Member postings for Martin W

John.

Message sent re inserts.

Martin

It looks like a fairly standard 6 cell unit complete with the charge controller built in. This will include circuits to balance the charge across the cells to eliminate over charging/discharging any of the cells. Many of this type of board include temperature monitors to prevent charging/discharging the batteries if their temperature is excessive plus some form of current limiting, Dyson use a similar arrangement on their cordless vacuum cleaners and as you say the unit is fed from a standard DC PSU.

That said I would take on board all the warnings and advice given already as when these things go wrong it can be spectacular or devastating depending when and where they fail. Even the experts get it wrong as was demonstrated a relatively short time ago when several laptops burst into flames. Not a design problem admittedly but a flaw in the battery production. When fully charged they contain a significant amount of energy and can release this explosively. While these small domestic units are not in the same league we used to use large lithium batteries in remote locations and if these showed any signs of distress they were covered with dry powder fire retardant material and removed to a specified dry safe place well away from people and buildings etc.

If you are not sure then don't take the chance.

Have a safe and happy festive break that doesn't involve any of the 999 services.

Martin

O Mart

I would think that an open apology would be in order after such an acidic post - perhaps the old advice of " If you haven't got anything good/constructive to say then keep quiet ". As others have said it was a perfectly reasonable question as tolerances can vary and the given measurement/dimension may only be valid under certain conditions i.e. straight runs of track or whatever.

Martin W

I treat them as a bit of amusement. I try to sound like an old fellow who isn't quite sure of what is going on, at 77 I suppose it's not too far from the truth. Usually the computer is upstairs and switched off so a slow climb with much puffing then a long boot up time, oops forgot my glasses and they are down stairs so another lot of huffing and puffing. Next is finding they key they normally want me to press, very sorry can't see it so they try to explain where and what it is. By this time my wife and I are trying not to laugh loud enough to give the game away. Eventually I will get bored talk normally and tell them what they are in no uncertain terms or they break the call. The best I've had is about 25 mins having been passed from one supervisor to another and they can get quite annoyed when they realise that it is them that have been conned. One even phoned back to ask why I had wasted their time, needless to say he was told explicitly what I thought of him and reminded him that they had paid for any phone charges.

It amuses me to string them along and all the time that the lowlifes are talking to me they are not attempting to con someone that is vulnerable.

I find this site quite useful as anyone who has been cold called can leave the number that called and a description of the call plus a flag that indicates, in their opinion, the type of call from annoying through to dangerous.

Martin

Michael

Thanks for the reply, if you find the 'elusive product' then I would appreciate a heads up.

Cheers

Martin

Some time ago I was servicing one of my microscopes and bought a tube of Nyogel from Ebay as it was suggested that it would be suitable for camera lenses etc. Once I had fully cleaned and re-lubricated the slideways, using said grease, I found that the controls were so stiff that the microscope was virtually impossible to use. I suspect that the relatively large contacting surface area coupled with the close fit of the slideways enhanced the 'grip' effect of the grease. Whatever the cause it meant a complete strip down of the microscope and rebuild after thoroughly cleaning and re-lubrication of the slideways with a different type of grease.

Unfortunately I can't find the offending grease so I am unable to give an indication as to its viscosity.

Cheers

Martin

The tool post looks to have chamfered edges which could explain the apparent gap between it and the cross slide. Looking at the reflection of the tool post on the cross slide in the enlarged picture it appears there are chamfered edges on the bottom of the tool post which could explain the gap but worth checking anyway.

Martin

It's odd in that it appears to have 2 sets of valve gear the one on top of the cylinder is disconnected. Might have been an improvement with the intent to give it a reversing valve gear.

Martin

That's an elegant design and the workmanship is brilliant. It's one of those pieces of equipment that 'looks right cause it is right'. Mightily envious of the quality of work that you have achieved.

Martin

Edited By Martin W on 15/09/2020 17:34:35

Thanks for that Michael, thoroughly enjoyed watching it. You wonder why nobody has asked the question before even if they didn't have the wherewithal to solve it.

