Member postings for Fowlers Fury

Everyone has a different tale to tell about break-ins, value of deterents etc. Police response to recorded crime on vids seems to vary widely. One force sent a guy who could identify details from a low-res b&w vid with unbelievable accuracy leading to subsequent arrest. Other forces are just totally dimissive these days as others report above.
There's an interesting vid on YouTube showing a house breaker being interviewed in prison. Yes, it's American and it goes on at length but it seems genuine and is quite enlightening about alarms, cameras etc.
**LINK**

"It's really up to you to contact them and switch to paperless"

Don't know if other banks are the same as Barclays but SWMBO and myself each have an account with them.
We opted for "paperless" communication but are both inundated with large unsolicited multi-page letters, often twice a week, inviting us to take out loans. It's junk mail and goes straight to the shredder - costing me electricity and them production and postage. But I suppose it all keeps Royal Snail Mail in business and our postman in a job.

"Nearly as bad as the surname of the President of the USA, who for the benefit of non UK readers is a euphemism for flatulence. Seems appropriate somehow"
I mistyped his name recently and the spell checker came up with President Turnip, decided to leave it in as quite appropriate.

Not too sure I'd be trying ammonium nitrate, apart from being a reasonable fertiliser its a reasonable explosive.

Sound, published evidence that well-used, old engine oil is full of carcinogens.

Much would depend on how you define "good" and "durable" for a finish - and how big the parts are.

As the link above to "Blackening mild steel" shows, many have found supermarket sunflower or rapeseed oil to be effective.
Heating to red and dropping in sunflower oil produces a nice black finish on steel every time for me. The oil protects the surface but. If you don't like the residue, clean off and apply black shoe polish to prevent rusting.

A cold method which is cheap and easy but very dependent on an excellent surface to begin with is "gun blue". (I've had variable results if the surface was not completely degreased first). It's quick to apply (wear disposable gloves) and wash off after. Do though coat with the aforementioned shoe polish or rusting occurs quickly. Put 'gun blue Bisley' into Google & you'll find YouTube vids on doing it and sellers. A small bottle from Bisley shop has lasted me for years.

Endorse Hopper's comments.....
Some years ago Model Engineer offered a free set of those depicted in the blue plastic wallet above with an annual subscription. They were really rough, no precise feel to them ~ donated to the m.e society's next auction.
Definately recommend making go-no-go gauges to use when bore and gauge at same temperature !

An ex-Crewe Works old boy related to us students how they got fed up with one fitter who was always nicking coal from the works to take home for his domestic fireplace. One day at the end of the shift they put a detonator in his coal sack. Apparently the resultant shock and mess stopped his further theft of LMS coal.

Easy - if you're married......

Machine, file, emery or whatever the metal then wash your (black) hands in the domestic sink.
Next morning if you are subject to dog's abuse for all the minute rust stains on the sink's surface, it was cast iron.

Forget not that about 40 years ago the first new British talking car was a BL Maestro.
Ah ! They don't make cars like that any more.......

Alternatively you could get this ~ much cheaper:-

Windows 10 & updates
I've referred before to the daily newsletters from "HowtoGeek". This has just arrived and explains why I've been having problems with file associations.
.**LINK**

"Microsoft Broke Windows 10’s File Associations With a Botched Update"

I've not yet put Linux (Kubuntu 18.04) on my main desktop but have now installed it on an old laptop.
Looking good so far.

"any suggestions as to the finish I should be able to achieve? "
Though no metallurgist, I've assumed that a poor surface on CI is due to poor foundry work where the carbon has not been effectively distributed through the melt for whatever reason. With one of those aforementioned (above) poor castings, I've cut off several extraneous bits with a fine saw and the surfaces all showed the same pitting even after a fine diamond file.
You don't state Martin what material you'll use for the rings but whichever, it's not going to ever generate a mirror-like bore. I don't believe the surface finish, when bedded down by the rings, is going to represent any problem. In fact, the small pits could be a +ve advantage in retaining oil.
As for the age diffeence in your 2 sets of castings, I was given some 60 y.o. Stuart Turner castings a while ago and they machined to a superb finish. I've read iron castings should be left outside to rust before machining but can't understand how that would change the deeper structure.
"Nuff said" in the words of Curly ?.

Injectable WD40 for my finger joints.

"Can you point me to Geo Thomas's boring bar design?"
Sure - it's available from 2 sources:-
1. GHT's original article in Model Engineer. But I'm afraid the 3 xls index files to M.E. don't provide me with the reference despite trying several keywords. Maybe someone else can provide it?
2. That most valuable compendium of GHT's articles - "The Model Engineers Workshop Manual (vol 1)" 1992. Pub: Tee Publishing, ISBN 1-85761-000-8. It's on page 92.

