Member postings for Dave Wootton

Years ago at work we had some steel to machine clamp bars to hold contacts in some HV switchgear, I can't remember the grade or spec but we called it " Horribillium" it would machine and drill ok but was the very devil to tap threads in. The solution was to use either White Wizard or Blue Wizard machine taps with rocol RTD compund, again can't remember which, but they would work and cut a good thread, but didn't last long before blunting. I don't know if wizard taps are still available but assume some equivalent is, but do remember being told they were very expensive at the time and were originally purchased for tapping Aluminium Bronze which can also also be horrible to tap.

Probably cheaper and easier to buy some more steel of a known spec from a reputable supplier. my home made toolmakers clamps are ordinary ms and have lasted about fifty years so far!

Good Luck

Dave

I've used a Warco geared head lathe in industry and despite my initial horror when told we were getting a Chinese machine I found it to be a good lathe. Certainly overcame my prejudices and I grew to regard it quite highly, used fairly heavily over a fairly long period it proved robust and accurate, certaily wouldn't mind one at home. We also had a Warco Bridgeport clone that was another robust reliable machine. I would imagine that the similar machines offered by other reputable and established importers would also be entirely satisfactory. Given the purchase price of these machines they seem remarkable value for money and ideally suited to school use.

Some very sound advice in the earlier replies, there is/was a Martin Evans book available some years ago on constructing an outdoor model railway, published then by the old Model Aeronautical Press it should be possible to obtain a secondhand copy.

One thing to bear in mind irrespective of the gauge of loco you have, and assuming you wish to ride behind, is the difficulty of balancing on a 3 1/2" gauge driving truck. The late Ted Benn had a test track in his garden only about 60feet of dual 2 1/2"/ 3 1/2" gauge it was great fun, but always felt a little precarious and there were several derailments, fortunately none serious. A dual gauge line with a 5" rail would be a lot more stable especially if carrying children many of whom find it difficult to sit stll! That said many of the earlier passenger railways were 3 1/2" gauge notably LBSC's own polar route and Noel VanRaalte's line at Burseldon.

Worth visiting as many lines as you can to help fix in your mind what you actually want and need, and I'd second the recommendation to join a club if possible. I particularly like the smaller gauges, I've built and still have 5" gauge ones, but my favourite is still my little Rob Roy, which has been run to death and needs a new boiler, but it's easy to transport , more difficult to fire than larger engines, but if we're both having a good day it's great fun.

Good luck with the project and if you go ahead please post on your progress, i'm sure there would be a lot of interest.

Dave

Just had a google and the book is still available new from Amazon and others, Outdoor Model Railways by Martin Evans, there were a couple of other in print books came up as well which might be aimed at the more scenic smaller gauges but I'm sure many of the principles would be adaptable, and provide food for thought.

Edited By Dave Wootton on 02/05/2023 15:16:07

Maybe my use of the term levelling is misleading, perhapa I should have said eliminating twist in the bed. The 254 and stand assembly doesn't seem that rigid to me, as I can easily induce twist in the bed by adjusting the levelling feet. I just use a precision level across the bed at each end and adjust any twist out. The machine turns and bores as parallel as I can measure so I'm quite happy with the set up.

Hi Ralph

I've got a 254+ which is single phase and does run smoothly, however I have got it mounted on anti vibration pads, which makes it very easy to level, and increases the height slightly which I find comfortable. I can't remember where mine were bought from, they were previously fitted to another lathe, but they look identical to the 80mm ones advertised on the RDG/ Myford website, they may have come from Warco. Been in use for a couple of years now with no problems, I check the levelling every now and then and once settled it has stayed stable. Hope you enjoy your 254, very pleased with mine gets quite heavy use since I retired.

Dave

Edited By Dave Wootton on 24/04/2023 17:57:36

I miss the late John S, bought a shaper the other day and kept smiling to myself as I thought of what he would say. Remembering one of his comments about shapers ( which he had no time for) " Shapers are wonderful things, they stop the floor escaping until you can find a proper machine to take it's place"

Clever and funny man.

Correction to my post above...

Had a text message from Neil the electronics expert that changed the capacitors in my DRO head, who is also no mean model engineer..

I quote " Dave I realise you firmly believe everything below 11KV is insignificant but those capacitors I changed in your DRO were actually diodes, and the marks on the pcb were not where they had leaked dielectric, but smoke"

That's me told then, sorry if I misled anyone.

Dave

I had an old Bridgeport with this unit and the same manufacturers scales, this does not really answer your question, apart from the fact I found it ok to use, much better than dials on a very worn machine. Buit this might help out others, or yourself who have this set up. The display red LED display used to get brighter and dimmer, almost flashing although you could just about use them. I contacted a company that offered a repair service and they wanted a couple of hundred quid in advance to even look at it, plus the repair cost if it went over two hours, almost as much as the mill cost!. Took it to our electronics guy at work and he diagnosed faulty capacitors on the circuit boards, some could be seen to have leaked, there were quite a few but they only cost a few pence each from Maplin ( it was a few years ago!) and hey presto we were in business. The slides were however unreliable and on inspection were gummed up with old coolant, on the basis of nothing to lose i took them apart and cleaned it all with isopropyl alchohol and they then worked perfectly. Used it for a number of years sold it to a mate and I know it's still working ok. So worth persevering with if you can get used to the slightly strange way they are operated. Read lot's of warnings about working on the slides but just did it very carefully, and I'm a ham fisted bufoon when it comes to anything delicate! Sorry to have kind of hijacked the thread a bit but thought it might be of use to someone.

