Member postings for Jeff Dayman

Hi Alex, The launch and its' powerplant look great. I'm in Canada as well, west of Toronto. Are you anywhere in that general area? Cheers Jeff

Neil - if you google "phone repair kit spudger" or similar you will find a number of inexpensive kits from the far east with several spudgers and other tools intended for phone disassembly. Some are very handy for electronics other than phones as well. Handy to have a set "just in case" although most are very light duty tools. You won't be prying the cylinder head off a diesel tractor engine with them, but for phones and watches and circuit boards they are useful.

I doubt that it will make any practical difference. If you want to calculate the difference of the 2.5 dim at the OD or at the base of the flange, you can find it by solving a right angle triangle of 10 deg and the adjacent side as (od-base dia/2). probably not a big number. In addition the Shay is not a high speed express locomotive so it will be unlikely to "hunt" on the track as a high speed loco might if the wheel gauge was a bit wide caused by thin flanges. The original Shays were specifically designed to operate on rough temporary track, sometimes badly laid, in areas being logged.

Very nice David!

Was there a magic wand or a top hat involved at all? 8^)

If the PTFE is soft enough, it might seal OK Dougie. If it doesn't , I suggest some flat silicone sheet, 40-50 durometer, available at any gasket supplier or industrial drives firm.

I have never found a sealant that will for certain and forever stand up to petrol. Certainly not one that will attach the glass bowl mechanically to the filter.

What would work nicely is a flat silicone gasket, held with the bowl onto the body by a wire "bail". Alternately a brass hoop with a screw would also be prototypical and reliable. These hoops are usually made with pivots to the body at the ends and the clamping screw in the middle. Just food for thought.

Both the wire type and metal strip type were widely used on motorcycles and tractors well into the 1950's.

It's definitely a good idea to be able to get the bowl off a fuel filter as they do get debris in them that needs to be cleaned out time to time.

Edited By Jeff Dayman on 14/01/2023 14:56:13

Yes! that too. Few things as tasty as strawberry rhubarb jam. Sadly much too sweet for my A1C these days. Loved it when I was a kid though.

When there are only two telecom companies (who have dozens of sub-brands) and four country-wide banks, you know we are going to get hosed. And we do.

We have a big clump here in Ontario Canada. Lots of people here grow it. My family has used it for many generations and my clump came from my grandmother's garden. I know for sure that this same clump and its' descendants has been producing since at least 1915 and maybe as far back as the 1860's. (that's pretty long history, for Canada) Excellent rhubarb for stewing and for baking.

Andrew, when you get a mill in future, you may find the drill press gets used less and less. I would not recommend spending large amounts of money and time remotoring one. Spend your time and money on the mill you need and go forward. By the way, a drill press is not rigid enough for milling, if you had thoughts about that being a purpose for remotoring. Many have tried and failed with that approach (me included, when I was a young man with big ideas, lots of enthusiasm, and not much cash). just food for thought.

An additional way is to use the type of punch and die set at the link below. Not inexpensive but does a good job. They are good up to about .010 steel or stainless shim stock, but better with thinner materials. Excellent for gaskets also.

https://www.mcmaster.com/3861A56/

Brass is made hard by rolling and re-rolling, to reach various states of work hardening. Many years ago you could buy sheet and strip brass at annealed, 1/4 hard, half hard, 3/4 hard, and spring hardness. We bought large qty's of all of them for stamping electrical components for various controls at a firm I worked for. I have not seen these materials advertised for a long time. Now, most brass is advertised as 360 grade which is about medium hardness. 510 bronze sheet is advertised as available in spring temper and many thicknesses at several big industrial supplies. It is not cheap. It would likely work fine for your bike project. The colour of it will be coppery rather than gold like brass. If need be you could plate brass onto it to get the gold colour, if needed, but the plating could affect the temper, so I'd recommend using it as is. Good luck!

Those will get things rolling Jaques! Cheers and best wishes for 2023.

Google "Elmer Verburg Free Plans". Lots of good bar stock engine designs by this author, with beginners in mind. Stan Bray and Tubal Cain also have some "simple steam" designs but Elmer's are easier generally and with few or no drawing errors. Elmer's plans are in inches - just multiply his inches sizes in the drawings x 25.4 to get mm sizes. For reference , .125 inches = 3.175 mm

"Erinmore Flake" had a nice size tin for small tools, much favoured by toolmakers in several firms I worked at. Nowadays nice storage boxes can be 3D printed (maybe by smart nieces/nephews/grandkids) for any size tool-safe storage cheaply and quickly.

Another way to make "insert style" form tools from .093 or .125" gauge plate is shown in the pics.

I don't see the layout issue the OP mentions as a big problem. Just my opinion.

Mid 1930's Ford I'd say, but not a US or Canadian built one.

+1 for Simon's thought about 20 yr operation vs problems now occurring. Suggest looking at shaft float on the selector shaft - is the rear bush on the headstock worn, allowing excessive knob / detent free play? maybe worth trying a shim at the rear to take up play.

Reminds me of the old joke - 'how do you make antifreeze?'

Edited By Jeff Dayman on 26/12/2022 19:47:20