Member postings for Sam Spoons

#Mick Bailey, thanks. They did say they chemically stripped the old powdercoat off the frame and discovered the badly corroded finish underneath. I feel they should have contacted me before continuing but they didn't and seemed to want to hurry me out of the building when I collected it rather than encouraging me to check it over before I left. From what you say it sounds like they were not trying to fob me off which makes me feel a little better. Either way the bike is together and in use and, despite the less than perfect finish, looks great.. (as is my wife's).

Thanks everybody, I'm inclined to just accept that it's not a perfect job as I'm away on hols next weekend for 6 weeks, but perhaps I'll run it past the guy in the local bike shop the recommended them and see what he thinks. I can't see them being able to do anything about it if they have cocked it up, I guess they'll have to blast it again and start from scratch, if they've damaged the finish by blasting the first time then starting again is not going to resolve the problem.

Yes, road bikes are a bit lighter, my modern, relatively budget, road bike is about 10kg.

Yes understood but these guys have a good rep for coating bike frames so I had good reason to expect better, it was the blasting I was worried about which is what made me ask the second question about blasting media for soft metals.

I'm not sure whether to bother pursuing the matter, it's an old frame that has little value beyond sentiment and it was not an expensive job, £40 (though the other guys did frame, forks, mudguards, chain guard and handlebars for the same cost and, given what they had to work with, their result is no way inferior). It's not so much the not quite perfect finish that bugs me but the nagging feeling that they let the apprentice blast the bejesus out of it and then had to ladle on the coating to hide the cock up.... No way of knowing for sure I guess but there are a couple of divots in the finish where they hung it using a hole in the frame that won't be filled with anything so remains visible to remind me, I might just point those out and ask for a remedy...

Edited By Sam Spoons on 10/07/2021 20:30:08

I believe it's a Saracen Kili Flyer team XC race frame, I bought it off a dealer a long time ago, bare frame, anodised, said to be unused stock from when the company folded. It's not super light at 1365 g but it was cheap, is a bit unusual and still lighter than most, and it does ride well. It's been my spare bike for quite a few years, rigged as a single speed but, after the success with my wife bike rebuild, I decided I fancied something between the Orange G3 XC MTB and the road bike suited to the relatively flat South Manchester trails I ride with my buddy so it'll have 1 x 9 gears with a 32 or 36 chainring and 11-34 cassette and either gravel tyres or slicks depending on the weather. It's light for a MTB at just over 10kg (the Orange is nearer to 14kg).

Edited By Sam Spoons on 10/07/2021 20:16:01

I have just had a couple of bicycle frames powder coated with two different powder coating companies, the first is a 35 year old Raleigh Caprice and was done with a company described as 'cheap and cheerful'. It was in a very poor state and had some significant rust pitting, not structurally problematic but I expected it to compromise the final finish which it has. Despite that I'm very happy with the result given the original state of the bike and my wife is very happy with her 65th birthday present of her 30th birthday present bike restored to rather better than new.

The second is a 1980's magnesium mountain bike race frame, the original powder coater did not want to take it on as he didn't have the means to remove the original finish other than sand blasting which he felt was likely to be too harsh so I took it to another local company who were quite blazé about it, they have a good rep for doing alloy wheels and parts for high performance and race cars so I trusted that they knew what they were doing. I have just picked up the frame and am rather disappointed with the result which is thick and slightly orange-peel. The original finish was flaky but the anodised magnesium under it was smooth with little or no corrosion so I'm now wondering if they got too heavy handed with the blasting and left an excessively rough finish before coating it.

So a couple of questions, I know powder coating often has a slightly orange peel finish but is that inevitable? What media would you use to blast a soft material like Magnesium (I'm thinking soda?)?

FWIW I weighed the frame before taking it in, 1365g, and after 1500g so they have applied significantly more material than the original powder coating I had done about 20 years ago.

Edited By Sam Spoons on 10/07/2021 14:55:01

Thanks Dave W. I won't be doing large numbers but some will be pretty 'mission critical'. What set me off is that yesterday I decided to repair the D tube support pads on my boat launching trolly (the original rivets had corroded to nowt) and I had to use a Monel rivet for a job where an ally one would have been adequate as I only had 3 ally ones* in the tool box. It was extremely difficult to get it to set with my old riveter so I'm aware of how tough they are

Amazon 'used' Draper 27839 duly ordered and on it's way, thanks guys.

* It's a faff getting the boat off and back on the trolly on the grass at the caravan, and something not to be done at all on the drive at home.

Edited By Sam Spoons on 25/05/2021 19:40:57

As I said above they have to be mechanical as they will e part of my boat fettling toolkit and almost always used where there is no easy access to electricity, much less to my compressor. I reckon Lazy Tongs are the way to go with due consideration given to their drawbacks as detailed above.

Thanks for the help.

