Member postings for Robert Atkinson 2

Typically a broach would be used for this job.

Robert.

I have a couple of Mullard/Philips XX1332 50mm microchannel plate tubes. One i still in the sight. Very expensive even as surplus. The american tubes are much smaller. The XX133x tubes are prized by astronomers because of the wide wavelength sensitivity an high resolution. The later tubes have restricted wavelength sensitivity as this works better when used in cockpits with filtered lights and instruments.

Robert.

Before I read the other posts I'd identified them as filamen lamps. You can see the filament supports.
Ideally put them on a variable supply and bring the voltage up slowly until reasonable brightness is acheived. Probably 6 or 12V.
if you only havea 12V supply connect two lamps in series and try that first. Saves blowing them up if they are 6V.

Robert.

Wildlife cameras are great for see what goes on when you are not watching. They can't be used for live viewing.

This is not all new technology. I have a IR monocular dating from WWII. This was codenamed tabby. I also nave examples of later image conversion and intensifying tubes and viewers as well as a few thermal imagers.

That is why I fitted a TEFC (totally enclosed fan cooled) motor to my ML7. The most basic safety assesment would say "nein" to any motor that was not fully enclosed anywhere near a lathe.

That rubber mains lead really needs replacing. Use crimp ring tags on the replacement and make sure you leave the earth connection a bit longer than the live and neutral. This is so it does not get pulled off first if the cable is yanked. Even more important than usual as the terminal box does not seem to have any strain relief.

Robert.

Edited By Robert Atkinson 2 on 08/05/2023 13:44:29

Edited By Robert Atkinson 2 on 08/05/2023 13:45:03

You need to decide what you want to do.
You are correct that there are two types, Thermal and light. The "light" class is further dived into near infrared (n-IR) and image intensification (II). n-IR requires external illumination with funnilly enough IR light. This is what a lot of the nature programmes use. You can tell bescause eyes still glow due to reflection. It will work in caves etc. Traditionally uses vacuum tubes with fairly good resolution. A lot of the cheap consumer units use a webcam like digital camer with an IR pass filter. Resolution of those varies

II uses low levels of ambient light hence one name of starlight. They won't work in total darkness but will respond to infrared so you can use an IR light. Can be identified by the noise "sparkles" in the image. There are several "generations" but these are not consistently used particuarly by abvertisers... Proper ones ae expensive and have high resolution

Thermal magers only show difference in temperature. So good for detection but most are not great for identification of what you are looking at. Typically use false colours to represent temperature. Resolution is very variable from less than a hundred pixels in low cost devices to a few thousand in professional equipment costing tens of thousands of pounds. The low resolution units often mix the thermal image with a monchrome video image to improve the apparent resoultion. This does not work in the dark. The frame rate is an issue too. Anything over 9 images a second can be subject to export restrictions so vide rate >25 fames per second) are more expensive. Lenses are typically fixed, Focus is infinity and any zoom id digital with loss of resolution.
These are not best for wildlife.

A versatile and low cost solution is a CCD video camera. These have some sensitivity to n-IR. in fact normally it is blocked by a filter for daylight use. This filter can be removed or on some models moved out of the light path. Sony's name for this is nightshot. A nightshot camera with a LED IR light is one of the best solutions for wildlife. It has high resolution, zoom and recording. If you want to practice in daylight you cna put a IR pass filter on the camera. These also allow you to look through some normally dark materials like black acrylic.

Robert.

Edited By Robert Atkinson 2 on 08/05/2023 09:18:58

Glad you got it sorted.

A note for future readers of this thread. It is not a good idea to use switch cleaner e.g. Servisol on the commutator and brushes. It contains a small amount of lubricant that is left on the ccontacts. This can be absorbed into the brushes and left on the commutor. It interferes with their operation and causes the dust to stick.
A simple solvent is best for cleaning brushgear.

A practical measurement is with the DTI on the tool post. It's movement between tool and workpiece that matters.

B.T.W this happens a lot in electronics. Peope think any old but of bare metal is OK to use as a "ground" refrence for measurements......

Some european countries sell them for even less than the Irish.

EN 60335-1 (Domextic equipment electrical safety) references over 50 other EN standards. Many of those will specify more. It gets very expensive.

