Member postings for NJH

If you have a little time to spare making up one of these and keeping it on the lathe is useful. ( I can never find my 6" rule when I need it! )

Norman

Edited By NJH on 06/08/2017 13:31:23

" I'd NEVER buy from a breader as they make things worse

Battersey dogs home currently say they have 82% of staffies out of all other breeds "

Well John there is an old saying that:-

"There are no bad dogs only bad owners"

The problem for Staffies is that they are seen as "Macho" and some folk get them for the wrong reasons. I can assure you that they are the best of family dogs - friendly, good with children and all that I've had have made me laugh every day! They are not a bit aggressive - but they WILL respond to any challenge from another dog. ( Mine is not too keen on cats - and our neighbour has about 12- they don't come into our garden!) As with all dogs though they need training and they need human company. As far as "breeders" go there are breeders and breeders. There are those who go in for it professionally, set up kennels, and are in the business of breeding dogs to make money. There are those who think that they can make a quick buck by having a bitch and breeding as often as possible and then there are those who have a bitch, have the odd litter from her and rear the pups at home - this last was the situation I bought from ( and indeed sold into when we had a litter from our first bitch)

I do think that some folk are unrealistic about dog ownership - or fail to do their research before buying a pup. Dogs need companionship and it is unrealistic to buy a pup, shut it up all day whilst the owners are out at work etc. and then expect to have a well behaved animal. As they say "If the dog is bad don't blame the dog - blame the idiot on the other end of the lead!"

As far as buying or not though .... well I don't expect to be GIVEN anything of value. Yes there are the "puppy farmers" and I would certainly avoid these and it is possible to do so. A call to the kennel club will give contact details for the secretary of each breed society and they in turn will have details of litters their members ( bitches!) are having.

Norman

Well Brian

My avatar, Chloe, is the latest in the line of Staffies we've owned

Many years ago I went round to my local ( those were the days!) and came across a Staffie for the first time - I was instantly hooked! Our old Labrador (cross donkey!) was on his last legs and, when he finally departed, we determined to find a Staffie. We contacted the breed council and they put us in touch with a breeder and, when her bitch had her next litter, we selected a bitch - Tess - our first Staffie. In time we had a litter from her and she produced 5 pups - 4 bitches and one dog! [ A warning here to anyone thinking of taking up dog breeding. In preparation I had laid a new vinyl sheet flooring in the kitchen, where it was warm, and placed the mum and whelping box there. It was fine to start with but, as the pups grew, they managed to pull up all the vinyl and rip it into small pieces!] We kept one bitch and sold the other 4 pups.

So we had two Staffies together - they kept each other exercised! We had a long garden and a favourite game was to rush out - one hide in the bushes and wait until the other ran past then leap out and bowl them over. This would be repeated over and over! In time they both went to the celestial land of lamp posts and we were dog-less!

We couldn't bear to be dog-free for long and found that the breeder of our original bitch had some more pups for sale. In the meantime we had moved to deepest Devon so we invited her down for the weekend and she came with two pups. Chloe took one look and decided that this is where she wanted to stay... so she chose us!

I'm sure that Chloe is quite relaxed about another "Dogavtar" ( In fact she is pretty relaxed most of the time - except when a walk or food is mentioned!)

Norman

Neil

On the "out farting" problem its a matter of "input" influencing "output" - you may have found a similar situation yourself with baked beans. Careful choice of diet solves the problem!

Edited By NJH on 02/08/2017 12:04:34

Hi Nige

Quite correct the plain portion behind the screwthread is the register and ensures the correct alignment of chucks, faceplates etc. Look after it and the corresponding part of chucks, catchplate, faceplate etc.- always a good procedure to wipe the mating surface with a (clean) oily rag before fitting.

Norman

Hard to tell just by looking but easy with the help of your bench grinder. Just look up " spark test for HSS " and you should get a drawing of the type of spark to expect.

Norman

Edited By NJH on 31/07/2017 20:51:42

Well this is MODEL engineers forum ,,,,,,ah how the other half lives!

Norman

Hey Tony

You are a bit of a blast from the past! - didn't you retire to the country or something? - you don't look a bit different in your 'photo!

Regards

Norman

Well we live rather out in the sticks - no bus service ( well 2 a week if that counts!) no train service so running a car is essential. All our power is fed overhead. How will the power distribution network cope with the extra demand from everyone needing to charge their cars regularly?

