Member postings for frank brown

Despite using Castrol GTX for 20 years without changing it in my lathe headstock (it did go black though), it is said that engine oils contain a detergent that hold particles in suspension, so they can be dumped at the next oil change. Which most of us do not do.

When you look at the power density of a modern gear box, many push 100 HP + through lathe headstock sized gears and that the fluid last for 10 years + and multiple materials used in a gear box, these would seem to be a good candidate for use in lathes. Or just stick to a ISO 68 straight oil.

And stick a magnet in the bottom of your head stock, it might attract iron particles.

Frank

I have a cheap hacksaw frame set up with an abra saw blade in it permanently. it is such a faff taking it down to pass the end of the blade through a 1/16" diam hole to get started, I hold the "other" end of the saw and adapter to the hacksaw with tape. Otherwise you need four hands.

Frank

It sounds as though the motor is taking too much current. I would disconnect it from the load , slacken/remove any V belts. Try to spin the motor shaft by hand. It should be smooth in rotation, if it feels rough your bearings need to be oiled/replaced.. Try running the motor, if it still trips out then its the motor, if it runs OK, your linisher bearing/belt tension needs to adjusted. Of course that actual trip might have gone faulty and is tripping at too low a current. It would be good to run the motor of another circuit to check this out or measure the motor current.

If the motor has got holes in its case it is likely that dust has bunged up the works and it needs a strip down and clean. If you get this far then the state of the copper windings can be inspected as it is possible that if the windings have got hot enough the varnish insulation might have been damaged causing a short circuit turn and further overheating. The smell of the innards will tell you this immediately you open the casing.

Frank

Re-fitted the saddle/apron/leadscrew and gear box to my lathe. This was after I had taken the rash decision to "re-grind" the front of the bed. And it seems to have worked. There is no rattle and I can use the same front shear clamping right along the front of the bed without the saddle getting stuck. The only down side which I consider minimal is that the last "10" (width of saddle) of the bed is inaccessible , which is a small price for 75% of the bed seeming to be OK. .

Frank

I watched the one about restoring a "steam launch" (it started out life as a motor launch). The turner had the difficult job of turning a taper to taper spacer.i.e. the tapered hole in the prop was larger then the tapered end on the prop shaft. He turned the external taper to his satisfaction, then decided to fit it to the prop and then turn the internal taper holding the prop on a face plate to ensure concentricity. As the boss of the prop did not have any proper holding surfaces, he drilled a hole in each blade and bolted the prop to the face plate. I am sure if he had bored the internal taper and turned the external taper before parting off, the two tapers would be concentric enough for the beat up old prop.

Frank

I did some like the m2 tapping the other day, I was putting on a felt wiper holder on the end of a cast iron lathe saddle way guide. It was about 10" high when standing on the pedestal drill base with the table swung out of the way. So pick up a mark and drill with a 1.5mm, raise drill replace with a 1.8mm. raise drill. put a "bar"? type tap wrench on circular part of tap, put tap in drill chuck, not done up. Take tap down to the hole and lock the quill. Proceed to tap, if the chuck is done up correctly the tap will spin and go up and down. Success on all three holes. Note only moving the quill up and down once the job is started mean that all the holes and tapping is concentric.

Of course if your material is Hard-As-Witcheswotsits , you may still have a problem. . .

Frank

Through bore the bearing fitting diameter and fit a spacer with a bit of epoxy to keep them apart.

Frank

Potentiometers (volume controls) have a 3/8 fine UNF thread, could it be this? Else as its a gravity defying fitting pass the tube through the top fitting, slip over a tight fitting washer, the deform the tube Bit of back street bodging.

Frank

I made a big mistake, buying a 64 bits version of Windows 7, got any ideas for a conversion program to run 32/16 bit programs? i don't want to pay MicroSoft £180 for the home Profesional version.

Frank

There are masses of self levelling compounds, the one you linked to's main claim to fame seems to be that its sets so quickly. I am not sure that is you prime consideration. Please check that your floor is reasonablely horizontal, a mate of mine tried our one of these compounds in his kitchen - it all ran down into one corner!!

