Member postings for Bill Dawes

Thanks for all the interesting replies guys.

I'm 75 now, thankfully quite fit and healthy (well apart from Coeliac, Crohns, TIA, high BP, high Cholesterol)

My wife and I very often say, when discussing why all our plans of yesterday for today came to nothing, how on earth did we go out to work full time, bring up two kids with all the attendant school trips, parent evenings, parties, McDonalds, football, cricket, plus shopping, decorating, mow the lawn, washing, ironing etc etc.

No- we have got something wrong somewhere, or is it something right!

Bill D

Did old Albert's theory cover why time compresses with age?

Going through my wife's 'bible' the other day (her annual planner, copies going back to the early '80s, she kept saying "guess when it was when we bought this or that or when we decorated the lounge etc".

I was always out by several years, what I was convinced was two years ago turned out to be five, three or four years was seven years etc.

Last year went like 4 months, planning for Christmas was about 3 weeks ago.

What's going on?

When I was younger I used to think that time in my golden years would drift along sleepily and slowly with eternally long days. The real event has turned out to be an escapade of never having time to do everything we planned to do.

Bill D

Ordered some stainless 5 & 6 BA cheese head & CSK from BA Bolts, arrived by return of post.

Excellent service.

Bill D.

Had a reply from Joe, he said he can't get SS BA anymore.

SteamDave, have you used the company BA bolts you suggested?

Bill D.

Steamdave, had a look at the BA bolts website and eureka, they do SS 6BA cheesehead and csk, just what I am looking for.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Just had an e-mail from a Pete Kirkham of SS automotive fasteners apologising for problems and telling me how I can pay. (Still not by Visa etc) Doing a bit of googling, this state of affairs with them is not new so I am still very suspicious, a shame really as what is offered on his website is impressive, if he is genuine he really needs to get sorted if he wants to stay in business.

I deal a lot with Macc models and get excellent service so might drop Joe an e-mail to see if he can supply even though not on his website.

Bill D

Anyone know of a good source of stainless BA screws, my usual ME suppliers seem to have the odd size, or non at all but none of them have a good range of sizes and types.

I though I had cracked it when I came across a company called Stainless Automotive Fastenings, they have an amazing range of all things stainless on their website, metric, BA, Whit, specials for old cars and bikes and so on.

Set about ordering some but got a bit nervous when the usual range of credit/debit cards that they indicated as a form of payment turned into American express (tried them once, waste of time as no one would take them) or bank transfer only when it came to the payment stage.

Anyone dealt with them?

Bill D

A few years ago at a MEX I stood in awe looking at the incredible model of the Naper Dagger engine (then unfinished) not heard anything about it for a while, does anyone know if it is finished yet?

Boll D

Thank you Brian.

Bill D.

Sorry Terry, from your later post I guess it is a complete build you are doing.

Bill D.

Hi Terry, sounds the same as my Emma Victoria I am building. The pipe is the steam pickup pipe, steam here is wet steam, on mine it then goes into the superheater and thence to the cylinders. I do not know if yours is a working engine or one in bits, if the latter note that the steam pickup pipe sits in a pressure retaining inner dome, the outer dome is the fancy bit you see and is just a cover. I assume most locos are very similar although I am not an expert, this is my first engine build.

Good luck.

Bill D.

My Birthday today and my lovely family clubbed together to buy me a steam rail driver experience on the Avon Valley railway.

Can't wait.

Bill D.

Sorry Paul should have clarified I was talking about locos, you are referring to traction engines of course, I have made a point of looking at scale models, full size, photos and films but yet to see one with left hand hinges.

I am intrigued as to whether it is just tradition or is there a logical explanation.

Bill D.

Is there any reason why smokebox doors always seem to be hinged on the right (looking at the front of the engine)

I have asked several people at various events and no one seems to really know.

Bill D.

Caught a charming little film on Talking Pictures (Sky TV channel 343) this afternoon. A steam fair in the 1950's, no talking just that jolly backgound music old documentaries used to have.

Sorry it's a bit after the event, did anyone else see it, anyone recognise where it was? were you there even! (it may not have been just one event of course)

Might be on again sometime.

Talking pictures is a good channel for old British movies.

Bill D.

Hi Mike, an opportune post as I have been pondering the same.

My 5" gauge "Emma Victoria" I am building is mounted on a couple of short lengths of steel angle screwed to a piece of board on my work bench and I have wondered if angle would be ok for a short length down the garden for testing (when I get to that stage, still some way off)

From replies it sounds as if it should be ok.

Like you, my first loco.

Good luck

Bill D

Thanks for that Dan, I did wonder about making up a more permanent lever but first I need to do a bit of work on the locating block if it comes out without dismantling half of the lathe.

Bill D

Dan, from what you say it sounds as if mine should lock as well, might have a look one day. Will have to study the parts diagrams.

Bill D.

Seems good reasoning Jason, mine has the DRO.

Thanks for the pic Thor, mine looks much the same but with the DRO on the right of the cross slide. In in the manual it indicates the locking screw on the left side.

Having another look at mine the two screws outer screws on each side appear to bolt the carriage to the apron, sticking a finger under the carriage the single inner ones screw into a block that locates under the slide, I assume to stop carriage lift. As they are fully tight I guess that the blocks are machined to give just the right running clearance.

I suppose I could remove one of the blocks and machine a bit off so that it locks when full tightened but that would probably mean that you will have to carefully set it when not locked so that there is not too much play causing lift, even then it could move with vibration, I don't think I will bother, as far as I am aware I have not actually had a problem with carriage moving when doing a face cut.

Other than that I love it, a big improvement on my Clarke lathe I had previously, the biggest joy for me as silly as it sounds is having the carriage on a rack rather than furious winding of the power feed screw to move the carriage back and forth all the time, plus the DRO which is excellent

Thanks guys for feedback,

Bill D.

Thor, that's interesting, I did look at those but they were already dead tight I seem to remember, so I checked with Warco and they came back confirming that there was not a carriage lock. Just had another look and I have three each side of the cross slide, two on the outer edge of the carriage and one in by the actual slideway, they are all tight so assume they are for holding all the bits together.

Now, just having a recap on where I saw reference to a lock, it is in the manual and refers to a socket head screw, illustration points to one of the pair to the left of the cross slide, tried again but no, dead tight and makes no difference to the carriage.

Got me intrigued now, is mine just different to yours or is there something amiss with the lock screw.

It's a shame really, all the sophosticated VS control and DRO but a simple thing like a nice carriage lock lever is overlooked.

I suppose like a lot of things you buy, whatever the cost, there is always something that prompts you to say 'if only they had....'

Bill D.

Hi Chris, sorry only just seen this post.

I bought a 290V last year, really pleased with it generally.

I had a couple of problems, the push button switch kept tilting and locking had a replacement by return.

Established that there is not a lock on the carriage despite what the web spec said.

Had to remove tailstock to adjust the locking mechanism as the quick action lever just went over centre.

Otherwise well equipped with DRO, variable speed, power traverse etc.

Bill D.