Member postings for DMB

Might I suggest that any communication with useless departments like DVLA should be limited to a hard copy letter printed off your tablet and set with a certificate of posting. Leave a copy letter and certificate in vehicle to show police if stopped and carry on driving. In other words, you have proof of having done right and it's down to the DVLA to get their act together. I had a similar problem many years ago. I was a member of one of the larger breakdown organisations. Foolishly,as it turned out, I took out full comprehensive insurance via them. Cover note arrived. After around a month, I complained and new cover note arrived with a bullshit covering letter about how busy they were. I complained to the insurance company and got a similar response. This nonsense started in the spring and went on most of the summer. I said to wife I've paid a years premium so as they said, I was covered even on a cover note. I will continue driving even if the cover notes keep running out. Eventually, I wrote a sarcastic letter to the bosses of both businesses querying whether their repeated assurances that I was covered would still hold true if had a serious crash and the third party put in a claim for £X million? Told them they needed their heads bashed together and threatened to go to national newspaper. That Certificate arrived PDQ !

Never again will I use an org like that or any other agent collecting commission at my expense. Needless to say I ditched the pair of them at the earliest opportunity. Unfortunately we're all stuck with Swansea - nowhere else to go.

Michael,

Gotcha! Advertiser made package attractive enough to intrigue you and make you part with your Dosh, being the objective of selling anything.

OK as screwdrivers but wouldn't risk them on 240V..........

John

Jelly

I think that you will find welding courses expensive. Been there, done that years ago. Probably horrendously expensive soon due to the rise in elec n gas prices.

John

Top many flimsy/badly positioned items, e.g., leadscrew.

'Orses for courses.

Your cheapest bet would probably be to join a club that had a workshop including a mill.

Good luck anyway

I think that the system is one chaotic mess with bits and pieces of extra bits added on by different governments over the years, e.g., Graduated Pension, etc. You either pay in to company pension or not if you're lucky enough to work for an employer who supplies a non-contrutory scheme. Maybe index linked or get a choice of that or take big lump sum and run, with reduced remainder. Now the civil service steps in, I think, 'jobs for the boys.' Contracted out, reduced NI but they bugger about clawing it back from the pension when in payout. All the fiddling about creates work for the unionised Civil Servants. Oh! to have a decent level of flat payment on a flat 5% (say) annual increase with only one simple deviation of half (say) if you haven't paid in for half your working life. So much simpler and everyone would know exactly where they stand. Of course that would bring out the whingers in force, claiming some sort of 'unfairness.' 2 sizes will fit nearly all, take it or leave it. Bear in mind that it's about the lousiest retirement pension in Europe. And we get ripped off with higher prices for everything compared with most other countries, because this is 'Treasure Island' for big business.

Edited By DMB on 26/09/2022 10:57:24

Regarding Derek's post about newbiesaking simple items to ascertain whether they are suited to the hobby. I suggest that for an engine design chosen, make a start by attempting the mechanical lubricator. Lots of small parts, fiddly to make but low total cost of materials. Join local club with a workshop so get to use a lathe and perhaps other machines to make lubricator and get tuition from experienced club members. If newbie makes a success of this part then he/she is likely competent to complete the whole engine. At least the cost of a years membership and a few bits of materials and drawings will amount to a cheap way in to test ability without buying a lathe and she'd to put it in, should they decide that the hobby is not for them. Drawings could be sold on. Seems like a relatively inexpensive test of ability.

John

I would go with MichaelG s suggestion, take off bulk with the angle grinder then clean up on coarse bench grinder wheel and finish, if needed on belt sander. I would add that start off measuring, black marker pen, hold with pliers or molegrips, if large diameter and introduce it to the angle grinder. Anything over say 1/4" / 6mm diameter.

As Peter Cook6 said, anything special, use a lantern chuck.

