Member postings for Mick Bailey

My preference where bronze guides were fitted originally is to use aluminium bronze, or cast iron where this was used. The nice thing about cast iron guides is they can be finish lapped before fitting and the bore doesn't shrink down and hour-glass like a bronze guide heat-shrunk into an alloy head, so no need to re-hone after fitting.

My local stockist has Colisbro but the size range starts at 1/2", so plenty of expensive swarf. I've also used PB104, but this can be difficult to get hold of. Last year I was looking around for some C63000 bronze, which is popular in the USA for making guides but isn't easily found over here in the UK. The same with some of the manganese bronzes that are suitable for making guides - special order only and in larger quantities than I could use. The cast iron bar in smaller diameters seems to have disappeared. I used to buy down to 3/8" but 3/4" or even 1" is getting more common as the smallest stocked size.

Did the machine shop make the guides? No parts availability for my engine so everything needs to be made or adapted. I did think of getting spiral inserts fitted, though. Which machine shop did you use?

I reference the seat off the guide bore but like to achieve a concentric guide to minimise material removal from the seat. My valve refacer finishes the valve head to within 0.01mm concentricity to the stem and I like guides to have no more runout than this. This makes for a seat that only needs a light dressing to restore the angles and seat width and no need to grind in the valves.

My ML7 has a lever tailstock feed, which makes for rapid and frequent pecking to clear chips, but even with premium, new drills the hole will wander slightly with smaller holes. Last winter I checked my lathe alignment as I had a batch of guides to make in a larger size (6.98mm bore) and these turned out perfectly. I was able to use a solid carbide boring tool and then finish ream with a LH spiral carbide reamer and machine the outside and bore without removing the guide from the chuck for the main finishing. They only needed re-chucking to machine the oil seal register. I'll try different techniques and take a look at 'gun drilling' and D-bit finishing - I'd like to improve my methods of drilling deeper, small diameter holes accurately.

This winter I intend to do a top-end rebuild on an old industrial petrol engine. The bronze valve guides are 4.45mm bore and 42m long overall. The problem I've previously had on small guides was getting the bore concentric. I've had to resort to finishing the bore but leaving the guide oversized, then mounting the guide between centres to finish turn.

I saw small guides being commercially CNC machined and the outside was finished first, then just drilled (using a solid carbide drill), reamed and parted off. I've been unable to drill through this length accurately enough, though I was using HSS drills. The drill always wanders and subsequent finishing follows the original bore

What's the best technique/procedure to use?

I also maintain it's a valve guide tool for removing carbon without damaging the bore. No abrasives are used.

If you used this as a pilot whilst cutting a seat, the cutter would follow the seat and not be rigidly and accurately centred to the guide bore.

I've been using Lidl (Powerfix) thinner over the past few years. It used to be labelled "Universal Cellulose Thinner" but lately the labelling has changed to "Universal Thinner", though it smells and behaves the same.

It mixes with the synthetics I've used just fine. I've tried white spirit but found the finish takes much longer to cure and doesn't go as hard as with either the manufacturer's recommended thinner or with the Lidl stuff. It's also good for spraying, as it evaporates much quicker and allows a more rapid build up of coats.

When living in Australia we purchased the propane cylinder outright and filled them ourselves at the local garage at a self-service 'pump'. This was common practice where we lived in Adelaide. The cylinders had a screwdriver-operated vent valve in the side and the dispenser issued liquid propane. The vent allowed the liquid to flow in without resistance to back pressure (and vented to atmosphere!) I thought at the time this would never be allowed in the UK. I currently have a refillable Sievert cylinder that has a similar valve that's opened during filling.

Maybe safety was very lax over there in the 90s. Our brand-new kettle had an exposed wire-wound ceramic element and the mains plugs had push-on covers.

There's usually some good high-temperature wiring with glass fibre/silicone insulation, as well as decent lengths of glass fibre screening. Also plenty of 6mm spade terminal insulation boots. I've used these for vehicle restoration projects where high temperature resistance is needed for wiring.

Installing a heat pump in an existing property is where it gets costly. Really, radiators are not so good and underfloor heating is better for the lower water temperature. Older houses also don't have anywhere near the insulation to be effective. The best outcome would be a new build that's designed to be thermally efficient to begin with, but that's not going to solve anything for owners of existing properties.

A water source heat pump would be a big improvement indeed, tempered a little by the escalated home/contents insurance premiums from having a stream running through your property.

A place that always stuck in my mind as being the perfect location to extract heat from was a house I visited one frosty November just south of Newcastle, Staffs at about 7:30 in the evening. As I walked around the back of the property I felt warmth on my face and there were ripe figs and a grape vine with bunches of grapes. No frost or any cold at all. The owner said there was a micro climate caused by a stream that ran down the side of the property and along the back. The property was effectively enclosed on three sides by a disused railway embankment, a steep wooded bank and a bund to reduce noise from the M6. Up to his house the stream was deeply culverted and emerged on his land.

