Member postings for Nicholas Farr

Hi Benedict, I too used Arc Euro scales Digital Readout Bars on my mini mill almost eight years ago, and they are still working fine, and like John used a standard vertical readout bar for the quill, which is similar to these from Arc Euro Standard Vertical Readout Bar

You can see how I fitted mine DRO's for a Mini Mill

Regards Nick.

Hi, this Parvalux Catalogue 2007 might be useful to anyone.

Regards Nick.

Hi, the first ME exhibition that I went too was in 1993, which was held in London's Olympia, and was held there up to 1998. It was then held back in Ally Pally in 1999, then from 2000 to 2005 it was at Sandown Park. The 2006 one was postponed until September 2007, and was held at Ascot, and in 2008 was again in Ascot, and returned to Sandown Park in 2009 for a few more years.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I have a fair few of different size ones, that look like the same make as JasonB's ones, and I haven't managed to break any of them, yet! I also have a 4" Moore & Wright one that was made in at least 1968, as it has some-ones name and 1968 engraved on it, which was given to me. In the photo below, you can see one of my cheap 3" ones in front of the 4" M&W one. Looking in my old M&W catalogue, the size of my M&W one is as given in the catalogue, within a few thou, the 3" cheap one is also close enough to the 3" one given in the M&W catalogue, but the main thing is that with both of these, is the ratio between the diameter of the screws and the size of the jaws, is for all intent and purposes, as near as being exactly the same, the only difference that may have any bearing, is the M&W screws are a finer pitch.

The only thing I can't say, is whether the quality or the grade of material is the same. But I have used my cheap ones, with a tommy bar in the holes, just about every time, to get a tighter grip

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 27/09/2023 11:43:35

I would just make a wider pair to fit your slot from a piece of bar from the material of your choice, they don't take that much work to make, and the photo below shows a pair for a five inch gauge loco, and a pair of L.B.S.C.'s Molly type blocks, that I made from good quality cast iron, but bronze shouldn't be much harder to use.

Regards Nick.

Hi Margaret, 9/16 UNF is 18 TPI and these are in the UNF list, you will find these in the ebay link above, that MichaelG has posted, and you would be able to buy just two instead of a minimum of five on their web site, but cost more, but at least they do have free posting on ebay.

Regards Nick.

Hi, they are also available from Spalding Fasteners. If it was me choosing one, I'd go for the yellow one. A thick washer can easily be made from a piece of flat steel, cutting it out with a suitable size hole saw, and then drilling the hole for 9/16" clearance, and then just tidy it up with a file.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 24/09/2023 14:07:09

Hi Mick, I've had that happen once, and I suspect that either the tube inside had fallen off or a split had developed in the tube up near the neck, it was very confusing.

Regards Nick.

Hi, according to my Readers Digest universal dictionary, it says that gib as concerned with the machines we use, is pronounced as in gibbon & the Bee Gees surname, However Gib, (informal) Gibraltar is pronounce as jib. Whereas, jib is a triangular sail from the foretopmast head to the jib boom, or the bowsprit / bow in a small craft, or the arm of a crane / boom of a derrick, and is pronounced as Jib.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I've found a photo of a piece of cast iron that I milled in my father's old lathe, using a 3" cross vice and a home made fly-cutter. The cross vice had to be mounted on a fabricated plate, which was attached to an angle plate. It was a bit of a "Heath Robinson" idea, but it worked, and got the job done.

Regards Nick.

Hi, L. H. Sparey has a chapter in his book, The Amateur's Lathe, covering milling, shaping and grinding in the lathe. It's in chapter 13, so might be unlucky for some. Milling in the lathe has its limitations, but it can be done, I did a little bit on my father's old RandA lathe, RandA lathe which is nowhere near as good as the mini lathes that are available now.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 20/09/2023 07:36:42

Hi Jim, they can be purchased from Reeves2000 & Blackgates Engineering

Regards Nick.

Hi Harry, here's photographic evidence that my Warco Major cuts steel without any problems.

Regards Nick.

Hi Colin, I also agree that 400V is the lowest you should go, for the same reason that Andrew has given.

