Member postings for Peter Hall

Yes, more than welcome. I daresay there will be others who will chip in. Your father would have found many kindred spirits here.

Pete

Sad news about your Dad.

You may find the following link useful.

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/news/article/disposing-of-a-workshop/22007

Pete

Bearings for a drawer slide maybe? Try getting in touch with Clarke. I believe they offer a spares service for some of their machines; maybe they could sort out your toolbox too.

Pete

NthreadsP is still available on the lathes uk website.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/latheparts/page14.html

For anyone who doesn't know, it's an absolute Godsend. Saved me the cost of a metric changewheel set.

HTH

Pete

Edited By Peter Hall on 24/04/2020 16:00:51

Noooooo!!! Please come back. I enjoy your posts.

Pete

Aaaah, yes.... Wolf Hall. I gave up half way through. Couldn't cope with the historical present. As I heard someone say on Radio 4 the other day, " It gets very confusing when the word 'he' refers to three characters in the same paragraph". I bought it from a charity shop and it's just gone back.

Now to the serious stuff... Mrs Hall is off in the morning to take care of her elderly mother for a few days in these trying times, so I will be self-isolating in the garage and (new experience) trying to see a project through from start to finish. My reading matter today has been :-

Workshop Practice nos 38, 27 and 17

'Building Simple Model Steam Engines' by Stan Bray

Sparey's "The Amateur's Lathe"

Cowells 90 lathe by A Smith

and Elmer's Tiny

Sorry... see you on the other side.

Sadly yours

Pete

Thanks for your suggestions. On reflection I think it's not going to be worthwhile for me to invest in the kit. I'll pay a visit to the local makerspace; they've got some lasers!

Pete

Can anyone point me in the direction of some advice or a primer on cnc router/laser engraving? I am building some DIY oscillators and synthesizer modules and would like to be able to engrave lettering and graphics on aluminium face panels. I know less than Jack about this, but with the availability and falling prices of machines, I'm considering doing it myself. Small scale and light use only; I won't be doing this commercially. Any help gratefully received. I've tried searching the forum but came up with nothing useful.

Pete

Well I most certainly have a view.

As I gaze out of my 3rd floor window across the River Itchen, I can clearly see Merlin Wharf where the Spitfire was developed and built back in the 1930s. I have to say it looks better in the sunshine than it does under today's leaden skies.

Pete

Whoa there cowboy! I'm not an expert of any sort, but if it's headstock roller bearings you're talking about, my Speed 10 manual says " use a light Lithium-based grease, NLGI No. 2, e.g. Castrol LM grease."

As a sidebar, my Speed 10 has been dripping all over with 32 hydraulic oil for about 10 years and still looks pristine

Pete

Ah. Sorry. That one slipped past me.

Pete

I collected my wife from a hospital appointment where she was waiting in a room labelled as the Discharge Lounge. I was going to ask the lady on reception if it had anything to do with the sperm bank, but bottled it.

Pete

Pardon?

I use these.

Robust, economical, and I haven't heard a thing since 1984.

Pete

So do the ones from Halfords. Sadly, mine were too old to try for a refund!

Pete

I have Unimat, Toyo, Perris and Sherline lathes for the small stuff. (Well, they don't take up too much space.) If pushed, I would hang on to the Sherline over all the others. It works, it's flexible and there's a good range of tooling available (and at this size it's not difficult to make your own). Downside is the cost in the UK, and if Sterling continues to fall that will only rise. Available new from millhillsupplies.co.uk . If you're in the States they'll be cheaper and you can buy direct from Sherline. They sometimes come up on ebay or gumtree; if you're lucky you may find one with comprehensive tooling included (like I did).

I like my Toyo ML210 a lot, but tooling is expensive to buy new, and non-existent on the secondhand market. The lathes can be had quite cheaply on ebay. Unimat 3 lathes are more plentiful secondhand, and more tooling is available, but they have stupid motors which are not continuously rated. You have to keep turning them off to let them cool down. Personally I would avoid the older Unimats; they're a bit flimsy. My old Perris is a labour of love and pretty much the same as an early Cowells. I've had to make my own tooling and the belt tends to slip under load. Cowells come highly recommended by some, but if you want to check out their prices, just make sure you're sitting down before you go to their website.

Pete

I have just emptied and vacated a workshop. Those are the wisest words I have seen this year.

Pete

But surely that's because Birmingham chippies used them for putting in screws. I've seen them do it ;hammer it all the way in and give half a turn with a 'driver at the end to ensure it 'bit'.

Pete

Not a wobbler, but if you slip whilst dismantling motorcycle switchgear and let the small spring fly loose, that's called a pingf*ckit, 'cos that's the sound you'll hear as it disappears into the darkest recesses of the workshop.

Pete

Give that man a gold star!

Pete

Edited By Peter Hall on 28/05/2016 13:11:21