Member postings for Bob Wild

Oh Paul, this is hard. I suppose I need a non-windows photo editor. But I think I’ll just stick to landscape in the future!

Bob

Thanks for all your useful suggestions. I think I know what to do now. Let’s hope for the best.

Bob

I have just finished the water pump for my Merryweather Fire King. This the first working engine I have made, so I have no experience in sealing the joints. There are flat surfaces, screwed parts and some glands.

What’s the best way to do this? What should you pack the glands with? I have some fibre paper, Hylomar Blue and ptfe tape.

Bob

Don’t understand that Paul. That image you did was just as the original on my PC. Could it be something to do with the fact that the original was taken with an iPhone. I have seen other issues between iOS and windows?

Thanks Paul. The plans are from Julius de Wall based on a design in The Engineer magazine from 1908. There is a layout drawing and a lot more detail in the first post of this thread.

Here is a rotated image of the pump. It has rotated the whole lot; so not much help. And you can see that if I crop the image half the detail will be lost. NBG

Bob

Well I'm back from my tour of the UK from the Lake District to The Yorkshire Dales by way of Devon. In between pitstops I've managed to get the water pump finished. Here are the parts:

And here is the assembly complete with the steam cylinders:

and placed in the Merryweather:

Before I go any further I need to pressure test it. Been racking my brains thinking about how to do it and then it came to me. The Merryweather already has a hand pump for the boiler feed, so I can use that. And here it is:

My only problem when I build it is how to seal the joints. I have some fibre gasket material, Hylomar sealant and some PTFE tape, but haven't a clue which to use and where. Or should I get something else? Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Incidentally, I have just realised that this forum doesn't like Portrait photos. Note to self for the future.

Edited By Bob Wild on 06/10/2020 23:21:13

Thanks chaps for all your replies. As a bit of background I should have said in my original post that my immediate need is to clean up the parts of the water pump for my Merryweather Fire King. This has two double acting cylinders that I lapped with grinding paste. The pump bodies have eight ball valves and an internal rabbit warren of holes, many of which are plugged which prevent direct access for cleaning.

So I have decided to use white spirit as I already have a gallon of the stuff.

Bob

Many years ago when I worked in an engineering company, components were cleaned in a trichloroethane bath. This is now banned, so I wondered if anyone could suggest the acceptable alternative for washing out swarf and grinding paste?

Bob

Thanks chaps for all your divers comments. I should have mentioned that it was a new product and my workshop is pretty dry without the need for de-humidifiers.. I'm inclined to the opinion that it was caused by some reaction with the felt or glue. I'm puzzled as to why I should have the problem when other purchasers of this tool box have not.

Anyway, I've reported the problem to the supplier and asked for my money back. Watch this space (slowly).

Bob

Two months ago I bought a tool chest in an attempt to tidy up my workshop.

To my horror many of the tools are going rusty, like this V Block for example:

The only surface affected is that in direct contact with the bottom of each drawer. It look like there is a layer of material which looks like baize (but is not) glued to the wood and the parts are actually stuck to this. So the question is what has caused this, and more importantly how can I prevent it ?

I notice that there are a miriad of opinions, one for each person who replies. I can only reflect on when my company decided to redesign our software. So we gathered all interested parties and each and everyone had a different idea what the look and feel should be. In the end I said “yes” and some time later said “this is what it will look like” (actually based on the colour of my car). Sometimes what you need is a Benevolent Dictator

#JasonB - Apple changes the name of a file when using an iPhone to something incredibly long which makes photos in an album unidentifiable

I’ve read the comments above about members posting on other forums as well as this. I indeed do just that; because as a relative beginner I look for as much help and advice from experienced model engineers as I can get.
And I notice a few comments about the shortcomings of the technology of this forum. My biggest and really serious gripe is the torturous way of inserting photos into a post from my iPhone. It is a real pain to have to email a photo to my pc, then rename it and load it into an album before inserting it into my post. That is four steps, not to mention having to go from my workshop to my pc, whereas in the other forums I can upload a photo directly from my phone  into my post. I’m sure you are losing a lot of potential content because of the effort involved. I would certainly do more if it were easier.

Edited By Bob Wild on 27/08/2020 00:41:27

My garage workshop never gets above a very pleasant 18 deg. Firstly because it is half buried in the ground an secondly because there is a roof garden on top it; wooden planking and an inch of stone chips act as an excellent insulator. Unfortunately my wife has made me go away in our caravan and it’s 38 deg currently!!!

Edited By Bob Wild on 12/08/2020 17:18:25

I love those stories of real people in the old days. look at my first post and the link to the Model Engineer from 1908 and the fascinating things you can do with this new fangled electricity.

Anyway, I carried on before getting Werners suggestions and plugged the holes. I cleaned then up and they look like new.

No more posts for a while, as Mrs W wants to go off social distancing in the caravan !!!

Edited By Bob Wild on 08/08/2020 23:30:36

Thanks chaps. But bother, Werner, why didn’t I think of that solution ☹️

Disaster! Just finished the cylinder bottom cover. Discovered to my horror that one of the studs in each cylinder will pass straight through the inlet steam passage. I suppose that's what you get when you try to change someone else's design on the fly and don't think far enough ahead.

So I have a few choices:

1. Throw it away and start again.
2. Abandon all hope of ever making a working model.
3. Plug the holes and re-drill them turned through 180 deg.
4. Ignore that position and only use four instead of five studs.

Not sure the best course of action. Any advice would be most appreciated.

Edited By Bob Wild on 06/08/2020 00:11:00

Thanks for all your replies, although no-one has explained how these things actually work.

#Ian P - not sure if I was allowed to mention brands, but what the heck - it was bought from Arceurotrade. There is no info on their website as to the type.. The part no is 100-061-00500.

#Stuart Bridger - there is no facility to earth the unit. In fact the display unit is supplied with a plastic mounting plate with keyhole slots to slide it in. It is battery operated, so I'm not sure whether an earth is necessary.

#mgnbuk - Looking inside I cant see any light ?!? so I suspect it is magnetic

#Bryan Ceder - I could see the screws when the scale bar is removed and it did not touch or distort anything.

#Dave Halford - absolutely correct. I tightened the screws after I shortened them.

I could vent my spleen about the fact that the documentation provided only described how to use the thing and not how install it. Although it was titled "Digital Scale with Steel Deam Instruction". Your guess is as good as mine as to what that means. Not to mention the four other spelling mistakes. I would have thought any self respecting supplier would proof read with due diligence anything coming from abroad where English is not the native tongue. But that is a digression.

Bob

PS New restrictions tonight in Kirklees means I shall have more time for the man cave.

I bought a Digital Readout kit from a reputable seller to install on my new milling machine. The y-axis assembly went on fine, but I had a terrible time getting a stable reading from the x-axis one. The reading fluctuated wildly even when the bed was stationary. At first I thought it was due to some sort of misalignment and spent ages tweeking and adjusting the mountings but to no avail. Then I got to wondering about the way the measuring head was screwed down. For the most rigid method I changed the screws which were supplied and used my own countersunk screws. I had already made sure that they did not foul the sliding scale, but I discovered that if I released them by a couple of threads the problem went away. So the solution was to shorten them by two mm, and bingo everything was hunky dory.
I’m not an electronics expert, but I’m most intrigued to know the technology and how a piece of steel in close proximity could cause such interference? Any reply from a knowledgeable guy would be most appreciated.
Bob

Brilliant, I want one