Member postings for clivel

Ordered on August 30th, apparently dispatched on September 11th and still no sign of it here in Canada.

Normally items from the UK take 2 days to a week to get here. For example the two WPS books that I ordered at the same time but sent on Sept 2nd got here four days later.

Bill,

One has to be so careful with YouTube, one interesting video leads to another then another then another ...

but in this case, those quadcopters are absolutely fascinating and definitely worth the time to watch, the software behind them is amazing.

Thanks for the link, fixed here **LINK** to encourage others to take a look and be astounded!

Clive

Amazing stuff: Jaw-Dropping Software Makes 3-D Models From Any Photo don't forget to watch the video!

Sometimes I think that technology moves a little too fast!

Clive

There also appears to be a problem with the MEW preview. The latest issue is shown as 206, but the preview is for 204,

Clive

I built an Elmer's 25 as a first project. Trying to make it as simple as possible I opted for a plain crank disc without the notches.

For the disc I used a 3/4" round bar. Chucked in the 3 jaw it was faced, centre drilled and then drilled the correct diameter for the crank shaft (deeper than the disc thickness). After turning to diameter the bar was removed and a slice cut by hand with a hacksaw. The crank shaft was fitted to this slice with a drop of loctite and then left to set for 24 hours.

I then proceeded to grasp the crankshaft in a collet chuck so that the disc could be faced to the correct thickness, thus ensuring that the crank-pin disc face and the shaft are perpendicular.

My original description if it is any help : Elmer's 25 crankshaft

Thanks to all for the advice, and to Billy for the great explanation.

George, Although the link I gave is to a Canadian supplier - Lee Valley tools, I believe that they do ship to the UK, although it should be possible (and far more cost effective) for you to obtain the belts locally. Have you tried eBay?

Clive

Edited to add: After typing the above, as an experiment, I entered sanding belts into the search box at ebay.co.uk and was completely overwhelmed by the huge number of results, there were literally thousands.

Edited By clivel on 28/07/2013 02:49:21

I recently bought a used linisher without any belts that I would like to use for general model engineering type activities i.e. ferrous, brass and aluminium.

A local supplier stocks a wide range of suitably sized 1"x 42" belts Sharpening/Sanding Belts of various of types and grits. But not having used a linisher before I am at a loss as to what belts to get. So any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Clive

I don't know of an online source, but if it is any help the complete article along with drawings was published in MEW No. 124, April 2007.

This appears to be the same engine as Little Ben: SteaMECH Traction Engine they list both drawings and castings.

Clearly though, the engine in Nick and Jason's photo is a much enhanced and much less toy-like version of Little Ben with only a passing resemblance to the original.

If you are looking for something more realistic than Little Ben you may instead want to take a look at the 3/4" scale Modular published in ME during 1981 and 1982 - alternate Issues from 3651 to 3677

Clive

The idea of having a single machine that can be used as both a lathe as well as a mill/drill might sound good in theory, but in practise it is a complete pain in the rear end. Invariably my Unimat is set up as a lathe when I want to drill a few holes, or visa versa. I seem to spend more time reconfiguring the machine than actually being productive on it.

So instead of purchasing the attachment or going to the trouble of making one, you could get a complete separate machine such as this Sieg mill for not much more. Not only will it save you a lot of time and frustration, but it also has a far greater capacity.

The column on mine is 420 mm, but it is a Unimat Basic, which is not necessarily the same length as the Unimat 3.

Edited By clivel on 21/06/2013 07:40:09

And here was me thinking that foetried is Afrikaans for fettled

I was just about to dig out my ancient "Kritzinger Tweetalige Woordeboek" (bilingual dictionary) to confirm when your correction came through.

Clive

I also found the Toby articles on the disc in a folder named "MODELS TO BUILD"

Ignore the sub-folders named Toby_files, Toby2_files etc, instead you should find files named Toby.html, Toby_2.html, .... Toby_19.html double click on each one to open in your browser.

Clive

Edited By clivel on 13/03/2013 20:35:57

No doubt China has made unwelcome in-roads into all industries. From the shoes on your feet to the food on your table the West has capitulated - consumers have become addicted to cheap and shoddy products.

The only value left in Western corporations are the well know brand names slapped onto the same cheap Chinese products carried by everyone else, brand names that are no longer a hallmark of quality and destined to soon lose their premium.

Personally I think that we have reached the point of no return, too many Western industries have been decimated never to return, so for better or for worse it will be a Chinese world.

Yet irrespective of one's opinion on the subject, it is no excuse for the OP to refer to the Chinese as "chink" a term that is considered extremely derogatory in many circles.

