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Hi peak4, I think that you may have meant 15 & 40.

Andrew: Looking back over my calculations when setting up my Centec, I too had the 23 & 32 pair and also the 15T gear. The existing gears proved to be 20DP and the pair are on shaft centres 2.75" apart. The need for a 40T gear was thus calculated.

Not a great fan of this gearbox but it (mostly) works!

Edited By Swarf Maker on 16/10/2017 00:27:34

In a similar way to SOD's comment, I still use QCAD for quick 2D sketches for the workshop. If the idea works out then I import the dxf file into F360 and build the 3D model directly from it.

I do find F360's cloud storage a benefit when I can work on a model at my desk, just pop into the workshop and the design is sitting there on my workshop computer. If I then find a need to modify things a bit I can do so on the workshop computer and when I return to my desk the updated drawing is there for me to continue developing. No nonsense with transferring files across the network or having to remember to carry the USB stick back and forth or indeed worry about which file on my network is the latest one. Versioning is automatic.

Lots of advantages and still growth and facility improvements to come. The ability to interact with the design team and have your needs and ideas considered and more often than not addressed/incorporated is great. The forum works well but of course the Autodesk aim is to get the likes of us and the student or small business to become tied in to the product. Ransoms may come in the future but so far the business model is, I believe, sound.

It is quite clear if you read the T's & C's at the end of the trial. Registering with Autodesk as a student, hobbyist or low profit business will give you a years free use. At the end of the year you will be asked (in effect) to confirm that you are still in one of the same categories of user. I have now been using the software for 3 years or so and all of the updates and improvements to the software continue to flow.

What you will get are periodic emails to your registered address telling you of special purchase offers. There is no need for you to pursue those but I anticipate that some folk will get fooled into purchasing.

You are also not fully locked in to being reliant on F360 as your models (as components) can be exported as various other CAD formats. 2D drawings obtained from 3D models can also be saved as pdf files.

I move models between F360 and TurboCAD as each programme can be slightly better than the other for some operations.

Finally, although some are wary of 'the cloud' and having to be online, F360 files are/can be, stored locally on your computer and work carried while not internet connected. When back online the system automatically syncs to the cloud.

Thanks chaps. Good to know that I am not alone in unearthing these obscure threads. It's a bit of industrial archaeology in a way and is useful when restoring things to understand a little of the likely thinking of the day. I have come across the Douglas specials myself but such things always make me wonder, was this a ploy to keep a hold on the spares supply market or was the designer being careful to ensure that the chosen thread met exacting engineering criteria? I suspect that it's best not too think too deeply and just get on with recording such original features, reproducing them when the pain is not too great, and modifying things if that is the most appropriate course of action. For this job things will remain as designed.

I don't want people to spend hours trawling the net or whatever, but I have not been able to identify this thread standard. It is used to adjust clutch lift on a whole series of pre-WW2 motorcycles that use the smaller of the Burman gearboxes. I am completely confident of the sizes quoted as the measured diameter is 2.5thou under 7/16" and the Moore and Wright Whitworth 30tpi gauge fits snugly along its entire length. I can readily deal with both internal and external single point screw cutting for replacement components, so it's no big deal. I am just intrigued as to whether there is a standard that applies. Also interesting that 30tpi doesn't seem to appear very frequently. Anybody know this one off-hand?

Oilite bushes, due to their porous nature are designed to be at the correct (designated) bore size when fitted into a housing of the prescribed dimension. I would not expect them to be a tight fit on the shaft prior to fitting. If your bushes are anticipated to be under size in the bore when fitted, it will be because the housing dimension is incorrect or the fitting procedure is poor.

If you attempt to ream these bushes in situ, you will 'smear' the honeycomb structure of the oilite and thus close of many of the pores that hold the oil. Thus the self lubricating properties will be compromised.

If the original bushes were oilite then the housing for them should be of the correct dimension. These bushes are actually quite fragile and to obtain the correct clearances you need to be very precise when installing them to ensure that they are accurately located along the axis of the bore, otherwise they will become (perhaps very slightly) distorted as they are inserted.

It would be a good idea to try and understand what resources your current computer is using when running your application software. The 'resource monitor' will give you a first stab at looking at CPU and memory usage and disk transfer activity/rates.

