Member postings for larry phelan 1

As to people borrowing things and "forgetting"to bring them back,yes I,ve met them too !

Was it the Bard who said "Neither a borrower nor a lender be,for both lose friends"

How right he was.

There is an old saying that if everyone had their own tools back,some guys toolbox would be rather empty.

With regard to not being to find something when you need it,here is a surefire way to avoid this ;

When I asked an old friend how he managed to find anything in his totally untidy workshop,his reply was :

"Ti,s purely a question of remembering where you last dropped it "

Not sure if it,s any help,but it,s food for thought

PS I now have three small angle grinders,reason being that the first one went AWOL,was replaced by another,which followed suit. Bought another one,two days later,first one showed up. No 2 is still missing,but I live in hope.

Dave,

It,s nice to know that I am not alone in making cock-ups,but I see that I am only in the Half-penny place.

I still have so much to learn,even about this ! However I do have a fairly big scrap-box,which gets bigger by the day,so perhaps there,s hope for me yet.

As you point out,you are way ahead of me,I envy you !

As was pointed out there,Sparey was not too far off with his tool angles for HSS. OK,you might have to grind them yourself,but the material is cheap enough and if you break or chip it,it,s no big deal.

If I was interested in removing material at a rate of knots,I would buy a bigger machine with a huge motor hanging out of it,and watch my electric meter doing laps ! Your lathe will let you know quick enough when it,s being pushed,just make sure you listen to it,it might not tell you twice !

Hobby work is not about speed or high output,it,s all about enjoyment [and a few sad stories!]

You know the old saying "Horses for courses"

About cars on motorways,my Hiace is happy at around 60mph,good return,but start doing 70 plus and the fuel disappears rapidly,same thing,I suppose.

How about people like us forming a club.? In order to join,you must prove that you have at least three real cock-up,s to your name. I would qualify straight away,might even have a few to share around.

Hi Tim,

Seems like we went to the same school,since I also calculated that 14" worked out at 355.6mm.

Are we both wrong,or just thick? I need to know !

Regarding using the back gear !!!!!!!!! NO WAY !! I speak from bitter experience !. One Member mentioned that his machine has a hole for a tommy bar through the spindle,to hold it,that,s what I did with my lathe,for the same reason.

Perhaps I am just lucky,but I bought one of those cheap bandsaws many moons ago [20 years,perhaps ?],and it has never given me any real trouble. I use a 14 TPI blade most of the time and never bother changing the speed. The guides did need to be adjusted early on and the Chinese motor does get fairly hot on long runs,but the Good Book says that this is "Quite normal",and not to worry about it,so I dont. I have cut everything from RSJ to 6mm round,same blade,same speed,same result.

I do have wood cutting band saw,which did give a lot of bother,due to the wheels not being in line and broke many a blade.Time spent tracking the wheels cured that problem,but it re-appeared a few times over the years,and that saw was not made in China,but a lot nearer home !

I t would be well worth while spending a little time with your saw,there is not a whole lot that can go wrong with them which cannot be fixed and they give great service [a good make of blade helps ].

Play around with it before you scrap it.

From all the Posts on this subject,it seems that Hindsight is a wonderful thing,just a pity that we dont get it in time !

When I remember some of the stuff I handled,and cleaned up with over the years,I wonder that I have any hands left at all. Now,like many others,I take a bit more care,too late perhaps,but better late than never.

We need our fingers,how else can we pick our noses !! Think about it !

Hi BDH,

As you say,the postage from USA is ridiculous,but the Post Office Service here provides a collection service from both England and America at a very minimal cost. I have used it many times,and I am surprised that Royal Mail do not have something similar to offer.

To give an example,one supplier [who shall be nameless ] gave me a delivery price of £15 for a small order [the value of the goods was £10 ], my Post Office delivered for Euro 3.50,no contest !

Might be worth your while to ask about it!

Might be easier just to use a 3/4 HP 3 Phase motor to begin with. There should be plenty of them around,and they can,t be all that dear,new or secondhand. Keep the 2 HP for something better.

If anyone knows of one,let me know too !!

Much food for thought in all these posts. I suppose I,m somewhere in the middle,like many others. I do have a calculator and ,electronic calipers,but I prefer to try to use the Mic,to try and get the feel for it,and I dont have CNC,or even a DRO,but I still get along.Perhaps that makes me a Luddite.[I should add that I still have,and use from time to time,my Father,s old hand drill and hand saws !!] I agree,filing a steel cube is a total waste of time,when would anyone ever be called upon to do so,in real life ? A skill in using a file is useful,if not required,but it is not the be all and end all of everything,just another part. Basic skills are still needed and always will be,but life is too short to get too tied up about them,life goes on, things change,and so must we.

Will I ever make it to CNC ?,I doubt it,I find it hard enough to manage a laptop !

However,let us all keep plugging away,till we run out of steam.

Sparey remarked in his day about the Jarno system,which made more sense,but never came into common use.

Why ? Good question,but no answers ! Could be like some of the decisions arrived at by Co Counsels, in that there is no logic to it,and you are not supposed to understand it,just accept it.

Lidi,s do a hand cleaner called W5 which I find OK,then,wash up liquid. Stopped using thinners long time ago !!

Who was it who said "What,s in a name ? Sticky stuff by any other name works just as well "

When I recall the amount of transformer oil I handled,I suppose I,m lucky I never picked up anything from it. We were never made aware of any danger.

How about STUCK ??

Just a thought !!

In my case,I had spilled most of the oil while transporting the welder [it tipped over,you should have seen my van ! ],so I had to replace it anyway.

But you ask is there a problem with old oil ? Well I worked for many years for a firm who made transformers,from 3KVA to 10MVA and when some of the smaller ones [5 to 15 KVA ]came back for repair,having been hit by lightning,the coils would be burned to pulp and the oil like tar,and the smell of it !!.

So I would say, yes, there may be a problem with old oil,although I doubt if your welder is likely to be hit by lightning.

Perhaps the other mans oil level was just low,or dirty.

Yes,it,s just transformer oil,so any good oil distributor should have it. I had to replace mine last year and got a supply from a local firm who supply oils to local farms and plant operators ect. Not cheap,but you dont have to do it too often.

Yes,it,s just transformer oil,so any good oil distributor should have it. I had to replace mine last year and got a supply from a local firm who supply oils to local farms and plant operators ect. Not cheap,but you dont have to do it too often.