This would be a better place to put your questions :- http://www.diynot.com/

Frank

The way I would try to do it is:- First drill a small hole in the corner of the tape and put a piece of wire through it. Hold the cable in a vice and tie off the wire so when the tape is wrapped it lays in the correct place. Peel it back and heat the tape and proceed to wrap keeping the next bit of tape's glue melted. Seems to me the best thing is to leave the tape on its reel. So proceed heating and wrapping. When you have got to your final position,bind some copper wire around the last full turn and keep the balance of the tape tight.until the glue has cooled. Get hold of your favourite modelling knife or razor blade and tidy up the ends removing the funny little corner with the wire tether..

I have used the heat shrink glued sleeving to make of a 6mm cable to a large anode top connector it worked really well especially as the top cap end was about 12mm diam. Never had one fail out of 20+ over ten years!!

Frank

I fully support what John says, our dehydrator tanks and bottles had to be tested every year, pressure?, 2 PSI !

Frank

What sort of metal will you be pouring? Where are you going to be based (cost of postage for cast iron !).

Frank

I used a "PCB" drill at work for modifying PCBs, it was an American precursor to the Dremel and I was not very satisfied with it so when the time came for me to buy my own I went for a Proxon ( http://www.proxxon-direct.com/acatalog/professional_drill_grinder_ibe.html ). Its a lot more money, though still only(!) £90 same as 1995, but its in a different league.to the Dremel. More power and speed, less run out. It also has a decent circular part on the casting where it can be securely mount to a drill press.

I must get on with mounting it (only had it 20 years), need mounting on the mill BUT on its own little mechanism. I don't fancy cranking the knee up and down to drill no. 60 holes. This way I will get a lot of daylight and reach around the drill.

Frank

My 4" Record bench vice. I bought it when I was 14 for 10/- (50p) in 1962, the vice jaws need replacing or re grinding. Here are some on E-bay :- .ebay.co.uk/itm/1-x-IRWIN-Record-PT-D-Replacement-Pair-Jaws-Screws-115mm-4-1-2in-23-Vice-VIC-/171296146753?_trksid=p2054897.l5659 £55 reduced from £90. I think I will have a go at regrinding mine.

Frank

Good show, a bit crowded for my taste. Catering areas grossly crowded, did not eat or drink for 5 hours

Frank

I have more or less the same problem except that bolts go straight up into the headstock casting and they ooze a very small amount of the gear oil. To put it into perspective, I filled the headstock to to its max oil level in about 1983 and re-filled it because in 2013, because I moved house and I wanted a fresh start. So less then .5l lost in that time! Interestingly the oil had gone black - bacterial degradation?

I think the technique is to lift the lathe slightly of its stand and block up under the bed or on any suitable surface with the bolts just undone by 3mm or so. Then if using silicone which I would think would work, de-oil the surfaces thoroughly and give the top of the stand a good bead near its outside edge. Leave it for 15 min to skin over, remove the blocking gently and tighten up the bolts.

If this is not possible, then a good cleaning to de-suds the area and just put a fillet on the outside should work.

FWIW I use to fix rockerbox and sump gaskets with silicone goo, good for engine oil up to 90 degs C! But the surfaces were clamped.

Frank

Match coarse fishers use "poles" which are a selection of carbon fibre tubes that plug tightly into each other. This can result in a fishing rod 11m long. The sections can be bought separately to replace broken ones, so a nose around a good fishing tackle shop might be interesting.

Another suggestion for a source of SS or ali tubes could be manufacturers of yacht equipment (hand rails,dingy booms, )err, and other bits?

Frank

I fell out with senior managers in the first year of my apprenticeship. Once a week, the new lads were given a two hour lecture by a head of a department. Subjects such as , tool room, progress, stores etc. Well one day it was the turn of the managing director, who said within his opening gambit some thing on the lines of "The most important thing for me is to have fun doing my job". The fact I can remember him and his words show they had quite an affect on me, 50 years later I can still bring the whole thing to mind.

At my last firm, the CEO (an American), stood up and basically lied to the whole staff of our division. He said that we were forward funded for three years. So six months later the firm had to go for a chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Apparently the CEOs of the FTSE 100 companies are more psychotic then the average inmate of Broadmoor.

Frank.

Looking at all those bolts holding the pump together and the air inlet pipe, take air at 100 psi and raises it to 500 psi? I don't think there are enough bolt holes in the original mounting flange.

Frank