Member postings for Cornish Jack

Russell - as Steve W says!!

My "gesture of goodwill" arrived a couple of days ago - totally unimpressive!

Given the breadth of articles contained in my (incomplete) collection of ME, I cannot see the 'best' of anything here. Did I REALLY read that MHS do not have a copy of All published MEs??? Unbelievable!! Perhaps they should hand over the publishing to people who have a REAL interest in ME rather than continuing to inveigle more 'dosh' from their subscribers/readers.

Given what PM managed to achieve even through the desperate restrictions of WW2, this 'effort' would have him spinning in his grave!!

Grumpy Old Man - with good reason to be so!

Rgds

Bill

Finally emailed Customer Services re. non-delivery. Reply with stock apology and "As a gesture of goodwill (my italics) I have asked for it to be resent to you." !!!! Really?? - a gesture of goodwill?? ... not fulfilling their contract of supplying goods and services already paid for but not received???

Having already cancelled my subs to ME and MEW that "gesture" (translated as -" you are a thieving ***** trying to con us out of two magazines for the price of one"  has now ensured no further dealing with this disorganised shambles. Can't imagine what Percival M would have made of it!

Thank Heavens for the Forum

Rgds

Bill

Edited By Cornish Jack on 24/09/2013 11:23:10

Thank you Ian.

As written above, the piston is now as good a fit as I am ever going to get. The cylinder certainly looks like copper but I'm no expert! The use of aluminium for the piston is as the original Sieg kit.

Rgds

Bill

PS sort of runs, but not very well - more work needed

Also ordered last month ... and still waiting

...and explanation was there none! Drinking parties in breweries comes to mind

Rgds

Bill

Thank you, Michael.

Used your principles but different material - Delrin rod, turned slightly undersize , split and inserted fine wet and dry in split to wrap around rod, then lapped with light oil. Followed with Brasso and finally used piston with toothpaste to polish.

Somewhat gob-smacked to find that piston moves freely over full length of cylinder and (even more so) that with piston in place, filling space above it with penetrating oil, NOTHING drained through!!! I think that will probably do!

Rgds

Bill

Hi Jim

In the i/c engines forum, under generators (or turbo generators)

Rgds

Bill

G'day all.

OT but different materials - I am in the process of making a replacement piston for my Sieg hot air engine. The previous one was leaking. By some mischance, I have made an aluminium piston which is a super fit in the (copper) power cylinder ... at one end only! It enters the cylinder for about a quarter of its length. Question - how does one get an EXACT fit full length? I have tried hand-lapping (I suppose that's what one would call it!) with Brasso, but it seizes up afte a couple of turns - using a balsa wood dowel of approximate size, soaked in Brasso. Using the new piston itself causes the same thing.

Any clues, please, chaps and chapesses?

Rgds

Bill

Mike W - re. batteries - considerable difference between makes and the definite no-nos are the packs of 40 from the Pound Shop type outlets. These are OK for hearing aids and similar but deteriorate very quickly in 'our' sort of use. Good quality versions (Varta etc,) are available cheaply on-line, so no point in using the 'cheap and cheerful' variety.

Rgds

Bill

Tnank you, Clive. The 3D model-making was interesting BUT one of the accompanying YouTube clips re. the capabilities of quadracopters was totally mind-boggling - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2itwFJCgFQ... apologies if that is a crap way of inserting a link!

Rgds

Bill

"Will rectify my error ASAP and post when done. I remember a French colleague actually pronouncing ASAP as a word, with much glee, there being nothing similar in the French language."

ASAP as a word? - of course!! ALWAYS said that way during my 35+ years in Auntie Betty's Flying Club!

Separate letters are for Management Consultants

Rgds
Bill

Also watched 'Metal' and enjoyed the tech content, but Oh! the camera work!!!

Were I able to, I would nail the director, cameraman/men and editor by their ears to a vertical board and make them watch 'Rififi' for a week until they learned the value of STATIC camera work! The constant micro second shots and idiotic, unstable panning made my eyes hurt and spoiled a potentially interesting programme. Seems to go with the territory nowadays.

Exit left, ranting.

Rgds

Bill

I'm with AndyF on this.

I have a Tomy baby alarm - two units, plugged into mains, one in living room one in workshop. One-way speech comms (SWMBO to me) and response is via a 'Click' transmit button - one for yes and two for no. The sound pickup is remarkable and means I can monitor for phone calls when she's out. Got mine on the Bay - good value!

Rgds

Bill

Thank you, Neil and Frank.

I've just finished washing off the pickle and the tube certainly looks nice and clean (the non-soldered bits). I made up a solution with 2 heaped teaspoonsful of crystals with about a quarter pint of water. Seems to work OK.

I have a couple more of these things to make up so will probably try at least one of the suggestions for the next one.

Thanks to all who replied

Rgds

Bill

Thank you, Gordon and M W.

Update - Have now joined the brass flange and test tube - two methods; initially used super glue (common or garden variety) with the tube just resting in place on a polythene 'underlay'. Once that had set, I mixed up some Araldite 2-part and 'filleted' the join. Appears to be a solid join but temperature resistance remains to be seen.

The brass/copper join was done to make allowance for my total lack of expertise! - brass flange and tube end were coated with thick flux 'ointment' and positioned correctly (inverted) on a suitably sized bolt held in the vice. The top (as positioned) side of the flange was then generously covered with Fry's solder paste. Butane torch applied to the copper tube until the 'witches' brew' bubbled and then left to cool. Result: the neatest solder join ever ... for me!!

Now need to 'pickle the solder joint and intending to use Citric acid. Should be able to get crystals at local chemist but what is the ratio of crystals/powder to water for 'pickling'. please?

Rgds

Bill

Thank you Phil and David, good possibilities and David's suggestion might be very helpful with the arthritis!!

For anyone else similarly interested in joining things to things, the loctite site **LINK** could be useful. I think I may well give Loctite Glass a whirl.

Rgds

Bill

Hopper, JH and Ian - thank you. I do have one of Jan Ridders's plans so will dig it out and check.

Rgds

Bill

Peter, Jason, Jens and Ian, thank you all.

Peter - RTK sounds as though it might be good.

Jason - yes, you're correct - certainly temperature differential end-to-end but even so, the cool end is still quite warm!

Jens - yes, I had considered that until I remembered my late sister's Ford rear side window which was glued to the opener ... and disappeared with no warning while en-route!!

Ian - would much appreciate that.

Rgds

Bill

G'day all.

I'm messing about trying to construct a hot air engine, using a glass test tube as the displacer and mounting it in a brass or copper flange base for attachment to the central support. Has anyone any proven methods for making heat resistant joins between these materials, please? A similar join, between a brass flange and copper tube for the power cylinder, I'm considering soldering ... but, soft or silver???

Any suggestions appreciated. TIA

Rgds

Bill

Thank you all ...BINGO!!

It Is brass! "Walks like a duck, squawks like a duck ... etc."

That brass/copper test was quite new to me. For anyone else who might need similar identification, I had to go to the AVO Pro meter to get an obvious reading - the smaller Akai wasn't sufficiently definite. Thanks again

Rgds

Bill

Thank you, Norman! ...and YOUR Ebay user name is...?

Thank you also, JA. Might well give that a whirl. Given our proximity to the North Sea,(approx 20'!) salt water is no problem!!!

Rgds

Bill