Member postings for clivel

Thanks Alan,
I had already ordered the oiler from Press Parts when you posted this, but hopefully this will be useful to anyone else who comes across this thread.
Clive

Thanks Howard,
That is helpful. Mine is a late model ML7 built between 1973 and 1975. It appears to have had very little use and looks completely original - fortunately no sign of any bodging.
Regards,
Clive

Thanks for the replies Nicholas, Maurice and Howard,

To be honest, I don't really have much interest in trying to make something as utilitarian as a spanner, I would rather spend the time working on my loco. Besides which, even with considerable effort, I very much doubt that I could achieve anything nearly as durable as a cheap off the shelf drop forged spanner.

So It looks as if I will have to order the spanners from the UK. There are a few other things I am already planning on ordering so hopefully they will not add on too much to the postage.
The ML7 manual I have shows 2 spanners as part of the standard equipment but does not mention sizes. So please if anyone knows what sizes I need to order, I would very much appreciate it.

I guess that the allen keys are standard inch sizes ... or maybe not?

Thanks,
Clive

Edited By clivel on 12/12/2018 15:38:29

Thanks Swarf,
That is handy to know.

I don't know how easily I will find BSF spanners in Canada, but hopefully will be able to find a combination of metric or AF inch wrenches that will fit the few bolts that need a spanner.
Regards,
Clive

(I used to know only one word for many things; bonnet/hood, boot/trunk, spanner/wrench etc. Now I can never remember which word to use where).

Thanks John,
Good idea about the raising blocks, I am in two minds as to whether to go to the expense of ordering Myford clones, both RDG and Chronos list them, or to make my own.

I attempted to place an order for the Press Parts oil gun but the web site gave me an error when I tried to enter a Canadian address.
An email to them solicited an almost immediate response in the form of a chatty email in which they advised me that they don't ship to Canada, however they do have a US branch that serves both Canada and the US. Shortly thereafter I received an email from the US branch advising me that they have the oil guns in stock and that they could quote me for shipping once they have my postal address.

For future reference, North American residents can find the oil gun here .

Thanks Don,
Good to hear of your success with your stand, although I must admit that I find the thought of doing any sheet metal work a little intimidating. So I am contemplating either a wooden bench or an angle iron frame with a wooden top. My lathe came with a rather dinged up chip tray, it is much shallower than the original Myford ones but after a bit of "panel beating" I am hoping that it will serve its purpose.

Clive

The heading of this thread is "ML7 questions" so hopefully Brainsparks30 won't mind me jumping in with ML7 related questions of my own.

I recently purchased a late model (1973 - 1975) ML7 in really good condition at a very reasonable price. Although it came with a reasonable complement of accessories, 3 jaw chuck, vertical slide, steadies, etc, none of the standard tools came with it nor a bench.

Currently the lathe is sitting on a dolly in the garage while I contemplate where to mount it. As Myford stands are scarcer than hens teeth in this part of the world, Western Canada, I will likely end up having to make a bench myself.

As I want to be prepared so that I can get up and running as soon as the bench is ready, I would like to order the necessary tools sooner rather than later, so I was hoping that someone could let me know what tools are needed and what they are actually used for?
All I know is that there should be a few allen keys, some spanners and an oil gun. I have ordered the manual and the Ian Bradley book, but thanks to a recent strike at Canada Post I am not expecting to receive these anytime soon.

Regarding the oil gun, I have found a few threads that discuss it on this forum, but these have left me more confused than ever, surly it can't be that complicated, but the thought of buying the WANNER from Myford for £60, which would be more like £90 by the time I have added postage and import duties, is not very appealing.

Thanks,
Clive

There are a few ways that a lathe tool can be set to centre height.

One way is to face the end of a piece of metal held in the chuck. If a pip remains, the tool is not at centre height. Retract the tool, turn off the lathe, adjust the tool either up or down by about half the pip diameter and try again until no pip remains.

Alternatively you could use a steel rule trapped between the tip of the tool and the workpiece. With the lathe off, hold the rule vertically against the workpiece, gently (so as not to damage the rule) feed the tool in trapping the rule between the tip of the tool and the workpiece. If the rule leans towards the back of the lathe, then the tool is too high, if it tilts forward then the tool is too low, the rule will be vertical when the tool is at centre height .

You could also consider making a centre height gauge. Not only would you end up with a useful tool, but could also be a worthwhile learning experience. Geo Thomas described such a gauge in the "The Model Engineers Workshop Manual" a book well worth seeking out. Hemingway also do the gauge as a kit seen here

Clive

Unfortunately some of us have to rely on international mail. If my magazine arrives on schedule, it should be here between the 16th and 22nd of October.

This of course doesn't take into account the not so occasional problem at Canada Post which can delay international mail a further month or two.

Which brings us to another point. If for example the trial expires on a fixed date rather than a certain period after installation, international readers could be losing a significant percentage of the trial unless it is for a few months in which case the point is moot.

Clive

David,
Your Super Simplex is a lovely looking loco and I very much enjoyed browsing your web site. Thanks.

I do count myself fortunate to have a track only 45 minutes away, especially such a fantastic one **LINK** it is over 2 miles long.
Unfortunately though it is only 7 1/2" gauge, which is why I am looking at building to this gauge rather than the smaller gauges I prefer.

Thanks for the advice,
Clive

Thanks for the idea Phil I hadn't thought of the A3, definitely worth consideration, hopefully the library has the book to help me decide before I go out and purchase it.