I have just one slotted cheesehead 5/16" BSF X 3/8" long screw to make. This is how I plan to do it. Chuck round bar and turn down to overall thread diameter less 2 thou and use t/s dieholder. Part off. Drill remaining bar 1/2" deep and tap it. Screw in embryo screw fairly tight, part off bar about 5/8" from the end. Set up on a thin parallel in mill vice with head projecting from the side. Slitting saw in drill chuck, set up on Centreline of screw and to slot depth. Can probably do it in less time than it's taken me to type this. Others will probably say why not go out to nut and bolt store but I want to do this myself. If I had a lot to do, I would use a slightly different method, if specials but a common size, I would buy in. I also need 2 X 2BA slotted cheeseheads for another project, make same way.

Last castings that I purchased were of iron from Reeves in 2018. They were for the GHT rear toolpost and the multi station toolholder to fit the tailstock. Both were with relevant drawings. Only recently got a roundtoit with the toolpost and found the casting was lovely to machine with no hard spots anywhere, not even on the corners.

May I suggest any doubtful castings be BBQd for an hour then thickly covered in warmed sand and left to slowly cool overnight, covered with a sheet of steel to keep dew or rain off. If push comes to shove, bench grinder or angle grinder to get under any hard skin. Done that before.

I don't use inserted bits. Just use brazed Carbide lathe tools on castings. They work perfectly on the Myford. My only grouse is that they seem to only be available with a sharp corner resulting in small lines like a fine thread. Years ago they came with a nice rounded end which left a smoother finish.

S.O.D.,. Yeah! It did wind me up at the time.

Recovered, found what looked like an easy, logical answer to the questions. It is aimed at ascertaining if the club is any sort of financial institution/organisation or a non profit organisation. Name and addresses of club and Treasurer and a sogned declaration that info is accurate. What a let out! Umpteen optional answers, mostly NO because we're not financial institution or entity. How bloody annoying for a small club of 55 members to be dragged into such red tape. As always, a few black sheep spoil things for everyone. Doesn't end there, new form for every change of Treasurer in future years.

"YBA" John

Regarding my previous post about that form. I suspect that the USA has devised it setting out mandatory questions couched in a prescribed form to identify accounts around the world which may be / could be used at sometime for money laundering.

All a darned nuisance to small groups and clubs with bank accounts. Made all the worse by EDF and our bank apparently having a choice of either householder or a business account and we are classed as a business.

Bad enough now trying to get volunteers to do committee jobs without this sort of aggro. Every time there is a change of Controlling Person, a new form has to be completed. So this is not a one - off, seems like it could be permanent red tape.

Grrrrr!

Edited By DMB on 16/09/2022 21:57:47

Look at my post 7th September title Officialdom - bah!

Original letter from the club's bank dated 5th July headed in large black letters, Please confirm where your organisation is resident for tax purposes. They weren't satisfied with my response and sent another letter on 22nd August, "You need to complete another Tax Residency form. They say that all financial institutions have to collect the info by law. Also, report to the taxman any non compliance and any incomplete information held by them will be passed around the world! And comply within 90 days or we'll tell taxman.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) tax regulations require us by law to collect information from customers for whom we are unable to confirm their tax residency or FATCA and CRS status.

The bank then enclosed a Tax Residency Self Certification Form for Entities. Then they say that they are not authorised or regulated to give advice on filling it in! Also asks for a TIN - Tax Identification Number. 6 Part form running to 13 pages.

1)Name and address of entity=club.

2)Entity Country of Tax Residency= UK

3)FATCA Classification.= No.

4)CRS Classification.= No.

5)Controlling persons=Club Chairman,Secretary and Treasurer.

6) Declaration= signed confirmation that the information is accurate.

One of the provisions is that "I am authorised to sign for the Entity and the Controlling Person in respect of all of the Financial Accounts to which the form relates. So as Treasurer, I cannot duck out!

Another provision, all statements made are to the best of my knowledge and belief are correct and accurate. A nice let out!

UK doesn't issue TIN s as HMRC already has a unique tax reference (UTR) for me and my NINO(National insurance number).

All this for a model makers club of around 55 members. We use a all portion of a local council park for the track and pay a 5 figure insurance premium! Council lease requires the grounds to be returned to original condition in the event of the club being wound up. Any excess of expenditure wouldn't cover the cost of that. One clause in the menu of answers to the questions is appropriate to our club- NPO = Non Profit Organisation.