Dave

Thanks Baz

I did used to have a 10M which I found very useful, I sold it when we moved house a few years ago, I had to rationalise a bit as the machinery all went into storage, but soon regretted selling the 10M. I've used the Paragon paints on a few machines and always been pleasantly surprised by the results, Chosen RAL 7031 blue grey with some help from the wife, always helps to get SWMBO on side. I'ts her fault I bought it ,was more than I thought I should pay but was told to make an offer which was accepted. Fortunately the seller palletised it very carefully and it arrived safely, all the way from Scotland and I'm on the south east coast, next stop France. Surprising how shapers have increased in price since the 10M went, sold that for the same price then as the pallet shipping cost now, oh well you live and learn, won't be selling this one!

Dave

New toy arrived today an Acorntools shaper, been looking for one for ages, but either been outbid or they are in poor condition. This one is grubby and losing it's paint but in excellent mechanical shape,on its original cast stand with vice.Good clean and repaint coming up, trying to find a nice grey to repaint it in so been studying the colour charts, I believe there's a book called fifty shades of grey, that may be helpful in selecting an appropriate colour! I used to visit the acorntools factory in Acton to pick up spares for work when I was an apprentice, and was always taken with the identical model shaper to this that was in their workshop.I used to ride fron Orpington in Kent on an ancient BSA A10 and was always given a nice hot cuppa by the works foreman, shove a load of machine parts in my jacket and ride back, wonder what H&S would say to that now. Can't wait to get started.

Dc31k

In response to your very agressively worded response to my post, yes they were regular hexagons. But I also know he has cut square holes with the same set up, to make a rectangular hole it should surely be possible to cut one square hole , blank it temporarily and cut another next to it and remove the blank.

The Hemingway kit for a rotary broach works extremely well, a friend made allen key holes in some filler plugs for me using his , very quick and looks very professional when done. The kit is on my list of to do's but it might be too much work for a one off, unless you are like me and any excuse to make some tooling!

Edited By Dave Wootton on 15/04/2023 17:07:21

In George Thomas's book The Model Engineers Workshop Manual he shows a small holder for narrow parting tools ground from 1/4" round HSS and details of sharpening the toolbit. These work amazingly well and can be made very narrow I've used one .017" wide for small E clips and i'm sure narrower would be possible with care.

The book is a mine of usefull information, but has sidetracked me many times over the years making tooling, all of which has proved worthwhile. Mind you might have to make a hacksaw parting tool now.......

Dave

Edited By Dave Wootton on 11/04/2023 14:40:04 spelling again!

Edited By Dave Wootton on 11/04/2023 14:41:44

Agree with Pete Rimmer above, I used to work for a machine tool importer / supplier when the Taiwanese machines were first starting to be imported and there was often light rust on surfaces including the spindle tapers. I don't think their anti corrosion oil was up to much. We used a fine brown/red Scotchbrite to remove it and it cleans off light rusting with no damage. Strangely new Colchesters and Harrisons also suffered from light surface rust and they hadn't come across the sea!

That's a new method on me, but theft at autojumbles has been a problem for many years, I used to do some machining work for a coachbuilder and got invited to help man his stand at Beaulieu Autojumble about ten years ago. There were a group going round using distraction arguing over the price of a relatively low price item whilst another member swiped something of value. Always chose a time when there was only one stallholder present, or it was particularly busy. After losing a chronometric speedo and a expensive magneto in one day my friend stopped attending altogether. There were similar reports from other stallholders on the same occasion. Such a shame as it was a nice sociable event we all enjoyed attending. Last time I went to an autojumble it was noticeable that more of the traders had items of value in display cases or out of reach behind them. another case of the few spoiling things for the decent many.

A disturbing thing to happen to your dad, to actually have your clothing cut in an attempt to steal from you. I can imagine it's quite a shock.

I think from your description above that you might mean the Jim Ewins type lubricator design, a google search using his name should bring something up. Uses a pair of o rings and the output can be designed in by varying the shim washers as opposed to the LBSC type oscillating cylinder design.

I believe Geometer was one of the pen names used by Edgar T Westbury, another was Artificer, quite a remarkable man was ETW.

Can only think that for the swarf in the tray brass comes off in finer chippings than copper. My own attempt which came out ok was using the gunmetal swarf from cylinder castings in an old tobbacco tin heated stood on a copper plate on a camping stove. I blued the replacement needle of a large old pressure gauge and it came out much better than hoped for. the only critical bit seemed to be getting the steel needle super clean.

Always had great service from Tracy Tools, some more great service from another supplier I ordered a mixed order of metals and fastenings from EKP supplies late yesterday morning and it arrived this afternoon, some of it is swarf already!

Today I've mostly been feeling a bit old, firstly I caught sight of the new M.E cover with an article that the LBSCR Terrier Fenchurch is 150 years old, I helped restore it ready for it's 100th birthday when I was a 15 year old schoolboy!. Mostly menial tasks, I remember a lot of wire brushing ,red lead primer and grime, come to think of it I've rarely been ungrubby in the intervening 50 years.

To compound my ageing realisation, the forms to apply for my state pension arrived this morning, surely some administrative error the brain still thinks I'm 20.