Member postings for Nicholas Farr

Hi, many explanations on the web, and are saying much the same as this Turn on a sixpence and this is as I've always understood it.

Regards Nick.

Hi Bob, Clive is correct.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I suppose not many of the younger ones would understand the term, "just got to spend a penny" I don't know many places that you would have to do that now, even at today's prices, and being that the modern penny is only just a bit bigger than a sixpence, perhaps turned on a penny would work, and it would be just a little bit easier for them.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I agree with Clive, if you do it in the lathe, and if you use a die, use a tailstock diestock, or a squared end rod or tube pushing on the die and not on your hand diestock during starting the threading operation, and get the die started the full thickness at least before finishing with your hand diestock. You will need to advance the tailstock barrel at the same time as turning the lathe chuck though, to keep a square pressure on the die. I very often put the die in my hand diestock, the wrong way round, so to speak, so the full width of the die can be pushed with a blank end Arbor in the tailstock.

Regards Nick.

Hi Nigel, I have done similar on my Boxford, but it's not always the best idea and at times when the diameter is on absolute maximum, there is more overhang than I wish for, as the saddle won't go close enough, so you have to be aware that your cuts can't be too heavy, and if you have a larger diameter in front of where you need to machine, it makes even more overhang as the tool post itself maybe in the way. Not something a beginner needs to try doing.

Regards Nick.

Hi Nick Clarke 3, the one on my soldering station has the heating element buried in a ceramic sleeve, and the tip fits over it and is held in place by a shroud.

Regards Nick.

Hi Mike, welcome to the forum. As Martin has said, you need to know the biggest diameter of the engine you wish to build is, for instance, some loco wheels in 5" can be 7-1/2" or bigger diameter castings, which you won't be able to do on a C3, and depending on any lathe such wheels being either loco or flywheels, you will need to make sure you can get the tool close enough to do the work, this may mean you will have to clear the lathe saddle as well as the bed, and the cross slide will also need to be able to be retracted out far enough.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 11/11/2022 14:17:23

Hi Mike, it might have been prudent to have strapped the earth wire back to the flex with a bit of insulating tape but it's easy to realise that in hindsight. Having a bit of mains volts traveling from one arm to the next, isn't a fun experience, don't ask how I know.

Regards Nick.

Hi, I have four mains conventual soldering irons, which are an Antex 15 W precision C, a 25 W of unknown brand, and two Solons, one at 65 W and the other at 250 W, all of which the tips are earthed. I also have a Black & Decker dual 15 / 35 W and a Weller universal, both of which include a transformer that heats the tip, and only have a twin flex supply, so no earth at all. I do have a A55KJ soldering station from Maplin's and the tip on this is earthed, but my Antex pipemaster tongs don't have the tips connected to earth.

Moving on to BS1363 type plugs, many of those that have a moulded-on plug and serve a twin flex with a two-pin socket on the end, do have a plastic pin for opening the shutters on the wall sockets, just like many wall-warts have, however, it is important to know that not all of them are capable to carry a 13 A load whether they have a plastic or metal pin in the earth position, and are quite often limited to 5 A and should never have a fuse put in them higher than that stated on the pin side of the plug. Three photos shown below, first and second are twin flex with a twin socket on the end, and the third one is a three core with a Euro three pin socket on the end. The first and third photos shows the amp rating just above and to the right of the neutral pin, while the second photo shows it to the right of the earth pin, and they also show the maximum voltage as well.

Regards Nick

Hi, in Smoke Rings, ME 6th October 2000, there is an announcement that A. J. Reeves & Company (Birmingham) Ltd. went into voluntary liquidation during September. It goes on about a meeting of creditors and appointment of a Liquidator etc.

In Smoke Rings, ME 26th January 2001, there is a statement that the company had been purchased and Reeves 2000 would be continuing largely as before, and would be run by new management, the new owners being Anker Towbars, and a bit of info about them.

