Member postings for Nicholas Farr

Hi Andy, Baz is correct, and it means the scale has a resolution of 0.02mm. i. e. 25 Vernier divisions X 0.02 = 0.5mm. Therefore, if you were to make a measurement of 50 + 40 Vernier divisions, it will also = 2"

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 07/05/2023 21:00:14

Hi Mike, my late elder brother saw all the moon landings and was quite knowledgeable about electronics and had some understanding about mainframe computers, be he sadly missed out on the personal computer, of which he would have probably been in his element with, but he did get to use one of Clive Sinclair's first electronic pocket calculator.

Regards Nick.

Hi Stephen, like JasonB says, you can put a big vice length ways on your table, just like I did with this rather over the top one I used on my old Chester Champion machine a few years ago, so that I could hold and mill a 3" cube of ally-bronze, although I did have to make and fit the piece of angle iron bracket to hold it down, because the two side slots couldn't be used, and I didn't have anything else big enough.

Regards Nick.

Hi, in my No. 64 Starrett second edition catalogue, there is one shown which is almost identical to the one that DC31k has linked too, they had eight variations depending on which anvils were required, and in May 1968, the price range was from £7.90 to £9.00, but if you wanted a case to keep it in, it was 15p extra. (prices converted to todays decimal coinage) extra anvils were available, and you could make your own anvils of any shape, to suite special jobs.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 03/05/2023 19:23:37

Tristan, you could look at Warco or Chester or even Chester Hobby Store which may have something suitable.

Regards Nick.

Hi, there's quite a bit of info on various screw threads in this Babani No. 6 paperback.worldradiohistory.com

Regards Nick.

Hi, and Muntjacs are apparently the only animal that eat Bluebells, which there used to be a good bed of them at the back of mine a few years ago, but have now all gone.

Regards Nick.

Hi Peter, see here for posting Photos & Videos

Regards Nick.

P.S. Welcome to the Forum.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 02/05/2023 07:10:20

Hi Roy, you could mill a keyway about 1/16" deep at the most, and 1/8" wide into a piece of round, and then silver solder a piece of flat into it. But it might be a bit fiddly to get the piece of flat in line with the centre of the piece of round and holding it there while silver soldering, but I think it could be done.

Regards Nick.

Hi Arthur, your welcome, pleased it was what you were looking for.

Regards Nick.

Hi Arthur, the guide bars and crossheads with the drawings are in Vol. 210 issue 4453 5 - 18 April 2013. It then continues in issue 4455 2 - 16 May 2913 with the crosshead arm, connecting rods and a plan of the valve gear.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I must be one then, as I've got an "M" type one, though it's not in use at the moment.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I agree with DC31K. In most cases the female will be parallel and whatever is fitted into it will be tapered, this ensures a good seal as both will have an interference fit with each other, but it is important to use a sealant on the threads as well, to help stop galling, and even some molecules are small enough to get through a metal to metal threaded joint. If the part you are fitting is a parallel thread, then unless it has a shoulder where a sealing washers can be used, it would be better to have the female one tapered.

Regards Nick.

Hi Clive. my father had one like the one I put the improvement on, and I can remember him having to spin the flywheel with his left hand when using small drills to prevent them breaking, and it would start to bend a 1/8" / 3mm drill if you didn't stop drilling and let the flywheel catch up, or spin it with your left hand. The photo below shows the one I fitted the improvement to, my father's one is still in its original condition, although I did stripe it all down, cleaned and repainted and reassembled it.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 26/04/2023 22:51:19

Hi old mart, I bought a second hand one of a very similar design several years ago and refurbished it, but I gave it to my son-in-law a few months ago.

There are photos of the parts 2 Speed Auto Hand Drill

This photo below is an improvement I made and fitted to a larger single speed drill with the same type of down-feed to the drill, the design of the improvement is from ME issue April 20 1939, and designed by E. J. Szlumper, he designed because these machine had a habit to break small drill bits because it was not possible to reduce the friction enough on the flywheel. The improvement works very well indeed.

Regards Nick.

Hi Justin, looks like your start/stop is like this one, which is the type on my Chester Champion mill, and as you say, has mostly black wires.

I had a similar problem a few years ago, and I think it would only go in reverse. If I recall, some how it wasn't latching properly. I managed to take it partially apart and fixed the problem, but I can't remember what is was. I already had this one as a spare, but didn't what to use it if I could fix the other one.

I don't know if Warco do these as spares, if that's what your problem is, however Chester do stock them On/Off NVR Switches though you would have to check if they are wired the same, but I imagine they are. The black mounting is 118 x 61mm and the hole centres are about 107mm

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 26/04/2023 12:05:02

Hi Bo'son, I think that if a 24" long vial was equal to the curvature of the earth, it would be almost flat, and would probably only measure less than microns, and for practical purposes would be next to useless. The earth anyway is slightly squashed, as it is lager at the equator than at the poles by about 27 miles, due the the rotational forces exerted on it. You may have part of the equation missing, in that the reference vial might be a ratio of the average radius of the earth to its length, which to me would make more sense.

Regards Nick.

Hi Jack, two photos of the back of my RandA faceplate, first one shows the thread with a plain section at the start, which fits snugly on the plain portion of the spindle. The second one shows how it fits to up the spindle nose register.

The small round holes dotted about, are probably where my father drilled it for attaching work to it.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 25/04/2023 07:39:02

Hi Jack & Mike, yes there is a register, and a plain portion of 1"diameter, just behind the thread on the spindle, see photos below.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 24/04/2023 22:54:15

Hi old mart, below is a photo of my father's RandA B lathe, with its original faceplate, so if the one you have is the same, it is probably the correct one if the thread is correct.

Regards Nick.