Member postings for Alan Donovan

NOS - New Old Stock.

It did take me a little while to work it out.

Alan.

Box, Muff

Rivet, Dick

Alan

Sorry - forgot the slang / swear equivalent.

Edited By Alan Donovan on 11/05/2022 18:46:07

Hello again,

With respect to the Myford lathes, it is true that some Myford (Beeston) components/assemblies were made by others, but they prided themselves in that wherever possible they would manufacture the component parts themselves.

They 'bought in' the obvious items like standard fasteners, standard bearings (ball & plain), electric motors, drive belts, paint. Castings were bought in from outside suppliers but machined by Myford. Fabrication work was undertaken externally by others, but any post fabrication machining was undertaken by Myford.

However, to pick-up on a previous post they rolled their own leadscrews (cannot remember if they rolled their own feedscrews), but they did cut all their own gears and manufactured their own ball handles. Some fasteners were made 'in house' where there was not a commercial alternative that suited the 'design intent', but these were rare. All machines were painted 'in house'.

A.

Hi.

This is an opinion based on my observations of the induction hardening process while at Myford (Beeston). I am unable to back it up with any data.

The IH head moves along the bed and heats the top 15% of the bed shear depth immediately under the IH head. Once heated to the required temperature it is immediately quenched, thus hardening the material.

I would expect the upper surface of the shear to take on the full hardness from the process, and the material to be progressively softer as you go deeper into the material. There could (?) also be a tempering effect on the surface layers of the shears from the heat held deeper in the metal. The bed would then lose a little metal by the final bed grinding process.

So I would anticipate that that the FULL hardness depth to be only a few thou deep.

Alan

Hi again. Further to my previous post on IHBs.

The castings for the IHBs were cast from a more 'exotic' grade of iron than the standard beds, that was more suitable for induction hardening. Production runs for the ML10 were much smaller than the 7 series machines so probably not high enough to offer the option of Induction Hardening on the ML10 beds.

At the time the 7 series lathes were designed, these were serious Industrial Standard machines. These were later followed by the MiniKop, 245 and 280 series lathes.

I may have inadvertently misled one of the previous posters - The machines whether they had hardened or none-hardened beds, were always painted the standard Myford grey (unless a special order), it was the trough between the bedway shears that was colour coded to identify whether it was an IHB or not.

I suspect that I had left for 'pastures new' when the IHB name plate was introduced, so I cannot comment if colour coding of the beds continued after that.

Alan

As an ex Myford (Beeston - 60s/70s) employee, l can confirm Induction Hardened Beds we’re painted a different colour to the standard bed. But sorry I cannot remember what colour that was.

May I suggest you talk to the ‘new’ Myford about this for confirmation.

Regards. Alan.

Hi Ivy.

I have been following this post w.r.t. your gib screw problems on your Super 7.

Myford (the Beeston, Nottingham version) were not into making 'random' changes. I served my engineering apprenticeship there (68-74) and any changes to their products were very carefully controlled and recorded.

I feel that I can say with some certainty, that your counterbored holes are definitely non-standard, as to produce 4 counterbored holes are 4 extra machining operations, which is additional cost.

In addition to this, Myford policy was to use as many 'common' parts between all their machines as possible to benefit from the economies of mass production. So the ML7 and S7 saddles were probably the same part at that time your lathe was manufactured, so you probably have the correct gib screws as per original design intent.

With respect to your problem, it looks like it may be an owners modification. May I suggest that you undertake a detailed survey of your gib strip and the saddle holes. With this information you can design a set of bespoke gib screws to suit your saddle.

It seems as this may be the only way out for you.

I hope this helps

Alan

Edited By Alan Donovan on 17/03/2022 12:10:59

Hi Rich.

The concept of a split cylinder head was totally new to me. A quick check on the internet and (I think) I understand what that concept is now. So to answer your question ...... No, it does not have a split cylinder head, it is a solid head. I have posted an extract from the Honda parts manual to show you the type of cylinder head it has. Just in case I have misunderstood this concept.

To answer your second question, ......

Sorry, I do not have any old ‘Motor cycle mechanics’ magazines from the 70’s. So cannot help with the advertisement or artwork.

I can only suggest that you start a new thread on this forum detailing what you are after. Someone may be able to help.

All the best.

Alan.

Welcome to the forum Ralph.

I agree with John Hinckley. Don’t be in a rush to regrind the lathe bed.

Depending on the level of rusting it could be easily recovered with a little TLC. Also, depending on what the damage to the bed consists of, it may be able to be ignored, or just a light touch with a hand scraper will correct the issue. MUCH cheaper than a bed regrind. As suggested, some clear photos of the affected areas would help.