Some of the wording makes it obvious that all this is of American origin and aimed at money laundering prevention. "If you are a US citizen.........". "Postcode/Zipcode""County/State/Province"

Streuth!

Thought that I have an excess but nothing like this.

Sorry I can't be a lot of help but thinking they must be worth second hand, around 50p - £1 each. So 200 maybe £150?? Don't know how much of a wild guess. With so many, perhaps buyers could be tempted with smaller batches, say 20 per batch at, say, £15/ batch??

Good luck.

John

I ordered goods from Tracytools around 10.pm last Thursday, arrived Monday lunchtime this week, by Royal mail.

Not wishing to detract from from our suppliers or their choice of couriers, but I do wonder if a good combination of time of day, which day of the week and their location combined with their customers location, leads to a quicker delivery.

In the above example, Tracytools would have found my order awaiting them as soon as they started work on Friday morning so could extract items from storage, pack ready for RM to collect same day. Probably on the truck from Devon overnight to Gatwick sorting office. Early Monday morning in Brighton sorting office then out for last leg of delivery to me in BN1 - central area.

The form asks for one's TIN (Tax Identifier Number) and gives 4 optional answers as to why form -filler hasn't got one. It also refers to a UTR ( Unique Tax Reference) and CRS ( Common Reporting Standard), also FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), FFI (Foreign Financial Institution).

All the abbreviated jargon from the financial trade. Easily cut through because the UK doesn't issue TINs. No need as every resident child reaching 16 years of age is automatically issued with a NINO (National Insurance Number) and HMRC issue their own UTR. There are 3 identical parts to the form so each part can be filled in with personal details of a club's Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. If they're UK resident and possess no foreign bank accounts, they can use option 'A' from the 4. This is the one that says The Country of Tax Residency does not issue TINs. I expect that the foregoing would floor many attempting to fill in that form.

The rest is easy, Q1 name and operating address of club followed by that of Treasurer's. Q2 is the Entity country of Tax Residency = UK. Part 3 is FATCA Classification, 3a are you incorporated or organised in the United States? No, move to 3c, is the Entity an FFI? No, move to3f, NFFE (Non Financial Foreign Entity), 3f(1v) NPO( Non Profit Organisation.Move to Part 4 CRS Classification, 4a Is the entity anFI? No, move to 4b (V) NPO (Non Profit Organisation), Go to Part 6, Authorised Signature, date, inprint full name, Capacity of signatory.

Job done! But keep a copy as there is the threat of this nonsense annually, to ascertain changes. HTH any Treasurer confronted with the same form.

One can see this is USA in origin and a scatter gun approach to deal with money laundering.

Edited By DMB on 07/09/2022 00:12:21

?

Edited By DMB on 05/09/2022 16:21:08

Wots the problem?

Windmills up in the air, only taking up a small patch of farmland for the base. Solar panels on roof of almost every building and on odd patches of land unsuited to farming.

All the time there are umpteen local wars going on wasting precious resources even after the First World War to "end all wars" ( oh yeah!) why should I give a bigger?

John Fletcher 1, hi

I also found that problem, solved by getting another Reilang with a flexible spout.

If you want one, search @ Macmodels, Blackgates, Glr/ Kennion, maybe others

John

I also gave up on the Myford oiler and bought a Reilang, 200ml size from one of ME several stockists. Quite expensive but you get what you pay for. It never leaks and I reckon that it's paid for itself in savings on cost of oil wasted by much cheaper but awful designs. I have a number of different brands/designs of which warrant "chucking over the hedge". Must have a clear out - another roundtoit but this one would be easy to do!

Michael G and Duncan,

I simply don't know but I think it's very likely that it is 2% of total gauge deflection.

Trevor, as Treasurer, I deal with the annual questionnaire from the Insurance Broker and if I remember they don't specify any accuracy parameters. I will be checking that and advise our boiler inspectors.

John

Thank you Dave. I suspected thatmay be what's wanted. Foreigners arriving here are directed to the Jobcentre plus where they're issued with a NINO from where they can start their claim, dole, etc.

As I understand it, one needs similar in USA before you can open a savings account

John