Regards Nick.

Hi Dave, I don't think my mum's iron even had an earth wire, but she had to have a new one shortly after the time I can remember it being plugged into the light adaptor. The new iron came with a wall storage plate, and had a three round pin plug, so couldn't be plugged into the light adaptor, so from then on had to be plugged into the only socket there was available. I can remember helping my dad, putting in a new twin and earth and a modern flat pinned socket in our front room, ready for when we had our first TV in 1963, as there wasn't any sockets in there.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I remember those switched two way adaptors, and our mum used to plug her iron into the switched side. I don't have one of those, but I do have a couple of bayonet plugs.

Now these are really old, the one on the left has No. 709 & Empire, moulded on the base, and the one on the right just has Empire Made moulded on its base. I probably found these in a box of oddments that my father had.

Regards Nick.

Hi, my place has just a name, and the name is the same as the road that leads to the unadopted road to mine and two other dwellings, the road is actually called a Lane (but nowhere near as posh as the Park Lane on the Monopoly Board) When I first moved here, all three dwellings where classed as cottages with the same name, however, none of them are a cottage and only one building had the name of the road, and none of these where on the postcode database, which caused a lot of confusion, although the Post Office said what our postcode was. I had a lot of trouble being able to order stuff online when it started to become popular, as it was classed as unlisted. I forget who I had to get in touch with, but when I did, they had to make enquiries, which took them three or four weeks, but we all got a proper address and postcode listed at last. This doesn't stop the likes of Amazon and a few others coming past every house in the road to think they have to deliver to me. About three months ago, there was a large box on my doorstep when I went out in the morning, needless to say it wasn't addressed to me or had my name on it, nor the name of the house, it had just the name of the road and postcode with the persons name they should have delivered it to, I had no idea of who the person was, or which house they live in, but it wasn't any one who live in the unadopted part, so I phoned Amazon up to explain the situation, and they said that they wouldn't be able to collect it and deliver it to the right place, and told me that I could have whatever it was, or give it away to anyone, or donate it to a charity shop. When I asked about the person who was expecting it, the lady simply said that they would probably say they hadn't received it, and they would simply send them a new delivery, she never asked for any codes etc. so as to determine its value or asked me to see what was inside. I left it unopened for a good month to allow anyone to come round and ask if their parcel had been delivered to me, but no one did. It happen to be an electric seedling propagator, which I gave to my daughter, as she is into all that sort of thing.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 08/09/2023 11:20:25

Hi Kwil, I was quoting what is in my BOC oxyfuel gases safety awareness and inspection workshop courses, however, BOC, as it is now says they should be stood upright for a minimum of one hour, section 7, 7.2 of BOC safety Data Sheet re; acetylene dissolved in product name search.

I therefore stand corrected, but the reason for standing them before such use is the same, and if I was still working with acetylene, I would probably be happier with the old standard.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 06/09/2023 15:31:08

Hi Kwil, actually if the acetylene has been lying down, it must be stood upright for not less than the same amount of time, up too a maximum of 12 hours before use, this is to prevent acetone being forced out when the valve is opened. Preferable, they should always be transported and stored upright.

Regards Nick.

Hi Philip, I've never heard of having oxy-acetylene equipment at home to be illegal. However, you may need to let your insurers know, which may put what you pay to them increase. The important thing though, is to make sure that all your equipment is safe and maintained correctly, and if you do have a fire you will need to let the fire brigade know exactly where it is, otherwise they will just let it burn while your keeping neighbours property as safe as possible, and you or your insurers may have to pay costs incurred for the exclusion zone and any damage caused to other peoples property, that may well result. Maintaining your equipment means testing your equipment at least once a year and logging the results, and also replacing out of date components, like regulators and flashback arresters. There is no law to say you have to do maintenance, but if you do get a fire and property gets damaged, and people get injured, and a court case ensues, and you have no evidence of keeping your equipment maintained, you could find yourself on a negligence charge. Acetylene is the most explosive gas there is, and you really don't what to be anywhere near it, if it does explode.

Regards Nick.