There is a tremendous amount of guidance and experience on this forum (I have been helped on several occasions), so do not be afraid to ask.

best regards. Alan

Hello all.

Note to Clive Foster, You may be able to update your Nuvi with all of Europe again.

I suffered from being unable to update my Europe map on my Nuvi. The best I could achieve was the Benelux countries & France (without the UK). But my Nuvi is able to have additional memory installed (up to 32Mb on a micro SD card).  Memory was about £12 at our local supermarket. There is a memory slot at one end of the Nuvi body.

The memory was installed, the Garmin update programme recognised this, and now have Europe and the UK maps back on the device.

Hope this helps.

Alan.

Edited By Alan Donovan on 18/07/2021 06:35:24

Hello.

I have been following most of this discussion, and Bazyle made a couple of interesting comments.

In my years as an Engineer, the ability to use higher mathematics (Algebra) was necessary. I cannot see how an engineering designer can design a piece of equipment if he cannot prove to himself and more importantly the client that it is 'fit for purpose'. There were times where an even 'higher' level of mathematical skill was required and we had a 'Stress Office' to provide guidance to the designer and/or fulfil that function.

The main problem I saw was not the ability to perform mathematics but the ability to actually understand how a component or structure is loaded when in use. Not all loadings are the 'text book' example we may think they are.

Degrees are regarded by industry as essential, but many of the degree qualified engineers are unprepared for industry. This is NOT a criticism of the graduate engineer, but a criticism of some (not all) employers who expect graduates to know ALL the answers. Some gentle mentoring of a new graduate by an experienced colleague(s) can make such a difference to the graduate AND the success of that company.

Do employers check that their employees have the qualifications (Degrees) they claim?

I would hope so and as part of the company's Quality Accreditation they are supposed to 'back check' with the issuing University (who should provide 'hard copy' evidence/proof). For large contracts, the CVs of those 'highlighted' to be working on the project are (usually) included in the bidding documents. Well ..... they were at one company I worked for.

I do however share Bazyle's concerns about whether employers make sufficient checks about a persons qualifications. But that is where the Auditors for the company's Quality Accreditation Organisation verify that the company is maintaining the necessary quality processes to retain their accreditation.

Alan.

Hi all.

Thank you so much for all your input. There are plenty of options for me to try. I have provided a sectional sketch of the outlet end of the muffler below.

I have found a piece of pipe in my 'it may come in useful one day' pile that is a snug fit on the exhaust (diameter A). So first off, I intend to start with just a short extension tube and see what effect that has. I could then try and add some sound insulation on the inside of that and see what effect that has if still noisy. - basically as per Phil P's suggestion.

I will probably try the diffuser style of modification as well just to see how that compares to 'tail pipe' mod.

To answer Emgee's question the diffuser would have a closed end according to the diagram, but my thoughs are to push the diffuser against against the baffle therefore effectively closing off the end.

I will try the easy solutions first before moving on to the more difficult stuff.

Best regards.

Alan.

Hello again

Thank you all for your comments so far.

The outlet on the aftermarket muffler is smaller than the inlet pipe. The actual exhaust pipe is the inner pipe in the photo below.

Redsetter

The inner pipe is welded into the muffler and has a baffle at the end of it. I think this is supposed to emulate the OEM diffuser, but as you comment the baffle does not appear to be doing much. There is a reasonable gap between the end of the inner pipe and the baffle, so I think it is worth making a diffuser to suit this. As mentioned earlier this pipe is smaller than the inlet end, so If this combined reduction in the 'gas flow area' is detrimental to the bikes performance, then that is the time to consider modify the outlet further.

P.S. Just a thought while writing this. The black box on the exhaust system is described as a 'muffler'. Is a muffler an alternative term for silencer or is a muffler technically different to a silencer?

Best regards to all.

Alan.

Edited By Alan Donovan on 27/06/2021 09:01:39

Hi John.

In answer to your question, I don't know.

My son and I bought this as five boxes of bits. Even the engine was down to its component parts. So we never heard it running.

It does seem to attract a lot of attention when I am riding it, and my neighbours say it is loud.

It is an all welded unit, and it doesn't feel (?) as though it has any packing inside - I may have to have a 'prod' inside to see its there is anything 'spongy' there.  

The muffler was bought new, by us, as the old one wasn't present when we bought the bike, but it is an aftermarket unit, which I am positive isn't built / manufactured to the same standard as the OEM equipment (for this particular item).

