Member postings for john fletcher 1

I was on SS Sandsend Oct 1956 a liberty ship, Southampton to Port Said, didn't make it as we had series boiler problem, later we were towed to John White by tug for repair. Our Chief told us lots of stories, one was when they went up a river some where in South America and got stuck on a sand bar for a couple of tides, bent the shaft a bit. Colin didn't say how that was fixed. We were in Port Said crossing over to where the pilots lived and the small boat had a strait eight petrol engine, amazingly only four working, the "master" said only four rods/pistons. Its remarkable what the so called third world can do. John

Can some one tell me the capacitance value, the working voltage and the type of dielectric which was used in the capacitor and fitted which were in the distributer, across the points in 1950/60 cars. Some folk might know these caps as condensers, one and the same. John

Yes that is the one, good pictures and if you want to run the coolant pump on 240 volts then a 4 micro farad capacitor with a 400 working voltage is required. Pump motor starts up quickly and runs as normal. John

Back again John, The conversion article Star/Delta I referred to, was dated 5/10/2015 it contained excellent pictures, unfortunately I don't know how to get to retrieve it, perhaps some one will help out. John

Once you have the motor on the bench and using a scriber put scratch marks across both end shields to stator, two lots one end and single the other. Theses marks will help you when reassembling the motor, then its a matter of very carefully dismantling the motor. Its not at all difficult to dismantle a motor, its the reassembling, getting it to run smooth, hence the scratch marks. Brook often have 4 threaded through bolts with a 2BA thread each end. Be very careful when withdrawing the rotor not to scratch the stator windings. Very recently (maybe last week) some one on HERE has posted a series of pictures on how he located the STAR point, in fact there been several lots. You are looking for a destinctive lump, often at the non drive end, using a sharp knife open it up. If you have got it wrong look else where, its some times a bit difficult to locate . You can of course go to a rewind shop, they will know for certain. You will need some cotton tape, cotton string, three lengths of flexible wire and some air drying varnish, all available on the favourite purchasing site. Do remember to identify the new ends, but as always, there is away should you forget. John

Have you had a look on RS/ Farnell or Rapid. RS used to stock them. The name of Burgess is one manufacture that comes to mind. Alarm suppliers will stock micro switches, they ought to be reliable. John

This throw away society, has to stop. Just ask your friendly electrician to carry out a simple insulation test for you, a five minute job, that will determine what is wrong. Apparently the elements are rare, didn't know that, what is the wattage? If you locate a new element it is an easy job to change it. You might need to change the screws as well as they get corroded up then the threads strip. Some times its the rubber flex which hardens with age, simply crumble away inside the wooden handle causing short, not to earth but live to neutral. The local "Mates Shed" has a box full of donated new ones, some in cardboard sleeve if you send me a PM perhaps they might sell you one. John

Good for you Rob, you must feel very pleased its been a success, and also, you have shown others how to do it. It did make me cringe when you said you laid the windings down on bubble wrap, there just might been one wire sticking out a bit and you might trap it and formed a short. I felt like rapping your knuckles and saying don't do that again. Years ago, for that very purpose I made an open top type box, using 4 pieces of thick ply wood about 6" wide X 15 long, each has a slot along its length making it adjustable, for various size stators, the windings dangle down wards. The whole thing is held together with 4 screws and wing nuts making it quick to assemble and useful. John

Your right Gray, the manual says .5HP Fracmo motor, armature 90 volts field 100 volts, full load current 4.6 amps. I think if the motor is OK its quite valuable. When my friend's Bridgeport had a fault we used a site transformer and a rectifier to eliminate the the power supply. John

Regarding VFD in here in UK , if and when industry upgrades, if ever, at all, out goes the original drive motor and all, lots find there way to ebay and other auction site, auto jumble sale, etc. Some folk buy a VFD kit and take the easy, but costly way out, other do a DIY job. I've found it easy and cheap to buy a second hand motor and a VFD via ebay. I have read on 'here' about those VFD from PRC and which are not user friendly and have a dubious reputation, but I've not actually met a person who has had any problems whatso ever. I'm no expert on computing and I have managed to program for my mates. Simply have a look on youtube plenty of instruction there, maybe I'm lucky. John

For anyone else needing a power supply unit, look up RSGB web site and see if there is a local Amateur Radio club near bye or when there is an Amateur Radio Mobile Rally in your area. These Amateur Radio Mobile Rally are dotted around the country through out the summer. Some areas have an auction sale, some would call it a junk sale, where things frequently go for a song. John

Not difficult to make your own basic workshop power supply. Here is my experience, several years ago I was give a discarded wheel chair battery charger, and used the metal box again, to house the bits for my bench power supply. I measured the transformer output voltage, it was far to high for what I needed , a few turn were removed from the transformer secondary As the outer turns were now a bit loose I sealed them with Araldite. To the case I fitted an ammeter, analogue type, and one of those Digital amp/volts meters as well. A full wave rectifiers and two 5000 micro farad capacitors ( pre owned) to add a bit of smoothing, to the output. I fitted a 10 amp variable voltage regulator from PRC on heat sink, which I had to hand. There is a fuses on the output and power ON neon indicator. Cost almost zero and almost bomb proof. It has been quietly working for the past 20/30 years. I regularly use the PSU to power a 12 volt modified cordless drill now running on 18/24 volts in my workshop. A large pre digital battery charger transformer is ideal to get you started. John

Many thanks chaps for the response. I have already had a look at the club's fitted super 7. I have a small shed and space is a real premium, the lathe is tight to the wall, I can't find a space for the read out panel. Fortunately Its not the brass but the space, I have managed for more than 30 years so not a big problem. John

I'm considering fitting an Arcuro Tools Standard digital read out BAR to my Myford Super 7 lathe cross feed. Before re inventing the wheel, has any one already fitted one and would they like to share with me how they mounted it. John

Ay up Dave, in my day relays frequently controlled contactors and a timers was a small lead screw slowly pulled down by an energised coil, but retarded via a paddle in container to give the timing. No of that electron stuff. John

I've read a lot about a competent person, out of interest try to find out how one actually becomes a competent person be it gas or electricity Give your self plenty of time. John

Hello MichaelG. I've got two of those lights but have seen a proper electrical supply connector, can you point me in the right direction please. John

Nothing has arrived in my in box Graham and thank to others who responded to my request. John

I used to have one, main parts are of cast iron, it will be a bargain for 100 dollars/£50, I think with your skill you will soon have it in very good working order once again. But you say you have GHT one, so do you need two ? I sold mine when I built the stepper motor job in MEW several years ago. John

Hello Kim and other RDM owners, I've had a look at that address and its almost the same as my so called manual. The machine is so basic that its pretty obvious which each part does. If any one has the bearing manufactures part numbers for the bearings I would like to know of them. John.