Are you hoping for a mention in my will ?

It needs to be mechanical as it will be used off grid much of the time hence the two options above. It won't be used for huge numbers either.

My old pop rivet gun is getting very tired and is struggling with the special rivets needed for my boat fittings (Monel alloy I think). Which kind off gun should I get, the options are bold cropper style or lazy jacks?

**LINK**

**LINK**

TIA

As above, PAT testing is not a legal requirement and the tester does not need a qualification. The requirement is to be "a competent person" but the easiest way to prove that should a claim ensue is by having a certificate and, more importantly, good records.

WRT the plug in and push the button brigade, the visual inspection is every bit as important as the actual test and reveals 80% of failures even before the device is plugged in.

Well we in the UK have arrived in 2021, lets hope it's better than 2020. Happy New Year everybody

If you want to see what can be done in a shed with relatively basic tool have a look at Allen Millyard's YouTube channel. He does have a milling machine now but when he started he did almost everything with files and hacksaws and says the only absolutely essential machines are the lathe and TIG welder.

A couple of thoughts. For milling a small workpiece in my Boxford (a 15mm round aluminium bar) I used my QC tool holder which also made it easy to centre the piece. However unless the screw needs to match one elsewhere on the instrument you could machine a knurled knob instead of the flat 'butterfly' thumb piece. Or mill a slot in the end of the screw and make a butterfly from flat sheet brass and solder it in place (a little like the pic below).

WRT the mouthpiece, the tricky bits would be the internal shaping of the cup, the profile of the rim and the taper of the backbore, the external parts (apart from the taper of the shank) are mainly cosmetic.

Yeah I'd pretty much arrived at something like that. The Boxford topside only has a single large tee slot for the tool post so not ideal for that purpose, I did contemplate taking the topside off and drilling and tapping some fixing holes in the cross slide but, in the end, I decided using hand tools made more sense.

I have bought a collect chuck and some milling cutters for the future (and used them on the other job, a 'boat breaker' rigging tensioner) so spent far more than I've saved to date but we need the toys so why not.

I was planning to mill on the Boxford but don't have a vertical slide. I did improvise to mill a 3mm slot down the length of a piece of 16mm aluminium round by mounting the bar in a tool holder on my QCTP. Hight adjustable and it worked a treat (It's not cosmetically perfect but does the job I designed it for). I was contemplating making some hardwood V blocks but in the end I decided to just stick it in the bench vice and cut it by hand.

Edited By Sam Spoons on 30/06/2020 15:29:23

Ex driving instructor and IAM Motorcycle Observer here.

AFAIK (from my Observer days so 30 years ago) only the traffic cops do the Advanced training not beat/panda/area car guys. I remember a Police Driving Instructor telling me that when the non advanced drivers were allowed to drive traffic cars (but with no pursuit or legal concessions) the number of crashes went up tenfold.

I too taught, and still do press the button when applying the handbrake, despite that my first driving school car (a Nova) ended up with a dodgy handbrake by the time I retired it.

Whether people jump into a safe gap or not when you leave one there is no excuse for driving too close. Remember the 'two second rule' only applies in good dry conditions, in rain you should at least double it and in snow stopping distances can easily be 10 times the Highway Code numbers (TBF many modern cars, even not so sophisticated ones, can stop in significantly less but better too much room than too little).

Final update, After much tedious scraping and sanding and three coats of white two pack Polyurethane the mast looks great. I fabricated a new heel plug out of 50mm round Acetal (which did machine nicely John ). I finally gave up on milling the tenon as I could not devise a practical way of holding the workpiece and used hand tools (tenon saw and belt sander) to make it. It's not a neat precision job but it is functional and fit for purpose.

The trampoline racks now look very shabby so they are about to receive some TLC and white paint then I will post a pic of the boat.

Thanks for the help and advice guys.

Edited By Sam Spoons on 30/06/2020 12:30:56

Bumping this and adding an ask for recommendations for a budget collet chuck suitable for holding small and med (3mm to 10 or 12mm end mills in the spindle of my Boxford, i.e. MT3? Or better still has anybody upgraded from a cheap collet chuck and has the old one cluttering up the workshop?

Extra question, would it be drilling and tapping the plain side of my QCTP to attach a vertical slide be an option, or will the it a, be too hard and/r b, just a daft idea? I realise it won't be as rigid as a proper job but I'll only be working with plastic, aluminium or brass and only small jobs?

For one job I want to do, a slot in 16mm round aluminium I've realised I can hold the workpiece in a toolholder, any reason why this wouldn't work?

Edited By Sam Spoons on 11/06/2020 18:00:09

Edited By Sam Spoons on 11/06/2020 18:01:48

Yes, slightly twisted so the sail track on the mast was slightly off centre. The original plan was to just realign it and refix.

Edited By Sam Spoons on 09/06/2020 10:38:35