Member postings for Bill Dawes

I have often pondered on the circumstances that led up to the career that I have had for the last 57 years.

I was born and spent my childhood in Birmingham so I guess I was destined to go into manufacturing in some way. I lived up the road from the BSA, round the corner was James motorcycles and Watsonian sidecars.

My dad and many of my uncles worked at Rover, Land Rover, Austin, Girling etc.

I left school at Christmas and applied for an apprenticeship at Rover. Sadly (at the time) they had already filled their allocation with summer leavers.

Just after Christmas 1956 I literally stepped out of our front door and bumped into a school friend who had just got a job down the road and suggested I went there to try my luck. The rest, as they say, is history, the company was Alldays & Onions, a name known by many in the ME fraternity I guess.

The company at this time in their long history(established c1650) made industrial fans and that is what I have done since then. I had never heard of industrial fans before I went there, as it turned out my time in the car industry, had it gone that way would have been fairly short lived.

From my early days on the shop floor I have yearned to own my own lathe one day (marriage, mortgage, kids) and at last a few years ago bought one and duly graduated from necessary DIY to arrive on the ME scene.

Joined a bit late by many standards but trying to make up for lost time.

I have some old catalogues (19th/early 20the century) of various machines used in the smithy industry if anyone is interested in copies of the pictures. You don't know what is in there of course bu let me know if you have a particular interest.

I have regretted many times that I was not brave enough to ask an old fella I worked with if I could have some of the brochures he had gathering dust on the top of his cupboard, for various vehicles that A&O made at one stage in their history, cars, bikes, vans, hot pie trikes even.

Bill D.

Oops, just noticed my reply seems to have disappeared into the ether.

Looks like C106 is the one to use then, this will be my first loco boiler, (my first loco anything actually) I am apprehensive enough without risking messing it up with wrong material.

Julian, I was not questioning Macc prices, just highlighting the difference between C101 & 106. I have been using Joe for some years now, his prices are keen, good range, good website and the last few orders have been received by return.

If C106 is the correct grade for boiler work I was a bit surprised to see several ME suppliers only advertising C101. Not all copper will be for boilers I suppose but the majority would surely.

Still Joe supplies the correct grade so that is where I will be going.

Thanks to all for advice.

Bill D

Despite the above a lot of the ME suppliers only sell C101 !!

Bill D.

This is an issue frequently encountered. I drill to largest size I can then bore the rest with a boring head I have.

On a hobby machine such a boring head is useful but a fiddle as you have to stop the machine and set a new cut after every new traverse through the material thickness, works well enough though.

Bill D.

Finally got it sorted, having taken out the DRO a couple of times, cleaned it, replaced battery and still had problem I went out and bought new battery (LR44 Duracell) and it now works ok.

Seems that I must have had some duff batteries, probably some cheap generic type. When I come to renew again I will change to SR44 type as Ketan advised.

Many thanks to Ketan and his colleagues for phone calls to help me on this. First class service from ARC as usual.

Bill D.

Hi guys, looking for some advice on grade of copper to use, some research throws up conflicting opinions on what grades are suitable, dire warnings about other grades etc..

Price is a considerable factor, Macc Models for instance list C101 and C106, the latter being about 50% more in price.

I obviously don't want to spend more than I have to but also want to get it right.

Bill D.

Having worked in the industrial fan industry all my (working) life, I use 101325 Pa for standard atmospheric pressure (BS EN ISO 5801 standard) this approximates to the more familiar unit to us oldies as a shade under 14.7 psiA.

For purposes of a quick conversion to get a handle on pressure a figure of 15 psi is also useful to remember as posted above.

To those unfamiliar with pressures remember to differentiate between absolute and gauge pressures.

The figures above are absolute pressures.

Bill D.

I sent ARC an e-mail asking for advice on my problem with the DRO on the quill of my SX3 mill.

Ketan phoned me today!! (Saturday) at 5pm and had a long chat about what to do with useful info on how a DRO works and what batteries to use, also sent me some pictures back.

What service!

Thank you Ketan.

Bill D.

Hi all, my depth readout started to behave erratically, replaced batteries, cleaned exposed section of bar and eventually disconnected and pulled it out to clean.

A flat copper spring fell out and I could not see where it came from, tried the gauge without it and for a while seemed to cure the problem.

However now still no good, reset it to zero but when the quill is moved the gauge jumps to all sorts of measurements.

I partially removed the front cover to see if that would enable me to remove the DRO but could not get it completely off.

Any ideas how to fix this?

Regards

Bill D.

An old boy at the place I served my apprenticeship would pick up a piece of steel, sniff it and confidently declare it to be EN32 (or EN2, EN8 etc depending on the day)

I think I believed him at the time.

Bill D

Hi all, I don't claim to be an electric motor expert but it caught my eye as I have worked in the industrial fan market for over 50 years (well ok 58 years) and remember many uk motor brands, all sadly gone now.

Brook still exists of course but as far as I know none made in the UK, an excellent company in its day.

