Member postings for Nicholas Farr

Hi David L and Jason, "Carborundum" is actually a trademark for silicon carbide abrasive. I can remember when I first started working for a living in a Blacksmith shop, where there was a tapered square stick about 12" long with CARBORUNDUM cast into one side. It was used to sharpen knives and the like by hand.

Discounting diamond and any other uncommen grinding wheels, there are two types of abrasive used, which are Aluminium Oxide and Silicon Carbide, but there are a number of different bonding mediums for holding the abrasive. I guess that manufacturers can make thier wheels any coluor they choose, however most AO wheels I've seen are grey, while I can only remember seeing green SC wheels.

There is a standard classification used for grinding wheels and the codes are what you need to get the right one and should be sought. Below is a scan of the codes used on well represented grinding wheels.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 11/08/2012 18:01:40

Hi Russel, you may have misinterpreted my suggestion of the connections, or maybe I've not explained it clearly enough, anyway what I ment is exactly as John Swift has shown in his picture; "as wired in the photo"

Regards Nick.

Hi Alex, your best bet would maybe be to email Peatol machine tools - [email protected]

It shouldn't be any more difficult than wiring a plug, and I'm guessing that the mains will be across the conections with the bars on. You may need to find a stud that connects to the metal frame for the Earth wire though.

Regards Nick.

Edited By David Clark 1 on 11/08/2012 15:34:18

Hi Diane, I only have part IV pages 1174-1177 ME vol 137 issue 3430 and immediately below the photo and heading it is written,

"A Gauge 1 (10 mm. = 1 foot) model of Gresley's famous 2-6-2, designed and described by Martin Evens"

Hope this helps.

Regards Nick.

Hi, there is a chart in the "Model Engineers Handbook" (thrid edition) by Tubal Cane that gives the same as Michael, but with the addition of 5BA being the same as 4BA and also,

8BA 0.035" 1/16"

6BA 0.05" 5/64"

Regards Nick.

Hi, I agree with Mike. The best way to remember which way they come off is while the drill spindle is held stationary, the chuck will rotate in the same direction as a nomal twist drill does when you are drilling.

As mike says chuck the sort end of a hex key and give a good sharp blow to the long end. It is best to use the biggest long reach one that will fit in the chuck and holding the spindle still with a spanner, use a mallet rather than a hammer if you have one and don't forget to use eye protection at the very least as the keys can shatter when suject to impact. A full face visor would be a better option.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 02/08/2012 21:47:05

Hi Wolfie, below is a couple of examples of how to set and use callipers.

Strange how terminology seems to be different from place to place. I don't consider odd legs to be that accurate, however, they are categorised as precision tools by M&W. In Stev's link I've always known the type with the little right angle bit on the reference leg to be "Odd Leg Callipers", while the other type with the curved end as being "Jenny Calipers". But of course they can both be classed as Odd Leg or Jenny Calipers, but the one with the right angle bit are normally used on sheet metal as the other type are difficult to use on a thin edge.

Regards Nick.

Hi, the company that I used to work for a few years ago had some of these, they were used for the original drawings which were done on semi-transparent paper (a bit like tracing paper)

As I remember, you could slide the drawings from the back pins to the front ones in order to select the drawing you wanted before opening the cabinet completely to remove the selected drawing for copying. Very easy to use and didn't take up to much space.

Regards Nick.

Hi Wolfie, yes I like it too, well done.

Regards Nick.

Hi, you may need to restart your computer after accepting the cookie policy before the remember me box shows. I'm using IE9 and it didn't show up untill I restarted mine.

Regards Nick.

Hi, cookies have been used for ages, the only real difference is now web sites have to warn you that they are using them and give you the option to accept or reject. If you accept and then change your mind, then you will have to go to the privacy policy and alter your settings, you can do this as a blanket ban on all sites or on listed sites. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will find a line of tabs, two of which are Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Click on the Cookie Policy to find instructions for the browser that you are using. You will find that if you block all cookies, you will probably not be able to sign in at all.

Regards Nick.

