Member postings for Cornish Jack

Martin

Set up two different workshops, one built from scratch, concrete slab panels, t'other a converted garage. Both floors had DP layer then double layers 50mm poly foam slabs criss-cross (no battens) and loft type interlocking floorboards on top. No problems with any machinery - ML7, Dore-Westbury on heavy stand, Fobco Star etc. Would probably use metal plate load spreaders if I installed a Harrison or (I wish!) a DSG!

Rgds

Bill

G'day all

Just had a relaxing hour courtesy of the Beeb's Iplayer, watching a programme on Thomas Chippendale. Quite mind blowing when viewed as the products of 250 years ago and the available tools! Just the designing alone would set him apart but when the exquisite quality of the work is seen, he was a veritable genius.

Desperately sad that he died in penury when his debtors families still live in extraordinary opulence and single furniture pieces fetch multi-million auction prices.

Why woodwork on an engineer's forum? Just the pure excellence of the skills involved, be it wood or metal, takes the breath away. Grinling Gibbons is next - definitely one to watch.

Rgds

Bill

Billy

Re. using balsa wood in aircraft - It was ... in the VC10! It was used to make a 'sandwich' of thin aluminium sheet bonded to a balsa filling. Very strong and good load bearing qualities. I had a largish piece which I used bits from for model aircraft - originally part of the toilet floor! Balsa does come in a vast range of quality and is a HARDwood! I've got a couple of bits in my balsa store which could probably be shaped to use as axes!

Rgds

Bill

Quite like spiders - usually named Fred or Freda but the Norfolk variety have the most resilient webs i have ever come across - if you could knit them up they'd do nicely for suspension bridge cables! The only major irritation is their presence in the bath - but my ex-wife devised a neat solution for that. Take a strip of toilet paper long enough to reach from the bottom of the bath to the edge plus a bit and anchor it with the soap dish or similar. Fred or freda can then make their own way up the 'spider ladder'. They just don't seem to be able to cope with enamel or other bath surfaces

Rgds

Bill

G'day all and a slightly belated Happy New Year.

On a recommendation in one of the forum threads, I ordered some brass flat from M-Machine in Darlington. Due to a Paypal hiccup, the payment was made as an e-cheque instead of instant payment - this would mean a delay for cheque clearance. I e-mailed M-Machine explaining the situation and asking them if they could cancel the payment so that I could redo the transaction.

Reply today as follows -

Doreen Myers
M-Machine"

I'm quite gob-smacked - I thought that this sort of customer service had long since disappeared! My total personal recommendation, therefore, (for what it's worth!) and best wishes for their future success.

Just a VERY happy customer.

Rgds

Bill

Hmmm!

On the above recommendations I sat through this. Unfortunately, I blinked a couple of times and missed the ACTUAL engineering content as distinct from the repetitive, endless blah about the lure of the salt flats. Whatever floats your boat, so to speak but my eyes and head find the modern editing of micro-second shots (the longest shot was Dave's Mum and Dad's interview!!!) almost unwatchable. Is modern attention span really that short? As for the Swiss gnome (the typical example of what Vince Cable so correctly called 'socially useless' - I would hesitate to characterise him on a public forum!

Definitely 'horses for courses' and for 'them as does', enjoy it. For myself, I have found some slow-drying paint which needs close attention.

Rgds

Bill

Alan

I also have a couple of blocks of Cerrobend. Had it for years and never used it so considered getting rid of it ... until I saw a Fleabay listing for small amounts - Strewth!! almost cheaper to use gold! It remains in the MCIUOD box! I believe it is just a variation on what was called Woods metal - VERY low melting temp (boiling water) and most useful for tube bending.

Rgds

Bill

Remarkable that such heat (and not much light!) (JS's contributions excluded) could be generated when the culprit offers the MAJOR clue to his agenda - he spends considerable time in NORWAY - a country of exquisite, breathtaking scenery and the loveliest people, but famous, among other things, for ... TROLLS!!

Rgds

Bill

Chris

Can't help with the DROs (have a half dozen basic, wire activated, not yet fitted) but also in E Norfolk - Bacton ... if moral support needed!!

Rgds

Bill

Not sure whether this has been mentioned previously, but ME Vol 117 (July- December 1957) has a series of articles by Martin Cleeve on mods to the EW. He seems to have incorporated everything except a tea-maker! This Vol has been bed-time reading for the last month or so.

Rgds

Bill

For the last year I have been using a dehumidifier (domestic size) in the workshop. The output is astonishing and very variable - occasionally fills up in a day, other times takes a week. We live some 20 feet from the sea, so humidity is always high but the variation is obviously huge. I have a thermallly controlled background heater (57 degs) and I get very little rusting in a 20' x 10' quite well insulated space.

