Member postings for ChrisH

Just watched the video - booootiful!

Well done Nick, lovely model, you've done yourself proud.

Chris

Yes - 4 Bells rum, remember that too on the boats. Had one second mate who used to unsolder the seam on a coke can, fill the can with rum and resolder. It got past customs but only he would drink it! That was when cans of coke were made using tin not allie like now

When we were out in the Carribean/Central America we used to drink Appleton's Estate and coke. Fill a pint glass with crushed ice, fill to show half way with rum, top up with coke. Sounds lethal but it's not, the amount of ice dilutes the rum sufficiently, plus in that region you were always dripping with sweat, so a very nice cooling drink with no hangovers, but you did get through a lot of rum and coke in an evening even though it was heavily laced with ice!

Chris

pgk pgk - That's not Appletons Estate rum you are talking about is it? Colour half way between clear and dark? I would need NO excuse to open that!

Lovely stuff, haven't drunk it since the late 1960's as I only ever saw it for sale on the ships I sailed on then.

Where did you get it from?

Chris

Mike, I also live near Yeovil so I would be interested in a ME club near there too, not that I have found one yet but I haven't been trying very hard.

Chris

I thought I had put this post on earlier, but obviously not!

Many thanks for all the replies - I now have a lot of food for thought! Whilst some of the more expensive machines suggested look very good they are sadly out of my price range, just could not justify that sort of expenditure - would never get it past my Financial Director!

Will think again of what I want it for - Graham's Chester suggestion looked good, but then I have an old belt sander that needs a new life so maybe I will work on that as per "the poor mans linisher", and do I need a disc as well as a belt? Questions, questions!

I was thinking that maybe a small belt and disc sander would be useful in the workshop. I know that they are made to sand wood but I would want to tart up bits of metal instead, make them look a bit pretty if I wasn't going to go to the effort of loads of work filing and polishing with ever finer wet and dry etc, take sharp corners off, that sort of thing.

Now, I know what I want would be impossible - a good quality, well made, robust machine at a nice low cost; you only get what you pay for so that is impossible but one can aim that way!

So the questions for the team are: can anyone suggest a suitable machine from experience, what experience has anyone had of belt and disc sanders, and what about life of sanding belts and discs when used on metal instead of wood, or are metal grade belts and discs available?

Chris

Edited By ChrisH on 15/03/2015 12:53:19

Geoff - the few times I have had to use stud extractors they have done the business for me, except I have now 'lost' them, or the 'Little People' have borrowed them, same difference really but if the latter I may get them back later!

From what you say it sounds like you did indeed drill the pilot hole too large so the broken steel stud expanded and seized tighter in the aluminium head. Had it been a stainless stud it would have seized in the aluminium anyway - on boats we had to use some special gunge between stainless fittings and the aluminium mast otherwise they were there for ever! Even mild steel, never mind stainless, into aluminium is fraught with the chance of seizure, hence your sheared stud. So, even if the stud extractor had not broke you might still have had a "no go" on your hands.

Best way to get a broken stud/bolt out if no easy-outs available to to drill a small pilot drill hole as accurately straight as possible then successively larger holes until the drill cuts the edge of the threads then, if you are really lucky, you can "persuade" the broken bit to collapse inwards and be pulled out as you have found out for yourself - sorry, granny and egg sucking comes to mind! Like Jason says, helicolis are an answer and the most reliable way of threading in aluminium if high loads and/or need to 'frequently' disassemble items are a requirement.

Chris

An EZ out stud extractor the Devil's invention?

Well maybe, maybe not, but sometimes one has to sup with the Devil Geoff to get things done!

Chris

If it's a taper pin, in theory one side should be bigger than t'other. In theory, but it doesn't always seem to work like that.

Or, has it been peened over at each end?

Perhaps, in the end it will just have to be drilled out?

Chris

Andrew, I use Warco's Headstock Lub in my (not Warco) old Weiler lathe for the past 4-5 years. It seems quite OK, have had no problems.

Chris

Sign seen in a CEGB engineers office some 30 years ago:

"A Clear Desk is a Sure Sign of a Sick Mind".

Don't necessarily subscribe to that view totally, but it gets a sympathetic airing now and again!

Chris

Just a thought - as an alternative to motor bike chain spray, is chainsaw oil any good for gears? Might try it on my gears anyway.

Only, I have a chain saw and it's oil, but don't have a motor bike so no spray!

Chris

Hi John, would second what Brian has just written, love the "outside the box" thinking, that used to be more common before Nanny told us what we must think and do, but it's rare nowadays!

Cheers,

Chris

Hi Mick - I have found it now under 'Spares', was looking under 'Accessories'. I can see that from the list that one would only need the drawings and then make everything from stock, except perhaps the eccentric strap.

Chris

Am I right in thinking the engine is fitted with reversing gear? If so, where did that come from. as the present company making Stuart castings don't list a reversing gear for the 7A engine, or is the reversing gear about 30 years old too!

Chris

PS The engine looks very good, am very jealous!

Edited By ChrisH on 25/02/2015 23:51:56

Hi Jamie, go to tomstechniques.com website, and view the instructional videos - there is one on grinding HSS tools. Then click on the Reference section, Charts, and there is a chart on the angles for grinding a flycutter toolbit that is very easy to understand.

The tomstechnigues.com website has a load of good videos giving instructions on various aspects of tasks in the workshop, plus step by step videos on a couple of projects. All are very interesting and informative, to me as a relative newbie anyway, and he promotes a "common sense" approach to getting things done. I have learnt a lot, well worth a look, I hope you find it interesting. I obviously have nothing to do with the website other than being an interested pupil and observer!

