Member postings for Calum Galleitch

A VPN removes exactly one of the identifying attributes I mentioned: your IP. If you want to obfuscate the other pieces of information, you have to use a VPN service that does so automatically or you have to configure it yourself.

> If you use a VPN, you're among around 31% of internet users

While that's probably a fair reflection of total internet traffic, I doubt it reflects the average internet user in the West.

At the end of the day, almost every website of interest requires you to identify yourself to it and re-identify when you visit again, so there is only so much that paranoia can save you from.

On top of this, it is worth knowing that almost every user on the internet is uniquely identified by your IP, browser, operating system, and other information that is sent by default to every website on the internet. If 'they' want to know who you are, it's not a problem for them.

The initial screenshot shows "Website Data", not cookies. I am not up to speed on the details but there are now other mechanisms for storing information on your computer than cookies. In theory, of course, all to your benefit if you are not having to download the same thing over and over, but who knows?

Great news Neil, and no doubt thanks for applying a little pressure to grease the squeaky wheel!

It's a messy subject and anyone who has simple answers is not to be trusted.

On dredging, there are certainly areas that were historically dredged which enabled building on low ground. It doesn't take a huge amount of insight to see that stopping dredging might not be brilliant. However, dredging in general is ruinously expensive, destructive to the environment, and counter-productive as it just delivers water onto flood-plains faster. Upstream retention activities are useful for protection, but the farmer whose crops are sacrificed to save the town might see things differently. Building on floodplains is hardly ideal but we desperately need more housing and suitable sites aren't always easily found.

And all the while climate change is effectively making the ground everywhere inexorably closer to the water...

Lot of myths spoken about health & safety. Old fire reels are getting removed because if a fire is big enough to need a reel to tackle it, it's big enough for you to feck off out of there and wait for the professionals. The legionella is a separate thing, despite the shrinking of the defence estate lots of places are still underused to the extent that standing water in pipes can be a risk.

Flash has always been a massive security risk, due to the way it works. However, the risk is in what you download and run on it, and one may reasonably assume the good people at MEW are not out to get us.

Presumably the Flash versions are powered by some sort of backend; I can't imagine that it would be a huge amount of work for someone suitably skilled to create a script to churn through this backed and produce PDF versions of these back issues. The archive wasn't the only reason I subscribed, but it was a big part of it. I am sure I can find a way round it, but a future-proof system seems preferable.

Have to show my ignorance here - what's the purpose of the captive rings on the overhead drive shafts in the above video?

Well, if anyone requires bovine assistance, as a country boy at heart I'm always willing to render what assistance I can. In fact, my workshop, such as it is, is part of the old dairy, though the milking machinery is long gone.

Thanks all for your thoughts on lathes, I know it's a piece-of-string topic but for those of us on a budget it's a tricky decision and not one you want to get wrong, so thanks for all the very practical thoughts.

Hi Robin, you're quite right! Primarily interested in smallpipes, Border pipes, and possibly at some point working on GHB sets aimed at concert B flat and A. Yes, I agree bags and bellows are less of a priority - they're easy enough to source elsewhere.

Yes, most woodwind makers use metal lathes for most operations - accuracy is one thing but of course the hardness of some timbers makes a big difference too - ebony and blackwood can be like brass. My first Uilleann practice set was one of Brian's, and a better instrument than they're sometimes rated to be, I think. I know what you mean about reeds: I am trying to make a small batch every few days and slowly get them better and better over time. At least they now look like reeds, which is a big step forward! Drones are another beast entirely...

Howard, you've reminded me I need to ring Chester to ask about the Craftsman - the website lists it as 940mm between centres, which neither the price nor the photograph seem commensurate with...!

Yes, I think you're quite right, a large spindle bore seems like a necessity, and I think most parts I would make would clear a 38mm bore.

I was chatting to our local postie (Scottish Borders) this morning - there are parts of the country, south-east and London in particular, with huge undermanning problems due to a certain virus variant. From what I gather if you get a delivery every few days at the moment you are luckier than some!

What is it they say about not being able to scam an honest man? You don't have to know too much about lathes to know that an 1130 in reasonable condition is worth rather more than £1100.

Yes, I also have a relatively awkward access - I can get a pallet dumped outside the workshop door but the door is narrow and not especially level, and nor is the ground outside, so whatever I get has to fit and be moveable.

In terms of instruments, the longest single piece I'd turn would be about 550mm, so I think that something between 750-1000mm between centres would be ideal - a lot of which would be done on the wood lathe but there are some operations much more easily accomplished with handwheels. That's also big enough to be coping easily with toolmaking (the largest piece I can imagine doing would be a reamer that would have to be a little longer than the 550mm piece).

I am havering slightly between the biggest of the Asian import bench lathes (Chester had a DB11 that has just vanished from their website that would have been ideal) and small gearhead lathes like the Warco GH1230. There are second hand lathes as well but these seem popular at the moment in smaller sizes, and of course one never knows where it's been....

Thanks chaps, that looks like an excellent addition to my list. I've already got a couple of titles - The Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight and The Design And Creation Of Jewelry by Robert Von Neumann - a lot of the metalwork done on instruments is ass much the jeweler's art as the engineer's - though that said a lot of time in practice will be spent making custom sizes of tubing I can't get off the shelf!

Hello all,

I'm primarily interested in making woodwind instruments and as ever with this kind of thing, the tricky bit is not the instruments, it's the machinery, jigs, fixtures and tolling necessary to complete operations.

My background is very much as a player and although I received some very elementary training in engineering at university two decades ago, I'm very much learning on the job. So far my efforts to date have been focused on reedmaking and woodturning. Neither of these are yet at a professional standards, but I now feel able to sit at the feet of professionals and understand their long words.

While I continue to enhance these skills my next steps are to slowly equip myself with an adequate lathe, mill, and drill. I also need to learn the fundamentals of brazing and soldering, and to work with leather.