Member postings for Ian B.

I read with some amusement this thread as Martin's latest work is very similar to my own efforts. I sympathise totally with him. However I spent most of my working life in design offices various shall we say, still having a driving licence to drive a drawing board and seeing in the era of CAD. Even consumate professionals make mistakes on drawings and no matter how long you stare at a an alleged finished drawing the resident gremlin that resides on your shoulder will creep in and make the mistakes invisible to you.

Although I am not making this project I read the series avidly and some of the ideas (suitably modified) will creep into my efforts. I have only one slight criticism (constructive I hope) and that is about wheels and pony trucks. If the wheel standards to the BMRSB coarse scale are used the wheel back to backs can be set accurately at 28MM for 32 MM gauge track and 40MM for 45MM gauge track. This would give the prospective builder access to a wider running spectrum across the garden railway hobby.

Finally fi you want a wry smile at drawing office mistakes, I worked for a while in the 70s at a major truck manufacturer in R & D. A complaint from production came that the latest design and batch of steering boxes did not fit the chassis. Investigation revealed that although the company standards were all third angle projection, the draughtie concerned had drawn the box components and GA in first angle, hence we had a full batch of left hand drive steering boxes as that was the best interpretation the supplier could make of the drawings.

regards

Ian

My mouth waters at this thread. I had one of these 1965 vintage bought secondhand for over 20 years. I had to sell it for a house move (and the threat fo divorce if WE had to move it again). One does have to compromise from time to time. I converted mine from 3 phase by the simple purchase of a Brooke Crompton 1 HP foot mounted motor which fitted exactly the Bantam mounts. The pulley fitted exactly and even the key. It was simply controlled with a direct on line starter with thermal relay bought new from RS Components. It could not have been simpler.

I obtained my manual from a Derek Robinson in Leicestershire who at the time had spares as well. But when I sold my machine I found that Malcolm Bason (an advertiser in ME) and his son had a wealth of knowledge about the Bantam and I believe a number of these machines. Some for refurbishment by them and some being broken down for spare parts. Might be worth a call.

These are great machines and with the work we do on them we are unlikely to wear them out. Searching out attachments is also worthwhile and my capstan was on the machine more than the tailstock. I had to make the multiple stops however as they are like hens teeth.

regards

Ian.

I used to struggle with my machines an awful lot, both with rust and a horrible brown "lacquer" which stained every bit of paint. This required acetone to remove or isopropyl alcohol with loads of elbow grease. Big problem was that whilst acetone shifted the stuff it also removed paint just as quickly if not very careful..

Not on here but Ketan of ARC finally gave me the clue indirectly whilst I was reading something else he had commented on. It was the oil. I had used 3 in 1 for years to stave off rust and lubricate the machines. We used to sell oils from Morris's in small quantities and in one delivery of the bulk stuff in 5 gallon cans was a can of hydrovane compressor oil called "Airforce". They said don't bother its more expensive to pick it up than leave it. So this was left in stock unopened for a long time. Then I read the snippet. Compressor oil in machine preparation.

I now use this stuff exclusively for both lubricating and cleaning down after a session. No more staining, good lubrication, lots of rust protection. If I am leaving things for a bit like at the moment with the workshop "down" for the move then a blow over with very cheap "Maintenance Spray" in green cans does the trick. It seems to be a sort of WD 40 with fine oil mixed in. A wipe over before next use, lubricate with Airforce and everything appears to stay clean and rust free.

regards

Ian

I suppose I was one of the lucky ones. Whilst I was at college (the dreaded part time day release and evenings National Certificate) in the 70s as an adult student, my working life was all in Imperial units yet college was solidly SI (systeme internationale) so working in these physical dimensions became almost seamless between the two. For certain the unified thread system was the best in stressed and vibration situations whilst the metric threads of the day would break if torqued to their listed standards.

However late in life in the scientific plasma physics environment there are even more difficult matters to overcome when it comes to pressures (vacuum) and gas laws and the like. There are real holes in the metric systems and the only one that makes real sense is the Imperial one dominated of course by the USA research industry. Yes I know what Torr is, but find it a mental strain to get my head around pascals.. And so on.

However it is incredibly useful to have a working knowledge of both systems and well worth the practice to think in both.

regards

Ian.

Thank you Dave W. Its a terrible thing. I sympathise with you concerning your brother in law. What a lot of folk don't realise is that it only takes a few fibres to start those plaques off and many of us could already have the disease. It can take up to 60 years to manifest itself and we were told that as kids in the fifties there were still bombsites around and we could have caught the disease from dust blowing off building sites of the day.

By the time these diseases are diagnosed with symptoms it generally is too late. I now wear a respirator when airbrushing even with extraction on. I just wanted more folk to be aware of the problems.

regards

Ian.

Is this really true guys? Promoting the use of "PhilPluG" material? Asbestos based? I too used to fob off the dangers of asbestos and not to worry about it.

I sat at the bedside in a hospice of my only brother in January of this year whilst he died of mesothelioma, one of the three main asbestos related diseases. He had NEVER worked with asbestos in his long working life yet had become infected somehow.

This experience would change anyone who claims to be a human being I can assure you and would never ever promote asbestos in the environment again.

Sorry if this offends.

regards

Ian.

Thank you all for the welcome. Once up and running again I hope that I will be able to make a contribution to the discussions as well as taking something away.

regards

Ian

Thank you Christopher. Looking forward to getting started again in the next few weeks as the legal eagles do their stuff and we get moved.

regards

Ian

My inspiration to join this hobby and to become a professional engineer started over sixty years ago. The Birmingham Society of Model Engineers are to blame (sorry guys not really). An treat for me when treats were not easily come by was a day out at the annual exhibition held in the old Bingley Hall off Broad Street in Birmingham.

What memories! However I have never stopped learning nor stopped wanting to learn more and I am still learning today from others in this hobby, thanks to the internet and the magazines.

For a long time my main interests have lain with garden railways and mainly in the 7/8" = 1 foot sector. A lonely road at times. This runs on 45 MM gauge track with my focus on colonial and industrial practice. I design and build mostly freelance locos (including live steam) and stock to do jobs on my railway.

Following an enforced house move over a year ago due to family illnesses I had to curtail and downsize my workshop, getting rid of all the heavy equipment. I rebuilt here with all benchtop machines along with a seriously modified mini lathe of Clarke origin. That died last year and has been replaced with a Chester Conquest so the modifications all start over again. The mill was replaced with a Warco WM14 (a delight to use) and have yet to replace the S & B fly press with a smaller version. I scratch build (including the design work) just about everything I can including fly press tooling, gadgets to make life on the machines easier, many of which I can thank ME and MEW for and have completed the development stage of a model building modular system for the railway in infrastructure. So a very wide area of interest and activity as time allows.

We are in the throes of the last house move I hope to a place not having to be bought in an emergency where a new workshop can be built and the railway in the garden re-instated. Currently as I write all is packed and I stare at cardboard city.

Sadly I am not much of a "club" person so my contact with others of a like mind is generally via sites like this. I am happy to share my experiences with others failures as well as successes such as they are and look forward to learning more from the site as time goes on.

regards

Ian.