Copyright of course, but herewith GHT's introductory paragraph. His comment about the normal, 90 deg tool resulting in flexure of a boring bar was well made IMHO. By putting the tool in the bar at an angle, that effect is very much reduced as well as resulting in much easier ability to measure the swing with a micrometer.

PM me if I can help further.

Edit: Have since found the original ME article.
Model Engineer, 3rd June 1977 p. 615 (Vol 143, No. 3562)

Edited By Fowlers Fury on 05/11/2018 15:24:06

Would endorse Jason B's recommendation "....... put it on the lathe cross slide and use a sturdy between ctrs boring bar." Adequately secure the casting on the cross slide after squaring it against the face plate. The boring bar designed by Geo Thomas is ideal as it is comparatively easy to adjust and measure the tool tip swing. Make it as big a diameter as you can. (Can point you to the source if required)

However, as Paul K comments " cast iron can be a very variable material............." I've just finished boring out CI cylinders to similar dimensions as yours, sold by one of our suppliers and the CI has machined much less cleanly than previous castings I've purchased. Surface finish even after much honing is relatively "rough".

This Win10 "update" issue can be a PITA. Those who've not had problems are lucky and/or don't have apps & progs whose drivers are repatedly overwritten by ones that M/soft thinks are superior.
My patience is rapidly running out with Win 10 and I'm increasingly tempted by Linux.
It would tho' require installing a dual-boot system because 2 or 3 progs have no Linux versions and at my age, I can do without all the aggravation.
Of course - back ups are 100% necessary but won't always avoid the "update" problems reoccuring. (I tried re-installing a back up after problems with the early 2018 Win 10 update. After hours of frustration, the FAT became corrupted and I had to re-install all the progs and data files).
A good sourse of free advice is the regular "How-to_Geek" newsletters, typified by headlines such as "Don’t Click “Check for Updates” Unless You Want Unstable Windows 10 Updates". Maybe worth subscribing !

**LINK**

There are ways to stop the updates e.g. **LINK**

The Microsoft handcuffs are very strong.

I think the advertiser quoted by Oldiron doesn't do name plates large enough for a 2" model; happy to proven wrong but it looks small-scale only.

At the Midlands Ex, I picked up a leaflet offering bespoke & 'off the shelf' name plates. I was very interested until reading "Laser engraved in two colour acrylic plastic....in any size"
If the OP isn't concerned about using plastic then here's the link **LINK**

No apologies needed for non-horological terms ! However on the basis of your description it's necessary to make some guesses/assumptions which could well be wide of the mark.
If the pivot on which the offending wheel (gear) is mounted moves excessively between the clock's plates then the pivot hole (is this what you mean by bearings?) in one plate has become enlarged. Correcting that will require some major surgery as you would need to remove that plate and either put in a bush or adopt the bodgers-dodge of tapping around the hole to close it slightly. In either case you will need a suitable broach and maybe a oil-cup tool .The final hole should not have a parallel bore but be like
this:-

Tilting the clock will achieve nothing.
Yet "approx 1mm end float" may not be that excessive - are you sure the wheel is firmly fixed to the pivot ?
But all the foregoing doesn't quite square with the fact the clock ran well for 3 days, unless perhaps the pivot hole aperture had previously worn very thin and just quickly 'gave way'.

" I didn't realise that drawings can have faults. Obviously errors always happens but I thought these would be corrected by now after so many years."

If only that were the case !
A commendable thread was begun on Model Engineers Clearing House a few years ago where builders could post errors they'd found. If you've not already done so, use the search box for Juliet or whatever:-

**LINK**

Tomasz, you ask "Other thing is where to source castings from? What is your experience about service from different suppliers? Will castings from one be better quality then the others?"

From (bitter) experience - yes - castings from different suppliers can be of very different quality. The bad ones can be the result of shoddy pattern making, poor foundry work or both. I would suggest if at all possible you either visit the suppliers and look closely & compare their castings before purchase or as Bob suggests, join a MES and seek relevant advice.

"Same" loco castings do vary in advertised price and the cheaper ones may not match the more expensive ones in terms of machinability or machining allowances. In the past, I have bought cheap and came to regret it.
You may spend hours carefully machining a cylinder block only to discover a sizeable hole. OK, you can normally get a free replacement but no compensation for the many hours wasted.
Bad foundry practice can lead to such holes, chilled spots in cast iron or porous non-ferrous castings. The last one is a real **** because usually you don't find out until you've finished the loco.

Howard Lewis' posting "..incident with..bench grinder.....used.to grind..wood...sparks from the metal set off the wood dust."
Maybe a reminder about that other warning re. fire hazards in the workshop with a linisher?
I witnessed a small yet severe fire where aluminum particles were ignited and the burn was hard to extinguish.
If you've used aluminium on your linisher, never use it then for steel before a good clean-up. Thermit process??