Others that I remember are GEC, AEI, Newman, Mather Platt, Brush, Bull, English Electric, LSE, and on an.

Very many brands now made in China (TECTOP make a lot of them I believe, under different badges)

We still have ABB, Siemens etc in Europe, we use a lot of WEG, Brazil & Portugal, excellent motors.

One thing I have noticed since my early days is the physical size of motors back then compared to now, they were huge.

On the subject of efficiency IE2 rating is superseded in Jan 2015 by IE3 for motors 7.5kw and above (IE2 still ok if used in conjunction with a VSD)

When making reference to motor efficiency make sure you are looking at the load basis, industrial motors generally have figures at 50, 75 & 100% load. This applies to 3 phase motors, similar data is harder to find for single phase. EC Directives on minimum IE ratings do not apply to single phase at the moment and generally 3 phase motors are more efficient than 1 phase.

A comment also on rating, industrial motors are rated at output, eg a 3kw motor is 3kw output, electrical input power will be in excess of this.

Well Christmas all over once again, looking forward to making great strides in my building of Emma Victoria.

Happy new year to one and all.

Bill D.

Hi John, I got on ok, pump finished and installed, whether it works or not is another thing though.

I still find it is a case of two steps forward one back sometimes though (and sometimes vice versa)

Most times I know what I have done wrong, it is usually a case of just not taking enough care in setting up.

Getting there though bit by bit. My first engine, in fact only my third model (GLR vertical boiler & Jan Ridders simple two stroke engine) so I suppose I need to be a bit more patient in my skills development. Still struggle with silver soldering, very hit & miss and frustratingly never sure what I have done wrong as I seemed to have followed all the usual rules, again just practice I hope as the boiler build is looming.

Bill D.

Hi all, Henry Wood's series for building Emma Victoria specifies (if I am reading dwg correctly, slide bar fixing angles) some 1/4" x 3/8" steel angle, searched all the suppliers I can think of but no luck, not even 3/8" I could machine one leg.

Any suggestions?

Bill D.

Good replies guys.

Well I am just packing up the caravan for a week up in the Yorkshire Dales so will j=have to postpone mu=y ME learning.

When I get back I will have another go at 'mastering' silver soldering. I am most certainly lacking something here as despite all the advice and avid reading I still seem to make a mess of it more often than not.

Just bought Helen's of Western Steam DVD, she soldered a small boiler in less time than I could make a pot of tea.

I wasn't sure whether to be encouraged or despair.

Bill D

Trolling the ME forum as I do frequently it occurred to me that I have posted many times on the beginners section.

I have been doing model engineering for about 3 years now but still consider myself a beginner.

I have been in engineering all my working life (50+ years) and have come to the conclusion that the more I learn the more I find how little I know, so on that basis I will always be a beginner.

Bill D.

I am also building Emma Victoria and is my first engine.

Like Mike also enjoying the series and building so interesting to see how other people are progressing.

Not too far on with mine, frame, buffers, axles, boxes, wheels, pump, brakes all done.

Cylinders part done, coupling rods started and discarded in disgust, made a mess of them (appearance rather than dimensions), need to get back to them now I think. Smoke box pretty well finished. Started off with good intentions of keeping to series but have jumped about a bit. My silver soldering is improving, not sure why, I seem to be doing the same thing as before.

Do you expert guys swop to something else for a change of scenery or stick strictly to a sequence and (come on now be honest) have you made parts that do the job but have let pass some flaw in aesthetics because it is hidden from view.

I have to say things have improved since I bought my Sieg X3 super mill, I love it.

Still 'looking forward' with some trepidation to silver soldering the boiler.

Useful tip from Julian about not finish threading bushes until soldered in place.

When this series started we heard from Hobby nut who was working at a prodigious rate and keeping pace with the series, not heard from in since as far as I am aware, any news?

Regards

Bill D.

Hi Barry, Macc model engineering supplies do 1/2" x 3/8" for £1.17 / foot.

Use Macc a lot.

Bill D.

Thank's guys, that is the conclusion I came to having looked at various sources, but without finding anything definitive or conclusive.

Take your point about tempering colours though Les.

My question came about by recent annealing of copper by heating to red heat, it set off a train of thought as sometimes happens.

Bill D.

Hi all, does anyone know if the type of metal affects temperature colours.

In my 50 pus years in engineering I cannot recall researching this, maybe because I have not generally been much involved in the non ferrous side.

Asking the question because my 'googles' for temperature charts don't seem to differentiate.

Bill D.

Hi David, I think it is true to say that the replies so far are just a drop in the ocean compared to what is available in the UK. Don't know if you have been to the UK before but you could stab a pin in a map and be sure that there would be something historical of some sort within a mile or so.

Have you heard of Fred Dibnah? a self confessed Victorian born in the wrong age, sadly no longer with us but he did a series of TV documentaries relating to British steam engineering history, Videos are available. Wonderful stuff.

Enjoy your trip

Bill D.