Member postings for Plasma

it closed because I mentioned donald trump.

Another member posted in agreement.

Im leaving this forum as I feel the moderator was insulting in the way he replied.

No wonder the hobby is dying with such nanny attitudes.

GOODBYE

Disappearing posts again! Nothing like living in a democracy.

I've the show too. Like any of the restoration type shows the timescales are too compressed, to the casual observer it looks like the work is done In a day. They could explain that Will has spent 20 hours stripping the unit and it took four attempts to make such a thingybob.

Im only 55, when I was at junior school the question was posed "How old will you be in the year 2000"

Obviously to a 7 year old this was an immeasurable distance away and the answer, 35 years old, was unthinkable.

But we were also asked what we would be doing. Most of us said nothing because robots would be doing all the work and we would just be on holiday full time.

Its not far off that in many industries but no one foresaw how we would fund this constant holiday.

Perhaps covid is bringing things to a head but again, it is we that have caused so much damage to the planet and now even cluttering up space around it that we should look a little closer to home. Mr Attenborough has got it right, if we don't pull our head out of our ass soon it will be too late.

Leaders like Trump and bolsanaro and the rest have such short sight that the race will kill itself off if left to its own devices.

Our tenure on this rock has been but a blip on a geological time scale, even pond slime and big lizards lasted longer than us. Maybe the fat lady is clearing her throat (after losing her sense of taste and smell)

Worried of Wombwell

Support for those who have lost jobs, income etc. Is a fantastic thing. But it will only go so far, and last so long before it becomes impossible to keep up. The government can't pay people to do nothing ad infinitum, virus or no.

Support for the aviation industry should be a big NO in my book. If it was not for people being able to fly all over the globe in hours the pandemic would never have spread as quickly if at all. I lay the biggest portion of responsibility at their door, including the folk who simply must travel the world for fun and mind expansion.

Support for football leagues? Ridiculous absolutely ridiculous. It makes money but it produces nothing except grossly inflated wages for a lucky few. Its not a part of our culture, its a game at best and has become a divisive and bloated version of its original roots. Id be glad to see it cut down to size or disappear altogether.

Students, clever people, the brightest young talent? Im sorry but my experience of student life in sheffield is nothing but one mass booze up with a bit of learning thrown in if they can be bothered to turn up to lectures. I know there are studious young people out there taking the best from university education, but the majority are going to Uni for an experience not an education. No wonder there are record numbers of students taking an easy time instead of taking a job.

And finally on the subject of mental health, I have recently had to make use of the NHS services due to a bout of Anxiety and depression. The majority of the programme was based on self help and maintaining a positive attitude rather than any kind of treatment or medicines. Many of my fellow patients at the group sessions grumbled that this was rubbish and not a cure. They totally missed the point that we are all responsible for our own mental as well as physical health. The Nhs can't mend every thing as we are seeing during the virus.

Apoliges for several topics in one post and for being on my soap box but none of this is political, just my honest opinion to which I am entitled. Please don't gave a go if you disagree, just agree to disagree. Its modern life that has brought all these problems on us, maybe we need to change before its too late....

I use Quenchall 22 oil which is formulated for the job.

I bought 5 litres many moons ago and it is still going strong.

According the the blurb it is very much like a hydraulic oil in terms of viscosity and high temperature capability.

It never flashes off and doesn't get thicker over time.

Was not as expensive as motor oil if I recall.

Mick

The hunting horn is a popular image in family crests, especially for folk named Hunt or Hunter.

The arrow above the horn seems to discount the LI or the RAF Royal squadron.

Mick

Michael, I didnt look in any of my reference books but if I had Eckington woukd have leapt out.

The date letter doesn't look like any in the listing, but as it says in the text, marking plate was nowhere near as rigorous as solid silver so errors and spurious marks could creep in.

The engraving on the handle could be a version of the light infantry badge? But its reversed and not identical. Might just be a family crest.

Nice spoon all in all and a bit of history in metalworking from silver to old sheffield plate to electroplated.

Mick

Not English hallmarks as far as I can tell.

Manufacturer is E & Co which is repeated in the pseudo Hall mark and the shield with the crown. 1A may relate to the silver plating. The D is probably just a mock date letter.

Quite a lot of cutlery firms used to mimic hallmarks on their white metal services to make it look more expensive.

EPNS was often written in old English script to copy hall marking.

One of my favourites was B4ANY as in before any.

I'd say it was a plated spoon rather than silver or stainless steel.

Mick

I had a similar sized chuck repaired by eclipse in sheffield.

It wasn't very expensive compared to buying a new chuck.

