Member postings for Bill Pudney

Well spotted Jo, during my apprenticeship I had the task of removing about 3,000,000 little al. alloy cleats each held on with 2 x 1/8" rivets. I was making a little jig so I could carefully drill out the rivets, when an old hand said, "oi, nipper. This is how you do it" he got a fairly small but very sharp cold chisel, a one pound hammer, and carefully lined everything up by eye, whack, rivet cut off as clean as a whistle, no damage to anything. I would still be there if I had used my little drill jig! I've still got the chisel too!

cheers

bill

Isn't that what I said? Except that you misunderstood what I said, I think. RR would have prepared a list with associated standards, (accuracy, reliability, support, training required etc etc) then sent that to 3 or 4,or more, suppliers. Then having laid out the requirement, check all the responses for compliance with the requirement. Then buy the cheapest of the responses. I know that RR are generally held up as the Gold Standard for all things Engineering, but I doubt if they have an equipment purchasing system that's markedly different to anywhere else in the World.

cheers

Bill

Edited By Bill Pudney on 16/11/2013 01:51:19

I'm not saying that Mitutoyo do not make top quality gear, because they clearly do. However I wouldn't count on the "whats good enough...." routine too much. The likelihood is that RR prepared a list of the equipment required, along with the standards required and sent it to 3 or 4 suppliers. Then they bought the cheapest package.

cheers

Bill

I too use an APE Microball. The micrometer adjustment is excellent, highly recommended.

cheers

Bill

My dear old Dad was an engine fitter on Lancasters during WW2, he used to reckon that two men could get inside a Lancaster tyre (not whilst it was attached to a Lancaster!) and be rolled down the runway...............

cheers

Bill

Hi Steve

Certainly a "quantum" is as you say, but I always thought that a "quantum change" was a sudden, huge change, but I haven't done anything as crass as looking it up in a dictionary.

Somewhere there is a video of a B52, staggering into the air and climbing away very sedately, followed by a Vulcan taking off, climbing steeply away and doing a barrel roll!! Amazing aircraft, it could set off car alarms as well!!

cheers

Bill

Why Mike? Surely the Vulcan is a product of knowledge gained in WW2. By all accounts it was a fairly simple aircraft, I'm not saying it wasn't wonderful because it was/is. Concorde was a whole different ball game as our cousins say, it too was wonderful but in a different era.

The Vulcan (initially) was a high altitude, transonic, heavy bomber, designed in the late 40s very early 50s. The Concorde, was a high altitude, Mach 2 airliner, designed in the early 60s. I think going from one to the other justifies the term "quantum leap". A bit like going from a Meteor to a Lightning, they are both jet fighters, probably only 10 years apart in design terms(1944 to 1954 for the P1), but light years apart in performance, I believe that the technical challenge going from a meteor to a Lightning also requires a quantum leap.

However essentially and sadly its all semantics really as the sad fact is that they are both now essentially museum pieces, flying or not, quantum leap or not.

cheers

Bill

In terms of structure and systems there is a quantum leap (literally) between the Vulcan and the Concorde. Both fantastic aircraft and a tribute to the people who designed, built, maintained and flew them, but very sadly both obsolete.

cheers

Bill

In 2005, I had to be at a meeting at Farnborough. At that meeting was one of the senior guys who had been involved in heavy Concorde maintenance. His comment was that one of the many reasons that Concorde was grounded was simply because many of the skills required to work on such an old fashioned design no longer existed. Remember that most of the systems and structures in Concorde were designed in the early 60s and as such owed more to the 50s than the 60s.

Very very sad though as Concorde was a seriously beautiful and outstanding aircraft.

cheers

Bill

Sorry about the silly winking emoticon, can't edit the stupid thing away, it's supposed to be a closing bracket.

cheers

Bill

Mine is a made in Australia by Suttons copy, it says on it that its 5/16" and it takes 4mm (about 5/32" thick chasers. So I'm guessing that yours is at least 3/8"

cheers

Bill

Edited By Bill Pudney on 22/10/2013 10:02:27

Edited By Bill Pudney on 22/10/2013 10:02:59

Edited By Bill Pudney on 22/10/2013 10:03:28

Ramon "Tug" Wilson did a really good thread on lapping small, under 20mm diameter bore on another site, its probably non PC to mention it here, but it deals with model engine making. It basically demonstrated how to produce a suitable adjustable lap, how to use it, and the grit to use. Very, very interesting.