There is a similar statement on the Editor's Bench in MEW No. 74 May 2001.

I bought my copy of the Reeves 2000, 25th edition at the first exhibition I went too when it was available.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 09/11/2022 10:41:00

Hi, I've now found my copy of Reeves 24th edition, and that has the workshop equipment castings listed, so I guess they must have stopped doing them by the time the 25th edition first came out.

I can't remember exactly, but I think they had some sort of reorganisation of the company when their name changed to Reeves 2000.

Regards Nick.

Hi, here's a scan of Reeves & Co's listing from their 23rd edition.

Here's a scan of Reeves 2000 listing from their 25th edition. Issue 1.

Although tools and workshop equipment is listed in Reeves 2000, there is no workshop equipment castings listed or shown.

They still have tools and workshop equipment listed in their shop on their website, but I haven't checked that everything is the same.

Reeves 2000

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 08/11/2022 20:24:20

Hi MichaelG, you linked to a seal press, and as it happens, I have an old one made by Acme Seals Ltd. London, with a small bunch of lead seals. It is another item I rescued from being put in the scrap bin many years ago.

Regards Nick.

Hi, a photo of a label made from plastic laminate that peak4 mentioned earlier, this one is 106 x 23mm & 3mm thick, and has five layers, two thin black layers on the front and back, two thicker white layers under the outer layers, and a black layer in the middle, which is the thickest. This was on a steel stop log from a river basin that five stop logs were refurbished in my final day job, the brown staining on the white edges being rust. These were probably done with a pantograph engraving machine.

The electrical department in my day job from many years ago had one of these pantograph engravers, which they made labels for the control panels etc. and also made our own name discs for our isolating locks, which were used when we did maintenance on machinery.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 06/11/2022 14:53:40

Hi Nealeb, Wikipedia explains Pad Printing

Regards Nick.

Hi, drill down with a large hole-saw, over lapping as much as you can and as deep as will allow, then get your wood chisel and mallet and chop out all the bits, then you can drill down with your hole-saw again and chop out all the next lot of bits, repeat until you are as deep as you want it.

Regards Nick.

Hi Dave, you can always use resistors in series to obtain the correct value, e.g. two 18-ohm resisters would give 36 ohms, and you could also include a 0.33 one to make it closer to the calculated value, or a 0.47 one if the two 18 - ohm ones are on the lower side of their tolerance. If the battery is at 13.8 volts, just use a 39 and a 4.7- ohm resisters.

Regards Nick.

Hi, as Andrew Johnston has said, oxy-propane is often in industry for cutting iron/steel, and more often in scrap yards, as propane is cheaper, and you don't need to get the metal up to melting point, but you do need a different cutting nozzle, which is a two part one, the inner part being made of brass, and an outer shield made of copper. A thermic lance doesn't need a fuel gas supply, it just needs the end heating up with any type of flame capable to get it up to a cherry red, even a blacksmith's forge will do, and then the oxygen is turned on once it's hot and the reaction will keep going, the lance being a consumable.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 31/10/2022 07:56:23

Hi Oven Man, thanks for your thoughts on that, as far as I'm aware, the old company that I worked for didn't have any connection with the nuclear industry, but maybe that transport firm they purchased made deliveries to the nuclear industry or others associated with them and they just happened to have been left on their lorry by mistake.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 29/10/2022 09:57:20

Hi, just about all the dome nuts that I've seen and used have been sold and quite often have a small flat on the very top of the dome, I think I only ever saw some nuts with the dome pressed on, once. But I did rescue eight of these austenitic stainless steel M14 pointy type nuts from ending up in the scrap bin in my old day job, the slightly domed part at the top is about 9mm diameter, so could be used on small holes providing the rest of the nut didn't clash with anything.

No idea what they were meant for and never saw a machine which used them, but the company did purchase a transport firm that had quite a few lorries and associated gear and a shed full of spare parts, so they could have come with them.

Regards Nick.