Member postings for Nick Clarke 3

As a moderator in a different, far less busy context, all I can say is thankyou and I don't envy you your responsibility.

Thanks again,

Nick

A recent poster was asking about Oxy Propane and It struck a chord with me as When I was a member of the Nottingham SMEE in the 1970's Martin Evans gave us a talk and one question was regarding the suitability of Oxy Propane for boiler work. Martin said he had no experience there and recommended Oxy Acetylene or Air Town Gas.

What has struck me is that while most workshop equipment has stayed more or less the same, with the exception of CNC and laser cutting, heating has changed considerably over the last 45 years or so. (not that I was a model engineer for all that time just the 1970s and resumed a couple of years ago)

When I was young there were still users of 5 pint paraffin blowlamps, most used air town gas and a few rich people used oxy acetylene. propane was available, but not yet used much.

Nowadays propane is used, air town gas has gone, as have fearsome paraffin blowlamps and oxy acetylene is just too expensive for many.

Unless anyone can suggest anything else I would suggest this is the biggest change in workshop equipment in model engineering in the last 50 years.

Do you think anything else has changed more?????

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 25/12/2018 20:23:04 to correct typo

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 25/12/2018 20:24:00

A merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful new year to everyone.

Of course I won't use machinery until sober! I never do, it's just the end result that LOOKS like I was drunk when I made it sometimes. 😂😂😂

When stitching rusty cars back together it is very convenient to be able to warm metal up with a gas flame held back so it is able to be tapped down into close contact before moving in closer to actually weld. But in the general run of model engineering I agree with you.

It is in the new code, but only 'where practicable'

However the comment is in the preamble 'Before any testing is carried out on a boiler it must satisfy the following conditions' so presumably it could apply.

6.6 Boilers shall be fitted with at least one water level gauge which where practicable is to be fitted to the boiler independently of all other fittings, including the manifold. Where practicable the fitting of gauge glass protectors is recommended.

(Boiler Test Code 2018 Vol 1)

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 22/12/2018 19:53:23 for typo

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 22/12/2018 19:54:49

I second Duncan's suggestion above to get in touch with your club boiler inspector as there are a few differences between this boiler backhead and the published drawing - the clacks have been blanked off and two new ones fitted lower down and the water gauge should go to a fitting on the top of the boiler not to the turret. Also there appears to be an additional blank behind the water gauge. These are possibly only trivial changes, but it is better to make certain you can certificate the boiler before you buy as it is not strictly to drawing.

If the lower clacks have been added later he may wish to check they have been silver soldered in place.

Dave - Thank you for the benefit of your direct experience.

Where I am still in a quandary is that while bird strikes are accepted as a risk of flying and aircraft are built to accept this, why the major shutdown for these drones. Are they so much more of a danger?

But who was the simulation from, and is it based on experiment or assumption? Sorry just seen your clip - it took a few moments to load

Thanks for the suggestion Jason, but the cynic in me has seen too many items on the news that are (with perfectly honest intent) designed to show the possible not the probably or likely.

One thought is that a drone might be sucked into an engine or hit a windscreen, but if heading towards the wing wouldn't it be carried over the wing - isn't that what an aerofoil is supposed to do? In this example there is no continuous airflow over the wing to take the drone over it and while this drone penetrated the bird replica appeared to damage a larger part of the wing structure. 

Thanks again,

Nick

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 21/12/2018 19:05:47

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 21/12/2018 19:10:22

I should like to know what damage the drones are capable of inflicting from someone who actually knows, not presumes.

While hitting anything in a plane is not recommended; is hitting a plastic and light alloy drone worse than hitting say a swan or goose, or even sucking up some debris on landing?

I don't know and would like to have an idea of the actual risk assessment if anyone can help.

I am wondering if the danger is like that from mobile phones in petrol stations - totally illegal, not advisable, but no recorded dangerous incidents anywhere apparently!

Working in education I reckon it is a disgruntled teacher - If they can't go away until Friday night why should their pupils skive off on Wednesday and fly away to somewhere warm!

