Member postings for Samsaranda

Jon, Thanks for the info about Aspen, good to know it doesn't go off like ordinary gasoline, have had problems with my two stroke generator when only used infrequently, can be a pain to start if left for a couple of months, I know what to use in it from now on. Many thanks.

Dave

Many Thanks "Silly Old Duffer" aka Dave, for the data from 1922, it reinforces my thoughts on Isopropyl Alcohol requiring pre-heating as per kerosine fuelled engines and with the problem of alcohol washing away lubricants, probably not the way to go.Vic thanks for the info on "industrial" meths, it would also work as a fuel but there is the problem of dissolved water content which if left for long periods between running could encourage corrosion, so again probably not the way to go. Jason glad to hear that you have used "Colemans" long term and are happy with it, there appears to be positive results with this choice of fuel and it is fairly easy to purchase, I know that "Millets" used to sell it, can"t envisage ever needing to Bulk purchase it, and it seems as in your case a little goes a long way. Many Thanks.

Dave

Hi Guys

Many thanks for your prompt and enlightening replies, it would seem that Isopropyl alcohol is probably not good to use because of the way it washes the bores and hence would dilute or remove any lubricant in the bore. Nick, the you tube video was brilliant and being able to watch the combustion of different fuels was really useful, having seen the video it really shows how aceteleyne can be very dangerous if not used correctly. I recommend anyone interested in engines to view the video featured above. I had considered Coleman fuel as an alternative to gasoline but was wary because of price but thanks to Adrian I now know that there is Aspen which is the same but considerably cheaper. Thanks again Guys, amazing how much knowledge and information is readily available with this site.

Dave

Is Isopropyl Alcohol suitable for use as a fuel to power model internal combustion engines. My thoughts initially are that it would produce less residues and these may well be less toxic or irritant. I am unsure whether it would have the correct properties to burn efficiently when mixed with air as in a conventional carburettor. Isopropyl Alcohol appears to be readily available at a reasonable price from many suppliers on the well known Internet website, would appreciate any views on the subject.

Dave

Martin

Aerobatics should only be carried out over designated low flying areas, they used to be strictly enforced as I remember from my Air Force days, great treat as ground crew to go for a jolly and be indulged with really hair raising aerobatics. It seems that nowadays with cutbacks in manpower etc. standards have become very sloppy, a sign of the unfortunate detiorioration of society's values and standards. It's not until there is a horrendous accident such as Shoreham or a civil disaster as in the Grenfell tower that the establishment is woken up and refocuses on what the focus really should be.

Dave

Henry,

couplant you are using is ok, inserting a sleeve will not work as you will get a return from the interface between inner and outer thickness, as suggested the readings you are getting I.e. double the anticipated reading you expect is almost certainly a double bounce because the calibrated range isn't suitable for the thickness of the tube. Is the purpose of the examinination to verify the integrity of the tube and determine wether there is any loss of thickness due to corrosion? If so examination of total surface area will be a mind numbing experience!

Dave

Obviously the range of your ultrasonic thickness test equipment is for thickness of 1.2 MM or greater, you quote that the lowest thickness that it can check is 1.2 MM. If it correctly identifies a test piece of 1.2 MM but you say it records a value of 1.6 MM when checking a thickness of 0.8 MM this is probably because the test is out of its operating range. Difficult to comment further without knowing the model of test equipment that you are using but the results that you are getting could well be accurate, variables that could affect the test are what couplant are you using under the probe and is the frequency of the probe suitable for the specification of material being tested. You say that you rule out eddy current testing on grounds of cost, eddy current is suited to finding cracks or other such anomalies not usually used for thickness testing except in very specialised applications. If you want to test a specific thickness of material i.e. Thinner than the 1.2 MM that you have calibrated on then you need the appropriate equipment.

Dave (Retired NDT Technician)

I predict that your two year timescale may well drift, we all set out with what appears to be a reasoned timescale for our projects, the objective is that however long your project takes to complete just enjoy all the time spent on it, I find time in the workshop so satisfying.