cheers

Bill

Edited By Bill Pudney on 10/08/2013 02:50:31

Edited By Bill Pudney on 10/08/2013 02:51:06

About 15 or 16 years ago we were trying to make possibly the most complex single part I had ever seen. The programmers couldn't visualise the thing, so my boss suggested getting it sterolithed (I think it was stereolith anyway) It took me several days to get the required security clearance and confidentially agreements lined up, then the electronic model was emailed to the stereolithers. A week later I had to go to Melbourne to pick the part up. It cost (from memory) about AU$7,000, but it cut our programming time by a lot, and helped to ensure that the first off was somewhere near the mark. The model was invaluable for working out set ups, fixtures etc. As a result the firm where all this took place is still making the part.

cheers

bp

I know this thread is about temperature, so apologies for going OT.

At one stage in the late 70s British Steel was losing GBP1,000,000 per day. At the time that equated to my annual salary for 200years, and I thought I was fairly well paid.

At the same time it was possible to buy a frigatesworth of steel from a steelworks in Belgium and have it delivered to a shipyard in Glasgow, for less than the purchase cost from the nearest British Steel "outlet", delivery was extra!!

cheers

Heartbreaking to see what's been lost

cheers

bp

30 degrees.....you guys are a load of softies. Up here in 'Straya when I'm making composite parts (e.g. carbon fibre + epoxy) I actively look foward to the hot weather, when it's over 40 degrees in the shade, it can often be well over 50 degrees in the shed....pefect for laying up!! I have to admit that I couldn't take more than 1/2 hour over 50 though!

cheers

Bill

Kwackers was spot on.

I've never seen a set of drawings for a loco, but I would imagine that they are pretty complicated, with lots of interrelationships. To provide a 100% correct set of drawings would probably cost 10 or 20 times what the reproduction/postage cost that is currently being paid.

Unless you can persuade some knarled old draftsman to spend umpteen free hours checking and incorporating the changes that have been provided by somebody else, free and for gratis.

cheers

Bill

There are accepted error rates for drawings. Its been a long time since I was a draftsman, so I have forgotten the specifics, but it goes something like...

prototype (nothing made to drawing so far)....say up to 7% of dimensions permitted to be wrong

production prototype (prototypes made, changes incorporated etc)...say 2 %

production .... up to 0.5% reducing to 0% over time

This was from the defence industry, where there have to be industry wide standards, including for the identification and correction of errors. Clearly these standards could not and should not be applied to model engineering. They provide an indication of what happens in the real world though.

All drawings whether for a mach 3 air to air missile or a model steam loco have to start somewhere. In the case of a model steam loco, the drawings will inevitably be produced by an amateur (in the strictest sense of the word....they receive little or no money for their efforts), so it's not unreasonable that the drawing pack will have errors. However, whoever is receiving money for them has an obligation to, as a minimum and over time, provide a list of recognised errors. The question then becomes who provides the list of errors. It's not practical to expect ME (magazine) to build each and everything they supply drawings for, so they will be depending on loco (or whatever) builders to identify errors.

This means you.

This means that you will undertake to identify each and every error that you find, preferably with the solution/correction required. Then at the conclusion of your project supply all this information in a relatively standardised form, so that it can be understood by anyone, to the magazine. Realistically do we think this will happen?? Oh, look out of the window, there's a squadron of elephants flying by.

For what it's worth, my opinion is. Treat the drawings as a guide, check everything at least twice, and don't fill up this site with complaints. Oh, and I think that the drawings are a reasonable price

cheers

Bill

Edited By Bill Pudney on 01/07/2013 01:03:36

Edited By Bill Pudney on 01/07/2013 01:04:55

DON'T USE WD40!!!!!

Sorry for shouting.

WD40 turns into a waxy gooey mess if left for any time. Use it for displacing water (thats what the "WD" is for...Water Displacing), and then wipe up any residue

Up here in 'Straya there is a thin oil called "Inox", available as aerosol or a can. There must be something similar in the UK. Inox is the near perfect stuff for things like this. I suppose the perfect stuff is clock or watch oil.

cheers

Bill

I too use Drill Service, for all sorts of small things. Their service and quality is good and their prices reasonable. They can even get small sizes of gauge plate to Australia cheaper than it's available locally, it is very expensive locally! Clearly no connection other than as a satisfied customer.

cheers

Bill