Member postings for the artfull-codger

Thanks Allan B you've made my day a workshop just like mine!! [full] I'm allways amused at some of our american cousins workshops [often in a basement] massive & spotless.they must have big basements over there.

Your thinking of hydrofluoric acid roy, we used it in the embossing dept to decorate glass for old fashioned pub windows along with brilliant cutting & sand blasting,some beautifull designs were made with it.

It's quite cheap on ebay, I got a gallon for rust removal & find it as good as jelonite & a lot cheaper, I had some sheets of copper stored in the workshop & where they were on the damp floor it turned green so far up the sheets so I tried phosphoric acid with a scotchbright & it came up a treat,[didn't seem to harm the copper] so I use it for cleaning brass as well. No doubt someone with more knowledge will let us know if it has any undesireable effects..

The old fashioned way of silvering was done horizontally using packings to make the glass perfectly level, I worked for pilkingtons for a large part of my working life & our silvering dept used to do it vertically with spray guns using ammonia, distilled water,silvering solution, copper plating & only laying it flat for painting & lead backing,the silverers were secretive about the solutions they mixed for all the beautifull coloured silvering,alas all gone now when pilk's got rid of us all.

It doesn't matter how large[or small] your workshop is you will fill it [if your like me!!] & plenty are, I started with a small wash house & progressed with various larger sheds/ workshops & they've all ended up being full, I presently have a large shed a cow byre & a large corn shed, they're all full [MUST have a sort out sometime]

Graham.

Michael- w, I do my sheds gates & railings with creosote mixed with old engine oil, I take the gates off for a couple of weeks to give it time to dry so the postman doesn't get any on his clothes,you can still buy the genuine stuff if you know where to get it.beats all this "creocote" imitation stuff.

WOW that's the deluxe version dave, I just buy cheapo diamond sthill saw size cutting disks from autojumbles & cut them into segments like cheese & use them like that, better than a single diamond.

I bought a Kennedy set of digital calipers [digital verniers don't exist ] model331-206 from a junk shop in gateshead high st, they didn't know what they were for about £25.00, they've never let me down, the only thing is they have a small display but I can live with that & the battery lasts for a long time I must have had them about 30 odd yrs now, I remember going into clarksons[of york] for some metal a lot of yrs ago & mr clarkson proudly showed me his new dial caliper, [I was impressed].

I have a dremel but it's too fast for many jobs, if you have a compressor then a desoutter air grinder type 04, a beautiful machine & as it's a turbine there's no vanes to wear out, I use mine for fettling up castings etc with dentists carbide burs, for fine work I use a motor driven dentists drill with a flexible drive to the handpiece & a foot speed control again with dentists burs,they occasionally come on ebay or autojumbles & are really good quality, I've been well using mine [came from a local hospital] for over40 yrs now.

I had a little chuckle to myself when I saw bsa tiger cub, allways competition between the tiger cub & the c15, you can still get a vincent [or a broughh superior for that matter] built today [if you've got the dosh!!],I sold my norton ss to my brother for £60 so I could buy a brand new myford super 7 b complete with cabinet stand reversing switch 3 jaw & motor[the motors were extra then & I was on a waiting list for the lathe] got it from stephensons north rd darlington for £350.00 I still have it & my brother still has my norton but it's worth more than the myford Grrrr.

I have a meddings industrial scroll/fret saw [a much underrated machine]& use cut up bandsaw blades & metal cutting coping saw blades, you could use a scroll saw with speed reduction & use metal cutting coping saw blades by cutting the ends off to fit the saw,it's surprising how good they can cut metal, allthough I built a small propane fired furnace my main casting furnace is coke fired & I've never bothered to change to expensive propane, it melts iron ok I built it over 40 yrs ago with instructions from my hero, "the master" b terry aspin ,no internet to make everyone an "expert" then.

I used to buy original hammerite from finnegans of prudhoe years ago & the thinners was carbon tet [not inflammable,] we used to use it a lot in the glass trade[carbon tet that is!], the new paints not the same, hammer*hite, if you want to thin it I use cellulose thinners which I allways have done, I also think it's too brittle,it finishes nice of course.

I bought mine a lot of yrs ago, the main spindle/feed lever was allways rough to operate on the rack & I eventually sussed that it was out of mesh, so I set it up in the mill & bored the 2 arms out & turned bronze bushes up & it's nice & smooth now [as well as being better for wear than the alloy] , I've made all sorts with it, a really usefull tool.

