Member postings for AndyB

Hi Bill,

Not done too much but I would guess that your flame was too small and too fierce so that you heated the outside but not the middle where the heat has radiated away down the tubes.

I would say you need to have a big flame burning gently so that you heat the whole boiler evenly. All the tips I have read say to watch the flux; you would have seen some boil while other stays a paste.

I am curious to see what others say as I have to follow in your footsteps sooner or later.

Andy

Thanks Jason,

I can always rely on you to come to my aid.

Missed you yesterday, though I did look out...well, I tried to but my eyes were trying to take so much in. Haha

Andy

Hi all,

Just to say, David and Diane, thank you for the free tickets. Miranda and I had a great day out and I came away with loads of ideas.

We both have to say that the highlight for us was Warspite! Just stunning!

Andy

Hi,

Does anyone have a Rotacraft RC230 rotary tool please?

I have just got one very cheap, sold as seen, and it works very well except I can't see how to fit the flexi-drive to it. The inner cable at the drive end is square while the collet recess is round. Should I have a different end to screw on for the square inner to fit into? Also, the flexi-drive does not want to screw on to the body of the tool.

All photos that I can find look exactly like what I have got.

Many thanks.

Andy

Hi Chris,

It is a normal feeling when you look at you own work that you rushed (as others have said) because you had limited time to spend on it at the time, and then compare it to something that somebody has spent months getting just right.

I like to see fabulously well-made items and work out what the builders have done to make them so much better than mine, and then, next time, experiment to see if I can improve what I do.

A friend, who regularly posts on here, and I were having the same conversation a few weeks ago. He makes a tool and spends a lot of time tidying it up and painting it. He told me of a chap that he learnt a lot from who would make his tools just adequate to complete the job. Who is right and who is wrong? The answer is that there is no answer. My friend takes great satisfaction in making his tools as part of his main build and displays them to his satisfaction. The other chap took great pride in the finished article. I tend to make things that serve a purpose. I prefer oil to paint. My tools do the job required but only I have to see them. I don't show them because they don't look very nice. My projects improve with each hour in the shed of earthly delights because I try to emulate those better than me, but, as long as they work, I don't mind so much what they look like.

My engines will never be as good as my friend's, but, as he says, he has been doing this for thirty years, I have only been doing it for three...

Andy

Hi Wolfie,

I wondered how you filled your scrap bin...

Depending on what other loads you have to carry you might consider the trailers used by some of the big steel stockholders. It is a sliding scissor frame with a sheet fixed to it. You undo the catches and the whole frame scissors to the headboard giving both side and overhead access. There is a picture and description here:

**LINK**

Of course, you don't have to have the coil wells.

It is a lot easier than fully stripping a tilt trailer which I have done a lot of times! And then you have to put it all back together before you leave the steel works! Ask for a hand and all you got was slow hand clap. Grrr.

Andy

Well, for me:

I was back at Forncett Industrial Steam Museum helping to get our 'new' boiler ready for its hydraulic test.

Andy

Hi Fizzy,

Err...

Which war?

Andy

Hi guys,

Interesting topic.

I totally agree about the amount of information available on the world wide web; who needs ID cards when personal details are published for the world and his wife to view at leisure.

Noms de plume (hell, I'm English...Pen names!) serve many purposes which include concealing identity for many reasons. I believe Tom Walshaw was a retiring sort of chap who did not like the publicity that would have surrounded him if he had not used Tubal Cain.

Being a bit old-fashioned, I personally feel that a pen name adds a certain authority to the users writings. Of course, there has been discussion on another forum about the dodgy work practices conducted by another user of the pen name Tubal Cain so that defeats that idea...

I have many friends who go by nicknames, so much so that I can't remember their given names. They, like Wolfie, use those names more by habit, and to identify themselves to those who know them. For many years I used a nickname when driving across Europe and Russia. Nothing to do with CB radio but a nickname that I was given when I started with the first haulage company.

I am really terrible at remembering people's names so I tend to identify people by my own observations of them which become nicknames that tend to stick. For example, a driver had hair that was oiled/greased/moussed (whatever they do to the damn stuff) so he became Spike, another was ex-military so he became Foggy (from Last of the Summer Wine). One was so dim that he became Captain Pugwash (he actually looked a bit like him too, so that helped)

As a rank amateur new starter in model engineering, I don't feel confidant in giving myself a pen name. I am a bit old for the nickname that I used to have, and it is a part of my life and a persona that has passed on. Of course, it is handy having different nicknames at different stages in life as, when meeting someone that I haven't seen for many years, I can identify them more easily from the workplace or situation that the nickname relates to.

Just my tuppence worth.

Andy

PS Hang about...the originator uses one...why doesn't he explain?

Edited By Andy Belcher on 14/10/2012 10:24:32

Edited By Andy Belcher on 14/10/2012 10:26:30

Hmmm...

I hadn't thought of that way. Nice one Terry.

I thought of a shaft running the length of the shed with cone pulleys (adjustable speeds) positioned above the lathes for use on all of them (there are actually 3 in a line now... an S7, a standard M and a long bed M to replace the long bed B...yes I know, I'm a magpie).

