Member postings for frank brown

Gary, same problem with jig saws cutting sheet steel, about 20mm blunt 30mm unused. Next time, sit the jigsaw on a 22mm bit of chip board sitting on the steel to be cut. You can now blunt the next 20mm.

Frank

Glass fibre is brutal on teeth, choose cheap bladed for this, Thin metal will require really fine teeth 60 TPI?, wood can be a lot more coarse 20 TPI. I saw a man cutting out wooden jig saw in a booth at the sea side. fascinating, the blade was very thin and narrow, consisted of 4 teeth in one direction then 4 teeth in the opposite direction followed by a space equivalent to the series of teeth, then another series of teeth. So it cut on the up and down motion. quite slowly, 2 strokes/sec?

Speed of motor is related to its construction (number of coils) and not its power. 1450 is a 4 pole motor, about 2900 is a cheaper 2 pole motor.

I some times mount a switched on jigsaw under a modified stool, so the blades pokes up where the seat would be. So its a bit like a fret saw with a thick black. I think this is the easiest way to go, do this with a spring loaded top support for your blade and you can be away in a day or so.

Frank

For the best finish you need a tool with an almost flat cutting edge, just a radius across it. If you have any broken drills say 1/4" or bigger. drill a suitable hole for it in a block of steel, it would be nice to drill and tap a clamping screw to hold the stubby drill, or if not, degrease and use epoxy or super glue. Now to grind the tool up. Select a bit of the drills metal that is full diameter at halfway through its height. This is where the new cutting edge is going to be. So grind away the end, dipping in water to stop over heating, until this part of the drill is at the end. Grind away the underneath so the cutting edge is a little forward of the metal under it. looking at the tool from the side grind away the top to give the top of the cutting edge a flat top. Looking at the tool from the top, you should have a very sharp corner, very gently turn this into radius. Run a small stone around the radius, angling it so it is removing material lower then the cutting edge. This is make sure that your radius is smooth and there is a little front clearance.

Now mount the tool in the tool post and swivel it so the centre of the radius is nearest the surface to be faced. For facing the absolute height of the tool is not critical, by eye is enough.

Don't use a stone, it will block up and become useless for anything other then polishing stuff !!

Frank

Santa Claus left me an RGD type T2 QCTP. I have been using it and have got around to use the parting off tool block. The tool holding block has its central slot too small, .002" less then the corresponding block on the body, but .02" less then the other tool holders. So do I waste an hour to re-instate my non QC set up and complain to RGD. Grind a bit off with a disc cutter. Or exchange the whole kit (5 tool blocks and the holder). Looks as though the job is on hold now.

Frank

Frightening car penetration tale #2. The Hammersmith flyover is fed by a dual carriage way with railings separating the opposing traffic. The fire brigade had to turn out to an accident. They found a coupled of bumped cars and one where the handrail of the railing had pierced the floor of a car and wound it self up like a clock spring inside the passenger compartment trapping the driver. He was trapped by the railing going through his jacket missing his torso but pinning him in. The Firemen had to cut him out, pressumeably with a pair of dress making scissors, not a scratch on him.

Frank

Oh no, the disc speed recording worked, we could see the pointers(pens? pencils?) that record the speed move out from the centre as we went really fast (25 MPH). Just had a thought, I wonder if its an interlock, so when there is no disc fitted the "speedo" bit does not work. Wonder why you can manually over ride it.

Frank

I was helping my mate replace the tacho cable on a vintage coach. After we did this we took it out for a spin and the odometer was clocking up the distance but the speed indicator was not working. We opened it up and there was a white slider which we moved to the other position. After this the speedo worked. I can't think why the speedo would have an option to turn it off. Any thoughts. ?

Frank

JohnSwift 1, its a shame they did not put a 100 ohm resistor inside the unit between the sense and the output wires, if the sense wire becomes detached the charge goes to max and boils the battery. If Q3 goes short circuit, the voltage rises and blows every bulb in the car and the computer. . . ..

Frank

That was a rumour put about by a jealous mare.

Frank

looking for articles that I need:- How to restore a 70 year old tailstock casting where the bore has worn at the chuck end and the ram wobbles. How to pick up the centre on the oval hole where my carriage feed shaft goes through the apron. Any solutions involving CNC are not permitted. Another want , would be a dry clutch solution for a 2 HP motor drive.

An article that I might write is making a Deckel SO 20 collet for a high speed head, don't hold your breath , it could take a year (or more).

Frank

Time to grease the QR mechanism for you, samson vice owners . I would just butcher a spring and de-temper the end loop and bend it to the required shape. It would be interesting if you looked inside the spring at the break point to see if it had been rubbing on the shaft causing it to break at this point, normally these sorts of springs break at the sharp bends near the end.

Frank

I have used John's method and it seems to work, tho' I doubt if NASA would approve.

Frank

Judgie-space, just about sums up the air heads on that net. I hope their children survive OK.