Not that I am bitter - and I don't live near Gatwick either!

A long time ago I used to drive for a firm that repaired fridges. One of the engineers used to get a kick out of asking an apprentice to hold a wire from a 'windy' megger which he then wound up and shocked the guy.

The apprentices learnt to keep away from him when he was in a 'joking' mood and recognised the megger as the source of his fun.

So what happens next - engineer buys a push button megger that they don't recognise and the cycle starts over!

I can't remember the exact wording or source but I have read something like: An engineer is someone who can do for 50p what any fool can do for £1. It might be Neville Shute perhaps?

IMHO an inventor may invent things (as may an engineer) but the crux of the engineers role is to develop the idea into a working item, possibly with increased efficiency, reduced cost, mathematical rigour (stress, strength, material choice etc) and ease of manufacture as the invention becomes the finished product design.

In an ideal world this would be a dome nut, but your chances of finding a dome nut with what looks like about a 1" square thread are probably close to not a lot.

Buying a suitable plug (bottoming) tap would not be easy either.

Pity as it would look very nice.

Copyright is incredibly complex and to obtain a definitive answer you need to know a great deal of detail, however a few pointers that may help you make up your mind:

You have bought some castings and some drawings. The drawings are copyright.

The design is copyright, however by publishing the original machine in a magazine it was clearly intended that people build them, although there might be some discussion over commercial exploitation.

The CES design using castings is probably a different design, certainly copyright, however by selling the castings you are obviously intended to assemble a machine.

You may make your own sketches to help you assemble the machine - whether on the back of the proverbial fag packet or on 3D CAD is irrelevant. That these have different dimensions are minor changes that neither affect the copyright, or your right to make a machine from the castings in my opinion. If everything I made had to be exactly the same as the drawings I bought I would be unlikely to be able to make anything!

Where there could be a question is over you distributing your drawings, and for that you might need more legal advice and permission. Why not write to CES - as another poster has suggested they may approve as it will prolong the life of their casting sales?

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 05/12/2018 18:12:39

And many people did not dream of Brexit either!!!!!

As far as model engineering is concerned the town centre is no longer any use at all. When I first started as a teenager in the 1970s Reeves were in town, Kennions were too, although I never went to see them as living in Nottingham it was just too far.

Pools Tools were right in the centre of Nottingham, just a two minute walk up from Slab Square so tools were available easily. Cheap tools are available from Machine Mart and Toolstation, but branded stuff. or more specialised items are mail order or internet only.

Metal was a little harder as Carr's had moved out of town when I was very young and by the time I wanted them they were a 4d bus ride from the city centre, although as it was the same route as I used to get home from town, not too bad for me personally.

Even living in Birmingham as I do now there is only one non-ferrous supplier near town (Keetleys - V.Good) and for steel, tools etc it is always a drive.

The only metal one can guarantee is available in all parts of the country is the frighteningly expensive stuff that Homebase et al sell, and they are not always on a bus route in town.

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 03/12/2018 18:40:31

Collecting old cameras/film photography

Computers

Electronics

Playing organ

Classical Music

Freemasonry

oh and lacking the ability to stop at just three - there are just not enough hours in any day!

Nick

PS I still work full time as well - does that count as a hobby??

When installing any recent version of Windows it will select the most appropriate one for the computer hardware. Microsoft Office does the same. so unless you have any known incompatibilities 32 bit programs should all run OK.

One area to check though before committing yourself perhaps could be drivers for printers, scanners, input devices etc.

The laptop on which I am writing this has 6Gb of RAM and uses 32 Office in 64bit Windows 7 and several very old programs (pre 2004) all run fine. These were all the default options.

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 30/11/2018 10:36:45

At that age the motor almost certainly uses brushes.

It may not be single speed as washing machines do run at several speeds, but as for connections I have no idea

Thanks Clive Just the kind of information that I was looking for - although as to whether the project is sensible or economic??? Very few of my others have ever been!.

Nick