Member postings for larry Phelan

I too have a few of those cheap ones from Aldi/Lidi,s and I find them OK. I also have a Mitutoyo which I got for nothing,but I dont leave that lying around the workshop.

I have found that neither these calipers nor welding rods like cold,damp workshops,so I solved the problem by keeping both items in my hot press until required [at this time of the year,I keep my butter there as well,since coming from the fridge,it,s as hard as a brick ] Everything seems to get along fine and the rods are dry when I need them [damp rods are a PITA ] It,s just a question of remembering what you,ve gone to the hot press for,not always easy when you get on in years !

As someone said,at that price you can,t expect Grade A,but they do work well enough for those of us whose eyes are no longer Grade A.. A s one of my mates said,"What,s a few thou between friends?"

Anyway,they look good,even if you dont know how to use them !!!

My thanks to all who replied to this thread. Seems to be the same all over. My local "Recycling Center" is just as another Member said,a collection point for the bigger scrap merchants,they wont let you take anything from the scrap metal skip. A pity,because I,ve seen some good stuff there,at times.

Cable stealing is well known here too,even from the pylons ! Brave men !

To Ian S c,yes we have those yards here too,but they deal mostly in gates,railings,stonework,windows,doors ect,saved from old buildings,not the kind of stuff to be of much interest to us,although they do have some very nice stuff from time to time.,ideal for restoring old houses.

But still the lament for the old time scrap yard goes on,and on.!!

In reply to a question about finding brass rail,Ian Sc mentioned scrapyards.

This brought back happy memories of a bygone age when you could ramble into your local scrapyard on a Saturday morning and mooch around to see what you might find. Happy days !! Alas those days are gone. Now,they wont let you past the gate,even if you come with hard hat,dust mask,face shield,ear protection,gloves,knee pads and boots,together with enough insurance to sink the Q E 2. !! You can,t even get into a timber yard anymore to pick out your boards,and as for getting into a steel supplier,s store-------Out of the question !!

Is it just me,or have others found the same thing ?

Where have all the scrapyards gone ? Gone to graveyards every one,ect,ect.

Talking about round stock being "out of round",we get that quite a lot over here. We just deal with it and get on with the job.

I remember curtain rail looking like brass,but I doubt it was real brass,more likely brassed.

Could never see what difference the colour of a machine could make. Machines are made to be used,not looked at.

The only CAD I ever knew was an old sod I had to work with,and he was a CAD,all the way !

My drawing board skills were of a type best forgotten,so I am a lost cause on both fronts.

I seem to just make it up as I go along,anyone else out there like me ? could we form a club ? Just asking !!

Came across the first one before,even made a pair of them,still use them for wood and metal work. Never met the second one,not yet anyway..

No more to add to that. May he rest in peace.

Hi Mick 70,

No offence intended. I too grew up with feet and inches,but had no bother getting used to Metric. Now I use both,which is the more suitable for the job. It,s just that if you mention feet and inches to young people now,they look at you as if you came out of the Ark ! [but even Noah did not use that system ] Nice to know that long rules like that are still around,have not seen any of those mentioned by Mike E although I would like to pick up one of them if they show up here.

Might not be too easy to find,so I wish you luck.

What,s wrong with Metric ? most clothing these days comes in Metric sizes anyway.

Without putting Argos in the firing line,all such cheap sheds are just that cheap !,in every way. They make good kindling for one or two fires, and not much more. They are a waste of time and money,I,ve seen better dog kennels.

As advised,build your own,not that difficult,and at least you know what you have.

Remember you can,t expect much for that kind of money.

I have a project in mind [in the back of my mind ] to make a cannon gun on wheels,to grace my front lawn,perhaps about 3/4 full size.,something about late 1700/early 1800.

Still thinking Any ideas ?

Peter Hall, " Those were the days my friend " !!! When I was doing metalwork,we were required to show our skills in forging by making,wait for it-----Pike Heads ! [as used in 1798] I,m not kidding.

Our teacher was a very practical.man but I suppose if he was around today,he would be arrested and locked up.

His advice was to make sure we got at least one burn,so as to be more careful next time. It worked.

In the last place I worked,a large engineering works,H&S was so far down the list that it did not exist,so we just got on with it.

To Ady 1, Yes,you are right,over here the Nanny State is still in the early stages [but growing ] We do tend to just get on with the job,but Big Brother is watching. When it comes to passing on whatever skills we have,one needs to be very careful. I,for one,never allow any children into my workshop,with or without their parents. The urge to touch or turn something is just too great and the result can be just too bad. Then YOU are to blame. Yes,I would like to pass on what little I know, ---but ! That is how I learned,by getting cuts and knocks,and burns,but I,m still around and know what to watch for.

So while I think this is a great idea [wish it was around in my time ] it needs to be carefully thought through.

Good luck with it and let us know how it goes,

Regards,

Larry.

I too have a LUX mill,morse taper quill,should have gone for the R8 type,better job all round. You can always go from R8 to Morse,but not the other way around. Worth thinking about !.

My cheap Taiwan band saw was cutting off square recently,can,t understand why since I,ve only had it for about 20 years !. Anyway,the problem was simply that the guides had worked loose and needed to be re-adjusted. This was not surprising,considering the amount of work it handled in that time. It now cuts 3"x 3" square enough to be used without any further work,also handles angle and box well enough. The cutout switch problem I solved by fitting an angle piece to the frame and fitting an adjusting screw to act on the switch,so,no more problems with that.

They are a cheap machine,but none the worst for that,so it might pay to give it a good going over before scrapping it.I paid less than £200 for my saw at the time and over the years,I consider I got my moneys worth,and it,s still going strong, So,dont knock it till you,ve tried it !

PS There was an item in the M,E.W long ago about fitting a hydraulic device to those band saws. Never got around to making one,but I think it would be well worth the effort,being kinder to the blades.

The capacitor on the 1/2 HP motor of my saw bench,which I built some 50 years ago, had to be replaced once,perhaps 20 odd years ago. I have no idea how old the motor was when I bought it,but it was far from new,so the capacitor would have done a fair amount of work by the time I replaced it and it did not have an easy time since.

Perhaps I was just lucky,or perhaps these units are not made as well as they were,like so many other things.

I might add that the motor in question was never intended for woodwork since it was not TEFC,but despite heavy use,it,s still going strong. Must be at least 60 years old by now.

Hope you dont need to bring them back !!

Thanks,Oldiron,

I saw that their heavy stuff was Russian made,so I suppose their lighter lathes are too.

Would they be any better or worse than "China made lathe of the day",that,s the question ?

Speck and price wise,they seem to compare well with both Chester and Warco. Spares might be another matter..

To Jimmy B,

Yes,the pricing is interesting,since it includes Vat and delivery to most places in Europe and to England,and surprise,surprise,even to Ireland. Dont recall any of the usual suppliers offering anything similar

Food for thought !

Hi Everyone,

Do any of you know about a supplier called "Shapiro" who advertise on this forum? I was looking at some of their lathes and they appear to be well priced.

Does anyone know where these machines are made ?

Thanks for any info.