No point in collecting if you don't use them...

Andy

Hi Ady,

I have often thought about the same thing because of the Drummond attachments available (from the same shop as hen's teeth).

Could you mount the overhead on the wall behind or on the back legs of the stand (if you have one)? That would give you an angled drive towards the back to keep it away from your face.

The shaft can run in Plummer Blocks. Keep the motor low so you get tensioning capability and good grip for the drive belt from a long run.

Tony Griffiths has solid round drive belting that is very easy to join (just done it for a sensitive drill).

I could do the same as I have rafters just above my lathes...just never got round to it...yet.

Andy

Edited By Andy Belcher on 13/10/2012 12:45:02

There is one at Norwich: **LINK**

I have not been to see it as diesels don't really do it for me but I remember, back in the 80's, we were resurfacing all the roadways at RAF Marham, and while in the bomb dump (I kid you not!) a Vulcan was being stunt flown overhead in practice for their open day.

It was so low you could almost reach out and touch it (yes I know that is an exaggeration but it felt like it!), doing swoops and rolls. The ground was shaking and my chest vibrated with the engine thrust!

Fantastic!

Andy

A cracking day.

Sorry that I got stuck on the boiler nearly all day and only got out just in time to help everyone pack up!

Never mind, it was great explaining the workings of the full-sized engines, particularly the condensor for the 1879 Gimson beam engine...it's about the only thing I really know about apart from the boiler

I hope to have a bit more to exhibit next year...but it filled a gap on the table (thanks Ramon for the kind words)

Andy

I will be there chaps...but working on the big ones! I hope Miranda will take lots of pictures.

For those of you within travelling distance, it is a fabulous day! Do try to make it there.

Andy

Hi John,

I think that my experience won't help you; I have got a 2A with the MKII VH without quill feed; just take off the bottom ring and knock the old seal out from behind.

You appear to have the quill feed (with a 2B) and that is a different kettle of fish. I'm afraid I can't help.

Go to the Centec forum; a chap there has photographed hi MKIII head in bits and drawn up a plan of it too: **LINK**

Hi all,

Nothing heard from Tony.

I have bitten the bullet as the oil fell out of the VH faster than I could get it in and SWMBO got shirty about the lines of oil across my shirts!

**LINK**

Absolutely marvelous! Not a drop of oil anywhere outside! And, yes, I did refill it!

Now how do you get the link anchor to say Oil Seals instead of link?

Best wishes

Andy

Edited By Andy Belcher on 17/07/2012 20:30:40

Crikey Jason! What did you do after breakfast?

I fancied having a go at this one as a first foray into I/C and now, as usual, I have a fantastic build log to follow...eventually!

Really good work and well presented, thank you very much.

Andy

Hi Becky,

Just a thought...

I found an idea ages ago, and I can't remember where, that I intend to make up.

It is a small hand shaper made out of an old top slide. I have got an ML7 topslide for it; you need the base and the slide. Mount a pivot are at the back of the cross slide with a bracket mounted at the back end of the topslide where the feedscrew mounts; this is for the hand lever. Use the tool holder to set your tool height. Mount the topslide towards the front of the cross slide and adjust to where you need to cut your teeth; divide off the bull wheel if possible. An HSS tool ground to shape will do the rest with a planing action.

Like I said, I can't remember where I saw the idea but it was very old. Looking at hand shapers should give the idea of what I am trying (dismally) to describe.

The work you have done so far looks amazing in the photographs; good luck with the rest.

Andy

Hi all,

I have to agree with Ady...and not just because I am a Drummond nut!

The leadscrew clutch means that you don't have to struggle with slow hand feeds, you can use the leadscrew handwheel, without turning all the changewheels at the same time, or using the high-geared saddle traverse wheel. A calibrated hand wheel gives you the measurement that you want (you could even make a calibration ring for your Roundbed)

I have got an S7 but I find that my Drummonds are a far better machine, particularly the Ms with the stronger headstock. Nobby will disagree as he happily runs a Pre B model that is well over 100 years old. I have got a fine feed set up on my S7 but for those fiddly little bits it is better with the leadscrew wheel and I don't want to strip the changewheels just to remove the drag.

Your changewheels are identical to the later flatbeds so you are set up there. Go for the post-war Myford Ms as they have the motor mounted on a rear bracket so making a complete unit with 12 speeds, six normal and six back-gear. Keep your Roundbed as it is handy to have another machine for those little jobs that just HAVE to be done after you have set up the job in the main machine.

As to price, I have paid a maximum of £165 for any of mine...and I have got seven! (it's a long story)

That leaves a lot of money for tooling and goodies!

Of course, it is your choice, but don't pass up the idea of older machine, they really were meant to last!

Andy

Edited By Andy Belcher on 21/06/2012 21:49:00

Hi Kwil and all,

I have emailed Tony and will let you know what he says about the seal. Mine is definitely bad as some serious cuts had it come out in great gloops! It probably also points to me not setting the bearings correctly; how tight do you adjust them?

Andy