Came back with revitalised magnetic strength so well worth doing in my opinion.

So. After hearing a few ideas from my learned friends, I decided to have the deck shot blasted so I can see what I'm dealing with. There's no substitute for good cleaning of aluminium.

I spoke to a fibreglass specialist who said that would not be a good route to follow on aluminium. Adhesion is not good even with great surface prep, especially if water ingress was a possibility.

Welding is not open to me and the remaining metal is perhaps not solid enough to weld to in some areas.

The best method looks to be making aluminium panels to fit neatly inside the body, then attach them with Sikaflex adhesive. They do a special metal adhesive which remains flexible but has really high strength. Use of their 205 aktivator is recommended.

When the mower comes back from blasting I will make up the necessary panels and have a go at bonding them in place. Outer surface will be filled with plastic padding metal filler just for cosmetic looks and probably painted.

I'll report back in due course.

Plasma

This shiws the top of the box more clearly. Some kind of boss with a cover plate bolted on.

Hi all.

I received an email from our council highways department.

According to their records the post is part of the street lighting system. It contains switch gear which is still live.

They recommend speaking to street lighting so ive dropped them a mail.

So it looks like street lighting is the answer, as soon as the lighting folk get back to me I will give you a definitive answer.

Best regards plasma

Thanks so far for all your input.

Clogs, I seem to have blundered into repairing lawn mowers. The last little shop in the area closed 5 years ago and there is no one doing domestic mowers. I offered to help one guy and its not stopped since.

The mower I am thinking about repairing is a Honda professional machine with heavy weight cast alloy deck. Its fair to say there in only slightly more deck than holes at present. Acid in the grass and not cleaning it has done the damage. I think I will skin the inside with bolt on alloy plates and maybe try some kind of plastic to protect vulnerable areas.

Richards

Thats a great bit of work on the wheelhorse tractor. I have a C-125 which I have just registered for road use. I renovated mine but not to that standard! Excellent work.

I don't think any form of fibreglass would be up to the job, there is just too much wear and vibration.

I can use the Honda deck as a test bed of sorts, trial some of the ideas to see how they fare.

I thought about kydex which can be heat formed but I think its too brittle.

HDPE was my main thought and it can be bought in decent size sheets 5mm thick.

I will carry on and report back if I have any success, or more likely report on what doesn't work lol.

Plasma.

Hi all.

I have a well worn steel mower deck which I was going to weld up to get it functional again.

It occurred to me that decks are often made of plastic, thus negating corrosion and painting.

Therefore I began wondering about what kind of plastic, in sheet form, I could use to line the inside of my steel deck to provide a resilient surface over the metal body.

Impact and abrasion resistance are essential but also the ability to cold form sheet material to conform to the shape of the body.

It may be sufficient to just insert a suitable material on areas of the deck that get most wear at the tips of the blade where grit is blasted out at speed.

Any thoughts from our materials boffins would be greatly appreciated.

Plasma

It is a bit on the big side fir a table support lol

Edited By JasonB on 03/09/2020 11:41:43

Slight update...

Crich compared it to their archives but coukd not find a match although they did mention similar posts with lockers on them for documents for the tram.

I visited the site again today and the door is inches thick in paint, but the clever company cast their details in the back panel too and it is Qualters Smith bros ltd old foundry Barnsley

I will contact highways to ask their view on asset numbers.

It is a far beefier thing than I imagined, the top post flange is 8 inch diameter with a blanking plate bolted on.

Stand by fir more

Hi all,

Crich tramway museum are being kind enough to have a look at photos of the post to see if they can identify it as tram related.

Our highways department will also look at their records for street lighting.

I will post a better picture and explanation as soon as I have any information.

Many thanks to all who contributed

Mick

Hi Rod,

Curiously enough its sited about five miles from the Qualters factory in Barnsley. I have a QS hacksaw in the shop just because I live in Barnsley. I didn't know they made other castings, but I might be imagining the letters spell out qualters and smith.

The applied letters made me think of street lighting asset numbers but its probably too small for a lamp standard. And I couldn't think why it woukd need a fuse box on it.

It does look similar to some images of tram signal equipment.

Maybe a mail to the council highways department might be of use.

Mick

hi all.

My brother is into local history and has spotted a roadside post with a locked box on it that he thinks may hark back to the days we had trams in our area.

Im not sure and think it may be street lighting related.

To throw other things into the mix it is close to a railway line and a now filled in canal.

I can't quite make out the cast in lettering but I think it might say Qualters and Smith?

Anyone care to venture an opinion as to its original purpose.

Mick