Member postings for Nicholas Farr

Hi, the tapping drill size for 5/32" does range from 3.1 to about 3.3mm depending on the % of engagement required. If those stainless steel thumb nuts are used, it would probably be prudent for someone who has done little or no tapping before, to drill a 3.3 hole. 3.3mm will give a 60% engagement and should be strong enough, and this is the size that Tubal Cain suggests in his tapping table in the Model Engineers Handbook, although he does say in his material list that stainless steel should have 50% engagement, but if it is free cutting it can be 60% engagement.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 28/05/2023 07:45:36

Hi Phillip, I agree with JasonB about the measurement that you have indicated on your nut drawing. A 5/32" thread will have a clearance hole in your nut of about 3.3mm, but not much more than 3.4mm. If the measurement you have shown is the O/D of the threaded stud, then 5/32" is probably correct.

Regards Nick.

Hi Phillip, you need thread gauges to measure the thread you need, e. g. Arc Euro Trade

Get the Metric/Whitworth ones if it is British.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 26/05/2023 19:03:32

Hi Bo'sun, don't know about Phillips, but there is some Pozi ones 6 BA x 1/4 pozi on ebay.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I agree with Russell, all of my ER32 collets only have a 1mm range, and mine are from 6mm to 20mm inclusive.

Roy, if you really want to buy the bare minimum, I would go with Simon's suggestion myself, you can always add others at a later date.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 22/05/2023 11:16:11

Hi, my replacement ME 4717 was delivered this morning. I'll probably take the other one to a charity shop at sometime.

Regards Nick.

Hi, although Tim has two errors in his opening post (I've not included any of the names he has mentioned in it, as they may be correct or not) the word "Its" is incorrect, in the place it is used, there should be an apostrophe between the t and the s. Whereas, "Its" means belonging to or associated with someone or something, It's on the other hand, means It is, which he could have used instead. Wikepedia, should be Wikipedia. There is nothing wrong with the number of commas.

Tim, I'm not having a go, just saying, as proper spelling and grammar doesn't really matter on here as long as what is written can be understood, and I did understand what you wrote.

Regards Nick.

Hi Jim, the electricians that I used to work alongside with, used mostly the even BA sizes from 0 to 8 up to the time when metric equivalents became popular.

Regards Nick.

Hi, in all my days in industry I have never come across any standard BSW/BSF threads or lists with any size that has a 64th increment. Below is the best list that I have.

As you can see, they go up to 9/32 in 1/32 increments, and from 5/16 to 15/16 in 1/16 increments and then from 1-1/8 to 1-7/8 in 1/8 increments, then the rest is in 1/4 increments.

Regards Nick.

Hi, yes mine came this morning, but I've been busy calibrating my A0 plotter after changing the carriage belt last week, and then finding out it needed a printhead replacement which I had to put in first. I may as well wait till a replacement ME comes, as my MEW 328 also came, which is all in order, so I can read that.

Regards Nick.

Hi Gerry, 40mm thick concrete won't be very strong, even when put on top of new concrete. What you need is a screed compound, e. g. Cement based screed but depending on the area you have, it might be a bit pricey, and you may have to use PVA to bond it to your concrete, it is also recommended to lay a screed the full depth in one go.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I'm not that good at recognising the particular shades of blue, but I do think the one in my photo is darker. I don't think my photo just justice to the magnificent look of that engine when one is standing next too it, and while both engines look really good, I like the blue one best.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I nearly mentioned Grindstone Cowboy's idea about drilling index holes.

Regards Nick.

Hi Bevel, use a nut and bolt with washers to span over the ends, or if your not bothered about the inside getting anodized, use Dave's idea.

Regards Nick.

Hi Andrew, you could use a suitable size hole saw maybe, but you would probably have to put a tapered piece in your bore for the pilot drill, or you can just face the register for your chuck to fit, and leave the rest at 125mm diameter.

Regards Nick.

Hi Ross, below are two photos of Showman's engines at Wheeting Steam Rally 2016.

As you can see, one is Maroon based and the other is Blue based.

Regards Nick.

Hi Howard, thanks, yes that scissor jack has done many jobs besides jacking up cars, it's a nice size one and quite a strong one, and it was with a second hand Bedford HA van that was just three years old when I bought it in 1975.

Regards Nick.

Hi Andy, I understand what you are saying, however the numbers 10 to 50 are not directly depicting the measurement, but are showing the number of divisions of every fifth of the Vernier scale, and you will see the Vernier scale covers 49mm, therefore each division is 0.98mm apart, which gives you the 0.02mm resolution.

The one I have was at one time, owned by Vickers Eng. South Marston, and was last calibrated in their calibration department on the 1 / 2 / 84 with its next one due on 1 / 2 / 87. If it was good enough for Vickers, I'm sure it meets my needs. I have checked the calibration in the best way I can, and it looks very good to be correct.

Regards Nick.

Hi, a little job today was putting the screw back into the moving jaw of my Record No. 75 vice which I took apart, cleaned up and painted. This wasn't as straight forward as one might think, as a washer, a fairly strong spring and another washer, all had to be compressed to enable a new pin to be put through the plain part of the screw.

The only way I could think of doing it without spoiling the paintwork, was to clamp the bar that slides through the vice body, to the bench and use a piece of tube to push on the outside washer, which then had to be compressed by 40mm or so.

This of course, then covers over the hole that the new retaining pin has to go into. Not wanting to hack this piece of tube about, as once you cut a decent length of tube, you know you may well need it to stay the length it is for a more permanent job. so I found a short piece of tube the same size, and cut a slot on both sides, so the pin could be fitted.

Although I could compress the spring enough to get the pin in, I couldn't do both at the same time, and so I clamped a large piece of angle iron to the bench, with my old scissor jack placed between that and the other end of the tube, which left both hands free to put the pin in the hole with a long pair of nose pliers, and then tap it home with a pin punch and hammer.

The small dot punch on the pin, shows the position it had to go into the hole.

Just got to paint the base that the vice swivels on, and the job will be done.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 08/05/2023 18:22:24

Hi Andy, as I've said, the resolution is 0.02mm, that means each of the Vernier marks represent 0.02mm, so if you made the 10 into 20 =, that would be 20 X 0.02, which would make it read 0.4mm instead of 0.2mm, so then you would have to divide the 0.4 by two to get the correct answer.

Regards Nick.