Certain applications can share the processing load between the CPU and the GPU. Some older applications struggle to use the advantages of multi-core CPUs.

Making a sound economic vs performance decision is not easy. You would be wise to look for forums on the internet that may have something to say regarding the needs/performance of your specific applications.

How strange!

I watched this on Freesat at 9pm BBC4 on 29th Dec. and again last night, same channel on Freeview.

On the 29th there was a voice-over from the crew expalining what was going on and the relevant safety aspects of the driving/firing/signaling etc. Nicely done and not interupting the flow of the raw footage. No background music or vocal inanity - highly commendable.

Last nights transmission was missing the voice-over, and was lightly edited to be a few (approx 5) minutes shorter. A lot less useful/interesting to the point of boring!

I have no idea of the brand at this time as the friend (and this problem) is in Australia. I am awaiting better information from him but I agree with Jason that a lack of flux while the steel is heated is likely to have caused problems. I also happen to think that he did not get the steel component hot enough anyway.

Thanks Tim, I agree.

Part of the problem in the case of my friend is that he has no prior experience and as the lump of steel into which the copper pipe is to be fitted is disproportionally large, he 'had at it' with a somewhat fierce Oxy/Acet flame. The fluxed rod ended up charred!

Thank you for your responses as I had not seen them before. I note on some manufacturers products of this type that they claim that no pre-fluxing of the joint is required. Without flux, either from the rod or a 'standard' product, I can't see how oxidation is avoided unless the flux on the rod is very aggressive.

Anyhow, I'm going to encourage my friend to use a more conventional approach with products that I can relate to as the joints in the photos that I have seen are not acceptable.

Thanks again to the respondees.

A friend of mine overseas who is 'in' to motorcycle restoration required to silver solder a 1/4" copper pipe into a steel housing. Silver soldering or brazing was a new thing for his restoration repertoire and he purchased some pink flux coated rods which, on the face of it, were quite expensive.

He didn't use any flux on the components themselves and perhaps unsurprisingly, the result looks awful!

Does anyone have any experience of these rods and if so, what flux can be used to protect the components from oxidation as they come up to temperature and before the rod, with its flux, is applied?

I would be intrested to learn for my own benefit and, of course, to pass on the knowledge.

The key to dismantling something can often be found simply by thinking about how it was put together in the first place!

I would have assumed that the worm was no larger in diameter than the bushing, otherwise how would it be assembled? Granted, the worm will need to rotate as it is withdrawn from the worm wheel.

Edited By Swarf Maker on 08/12/2016 00:26:33

Edited By Swarf Maker on 08/12/2016 00:26:57

As this bushing retains the worm shaft, isn't it a simple case of withdrawing the worm shaft such that it brings the remains of the bushing out with it?

If it's really tight then a tube with an internal bore larger than the bushing diameter and of a length such that the wormshaft nut can be tightened against a washer over the end of the tube, will allow tightening of the wormshaft nut to withdraw the shaft and the bushing.

Has anybody any experience of the Pro version of Win10 and does it offer any more user control over what MS can and can't do to your system?

Martin, you have a pm.

I once thought that the taper on the fins of an air cooled engine were the result of a drafting angle for the castings.

However, there is some experimental science that shows that a tapered section fin conducts heat away from the base of the fin more rapidly than a fin of constant cross-section.

QCAD does all that anybody is likely to wish to undertake in a 2D drafting environment. Like all packages, there is a learning curve, but QCAD is quite intuitive if you are used to manual drafting.

I don't think that it is fair to damn it if you have only spent such a short time trying to use it. Give yourself a bit more time playing and using the help.

On later magnetos the outer races of the bearings were insulated from the casing with dense insulating paper sleeves to avoid re-circulating earth currents being passed through the bearings and causing arc erosion. It may well be the case that this magneto has the same interface, in which case the differential heating method will not work - the paper grips both surfaces too well. Also, too high a heat and the insulator gets destroyed! I've sent you a personal message.

Edited By Swarf Maker on 05/02/2016 14:43:54

Edited By Swarf Maker on 05/02/2016 14:44:52