Member postings for larry Phelan

Never "retire",just think of it as a change of direction in which you do the driving and you choose the route,and the speed,to say nothing of the number of stops along the way !

It,s great !!

It is written that "He who works for nothing,shall never be idle " You might also add that neither will he be thanked ! Put a price on your skills and your time,or no one will appreciate them [or you ]

I learned this the hard way,such jobs became known as "Wonderful pair of hands" jobs. Takes a lot of that to fill a pint glass ! Now I say,"Yes,I can do that for you,can you get me the material,and we,ll work out a price for the job" Very often,that,s the last I hear about it. Do these people think you get your machines,tools and power for nothing?. Let them go to a contract shop to get a real eye opener.

Dealing with Chester ----------? I wish you luck !!

Who cares ?

Re the last post,,,and my nanny is the Queen of England !!!

I have some rolled drill bits and never have any problem with them.

It,s not just Europe,the whole world uses Metric,except for a few oddball places.

The other system died with the "Empire",it just has not been buried yet. !

The Japs learned Fast ! and I mean Fast ! Early on, they made crap [remember the joke "made in Japan "? ]

Not anymore [think Toyota,Honda ] Their prices rose as their living standards rose.their stuff is no longer cheap,but it works. The situation in China is much the same,they can change,and will,but only if their customers make them,by rejecting their rubbish. Put pressure on your dealers,and if you annoy them enough,they will become a bit more choosy about who they buy from.

PS I can,t remember the last time I saw an English motorbike on the road,can you ?

Hi Howard,

Have just eaten [an empty sack wont stand ],and having knocked back a half bottle of Aldi,s good red wine,the answer to my cock up came as clear as day ! Such a stupid mistake ! However I console myself by knowing that I am a member of a worldwide club,with a huge membership [even if they are a bit shy ] So I say,,let us soldier on going where many have gone before,and even many more will go,and never mind those who get it right all the time,they are a dying breed..

PS i do not advocate Aldi,s red, it just works for me ! I suppose any good red would do.!

At Euro 6 a bottle,it was a cheap price to pay for an answer,and so quick !!

So,I shall give it Hell tomorrow. !!

Hi Everyone,

You will be happy to know that I,ve just made another Cock up,nothing major,just about four hours work down the drain and a waste of material. Do I have enough material to make another part ? you must be joking !

Would kick the cat,if I had one, afraid to kick the dogs,they can look after themselves !

So I just said "Dear dear,how silly of me " or words to that effect . There was no need for heating in the workshop this evening,in fact I had to leave the doors open .

So Howard,no, you are not alone,not by a long shot ! No wonder my scrap box is so big .

Over here we dont make mistakes,we make COCKUP,S or as we like to call them SAD STORIES.

I too have boxes and tubs full of stuff which I,m sure will come in handy some time,question is,will I still be around to use it ?

One day,when I am gone to the Great Workshop above or below [the jury are still out on that one ] someone will come to clear out all my "useful" junk and ask themselves "What the Hell did he keep this for,or what is it?"

Not only that,but I have jigs,made for jobs long forgotten, so long in fact that even I have no idea how to use them,and that,s a fact ! Can,t even remember what they were for,but I kept them in case they "might come in handy some time " I also used to raid skips,this helped to add to the collection.You would not believe some of the items I found this way,some did come in handy,most did not,not yet anyway.

Will we ever change? I doubt it at this stage,since I,ve been doing it since I was about 18 and I,m now 78 [and a bit ]

When the time comes,the skip outside my place should be worth raiding,if there are any true raiders left. We are a dying breed,but hoarders will never die ! I must have about 5000 self tapping screws,but never enough of the right ones for any job,wrong head,length,type. Washers? loads of them,all sizes,types. Springs ? yes,what type would you like? I have stuff that everyone wants, I even have stuff that no body wants ! However,I,m glad to see that I am not alone,so I say "Keep it up boys,dont mind what the others say "

Hi David,

I forgot to mention that perhaps the belt was too tight on your lathe,bearings dont like that,it gives them a hard time. I might also be no harm to check the inside of the belt to see if it,s cracked or frayed. I would be inclined to replace it anyway. With new bearings and belt and the tension set right,you should be OK.

