Member postings for larry phelan 1

I stand corrected, yet again !!!

Ah, the joys of living in the sticks !!

Does anyone remember the locking ring on the bottom bracket of old style bikes [1940/1970.] ?

Seem to recall that one of them was left hand thread.

I suspect the your locking ring is likewise. Make yourself a "C" spanner to suit .

Regarding those other screws, like a dog with a bone, leave them alone !

Hi there everyone,

Just a few points to make

A I think Circlip got it just about right ! Full marks !

B I think Chris and I have had similar experiences regarding our "cheap, crappy drills"

I bought mine in 1983 and it cost me 300, I forget was that £ or Euros , needless to say, I was laughed at for buying such a heap of crap. Perhaps they were right, I,m still using that machine and it has well paid for itself at this stage.

I t is a Nu Tool make, not Top-of-the-range perhaps, but it drills holes where I want them, so, what,s not to love ?

C Dave, I,m not sure about these big yellow bikes and the Nortons, where are they to be found ?, not around here anyway. Do they only come out at night, perhaps ? I have met many English lads touring here over the last few years and have NEVER seen them riding English bikes . When I asked why, the answer I got was, "Where are they ?". Nothing but Jap bikes or BMW,s, so there has to be a reason for it.

BTW, what bikes do the police use over your way ?

Fact is, you missed the boat !

Chris, nothing strange at all about that !

I remember when the first Honda bikes appeared in England and were regarded as trash.

One of the motorcycle mags did a report on them in one issue. The tester said that while the bikes were "a bit rough around the edges", he had a feeling that they were here to stay and that English makers needed to wake up and take notice. They never did, and the rest is history.

Cars, machine tools ect, went the same way. I dont recall the last time I saw an English bike, motor or otherwise on the road and any time I see machines on building sites, none of them are Made in England.

Seems like someone got their sums wrong !

How many Hobby users could afford that kind of money ?

DMB, I have no idea about that, my friend just mentioned that the gear he saw being used in their factories was light years ahead of anything he had seen elsewhere, and he has been around.

When you consider the advancements they have made in such a short time, there may be something in it.

I suspect that they may price themselves out of the market, as Japan did, and then there will be a new kid on the block, any idea who ???

Since no-one else seems to be making anything we can afford, let us make the best of it. All the "top known brands" seem to be made here, there and everywhere anyway, so what the hell ?

As the man said, "What,s in a name ?" What indeed ?

Some years ago I knew a guy who worked for the I,D,A and was based in China for a few years.

We got to talking abut the poor quality of some of the stuff coming from there and I asked him could they not make anything better. His reply was, "They sure can, and do, have no doubt about that !", what they sell to you is one thing, what I saw in their factories was a very different matter " He said they have very little to learn from the West in that field, their stuff is Top-of-the-range., just not for sale to you.

That was years ago, no reason it,s any different now.

You deserve a medal for hanging in there for so long !

30 ,10 2022 ?

When I started out with my lathe , bought new from Chester 20 odd years ago, I knew as much about the machine as it knew about me, So many things to learn about, but now I know twice as much nothing as when I started.

It,s called " The Learning Curve". My machine came with two chucks and a faceplate [Do they still supply faceplates now ?, never see them listed } However, later on I bought another 3 jaw chuck, from another supplier which came with no backplate. This was not really a problem because surprise, surprise, I found it easy enough to buy a piece of round bar from a steel supplier, just a slice off a length of stock bar to make my own backplate. A smaller piece of round was used to bore and thread this to suit the spindle. Both welded together [ dont cringe ! ] and the whole thing mounted and turned to suit the chuck. Still using it, so it can be done.

As others have pointed out, there are too many different chucks, lathe spindles ect not all interchangeable, so it is quite normal to sell chucks without mounting plates. Also, a 4 jaw sc chuck is not a great idea to start with, I used to think it was, now I know better.

Someone mentioned Sparey ? I think you could do worse than buy and read that book, carefully, since it will answer many of your questions in plain fashion. I seldom refer to it now, never more than every two days or so. It covers almost everything you need to know at hobby level and way above ! and it deals with the type and size of machine you are dealing with.