Graham T

Not really an answer to you Andrew but does anyone remember the old washing machines with the 1/4hp foot mounted induction motors? I was friendly with Harkers scrapyard in middlesbrough "over the border" & I used to strip them out for a quid apeace, really useful for all sorts of things,I have one driving a "skomo" spindle that I've used for nearly 50 yrs & it's still going strong,one driving a belt sander one driving a disk sander, now they fetch big money.

Graham.T.

Well I have to say I've got rat catching & mouse catching off to a fine art, poison is not an option for me as they die & stink the workshop out,my workshop being an old cow byre,& the father in law [farmer] kept hens, I caught 30 odd rats in 1 yr,no hens now so few rats, I've caught 36 mice this yr in my 3 workshops, MICE= a good old little nipper mouse trap,first remove the bait spike,"fine tune" it to be sensitive then spread nutty peanut butter all over & under the loop & pin mechanism, it never fails, oh and I put a wood screw in the side to wire a weight to it so they don't run away if they just catch their tail.RATS= a good old FENN MK4 spring trap they're like a small bear trap of old they're legal [google if you're not familiar] but you can only get them from farmers supplies [or the internet] then put a piece of hard chocolate on the platform & wind electricians tape round & round it tightly[rats love chewing plastic] & wire a weight to it as well, you don't want to loose a valuable trap!! never fails.[me]

Hi Archie,

The 4 back gears on the wansess ie 2 on the mandrel & 2 on the countershaft are all 20dp,& the outer gear on the mandrel which drives the tumbler gears[one is 18t & one is 26t & the inner gear which connects to them are all 18dp, the outer gear which is keyed to the last of the 18dp drive is 20dp which is the same as my myford gears & that drives the gear train on the banjo for threadcutting & self act, I can't be 100% sure of the bore size of these gears though as I've not got the banjo & studs & my myford has a geabox hence no studs to measure, no doubt one of the lads on here will know then you can compare size with yours

Graham.

Hi Archie,

That looks lik the one I had,the changewheel guard & the belt drive are casr aluminium,the headstock is bolted to the bed so just unbolts off [like a myford] the changewheels are 20dp like myfords,I made 90 degree bends for the oilers as it was mounted vertically along with the backgear mechanism, I've recently been to ozz to my daughters in joondalup perth so while I was there I made a visit to the local model engineering club, perth northen district model engineering society in vasto place balcatta, a great bunch of guys and a really good set up they made me really welcome with coffee & biscuits & look round the track & workshops[& the usual banter of course] thanks lads I'll call again when I'm next at my daughters.

Graham.

Hi Archie, I was fitting large sliding doors to a garage in billingham[ billingham motors teesside] & had to go into the basement for power & I "clocked" a machine in the corner as you do!! & HAD to investigate not being nosey of course, it turned out to be a wandess centre lathe,so after a bit of negotiating it was mine for £25.00,wandess made garage machinery, boring machines etc.I used it for a while & good it was too but I allready had a myford so I stripped it down & sold the cabinet stand for the price I paid for the lathe,I then bought a pallas horizontal miller & grafted the wandess headstock on to make it a vertical miller it had a bronze tapered bearings so was quite robust, I then sold the pallas when I got a bridgeport but kept the headstock " in case it comes in usefull" the bed & tailstock went to my brother, looking back now I should have kept it as a lathe[along with all tha motor bikes I sold on [now worth a fortune] hope you have success with yours, I only ever saw another & that was owned by a chap in west auckland, mot too far from me.

That's another pet hate of mine Robbo, selling absolute junk often painted with emulsion then sanded off with coarse glass paper for inflated prices"shabby chic" more like shabby s**t then as Alan says "barn find" there must be thousands of "barns" crammed with "vintage" goodies wating to be "discovered"

Is it just my age or has anyone else noticed, Ebay a large proportion of the tools for sale are "vintage" or "rare/ much sought after" often they're neither vintage or rare,[& often overpriced B I N price, usually plentifull or still in production, &" they don't make 'em like this any more", the list is endless, then amazon books I've bought quite a few books from them & well pleased at a good price too, but when you look for a book & the 2nd hand price is [say] £3.00 then as you scroll down it gradually gets higher [you've allready decided on the 1st one of course] then right at the end the self & same book is priced at £85.00 & they have a 5 star rating!! ok I've had my moan for the week.

Graham.