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Member postings for Ian Abbott

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

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Thread: Chuck Salvage?
21/12/2010 18:06:56
I like the citric acid method.
 
About ten days ago, I picked up a load of Whitworth spanners from the recycle in Newton Abbot.  They'd been sitting in the rain for who knows how long, so I searched around for any other stuff that needed de-rusting and dumped the lot in a bucket  of water with 100g of citric acid.
 
The next morning, the bucket was frozen solid.  It's still frozen solid.  I've now forgotten what exactly is in there.
 
Ah, the joys of no heated work space.
 
Ian 
Thread: True Diesel Models
20/12/2010 19:07:35
I just bought a little Peugeot diesel, which set me to thinking that on the 1.9 litre engine, each cylinder is 475 cc.  so the injection system might just be adaptable to an engine as small as 100 cc.  Scrapyards should have a selection of injectors and pumps to experiment with.   I have yet to pick up a service manual, so I'm not too well informed on the minutiae, just my old training on the big diesels kicking in.
 
Ian 
Thread: Simpler the Better -what do you use?
20/12/2010 18:57:25
Hi Clive,
 
I'm running Vectorworks 11 on an old G3 laptop, but it will run on the dual processor G5 with OS 10.4.  The G3 won't accept anything after 10.0.0.
 
Unfortunately, I upped the G5 to OS 10.5.8 to be in cync. with the Intel MacBook, but 10.5 scrambles the display.  The most awkward thing is that our new Epson printer can't be used with the G3.  In the interim, I'm printing to PDF and transferring to the Intel to print.  But.... PDF's shrink everything to A4 size.
 
Now you've got me thinking again about the TurboCad.  I think at this point, I think I need to find a newer G-something which will accept 10.3 or 4.  Had a nice G4, all souped up, but left it in Canada, along with a lot of stuff that we thought that we'd never use again.......
 
Oh well.
 
Ian 
Thread: You are going to the Model Engineer Exhibition aren't you?
08/12/2010 20:59:38
Belay that last comment.
 
Now page two has some posts running off the side of the screen, some missing and no Post a reply box, and all the sidebar ads are at the bottom.......
 
First page is fine still. 
 
Or perhaps it's all right and I had one too many ciders from the Sainsbury's  cheap sell off tray.....
 
Ian..hic.... 
08/12/2010 20:53:13
'Kay, seems to have rectified itself, got both pages now.
 
Ian 
08/12/2010 20:51:46
Got a problem here,  the second page of posts won't load past the first little bit.  Same on the other ME Exhibition stream.
 
And the reason for the post in the first place.
 
Have fun at the show guys, my income doesn't run to London trips and it's a bit too far from South Devon to go it on the senior's bus pass. 
 
Post lots of photos. 
 
Ian
Thread: Chinese lathes
26/11/2010 19:43:57
Hi Ketan,
 
Wife translates, I supply the engineering / colloquial input.
 
If we can help anytime, iabbott@ssisland.com
 
Ian 
25/11/2010 17:58:15
Hey Ketan,
 
My wife is a Chinese - English translator, cheap rates for engineers.
 
Ian 
23/11/2010 17:49:27
My "Chinky" wife enjoys reading the packing from "Chinese" shipped stuff and we don't need to go down to the "Chinese" take away for translation.
 
Ian 
Thread: steel for cylinders?
23/11/2010 17:43:30
'Bout thirty years ago General Motors tried to build a four cylinder aluminium (or should it be "aluminum") block with chromed cylinders.  Another one of GM's abject failures, it proved impossible to bed the rings into the bores.  I think that it was used in the Chevy Chevette or some similar small car attempt before they got the Japanese to build the small stuff for them.  Anyway, the cars drank oil and most finished up on the scrap pile at an early age, the bodies weren't much good either.
 
Ian 
Thread: The Impecunious Engineer
08/11/2010 18:22:23
Speaking of LIDL's good stuff, I was in there the other day and they had something like 10" pots with four foot trees, labeled "Giant Bonsai Trees".
 
