Member postings for John Beresford

I replaced the offending nipple with a cap screw. To oil I just take it out with an allen key and jam the oil can nozzle in the hole. Seems to work okay.

Don't get me started on “ can I get...?

Jon, are you a member of the Tramway & Light Railway Society? They are a great source of info, drawings and parts for all scales but particularly 1/16th scale ( which I think are also available to non-members also). Then there is also Peters Hammond and Howards book on Large Scale Tramway Modelling also available from the TLRS. Do let us know how you get on.

I believe Eileens Emporium have sadly ceased trading as of this month. They will be sadly missed!

I tried the thick hard felt you can get from b&q to stick on the bottom of furniture. I laser cut to shape very nicely but after a few days the oil I was hoping to retain turned the self adhesive backing to mush and they came off. Need to make a screw on metal retaining plate next time.

When I replaced the belt on my speed 10 ( referencing the instructables instructions mentioned above) I found bashing out the spindle a harrowing experience. I ended up removing the headstock from the bed so I could up end it on blocks on the floor and bashing it hard with a lump hammer via an aluminium drift in the spindle. I then felt I may have damaged the bearings but then getting the old bearing shells out and hammering new ones in was equally traumatic. Not something Id recommend lightly unless of course mine was in too tightly in the first place. So when Myfords say to just to tap the spindle out they mean with a great big hammer. Having replaced the belt with a new identical V belt from a reputable supplier I then found I had really awful vibrations at all speeds. This seemed to be caused by the belt having been stored in a squashed state and was no longer round. I put up with this for a few months hoping the rubber would lose memory of its shape but it never did. I ended up cutting that belt out and replacing with a fenner link belt which is smooth, rarely slips and can be removed occasionally for cleaning in white spirit.

After a long search for an accurate and solidly built small bench drill, I ordered one of these a couple of years ago. The belt that came with it was a glued together one and it didn't last 5 mins, but apart from that its great. You can get replacement o-ring type belts on Amazon. Its quiet, high enough speed to drill 0.5mm holes in brass and it goes up and down in a straight line so no broken drills. For the £60 I paid, you cant go wrong.

Thats right Henry but you also have a time limit of 6 years from your retirement date ie when you stopped paying NI to pay any top up. We've advised a few of our friends to check up on their NI/ state pension status as many were totally unaware there would be a shortfall when they'd reduced their hours or thought of retiring early.

My wife and I both retired early and we last year looked on the hmrc website to get a state pension estimate which was of course less than the standard amount because of our shortfall in NICs. It should say on the same page what the shortfall in NICs is if you want to get the full state pension amount. Theres another page showing your annual year by year contributions and any shortfalls. You can then opt to voluntarily pay the shortfall in order to bring your contributions up to the required amount in order to guarantee you'll get the full pension.

Thanks for this Jason. Ive had a look but cant see it on their website. Can you tell me where I can find it?

c

Thanks Hopper, I’ll do that. I assume the lubricator then needs to go near the steam chest or does it not matter so much? I’m going to have a go at making both the lubricator and the steam valve rather than buy them.

So Ive just completed my first steam engine project, a Stuart S50 and in the process of looking at boilers, but how do you determine the optimum size of steam tube in relation to both an adequate supply of steam vs a good scale size? Is there a good book out there that goes into this sort of thing? Also anything that describes what correct steam fittings to use and what layout? Ive already determined that I will need a displacement lubricator and some sort of steam valve or regulator between the boiler and engine (globe valve?) but what sizes are appropriate for this size of engine? Sorry if its a daft question but Im a beginner with steam.

I’m getting this same error too! Its not device specific as I get it on both my hp laptop and my ipad, so Ive not been able to order from Arc for a while. However, Im currently away from home and I can access Arcs website as normal on the hotels network. Does this mean its something to do with my account with our current web provider? Not being particularly tech savvy Im not currently having much luck solving this and web searches Ive done assume a lot of tech knowledge.

I have a Speed 10 and although the manual recommends a 0.75hp motor mine has 1/2hp and is slightly underpowered as a result. This however only shows when using the motor drive belt in the top speed range position and yes I too have suffered the old clicking and smoking motor situation. Worst on cold mornings. What I do if I need to use top speeds is to disengage the belt tension lever (between the countershaft and spindle), switch the motor on, let it get to full speed then slowly re-engage the belt. In my case that gets it going full speed. I then leave it running a while until ready to use it. I think the standard ML10 is recommended a .5hp motor but the Speed 10 definitely needs the .75hp.

john

Thanks for the very kind offer Ramon but I use motors as supplied by the Tramway & Light Railway Society so they are compatible with other members models, which helps with smooth control on layouts. Also I’m grateful I dont have to manufacture my own motors! I dont know Ernie but there are a few tram modellers in Manchester who work to the unusual scale of 5/8”. Was his tram a one off?

Jeremy, similar belt to that in type but mine is 1/2” wide not 3/8”. It’s a Fenner belt. You need to check the width of your pulley grooves at the top. I got mine from Lathe Spares in UK advertised as specifically for the ML10 but I would think other suppliers do Fenner belts as well.

A few of the 1/16 scale tramcars Ive made over the years.

I was quite pleased with my two latest 1/16” scale (3 1/2” gauge) tramcars. One Edinburgh standard car and one Cardiff single deck.

Jeremy, if the only reason you have to take the spindle out is to replace the belt, personally I would just replace it with a link belt and leave it be. If you suspect your bearings, well thats another thing. I went through this process a year ago on my Speed 10 and getting the spindle out was such a struggle I ended up damaging the roller bearings and replacing those too. Also hammering the new bearings in fully home and straight was not easy! I did this to replace a worn link belt with a brand new solid belt but was disappointed to find the lathe then suffered from horrendous vibrations that shook whole bench. This lasted for weeks so I eventually I cut that belt out and replaced it with a new link belt and now theres no vibration at all!

Regarding the grub screw; Ive just been out to look at mine and there is no grub screw on the pulley set. There is one however on the positioning collar (part no. 10370) on the left, between the bearing housing and the pulley set. Your photo however looks different to mine in that the collar on yours is much larger diameter and even looks to be part of the pulley set. Can you confirm if the pulley and collar are separate or as one? The pulley set is not screwed to the spindle as it has to spin freely on the spindle when back gear is engaged. The rotation from the belt-pulley is transmitted under normal running by the catch on the bull wheel. The purpose of the postioning collar with the grub screw is to take up the end float on the pulley set so that is screwed to the spindle. I’m just wondering if on yours the pulley was updated to incorporate the positioning collar and end-float take up was either not required or achieved by some other means?

hope that helps.

John

Paul, did you get anywhere with sourcing any leadscrew material? I also have a similar problem with a worn but still useable leadscrew on my speed 10. Ive been looking for tr16 x 3 LH screw material but having no luck. I appreciate the suspicion the tread may well be metric acme but I was going to give trapezoidal a shot.