Member postings for Engine Doctor ( Phil )

For degreasing try some non caustic truck wash neat or the Tesco kitchen degreaser , it smells nicer comes in a trigger spray and you d9nt have to buy gallons at a time. A good scrub with an old tooth brush shouldnt damage any polished parts or scotchbright pad if your not worried about the finish then a dip into some hot water and the grease is gone. Its strong stuff so make sure no holes in glove or dry skin will occur. Also a prewash before degreasing in some cellulose thinners also works well on very oily messy parts.

Nobody has mentioned using a de-smut dip prior to anodising bath. Not sure of acid content but it disolves any traces of other metals present in the surface of the alloy that will affect the finish .

Edited By Engine Doctor ( Phil ) on 21/05/2023 10:54:29

Buldog clips are nade of steel arnt they ? When anodising the only metals in the bath should be aluminium, titanium or lead . Steel will ruin the bath. Ok for plating but not Anodising.

Providing its pre 1947 tusk ?

The use of any heat from a flame source will cause moisture in the air and lead to rust. I have my lathe and milling machine in my garage and used to use a diesel space heater then a gas space heater both produce loads of moisture , very noticeable on the vice . It was so bad I often brought the de-humidifier into the garage to dry it out . I now use a Chinese diesel heater that blows hot air and all the exhaust with moisture is run through a wall to the outside . Result is warm garage with very little if any condensation . I still wipe down the mill and lathe after use with WD 40 then spray a light coat of oil on the beds . Seems to work ok .

The diesel heaters are excellent . Have a look on YouTube . Some suggestion of running them on old engine oil ? but that's illegal in UK so Red diesel if available or Heating oil/Kerosene is a cheaper option. Mine is a 5KW model and uses approx 1/2 lire an hour at full heat .

To get the waste heat from the exhaust some have run the exhaust through an old wall mounted radiator before exiting it through a wall. Radiator also acts as a silencer for exhaust and provides a lot of heat .

Couldnt you make one up out of sheet steel? probably quicker to bite the bullet and make one rather than look around for ages ,

Just make sure you don't leave buying your insurance too late . If an isurer know you need the insurance yesterday the price will sky-rocket . If you have time to shop around and put the start date say in a fortnights time you get a better quote . We , my wife and I found out the hard way .

Hello Stephen. Another consideration if you have limited space is the cabinet with a vacuum set up or your workshop willend up covered in dust and blast media .

Hi all . After recently buying a small benchtop mill i thought I would add a rotary table to the accesories. I bought one online supplied from India , not very expensive but spec looked ok . Caveat emptor really needs to be headed ! it arrived and was eagerly unpacked . It took two hands to turn it and was as gritty as hell. I stripped it and cleaned a load of what can only be described as grinding paste . Another hour cleaning , fettling and polishing some of the parts and its now very smooth . Remains to be seen what its like in action?

Woulld I buy agian ? Not unless it has a good star rating and feedback .Strangely none of the rotary tables offer the oportunity to leave a start rating ?

One piece at a time

Sorry never noticed the post above .

Edited By Engine Doctor ( Phil ) on 23/02/2022 13:31:08

Swan and Flander " Twas on a monday morning that the The Gas man came to call"

have a look at a small generator and an extention lead . A small 500w will probably run your centralheating provideded its not permanently wired and you can access the plug . The fourstroke models are very quiet and not overly expensive unless you buy a Honda . The diesel Cab heaters are good I use opne in my workshop / garage but you need to run the exhaust through a wall to out side and you still need a decent battery and charger . Probably a lot of fuss for an occassional outage. The propane gas heaters create some condesation but for an occasional outage shouldn't caus too much of a problem.

Stay safe and try to keep warm.

Absolutely BRILLIANT . Well done .

Why on earth would you need Lab grade pure phosphoric acid for ourk purposes ,ie removing rust or anodising. 5L of 30% phosphoric acid is available for £16-50 delivered and will dilute to 15 L and last most of us years .

Jenolite was / is a old name in rust removal and is  just dilute Phosphoric acid. 

I used a hot bath of the stuff some tears ago to treat rusty bits of a motorcycle I was restoring.  Things like the chain tensioner and some specialised but unobtainable nuts and bolts. After a few minutes they came out totally rust free and were rinsed , dried and painted with some silver paint ( nearest modern equivalent is Rustoleum) never rushed again in the years I owned it. 

Bat Gunano ?

Edited By Engine Doctor ( Phil ) on 19/02/2022 17:17:52

I buy my thread lock , chinese variety from RapidRC . They come in larger bottles and in four strenghts Low . Medium and High.and ultra High . They are quick setting and in My experience have been very good . They are not Fake as already discussed but genuine Chinese equivalent of locktite etc . Cost is £3-99 a bottle. Raid Rc do a good postal service , usually in the post the same day provided its in stock.

Edited By Philip Fearn on 19/02/2022 12:21:52

If you can find some proper Plusgas and soak the area it will soften / disolve the corrosion . Its a lightly acidic solution so be careful not to get onto any paintwork as it will attack it . I dont know if the aerosol type Plus gas is as good as the old liquid variety. (tin wiyh a squirty spout) My tin has gotten me out of many a difficult situation .

You could also try squirting some phosphoric acid down the hole . It wont attack the alloy but will dissolve corrosion and turn any rust on the stud into a rust resistant phosphate .

A decent indutrial vac can be used as a vacuum sorce drawing through a cycloninc filter to make a very effective dustextractor . Very simple to make and stops all the dust and muck filling and clogging the vacuum cleaner . I have one fitted to my bead blasting cabinet . It allows for a contant negative pressure so that no dust or blast medium escapes. Catches virtually all of the dust and is very cheap to make . Some good "How to" vids Youtube .

Phosphoric acid is still easily available online and not expensive . As stared above it not only removes light rust but converts deep rust to a phosphate that won't rust anymore.

There are moves afoot by our nanny state to stop us buying things like phosphoric acid . Sulfuric is already banned . Buy any Chemicals you use now before they are banned under the explosives or poisons act .

Thanks guys , so are you suggesting my anodised crankcase is cured bacon green or just a pig? it's was a pig when it was made but it's IMO much better now . Who know how the Chinese make their green ink ? Possibly from left over bacon curing chemicals ? Themselves thing is it worked. Do t know if it will withstand heat and sunlight , time will time.

Time we moved back to topic , like anodising ?

Hi Thanks for all the suggestions . I finally found a dye that worked for me. Green Ink ! It had to be ordered from China to get at a reasonable price but gives a good effect . The pic below is a crankcase I made for this little Boddo Mills as the original was made of rubbish metal and just plit open while in storage ? The spinner nut is the original and you can probably see the anodising is flaking off ! glad i didnt anodise the cylinder !! 

Id still like to know what Ramonused on his engine ?

Edited By Philip Fearn on 14/02/2022 13:33:01

Edited By Philip Fearn on 14/02/2022 13:35:12

I have the same problem . I use a product called "Pro-Clean" For patios decking etc. find it on line on a well known auction site .It can also be used on cars ,caravans garden furniture . Its brilliant . . It can be bought ready touse or concentrated and diluted up to 5 to 1 ith water. Ive used it on two of my cars and it works well doesnt damge or stain paint . and my friend used it on her audis soft top that as going green and it worked brilliantly . Just spray it on in the evening wetting all the mould and algea . leave for a few days and then wash the car . On patios it can take a few eeks on really engrained mould but suddenly after heavy rain stoneork looks like new again . Green mould and algea will be gone and it prevents re growth for a few months .

Just to add I have nothing to do with the company just a happy customer . you can probably tell I,m well pleased with this product !. Hope it helps