Norman

Hi Mike

Well here is another suggestion - Donna Leon - how could I forget her ! A long series featuring Commissario Brunetti and ( nearly) all set in Venice. What I like about series like this is that you get to "know" the characters. The ongoing interaction with his feisty wife and his overbearing, objectional, boss tie all the books together. Sadly I've read nearly everything ( several times!) by these authors and urgently seek someone new to add to my library!

Norman

Edited By NJH on 24/07/2017 13:23:34

Mike

Have you tried Alexander McAll Smith - particularly the Sunday Philosophy Club series? - crime and detection with a difference!

Norman

Hi Dave

Take out your trusty joiners plane and take a shaving off the door - then you won't need to kick it to get it open and you can use your piece of stainless steel for something more creative!

Norman

" I have 2 layers of floor tiles to lift in the kitchen"

Ah that brings back memories!

We have an "upside - down" house with the living rooms and kitchen upstairs and bedrooms down stairs. The kitchen was floored with ceramic tiles and we had two Staffies who slept in there at night. We soon found that an alarm clock was not required - as soon as the dogs woke up it was like the Household Cavalry on manoeuvres going on above our heads! This situation was resolved by bringing the dogs downstairs.... We have a high bed ( 1metre +) off the floor so we put their beds under our bed and all went well........ except that in the night they would jump up onto the bed and lie on top of the duvet pinioning us to the bed!!

That situation too has now resolved itself - our latest dog ( see my avatar ) is related to the original pair and she comes downstairs at night.... but has her bed in the utility room which suits her - and us - very well!

​I chiseled those ceramic tiles off the kitchen floor - every one broke and in some cases I was getting off small pieces about 12mm x 12 mm grrrrrrrrr! I got the local flooring guys to come. They laid hardboard all over the floor and nailed it down firmly before laying a heavy duty vinyl flooring sheet over it. Fantastic - problem solved!

Norman

Edited By NJH on 19/07/2017 20:19:52

Hi Nick

That's fine now. I'm not able to help with your question I'm afraid - I did use one briefly! Hopefully someone in the know will respond now.

Norman

No pictures Nick - just some outlines where they should be.

N

Hi

The lead screw clutch is pretty simple to make and it is very useful.

I knocked this one up quite quickly. I don't recall the dimensions now but I worked it out from measuring the machine.

The nut holding the bottom of the lever is a locking one and it is tightened just enough to allow easy movement. The collar at the left retains the short end of the (cut) lead screw. The lead screw has a groove at the point it is split and the LH mounting bolt provides a convenient place for the pivot to be located. The two pins are made from steel rod and threaded to fit the two points in the lead screw. Sorry I can't give dimensions as I don't have the machine now having swopped it for a S7 some years ago.

Good luck!

Norman

Having been employed as an engineer throughout my working life I am now proud to have been promoted and achieved the status of "Retired"!

Norman

I don't know if this is relevant to your problem but it may be of use to others having difficulty in fitting chucks.

I have a very low mileage S/H S7 and decided that I would buy a collet chuck for it. Try as I might I couldn't get the thing to screw onto the mandrel nose - it was all too tight. I went through various ruses but finally hit on the answer - the problem was one of alignment. The solution was to chuck an appropriate sized piece of silver steel in the tailstock drill chuck then fit the appropriate collet into the chuck and close to a sliding fit on the bar. Slide the chuck and collet down the bar towards the mandrel nose and, hey presto, perfect alignment every time and the chuck screwed on easily!

Norman

Ha George - I recognise that lathe!

Many ( no many, many! ) years ago I went to secondary school which was a " new idea" technical school ( to sit alongside grammar schools). It had a wonderfully equipped engineering workshop which had six lathes, two of these were Harrisons that you picture. My first turning was using the Harrison to make a plumbob - I still have it somewhere! I didn't get as far as screw cutting but the lathes website given above , by Brian, will most likely be a good route to follow.

Regards Norman

Edited By NJH on 25/06/2017 09:57:52

Edited By NJH on 25/06/2017 09:58:56

"Next Friday is my last day of earning a living, now 63 i've decided that the time has come to give up the day job and have a rest but I'm being told by my retired friends that it doesnt happen"

I was offered ( and took!) early retirement 23 years ago. I've never been at a loss for something to do and I've never regretted taking the offer. I enjoyed my time at work but I enjoy my time at home with my wife more. We both have our own interests which we follow although we go most places together.

.....and of course if we don't feel like doing something then we don't do it!

Good luck and welcome to the " retired old f..ts club!

Norman

Just so Clive!

I was in the same position and yes I ended up with a spare - I still have it and maybe it will be useful some day. The important thing about QCTP is to have plenty of tool holders - otherwise the QC bit is not that at all!

Norman