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Member postings for John Doe 2

Here is a list of all the postings John Doe 2 has made in our forums. Click on a thread name to jump to the thread.

Thread: Workshop Clock
08/07/2023 07:11:28

I suspect, sadly, that the ever present pressure to make more profit is "forcing" manufacturers to make things ever more cheaply.

Sourcing a cheap clock from the internet has no guarantee of being well made. It will be made down to a price, and it is pot luck really whether the one you get will have reasonable performance or not.

Clocks made, perhaps 20 years ago - even the cheap ones - were probably better designed and built - with better bearings for example - than they are now?

Thread: Casting Bronze
08/07/2023 06:51:01

Church bells are made from a bronze with high tin content; around 77% copper, 23% tin - and hundreds of years ago, some bells were cast in pits in the churchyard.

I have no idea how they did this, but melting and casting bronze must be relatively doable, without modern furnaces. And of course the "Bronze Age" before those times cannot have had any modern technology either.

We had two extra bells, of 4 and 5 cwt respectively, made to augment our 6 bells to a ring of 8, and we watched our new bells being cast at the Whitechapel bell foundry in London, (where the "Big Ben" hour bell was also cast). A fascinating process.

.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 08/07/2023 06:57:23

Thread: Poor surface surface finish milling steel
05/07/2023 12:32:37

Ah, fair enough.

Do we know then, if the milling bit is true and regular ? - is it possible to check each flute "diameter" with a DTI? - perhaps one is slightly proud compared to the others.

In the same vein; does a DTI show any bend in the driving shaft, as measured against the side of the cutter as it is rotated through 360°.

 

.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 05/07/2023 12:33:28

Thread: Workshop Clock
05/07/2023 12:18:36
Posted by Iain Downs on 05/07/2023 07:22:25:

Hi, All.

Not all clocks are the same, but all are bought on a lowest price basis from Amazon and I expect share pretty much the same mechanism.

Any ideas how I can (cheaply) find a reliable way of telling the time in the shed?

Thanks

Iain

"Lowest price basis" might be your problem here? Does the cheapest tool available work as well as a more expensive one ?

These 'cheap' clocks might work OK given a reasonably stable environment, e.g. your lounge, but might struggle if, say, the temperature and humidity vary significantly. Any cheap lubricating substances in cheap clock bearings might not work reliably outside a certain temperature range?

Moisture on the mechanism from condensation could potentially, (sorry ! ), form an electrical path and discharge the battery prematurely.

Presumably you have mains power in your shed, ? if it was me I would invest in a clock radio - even a second -hand one. You can get them with battery back-ups and/or radio control, which would keep the correct time, and 'survive' power cuts.

OR, I have a small battery powered electronic TFA Dostmann LCD weather station, which tells me the internal and outside air temperature and humidity, and which also has a radio controlled time and date readout. This would give the time, and also display the humidity in your workshop, which is useful to know.

Thread: Poor surface surface finish milling steel
05/07/2023 10:42:59

I know almost nothing about machining - so please be gentle - but the OP says they are using the side of an end-mill cutter?

Are they designed for that? I am just wondering if the side flutes of a cutter produced for end milling would be machined to precise tolerances, or if one flute might be fractionally more proud than the others, causing a regular pattern in your work, or chatter?

Thread: Hydraullic crane question
03/07/2023 00:06:36
Posted by not done it yet on 02/07/2023 21:36:01:

It’s a one way ram, so unlikely to be the actual ram if it is not leaking oil. That leaves leak-back through the pumping mechanism. Fresh O rings should be a few pence as a fix -

Yes, that's what I assumed, when repairing my car trolley jack. It had developed a leak past the pump piston, so I took it to bits, and the pump O ring was as hard as plastic, flattened, and it broke into three pieces, when I extracted it.

So I measured the ID, OD and cross sectional diameter. Unfortunately none in my O ring kit were close enough to fit correctly, so I contacted a hydraulic supplier to get a new one. One comedian wanted £10 + postage for a single ~13mm O ring !!!

