Whatever happened to "There's no such thing as a stupid question"?

Jim

When I started model engineering 10 years or so ago I bought my first metal stock from MK Metals because they are only 10 miles from where I live. When I saw the "warehouse" I very nearly left straight away. The "unit" was a decrepid corrugated iron shed with many open holes in the walls and roof in a run down farm yard. Inside was absolute chaos with, as Buffer said, metal of all different sizes and types, mostly rusty, rolling around the floor and a couple of collapsing racks with rusty and bent lengths of unidentified metal in random order. However, as a newbie I wanted something to machine so I bought some bits of steel. I was assured it was free cutting as I had asked for and indeed it turned out to be so. I followed the proprieter in to the office, a small very scruffy portacabin, to pay and found more chaos and the only word is squalor. Later I found that I could have bought my metal a heck of a lot cheaper if I had not been in such a rush to get it. I determined to shop elsewhere. Then a couple of years ago on a Friday I messed up the last piece of brass I had that I was machining and didn't want to wait until the following week to progress so I went back to MK. Things had not improved and the only change seemed to be that the owner had got downright rude. I bought my brass and left and will never go back.

I now use mainly Macc Models and M-machine for my metal supplies and recieve excellent service from them both.

Jim

Edited By Jim Nic on 19/12/2020 21:38:30

As Pete Rimmer, I made a couple of toe clamps like this:

Two clamps hold the RT down just fine.

Jim

Tuffsaws! (www.tuffsaws.co.uk) I can't recommend them highly enough for the service the proprieter offers. Their products are good quality at reasonable prices.

Jim

Good tip Doug, thanks I also have difficulty with countersinks and have several of varius designs and sizes. I also have a bunch of spotting drills up to 12mm which are lightly used in the larger sizes so I will give them a go in future.

JIm

On my lathe, which isn't a Myford, I can set the toolpost to any angle and it will stay put under any load I put on it. Is it possible that the toolpost clamping handle is bottoming on the toolpost stud thread or the thread is bottoming in the handle if it is a blind hole. In either case your solution may be as simple as a washer.

Jim

Hi Kevin

First revisit your sums and/or typing skills.

80 psi times 2 = 160.

Other than that I regret I have no useful information to offer.

Jim

Ramon

As an interested bystander, thank you for posting your method. In the 10 or so years i've been making bearings I have never come up with a satisfactory way of holding them in place while the solder melts, usually relying on gravity. Now I have and I'm off to the workshop to find the piano wire I know is in there somewhere.

Jim

When I want to order from M-machine I phone them up and usually a very nice and very efficient and knowledgeable lady takes my order. I pay by card.

Jim

Good to hear.

Jim

I am assuming that the valve is similar to this one from a Stuart stationery engine with the rod going front to back between the castellations across the valve and is threaded in the cross piece which goes from left to right between the castellations.

It should not be necessary to skim the valve chest wall as long as the valve operating rod and cross piece are both free in the valve itself.

Not wishing to tell you something you are well aware of so please forgive me if you know this: the valve should be free to float up and down to a small degree in relation to the port face to ensure good contact, it is the steam pressure in the valve chest that holds it down.

I have read a thread in another place where the modeller ended up fitting a spring between the top of the valve and the chest cover to ensure good valve face contact but I would say that should not really be necessary.

HTH

Jim

It sounds as if the valve (it is a slide valve, I take it) is not seating on the port face thus allowing the steam to avoid the cylinder completely and just go direct from the valve chest out of the exhaust port. Particularly as I get the impression that here is no restriction or force preventing you turning the flywheel even though there is steam pressure in the engine.

Is there something holding the valve off?

Jim

I also use a small cheapo Chinese demagnetiser from the bay. My experience of it is similar to Brian H in that it can take a couple of goes through the procedure to completely get rid of residual magnetism but the end result is usually good. I've not tried it on anything bigger than a 12mm spanner.

Jim

+1 for Macc Models (Note correct spelling if searching on line, or check under "Shopping Partners" to the right of this page.) I also use M Machine for larger bits of sheet metal and steel tube.

I have always received excellent service from both.

Jim

I am not an ML10 owner so may be completely wrong, but, my understanding is that there are 2 levers to engage the self act. One is the conventional half nut engagement lever on the apron and the other is at the headstock end to engage drive to the leadscrew via a sliding sleeve over the split leadscrew with a slot which engages with a stud on the business end of the leadscrew.

So, the question is which lever is the OP using to engage the self act. If it is the sliding sleeve lever and the sleeve is not free to slide then the symptoms described will result. The solution may be as simple as a squirt of oil down the sliding sleeve.

As I said I don't own and have never operated a ML10 so I may be talking rubbish, if so be gentle with me I'm only trying to help.

Jim

Edited By Jim Nic on 12/10/2020 09:45:08

Edited By Jim Nic on 12/10/2020 09:45:44

Bob

I'm not familiar with the machines you refer to. Mine claims to have a capacity of 8 litres per day but the collection tank is only about 1 litre capacity.

This is mine, 350mm wide by 500mm high, branded ELU. It is a dessicant wheel device. A fan collects the moist air, drives it across a rotating dessicant packed wheel which extracts the moisture then blows the dried and slightly warmed air back in to the workshop. A second fan blows warmed air through the wheel later in its rotation to extract the water and collected it in a tank for disposal.

I have seen some so called dehumidifiers in the past which are just a container of silica gel dessicant which sit passively collecting moisture which you then have to dispose of by heating the gel in an oven; I would avoid such a device.

Hope the somewhat basic description helps.

Jim

I run a dessicant dehumidifier in my workshop for a timed 1 hour at close of play on wet days and it definitely removes a great deal of moisture from the air, which is collected as water in a built in tank.

Previously I had a condensor type when my workshop was my garage and that also removed a lot of water but tended to freeze up and stop working if the temperature fell below zero.

I recommend a dehumidifier, both types work at removing moisture but which type is best depends on circumstances of use.

Jim