Member postings for Jon Lawes

Good evening all,

I've just finished a southworth pump (3" for my locomotive, it is being fed with steam from the turret, therefore saturated. Do you think it needs a displacement lubricator? I can't decide.

The design uses o-rings throughout, silicone I believe.

Thanks,

Jon.

Thank you

Some of the oils I'm using in the workshop are starting to make my skin feel slightly itchy. I really would prefer to avoid getting a form of dermatitis (if I'm not already too far gone) so think a barrier cream would help.

The barrier creams I've tried in the past have had a really greasy unpleasant feel which I would like to avoid. Does anyone have a cream they recommend that doesn't feel unpleasant?

Julian, I am certain you wouldn't tell someone that their ignorance is bliss in person. You are coming across as quite sanctimonious, especially when on this forum and the other forums we both visit your manner is highlighted as being abrasive and yet you do not learn or improve.

You are a mine of valuable and useful information which I have learned a great deal from, please keep sharing and keeping debates going, but please try not to belittle others in the process.

Where are Mitutoyo calipers made?

We had to do the filing of a metal square which then would fit "perfectly" into another square filed in another piece of steel... I wish someone was teaching me these things now; I'd be far more grateful now I'm older!

I recall mine was one of the worst there.

Maybe you had some air in the pipes which was absorbing it originally which you have now inadvertently purged. I believe you can get a device which reduces this.

Another possibility is the gland on the stopcock is now misbehaving since being disturbed, or had not been opened fully originally to reduce the flow into the system?

All amateur speculation on my part of course.

I have to say my drill hasn't been switched on since I got my mill.

Welcome!

Steam engines, like anything, are just a lot of smaller assemblies made one at a time. You might suprise yourself at how much you are already capable of.

As my mill is smaller I have found flycutting a nerve-wracking experience (vibratory!) and avoid it where possible. I use a carbide insert shell mill instead with good results. It was £25 including R8 fitting and it gets used quite a lot, so I don't begrudge the money.

Jason, good experiment, thank you. It does look like took sharpness is the critical factor?

I used Briwax and it seems pretty durable; it's not really changed colour despite getting a bit of oil over in when running. I have to built a bigger board to include a boiler soon but I don't know how it will do with the heat so may use a bit of steel plate protection in the areas that get hotter

I'm quite new to milling too. I get this more with the shell mill and less with smaller tipped tools. To be honest I just thought it was one of those things and just run the file over it (one pass is usually enough) and its gone.

Beautiful.

When I was an apprentice I was working in the transmission area on a Sea King and dropped a nut. My long-suffering apprentice-master (I was never very good at my job, worse as an apprentice) told me that I would stay until I had found it. After half an hour I had found washers, nuts, bolts, split pins, all sorting in that transmission bay. The only thing I hadn't found was my original bolt. My apprentice master decided the area was safer than when we had started so we decided to carry on...

Where are you? After lockdown if you live anywhere nearby you are welcome to measure my BR lamp. North Dorset/Wiltshire.

Thanks for these tests Ramon, I'm very impressed. Really useful findings.

Jon

For ages I've wondered what useful work I could put a small steam engine to. Now I know... a pencil sharpener!

I was sold after reading the posts above, the trouble is so are they! No stock on the Aldi website.

I normally chip it through a silly error before I wear them out. Better engineers may be able to tell you!

Welcome Neville, sounds like you will enjoy this forum!

Jon.