I just ignored his email and got the nearest larger size O ring with the correct ID from my kit and filed down the OD and profile by spinning it mounted around a bolt in an electric drill, and holding a file against it. Fitted and worked perfectly.

(And, no; I never rely on the trolley jack to support the car; I always use axle stands before going underneath.)

Thread: Looking for an Electric Jack-Hammer
28/06/2023 23:40:34
Posted by Michael Gilligan on 28/06/2023 14:48:28

This chap is much younger, and much beefier than me !!

4-46.jpeg

That chap might be beefy but he is wearing NO safety gear. No ear defenders, no safety glasses, no gloves, shorts, and I would be very surprised if those are steel toe cap and soled trainers. Oh, and the electrical extension is not completely unrolled.

I had some similar lads with similar equipment break up my old concrete kitchen floor, years ago, also with NO safety gear. When I offered them some ear defenders they looked at me as if I was mad. Don't they teach people anything these days?

Edited By John Doe 2 on 28/06/2023 23:42:42

Thread: Static or electrical problem with lathe
28/06/2023 09:55:48

The flash is very worrying though - suggesting full mains voltage rather than a small earth leakage. Maybe the long swarf is getting into the motor or switch somewhere - touching mains voltage somehow?

I would strongly suggest not using the lathe and disconnecting it from the mains until you can get it fully PAT checked. It might be that the body of the lathe is getting up to mains potential somehow  

I would also double check and electrically verify the earthing arrangements in your workshop

I would not risk using the lathe until then - if the chassis is live or sometimes live, it could kill you  

 

 

Edited By John Doe 2 on 28/06/2023 10:04:05

Thread: Pet Hate
25/06/2023 08:17:50

Annoying, but a 5 min job to cut the plug off and fit a normal one. And an opportunity to fit the correct fuse - I bet the supplied one was a 13 A.

Thread: Cure for Tight Nuts
23/06/2023 19:27:01

The prices blow my mind. 20 grand for a rod, and 3 grand for a nut ?? 3 grand ?? You could buy a 2nd hand car for that. Or a bike.

It seems odd to my untrained eye that a nut in such a specialised situation would need to have six machined faces. Surely it would only need two machined parallel faces to do it up ? Or do they use huge 6 or 12 point sockets for that?

Thread: Lathe/VFD/DRO issue
22/06/2023 12:00:00
Posted by Rockingdodge on 22/06/2023

Putting the vfd into a metal box would mean I would not have access to the controls so what next guys?

Roger

Robert was trying to explain that to you, and has explained similar questions on other VFD threads. But you told him to "butt out".

Very rude.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 22/06/2023 12:01:28

Thread: Brought some rubbish back from the "recycling centre"
21/06/2023 18:37:12

Dave, SoD; I don't mind you questioning my logic, or pointing out errors or flaws in my reasoning, but I take great exception to being associated with the Daily Mail or other such derisible 'comics'.

We will get along just fine without such comments, if you don't mind.

20/06/2023 11:44:40

[quote]"......I once asked about cycles and was told that they used to sell them but someone in the Council was persuaded by some dealer or other of a better return by taking them in one go in a container at £8 a bike. I pointed out selling the good ones publicly for a fair price, and putting the bad ones left over in the scrap-metal, would be rather better. The yard man agreed, but said management would not believe you!........."[/quote]

In the past, people like us - who knew what they were doing - would obtain an old bike and do it up and fix it. But in this day and age, there are too many numpties who would take a bike from a recycling centre, pump up the tyres and use it without checking or realising that the brakes did not work, for example. You can imagine the horrendous consequences.

And for a recycling yard to decide whether an old bike was safe or not for sale, would be well beyond their expertise, time, and - dare I say - their insurance.

So, sadly machines of any kind probably cannot be sold or permitted to be taken off site. I don't agree with it either, but until courts start saying that people need to take their own responsibility, things are not likely to change.

.

 

Edited By John Doe 2 on 20/06/2023 11:48:39

Thread: Is it just me
17/06/2023 14:36:01

Perhaps your emails are going into their spam folder?

