Member postings for John Doe 2

Sorry, not sure what you are asking, HTH?

A photo or photos would be helpful.

I often wonder about this. We assume they didn't have machine tools, but for example; drill presses could have been constructed from wood - or even stone - and would have given reasonable accuracy and repeatability in this non-critical context. Over the centuries, the wood will have completely rotted away, the stone broken up and robbed-out or scattered around; its origin and purpose unidentifiable. Any small metal parts fixed to the structure e.g. plates to carry metal shafts etc., might have corroded away or not have been identified as to their purpose or origin.

Most of us could make a fixture out of wood to hold a particular job if we didn't have a machine tool, or bracket, so I am sure the ancients could too.

The gear wheel in this thread could obviously have been secured to a table by a pin at its centre and rotated under some sort of drill-head fixed at a set radius to drill the holes - the radius the holes are set at from the centre seems very consistent, so I don't think it was drilled freehand. But the angular displacement between the holes is much less accurate, so they presumably didn't have an accurate dividing head.

I think my energy bill is going to be a very large number this year........

Sadly, a lot of folk have no technical knowledge or appreciation of basic physics, or how things work generally.

But you can't blame people for grasping at such things when fuel prices are so high and the energy suppliers are making BILLIONS in profits.

The price of fuel in Saudi Arabia is, or was, a few cents per litre, so why is our own North sea oil so expensive to us?

.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 24/11/2022 11:28:02

No C or BASIC or electronic computers in those days

Would there have been 360° protractors even?

This mechanism is fascinating.

I ask myself that if the makers had the means to produce many wheels and gears, then surely they could have made a reasonable precision tool to locate these holes? The radius of the hole circumference seems quite consistent, but the angular spacing is quite inconsistent in places.

These holes could not have been used to drive another gear because that gear would bind up between some of the holes owing to the random spacing. So it seems more likely to have held a single indicator pin, which could be moved around the circumference according to some factor. Or maybe a pencil put through one of the holes to draw an arc?

I don't know how you would calibrate a tool to locate 'n' number of holes around a circumference, but I am sure many clever people could.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 24/11/2022 09:33:37

Can you expand on that? Is it because a lubricated thread can increase the force applied for a given torque value, and put too much force on the wheel?

Edited By John Doe 2 on 24/11/2022 09:15:22

Your package probably fell behind something, or fell off a conveyor belt into a dark part of the sorting depot, and they have only just found it.

I would be tempted to ask a seller NOT to use Hermes/Evri: who are cheap, and therefore attractive. But cheap does not mean best - or even good. They are cheap presumably because they cut corners and employ a lot of not very good workers, (who are cheap).

Back home from work now, so here is a slightly better diagram, showing the switches more clearly. Black dot = normally closed terminal, empty dot = normally open.

Each light has an individual fuse, so only one at a time would blow, leaving at least one other illuminated.

Both relay coils are de-powered when the dipped beams are selected: the relay coils are only powered when the high beams are selected.

The two lighting +VE supplies are up to you where you take them from.

I would take the flash control from the IGN accessory position - you might be waiting for your son/daughter/wife to emerge from where you are picking them up with your engine stopped, but listening to the radio.

There is an impregnated paper that can be put in tool drawers etc and which releases the agent to prevent rust.

I forget the name of the product but I have seen it discussed on this site, so you should be able to find it in a search.

Found it: [quote from SoD]: "..........a designed VPI/VCI [paper] product, which can be had with a MIL-SPEC. "

Or mothballs appear to be effective?

Put 'rust' into the search box at the top of this thread and look for a thread about 'what to spray onto your tools to prevent rust' or words to that effect.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 21/11/2022 10:04:24

Fair point, and that seems reasonable.

The relay circuit is right though, the key being that both relays operate together - like a double pole relay - in this case achieved by simply paralleling both coils. The stalk either latches to select high beam when the light switch is on, or momentarily selects high beam flash even when the light switch is off. Whenever the high beams are on, the dipped beams are disabled

The two power feeds can come from wherever you feel comfortable, risk-wise. If the IGN switch cannot supply all the high beam current, feed only the high beam relay coil from the IGN switch but the actual high beam relay common terminal from a high current source. 

Edited By John Doe 2 on 19/11/2022 18:18:22

I have got it ! It is embarrassingly easy.

I am still away working so I hope my rough sketch is clear.

The feed "lights" obviously comes from a suitable fused battery supply.

The"IGN" feed is also fused and is fed from whichever IGN switch feed you want - I would use the accessory position. You need to ensure the IGN feed can supply the full current for the high beams.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 19/11/2022 11:33:03

Here is a starting point, the top circuit will not kill the dipped beams when flashing the mains, but otherwise it will work. Where I have written head lights top left, is the supply from the battery, the switch next to it is the headlight on/off switch.

Ignore the bottom diagram - it won't work: as soon as the high beams come on the upper relay coil will relax and switch them off !!

Black terminals on the relays are the normally closed, resting position. The coils are the relay operating solenoids.

I am still thinking about it - and couldn't get to sleep last night ! I now know the two micro switches are SPDP, so I might be able to improve the circuit. Can you give us a truth table as to which stalk action operates which micro switch.

