Member postings for steamdave

Over here, well UK and Ireland, seagulls are regarded as flying rats.

My formative years were spent growing up in Bombay. Over there, Kites are regarded as pests doing the same jobs as the gulls do here. Thousands of them fly over the city. They would swoop down and snatch sandwiches from the hands of unaware young kids as well as feasting on street wide refuse and also picking flesh from the bones of dead bodies (literally) in the Towers of Silence.

Don't get me wrong, they are a wonderful sight (the Kites, not the gulls) and it is good to see that they are making a heathy return to our skies. Here, in the west of Ireland we are proud to see the return of breeding Sea Eagles following the re-introduction of them some 10 years previously.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Another suggestion is to use old jam jars or similar. The lids are screwed to the underside of cupboards or shelves and the jars screwed up to the lids. One other benefit is that you can see the contents, even better with Dymo labels on the jar.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

I use the same design on my S7 !

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Didn't stop Bernie Ecclestone at 80 something.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

This topic seems to have drifted Off Topic lately. Returning to the original theme, if people are becoming less willing to display their models and also attend shows, what do they do with their models once built?

Some of the loco builders can run their engines on a club track, but there are a considerable number who are not club members or are not interested in locos or traction engines. I would think that for them, a Model Engineering show would be an ideal opportunity to showcase their efforts. (Previous reasons for not attending understandable).

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Just to show that I do follow up on the answers to my questions. Well, some of them!

These are my soft jaws. 2-1/4" Ali hex. The holes are .700" and the jaws are locked in place by M3 cap screws with the heads reduced in diameter a few thou. The front faces have deliberately not been faced.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

"Good judgement is the result of experience and experience is the result of bad judgement." Mark Twain

Dave
The Emerald Isle

That's it DC. Many thanks.

Also, your idea Mike was one I had seen before but had forgotten about.

Now to put some redundant ali hex to good use.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

That's £30 too much for me Clive!

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Somewhere, sometime ago there was a description of how to make soft jaws for a 3 jaw chuck. The method used hex aluminium with holes bored through the centre to fit over each jaw projection and secured somehow to the jaws.

Does anyone remember the design and where I would be able to find it? A Google search doesn't bring up anything for me.

I have seen Harold Hall's design, but I don't want to drill the jaws of my Pratt Burnerd chuck.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Vic. If I get enough plastic film, I'll give your idea a try. In the meantime, I have a new official one winging its way here.

Mark. Nothing out of the ordinary for a detached garage workshop, so I'll just make sure to keep it out of sunlight so that it doesn't roast.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

I have a sanding belt cleaner - one of those rubber sticks that you press against the belt as it's running. Had it maybe about 3 or 4 years. Went to use it today and it just melted and clogged up the belt. Belt ruined.

Looking at the cleaner, it has gone very spongy. Has anyone any ideas how/why this could happen? I've ordered a new one and don't want to let the same thing happen to it.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

And then there was MiniBrix - rubber blocks that clipped together somewhat like Lego.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Another good book is 'Making the Most Of The Unimat' by Rex Tingey.

Should be available for download off the Internet, but if you can't find it, I can let you have a copy.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

I used to have a GHT 4 way indexing toolpost for my Myford. Actually I made 2, one for machining ferrous metals, the other for non-ferrous. Surprisingly I very rarely changed between the two blocks, it was quicker to swap out the cutting tools (which were kept pre-shimmed). A few years ago when 'everybody' was advocating the QCTP made by a company supplying Myford, I changed over. Biggest mistake I ever made.

It maybe 'quick change', but not as quick as spinning the turret round one or 2 places. It is definitely not as rigid as the GHT toolpost. One thing that hasn't come up this time is that people complaining they snag their hands on the non-cutting tools. I don't remember doing that and I can be quite careless. For those folk, there is always the Lammas 3 way toolpost.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

I'll be coming over from Ireland and combining a visit to the show (on Friday) with a trip to see family members in darkest West Country.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Unless they are very special cutters, is it really worth paying £3 - £10 for resharpening when new cutters won't cost much more, if anything, with careful shopping around?

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Dougie

This is the best I can do. I sold the lathe a couple of years ago.

From memory, the angle of the V is 70 degrees, but you had better check it!

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Here's an auxiliary boring table that I made for my M300. Clamps to the cross slide with wedge blocks as per Harrison's design. Plate was ex 12mm and screw holes are M10.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

I also have a copy but postage from Ireland will be quite expensive. If you can wait until July time, I will be in Blighty then if you haven't been satisfied beforehand.

Dave
The Emerald Isle