Member postings for the artfull-codger

Nige, mine is 2.5 magnification, about 8" focal point you can get more powerfull lenses but the focal point is much closer & not so convenient, btw there was a company in the uk advertising them in me or mew a while back.

I must 2nd Ian &Rik, I was given a chinese cheapo set with 3 sets of plastic lenses & they were absolute rubbish, I bought an optivisor set & they're fantastic [the " yanks" still make good tools!!.]

Hi Jon, I'll let you know when, you can have a drive of"albert" , letter posted today

Graham.

Hi Jon,no that belongs to a friend of mine Richard, my engines called "albert" after my late father, I couldn't go last yr as I was in ozz perth at my daughters but should be there this yr.

Graham.

Hi Jon, I've got a 4" foster T E, we usually go on the saturday of the car exhibition [they're not keen on us on the sunday!!] if you go to the top floor Dennis has his models working there, he's a really good engineer, unfortunately I only took a couple of pictures of the large bronze nameplate [prince of wales] mounted on the back wall, as I'm making a pattern & going to cast a miniature plate for a friends workshop, it's a surprise [& one for me for my personal gratification!! he he] no particular scale as I didn't measure it but it'll be about 14"x2" & go on the workshop door with the others i've made,I did get a glossy leaflet with pictures and details about progress to date,if you personal message me with your address I'll send it to you.[F O C ]

Graham.

Hi MikeE, to adjust the stroke you open the long narrow door at the upper left hand side, inside you'll see a flywheel with a 19mm spanner size nut with a bearing & a tee slot just like a shaping machine which you slide nearer the centre for a shorter stroke & outer for a longer stroke.

Graham.

Hi Jon, I only live 9 miles from darlo I'm giong there tomorrow to the presentation on the p2 project at the hopetown works,I usually go to the pumping station with my engine every year [a fantastic place,victorian engineering at its best!] there's model engineering club in the grounds & also one in hurworth .

Graham.

Hi Mike, the metal banding isn't bonded onto the file it just clamps in the toolholder with the file & just stays on the file with the bearing in contact with it, the bottom file holder clamps the file & strip together unlike the opus that just rests in a socket. on the bottom.

Graham.

Hi Mike,

I'll get my son to photograph them both when he comes up & print them on here, OuBallie when I had a back ball bearing roller on the back of my home made one I just used to put a strip of steel banding on the back of the file to protect it.

Graham.

Hi Mick,

I have an opus 120 &the manual for it was from www.lathes.co.uk [tony griffiths], I made most of the cat heads for mine, I have a number of theil files but I just use parallel files & angle grind a point on the bottom, they cut on the down stroke & don't have[or need] relief on the up stroke as many people seem to think, before I had mine I made my own using the bottom half of a lawn mower engine for the reciprocating motion[it'll last for ever with oil in the crankcase] with a flanged shaft bolted to the piston running in a large bronze bush above & a speed controlled motor, it's really accurate & a pleasure to use, in some respects it's better than the opus,I'll try & get my son to post some pictures on here as I don't know how to, I built it about 30 yrs ago when doing a lot of intricate brass work.

I was in perth w a a few yrs ago & built a toylander land rover for the grandkids & used son in laws ozito drill [exclusive to bunnings superstore] ^ was so impressed that when I went last yr I bought their latest brushless drill & 2 lithium ion batteries,really good drills [perhaps not up to makita professional] but I've just put a new metal sheeting roof on our barn using it to screw them down & the battery lasted most of the day,I was well impressed, btw the sheds a 21mtsx 9mts & used 400 text screws, we put about 300 in before a recharge,bunnings have now taken over homebase in the uk & you can buy ozito stuff over here now,

Hi Brian, there's a good model engineering society in perth basto place balcatta, really welcoming, I was there last yr visiting & they were a really friendly lot, lovely track & setup, don't know where you live in perth,my daughter lives in joondalup,I'll be going out there in december so I'll be visiting the club again.

Graham.

£137.00 & not met the reserve!! should have snapped the buyers hand off,.

When I kept bees we used to put them on the rape & as said above you've got to extract it quick before it crystalises, we used to watch it till it was about to be capped then spin it off put new foundation on & keep the spun frames ready for the autumn crop of heather honey,[ I live in n. yorkshire not far from the moors] of course the main reason for the massive increase in production was the farmers got good subsidies for growing it.

Looks like a home ground hss form tool for a particular job in brass as it appears to have no rake.

Couldn't have put it better myself Geoff, my very thoughts.

Nice flasks like the 8 I once had , till the "friendly" scrap men decided they would have them along with a large 4 jaw chuck & other stuff, a few yrs ago cctv all round now, the only reason they left the 12 ft of railway line is because they couldn't lift it.

I have a student round head with a flat belt drive & no clutch, so I mounted the motor on a hinged platform & a balanced lever mechanism [like a traction engine valve gear lever] & it lifts & locks & drops & locks & has worked for me for the last 30 odd yrs, & as for not being safe well I just move the high & low ratio gear lever to the middle so it can never drive or be unsafe whilst making measurements etc, my edgewick lathe was made to work like that with a flat leather belt, a friend converted his vee belt colchester to flat belt to do the same, a big let down on colchesters not having a clutch.

I picked one of those Barston drifts up for a couple of quid 20 odd yrs ago as the end was snapped so I just welded my M T drift that I used to use on it & i've used it on my meddings drill ever since, the best bit is you can hold the chuck with 1 hand & drift it out with the other,previously you hammered the drift with a hammer & ended up with it falling down or dropping the chuck.

Amazon books are often like that you see a book you want for[say] £18.00 then by the time you've scrolled down out of intrest the same books £200.00, I saw a book I wanted & there was 2 both near the £100.0 mark [too dear for me] I googled the authors name & it transpires he sold up all his books & equipment to a company in leeds, when I contacted them I bought the same book brand new for £10.00 plus postage & delivered the next day, it pays to shop around.