P.S. good anti-virus software will remove tracking and undesirable cookies, normally in a background mode.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 14/07/2012 08:57:17

Hi Eric, I have a British Thornton No. P271 Log Log one, however although I haven't used it in years and have never used it beyond it's basic form, I will not part with it though because it was my late brothers, who was really good at maths and I can still recall how he would be working out a problem we would ask him with it and mulling it over in his head. He never wrote down any workings out, but I suppose he did in his O level exams at school. I can post a photo of it if you wish.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I know this is an old thread, but yesterday I took a visit to London myself. I managed to get to the Science Museum for a couple of hours or so later in the afternoon and was eager to see if Foucault's Pendulum was still their. Well apart from the whole layout of the museum being totally changed since my first ever visit, indeed they still have the Pendulum. Instead of markings engraved into to the floor (as I remember it) it has two raised quadrants opposite to each other, separated by a small circular block. One quadrant is marked out in degrees 0 to 90 and the other quadrant is marked out in time 10.00 hrs to 18.00 hrs.The pendulum is 22.45 metres long and is keep in motion by an electrical impulse system.

There are a few more photo's of some other items that may be of interest to you, in my Science Museum album.

Regards Nick.

Hi Clive, this link may help you.

**LINK**

Look at extreme temperature extreme condition in the lefthand colume.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 11/07/2012 14:53:40

Another similarity is that they hit the objective with a weighted object on the end of a handle of some kind to get it to work.

Regards Nick.

Hi Wolfie, I'm sure there must be away because when I was in my maintenance years I had to fit such new parts that came from the manufacturers into their machines, they always ended up in the right place.

However when I've ever had the make new screw in pins that needed a cross hole or the such like, it was best just as Eric says, make the screw bit first then screw it in and mark off where the hole or whatever needs to be.

Regards Nick

Hi Howard, grubscrews a normally quite hard, so you may need a carbide drill or find someone with a spark erosion machine.

Regards Nick.

Hi John, below is a photo of standard belt sizes.

Do make sure that non of your pulley grooves are badly worn and that any belt you use is not running on the bottom of the pulley groove. Vee belts should never be drum tight.

Hope this helps.

Regards Nick.

Hi Neil, I think Ray is saying "No need to be afraid you guys in there, I'm the BFG"

Regards Nick.

P.S. BFG = Big Friendly Giant

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 10/07/2012 22:24:08

Hi Martin, I have always been fascinated by models of allsorts, from as long as I can remember. May have been influenced by my farther and watching him on his lathe (which I still have) in his shed that he built, and learning to use basic tools by his instructions from probably around the age of 5 or 6. I am mostly interested in steam locomotives, maybe because we lived right on top of the railway and just round the corner from a very busy terminus at that time. Photography has also been an interest from a fairly early age, and I got my first camera by saving tokens from corn flake packets when I was about 9 or 10, it was just a simple cheap plastic one but it took some pretty good pictures at the time.

I used to make the proverbial Airfix models, I also once had a simple model railway set, and used to make buildings etc. out of cardboard and paint and other things like bridges out of wood and bits of metal. I have yet to make a model out of metal as such. My interest in actual model making waned somewhat during the early 70's as my interest tuned to Disco's and my late brother myself started running a mobile Disco of our own. By this time I had also become interested in basic electronics and I built all our own Disco equipment down to component level. sadly my brother died about 18 months after we got it of the ground through illness. I carried on doing Disco's and my electronic interests until 1980 when I got married and when my daughter was born every thing else took a back seat. My marriage broke down and ever since then my interest in model engineering and models in general has recovered. Tools of almost every kind and the use of, have always been a big part of my life, metalwork and technical drawing were my two most favorite subjects at school.

When I first left school at 15 I started work in a blacksmiths workshop as an apprentice, however a sign up to an apprentice scheme was never honoured, and so with the advise given to me by my mentor blacksmith I moved on to become a maintenance fitter/welder in a large sand processing company, which had sites in various places in the UK and had partners in other parts of the world also, but is now owned by a Belgium firm. I was part of a team of around 45 fitters when I first started in 1970, but after the 80's the team started to decline due to natural wastage, farming less important work out and a slow but steady run of redundancies, until there were just two of us left in 2006. By then the company decided that our department was to be contracted out, so we were offered to ether join the contractors or take a handsome voluntary redundancy offer, we both took the latter and I am currently working as a fabricator/welder and general engineer.

Regards Nick.

P.S. hi Sam, I felt I couldn't really post this not having a profile, so have made it into one.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 10/07/2012 10:59:19