Member postings for Chris Crew

I went to the Lincoln traction engine rally today and returned with a working Gilbert of Sheffield wind up gramophone, of all things. It is almost identical to the one I used to listen to and play with as a small child in my grandparents house in the 1950's and when it was offered at a very reasonable price the power of nostalgia took over and compelled me to buy it. The reason was that as a teenager in the early 1960's I remember smashing up the original to get at the large clockwork motor when it was replaced by a more modern record player of the Dansette type. In hindsight I cannot believe I was allowed to do this but there was no use for these things back then and the family placed no value on it.

Anyway, being of the cabinet type my new acquisition will make a nice piece of furniture once it has been to the local French polisher. But the real point of this post is that, for a bit of amusement, I searched on eBay for some spare gramophone needles not expecting to find any such thing. I must admit that I was absolutely astounded to find needles are still available in a range of 'tones', and British made too!

I know British manufacturers have often been accused of not adapting to new products but I really didn't expect to find someone, somewhere, to be making gramophone needles and that there must be still a market for them. Do they have any other possible use, I wonder? I have long since discarded my CD collection and moved to Spotify Premium, although I know some people have reverted to vinyl. However, I am now going one better and regressing back to shellac!

Edited By Chris Crew on 19/08/2023 21:20:07

I visited the Musée des Artes et Métiers in Paris recently and, although there are full-size artefacts including a replica (I think) of Cugnot's Fardier de Vapeur (steam dray) of 1770, the models on display are some of the finest I have ever had the pleasure to peruse. These include 'demonstrations' of the skill of the charpentier and menuisier in the supporting of cathedral's roofs etc. It was a very worthwhile visit, but if you have the opportunity to go there make sure you take the audio guide as the majority of the information accompanying the exhibits is in French only. I managed to read, or should I say decipher, about 70% of it but in hindsight I really regretted not acquiring the English guide upon entering.

Edited By Chris Crew on 18/08/2023 15:25:49

"Chris could have bought a nice Sherwood ground flute 13.5mm jobber or stub drill from Zoro for nearly £2 less* than his German purchase of unknown branding".

That's good to know, thank you for the tip. Being a bit of an eBay junkie, if only because we live in the middle of nowhere and it's easier to shop online rather than driving into the nearest towns or city, I do try to get the best prices on obviously identical products. The best I could come up with from the UK suppliers I have bought from before was £8 - £9, hence I thought the German alternative was worth a punt. I must admit it crossed my mind that post-Brexit import obstacles might have appeared but the item arrived this morning just after my previous posting and only three days after placing the order.

Dave (SoD),

I actually agree with all of what you say. We have within our family a very highly qualified and respected economist, whose name I will not reveal, who works for a well-known industry body whose name I will also not reveal.

However, when she was working towards her PhD I asked her what the subject of her thesis was to be to which she replied British manufacturing industry. Somewhat taken aback, I light-heartedly responded by saying that it would surely be the shortest PhD thesis in academic history! The more serious reply was that I should not think of British manufacturing industry in the traditional manner which was entirely correct, as you point out.

I know we all like to think of the traditional skilled craftsman cycling to work in the morning in his blue overalls with a pipe clenched between his teeth to work all day in a grubby engineering shop producing some very high quality tools and equipment, but it's not like that anymore even if it ever was. It's a bit like going misty eyed at the thought of the local pick-up goods train steaming majestically into a county town on a warm English summer's evening. Both very nice thoughts, but unfortunately both total fantasy!

There is always a large variation in price for what is obviously the same product which you can easily see and judge by the photographs and descriptions that are often identical. This has always puzzled me because why would you pay the higher price and do people actually pay a higher price in the misguided belief that they will receive a better quality product? The lower prices sometimes have a separate delivery charge added that makes them slightly more comparable to the higher prices which have the delivery costs included, but not always. Personally, I always search for the lowest priced item which often appears when you have selected the particular product you want to buy.

