Member postings for the artfull-codger

Thanks boys [knew I could rely on the forum ] just confirming my thoughts

Checking my FB yesterday an advert came up for a lathe8" x16" loads of accessories chucks etc for the princely sum of £43.57 christmas special,looks really good BUT if it's too good to be true it probably is, just wondered if anyone els has seen /bought it.. some outfit called YU YU then sddress https//nicseries/products/hijk

Got a phone call this morning asking if I was Mr *** yes sez I & who are you? she sad a name & that she was from Amazon & asked me when I last purchased from my Amazon account,so I told her if she was from Amazon she would know when I last made a purchase, next thing she sharply told me "Bad manners" & slammed the phone down, gutted I wanted to give her a gob full,especially as I had just cocked a little job up & was in a mood!!

Graham.;

Just like to msay thanks For sending ma a replacement Model Engineer for the mixed up one I got last week [foc] great service.

Graham.

Hi, Just received my copy of ME no 4717 & the pages are all mixed up,& wondered why Luker had gone from his Fire Queen to Doug Hewson's B1,anyone else got the same mix up?

Graham.

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 15/05/2023 11:26:24

Had the same mower for 50 yrs suffolk colt looked after still ok but the wife wants me to get an electric one as our solar panels kick out nearly 4 kw on a sunny day,so she says it'll save paying for petrol, she's right but I love my old suffolk, not sure what is a good make.

Good little engine for a young boy well done, like the bucket to collect the condensate, is that just sanitiser for the burner? As well as a drop of meths whats the reason for using it?

Graham

To be honest this crops up regularly, my main workshop is an old cow byre so that rules out dehumidifiers and electric oil filled radiators,so when I've finished using the lathes/milling machine or any of my machines I spray them with duck oil or wd40 then cover them with a heavy velvet curtain and a shower curtain on top which apart from being waterproof is thin and covers well, and for heating I have a pot belly stove with a home built heat exchanger which blasts the heat out and I just light when needed, it won't heat the whole workshop but it does keep me warm, that's my take on it and it works for me, everyone has their own ideas of course.

Got a text the other day supposedly from the NHS saying I've been in contact with someone with covid & to ring the number they sent needless to say I deleted it as I've not been anywhere, To be honest I'm fed up with it all the loads of rogues trying to rip us all off all the time.

A lot of yrs ago I had a 500cc gold star & the exhaust valve guide was loose in the head [bronze guide,alloy head], I got some copper sulphate & a piece of copper ,cleaned the guide & corked the ends & copper plated it, never had anymore bother.

Graham.

Hi Luker these hall mirrors were for the wife,to give as presents to family,members,I'm always on the lookout for ready made "patterns" to use for castings these were made from a resin ornament, if I'm loaned anything I make a copy in petrobond with type metal which was used in the newspaper industry as it does not shrink when it cools,I also use roses metal which actally expands when it cools, we used it in the glass trade for setting armourplate glass doors into channel rails we chiseld it out & replaced it with modern rubber pressed in with a hydraulic press, needless to say I salvaged all the scrap, it melts at the boiling point of water, thank you for your kind words.

Graham.

Thank you for your kind comments Noel,[praise indeed from yourself ]I've seen & follow you in action on F B & good it is too, when I make nameplates with any fine letters/details I usually sieve a layer of petrobond on as it's stronger & finer [& expensive now] then the rest is mansfield red [well it's black now with use!!.

Regards Graham.

Edited By the artfull-codger on 30/03/2022 10:26:01

Edited By the artfull-codger on 30/03/2022 10:26:53

No1 Invicta we borrowed the castings from an aveling that was getting repaired,one of the 1st castings I did many years ago,No2 me pouring[never mind the junk behind!! hehe No3 2/1 scale traditional fingerpost signs we used to have round here alas all gone now, this miniature is ,in my front garden between Worsall & Yarm Rosecroft is our cottage, no 4 is the 2 part pattern with core print for the North Yorkshire c c top of the post, all letters cut out on the Hegner,No5 is one of the roses with 2 different pouring sprues,one with a pouring baisin,, one without, not much difference to be honest, No6 straight out of the flasks with a brass firebar off a 2" traction engine [for a friends ornament ] wouldn't last 5 mins in his firebox!!,lastly the 2 roses mounted on the pediments.

  Oops !! go to part 3 for pictures of  what this is all about!!

Edited By the artfull-codger on 29/03/2022 19:51:16

Hi Luker, sorry about the delay re "yorkshire rose" these are traditional yorkshire roses not with lots of separate petals [& they have to be displayed the right way up!!] & a few other snapshots of castings I've done.in the past.

I make cast alloy signs with fine detail & lettering on them & also cast brass nameplates & signs & I polish the details with 1200 wet & dry [wet] wrapped tightly on a rubber block,then I sandblast them with fine grit then polish again with w & d & polish with solvol autosol rubbed in to a cloth but wrapped tight round a rubber block so you don't polish the background I clean up with celly thinners & a paint brush & repeat three of times using fresh thinners then the final time I blow the [now clean] thinners off with the compressor blow gun & in my case I 2k etch prime before airbrushing with coach enamel 2 coats,sounds a faff on but I've never had a sign returned faulty. even years later.

Edited By the artfull-codger on 26/03/2022 23:51:08

Edited By the artfull-codger on 26/03/2022 23:54:04

Beautifull,brass castings not a blow hole in sight.

Hi Luiker the local jobbing foundry where I go to [not many of those left now] don't like brass either also ,they use co2 sand & many years ago I asked for some greensand [mansfield red] & they said "go round the back" & dig as much as you like,needless to say I dug a few cwt up along with grass & weeds I riddled it & still use it, occasionally adding a handfull of "fullbond 100" bentonite to keep the bond,. Roger when I first started I thought I would make some home made Aluminium Bronze 90/10 mix needless to say I got the mix wrong with too much alloy & it turned out absolutely rock hard in lumps,, never bothered again, bronze would be easy enough to make but not with zinc in it, fortunately over the years folk get to know you & I've built up stocks of brass/bronze & alloys for odd jobs I've done for people so I'm ok for "pot fodder"

Another excellent casting video Luker, I modified a couple of my flasks a good few years ago as I had a number of

"claw feet" to cast for a large alter cross for our local church that had "lost" them,[traditional

brass casters flasks] they all came out well,cast like this, brass is a "dirty metal" to cast, bronze being much nicer,as an aside I have a great supply of zinc, the garage in our village get's the odd machining done by me & as well as getting alloy from him he saves me all the wheel balance weights as they don't use lead now but steel or zinc,& they usually have zn cast in them so I sort them & make nice clean ingots.

Graham.

Hi Luker thank you for that info [priceless!] it's a faff on 2 part molding from bar I'll get the furnace fired up this week.& see how I go,.