Member postings for Alistair Robertson 1

A couple of years ago our next door neighbors car, which he parks in the space outside my front window was sitting peacefully when there was the most almighty bang, the car took a lurch and a cloud of dust appeared from under the car, then almost immediately the car took a second lurch and dropped about another couple of inches!

The spring had broken after sitting without moving for a couple of days then the force of the car dropping had broken the remainder of the spring. Quite spectacular to witness and I wish I had had a security camera set up at the time. I might have made £250 from a TV show!

The car had to be transported to the local garage to get the remains of the coil spring removed.

Threads! Don't get me started!

When I was working at a research establishment we had equipment from all over the world and the headaches of connecting bits together was unbelievable.

We had a Robertson Guide to Screw Threads book and although it covered everything from 3, an Israeli copy of BSP. to Zs a Hungarian thread of 40mm x 6 tpi.? we still got some connections and fittings that defied logic.

I still have a copy of "The Robertson Guide to World Screw Thread Series Symbols" produced by W. H. A. Robertson and Co. Ltd. Lynton Works. Bedford. England. who made dies and chasers.

A truly wonderful publication with some REALLY strange threads, such as.

Artillerie (French)

British Standard Insulator (Cordeaux)

Sewing Machine 100 (German)

Round 30 degree. (Switzerland)

Bearing Form B (German "Klammergewinde" truly amazing and I don't know how you could make it!

or how about American Aero Thread or Dardelet.

Humans really know how to complicate things.

I bought a couple of digital verniers from Aldi a couple of years ago. One works perfectly but the other gains 0.200" when I move it in and out, Eventually it goes up to a reading of 9.999" if I persevere.

I took it back to the store but they were sold out and the manager was not prepared to send them back as she said they were working as they should!! I contacted Aldi at the number on the paperwork but they weren't helpful at all and said I had to return them to the store. I tried again but with no luck at getting them to understand the problem and they said they were a special buy and they wouldn't be getting any more. At this point I gave up and as they only cost about £8 it really wasn't worth he hassle. They are still somewhere in my workshop.

Hi, All.

Thanks for all the valuable information. I have bought a pair of the type suggested by Brian G from RS. Why I didn't look there before i don't know. I ordered some bits and pieces from them last week!

I didn't want to use a gas strut as when they have to be compressed to "go overcentre" they put a big strain on the perspex cover which weighs about 25 Kgs. as I well know when I knocked out the plastic tube I was holding it up with and had to visit the hospital for a neck X-Ray. It was sore for more than a week.

The pair I bought a few years ago were not the same as the Camloc I have bought from RS they were more like a drawer slide that locked when extended.

I have a Denford Novamill and to gain a bit more room in the workshop I altered the central pivoting of the Perspex "bubble" top cover to a rear hinge. This allowed me to place the machine against the wall saving about 200mm space.

I was going to fit a couple of struts that lock when they are extended then release when you push them up again to allow the guard to lower. I measured up the length I would need and went to my local hardware store to be met with stony silence when I explained what I was after. I had fitted the same sort of strut to a previous machine for a customer a few years ago. "You can't get anything like that" I was told, But I had bought them previously so I went home and looked up my old paperwork as to where I had bought them. I had bought them from a different shop so a few days later I went to town and strode confidently in to the counter to be told "Never seen anything like that!" I showed them my old invoice which said "Self Locking Strut" but no part number and they also said "Never seen them!!"

I have looked on the Internet but I am not sure what the correct description should be! They are like a drawer slide but with no balls (I think) and when they fully extend a bit of metal pops out of a square hole locking the strut in place. Push the strut further up and it releases.

Can anyone give me a correct description as I can't remember what I asked for about 10 years ago!

I had to get new tyres for my Delta bandsaw and after a lot of faffing about with UK suppliers who said they couldn't help even when they said they were Delta dealers! I went on Ebay and ordered a set of Blue Max Urethane tyres (tires!) from the USA which were delivered about 10 days later.

There seems to be several USA suppliers on Ebay but their prices seem to be very similar.

They weren't expensive, are very good quality and have transformed my bandsaw so I can thoroughly recommend them.

Thanks, SDL.

That solved the problem.

The information available on this Forum is second to none!

Tips ordered first thing this morning and they are on their way,

Thanks.

I have had a Polish AJAX horizontal that came out of the Hillman Imp factory in Linwood. We used it for 24 hours a day on one job for about 6 years and I was sad to see it go but we didn't have a job for it.

I had a Huron for a few years which was a wonderful milling machine. Designed by people (in France) who had worked out how a manual machine should work, a bit like a Dean, Smith and Grace lathe. I sold it for twice the price I paid for it after 10 years!

Various Bridgeports including a round head machine that came out of the Hughes Aircraft Factory at Culver City in California and would have been used to build the "Spruce Goose" aircraft. I still have that one with all the Hughes Aircraft and local Californian dealer name plates.

A Schaublin 53, another very well designed machine and very rare in the UK.

A fully kitted out Aciera F1 which I still have.

Hi,

I have an 80mm dia. Facing milling cutter with 7 insert locations.

It came to me in a box with a lot of tooling at a local auction a couple of years ago. I have just got to the bottom of the box recently and it was a pleasant surprise as it is in excellent condition, BUT there are no tips to fit it, but the screws are there and don't look as if they have been used!

The only identification is the code A241.80.R.07 The rectangular tips look to be about 12mm x 8mm x 5mm thick with a 3.5mm screw hole. (These sizes are approx)

I have been in contact with several tooling suppliers but as yet none of them can identify what tips I need. I may have to go to a few suppliers and ask to see if I can get something to fit, but perhaps some of the very knowledgeable folks on this forum can identify what I need.

