Member postings for DMB

Hi David,

Yes please!

Drills: letters / nos./ fractions / metric. Threads: BA / 32T / 40T / Brass26T / Gas / Metric(Fine or Fine and Coarse??) / BSF / BSW. I would think that first 4 listed most important for majority of Model Engineering needs. Main need is Tapping sizes and % depth of thread. Possibly also TPI of BA.

John

I once had an old leg vice, completely rusted up solid. Tried every jollop I could think of and used Sievert torch to `warm` it, but I think too far gone so ended up as reinforcement/ concrete filler for solid base under my new Super-7 @ that time! Since moved, took lathe + left concrete block behind - hope new owner liked his "treasure"!!

I note use of thinners. What if none available? I guess any old thin penetrating oil will do or equivalent, say, lighter fuel as used in old style cigarette lighters, but dont warm it!!

Edited By DMB on 19/03/2013 09:51:14

I once knew a club member (now deceased) who built a Simplex chassis with a "Super" boiler as he didn`t think much of the original Simplex boiler. Another club member built a Sweet Pea with a loco - type boiler (dont know which design) as he considered that the designed ( Marine type ) boiler was not up to the job. However, there have been many marine - boilered SPs built and apparently run very successfully. Hope SP chassis + marine boiler really are OK as I have said boiler and 1/2 complete chassis! As you can see from the avatar, I have got more projects creeping along slowly. This is actually someone else`s Guy Lautard/Tinker cutter grinding jig, magnificent job - something to really aspire to.

Edited By DMB on 15/03/2013 21:20:40

Neil,

LBSC/Curly had a favourite expression; "it steams like a Witch." Perhaps its not surprising with the number of tubes he would cram into his boilers. But then look at full size, with something like 240 tubes! Viewing smokebox interiors reveals a certain cramming effect in FS.

John

Hi Dave,

I believe that I have see brickies bolster chisels fairly recently in B & Q and I think they were 8 sided, so someone is sourcing it from somewhere. If all else fails, I suppose one could buy one and use a grinder to cut off the fish-tail blade!!

John.

Hi Dave,

I remember from school metalwork lessons that high-carbon tool steel only came in 8 - sided form, various A/Fs. We used it to make cold chisels - I suppose that was to give us hands-on experience of hardening and tempering.

John

Hi Fizzy,

Whoops! Just had a look this morning + notice I failed to proof - read my rotten typing last night. That was meant to be................good luck!

1. Speedy boiler builder now dead so cannot question him further.

2. As far as I know, it was his first attempt @ boiler building + therefore relying on experienced club member boiler makers rather than own experience. What I saw of his work, it was good.

You just need to be very careful in cross-checking dimensions on any drawings. Worthing club members did a joint effort build club loco - "Nigel Gresley"(?) design by late Martin Evans and they had long conversations about how certain parts fitted together.

John

fizzy,

beware, if you make a Speedy boiler. One of the members @ my club was building one and showed us all a small problem. He said there was insufficient clearance between the undersides of the bottom row of flues and the throatplate flange. He had filed small scallops of metal from the flange to accomodate those boiler tubes. Obviously, I do not know if he had followed the drawing exactly, as he said he had or if he made a small error of which he was unaware or if drawing was at fault. All I`m saying is just be aware and check very carefully. Godd luck.

John

Ian,

I think the "knickers ad" was CH4. Its an on-going series of ads telling a story, much like one sometime ago featuring a courting couple and coffee. This one starts off with the back of her dress getting caught in the lift doors and latest one she falls over on pavement....

As Harold (Steptoe) used to say, "you dirrrty ol` man!

Edited By DMB on 28/02/2013 23:21:21

Edited By DMB on 28/02/2013 23:22:56

BANG!!!

I would think that the best thing a complete beginner should do is something along the follwing lines to find out if the hobby is for him/her or not, without spending too much on it before possible abandonment. Decide on engine to build, preferably something not too big and with simple boiler. Don Young`s "Railmotor" possibly? Obtain drawings and preferably description of said loco in relevant magazine and decide which pieces to make first. Choose buffer beams, frame stretchers, coupling hooks, hand brake parts and so on. All the bits that just need a small (3"?) bench vise, couple of files, 6" steel rule, scriber and 4" engineers square. Fix vise to a substantial piece of board and clamp it to the top of a portable workbench which I think most people probably possess. Get set up on patio if weather OK or if not in an outhouse or greenhouse. There you go, no expense of dedicated garden shed and quite a small outlay to find out if this hobby is you!

John

I have met some of the old advertisers, now long gone. Who remembers Charlie Kennion? or possibly more obscure, Fred Stone? FS was very distinctive, wooden leg, heavy black-framed glasses broken bridge repaired with a strip of brass and copper rivets!! John

I agree with whats already been said about scaling off the page. Whats wrong with carefully measuring the largest dimensioned part and the part which is lacking a dimension and comparing? Surely, you would get very close to the correct size of the non - dims part/parts.

Luigi,

Your compressor reservoir is of uncertain age/condition. It could be as rusty as hell inside where you cannot see it and about to "blow." You are playing with a potential BOMB! Get it fixed (tested) pronto before it fixes you!

Take (more) care + good luck

John

Still "like a pig in muck" when Postie delivers....

Cliffords motor spares in School Rd, Hove, stock ready cut sheets of steel. I wonder how many other independant motor spares businesses around the country do this? Could be worth a try in your area, anyone looking for thin sheet steel in varying thicknesses.

Steve Clark 2,

If it helps make a list of what you want and perhaps 1st and 2nd choices, e.g., 1st coice spindle = R8, 2nd = 2MT. Then table width if thats very important, then perhaps, table length, depending upon what you plan to use mill for. Then type of drive may be more important, see Mtelhacker`s posting above.When you have decided, go for the best quality machine vice you can - dont get a poor quality drilling vice. Good luck, John.

Whilst this is not about deliveries, it is about businessmen good to deal with. A number of years ago when starting to pack up the stand at Brighton Modelworld, I did a deal with Ketan and bought a very nice white bench lamp for a very good price. Even today many suppliers are charging very much more for the same or similar lamps, usually £40+. It was a bendy - arm magnifying lamp with a circular fluorescent tube. Another time I went to visit Warco and purchased a bandsaw. I was assisted in loading it into back of my car and managed to cut my finger and Roger Warren disappeared and came back with a plaster! I`ve always found Roger and his staff pleasant to deal with. Shame about the odd scumbag who lets the side down.