Member postings for Chris Gunn

Hopper I too remember the drifts on every machine, lathes and drills. Very handy when doing multiple drilling operations on components when one had to change drills a lot.

We also used ours to "bang in" anyone who was late for work, as the offender walked up the machine shop everyone would bang on the machine drip trays with their drifts, and the sound of a hundred folk doing this meant the latecomer did not go unnoticed.

These were the days when if one clocked in 3 minutes after start time, one lost a quarter of an hours pay, but was still expected to start work as soon as they got to their machine.

Happy days, I think.

Chris Gunn

The Bambi compressors are not all designed for continuous use, some were designed for applications where small amounts of air are needed intermittently. The manual states that the machine "can get quite hot in operation", and also "not to let the oil get hotter than 100 degrees c", which is also quite hot. I have a copy of the manual if anyone wants one, please send a pm.

Chris Gunn

Karl, I meant to add that the club I belong to is specifically for road steam, we have no premises, we meet in a pub in the winter, and at rallies in the season. However for our subs of £35 you do get a steam test, and we are able to test 6" scale boilers within limits, which includes my 6" 4CD and some 6" Fodens. We are based in the Rushden area, but have 2 pre-season boiler testing weekends 1 near Bedford, and one at Northampton. we have a few members who travel 30 or 40 miles for the tests, when the time comes you would be welcome if you cannot find anyone that suits you close by.

Chris Gunn

Karl, I see you are keen on a Burrell, but I would recommend the 4" Garret from A N Engineering for a beginner, as the drawings are the best I have come across out of the 4 traction engines I have built. The castings are at a sensible price too.

Whichever example you decide upon, I would buy the whole set of castings at the same time if funds permit, then you have them no matter what. Check everything before you cut metal, castings, drawing and mating parts. Having all the castings to hand means you can machine all similar parts in one session, this saves time.

Make an item list once you have the drawings, and list the materials you will need, you can start collecting that as well.

Once you get started with all castings and materials to hand, then you can rattle on without waiting for parts and materials to arrive.

I would recommend AJB boilers for your steel boiler, but there will be a waiting list, so if you order the boiler when you order your castings it should be ready by the time you have machined the mating parts.

Good luck, and you can look forward to some fun when it is ready and you can rally it.

Chris Gunn

Thanks JAS for showing practically that a hexagon can be held in the 4 jaw self centering chuck, that will save some time in the future. As said before I used it a lot building my 4CD for all the clevises and rod ends from square stock, and am using it quite often right now on the 6" Ruston proctor I am finishing for the same purposes. Once one has such a chuck plenty of items are easier to make from square stock rather than round, but it depends what your interest is.

Chris Gunn

MIchael, I read it, but not 100% convinced by the drawing. I will have a go when I get a minute and report back.

Chris Gunn

I have one and find it handy making clevises and so on, it will grip round of course, but not hexagon. A lot will depend on what you make, if you work with square a lot, then it will save loads of time faffing about with an independent jaw chuck. I often use mine to make rod ends that need to be rectangular in section, I do all the turning and cross drillin and so on, then mill the square to a rectangle.

Chris Gunn

Richard, as a Bantam user for 30 years or so, I would concur with Mike Poole. Try and sort out the red lever, if the lathe fell on its face the chances are you bent something. The lever on mine is quite slick in operation. When you get used to it, the red reversing lever is in exactly the right place for handy operation when tapping something, and you need to reverse swiftly. I would not want to reach up or over the lathe to reverse it in a hurry when tapping for example.

Chris Gunn

Chris, in my working life I used "Halfen" steel channel, this is about 50mm wide, 30mm high and will take tee nuts up to 12mm thread. this is much stronger than the rolled steel channels. I believe other sizes are available.

Chris Gunn

Plus one for the NFU, my local office is very helpful, I made a list of all my stuff, and my estimate of what it would cost to replace, it is surprising how it adds up. Don't forget your completed and part completed models, they add up as well. Preparing a list and giving the insurance a copy before you sign up is a great help if you need to make a claim. The price comparison sites do not cater for folks like us.

Chris Gunn

Choo Choo, you can make one from a countersink and a flle handle, or fit a countersink in a tap wrench, I like the Noga style of de-burrer, readily available and it can do big holes as well as small ones.

Chris Gunn

Matt, if you do not have any Loctite an interference fit is free!!!

I always fit my bushes this way, just polish one end a tad so it will start, squeeze it in and pop the reamer through afterwards.

Chris Gunn

Andy, full size fabricators use a linisher with a long belt, and a roller at the business end which will give the right radius when the tube is radiused. the tube is presented to the roller at the appropriate angle to give a right angle or any other joint angle by an adjustable tube rest. I wonder if you could make a small version using the 1/2" wide linishing bands that are used on the power files. These can be bought at Screwfix and Toolstation, (belts or files) my power file has a roller about 1/2 " diameter at the end, too big for what you want. It would all depend on how small a roller the belt would go round.

Chris Gunn

Colin, I use square plastic drain pipe to store much of my stock. Being square, one can fill any gap under the bench or by the side of a bench, with pieces of pipe, laid down horizontally, and it can be stacked vertically or horizontally, and no space is wasted. I also mark the ends of the bar with a white correction pen which stands out very well.

Chris Gunn

Bill, thanks for the info on the feed motors. I will pick them up on Sunday so I can have a look at what exactly is fitted to this machine, as I think it has been modified at some point.

Chris Gunn

Bill thanks a lot for the Centec manual link, I have just acquired 2 machines, 1 is a 2A horizontal, the other is a 2B with a vertical head and power feed, all on the big base with drip tray. I will have to see what they are like and decide which one to keep. They are both 3ph, 380v so I will need to change the motors. Would you happen to know if the power feed motor is a standard frame size?

Chris Gunn

Kettrinboy, that takes me back, I did my apprentiship at Timsons as well, but I was long gone by 1985.

Chris Gunn, another Kettrinboy

John, a source of fans with metal impellers are those used on central heating boilers.

Chris Gunn

I remember reading in some old issues of the ME magazine that Model engineers were recruited to make parts of shell fuses during WW1.

Chris Gunn

Not only do I clean the burrs off, I use a white correcting pen marker and mark the ends with the size so I can find the right size easy next time.

Chris Gunn