Member postings for Ian Johnson 1

It's done quite well considering they didn't expect the vehicles to last more than a few days or months in the war, the manufacturers would be dead chuffed if they could see it still alive after 70 plus years!

Unusual looking thing what is it?

Ian

Today I've mostly been repairing a box, because I finally treated myself to a gauge block set last Friday at the Model Engineering Show, it's a Coventry Matrix good quality 50 piece set but the bakelite box was broken at the hinge side, so it needed repairing!

The set has a RR sticker on it so it must be good! Calibration valid until 1996 so it's just out of date! Weirdly the top of the box is made of wood so it must have been repaired before.

Clamped in the vice showing the damage to hinge side. Contemplating hack-sawing the damaged bit off.

Decided to mill the damaged bit off. Impressive bit of clamping don't you think?

New piece of hard wood inserted and glued into place, then milled down to size, and hinge pockets were also milled in.

Lid fitted and lettering re-whitened, bit of polish and the jobs a good 'un!

Very pleased with the gauge block set, most pieces will wring together apart from the larger sizes, so it has seen a lot of use, but checking the pieces with my digital micrometer down to five decimal places, it is still extremely accurate, certainly good enough for my use.

Ian

I went to the show today, and despite all the negative comments above I thought it was pretty good! Great range of models and traders.

Even managed to pick up a gauge block set made by Coventry Gauge & Tool Ltd (Matrix), I've been promising myself a set like this for years, but wasn't prepared to spend silly money on something I might seldom use, so thirty quid seemed like a decent price for a 50 piece set. And it's got a Rolls Royce quality sticker on it too for extra bonus points!

Ian

Eeeek!!! at 58.26 Did you actually watch all of the video Alan it's over an hour long, if so much respect, you have more patience than me! And thanks for the fast forward alert, I just couldn't be bothered with all the waffle, and ten advert breaks.

Ian

Looks like a prehistoric twist drill holder to me! Some of the old fossils on here will no doubt confirm this?

Ian

Yes Rennie tools are a good company, best to go direct I think rather than through shopping channels.

As for correct size spot drill, don't worry about it too much. For my milling machines I have a 4mm spot drill permanently mounted in a holder which I use before every hole I drill. A 4mm spot drill will leave a small spot or a big spot, depending how deep you go. It's quite a versatile size. I do have a 3mm and a 6mm but rarely use them.

For my lathe work I have a number 2 centre drill permanently mounted in a holder, which I use for everything, saves messing about changing tools if I machine with a rotating centre in the tail stock.

And after all the years machining at home, and in industry, if I had £1 for every centre drill I broke I would have ..... er......about £5. Must be lucky or something.

Ian

I've been buying my spotting drills and milling cutters direct from Rennie Tools in Stockport for the past couple of years. Very good service, good quality and a simple secure web site, sign up and get regular updates and special offers too. Any problems and Johny will sort it out quick. Go direct and avoid ebay and amazon it's cheaper.

**LINK**

Typical disclaimer I've got no connection with the company I'm just a happy regular customer

Ian

I've got a Mini Lathe and rapidly found that the 2MT tailstock barrel is not deep enough for a standard 2 morse taper. So I have ground the corners off all the tangs on my standard 2MT tools.

The tang is made to locate in a corresponding slot in the tailstock to allow a taper drift to eject it. The Mini Lathe doesn't have this luxury and has to rely on a self eject system using the tailstock screw, which projects into the rear of the barrel with the annoying result of making the taper stick out about 20mm.

So your 2MT might just be touching or bottoming out in the tailstock barrel. Try grinding the corners off the MT.

Ian

If you read the article carefully, you'll realise that Neil just wants a free drink!

Ian

Looks like the GPO hammer is indeed a type of jewellers hammer, made in the UK too!

Ian

Some great replies as usual thanks, never thought about the number 68 being a part number.

And talking of REME reminds me of the EMER's store system on microfiche took me ages to figure out what the heck they were on about!

Still none the wiser as to what the curved pointy bit is for though!

Ian

Following on from Vic's thread about hammers it got me thinking about this little beast! It looks like an old UK GPO (General Post Office) tool. The markings on one side say GPO 68, I presume made in 1968. The other side says 'Highgate' I presume this is the main GPO depot in London.

So if there are any GPO engineers on this site which could shed some light on this hammer I would love to know its purpose, because it looks like a hammer for a very specific use. It has a curved wedge shaped head, maybe for levering something? I use it for delicate precision destruction.

I did notice that Youtuber Clickspring has one very similar but I think he made his, maybe from this design?

Ian

CNC making a tricky little bracket easy peasy. And I'm getting to like the Fusion adaptive tool paths, I didn't understand how they worked at first. My Vectric Vcarve takes more normal cuts.

And don't forget the good old Bastard files, I've got loads of them

Ian

They are certainly very unusual threads, thought they might be a UN series thread so I had a look in my Engineers and Machinists Reference Table handbook. There is a Unified 28 TPI Thread Series (28UN) and the closest is 5/16" 0.3125".

The handbook is by B.B.Babani and is full of good info for the machinist

Ian

Finally got round to making a base for my Moore & Wright upside down micrometer head, which I've had in the drawer for about thirty years, so it deserved a day out! Now I've got a 1 inch depth micrometer!

The base is a piece of key steel which was tough stuff for my little machines. There is a small built in deliberate error, the height is a couple of thou small, but the little brass screw allows the head to be self calibrated easily enough, it then holds things nice and tight. Although thinking about it I might just try rotating the sleeve to take up the error doh! I checked for perpendicularity by rotating the head 90 / 120 degrees and was about 0.0002" out, which isn't too bad.

The main reason I made it was because of restricted height on my small mills, I've been using a 6 inch digital caliper which is not ideal.

Ian

Hi Mark is this any use to you? It's under my sink and looks similar to yours, although mine is a one and a quarter sink. The trap (out of shot) is screwed to the pipe going to the left, it is actually on a slight angle but has worked just fine for the last 13 years. You could probably screw the trap directly on the thread where mine has the bend. Your little plastic bush thing looks like a spigot for a washing machine, this usually fits in the outlet which you can see on mine is blanked off, because the washing machine is on a separate system.

Here's a photo, ignore all the rubbish under the sink! who put that there?

Ian

Is that a four inch ruler? First one I've seen! Nice work by the way.

Ian

Impressive bit of Trig Duncan thanks. I think I'll stick to a third of depth of cut, that way the trailing edge won't scrape at all. And yes CNC thread cutting is a great thing to watch, not as fast as thread rolling though, it is fast!

Ian