I have just bought a 13.5mm drill bit for £1.08 which is coming from Germany but with a £4.94 delivery charge. However, this is still cheaper than one from a UK supplier with 'free' postage & packing. Even at that price I have every confidence, when it arrives, that it will be of satisfactory quality because I have bought cheap drills before and can't really tell the difference from my sets of Dormers in performance. I know others will disagree.

I bought a job-lot of these Eclipse scribers many years ago from the closing-down clearance of Mercer's in Cleckheaton and gave them to colleagues in appreciation for assistance rendered. I am pleased to see that they are still available, although I would imagine that they are no longer manufactured in the UK, but what is these days?

Rennie Tool, UK Drills & RAW Engineering on eBay, all three very keen prices, good quality products and superfast delivery by Royal Mail.

"No person shall be engaged in any work activity where technical knowledge or experience is necessary to prevent danger or, where appropriate, injury, unless he possesses such knowledge or experience, or is under such degree of supervision as may be appropriate having regard to the nature of the work". In my opinion, this applies more to installation and testing work which needs to be carried out safely.

BS7671 Requirements for Electrical Installations requires:

"Good workmanship by one or more skilled or instructed persons and proper materials shall be used in the erection of the electrical installation. The installation of electrical equipment shall take account of manufacturers' instructions."

Would 45 years experience in the telecoms industry, some at a supervisory level, count? Admittedly, this was initially on mainly low voltage, high current dc installations, i.e multiple 6" aluminum busbars reducing to 3/4" copper busbars, in the old Strowger days, but on the later power equipment racks we connected 3-phase power at mains voltage which was then reduced to 50V dc and eventually to 12V & 5V. We tested the installations to 'company' spec. standards and our work was always inspected and checked by a Clerk of Works and later by a Quality Auditor. However, I don't think the company ever employed many or any 'qualified electricians'. There were 'incidents', not caused by me, Honest Guv! but very few and far between as far as I am aware and I did sit on the Health & Safety consultative committee for several years so we got all the site RIDDOR reports. I do hold some modest technical qualifications and did hold licenses to work on customer equipment so I would like to think I have, at least, some idea as to how to proceed when it comes to electrical work.

I also accept that regulations are necessary to eliminate as far as possible the idiots who cannot realise the hazards and dangers they create but whatever the rules or law states they will always exist. BTW, I was never employed by BT but did a great deal of work for them which was always to the very highest of standards until the bean counters took over after privatisation.

It is obvious that this post is meant to be 'tongue in cheek' but I did have a friend, now no longer with us although he wasn't electrocuted, whose workshop wiring and electrics did almost resemble some of the examples shown. Despite my warnings of the dangers he never did improve the situation.

But the OP does raise some serious considerations. I would like to think that my workshop electrics are to a high standard. All the wiring is in trunking and conduit around the walls with glands fitted for the armoured cable in-feed to the consumer unit (taken from the house electrics which have been certified) and which has the correct value MCB's fitted for the two ring mains and lighting. The larger machines are 'plumbed' in (no plug and socket) with isolator switches fitted. This was all done prior to 'Part P' but I am of the understanding that these building regulations only apply to the main domestic residence, not to any out-building. Am I correct in this assumption?

All the house electrics that I am not allowed to do myself have been certificated because I need the proof if and when the property is sold but whether the workshop goes with the property or is dismantled and sold separately is another matter so this question may arise.

Edited By Chris Crew on 16/08/2023 07:46:47

The prize examples of what happens when the reverse is the state is visible as politicians making their "sound bites" to climb onto what they see as the latest popular band wagon

Gordon Brown - Diesel cars.

Blair - W M D

Michael Gove - There are no down-sides to Brexit.

Boris Johnson - We really can have our cake and eat it.

Nigel Farage - Brexit has failed.

I am sure there are hundreds more.

