Member postings for larry phelan 1

Might be simpler and cheaper to pick up another bench drill and avoid all the messing. They are not all that dear and you will have the best of both worlds.

Name-of-a-name-of-a-name !! Dont mind the name,check the condition. No use having a great name looking at you if the machine is clapped out ! There are many good makes out there at sensible prices,just a question of looking for them.Somebody wants to sell them !

We should pay great attention to both politics and religion,so as to be able to exclude both from as many things as possible. This is not the place for either of them,the pub for one,the place of worship [of your choice ] for the other.

This place is for SWARF !!

Doctors are not really too interested in you when you reach a certain age [our age ],and you can see it in their attitude when you need to visit them. It,s like someone bringing in a clapped out item in to you to get it repaired and you know there,s nothing you can do with it. They just want you out of there,so they give you a few pills and tell you to take one three times a day and come back next month or the year after.I,ve been there,done that,and still have the tee shirt !.

I get better attention,and results,when I bring my dogs to the Vet !.

A short length of course wood cutting bandsaw blade fitted with a wooden handle makes a weapon which I would not like to face,in the wrong hands. I made one to use as a pruning saw,and very well it worked too. Just imagine what it would do to your neck !

The fact is that anything can be turned into a weapon,even an empty soft drinks can. If you dont believe it,ask the

S-A-S,it,s part of their training..Even an empty dog food tin can be turned into a hand axe,good enough to split your skull,so,where do you draw the line ? What about your good old scriber?,perfect for putting out someones eye !

Just another example of a flash-in-the-pan idea never thought through. Typical !

Forgot to mention the good old standby---- the hammer ! Will that be the next to be banned under the heading of "Blunt items"?

Here we go again.

I find that the lathe height is OK,but the mill table height gives me a pain in the back,from stooping,and also a-pain-in-the-arse. Might have to think about raising that.

Just remembered I have quite a collection of spanners,some new,some old,some very old.

Among the very old ones are a number marked Ford A/F. No idea where they came from because we never had a car,but I can remember seeing them around the house when I was ever so small.They did not have a shiny finish,like most new spanners,nothing more than black paint,worn away,mostly,but the steel in them was first class.I still use them as they fit a few odd sizes around my workshop. I have a few others with no name,so I,ve no idea where they were made,but again,good stuff in them,better than some of the crappy junk around now.

Anyone else find this?.

I got something like that done a few years ago for a grave. The guy I used has a tiny booth in a shopping center and turns out all sorts of stuff. I just gave him a detailed drawing [to the nearest inch,more or less ] and left him to it. The result was perfect and not too expensive.He said he was well used to getting such drawings. So,one of these guys might be worth a try.

Fire service gave out warnings about this danger two weeks ago,even about mirrors left on window sills.

It is most likely to be a Whitworth/Bsf size,very unlikely to be an American A/F size. Do you not have a set of Whitworth spanners ?,they still come in handy on old machines.

Why not use a steel disc and make the bush long enough to pass through on each side then put a tack weld to hold it there?.

I tried to buy an "Old Git" on Ebay and the answer I got back was--"You dont need one,you are one"

Is this a good thing or a bad thing ?,I really would like to have one. How much are they ? Who makes them ?

Are they made in China,like most other things ?

Any ideas ?

You cannot wrap them up in cotton wool,nor watch them every second.You can only tell them,show them,let them try for themselves,ready to step in if something looks like going wrong. Yes,they will get a few cuts and and a few frights,but that,s all part of the learning process.

The amount of instruction I received,even when I worked in a huge machine shop,at 16 years old,could be written on the back of a stamp.My wood machining is self taught,with the aid of a few good books on the subject.

Kids are not as helpless as we might think,they learn fast if they are interested,and if they are not,they have no place in a workshop anyway, Give him a try,you might be surprised. Just explain that machines NEVER SLEEP and need to be treated with respect ALL THE TIME.

He might end up teaching you a thing or two !! Has happened !

Good luck,it,s nice to hear of some young lad showing an interest in such things,most just cannot be bothered.

I used one of those blowlamps years ago,found it difficult to control,but was a very effective flamethrower ! Set fire to my bench many a time,and a few other things as well. Gave it early retirement and bought a gas torch instead,easier to use but not quite as exciting.

Despite what Tubal Cain said,I dont regard a tool and cutter grinder as a "must-have",although he maintained that it would be a very poor shop which did not have one. I dont,and I would feel the same about a surface grinder. How often does the home shop have the need for something like that?

More likely to find a need for a few new cutters. No,I think something like that would be far down my list. An angle grinder will do me for now !

Would love to learn how to produce something useful,without wrecking the machine in the process.

Blacksmithing- yes Cnc ?,no,not really.,real lathework ? yes.

Welcome to the club Peter,

I used to be able to call on the local 6 year old to sort out my computer and phone,but alas,he is doing his Masters in computer codology and is far to busy to bother with an Old Sod like me [except when his "State-Of -The-Art "bike breaks down ] Then, I have my uses.

Still,he was handy for setting up my laptop,phone and even my microwave,with its many programs. And as for the TV remote !!!!!!!!,the less said about that,the better !

Oh for the days when life was simple,even cars were simple in those days .

So,hang in there,they will still find a use for you !

Who knows what she was asked to do ? This would not be unusual for the US Gov,when they could deny everything,if it went wrong. They still do it.

Hi Andrew,

If you think that you are the only "Git" out there,think again ! To judge by the bag of worms you opened up,you have serious competition, and I,m glad to see that. I was beginning to think that It was just me,but now I know that I am not alone,I feel better.

Three"Sayings" which really get up my nose are:

A You know what I mean

B I mean to say

C You know where I,m coming from

My response to these is

A No,I dont,why not tell me ?

B Then why not say what you mean ?

C No I dont,where have you been ?

There are so many more,they just go on and on------------

And to listen to people "Hammering out a deal,or having a cast iron agreement,or better still another deal which has been copper fastened,makes me wonder where these people work, You know what I mean like ?

Sill,I suppose it,s better than making swarf on a warm day like this !!

Having seen too many keys getting lost in my last job,resulting in the chuck being hammered open and closed [yes,it did happen ], I decided that I would avoid this situation in my own workshop. The answer is quite simple,I attached the key to the machine by a length of chain,problem solved !! Never once over the last thirty plus years has that key gone AWOL. You can spend more time looking for the chuck key than it takes to do the job. Friends who have seen it think it,s a great idea and have copied it,although I dont see it as any big deal,just common sense.

Still,that does not help me to find my 6" rule which I "misplaced" weeks ago. Perhaps a longer chain ?.

PS I have a collection of chuck keys,big,small and in between,from many different drills. Why the Hell can they not settle for four or five sizes and be done with it ?