Sorry about the very rough diags - no time to improve them for a couple of days.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 17/11/2022 07:31:19

Edited By John Doe 2 on 17/11/2022 07:32:18

You've already made your purchase, but in a previous career we used 45W Weller temperature controlled irons for electronics for many years.

Too low a wattage iron actually puts more heat into surrounding components, because you have to hold the iron on for longer, potentially causing collateral damage. Solder tabs are relatively big, requiring a lot of heat which will travel up the wire potentially damaging the insulation. Something around 45W is just about right to make a joint quickly and minimise damage.

See also; comments on another thread about the longevity of soldered terminal tabs versus crimped ones - important if the connections will be subject to vibration.

PS, Robert A: did you mean to say plastic sleeved Live and Neutral pins on UK 13A plugs? The Earth pin is not sleeved. Or did I read your post wrong?

Edited By John Doe 2 on 10/11/2022 11:28:05

I don't think it is remotely acceptable that a supposedly brand new product was supplied with paint and rust faults, no evidence of protective wax/grease, and traces of oil leaking. All faults point towards bad quality control, poor shipping process and storage in humid or wet conditions.

What have those conditions done to the components you cannot see - the motor, the switch-gear, the internal gears etc? And if the storage personnel and conditions were sub-standard; how else might the product have been damaged - might it have been roughly handled or otherwise abused ?

I would have absolutely refused to try to clean the rust off - it is not your problem, it is the supplier's. Sale of goods act : "product is not fit for purpose". The supplier must be given a chance to rectify the problem, either by supplying another machine or giving a full refund. I would also be asking to see the pre-delivery accuracy check report on the replacement machine, if you go down that route.

If you bought a new expensive watch, which on opening the box, had rust on the strap or the case, or a scratch on the face, you would take it straight back and demand a refund. Being engineers, we are good at - and like to solve - engineering problems, but that should not extend to correcting faults on brand new equipment.

I agree with others: that lathe does not look brand new, it has been supplied and returned already, or is damaged stock.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 10/11/2022 10:40:45

""David George 1:

This was the pipework just below the pump. The two pipes were the fill and expansion pipes and the elbow was about a foot below the pump. Apparently thus is the place where blockages happen if anywhere.""

That is absolutely appalling, Dave. The "plumber" who did that, (or rather didn't - flush the system), should be shot !

I found a similar horror when I dismantled a combi boiler that wasn't working very well; valves half blocked up with swarf from "plumbers" who couldn't be bothered to do a proper job. Lazy sodding bastards - I bet they charged the full whack.

Fit a Fernox TF 1 "Total" magnetic cyclone filter while you have the system drained. Just under £100 from Screwfix and a good bit of kit. You won't be disappointed. Look at the guarantees with new boilers: 7-10 years if fitted with a filter, 5-7 years if not.

Like SoD, I set our heating to come on twice a day, and I leave it up to the house and hot water thermostats to decide whether to fire up the boiler or not. Our house thermostat is set between 13-15 degrees. It is a mindset - turn up the heating or put on a sweater.

Being forced semi-retired, and not being larks, we don't need to get up early anymore, so I have set the heating not to come on until 1000, by which time the house has usually warmed up anyway. No point wasting gas heating the house when we are still warm in bed !

Edited By John Doe 2 on 07/11/2022 16:58:49

+1 for a combined cyclone and magnetic filter. Having worked on a few systems in houses I have owned; installers clearly don't always correctly flush out and properly clean systems when they commission them. The various valves in the boiler of one such system were partially blocked up with lots of metal particles.

Inhibitor is also very important - most systems have several dissimilar metals; Copper, iron, aluminium, so a good quality inhibitor is a must

Pumps should ideally be installed in the colder return pipe for better longevity, rather in the much hotter boiler outflow pipe.

A pump that stalls and refuses to start can be caused by the motor capacitor going faulty, most likely due to excessive heat, as above. Capacitors can be replaced.

A decent quality pump, in a properly installed and commissioned system, will last for years and years.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 06/11/2022 23:32:30

Email can be read by people other than your intended recipient - potentially anyone in the World with a computer and an internet connection - so sending personal data via email is not secure. Some text messaging, e.g. Apple iMessage, is encrypted, which might be why some are insisting on texting  

FAX was relatively secure because you would have to tap an individual copper phone line to intercept the contents. Not sure if this applies to a FAX sent by a computer over the internet though? - probably not.

Two factor authentication is done to prevent your account from being hacked and your money and life savings from being stolen; so not a bad thing really !

You can't use email for two factor authentication because of point one: email is not secure. Some text transports and voice via phone is more secure

Edited By John Doe 2 on 03/11/2022 15:48:48

I have a different type of gas soldering iron where you remove completely one tip and substitute it for another.

Are you sure you put your soldering attachment over the torch fitting, or should the former be removed first?

Or; if you are lighting at the exhaust hole, perhaps the flame is staying external to the tip rather than being inside it and therefore not heating the tip much - the inside remaining at the gas delivery temperature?

Mine ignites internally with a piezo-crystal so the flame stays inside the bit. Maybe yours has an internal igniter that you have not noticed, or maybe you need to light the torch, then place the solder tip over it ?