Member postings for Ian S C

In 1997 while mum was in hospital I installed a power operated door on the garage just to make things a little easier for her. The remote control still has the origional 9V battery.

Ian S C

For my hot air motors I try to use cast iron on cast iron for pistons and cylinders, if I can't do that I go for cast iron piston and steel cylinder. Hot air motors/Stirling Engines friction is the important thing to minamise.

This little motor has a 3/8" bore and 1/2" stroke CI piston and CI cylinder liner in the finned, vertical aluminium cylinder.

Ian S C

Edited By Ian S C on 21/08/2019 12:13:37

For steel parts on US military aircraft, ie tubular fuselage structure(internal), use hot raw Linseed oil, at about 160*F. To prevent tools rusting you have to use them.

Ian S C

Andrew, perhaps you need something like a Piper PA 18 with about 150hp up front. Things are much slower, and not so much fun. I used to like watching the gliders getting towed up by Tigermoth, when I was just a wee chap. The local glider club uses air tow, but also has a winch.

Ian S C

Ifv you can get, or have some Carberil insecticide, put some (teaspoon full) in the bottom of a small plastic jar. Next the fun part, catch a wasp and put it in the jar, shake it around a bit, then let the wasp go, it will head back to the nest. The more you can treat this way the sooner the nest will die out, you should manage without getting stung.

Ian S C

Good to see you back Andrew, keep the wind under the wings of the Pawnee, and let us know how the traction engines are coming along every now and then. this one at the local model aircraft flying strip was doing some glider towing

Ian S C

Very little paint used on my hot air motors that are stored in my uninsulated workshop, rarely is there ever a problem with rust. I haven't, but I have heard of aerosol hair spray being used as a rust preventitve, it's not hard wearing, but OK on items that are not handled much.

Ian S C

Alum is usually available in garden shops, and the cooking dept of the super market.

Ian S C

When I was over hauling aero engines, if a cylinder was within spec we used to break the glaze on a 2000hr cylinder with a quick wipe round with some wet and dry, about 600 to 800 grit, those cylinders usually lasted another 1000hrs at least, then some times, if the head was OK the unit would be rebarrelled.

Ian S C

Not sure where you are Kiwi Bloke , but there are Karcher outlets in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, and Christchurch.

Ian S C

You got more than I got with my mill, I learned later that they were gong broke, and flogging off the extra bit as separate items. All i got was a Jacobs chuck and a vise. For other that screw shanked cutters I made a blank with a twenty TPI thread, a hole in the end to suit the cutter to be used and a grub screw in the side to grip on the flat on the side of (most) of the plain cutters that I have, I also made up a similar fitting to hold a counter sink bit. My set goes up to 5/8", but I made a 3/4" collet from some steel from the junk box. I have made a number of fly cutters that fit the chuck.

As things were when I first got the mill home I soon found out why you don't use a Jacobs type chuck for milling. Just about finished making a tap wrench and the chuck dropped out, it didn't do too much damage, and the tap wrench is still often used.

Ian S C

MichaelG, yes it was the same site although I didn't find it through your link.

Ian S C

I make my hot caps usually from stainless steel, on the odd occasion from mild steel. At first I made the hot cap by boring out a bit of stainless bar and the open end got a thread cut in it to mate with the rest of the cylinder as in a BETA type motor, ans sealed with Copper Cote. Now I make the hot cap from thin walled stainless tube with the end TIG welded on the end, when I got down to .007" thick, my friendly TIGer growled a bit. The displacer should be made the same way. The joint between the cap and the rest of the motor is via 4 to 8 studs depending on diametre, and just a metal to metal joint. DON'T use aluminium for the displacer, do use cast iron for the power piston, and either cast iron or steel for the cylinder.

Ian S C

Look up Horn Swogglers on Google, toward the end of that you may find something.

Ian S C

I am a little rubbish on the wood side of things, but I made this base for the Stuart Turner S9. The sides are made of 17 mm ply mitred at the corners, the top is black marble finish MDF. No nails or screws on the outside.

Ian S C

The drill chuck that I use on my Super Adept is from a Stanley wheel brace, the orrigional shaft has the taper on it, and just at the begining of the thread there is a transverse hole for a tommy bar.

Ian S C

A number of years ago(could be 30) there were plans to build a small trailer in ME.

Your regs are quite different to what we have in NZ were there is annual registration fee(each trailer has it's own number plate, and annual warrant of fitness that you also pay for.

Maybe not quite so much these days(don't know)but almost every car seemed/s to have a tow bar. The one problem I see with trailers here is that both 1 7/8", and 50 mm tow balls are allowed, one won't fit, and the other can fall off. Can't quote the weights etc, but two and three axle trailers are common.

Not what you have in mind, but we built about 60 of these feed out trailers.

Ian S C

Edited By Ian S C on 06/08/2019 11:34:39

In my early days of making hot air motors I required a stainless hot cap 3" long by 1 3/4" dia bore. I went to the local stainless supplier and told them what I was trying to do, the onlt bit suitable was 2 14" dia bit of 316 but they warned me that it wasn't free cutting and might prove difficult to bore out all that metal, and more suited to making a prop shaft for a boat. I'll admit that it wasn't that easy because of the miles of hot swarf. I used back gear and a good deep cut with plenty of feed, and undiluted soluble cutting oil. The finished item is in the heated area .010", Made in 1994 and still going. The tools used were all HSS.

It's the bit in the furnace as the r/h end.

Ian S C

Edited By Ian S C on 04/08/2019 12:21:37

Cutting fluid/ kerosene/ parafin, or WD 40.

Ian S C

Telephone magneto, there is a similar one out in the workshop minus it's magnets, along with a number of newer ones. The phones that that came from were in use in the 1960s in NZ, I know our ring was a morse S, and there were 8 others on our line.

Ian S C