Member postings for Chris Gunn

Nick and Andrew, I see it now, At first glance I thought they were all the same way round leaning against the wall. I have just had a reminder I need to go to Specsavers for an eye test, so need to follow that up.

Chris Gunn

Andrew, looking at the pics of the tender sides leaning against the wall, it looks llke you will have a RH and LH set, judging by the cut outs. Just curious why that should be.

Keep up the good work. Chris Gunn

Just remembered I have a picture in my album.

Chris Gunn

Michael, I made a 5" scale steam outline but battery powered Boxhill, and this would pull 5 or 5 children all day on a 60ah battery.

Chris Gunn

Sonic, if it is like the Alexander copy of the Eckel, what you think is an oil pump could be a gear coolant pump.

You will see where the pipes go.

Chris Gunn

Sonic, there looks to be several very expensive accessories with the machine, so maybe worth a gamble if the price is right. If the motor is in the base it may be relatively easy to change it for an up to date motor and then fit a VFD.

Chris Gunn

Jason, thanks for that, I had 2 enquiries and could not reply to either, so my potential buyers may think I am not interested in their enquiry, so any suggestions how to solve it?

Chris Gunn

So Jonathon, interested in the Galloway, send me your details or contact by text message.

Chris Gunn

I currently have an ad running in the for sale column, and a link is provided via Mortons media for any interested party to contact me. However if someone does, without any contact details, then there is no means of me identifying them and responding, as the Mortons link does not allow me to reply. Am I missing something or is it the new system?

Chris Gunn

Jon, if it is any help I have brass tube 3/4" o/d by 19G or .042" thick wall, which is close to what you need, I can send a bit if you would like to replace the old piece. Chris Gunn

Carl, just a reminder what can happen if you use Sonic's method and get it wrong.

Rainbows, as Jim mentioned, trucks and fork lift trucks have a centralised lub system, if you can find someone scrapping these vehicles you may be able to scrounge a couple of systems. You may need several, as these units may not pump from one end of a factory to another. I have used the individual pump elements to make Traction engine lubricators.

Chris Gunn

I suspect a lot will depend on the lathe used, I have a Bantam, and use power feed if the work is more than 1" diameter, I use a rear tool post with the inserted tip tool the right way up, and run in reverse and flood with coolant.

I use the second slowest feed. It always works for me, but all easy to do on a Bantam.

Chris Gunn

Thanks for the suggestions so far, just to clarify a couple of points raised, the diorama will be full size, and will be outside for a weekend. A representation of the Clifton bridge will form part of it and a dummy dressed as per IKB in the picture Hopper was kind enough to show in his post. We thought 3d chain links would be the icing on the cake, and we would reduce the number a bit. I rather like the mould and casting route, and wonder if a split mould were used, could builders expanding foam be used to "cast" the links, on the basis that this would be quicker than paper maiche or plaster of paris. Thanks also for the info on acrylic paint and balloons.

Please keep the suggestions coming, we need to get this done for the Coronation celebrations.

Chris Gunn

I have been tasked with helping to produce a 3d representation of IK Brunel standing in front of the huge chains, I am sure everyone has seen this picture. However the question is, how to reproduce the chains. We have thought of making them from card, or some form of tube, stockinette or layflat polythene and filling the tube with something, and then bending the tube into a chain link. We wondered if we could fill polythene layflat tube with builders foam, but we are not sure if the foam would attack the polythene. We also thought of using the thin balloons used by clowns and so on to make balloon animals. Here the question is is it possible to spray paint balloons?

Does anyone know the answer to these questions, or have any other ideas to make the links? This is for a temporary village project, so the budget is low. We would be happy to recycle something suitable.

Thanks Chris Gunn

I did one as well, just had usual fettling to make it run nicely. Chris Gunn

Queen Victoria was only 5ft tall.

Chris Gunn

Bob, I had a look for my motor plate, but sods law it was on the wrong side for me to get at, or even take a pic. However the inverter in the panel is a Mitsubishi E500, with a max motor size of 1.5KW. I hope this helps a bit.

There is no reason why you could not fit a single speed motor and stepped pulleys to give some extra speeds, but bear in mind the original has a 2 speed motor which doubles the motor speed, you would need the high speed if you have the low speed head driven from the main motor. I do not think you could easily double motor speed using double pulleys. You will need to release the belt tension and reapply it when changing speed, so you will need access to do that. You will still have the gearbox as well. It depends what you will be doing as well, using small end mills will need higher speeds than horizontal milling for example. You could work out the various speeds using the motor of your choice and the various gears and how this would compare with what you want to do, and go from there.

Chris Gunn

Bob, I cannot remember, but I will have a look in the morning. The whole package came from Newton Tesla, and no issues at all. I was told at the time the 2 speed motor would not run with a phase converter, and being 440 v not a VFD available then either. I took the next best option for me, I failed Principles of Electricity back in the day, so faffing about with the existing motor was not an option for me.

Chris Gunn

Bob, I bought an Alexander so years ago now, and after consideration went for the replacement motor route plus a VFD. Installing the new motor was not much work to be honest, the motor is smaller, so just make a new base plate for it, and you will need a new pulley and belt. The coolant runs from a gear pump, so you should be OK.

Chris Gunn