I get this because my email looks like a company, rather than being an obvious person's name

Thread: Google's Graffitti on 'lathes.co'
16/06/2023 10:43:21
Posted by JasonB on 15/06/2023 10:02:52:

Just think how the site is funded if everyone used add blockers then Lathes.co.uk may not be able to afford to continue without the income the adverts provide. So next time you go looking there may be nothing there.

Adds on this site are also paid for and go some way to supporting the running costs

Agreed, and fair enough, but the trouble is, some sites have so much advertising that they render the site extremely annoying or unusable for some people, who then go elsewhere.

An aviation site I use, puts videos - that start playing automatically - in the body of the text that I am trying to read, or sometimes obscuring the actual text !!

If I click on the little cross to get rid of it, the same ad pops up again slightly further down. I use an Ad Blocker for that one.

I would urge website owners not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs: Don't over-advertise, or allow intrusive or annoying adverts, or you will drive people away, or simply make them use ad blockers.

Thread: Electrical Newbie....please help!
16/06/2023 10:12:23

Reading this thread again, it occurs to me that you might be trying to reinvent the wheel:

Metal working lathes already have a lead-screw arrangement to move the cutting tool carriage along on purpose built accurate low friction slides.Those lead-screws are turned by a reduction gearbox which multiplies the torque from a big 1/2 or 3/4 horsepower motor.

Maybe easier to adapt a metal working lathe for woodworking?

You say that a battery drill does turn your shaft but it physically won't fit. Can you not engineer some sort of offset drive using a toothed belt and two toothed pulleys so the battery drill can be mounted alongside at one end of the lead-screw instead of in-line at the end?

People here have added motors to move their X/Y tables, but they typically use big stepper motors, (and toothed belts). You could try searching for those topics.

Thread: At It Again - But New Twist? (Scammers)
16/06/2023 01:44:30

I distrust 99.5% of emails I get from people and "organisations" whom I don't know.

I don't do online banking. I have told my bank that I will only deal with them in person or via letter written on paper and delivered via the UK postal service.

I don't populate my electronic address book. But interesting to learn that you can block any senders not in your address book - I have long thought that this should be a feature.

I don't use my diary function on any of my electronic devices. To easy for hackers to see when your house might be unoccupied.

I don't give out my phone number except to trusted people or friends.

I refuse to have any smart speakers, web based doorbells, smart televisions, or web based security cameras etc etc. I learned to program computers in the 1970's, so I know how easy it would be to harvest data - without the harvestee even knowing.

However; for various recent freelance work contracts this year, I have had to give out my contact number and email address - (for accreditation) - to companies that are supposed to follow GDPR by law. In this last year, I have seen an explosion in junk texts and emails, so those companies - supposedly following and complying with GDPR - are about as watertight as a colander. I have also had office workers - of supposedly GDPR compliant companies - emailing me with my own bank account number and details in an open, unencrypted email......Words failed me.

Am also concerned because my local supermarket now has CCTV screens on the self service check-outs, which record my face as I scan my groceries. This means that hackers can now use facial recognition to connect my face with my credit card, and therefore my name - literally putting a name to a face. Then via hacking driving licence and passport, they have everything they need to steal my identity.

They can take out a loan in my name and then default, potentially leaving me to pick up the pieces.

 

Sorry about the rant, but I can't sleep !! angry laugh

 

.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 16/06/2023 01:51:42

Thread: Toyota Hydrogen
15/06/2023 20:26:43

Yes. Aircraft certification is cubicly expensive. Which is one reason why some aircraft have very old instrumentation, and manual engine controls, e.g. air fuel mixture etc.

Thread: An expesive day
15/06/2023 11:36:06

Don't worry. All such concerns will be a thing of the past when we are all driving electric cars.

(Runs away...............laugh)

Thread: Toyota Hydrogen
15/06/2023 11:26:46

No. As I read it; Dave gave three options for controlling 'knock', one of which was a lead containing chemical.

I think leaded petrol might still be available for old piston aircraft engines?, but no longer used for road vehicles, owing to its toxicity.

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