When all else fails, do not be afraid to ask stupid questions on this Forum, I do it all the time, to fill in the many gaps in my knowledge, most of them quite large,. Remember, no question is stupid if you dont know the answer, that,s why you have to ask them.

Do not be disheartened, it will come to you OK. Yes you will make mistakes, cock ups ect but that,s all part of the game, and the start of a scrapbox which will get bigger and BIGGER as yo go along. Dont ask how I know !

Guys take years to learn this stuff, so dont expect to know it all overnight.

Good morning Nigel,

For this job, the dia would be 60mm, give or take, A section belt, bore 5/8" but not a problem since I can bore out to suit. I never found any problem with grub screws, so that would be fine.

I was just totally surprised at how little was on offer and at the price of those that were, so much so that I am thinking about taking the same road as Andrew and making my own as required.

One time, you just went in and bought whatever size you needed, over the counter. Not anymore, times change.

Should be an interesting project.

Very little showed up from Machine Mart, to my surprise.

Yes Bill, I know taperlock are common in industry, but they can afford them. A simple ali pully would serve my needs, and a lot cheaper. Taperlock is easy to get, not so with the simple Ali type.

Having checked out several suppliers, I was surprised at the limited range of sizes available [some suppliers did not bother to reply ].

Andrew, I did consider buying a piece of round Ali or a piece of flat section, and may still do so .As you point out, there is a big difference in cost.

Buying stuff from Ebay or Amazon has become a pain, with Tax here and duty there and " charges" added to the mix !

Back to the drawing board for the moment !

Thanks to everyone for the replies. Due ti the thickness likely to be available 12mm, I think it might be a non starter. I was hoping to find something around 30mm. Would not be too keen on sticking or bolting pieces together.

Yes I did look at the bearing suppliers and was surprised at the limited range on offer. Years back these things could be picked up everywhere, quite cheaply but they seem to be gone out of fashion

It was just an idea [I get them all the time, some good some not so good } but I will seek a few pieces of Corian just to see what it,s like, having never used any plastic material before.

Yes, I did consider a block of Ali and may go down that road, not the easiest stuff to find around here but it is available in Dublin or Cork from a few suppliers.

Again, my thanks to all, and BTW one pully is needed for that little planer I set about restoring some time ago and which is coming along well.

Good morning all,

I need a few Vee pullies, the good old Ali type, which seem to have vanished around these parts. Nothing available except taperlock at mad money [more than the job is worth in this case ]

I was thinking about using Corian, offcuts of which I may be able to obtain from a local Kitchen fitter. Would this material be suitable and if so, how does it machine with HSS ?. This may be a No No situation, but worth a try, since even looking further afield, Ali pullies are not too easy to find, and the range on offer is not great.

Any advice ?

I needed some such washers a few years back and found it very difficult to get them locally, or even not so locally.

They seem to be not so much used now, but I always found them to be very useful for similar jobs to the one mentioned. No point in trying your local D I Y shop, I think !

And the rest is history, as they say.

Cutting an M24 thread by hand ?? Should be a good trick.

Anything over 12mm, I cut by machine and dress up by hand, if required.

I seem to remember Sparey remarking that he could not understand why the Jarno taper was not more widely used, since it made a lot more sense..

I dont think of them as mistakes, more as additions to my scrap box, which gets bigger by the day.

Whatever about model engineering, fullsize practice seems to have almost totally Metric.

Around here, to look for Whitworth fixings would be like looking for Unicorn droppings, most supplier seem never to have heard of them, [the Whitworth stuff, not the droppings ]

I need a simple 3/8" whitworth screw/bolt a few days ago and went to my good old box full of screws, bolts, nuts ect, the type of things which "will come in handy some time " There must be two hundred or more items in there, but was there even one 3/8" whitworth ? You must be joking ! everything else, Bsf, Unf, Metric fine, others that I dont know what the hell they are.

However, the Gods took pity on me when I found one still cling to an old frame in my scrap box.

So, good as the system was, it appears to have had its day.

I rest my case, and put on my tin hat !!!

I f they are anything like the ones around here, I wish her luck !

They NEVER turn up on time, often dont turn up at all and price seems to be whatever applies on the day.

Dont ask how I know.