Ian 
06/11/2010 20:38:48
Out in the shed under the combine, with no fan avalable, we had to make do with the normally aspirated version of the LIDL welder.  The first time, we had coffee, tried again, had lunch, then dinner, gave up for the day, came up to the shed at ten am the next morning and voila, there we were, another minute's welding.  I shed tears over the MIG that I'd sold for a song before leaving Canada for home.
 
Having said that, the LIDL unit works fine for small jobs where a two inch bead is it until the next time.
 
Ian 
Thread: Metric vs Imperial - Practical or Traditional?
06/11/2010 20:28:00
And,  I did enjoy putting a sign up saying "1/3 of a kilometer" pointing to our business.
 
(Which was in engineering, fortunately I gave that up in 1983)
 
Ian 
 
06/11/2010 20:23:53
You have to understand here Hansrudolph, that I am incapable of grasping the figures on any readout, metric, Imperial or fraction, correctly.
 
DRO's  in my hands are a deadly weapon and I started using a magnifying glass to read a vernier thirty years ago to narrow down the available numbers to the few inside the lens.  Not that my eyesight is bad, it's just the connection with my brain which can't accept any measurement with numbers in the tens of thousands.  At least an inch generally limits the options to a thou. or two.  Decimal points are optional with me and in the time it takes to scroll the screen back to the line I'm writing, the figure that I've just read had disappeared into the ether.
 
Given the potential for catastrophe  when placing the decimal point  in a number such as 68580 compared to fifty feet plus 25 thou. I'll take the inch any time.
 
And yes, of course I use metric constantly alongside imperial and "this long", I just don't find it has the same warm feeling as a nice comfortable 1/64", three chains or a furlong.
 
 
Ian 
06/11/2010 12:28:58
While I was sending the last message, the boss, who is completely Imperial illiterate, said, "Oh, that's easy, all you do is move the decimal point two places, or should that be three places, no one place, yes two, I think."
 
Ian 
06/11/2010 12:22:53
Sorry, I didn't double check the calculator.
 
The theatre is in fact 225 feet outside measurement, the ridiculous millimetre figure on the plan should have been 68580 mm.
 
Lesson, don't type messages when someone else is trying to clear the table 
 
Ian 
Thread: The Impecunious Engineer
05/11/2010 19:04:13
Picked up one of those welders from LIDL a couple of years ago for using around the farm, where it'll get beaten up pretty quickly.  It's an AC unit, I think, but works ok.  The thing to watch is the duty cycle.  After a minute or so welding, it needs a day to cool down and reset.  
No, I'm not joking, 24 hours to reset.
 
Ian 
 
Thread: Metric vs Imperial - Practical or Traditional?
05/11/2010 18:32:45
Some years ago in Canada, pre CAD, I had to translate the metric dimensions and redraw the plans of a new theatre, so that the occupiers could use all their Imperial drawing templates and equipment.
When I came across measurements of 5715 mm, my mind switched off until I realised that it was a nice even 225 ft.  I discovered as I went on, that the designers had drawn an Imperial theatre, because all of the materials were in feet and inches.  After it was all finished, they sat down with a calculator and changed all the measurements to millimetres and drew it at 50:1 instead of 1/4", making the plans impossible to use with imperial lighting and scenery templates.  I swear that they had a copy in Imperial which they refused to give us.
 
And, on probably fifty percent of the odd jobs that I make parts for, I don't use any measurements.  Turn a piece of metal to something that looks right, then bore a hole until it fits.
 
Ian 
Thread: Unknown Tool
29/10/2010 20:09:10
Looks like a plumbers wrench for tightening/loosening the nuts on the taps from underneath the sink.
 
Ian 
Thread: Metric vs Imperial - Practical or Traditional?
29/10/2010 20:01:43
Sorry, I should have said " 914.4 mm of snow."
 
Much easier to visualise isn't it. 
 
Ian 
 
 
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