On a related vein I remember a local shop keeper who could tell the voltage and health of a battery simply by touching the terminals with the fingers on opposite hands. A local physics teacher refused to think this was possible but he went to visit the shop with his trusty meter. The shopkeeper called Bert was able to tell him which batteries that he had in stock were the best for voltage and he told him which would last the longest when in use. He could tell the difference as good as the meter could read.

Bert suffered from static shocks from nearly everything he touched and used a cloth over his fingers when ringing up the till. When he forgot or misjudged his prod at the keys it was a bit like a scene with the till from "Open All Hours" !

A few years ago our team had a new racing car chassis delivered from the USA and almost all the bolt heads were aircraft type with 5 sides. When we asked why, the manufacturer said they were stronger and smaller to save weight. We asked them to send us the spanners and sockets to fit the car. A few days later some sets of Bonney tools arrived with a bill for several $1000s of dollars! They cost more then 10 times the price of regular Snap-On tools for regular hex bolt heads! They were not the easiest tools to work especially the open-enders as they couldn't be slid in normally they had to go over the head of the bolt.

We replaced all the bolts with regular hex and sold the 5 sided stuff to an aircraft repair company who were delighted to get tools with official paperwork for aircraft use. Every spanner, socket and ratchet etc. had it's own serial number and paperwork!

A factory where I worked for a couple of years about 15 years ago had a Gents master slave system with about 30 slaves at least. Even the stamping in and time jobbing clocks were linked.

When a new digital swipe card system was introduced the guys who installed it couldn't believe that a system that was at least 60 years old could do almost as much as their fancy system with all the bells and whistles!

The master was a long case clock as described by Mick so I think you have found what you need.

I remember when I bought my first Britool socket set in mid to late sixties I was offered either square or hex socket sets. I went for the square because there were AF sockets in the set (There were only Whitworth in the hex drive set although some of them were 8 sided for square nuts!

My Uncle who owned the garage where I got to use the ramp etc. bought the hex set. I think it was a lot cheaper than the square one (He was always tight with his money!) and was probably old, old stock.

When he retired and sold out I looked for the Hex set but I never found it and he could remember nothing about it!

Hi,

For any sensors or transducers I always use XLR connectors (Microphone Type) as they are so versatile with up to 8 pins and with the correct screened cable are very resistant to RF generated by motors etc. Fully sealed types are available but they are very expensive compared to the standard type which are reasonably cheap.

You have to solder in the cables and that can be fiddly but take care and all will work well. I have a machine that has been in daily use for about seven years and I have had no problems with these connectors.

A few years ago I built a new workshop behind the house, intending to take a supply from the domestic distribution box. Lo and behold the electricity company, Scottish Hydro were working in the street.

I got chatting to the guy in charge and asked if 3 phase would be possible. "No problem, we will run a cable in the duct to your house, under the floor and through the duct to your workshop. You will have to get an account for the supply and meter etc. but we could put it in tomorrow"

The next day after about an hours work I had a distribution box, meter and everything installed ready to have the supplier fuse installed. I filled in the form, sent it off and two days later I was up and running.

I cannot remember paying anything for the installation other than giving the guys some tea and some of my wife's hot oven scones freshly baked!

That could never happen today with all the rules and regulation in place but it brings back very pleasant memories of how things used to be!

Alistair.

Ballscrews should not be used to carry/hold weight. They have no locking capacity unlike an acme or trapazoidal screw which is (usually!) inherently self locking.

I used to make lifting mechanisms and ALL ball-screw applications need an efficient braking/locking system.

We made a system to lift 5 ton ingot ladles and the braking system cost twice as much as the lifting system!

We used to get guys managing to get grinder cables damaged where it entered the body.

I always told them they were putting too much pull on the cable.

But at home one day the good lady switched on the Deep Fat Fryer and "BANG" the cable blew out of the cover and the fryer shot along the worktop for about a meter and crashed to the floor.

On examination I found it was the cable clamp was responsible. it was a really bad one piece design that clipped together and bent the cable in a really tight bend.

When I examined the grinders I found the same stupid clamp.

I got our electrician to fit better clamps and I can't remember another failure.

We never replaced the fryer!

When drilling decent cast iron then any pilot hole should be no bigger than the chisel point of the drill.

When I was an apprentice our foreman would not allow a pilot hole for any hole that was smaller than 1 inch! "What do you think they put that sharp bit on the drill for? Cutting thin air" he would say!

I remember him drilling 2 1/4" holes in 4 inch thick steel plates with no pilot hole on a horizontal driller. There were 100's of holes to be drilled and he said if he had drilled a pilot hole the 2 1/4" drill would have chipped and probably smashed on the broken bits. He had the ability to sharpen the chisel point to his own special shape and 100 holes without having to re-sharpen the drill was the norm. The steel spiral swarf had to be seen to be believed!

A couple of years ago we got a bit of kit from an oil company in the USA in a lovely sturdy wooden box. We modified the bit of kit with our own improvements, We carefully put everything back in the crate and phoned the shipping agent to pick it up. They came, picked it up and returned it a few days later saying the crate was not acceptable to US standards. The fact that "Made in USA" was emblazoned all over the crate did not seem to occur to them!!

They simply would not accept the crate and said we had to get another empty case sent from the USA with the correct paperwork, transfer the kit and return to the USA. The American company gave up and got it picked up, sent to France and it was sent to the USA that way.

About a month later an empty crate arrived fro the USA with all the paperwork exactly the same as the previous one. One of our machinists took the crate home to make in to a kennel for his dogs! While dismantling he found a copy of the bill for the crate, $2700!

When I ran a small workshop we had a few of these machines and from your description of the noise i would almost guarantee that your motor is missing a phase in the high setting.

Our maintenance man would get on the job immediately and generally had it fixed in less than 30 minutes.

It was almost always a dirty connection and a good clean soon fixed it.