Member postings for Ian S C

A new barrel made of something like 4140, I don't think it would need heat treatment, but the end wont fall off. Which ever way you go, a 1/4", 6 mm hole is probably enough.

Ian S C

Any metal dealer that I know would take back the unwanted metal that you have, and either pay you, or swap it for the metal that you need.

Have you tried slowing the speed, don't be afraid to use back gear, it might be slow, but might be faster than taking .004" cuts.

Ian S C

Welcome Ceteri, your father did leave you at least one important thing, and that's why you'r here, and that is his love of model engineering.

Ian S C

I'v used small motors as generators on my hot air motors.

Ian S C

With wrought iron there is no contamination by other metals, or grades of steel, it is the first stage from raw ore, straight out of the ground, and into the furnace. As there is virtually no carbon in the smelted iron, the temperature to melt it to liquid is very high, so the metal got to a paste, this got puddled (stirred) to bring as much as possible of the slag to the surface for removal, as the metal cooled it was bought out in lumps known as blooms, and this is what the blacksmith got to work on. I think there is a group in England who are, in a very small way making wrought iron.

Ian S C

The other night the Police Helicopter in Auckland NZ had to with - draw and land when it came within 5 /10 metres at about 420 metres altitude.

Ian S C

Steve, I forgot to mention that the Box-Ford "A" has a gear cutting gear box.

Ian S C

I have not actually done the strip and degrease of the bearings I use, and most are shielded bearings. I think the general idea is to remove the shields, and the grease, but then use a very light oil in the smallest amount. On little bearings(3 mm/4 mm bore) a drop on the end of a pin.

Ian S C

Steven, maybe a Box- Ford A, hasn't got the heavy base with the motor underneath, you make the bench, and the lathe is easy to move. Personally, I would like something about that size as a second lathe, my wants would be, back gear and belt head. Separate lead screw and feed rod, the Box-Ford I use at the MenzShed (and all others)has the two combined and the keyway has stuffed up the gear on the screw cutting indicator dial. My own Taiwanese lathe has a lead screw and a feed rod. I'm not too sure about the fine thread on the lead screw of the Mini lathes.

When I first saw your thread, for some reason I read New South Wales, I was thinking that your nearby modeller might well be a couple of hundred miles down the road, but where you are it won't be too far away.

Ian S C

The actual crankshaft was only 41,2 inches long, there is a heck of a lot of engine hung on each end.

Ian S C

There was a TV program about sending people into business' to see how they worked and if possible improve production and profit. One program was about the Reliant car company, They found a number of things wrong with production, one was the slow hand laying of fiber glass, so a spray system was introduced, that speeded things up, and improve the product. When the team came back (maybe a year later), they had go back to the old way.

Ian S C

From what I can find out, the angle of the cylinders was 35*, later reduced to 8*( the preserved one in the London Science Museum has the cylinders in the 8* position. Another site quotes the angle a 45*, and later nearly horizontal.

Probably these engines in their day exceeded what we call "rocket science".

Ian S C

Steve, reckon your best bet is to get in contact with a Model Engineering club, or a Mens Shed, or something like that, so you can talk to the blokes about the different lathes. If you indicate a rough location, there might even be someone on the forum who can help.

Ian S C

Hopper mentions carrying something about the workshop, reminds me of what my dad said when I joined the RNZAF, "you can get just about any where on an Airforce Station if you have a clipboard with some papers on it." It worked back in 1964 for me as it had during WW2 for dad.

1/128" was the model, and general engineers measurement until micrometres became widely available. I did read of one of the old atmospheric steam engines (in Cornwall I think), it was said that it was very accurate in the bore as you could barely fit a penny between the two.

Ian S C

One of the engineering instructors at the NAC(New Zealand National Airways Corperation) engineering school told us of model engineers in UK using their lathes at home to lap in the crankshafts for RR Merlin engines, the Americans got around that system by grinding the CS on CS grinders at the factory.

I have not found it yet, but I think there was something in ME of making parts for STEN Guns, and maybe other gun types.

Ian S C

Tried out the little Unimat that I got last Saturday, ran it on bottom speed on the standard two belt banjo, OK for up to 20 mm, it's quite quick(must put the tacho on it), I have the low speed /three belt banjo and I'll try that.

Ian S C

Yes Mick, further down she is modelling ear plugs, and footwear.

Ian S C

You can find old edged tools, such as axes, and adzes with the main body of the tool made of wrought iron, with the cutting edge of steel with enough carbon to be hardenable forge welded to it. 200 years ago steel was used in a way similar to the way tungsten carbide is used today. The more the WI is hammered out, the finer the slag layers become, and the better the quality of the piece.

Ian S C

The problem is that wrought iron is as near to pure, carbon free iron as you can get, it's melting point is much higher than carbon steel. In the smelting process the metal never becomes liquid in the furnace (Puddling Furnace), as much slag as possible is removed, the rest gets stirred into the mix. The lumps of iron (blooms) are then forged to shape. There was a Guy Martin program on the subject, they dug up some iron ore, smelted it in a crude furnace, then made something, can't remember what.

Ian S C

As usual , on Saterday morning I headed off to the local road side market. On one stall I thought I spotted a Tool Post Grinder, it wasn't, it was an Emco Unimat Modell SL. Lathe, drill press, scroll saw, and some sort of mini planer for wood. Also a flexible drive shaft. There are two lengths of bed bars. I'll set it up, then start asking questions as I find bits I can't work out. Basic turning should be no problem. I didn't try knocking the price down, but I though $NZ 150 not too bad as the machine has had very little use, in fact some of the bits have not been used. Just got to clear a bit of bench space now.

Ian S C