I feel sure someone will have the answer to this simple question, so here goes! I had on my eBay watch list a boxed 2MT boring head kit, nine boring bars, Allen keys etc., which I was not really intending to buy but then the vendor offered it at such a ludicrously low price that I could not resist. Although I will find a use for it (eventually) with its 2MT fixing, I would ideally like to swap the arbour for a 30INT for my Harrison mill's vertical head. Such items are available but my problem is I cannot establish for certain what the arbour thread on the boring head is because I only have a cheap set of thread gauges and the old eyes aren't so good as they used to be. So the thread, as far as I can determine, is either metric 38mm x 1.5mm pitch or 1.5" x 16TPI. Chronos sell such an item but they quote it as being 18TPI which may be correct for the boring head they may be selling but not for mine. So can anyone tell me which thread I might require, please? (I think this must be a fairly standard item across all brands and price ranges for what appears to be exactly the same thing).

I do try to fix everything that fails in the home, I don't always succeed but I do try and have had some good results over the years. Someone must have grassed me up because I keep getting asked to 'look' at things ranging from the village community bus's side-door release mechanism to a local farmer's shotgun. I succeeded in fixing both, not a good idea really because it led to further requests for help, (can you just have a quick look at my lawnmower and have you got something that might fit this, please?) and that's before I mention SWMBO who brings things to me almost daily!

I don't want to rain on your parade but I think you will be very disappointed with your purchase. I say this because, when barely in my teens in the early 1960's, I was desperate to have a lathe, any lathe, and saved all my pocket and paper round money as there was no one in the house where I was brought up either able or willing to help me. At last I saw an advert in M.E. for a machine that I just had enough money for. When it arrived I could believe what a load of rubbish it was. A toy that was totally useless to all intents and purposes. Maybe it was my youthful ignorance and over enthusiastic eagerness to own a 'lathe' but I will never forget the experience of receiving this British made rubbish and gave the thing away to a friend who's father was an instructor in a works training school and he couldn't make anything of it either. I sincerely hope you have better luck.

Edited By Chris Crew on 09/08/2023 21:20:49

I made the Radford ball turner, this design was later improved by GHT, I believe. It must rotate at exactly the centre-height of the lathe otherwise you just produce eggs and acorns so the body is best bored in the lathe upon which it is to be used. The device works well enough for 'cosmetic' balls for handles etc. but when I produced the balls for the universal joints on the Radford worm-hobbing attachment as recommended by the designer, I found I had to 'ease' the balls slightly because of a couple of tight spots. Obviously, the balls were not perfectly spherical although to the naked-eye they looked fine.

I am afraid I am a bit behind the times when it comes to this new-fangled tooling and a little too long in the tooth to change now. I use the good old-fashioned J&S type parting tool holders with the Eclipse type blade mounted upside down in a very rigid rear tool-post. On the odd occasion when I have 'pinged' the blade it's a two-minute job on the grinder to put the edge back on. With lots of suds pumped on it all works for me.

In the 1990's, as part of our club's activities, a small party of members visited a local British engineering manufacturer that was producing parts for major car companies and engine builders, Jaguar, Perkins etc. As we observed the finished products coming of the machines, king-pins, camshafts etc., these were being placed in containers marked, for example, Land Rover, then Quinton Hazell and lastly Del Boy's Car Parts (obviously, I am making that up but you get the idea). The components, whatever their destination may have been, were exactly the same, produced from the same material on the same machines and subject to exactly the same quality checks. This is one of the reasons I have never been troubled by the thought of buying 'generic' components for my Volvo's, indeed I actually demand that they are fitted because of the price differential.

This particular small British manufacturer no longer exists, it was taken over by an Italian firm and then closed down but I assume the same practices still obtain, just not in this country anymore.

"Hmm, bit of a sweeping statement, so a screw cutting tool of say 30 degrees included angle would be ok in your view?"

Yes, it would, because the rear flank is formed by the advance of the tool, the rear edge of which performs no cutting action whatsoever which is why you can grind top and side rake on it. The accuracy of the included angle is clearly dependent on the accuracy of the set-over and the setting of the leading/cutting edge of the tool. But in any event, we are talking about making a bolt or a stud here in an amateur's lathe in a back-shed workshop, not producing high precision threads for a scientific or measuring instrument, so a degree or two adrift is negligible. I know some people on here may like us to think that they work to Rolls-Royce or NPL standards, and I take my hat off to them if they can because there is obviously nothing wrong in striving for accuracy, but my skills only allow me to do a bit of 'metal bashing' in the shed at the bottom of the garden. It all works for me, at least most of the time!