I've been interested in heat pumps for a while - long before the phrase had become trendy. Old copies of Mechanix Illustrated and Popular Mechanics (USA editions) carried articles from the late 40s/early 50s and the premise was alluring; Take a bathtub full of iced water and pour in a kettle of boiling water. You still have a bathtub full of iced water, but it contains a kettle of boiling water. The challenge is to get it back out. Mainly back then the goal was to use well drilling techniques to get a heat exchanger buried vertically downwards.

More recently I've been considering heat pumps again. My neighbour has a setup in a similar sized house to mine and it consists of plant room, 700 metres of buried tubing over a large area, all the apparatus and a solar array. The radiators get warm, but never hot and in the depths of winter needs supplementary heating. Not a money-no-object installation, but not inexpensive. Plus he's a landowner and has a south facing solar array. His next step is to install batteries and charging facilities to try to improve the overall efficiency. There's no certainty on how long the equipment will last before it needs replacing, or parts become unavailable. Plus there are maintenance costs to consider.

Powder coating on magnesium is best removed chemically. Another issue with powder coating magnesium is trapped gas that expands when heated and cause the coated surface to bubble (outgassing) and creates a heavily cratered surface when cool. This may be the issue and is worsened by blasting. Be sure that the company has experience of coating magnesium - you can't treat it like steel or aluminium - the process is different.

Camel bone is what I use and It's available in fairly substantial sections. Any bone needs to be de-fatted. Don't use bone from the butchers unless you treat it yourself as the trapped fats and other tissue goes rancid and is not hygienic.

Commercial de-fatted (treated) camel bone can be go from luthiers suppliers (its used to make sitar parts - especially the jawari bridge) as well as being used to make knife scales.

It has a good colour, is hard and machines well. It takes a really good polish. It also stains very well - I use the Konig stains to match the colour of new parts to existing old ones.

I use neat screen wash concentrate (not the ready to use variety) on kitchen roll.

That would be great. I'd also be interested in the remnants if you wanted to sell what you have as my own set is incomplete.

Now gone to a good home. Thanks Ian, and really nice to meet you.

Mick

Thanks Dave. I contacted them a while back and they sent me a link to the latest version, which I already had. This doesn't have the contemporary vehicle specific instructions - mainly for aircooled VW and other applications. Also, there are different accessories and fixtures that are no longer shown in the newer instructions (mainly because its all obsolete).

I also posted on the Samba forum and had a reply from an owner who had an original manual and he said he'd scan and email it but never did. His account is no longer active. I can use the cutter set without issue, but would like to get the manual to go with it anyhow.

For anyone who isn't familiar with this type of cutter it uses a tungsten-carbide single point tool that machines out the seat at the appropriate angle. It behaves like a lathe tool - in reality creating a spiral cut. It's remarkably versatile in that DIY cutters can easily be made. Last year I rebuilt a Honda CB450 head and made up the required tool by brazing a tip to a piece of tool steel.

Unlike most cutters that only use a pilot to loctate a cutter head in the valve guide, this uses an additional outboard support clamped to the head for rigidity and precision. Any number of seat angles can be cut - I used a 3-angle cut on the Honda.

The question I have is that I would like a PDF copy of the original instruction manual that came with the set. Mine is missing and I know there are many setups illustrated for different applications. It's perhaps an early 60s Mk1 set in a wooden case.

All still available if anyone is interested.

I've also repeatedly been quoted the highest prices for parcels. The last time I specifically asked for the lowest price and because I was in a hurry paid and left, When I got home I thought that it seemed expensive and when I checked I'd paid almost £5 too much.

Since then I've been buying my postage online and paying 72p for the postman to collect, which is usually next day. No waiting and no 7 mile round trip.

I've been a proponent of post offices over the years and want people to keep their jobs, but deliberately quoting higher prices has left little sentiment for me. At first I though it was a mistake, but it's happens so frequently that I now think it's policy.

I have quite a few Model Engineer magazines I'd like to find a home for. I have 8 boxes (the size office copier paper comes in) and the main years are late-60s/early 70s and then my main subscription years from the late 70s to late 80s. Some 50s and some 90s copies. Many complete series such as the RLE engine etc. Plenty of content from LBSC, E.T. Westbury, Martin Evans, Prof. Chaddock and many more. I've really valued these magazines and do not wish to see any of them disposed of. They've done 11 house moves including a relocation to Australia and back. In addition to the loose magazines I have the facsimile bound copies from 1901(vol 4&5), 1903(vol 8&9),1904 (vol 2)1905(vol XII), 1978 (vol 144 pt 2), 1979 (vol 145 pt 1), plus an original 1953 (vol 109) bound volume.

Collection only from ST13 8RX. The offer is for the entire lot including bound volumes - you take them all or nothing! I will leave them in my shed when convenient for socially distanced, no-contact collection. Please only take these if you intend to keep them for yourself or redistribute them. The information contained is of immense value and despite the power of the internet there's plenty in these back copies that can't be found anywhere else.