Member postings for martin perman

Russell,

I find your remarks about stainless rather strange, I look after industrial washing machine totally made from 306 and the one thing they dont suffer from is rust, we use alkaline or acid detergents heated to 55 deg C and 82 deg C and rust is not a problem.

Martin P

Bazle,

I can relate to your machine, my brother and I have our grandfathers Britannia Colchester Treadle lathe and that has to come totally to pieces if moved any distance, its not much larger than mine but its no more accurate than my modern lathe, I have worked as a machine tool fitter/machine tool service engineer since I started as an engineering apprentice for over forty years and have seen all manner of machines which started out as heavy castings through to modern machines which are constructed from steel plate fabrication and even concrete for grinding machine bases. rigidity is the king not weight and by fabricating and using concrete there is no need to weather. Machine tools are now lighter in their construction but a lot more accurate due to other means of construction.

Martin P

You wont skim Car discs because there isnt enough cross slide travel and it wont come back far enough, as for rididity is a fairly solid lump as long as the stand is fixed to the floor with floor anchors to stop it flexing, for what it is and cost I rate it and if treated properly can be fairly accurate. As for weight it took two of us to lift it onto its stand so its not light.

Martin P

forgot to add but previous thread reminded me, spares and assistance is good with clarke so your not operating in the dark, I must admit I only paid £300 for mine but it was new as I bought it from a company I worked for who bought it new and never used it. The second hand market is a mine field particularly if you have no idea what to look out for and also have a small budget.

Martin P

Dave,

I have the same lathe with the milling head attached, I've had it for several years now and more than happy with it.

It does need a little fettling, for instance replacing all of the gib strip adjusting grub screws with longer ones so you can fit lock nuts so your not constantly adjusting them, one other mod I have done is to remove the metal springs inside the axis measurement dials and replace them with a gruub screw and nylon block so that I can lock the dial as the spring tends to slip, there are several modifications you can do printed in previous copies of MEW which are of interest.

I dont do model engineering with mine, I mostly make/modify parts for my collection of Lister Stationary engines so it gets a bit of work. There are plenty of accessories available, most of which I have and use and I have also bought an ER32 morse taper chuck for the headstock tube and was pleasantly surprised at the very little run out. I tend not to use the milling head for no other reason than I have a Mill/Drill and a horizontal mill to do all my milling work.

All in all I'm happy with mine.

Martin P

Gentlemen,

I have an ALDI linisher as described and find it very useful, I've not had to modify or repair it, for the money it does well for me.

Martin P

All,

Yesterday in north Bedfordshire it was blue sky and 31 degree's, hell, today its overcast and 18 degree's, heaven. Took me four hours to wash my van because I had to keep seeking out shade every forty minutes

Martin P

Gentlemen,

Many of you have mentioned that Strops should be tested and also making sure that they are used inside their rated capabilities, what none of you have pointed out is that all strops should be checked for cuts and nicks in the outer casing which will most likely mean that the internals will also be damaged, these strops should be diposed of as you cannot be certain that it will not fail regardless of weight.

There are also strops available on the second hand market marked as one use only, dont even think of buying these as you wont know what they were used for.

Martin P

Gentlemen,

I use Swarfega orange but I have another method of getting hands spotless, my job means that I have to wear protective clothing etc and this also means I have to wear thin rubber gloves and I found that if I had been restoring one of my Lister engines and got covered in oil, grease etc and had to wear gloves at work the next day the sweating action would clean them spotless. I dont wear them at home as I find them getting in the way but at work I have no choice.

Martin P

Gentlemen,

Found the online MEW under "Extra" and all working no problem.

Martin P

Neil,

I have in my possession over 130 primus type stoves of all shapes and sizes, each one is tried when I purchase it and then never again but all are left in working order. there were many makers but all kept the basic design, I only know of one accident which happened to a friends son when the stove exploded and now the lad has to wear a pressure mask on his face to reduce the scarring which he is told over time will eventually reduce, like all things care must be taken.

Martin P

Edited By martin perman on 30/06/2013 19:27:19

Bob,

Go look at these links **LINK** for low tension
**LINK** for buzz coil.

Martin P

Bob,

Another thought, are the points closed until needed or open until needed, if shut you maybe shorting the battery.

Martin P

Bob,

In the Stationary engine world we use the choke coil from a fluorescent light fitting which will run with a dry cell battery, very rarely do you see a car coil but if you do it usually connected to a car battery, how hot does the coil get as it could be braking down when hot.

Martin P

Edited By martin perman on 28/06/2013 20:26:16

I needed some rubber parts for my Rover P6 dampers but could not get the original parts, I ended up with similar shaped items that were larger in diameter so I made some steel washers of the finished required dia and then used a length of threaded rod and two nuts to sandwich the rubbers, I then put the lathe on its highest speed and with a sharp tool slowly turned the rubber rather easily.

Martin P

Chris,

Unless I have misunderstood why would you need to use the 2MT Test bar when you will have machined a register for the chuck to locate on.

Martin P

two years without sleep and twenty five+ without cash....

My only child was Thirty when she finally moved out so that was thirty years without cash and thirty years of sleepless nights but now its payback time as we have our own personal taxi service well done Fizzy, just remember you will now spend the first six months getting him/her to walk and talk and the rest of their life gettig the to shut up and sit down

Martin P

Nick,

I also have a "Unique" which my Grandfather used but mine doesnt have the slot or graduations on the rear, I've never actually used it but do keep it with my TDI's.

Martin P

Stewart,

What an excellent Idea for a set of calipers, must see if I have a piece of metal to make a foot. Why did you shorten the caliper jaw.

Martin P

David,

My Brother has an EMCO with a milling head which came out of an engineering workshop, it has a three phase motor which he drives with a single phase to three phase converter.

Martin P