Member postings for Simon0362

And I thought I was the only one who had made this mistake - mine, after many hours are 'usable' but nothing like 'right'.

@Michael, thank you (once again) for your ability to find relevant information on the web - I don't think I am any slouch on this subject but you are orders of magnitude ahead of me!

Next rainy day task - dig out binoculars and fix - finally!

Neil,

what parameters did you use for the TPU - nozzle and thickness, etc?

BR
Simon

Neil, good news!

Can you give us due warning when our access to the digital subscriber version will end please - mostly because I have been rationing myself and don't want to discover that there is something left unread!

Simon

Many years ago when I was doing my graduate studies in the early 80s, I made a reversal ring for my Minolta XG1 combining the stock 50mm with a stack consisting of a 100-200mm zoom and a 2X and a 3x converter - so 24x magnification I think. All produced using my Unimat with the screw cutting attachment.

This photo is the edge of an EPROM taken through the window in the top for erasing with UV light (wow, that takes me back), probably a 2k version. The top section shows the memory cells, the lower half is the logic and switching part.

Depth of field was very small,down to a few mm I think, focus and definition clearly (or rather, unclearly) suffering from the multiple bits of glass in the way!

Posted for the sake of interest, no comparison with some of the other stuff posted on this thread.

Exactly - and I spend the entire day in front of a screen (and on Zoom calls), so paper is really a pleasure at the end of the day.

@Neil, I am an overseas subscriber but I have not received any notifications about suspension of the paper copies, nor how to access anything - can you clarify?

Simon

Andrew, it is exactly as you assumed. No photos to hand but this is the exact replacement :

https://www.reichelt.com/fr/fr/protecteur-thermique-axial-240-c-mts-240-p13258.html

it is about the size of a 1W resistor with a tapered end between the body and axial lead at one end.
Simon

@Adrian, yes there is a thermocouple-like device at the opposite end of the airflow (so in the hot air flow) and that appears to function - at least, R varies with applied temperature. The fuse is at the opposite end of the airflow so I think was intended as a cut out if the fan stopped or airflow ceased.

@Stuart, the machine is ~25+ years old so this fits exactly....

Thanks again

@Michael,

Biggest problem with this one was that the writing had almost faded to nothingness - but you are right, its 240°C, 250Vac and 10A.

And good to catch you responding before reading fully -

@Andrew,

Thanks, you rather confirmed my suspicions. The new one will be crimped into place and following a couple of bench tests, will be returned to operations - if I can remember where all of the screws went!

Thanks for your swift and focused responses - as usual.

BR
Simon

Hi All,

We have a breadmaker that stopped working at the weekend - it did everything it said on the tin apart from actually baking the bread....Once I discovered this minor oversight, I bundled the bread into the main oven and proceeded to investigate.

I assumed that the element was no longer functioning (elementary my dear Watson...) and dismantled the machine to get to see it.

A test of the element connections from the power board suggested that there was indeed an open in the element.

Once I accessed the element (and believe me, this is part #1 of the entire build), I discovered that the element itself was fine but an inline component was O/C.

It looked like a 5W resistor and I assumed it was a thermistor to control the inrush current but it actually turned out to be a thermal fuse rated at 240°C.

I have never come across these devices so I have no idea if they slowly die over the years, nor how sensitive they may be.

With everything out on the bench I jumped the fuse with some wire and watched the unit start up, run the fan and the element for 2 seconds on start up and to operate perfectly.

I have some fuses on order but the questions I am looking for answers are whether this is likely a simple old-age issue (BM was bought in the late 90s) through time or 'n' uses, or whether they are highly reliable and there is another hidden problem...

BR
Simon

PS "bin it and buy a new one" responses are not sought....

Does anyone have any information about the minimum clearance for epoxy? I have had a look on the web but most of the references I can find are vague and rather general.

No actual use in mind today, just a more general query especially regarding the suitability of epoxy in place of HS retainers such as 648.

BR
Simon

This is how I did it 10 years ago - from (distant) memory, the big clamps were not the only means of holding the mill table to the lathe's vertical slide

BR
Simon

and the result looks like this:

Ah, not the point I intended to get across.....duh!

I have no issue whatsoever with the printed content on the card, rather the fact that a piece of cardboard is trapped between the plug body and the socket and wondering if it conforms to all the flash and tracking criteria that I believe apply to the plastics used in the plug bodies.

So, how much of a safety (fire?) hazard is a piece of cardboard especially if it became damp is my amended question.

Simon

And how many of these plugs have you seen with the card still sandwiched between the plug and socket?

I have often wondered about the potential safety aspects of this card!

BR
Simon

I was told a (probably apocryphal) story dating back to the mid 80s and the period when GEC (remember them?) bought Plessey and created a telecoms division known as GPT.

A senior UK manager went to France to talk to the French part of the Plessey business and wondered why his announcement regarding the new company was met with laughter – GPT sounds like J’ai peté in French, translates to “I have farted”.

On a similar note, the recent Audi e-Tron, pronounced in French means ‘turd’, not good for a high end car I guess…

Michael, made my day!

Mike,

Thanks for the professional view, I will try and hunt down some turpentine in our local DIY store and see what happens.

@Steve, everything I have read about support structures suggests that PVA water soluble filament should be used with PLA and associated filaments due to their mutual compatibility and similar melting points. ABS being much hotter to melt is also apparently not very compatible with PVA - they don't stick to each other I believe - that is why HIPS is proposed as the 'soluble' support.

Currently given up on both since I can't make them work with the intricate print I am trying to do....

Many thanks to all for your input and wisdom.
Simon

Hi,

@ Mike, the information that limonene is a selective solvent for HIPS seems to form part of the supporting documentation for every supplier of filament, e.g. matterhackers and simplify3d

" When being used as a support material, HIPS can be dissolved in d-Limonene, leaving your print free of any markings caused by support removal. "

I am no chemist but I am aware that the two are very similar, hence the search for something that selectively attacks the HIPS.

@ Brian, thanks for the information, I also saw (in a US reference) a suggestion that turpentine could be used - the real stuff, rather than the commonly available substitute.

Thanks for the reference to reprapworld, that may well help!

Simon

Hi,

hoping some of the more chemically minded folk here will be able to point me at an alternative to R or D-limonene which are apparently the liquids for dissolving HIPS (High Impact Poly Styrene) when using it as a support material.

Buying it here in France looks non trivial as is the price. Added to that, the web seems to think it is not very pleasant to work with.

I have printed an ABS model with HIPS support under the impression that it was easy to dissolve with readily available chemicals, but I am so far sadly disappointed..

Simon

Guess you would remember John Hall tools as well -think it was Morgan Arcade but it might have been one of the others around there. A constant source of things in those days as well as their industrial place underneath one of the motorway (?) flyovers. My main source of materials was a model shop on the western outskirts of Cardiff that did ME stuff as well including ST D10 castings.

Interesting days...!

Try reading "Experimental Flash Steam" (Benson and Raymon), chapter 4 contains a couple of pages and drawings about a flash steam plant built by HH Groves - including a contemporary description (1916). Later in 1936 a set of plans for a complete plant weighing 5oz was published in ME (apparently).

Prof. Chaddock apparently built a replica 'many years' after the original.

Intriguing.....