Rgds

Bill

Dave - might be worth looking around for something secondhand. My drill is a Fobco Star and it's built like the proverbial outhouse! Not the easiest to move around and i use a small car jack to raise the head , when necessary. Mine cost me £50 about 20 years ago and, surprisingly, O'Briens still supplied spares a couple of years ago. Cracking bit of kit

Rgds

Bill

Neil - hope the worst is over for you now. Can't do much once Nature decides to turn nasty.

We were flooded last November when there was a North Sea 'surge' and a coincident gale. The house is on the Norfolk Coastal Path and VERY adjacent to the salty stuff - lovely! SWMBO was standing in the lounge admiring the HUGE clouds of spray and spume and noticed that her feet seemed to be getting damp!! The Coastal Path has had zero maintenance and the sand had built up above our dpc. The path was flooded to about 18" and gently oozing through the wall. Bit of a shock when I realised that we had an uplighter controller gently glowing to indicate power on, resting in the slowly encroaching puddle. Quick trip of RCBs and joined Madame to enjoy the show!! Compared to the poor souls suffering this and previous floods, we were ridiculously lucky.

Stay safe

Rgds

Bill

Ron

This is what I posted to a similar query in Sept.

"Perhaps not technically helpful, but I have an ML7 (Trileva) and recently replaced the knackered single phase with a new 3 phase. Control provided by a secondhand Omron V7 inverter/controller. This was all connected, ready to go and just left me to (cautiously!!) rewire from delta to star (?) and plug it in. Result? ... superb! Soft start, easy speed control in any of the three belt selections (plus 3 backgear, if needed) - almost makes the clutch redundant. Highly recommended.

Rgds

Bill"

Apologies Terry et al

Too many years in a Service environment where 'in house' slang avoided the need for 'expletive deleted' and D-W = Dore Westbury. Keep forgetting that just because it makes sense inside my skull, the rest of the world isn't in there seeing what's going on - probably just as well !!

Rgds

Bill

Thank you Jeff, Michael and Jason.

Jeff, your reply was most reassuring. Working in isolation it is easy to assume that 'the experts' will have much better ways of doing things. In my case, generally true but it sounds as though it wasn't too nonsensical. Jason's method looks absolutely superb, altghough in my defence, my original eccentric castings had the conn rods cast in which made holding in the 4 jaw essential and checking bore sizes fiddly and (ultimately) flawed!! Also the bores were about 3/8th" so not easy for 'fumble fingers'! By the way, Jeff, you were absolutely right on all three of your guesses as to the problems

Ah well, onwards and maybe upwards but possibly 'back to square one' .

Exit left, muttering "It's a hobby, it's a hobby ... etc., etc,

Rgds

Bill

In process of making a mess of a Tiny Power V twin.

One (of a number of) failure was the eccentrics. Totally 'Horlicksed' the castings, so decided to make a new pair from scratch. Chopped a 2" chunk off a 1.75" bar and generated a thickish cruciform shape on the D-W. Into the four jaw and reduce the required length (approx .75" ) to slight oversize round. Onto motorised hacksaw and saw the bearing clamp separation, leaving the remainder solid. Onto drill and eyeball the holes for the clamp bolts (6BA) ... close enough for Government work and good enough for me. Insert bolts and tighten and back to hacksaw and slice off the two required widths. That's it, so far. Tomorrow will put it back in the 4 jaw and drill and bore to final size and groove for the eccentric axial locator.

All this makes my few remaining brain cells hurt and I'm sure that there must be a much simpler method. Since I'm likely to 'Horlicks' this pair as well, any suggestions for a better way for the next attempt, please?

Rgds
Bill

Edited By Cornish Jack on 26/11/2012 17:46:59

Edited By Cornish Jack on 26/11/2012 17:47:23

What an extraordinary amount of 'hot air' over something as simple as personal choice derived from individual experience.

XP SP2 does it for me - and I have NEVER updated any Windows software from 3 ... and its predecessors Dos3.2 et al. What is this update enthusiasm? The (expletive deleted) thing works - leave it alone. If it doesn't work, clear it out and re-install - all pretty straightforward.

As for the'Macs are best' brigade ... Hmmm, do a google search for Mac help forums (fora?) and see just how many repetitive problems are posted - and help groups??? why would such an intuitive and never goes wrong software NEED a help group??

Oh and yes, I HAVE tried both Mac and Linux (3 different distros) and each is reasonably competent in its own quirky way but my lazy brain will stay with what it knows and works.

Rgds

Bill

Gray - yes, that's the one!! But which engineering progs did he present, please?

Rgds

Bill

"presenters like Stanley Unwin , Raymond Baxter and James Burke"????

I am puzzled - my memory of 'Professor' Stanley Unwin was as a sort of funny man spouting mangled English which was almost intelligible!! I never saw anything of his with an engineering content. Has my remaining brain cell finally gone walkabout?

Speaking of mangled English, I recall with great affection the Great Egg Race programmes presented by Prof Heinz Wolfe - huge fun and a nice combination of entertainment and intelligence.

Rgds

Bill