Alan

Edited By Alan Donovan on 26/06/2021 21:44:33

Edited By Alan Donovan on 26/06/2021 21:47:38

Edited By Alan Donovan on 26/06/2021 21:53:24

Hello all.

For those of you that have been following the challenges of renovating a Honda SL125, it is now running, on the road, insured and officially an 'historic vehicle'. I am currently 'de-snagging' the vehicle.

A current 'snag' is that the exhaust is (very) loud.

It has an aftermarket muffler which isn't as well engineered (or expensive as an OEM unit - $2999.95 U.S.) but has the correct contours and is aesthetically correct. I propose to modify the aftermarket unit by putting a diffuser in the exhaust stream to hopefully deaden / reduce the sound. I propose that the diffuser will be similar to the OEM design - see item 6 on the sketch below.

This would require removing the existing outlet pipe and an internal baffle (Rotabroach cutter maybe) to provide room for the diffuser.

I am relatively confident I could make a diffuser to suit from steel, and that the primary design parameter is that the diffusers combined 'flow gas' area should be not less than the open cross sectional area of the current exhaust outlet.

So my queries are -

Is the above design parameter reasonable and do you think a quieter exhaust note would result?

Are there any other issues I should take into consideration?

Should I leave things as they are and claim ' historic vehicle / old technology' if challenged?

Lastly, and this is the most interesting bit,- have any of you any different solutions that could be applied to this to result in a quieter exhaust.

All the best, and thank you in advance for any input / comments

Alan.

Hello All.

My experience is that having a 'high' tailstock is not unusual for a conventional lathe.

I served my engineering apprenticeship (late 60s/early 70s) at a machine tool company, where it was accepted that tailstocks could be a little 'high'. My memory is vague on this but I think 0.001 inches was the maximum allowable compared to the headstock.

The logic behind this was that as the tailstock would be moved around with use, the tailstock base would wear (headstocks being fixed), so the tailstock would gradually drop to be on dead centre height with the headstock before becoming 'low'. This therefore extended the time the vertical relationship between headstone and tailstock remained accurate.

Alan.

Hi.

I have had to match paints a couple of times and the more specialist paint suppliers now have a hand held device that can 'read' the colour and give you the shade and/or RAL number. It literally only takes a minute or two.

The first occasion I needed this service, I used one of the larger (but local) glazing companies. They often need to colour match paint to paint the reverse side of windows or glass splash backs. So that is another route to what you want.

I have no idea how these devices work, but I assume that you would have to get the painted sample as clean as you can before getting it scanned.

Hope this is useful. Alan.

Hi Rob.

My ML7 manual quotes the belt length as 23 inches, inside length.

Best regards.

Alan.

Good morning Peter.

Their information request seems exceptionally intrusive. The suggestion to seek some legal advice with respect to this issue is probably very good advice.

One issue that sprang immediately to mind is – has your mother left any money/possessions to you, siblings and/or grandchildren ‘In Trust’ or in her Will. It may be worth taking legal advice to ensure your mother’s wishes are adequately protected.

When seeking a placement for my father-in-law (diagnosed with dementia) we found social services very unhelpful. So to do ‘the best’ for my father-in-law, my wife and I had to become experts in the care system. This occurred in 2012 so my comments and experiences may not be quite so relevant now.

We found organisations such as Age.uk quite useful, one of these organisations offers (or offered at the time) free legal advice. You have a limited time (30 minutes) to talk to the solicitor so be well prepared with your questions.

One ‘gem of information’ that came out of my conversation with that solicitor was that Care Home ‘Top-up fees’ (which are usually paid by relatives) are NOT compulsory. The phrase ‘emotional blackmail’ comes to mind here.

We didn’t pay any top-up fees (although they tried a second time to force the issue after my father-in-law was resident in the home), but we have had sight of a ‘Top-up fee’ agreement. If you choose to pay top-up fees, read the document very carefully, and make sure you understand the T&Cs – our experience is there is NO escaping the payments once you have signed – regardless of how your personal situation may change.

Lastly, if your mother is self-funding, may I suggest you keep control of when payments are made. My (ex)neighbour put her trust in her father’s care home to manage the self-funding payments as required and then later found that the payments made were in excess of the contracted amount. The excess fees were returned ......... eventually.

I accept that good care has a significant price tag attached to it, but the Care Home business is exactly that - a business, so unfortunately, in some organisations the ‘quality care/profit’ balance has become far too ‘profit orientated’.

I hope this has been helpful to you.

All the best to you at this difficult time.

Alan.

Edited By Alan Donovan on 28/04/2021 11:17:25

Hello again.

Thank you all for the responses to my question. It is very much appreciated.

Best regards to all and keep safe.

Alan.