We were always told to"Tighten on three,open on one" Full Stop ! What,s the big deal about it?,it,s not going to start World War Three.

I can think of much better things to post on the Forum .

I agree,forget Ebay and the rest,go to a proper supplier and get the proper bearings,remember,you will have these for the next 40 years,I,m not kidding These motors are like silk ! Many happy hours turning,when you get it up and running.

PS Go for a good make such as SKF or something similar,no junk !

Hi Dave,

All this talking about cookers got me thinking. For the record,my Mother bought a gas cooker in 1937 [She still had the receipt about 40 years later when we changed to natural gas not sure when that happened,but the cooker was still working,just could not get jets for it,or so they said ! That cooker did serious work in it,s time. The replacement cooker was made from recycled bean cans and packed up in no time flat,no more than ten years.

My Mother,s comments were not to be printed ! When she bought the first cooker,she also bought a water heater,known as a "Geaser" [no sure about the spelling here ]. These were an electric water intended to be fitted over your bath,if you had one [we did not ] or over a sink. This thing held about 15 gallons and were fitted with a very small heating element,so they took ages to heat up. This unit was made by Semments [wrong spelling,I know],before the last war. That heater was still working up to the time I had to move out of my house [that,s another story ] in 2006. I could not take it with me,so it ended up in a skip,a sad end to such a wonderful product.

As an aside,my last job was building transformers,from 3kva to 5 mva and along the line,we came across some old transformers which had been built by the same German firm which had made our heater. All that was wrong with them was that the E,S,B had not bothered to to maintain the paintwork on the tanks,so they rusted. I was there when the transformers were taken from their tanks and the workmanship on them was something else. All the busbars were chromed and all the connections were perfect ! This was in the mid 1970,s These units were installed in the late 1920,s or early 1930,s. As far as I know,they were just returned to service and are still in use.

These days it seems that you should not expect more than two or three years from anything, I can hear my Mother turning in her grave !

It seems that the idea is that you use it once,then scrap it.

Dave,you might get a few washers and self tapping screws from it,but not much else.

Crompton are a well known motor,I have one on my homebuilt saw bench for the last 50 years. Had to replace one bearing when I got it second hand [no idea how old it is ] and it,s still running.

Any bearing supplier should be able to supply new bearings and they are not dear. Those motors are simple to strip down,take off the end cover [where the connections are] and withdraw the shaft,with the bearings on it. Take it to your bearing supplier [there is one somewhere near you,since they are everywhere ] they will measure the bearing,I would guess it,s 5/8" shaft,I forget the outside measurement of the ballrace,but they will check that too.

It,s then just a mater of removing the old races and fitting the new,and away you go for the next 50 years or so !

I did not have a proper pullers but I made up a simple one which did the job. Ask around,someone must have a pullers,failing that,try your local garage,they should have one.

As an aside,those motors have a switch which controls the starting coils,this cuts out once the motor gets up to speed,now,when the motor is switched off and the speed drops,you should hear this switch cut out with a clear click !! If it does not,it is stuck,and needs to be cleaned,no big deal,just be aware of it. Happened me a few times with my sawbench due to sawdust,should not be a problem on your lathe.

Hope this is of some help to you. They are a great motor,worth looking after.

Many thanks to both of you. Had no idea regarding the correct speed. Will play it by ear [and by eye ! ]

Must look after swmbo !!

Hi,

What speed should I use for my slitting saws [3"dia ] when working on B,M,S ?

And what feed ?

Get a copy of a book called "Simple workshop devices"by Tubal Cain.

There is a picture on the cover that is so simple that it will make you cry ! it struck him dumb !!

The idea was by Mike Chrisp.