Member postings for Mike

I'm disappointed - I thought a nose protector was going to e a piece of mediaeval armour............

It seems that this warping can happen with rolled plate or strip in any metal. When I was into making fishing reels I first tried to fabricate the spools from aluminium plate. It always warped, no matter what I did to it in terms of heat treatment so had to resort to turning the spools from bar stock. The wastage of material was huge, but it was the only way to go.

Perhaps I'm being particularly dim this morning, but surely the frame is bound to rotate unless somebody has invented a totally frictionless bearing, which logic tells me is impossible. It's just a matter of keeping the frame rotation as slow as possible.............or is it?

Yes - I rigged a remote foot switch to my no-volt switch when I was teaching my young nephew to use my lathe. That way, I could stand close behind him with my foot hovering over the switch, just in case he got into trouble. Fortunately I never had to use it.

The non-slip rubber mesh liners are good. I've treated myself to one of those bright red multi-drawer tool cabinets on wheels, and only today have started cutting the liners. I'd just say watch the dimensions of the sheets, because the rolls of the stuff I bought led to a lot of strips of waste. For this job you really need material which is 2ft wide.

I find it incredibly ugly, and where's the fuel tank? In the fat frame tube at the top? If so, I reckon the rider will have to stop at every petrol station.

I remember driving a pal's Citroen Big 15 over some pretty rough roads in Africa in the early 1960s. The gear lever for the three-speed box sprouted out of the dashboard, and the hand brake was an umbrella handle just below the dashboard. The handling on gravel roads was far better than any British car of the period, and it had a big enough radiator so it wasn't constantly boiling on hot days. A pal bought the car from a bloke who threw in a beret and a couple of packs of Gauloises. I believe the Big 15 once held the Cape to Cairo record. Vive la traction avant!

I have a cheap chrome-plated version which was bought in the UK only a few years ago, but I can't remember where.. Hacksaw, if anyone embarrasses you with unwanted gifts of wine, just forward it on to Mike, c/o.............

In my stupid youth I was walking around my uncle's very large garden with an escaped young chicken in one hand and a machete in the other. I'd just finished tidying one of the wilder corners. When I got to the high fence around the chicken pen I chucked the wrong thing up in the air. The machete, being heavier than the chicken, came straight down (fortunately blunt edge first) and hit me on the head. I got a split scalp, but not as bad as it might have been. Probably explains some of the more stupid decisions I made in later life............

Didn't know Talking Pictures existed until I read the above. Must look in future - it's channel 343 on Sky.

As Howard says, it wasn't just American and American-influenced cars that had column changes. My grandad had a Daimler with a Wilson pre-selector gearbox, which was the wierdist thing I ever drove (except, perhaps a Citroen DS21) and a pal's father had a Merc with a column change. The best I ever drove, in the middle 1960s, was a brilliant Peugeot which, well ahead of its time, had fuel injection. It really was fun to drive fast.

Back in the 1970s my mother was secretary to an engineering business, and the first-aider was on the stores counter. He kept his big first aid tin on a high shelf. When an apprentice suffered a tiny cut, he went to the stores to get it dressed. The first-aider reached up, slipped, and the first aid tin fell and hit him corner-first on the head. He finished up in hospital, while my mum gave the apprentice a bit of elastoplast she kept in her handbag.

A very interesting debate, but the thing that annoyed me was not the "evolution" of language, but the fact that two of the three birds pictured in the BBC report had hideously large rings on their legs. So called "scientists" these days seem to get away with hideous cruelty to wild creatures - behaviour which, if you and I did it, would lead to prosecution. It seems fashionable among the scientific crowd nowadays to fit larger birds and animals with sat-nav trackers - I ask you! Wild creatures have managed to evolve over millions of years without this "help." Observe wild creatures by all means, but it should be a strictly "hands off" study.

Good news indeed, Neil - and long may it continue. Buyers of postal subscriptions are always welcome - publishing houses get their money up front, and don't have to pay the newsagent's commission. I'm sorry to hear about that 30 per cent decline in the modelling sector. It indicates to me that youngsters are no longer getting pleasure out of creating something.

Peter: You and Larry have got it right. One aspect is that we don't necessarily have the right equipment for a job, so we have to improvise. This means that the thinking time is far longer than the actual machining time, and it's that kind of activity which keeps the dreaded Alzheimer's at bay. It certainly helped me recover from a stroke five years ago. I'm 76, and the flesh may be weak but the brain still works - at least that's how I see it. Others may beg to differ!

Edited By Mike on 23/11/2017 15:27:47

As a writer and some-time editor of specialist magazines for more than 50 years, I find some of the discussion above most interesting. The fact is the economics of the publishing business now, compared with the 1960s and 70s, are far different. For instance, the specialist publication I worked on in the late 1960s and early 70s sold 170,000 copies weekly. Now it sells fewer than 26,000. All printed media is suffering in the same way, and losing out to on-line sources of information.

In general, magazines just can't afford to take the high risk of running exhibitions, and in many cases can't afford to take stands at exhibitions run by other folks. Neither can magazines afford to employ large editorial staffs - if fact, I wonder how much ME's apparently big staff were paid in years gone by. My guess would be not much.

Then we come to the business of apparently telling readers information they already know. It may be true in the case of long-term readers like the majority of contributors to this forum, but I can't believe it applies to the majority of ME and MEW readers. It has always been my belief that people take specialist magazines during the time when they are hungry for knowledge. In other words, when they are relatively new to a hobby. Research by my former employer (the EMAP group, at the time Britain's second-biggest magazine publisher) suggested that there was, in general and discounting the ever-loyal few, a five-year turn around in readership. To all of these new readers, the information that the few of us may find old and boring is, to them, new and fresh.

Of course, if ME and MEW would join the Audit Bureau of Circulations, we would all have a clearer picture. But that's another argument, isn't it Neil? I guess that, even if you know the sales figures, the suits upstairs insist you keep it a closely-guarded secret.

When I had a Super 7 I acquired an Amolco milling attachment, which now forms the basis of my home-made mill. Itworked well with a long cross-slide and power cross-feed. OK for small items, but not nearly as good as a proper milling machine.

Just spotted this on the BBC news website this morning: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42021713. The claims look impressive.

Thanks, Neil. I'm just like Kermit! And I really do fancy Miss Piggy!

You have beaten me to it, Juddy. I was about to point out that there's a turnbuckle for tracking adjustment on my tadpole tricycle, and I believe the component is the same as used on a kart. I've followed your link, and can't believe the components are such value for money.

Talking about BBC presenters waving their arms around like windmills, why do they do it? Perhaps more bizarre is why BBC reporters have to nod their heads repeatedly while listening to a question. A couple of times, when interviewed on the BBC, at the end the cameraman has shot a sequence of me doing what they call "noddies", so that they can be inserted before the news programme goes out. It's really weird!

Edited By Mike on 14/11/2017 14:49:13