Then you have companies like IHS who will happliy charge you for documents (PDF) that are free from thr publisher....

The local enforcement agency has to bear the cost of any assessment. This is normally "Trading Standards" at point of sale or Cuatoms at point of import. Trading Standards were given the extra responsibility with little on no additional funding from centeral government. When you are talking about more technical complance such as EMC (interference) or radio equipment the cost of confirming compliance can run to tens of thousands of pounds per item. Even if they seller/importer is found guilty at court the TS will see little or nothing back.

Robert.

An "old" battery charger will be unregulated and smoothed / filtered. Just about OK for running brushed DC motors and possibly incandesent lamps but the voltage will be high at lower currents. No use at all for electronic equipment.

Robert.

Jelly,
Do you have a link to the ARB jack? I know that they do a hydralic version of the classic farmers/off-road "hy-lift" jack and a conventional airbag lifting bag/jack but those have a much lower height/diameter ratio and larger overall diameter so much more stable.

Yes there are lots of small importers of poor qulity stuff and even more overseas sellers selling to individuals in the UK with total disregard for the regulations. As somone you desingns and makes things in strict compliance with the regulations and sits on a committee the sets some of them I do find this annoying. Trouble is people are injured and killed by this stuff.

Robert.

OK the title choice was poor, but Vevor have 50 entries on the UK gov product safety reports database. It looks like their imports were targeted by customs. It is also interesting to note that there are NO mains powerd items on Vevor's UK website

https://uk.vevor.com/electrical-c_10017

No diesel heaters either There is this:

https://uk.vevor.com/floor-jacks-c_11489/triple-bag-air-jack-pneumatic-jack-6600lbs-lift-jack-compressed-air-quick-lift-p_010841313218

and similar items that look pretty dodgy. They look unstable and nothing to stop the top pad poping out.

Robert.

No, this is NOT suitable as a bench power supply. Firstly if it is fully automatic you will find it will switch from constant voltage to constant current depending on load. With some loads it could osillate between the two. It might not even provide any output unless there is at least a small external voltage applied (battery sensing).

A used quality bench supply (Farnell, Weir, Thurlby / TTI) is not that exppansive and much more useful.

Robert.

Grenfell cladding wasn't aluminium it was a composite sandwich. Two thin aluminum skins with thermoplastic "filling".
Aluminium would have been OK.
I think that this passed the flammability test because it did not consider this type of construction and applied the flame to the center of the panel.

Another industrial supplier that also supports education is XYZ. Not sure about cost but their manual trainer lathes may be appropiate

https://xyzmachinetools.com/manual-lathes/

These wolud be more represenative than a mini-lathe if students are actually going into industry.
I was recently in the engineering department of a major UK university and they were using XYZ machines.
If it is just a general appreciation of using a lathe that is required than a larger "hobby" lathe may be OK.

Robert.

I think the lack of instructions was used as a technicallity for rejection and there were other concerns regarding the heaters. To reject for most detail design issues would require paying for an investigation by a independent lab. By rejecting on simple things like marking, instructions or plug dimensions they reduce costs.

Robert.

I note that several Vevor diesel vehicle heaters have been rejected at the UK border due to safety issues:

https://www.gov.uk/product-safety-alerts-reports-recalls/product-safety-report-vevor-diesel-parking-heater-zm5001-2212-0144

https://www.gov.uk/product-safety-alerts-reports-recalls/product-safety-report-vevor-diesel-car-parking-heater-2212-0008

https://www.gov.uk/product-safety-alerts-reports-recalls/product-safety-report-vevor-diesel-car-parking-heater-zp-12v-f01-2212-0139

These are one of the better makes and prosumably were being imported for retail sale, not individual purchases online. They were also rejected on safety grounds based on their intended use, never mind use for room heating.

Those using or considering these heaters, particuarly for workshop heating please take note.

Robert.

Interesting that it claims to be direct drive "no belt" with motor on spindle and shows a graphic of a outrunner type brushless DC motor. I guess it is geared. Not what I'd call direct drive.
I can't find a manual online.
Looks like your consumer rights are similar to UK/EU. I'd ask for my money back...

Robert.

Edited By Robert Atkinson 2 on 02/05/2023 12:33:58

I bought one of these bit kits about a year ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were additional parts under the top layer.

Robert G8RPI