Chris

Can't help on the size of boiler required without resort to loads of calcs, but in the late 1960's a motorship I sailed on with all steam auxiliaries had Sisson's steam engines, six foot high ones, driving air compressors and also DC generators, and very reliable they were too.

Well done for finding that, good luck with building a boiler for it,

Chris

I read this on-line with interest as I have a very similar machine in Warco's "Economy" machine, purchased 2 or 3 years ago, and went through similar hoops!

When SWMBO saw the size of the packing case being unloaded she thought I was mad getting such a 'huge' machine, but helped push the machine in it's packing case around the house on a stack barrow to the workshop door. I then removed the motor and then the head and belt guards to reduce weight and we are able to get the barrow and machine into the workshop. When the packing case was stripped off I was amazed, I didn't know you could make plywood that poor in quality, it couldn't be reused, it had done extremely well just to get as far as to me!

The base, table and column was still too heavy to lift, but a quick call to Warco gave me the instructions on removing the table. The base and column was then able to be lifted by my daughter and me onto the bench, just, and the machine could then be rebuilt, all bits able to be lifted by myself. Breaking it down into manageable parts meant no lifting tackle was required to get it onto the bench.

However, as the machine was on a 600mm deep reinforced bench there wasn't enough space to fit the motor in it's original position. So a bracket was made and the motor mounted to the right of the machine. This bracket was a bit insubstantial and a much more robust bracket was later made which steadied up motor movement and reduced vibration.. The position of the motor meant the large downfeed handles had to be shortened to miss the motor connection box, plus the pulley guards had to have the back cut off, and a new shorter belt to the motor fitted. I now have a selection of three belts available so all speeds can be selected without the handles hitting the motor, or the motor hitting the wall behind. The 3 belts were bought on line which even with postage was cheaper than my local supplier charged for 1 belt, and was still under a tenner!

The two socket head bolts that secure the intermediate pulley are a pain as the allen keys are too short, I must do something about that. But the bolts that secure the head are no trouble and I now have a dedicated socket and racket handle for them which works well..

The drawbar is a concern as I don't like hitting it, even with a a white metal hammer, to remove the collets, thinking of the quill bearings, but I am looking at Tom's Techniques solution of using a air impact tool permanently mounted above the drawbar head.

The column base I have shimmed to ensure that the head was properly 'trammed' to the table, quite an easy job if the bolts are only slackened off a couple of turns, the back shims if required can be slipped in, and a wee bottle jack can be placed under the quill to gently lift the front to fit front shims.

The instruction book was written in a form of Chinese/English that made absolutely no sense whatsoever, but fortunately Mr. Grizzly in the USA came up trumps with one that did. Considering how long Warco had been selling this - 30 years they told me - I thought a decent manual would have been available. Axminster Tools were selling off a X-axis power feed cheap, so that bought and fitted. I have also fitted DRO's to all axis's, the Z axis is a stand alone but the X and Y bars are displayed on a LCD Display from Arc that is very good and clear.

I have drilled one table recess to drain coolant, will do the other, but the drain pipes need improving. I try not to use coolant unless absolutely necessary.

All in all I am very pleased with the machine for what it is, a means of keeping the head in register whilst raising/lowering would be nice and may be a project I will do, it's on my "to do" list!

In essence, Inchanga's experience in 20 years of owning his machine is very similar to my 3 years!  I have noted his use of the space under the head for lighting, could be also used for fitting a permanent position for the coolant head.

Chris

Edited By ChrisH on 21/02/2015 14:06:37

Just a comment on solar panels. Our motorhome - campingcar in France! - has a 120W solar panel fitted. It charges 2 x 110ah 'domestic' batteries and will keep the engine battery charged as well. The domestic batteries, if we do not have an electric hook-up, have to run a diesel heater if the weather is cold, electric lights and run two fridges (one is run as a freezer normally) plus a TV if I succumb to SWMBO's ear bashing, unless of course I've accidently forgot to bring it with us (how could that possibly happen I wonder? But the peace is wonderful, no retard TV for days on end!).

In summer with long daylight hours, good light levels, no heater requirement, it just about copes if we are in one place for a few days with no electric hook-up. In winter, we need to drive places to get engine charging to keep the batteries topped up.

So for the IR unit proposed the solar panel would have to be huge is my guess, plus when you want it, in winter, light levels are low and short! A bit like wind power, useless when it's too windy, or cold but still in a winter high pressure time, when you really need all the power we can generate. Me sceptic, no way!

Chris

My workshop is roughly 2.5 x 3.7m. The outside walls are about 400mm thick of lumps of Ham Stone held by earth, with mortar pointing on the outside and a sand/cement render on the inside. There is one double glazed smallish window - about 1 x 0.8 m - and a single non-insulated wooden door. The apex roof is close boarded wood with roofing felt and pan tiles over and 6in space blanket then boarded with thin T&G strips under

I run a small dehumidifier, sometimes continually, sometimes on a humidity setting plus two Cold Watch 500w electric heater set on just above frost stat level. This maintains the workshop at between 5-8 deg.C. If I am away only the electric heaters run as the dehumidifier is not on constant drain - that is on my "to-do" list! When I am working in the shop I have a small fan heater set to fairly low on a one kW setting, or I can run a wee log/charcoal stove. The shop very heats up using either, by 60deg.F it is getting too warm!

I have not found any corrosion on any tool in my workshop since I started with in about four or five years ago, so I am happy with what I have in place, it works for me and the cost although not accurately measured is low.

Chris

Edited By ChrisH on 20/02/2015 10:55:57