Member postings for Graham Stoppani

Can I add Forums instead of Fora to the list?

Had to buy mine online.

Dan Gelbart is rather dismissive of using solvents to prepare metals for painting. He says a sand blaster, bluing or Ajax, of all things, is best. After watching the video below I tried Ajax myself and it seemed to work fine, but I'm no expert.

Take a look and see what you think.

I've just done this for a job where I had to face, drill and tap 90 aluminium rods each end and can confirm it worked a treat.

Graham

Many thanks Gents.

Earlier this month I bought an Archer No.1 Reversing Tapping Chuck through this website's classified section. I've already tapped over 150 holes with it and am very pleased with my purchase. However, this was based on suck it and see and I have no idea if I'm even using it properly.

Does anyone have a manual for this bit of kit?

regards

Graham

As nobody else has mentioned it, can I suggest another option, Loctite 248

It's another general purpose medium strength thread locker but comes in stick form rather than liquid. For me the advantage is not having to deal with drips!

Graham

An alternative method for making square slots. Although the hole here isn't blind the method could be adapted.

Edited By Graham Stoppani on 16/04/2023 07:39:41

Over the last year or so I've become a convert to using citric acid instead of other acids such hydrochloric and sulphuric after doing a comparison on some rusty nuts from one of my motorcycles. I did a post about it at the time so wont repeat myself here. I hadn't considered using it in my ultrasonic bath but will give it a go based on the comments above.

A simple way to stop cross contamination in an ultrasonic bath is to use glass jars placed in the basket to hold the pieces (if small enough) to be cleaned and fill the jars with whatever solution you use for cleaning. You then fill the bath with water up to the usual height. Using this method you can, if desired, use different cleaning agents at the same time. It also has the benefit of keeping your bath protected from any more aggressive solutions you might want to experiment with.

A simple test to prove that the glass jars do not interfere with the cleaning process is to place one part in a jar and one part directly in the tank and compare the outcomes.

I used to manufacture paint strippers for the aerospace industry and 25 years ago methylene chloride was being phased out to be replaced by other products. One that worked quite well was benzyl alcohol. You can get this from B & Q as their Diall branded paint and varnish remover. Not as quick as methylene chloride but does the job.

Diall Paint Stripper

I recently upgraded from my 5 amp power supply to a 10 amp power supply. I use them for component testing and electroplating. I bought my new supply for £67 including shipping from Gateros who I buy my plating chemicals from. See link below:

**LINK**

It has worked fine for what I bought it for. Its worth noting that my 5amp supply had fine and coarse adjustment knobs for current and voltage which this unit doesn't.

Graham

Ditto

You would be lifting half the weight initially but the weight/effort would diminish at your end if you kept lifting until you had the lathe bed standing on its end on the floor when the weight/effort would be zero for you. I'm not sure if the change in weight/effort is linear across the arc from horizontal to vertical, maybe someone else can answer that.

Kitchen: exits in to two different hallways at each end each with external doors.

Living Room: tri-fold doors to outside

Master Bedroom: french windows to outside

Guest Rooms x 2: exit directly into main hallway with external door.

Fire Safety Approved Document B including amendments up to 2022

2.1 See Diagram 2.1a. All habitable rooms (excluding kitchens) should have either of the following.
a. An opening directly onto a hall leading to a final exit.
b. An emergency escape window or door, as described in paragraph 2.10.

Opening windows aren't necessary with MVHR as fresh filtered air is pumped into each bedroom and living room 24hrs a day with a maximum flow rate of 500 cubic meters per hour. We run ours at just 34% to get a reasonable flow of air.

Why would I want to open a window and let cold air into the house when I can preheat it using a heat exchanger? In summer the unit automatically bypasses the heat exchanger to cool the house.

They only require an openable window (and it must be of a minimum size and height from the floor) if the room does not open onto a hallway that leads directly to an external exit - ours do, so no need to have opening windows.

We are in the process of remodelling our house and have had our plans reviewed by our architect and local building control.

We have doors. Our bungalow meets all the latest fire regulations.

Rather than a PIV system we went for a Vent-Axia MVHR system. It was relatively easy to install as we live in a bungalow so everything went up in the loft. We have the extraction side of the system running in the bathrooms, toilet and kitchen while all the other rooms are on the input side except the hallway. We don't have any condensation problems, but there again we didn't really have a big problem beforehand.

Our main reasons for installing the system was that it allowed to change all our windows so that none of them open. Better for insulation and security. It also allowed us to filter the incoming air.

Graham

Yesterday I sent off a Ducati Darmah wiring loom I made for someone. Took a lot of work to get the design down on paper (spreadsheet) and then sourcing the correct connectors.

It took much longer to make than anticipated as I had to upgrade my plating equipment from 5L and 5amp to 10L and10amp to be able to zinc plate the bracket that holds the connector blocks.

Its because of this bracket that you can't buy Darmah wiring looms commercially.

Graham

My recipe is to use engine oil mixed with lamp black.

I did this as I'd just chucked away some used engine oil that I would have ordinarily used and wanted to make some fresh oil 'dirty'. Lamp Black is just the carbon deposits from burning oil or creosote so a pretty close approximation to the carbonisation of used engine oil.