Cheers

Martin

How about a timer for street lighting that had to be set or wound periodically prior to the days of light sensors and remote signal control. I look forward to finding out what it is, it's purpose and age. The fact that a nondescript tatty old piece of street furniture has caused so much interest must be a reflection of the members of this forum's curiosity.

Several years ago dropped a smallish spanner in my shed and before I could bend down to retrieve it the Gremlins pounced and snaffled it, I still haven't found what they did with it and I reckon they are still chuckling about it. As for small fixings/parts etc. they must have secreted a hoard somewhere! Ahh the joys of fumbling fingers, poorer eyesight and not being able to hear when small things hit the floor seem to be the gifts we acquire as we get older/old.

Martin

Jon

I have not seen the like of these either. However they look to have similar dimensions to the TCMT1102nn series of inserts. If it would help I could send you a sample insert that is designed for aluminium, tip definition - Aluminum Carbide Insert TCGT110204-AK--, to see if it would fit the insert bit bar that you have. While these inserts are designed for aluminium they will work on free cutting steels provided that one isn't too enthusiastic with the depth of cut or feed rate.

If your interested then contact me via the PM system on this site and I will get one in the post.

Cheers

Martin

Yes it is the last fuse that the energy supplier is responsible for but it is, as I said, the 1st fuse 'in the supply chain in the property' .

Cheers

Martin

Martin

That is just the first fuse in the supply chain in the property which is then normally broken down into lower current circuits but it is the final safeguard. Yes I totally agree that it is sealed, is the responsibility of the energy provider and is there to protect the incoming supply.

As I had stated that I was looking at Fast Blow fuses I purposely did not include the Consumer Unit or any other fuse in the circuit and was giving just a general description as to the rationale re the fusing system and their purpose.

Cheers

Martin

There seems to be a misunderstanding regarding the performance of cartridge/wire fuses and their rupture time. A quick blow fuse will run indefinitely at its rated amperage, which one would expect. However when the current rises above the rated value the fuse it does not immediately rupture. In fact, worst case figures, at 2 times the rated current it can take a fuse in excess 6 seconds to rupture and at 3 times the rated current it can take 0.4 seconds. The energy passed during this time is frequently enough to damage a semiconductor component.

Fuses are not there to protect the components or equipment but to limit the energy drawn by the device in order to:

a) To limit the current drawn so it does not damage the house wiring and potentially start a fire.

b) But primarily to ensure that the energy provider's cabling is not compromised.

Hope this helps.

Martin

Hi

I have just been browsing a sale catalogue and noticed that they have sets of horological tools and lathes for sale. I have absolutely no experience in horology so no idea of the quality but the estimate prices look very low. For those interested, even just out of curiosity, the lots on offer can be seen here. Usual disclaimers re vested interests etc.

Martin

I have no knowledge of 3D printers or printing so I could well be talking gibberish, apologies in advance. Could it be that the nozzle diameter is designed with an apparently undersize nozzle/aperture to accommodate spreading of the the hot extruded plastic so that it actually lays down a track that is 0.4mm wide and the size given for the nozzle refers to the minimum wall/ track thickness that can be printed and not the actual aperture of the nozzle.

Hope this makes sense.

Martin

Edited By Martin W on 02/07/2020 11:09:47

I believe it is illegal to fit LED bulbs into a road vehicle that has main and/or dip lamps that were originally designed for for the tungsten halogen style of light. It is probably related to the fact that the LED structure does not have the same/similar physical location and that this then distorts the beam pattern which could be a hazard to oncoming vehicles especially in inclement weather.

Martin

PS

Here is an article that partially covers the law.

(Edit to add above info)

Edited By Martin W on 29/06/2020 00:55:19

Andy

I can confirm Nigel's post that the WM14 manual states that it is 8A. However I would be very surprised if this is a slow blow fuse as they require a significant current surge before they rupture, I would expect that it should be a fast blow fuse so that the semiconductors in the speed control unit suffer the minimum stress before the fuse ruptures. That said I will check what is fitted to my mill as it is still the original fuse that the machine came with to confirm or otherwise which it is.

Martin