I have been considering getting either a small dividing head or rotary table.

One of the options that I think will give the best of both worlds is to purchase a rotary table that comes with or can easily be fitted with a stepper motor, such as for example one of these from Sherline or ArcEurotrade although neither are particularly cheap.

Adding a digital controller such as the DivisionMaster or one of the other designs found on the web will then add a comprehensive dividing capability without resorting to counting holes.

Clive

Edited By clivel on 10/02/2013 02:49:08

And now also the answer

Edited By clivel on 04/02/2013 03:06:52

Jeff,

Actually your previous post, and Nigel's follow up addressed most of my concerns. So now I am all set to get started on a widened Toby . Nevertheless I would still be keen to hear from anyone else who may have gone down this route.

Clive

If you have access to back issues of ME, there was a series of article entitled "Binding a 'Model Engineer' Volume":

1981 Vol 147, #3670  and  1982 Vol 148 #3673, #3675 & #3678

Edited By clivel on 03/02/2013 08:26:32

JohnS, Thanks for the Tich vote of confidence, but despite the bad rap that Tich seems to receive in some circles I already had Tich on the short-list.

Nigel, Thanks that is inspiring it is a shame though that you haven't finished it, but I can see the appeal of a sweet pea especially if you want to do some passenger hauling.

A little background: Having acquired a Unimat Basic lathe (4" swing, 8" between centres) with vertical attachment, I decided that I would like to build a 5" gauge loco. After weighing up the various beginner friendly 5" gauge designs I chose the Don Young Railmotor.
Armed with years of armchair experience (a long time ME reader) and a set of plans from Reeves I confidently set out on this new challenge. A few sessions in the workshop was a humbling experience. I soon realised that a Unimat is not a Myford and that there is a world of difference between reading knowledge and practical experience. So scaling back my ambitions somewhat I successfully built a little Elmer's oscillating engine, a few simple lathe accessories, and made a start on a Stuart 10V.

Turning the 3" diameter Stuart flywheel taught me that the limitations of a small lathe are not just physical capacity. Even within its capacity, operations that may be relatively easy on a larger machine, can be far more difficult or extremely time consuming. It took two evenings of fiddling with the 4 jaw chuck,then the 3 jaw chuck and eventually the faceplate with custom clamps before I managed to find a way of holding the flywheel securely. Once that was done the next unexpected hurdle was that limited cross-slide movement made it impossible to reach the rim of the flywheel with a standard tool. It took another few hours of fiddling before I succeeded with a boring bar held in the reversed toolpost, and then another evening's turning to complete the flywheel taking very shallow cuts. By the time it was finished almost a week had elapsed. Taking this long to make one item may be an adventure the first time, but trying to make a complete loco is sure to become an exercise in frustration.

So once again reality set in and I realised that for any chance of success I would be restricted to a small 3.5" gauge loco such as Tich or Northumbrian. The latter was soon dismissed, although it would seem to be the easier build, the driving wheels diameters are close to the limit for my lathe and by all accounts it would be hard pressed to even haul it's driver once finished.

So I was all set to embark on a Tich when I found Toby. Toby looks to me as if it should be a much easier build, especially with the marine type boiler, but with no accessible 2.5" gauge track, a 2.5" gauge engine is a non-starter.
So my choice comes down to either a Tich or a Toby widened to 3.5". My concern is, whether a 3.5" Toby is going to be a practical proposition bearing in mind that any major redesigning would be beyond me and that I am hoping to only widen the frame stretchers and axles.
Thanks,
Clive

Jeff, Thanks for the advice, I am giving serious consideration to giving it a try.

John, thanks for the DVD link, I hadn't noticed it and was wondering where to get the rest of the articles. I have now ordered it, but waiting for a DVD in the mail now seems almost archaic in these days of the instant download

I recently came across Toby which would seem to be an ideal beginners loco that appears to be not only be much easier to build than Tich or even Northumbrian, but also probably able to offer better performance than either of those due to the high adhesive weight resulting from 1/4" plate frames and solid "tanks".

Toby is 2 1/2" gauge. However as there are no 2 1/2" gauge tracks within easy access to my location, a 3 1/2" gauge engine would be a more practical proposition.

Here are some photos of a few Tobies , and part one of the construction series (only part one is available online).

As Toby is already a similar size to TIch (it actually uses Tich wheel castings), I was wondering how practical it would be to build Toby as a 3 1/2" gauge loco by simply widening the frame stretchers and axles. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Clive