It is a spectacular track. I took my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter last weekend, she loved the trains and didn't want to go home.
When I wrote a 45 minutes trip, it should have been only 45 minutes, which is close in comparison to the nearest track that caters to smaller gauges, a 1 hour car ride and 2 hour ferry ride away.

Clive

Oh I forgot to add, Don Young published the "Rhymney Rail Motor and Tug" construction series in Locomotives Large and Small issues 41 to 48 inclusive.

I have managed to find 41, 46 & 47 on eBay but am missing the rest which I would happily purchase if anyone has these available.

Thanks,

Clive

I started building a Don Young 5" gauge Railmotor quite some time ago but other than a few little bits and pieces I have made very little actual progress. Work, family, and life in general having conspired to keep me out of the workshop.

A recent garage tidy up along with some free time have rekindled my enthusiasm to get going once again.
While contemplating what to do next I realised that one of the demotivating factors has been the lack of anywhere suitable to run it once completed. The only track within a reasonable commute is the 7 1/2" gauge Burnaby Central Railway - a 45 minute drive from home.

So (to paraphrase a certain unnamed MEW editor) embarking on any loco other than a 7 1/4" loco would be madness or else a mantle piece ornament.

Therefore, despite preferring the smaller gauges I am considering whether it wouldn't be wiser at this stage to put aside what little I have done and to start again with a 7 1/4" design.

Considering myself still very much a beginner and preferring something on the smaller size I have narrowed down the list of candidate locos to:

Tich 7 1/4"
Bridget
Elidir (Hunslet)
Railmotor with a tender, or Tug as a tank engine.

Right now I am leaning towards the Railmotor or Bridget but in the later case it appears that drawings may be difficult to find.

I would appreciate any comments on the merits or otherwise of the engines listed or even alternative suggestions.

Thanks,
Clive

Edited By clivel on 22/06/2018 22:44:07

Thanks Neil, I had,
However my choices are Distance from Postcode, Canada, North America, and Worldwide.

And as most of what I search for is sourced from the UK, USA or occasionally Japan, Worldwide is the only practical choice.
It would be great if eBay had the option to exclude some countries.

Clive

Those are not hijacked web sites, it just so happens that a DM25 Mill is also an item of machinery used in the mining industry so you are getting legitimate results.

If you wish to exclude certain country domains such as for China or India from your search results you can do so by means of -site search parameter e.g to search for DM25 excluding both of those countries from the results use the search term: DM25 -site:.cn -site:.in

Now if only I could find a way to exclude the hundreds and hundreds of items from China that overwhelm when searching for things on eBay.

Clive

For some unfathomable reason some companies do actually use discount codes as a marketing tool, so they are not all scams. One just has to be wary.

A few years ago I decided to purchase ViaCAD 3D after reading good things about it in an online forum. One of the posters mentioned finding a discount code via a Google search and advised others to do the same.

A few minutes later Google had unearthed a range of discount codes ranging between 5 and 50%. The sites which required an email address I ignored, but others simply displayed the code along with an expiry date - no strings attached.
A little sceptical I tried the 50% discount code when purchasing ViaCAD and was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked.

Either way I recommend having a secondary email address that is only used when dealing with suspect web sites, I registered mine with gmail. Spammers and scammers can email that address to their hearts' content.

Clive

You could be thinking of the "flying pendulum" clock.

Here is one example

Sure to keep the cat amused for ages

Clive

During the last few days I have received a few items of mail some of which was mailed in December and January. This had me wondering what sort of storage facilities Canada Post must have to store such an enormous backlog.

I guess that by now the storage must be filled to overflowing which could explain why your book was returned to sender on the pretext that it is incorrectly addressed.

Clive

A large brown envelope arrived today. Sent via Royal Mail directly to Canada without stopping in Budapest, Brussels, or even Bolivia it took a mere six weeks to get here.

Clearly someone at Canada Post must have been paying attention to the large "International Priority Mail" sticker on the front which probably explains why it didn't adhere to the new "Canada Post standard of excellence" of 4 months which is how long ME issue 4577 languished in a Montreal warehouse before also being delivered to me today.

Inside the envelope I was pleased to find replacements for issues 4576,4577,4578 and 4579. Thank you MTM. I am grateful to receive them but I do find it galling that MTM have had to take responsibility for the expense and inconvenience of making good on what is without a doubt a problem at Canada Post.

That being said, I am now the proud owner of duplicates of #4577 and #4579. I would be happy to send them to anyone still missing either of these issues on a first come basis. Please contact me via PM if interested.

Clive

My 4584 also arrived yesterday, so fresh the ink is still wet, but issues 4576, 4577, 4578 and 4581 (as well as various MEWs, EIMs and other postal items) are still missing in action.

Hearing that your 4577 arrived 4 months after posting gives me hope that my missing mail will also eventually make the arduous journey over the Rockies from a warehouse in Montreal.

Clive

Yesterday was a bit of a red letter day for the postal service. I arrived home from work to find both ME issue 4579 and MEW 264 waiting in my letterbox (no sign yet of ME's 4576 to 4578 but there is always hope).
I guess that the folks at Canada Post must be slow readers, because that seems to be the only rational explanation for the 2 month delay in delivery.

And yes, I am absolutely sure that Canada Post are partially if not completely to blame for the current situation. I am still waiting for the Jan and Feb issues of EIM from an unrelated publisher and even more tellingly, three registered items posted from various places in Europe took over 2 months to reach me, and in each case i could track the items to Canada so I know with 100% certainty that the delay was due to Canada post.

Clive