Frank

I have a Deckel clone. I threw away the motor cover, reduced the machines depth by at least 3" and allowing the belts to be changed without moving the machine ( put shelves over the motor?). At this stage I would buy a secondhand 1 HP motor and a pulley and use them temporarily. My one came with the dual speed 415V motor and a broken static converter, After one motor rewind ( £154) I fixed the converter. One thing worth thinking about is a hoist to handle the lifting on and off of the vertical head, its sharp and shiny and heavy!

Frank

Went from Win 7 to 10, after twenty years PC goes through the BIOS so quick you can't see it most times, so boot up time much better then any thing I have ever had, even DOS 3.1 buts that for a different reason!. Also close down is quicker, now its not " Saving your setting", which have not changed. The touch pad has that nauseating squeeze/spread to change the displayed screen size (Control + or Cont- to cure).

If Windows want to look at my machine - good luck to them. Real problem is cookies which are slowly filling up my disc and I wonder how resistant the operating system is to malware, not very I bet.

Microsoft are a funny company, never yet paid a dividend on their shares, yet people still buy them???? They are very good at screwing money out of the hoi polloi, but as for writing software?

Frank

i have now fitted out two engineering sheds (AKA Man caves) and have come to the conclusion that they should be designed from the inside out.. for instance if you want a "Grand Design", i.e. big white walls, a single bench a machine over in the corner, then a plastered interior which needs supports at 400mm centres. If you go for the more typical hodge podge of home shelving, recovered kitchen units and a home made bench, then you need 3/4" chipboard internal walls so brackets can be put in any where. These would need support at 600mm centres. The floor should be insulated in all cases.Concrete screed gets slippery with oil spillage. Carpet picks up swarf. I think 22mm T&G P5 chipboard is a good compromise. The ceiling can be made from any sheet material but must be painted white immediately after construction.

Thought should be given to how and where the power is going to be run and especially for that gizmo you lust after (but can't afford yet).

Now you have a theoretical box which you need to clad in insulation and make weather tight. Unless you expect people to throw bricks at it, the skin need not be very strong, for instance I think 6mm marine ply would be the optimum solution, if painted with a suitable proofer it should last with zero maintenance for over 30 years. My shed #1 did and looked the same when I sold the house after 31 years.

If a single brick wall is of any length it would need double brick piers every 2m, which complicate the inner box. You will also need some roof ties to stop the roof blowing off, you need frame work for the windows and door. You need to engineer some way of fastening the inner box to the outer brick one.

It could be built as a conventional cavity wall with internal insulation. Takes up a lot of room, but is very nice, paint it white , put fixings in any where, but expensive.

Insulated steel cladding made by Corus, ready insulated. needs an internal frame to carry its weight and to keep the roof on. Very awkward to get the roof to seal at ridge and eaves.and to fit rain water goods. It can look very nice if you manage to buy suitable shapes/colours. Look at your local B&Q/Wickes etc, this is what they are made from. One problem is that the roof is mean't to sit on purlins (RSJs in the stores) hard to do in sheds.*

hard to interface with your 3/4" universal bracket locating boarding?

Corregated iron, like the Corus stuff with out any advantages and many disadvantages.

In non brick cases think about water dripping of the structure and splashing UPWARDS and possibley under your construction. raise a wooden structure 12" of the ground?

Frank

* I still have 200+ super long (6"?) self tappers for the sheets that have the tall thin ridges running down them.

When I was a baby (about 12-18 months old?- 1949) I chewed the paint of my cot and came up in a red rash. In retrospect we reckon it was the lead that dun it. left me as mad as a hatter even though I have never touched much mercury (except for the stuff we nicked from the chemmy labs).

Frank

1. We used to have RCD trips associated with tap changing because the local industrial estate went home. Always a Friday between 1600 and 1800. I changed the RCD to a 100mA one to cure.

2. About 10 years later RCD going off again, traced to condensation inside ONE arm of a three armed metal chandelier dripping onto the bulb/earth!! No other moisture seen anywhere.

Bit like our case# 1, your fridge/freezer /central heating pump run 24/7 why night trip. Sounds like lecky board induced on, perhaps, a marginal circuit.

Frank

yes I have done that in the past too. I think the solderable tabs are nickel plated steel, which will solder with difficulty, they (or at least my ones are a bit thicker .007"?). But with the stainless tabs I have had no luck at all, hence my feeble attempts at getting a spot welder to work. So far no series resistor in primary is too much current, 100 ohms too much resistance.

Today I spent wrestling with the transformer and its 1/2" output bus bars and building a cover over the fire element resistor which is now 50 ohms and is still too high.

I found a number on the transformer :- BTX 7235A 55 P1 Ring any bells

Frank

I have tried that.. The problem is that I have a transformer which is a proper spot welding transformer which could be rated as high as 5 kW, not a 800W micro wave transformer with a home wound secondary. Also they have no way of controlling the current, as they don't have that much to start with.

Have you any figures for the Coulomb rating of the capacitor type ( 1/2 C V^2)?

Frank