Member postings for Samsaranda

About ten years ago I bought a Warco lathe, the BV20 which has a geared headstock, I chose this model because I was wary of an electronic speed control having heard some horror stories about the fragility of speed control boards, fortunately these components appear to be much more robust nowadays. The BV20 has six speeds through the integral geared headstock, the only drawback was the noise from the gears, I mentioned this on a visit to Warco when the twelve month warranty was nearly expired and without question they arranged to exchange the lathe at no cost. Unfortunately the noise level on the exchange machine was only marginally better, ear defenders do help to attenuate it. I checked the gears in the headstock and it would appear the noise comes from excess backlash between the meshing gears, it would appear that if the shaft centre distances are correct then there are problems with PCD of the gears as produced. The lathe is a Chinese machine built to a budget and consequently you don't get hardened ground gears within that budget so I live with it. In the ten years that I have owned it I have only replaced a faulty NVR switch which failed after about seven years, during this time the lathe has done everything asked of it, albeit a bit noisily. I cannot fault Warco for their service and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them, you have to remember though that Chinese machines are built to budget and are not Myfords or Rolls Royces but they enable a lot of us to pursue our chosen hobbies for a very modest outlay.

Dave

Dremel owned by Bosch- German (probably made in China despite Bosch label).

Dave

No Gordon your right never did.

Dave

Gordon are you sure it was brass wire that you used for wire locking the aircraft components as the standard for aircraft work was non corodible steel wire (I.e. Stainless) and it was very tough but easy to twist when using locking wire pliers, 22 years in Aircraft work equals an awful lot of wire locking.

Dave

I have a budget line M&W metal calliper, can't fault it, very smooth action. Are some members experiencing M&W clones, could that be the problem.

Dave

With four blokes on bicycles cycling to work I would be more worried about their output of methane on the environment.

Dave

I think I remember reading somewhere that America (I.e. USA) was the first country to officially adopt the metre standard and that was in the 1870's or 1880's; suffice to say their progress towards full metrification has been a little slow!!!

Dave

Brian, a firm called Walker Midgely provide workshop insurance specifically for model engineers, you can select various options to build the schedule that fits your circumstances.

Dave

Geoff, many thanks for the photo of your conversion, your mill does look identical to mine, the stepper motor looks very sturdily mounted and could be a way forward.

Ian, your conversion looks very practical and simple, again another avenue to explore.

Many thanks to you both. Dave

Thanks Ian your posting came in while replying to George, will research "power feed" and see what surfaces.

Dave

Thanks George , my sympathies I know how you feel. A gas strut would certainly help with my problems, or perhaps a pulley system, hopefully someone in our engineering fraternity will have some proven ideas to share with us.

Dave

Due to progressive spinal problems and paralysis developing on my right side I am finding it more and more difficult to raise and lower the head on my Chester Champion 20 V Mill, I wonder has anyone motorised this function and if so would they be able to share their experience and detail the method and components used. Thankful for any help and information.

Dave

John you certainly won't regret it if and when you commit to a Mac, I did so in 2011 because of frustration with Microsoft, like Norman I use Word for Mac which means I keep connectivity with all my old documents. Same experience as Norman, crisp and speedy setup and no problems since I converted, expensive to change to Mac but well worth it.

Dave

Clive if I lived closer to you I would be in your customer base for honey. Can't beat proper English honey as against some of the Rubbish that they label as honey in the supermarkets. I am sure that you will have no trouble finding customers.

Dave

Condolences Neil, we have always had cats, five at the moment, hurts terribly when we lose one, they are truly members of our family. Three grown up daughters, left home long time ago, they all maintain that the wife and I think more of the cats than them, not true we love them all equally.

Dave

Not an unusual occurrence for RAF aircraft to be grounded for checks and subsequent rectification, carried out numerous fleet checks during my 22 years service, problems usually identified on a Friday afternoon which meant working flat out through the weekend to get all the checks done.

Dave

Depleted Uranium is extremely dense and heavy, when I was an NDT technician our radio active isotopes used for gamma radiography, (Cobalt and Iridium) were carried in containers encased in depleted uranium which was excellent for absorbing the emitted gamma radiation until we took the isotope out for radiography. The containers were extremely weighty, especially if you had to carry them up to any appreciable height. Glad I don't do that anymore and contrary to expectations I do not glow in the dark from all the radiation that I absorbed.

Dave

I worked on the last RAF mosquito and put it into long term storage back in 1965, apparently it was still in fly able condition then. It was located at RAF Hullavington then, but I have no idea what happened to it after that.

Dave

Edited By Samsaranda on 09/08/2017 18:35:17

The quoted cost of installing smart meters nationwide was £195.00 on every households bills, I am sure that as with every "establishment" quoted project cost this is an underestimate and we will never be told the true cost per household. I believe Denmark has completed their smart meter installation programme ( far smaller population the UK) and the conclusion reached was that their programme had not benefitted their consumers and effectively was a waste of money.

Dave

The quoted cost of installing smart meters nationwide was £195.00 on every households bills, I am sure that as with every "establishment" quoted project cost this is an underestimate and we will never be told the true cost per household. I believe Denmark has completed their smart meter installation programme ( far smaller population the UK) and the conclusion reached was that their programme had not benefitted their consumers and effectively was a waste of money.

Dave