Member postings for Chris Gunn

John, I do something similar, but use cap head screws and a deeper bolt on jaw, and counterbore the holes as deep as I can, then one can use the whole of the soft face for work holding, and for much longer too. it does not matter if you bore a recess through a screw hole, it will still run true and hold. You can hold much bigger diameter work too, should you need to do so.

Chris Gunn

I use mine a lot, I have only bought 1 set, and they have lasted me since I had my Bantam, perhaps 35 years ago. That is because I made a dozen sets of bolt on jaws from 20 x 40 steel bar when the originals almost wore out, and have about 2 sets left, I will soon have to make some more for the next 35 years. If one has to turn a job around, and turn the opposite end true, then soft jaws are the answer, as well as for holding thin stuff. One can also weld bits on to the jaws to hold extra large diameter items or odd shaped items.

Chris Gunn

Looking good, Ron, especially the flywheels.

Chris Gunn

State of Fear by Michael Crichton

Chris Gunn

Nigel G 2, if you are worried about swarf in the motor, as I would be, just imagine what a curly spiral could do, if it went through a cooling vent. Change them to Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled motors, TEFC, there are no cooling intakes. I suspect that such motors should/would have been fitted in the first place, but could have been replaced, when changing from 3ph to 1ph for example.

Chris Gunn

At Rushden miniature steam group we have just cancelled our AGM tonight, but plan to carry on with our boiler testing sessions as they will take place outside.

If over 70's are confined to barracks, that will stop 70% of our members and 80% of our boiler testers attending.

Chris Gunn

Ron, just built 4 of these engines, 1 for each grandchild, so keep on going. If you intend to use the flywheel castings Jason recommended, I have a spare set, I had to buy 5 sets to get a good price. If they are any good to you you can have them at what I paid.

Chris Gunn

Colin, An alternative to the hoist is a trolley on castors, to store the indexing head on, make the height of the top the same as the height of the table when lowered. The indexer or anything else can be stored on the trolley, and when you need to use it, just slide it across onto the bed when lowered. I keep a rotary table and a big vice on my trolley, plus small vice clamps and other stuff on 2 shelves under the top. The trolley can be wheeled around when not in use.

Chris Gunn

Andrew, Nice work with the drive pins, so much better than a non typical screw. How did you cut the slots for the Spring?

Chris Gunn

From a practical standpoint, in the absence of CAD and the time to do it that way, I usually copy the drawings in question, then use a fine point correcting pen to white out the original dimensions and then overwrite with the new ones. This saves dobbing back and forth from drawing to spreadsheet, and inadvertently looking at the wrong line on the spreadsheet. You will still have the original drawings to check against if required. As Jason says keep one eye on the results and amend to use standard size materials.

This method works just as well when converting from imperial to metric or vice versa.

Chris Gunn

Jack, it will make a difference what the boiler is made of, I would guess copper at that scale, so it is not going to go rusty which is one benefit. If copper I would fill it up with water as SOD suggests, for long term storage. If you are steaming it frequently I would not bother.

Chris Gunn

Nicholas, maybe I should have added that write the size of the reamer or drill on the block by each hole. I have to say that some of the pictures of tools with sharp end up look like an accident waiting to happen.

Chris Gunn

Andrew, why not store them the other way up? if you use a wood block deep enough, just drill the hole a touch oversize to suit the reamer, and bobs your uncle.

Chris Gunn

David, that's OK, I have several boxes I will never use, hence the offer.

Chris Gunn

David, I have some 1/32" pins if they are any help, PM me

Chris Gunn

Ken, not if you fit non return valves between the hand pump and injector feeds and the clack, so the injector and pump cannot feed back through the other.

Chris Gunn

Robjon, You are right about this scam, there was a warning about it on Moneybox or You and yours on the radio very recently. This seems to coincide with a push by Amazon to sign folks up to a free months trial of Prime.

Chris Gunn

Robin, no one has mentioned using coolant when reaming steel, I always do, it helps to wash the chips away, and helps the reamer cut.

Chris Gunn

Thanks Michael, I knew I could rely on you.

CG

I am still struggling with the average of 1 and 2 being 2

Chris Gunn