Dave

Very sceptical of the benefits of electric vehicles, particularly the high costs involved; have bad memories of when I spent a few months as a milkman, we had electric milk floats which when we returned to the depot every evening we had to plug in to recharge the huge lead acid batteries. One day half way round my round I noticed that the float was getting slower and slower, realisation dawned that I had forgotten to plug in and recharge after the previous day's outing. This required a grovelling phone call to the depot for a tow back to the depot, they duly despatched a transit van to assist. Those of us who had to request a tow were treated to perhaps the most horrendous journey home to the depot with the transit taking off as if in a formula one Grand Prix and the milk float being propelled at breakneck speed with the occupant clutching the steering wheel and fighting to keep the vehicle on the road. Milk floats are not known for good road holding, they were never intended to go faster than about 7 mph so doing 40 mph is truly frightening. If you have ever done that speed in a milk float you do not want to repeat the experience, the moral of the story is recharging is everything with an electric vehicle.

Dave

Perhaps Halfords calculated that once a car had reached the point where a replacement battery was fitted then the vehicle in question would either not survive until a next replacement was required or that it would have changed ownership and guarantee was not transferable to new owner and hence no further expenditure. Probably this product guarantee was dropped after a few years so that their liabilities were reduced and the sales ploy had served its purpose.

Dave

Circlip, unfortunately the panels that you refer to as available for soundproofing probably have the problem of being somewhat inflammable, therefore I would suggest not a good idea!!!

Dave

Have used a Karcher for the past twelve months, phenomenal suction, easily obtainable bags and brilliant for swarf on the machines. We use the same model for many tasks in cleaning our village hall, excellent for cobwebs and spiders.

Dave

We all love to buy wisely and hope to get a bargain price wise, but it eventually becomes apparent that no matter how we scour the marketplace we will usually only get a level of quality commensurate with the price that we pay, unfortunately "inspection grade" is not available unless we pay the right price for it.

Dave

I have "messed about" with ponds of all sizes for at least forty years and my past experiences tell me that Mick's problem with the transformer will be the load experienced by the pump. At this time of year all ponds will be loaded with small pieces of vegetable matter free floating in the water, when this vegetable matter passes through the pump it will gradually clog the impeller and therefore increase the consumption from the transformer and hence cause the temperature to rise. As well as the vegetable matter accumulating in the pump housing, at this time of year there will be minute water snails that have hatched and probably lodged in the impeller housing, the only way to guarantee reducing the loading on the pump is to regularly dismantle the impeller housing and clean it out, unfortunately at this time of year with a small pump which it appears Mick's is, this may need to be done daily to keep the pump free flowing, and the temperature at an acceptable level. There are pumps that will give better performance with accumulated solids but without knowing which pump we are discussing difficult to comment further.

Dave

In 1960 I lived on a farm in Devon for six months, as a thirteen year old I was in heaven, what a great life, used to help the farmer with milking there were a dozen cows which we milked by hand. During my stay there the farmer acquired a new car which was a 1920's Rolls Royce saloon, it was not in concours condition but because the boot lid opened and formed a level platform he found it ideal for carrying his milk churns on the opened lid. Every day he drove up the lane with the churns to leave them for the dairy Lorry to collect. He was regarded by his peers as somewhat eccentric before he acquired his Roller but more so afterwards.

Dave

Your Chester Micro Mill appears to be similar to the Arceurotrade Micro Mill, probably same manufacturer, if you go on the Arc website, look under milling machines and at the Micro Mill, there is an exploded view available which should show all you need.

Dave

In reply to Muzzer's question the make of tumble drier was Bosch and was repaired by one of their own service engineers, under a service contract. In defence of the tumble drier it certainly appeared to be a hell of a surge that did for it.

We had a strange episode with our electrical supply about 12 months ago, sitting watching the TV about 9 o'clock in the evening and suddenly all the lights went very dim for about 30 seconds then there was an almighty surge and we lost all power. This affected everyone in our area. It was off for about 10 minutes and was then restored, unfortunately our tumble dryer was running at the time of this event and when power was restored it refused to run. Subsequent repair by a service engineer found that the heater element and the control panel circuits were well and truly cooked, (expensive replacements, good job insured). Would this event qualify as a "Brownout"?

Roy's comment about his experience with the Chartered Engineer took me back to my time in the Air Force, we had a variable quality of Engineering Officers, some of whom had never held a spanner, and they were supposedly in charge of aircraft engineering sections, good job we had knowledgeable and competent Senior NCOs who filled the vacuum.

Strange things radio waves and atmospherics, in the 1960's when I was stationed in Trucial Oman, if we were on guard duty at night we would take a transistor radio with us on to the airfield and in the hour before sunrise we could listen to Radio Caroline loud and clear, but as the sun began to show the signal rapidly faded. Apparently temperature layers in the atmosphere could cause the signal to skip round the earth's curvature. Not much help in solving the original query raised though.