Edited By Chris Crew on 03/08/2023 14:08:52

Just bear in mind that no reasonable quality lathe's cross-slide is set at exactly 90deg. to the longitudinal axis. It should be set to face very slightly concave. This is the reason there will be a light back-cut when using a fly-cutter to face-off a work-piece clamped to the vertical slide as it traverses the centre-line of the lathe.

I recently purchased a set of very cheap twist drills of the Dekton brand from a local discount warehouse, not expecting much but intending them to only be abused on 'DIY' jobs, used as a disposable item and just slung in the electric drill box with the rest of my old drill and masonry bits that have seen better days and so chewed up most are not worth sharpening. However, I have to say that I am quite surprised by the new bits' quality, especially for the price. They are of HSS (well that's what it says on the packet), seem to be accurately sized and very well ground. I have just drilled 200 x 4.5mm holes in rough mild steel angle iron with one of them in the drilling machine, plus quite a few larger ones, and the bits cut very freely with no sign of the edge dulling as is usually the case with cheap carbon steel drills. I am so impressed that I have bought another set and put them in a spare metric drill stand that I had under the bench. I would think they will obviously be of far-east manufacture but even so they appear to be very good value for money at £7.99 for a set up to 10mm.

Sorry, I am not going to keep re-editing the preceding post ad-infinitum as things come to mind but another advantage of the set-over top-slide method is that the tool does not have to be ground to exactly the thread angle. As long as the cutting edge is set at the correct flank angle to the screw-cutting gauge it doesn't matter what the rear face is as long it is not greater than the included angle of the thread. Therefore, you can grind a top and side rake angle on the tool to make it cut more freely in steel.

I have only just skimmed through this post, so if someone has already mentioned what follows, I apologise. But for all the technical thread dimensions provided and talk of the set-over top-slide method I could not see any mention that the 27.5deg. or 30deg. set-over should be to the transverse axis of the lathe, not the longitudinal. It may be in there somewhere but I couldn't see it, if it is I am not trawling through all the answers again to find it.

This is a common error that a beginner could make and would account for an incorrect depth of thread. Also, you do not need to do any trigonometry to obtain the additional in-feed required, the lathe can do this for you. So, set-over the top-slide to required half angle of thread form to the transverse axis of the lathe with the tool at 90deg. to the work as set with a screw-cutting gauge.

With the tip of the tool just touching the work, zero both cross-slide and top-slide dials. Move the saddle to the right until the tool is just clear of the work and put the full depth of thread on with the cross-slide handle and then zero the cross-slide dial again. Withdraw the tool just clear of the work with the top-slide and proceed to screw-cut putting the cuts on with the top-slide and withdrawing from the cut with the cross-slide hand-wheel as normal and returning it to zero to start the next pass with the cut put on with the top-slide. When the top-slide dial reads zero the correct depth of thread has been achieved as the tool has been fed in along the hypotenuse formed by the rear flank of the thread. If the nut is a little tight, advance the cross-slide a thou. or two and take a finishing cut. This will ease the thread which will be quite good enough for all practical purposes because we are not making a micrometer.

This is how I was trained to screw-cut and it works every time for me. BTW, if you are cutting an internal thread you can still use this method by simply inverting the tool and cutting the thread on the rear of the bore. This also has the advantage that you don't have to think about which way to withdraw the tool at the end of the cut, it is exactly the same as in cutting an external thread and you can also see what is happening in the bore as the cuts progress.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that the work should be supported by a tail-stock half-centre if at all possible, and a travelling steady on particularly long work-pieces, because there will always be some deflection which will affect the depth of cut in slender work. Where this is not possible, make a couple of additional passes without altering the finished depth setting. This will 'work out the spring' in the work. I know this is common knowledge to the old hands but it may not be so obvious to a beginner.

Edited By Chris Crew on 02/08/2023 23:38:36

Edited By Chris Crew on 02/08/2023 23:40:31