Member postings for Fowlers Fury

Too true about supermarket trolley handles : - [

We could continue this ad nauseam (literally) but consider if you can public toilets for some perspective. We usually need to touch a contaminated handle to enter. But how many men then wash their hands before releasing the one-eyed trouser snake? Business over and hands washed but now with hot air dryers, residues & viruses are circulated with force for all to inhale. To exit the place we now have to touch the inside door handle which has been grasped by ......and so on.

The human race would have died out millenia ago if we couldn't tolerate some pathogens on our skin.

But consolation is at "hand" for model engineers thanks to the oligodynamic action of metals. Herewith one quote from the Abstract Zentralbl Bakteriol Mikrobiol Hyg B. 1985 Dec;182(1):95-101.

"The oligodynamic action of the pure metals aluminium, antimony, bismuth, cadmium, cobalt, copper, gold, iron, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, platinum, silver, tin, titanium, and zinc on Bacillus subtilis (1 strain), Enterobacteriaceae (26 strains), Legionellaceae (13 strains), Micrococcaceae (6 strains), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4 strains) was investigated using an agar diffusion test. B. subtilis and Legionellaceae exhibited the highest susceptibility. The apathogenic micrococci and staphylococci were more susceptible to oligodynamic action of some metals than S. aureus. The group of gram negative rods was the most resistant."

Another publication offers "Many infections can be spread by doorknobs. Brass doorknobs disinfect themselves in about eight hours, while stainless steel and aluminium knobs never do. Unvarnished brass doorknobs therefore tend to be more sanitary than stainless or aluminium doorknobs. The effect is important in hospitals, and useful in any building.[3]"

Only brass & copper then for knurled handles ?

Depends what your stock "bronze" rod actually contains in the way of additional metals but assuming it's basic - just copper + tin then the quick way to differentiate is to clean both with fine emery and immerse them in some dilute mineral acid (preferably hydrochloric*). After a while the submerged brass rod will appear to have a copper colour due to the surface zinc being dissolved. However if your bronze rod contains aluminium or zinc it may not be so easy.

* Readily available from Fleabay.

Re: "Bandersnatch & fast traverse with Chinese scales"

After fitting those scales searching online kept recommending this website:-

**LINK**

It's detail is impressive but being "electronically challenged" I couldn't understand much therein. However it does refer to such scales being able to operate at a fast or slow sampling speed. Further searching found another website where the user of a Dore-Westbury mill reported "One problem was that the scale unit update was not very fast - only about 3 times a second. This was OK for co-ordinate drilling but was a problem when taking a continuous cut. The update was simply not quick enough to give a real-time position. However it was discovered that the scales could be switched into a faster mode by shorting out the clock signal with the +V signal. However this had problems too because in this mode the scale would not zero. In the end 2 momentary contact buttons were added to the remote readout to enable it to switch the scales between fast and 'zeroable' modes." Link here>

**LINK**

I don't have the courage to install his "momentary contact buttons" especially as he wrote "The original system eventually got damage and so some replacement units were purchased ensuring that they looked the same and had the same contacts. These were wired in and worked OK, but unfortunately the additional fast/slow modification no longer worked."

So I just rely on slow & steady handwheel turns instead. My Chinese scales must be about 20 years old anyway !

I have though installed a stabilised power supply for the 3 scales to replace the batteries and this improved things a lot. Again to quote from the 2nd url "Other engineers have been in touch to report problems obtaining a stable reading from these systems, particularly when batteries were anything but fully charged".

I found with my cheapo, add-on Chinese scales that it was easy to move the mill table too fast leading to false measurements being shown on the LCD. Not when actually milling but rather moving the table say to a new position for the next cut.There seems to be a maximum "speed" which these scales can tolerate without errors.

OK ~ the OP is using glass scales which are undoubtedly better in that regard yet the reproducibility with my cheap scales is surprisingly good if the hand wheels are turned at a steady, slow rate.

I agree with those above advocating use of a water based solution.

Caustic soda will convert the oil/grease to soap ~ that's how it's made.

My preference, though comparatively expensive, is 'Autoglym' degreaser applied with a hard brush then washed off.

White spirits is of course a light oil and wiping with a volatile solvent will remove most of the oil but remember that the oil is dissolved in the solvent which then evaporates leaving some of the dissolved oil on the surface just as 2 stroke "petroil" does when the petrol evaporates.

Whilst keeping the grim reaper from the workshop door, I'm NOT consoled by Freud's (paraphrased) observation:-

"If only youth knew how and age was able".

Garry Wooding wrote:-

"After breaking several #76 drills I used a high power loupe to examine the one remaining and was appalled to see how badly it had been sharpened. Since the broken drills had come from the same supplier......."

Another source of badly sharpened and therefore badly performing drills are those orange & blue plastic boxes of very small drills on sale at exhibitions. I took a new No.70 drill from such a box and put it under the microscope at x200. The image is poor because of the very small depth of field and getting good top illumination but one wonders just how such drills are "sharpened". It's also revealing to compare cutting edges of carbide inserts at that magnification. For example those of cheap Far Eastern origin to say, manufacturers such as Iscar. Once seen at x200 the obvious difference in performance (and price) is explained.

A useful but brief synopsis of methods published some while ago on David Carpenter's website:-

**LINK**

"Kiwi Bloke 1" ~ you're right to shun 2k paints for amateur use. The UK's HSE have published sound advice on their use in professional motor vehicle repair (MVR) facilities and this includes data on the relatively high incidence of isocyanate induced asthma within MVR workers, even when using air-fed hoods.

Methylene chloride (or dichloromethane) was used extensively in Nitromoors paint stripper and Hammerite (same company) but the risk-averse, desk-toxicologists in the EU banned its use by 2010. That's why you'll see so many references to the inability of "new" Nitromoors to strip paint !

Methylene chloride was a most useful chemical yet without getting into its complex toxicology, it is metabolised to carbon monoxide in the body after inhalation - hardly beneficial ! However the limited and infrequent exposures in well ventilated areas we had as model engineers was not IMHO a cause for concern.

I'm afraid that the environmental drive to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from formulations has led to a noticeable decrease in the durability of applied paint. Evident of course when SWMBO drags you from the workshop to do some more redecorating.

As for your final paragraph about "old" paint, depends on the age of the paint originally applied. Most likely it would have been a lead-based paint. The lead had two functions (1) it was a 'drier' and (2) it afforded some measure of protection from underlying corrosion, supposedly by forming a bond with the bright steel. It is prudent when removing paint of unknown vintage to wear a dust mask otherwise inhalation of dust particles containing lead compounds is very likely. Then again, when methylene chloride based strippers were available, there was much less need to remove old paint by physical abrasion.

Hey-ho, onwards and upwards or downward and backwards ?

.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Tractol paint. It's used in the restoration of old agricultural machinery and AFAIK it is (should that be "was"?) a "classic" enamel using xylene as the principle solvent.

Still widely available and with a reasonable range of colours

**LINK**

Here's one comment on use of Tractol ~ FWIW:-

"I've been using tractol for years on anything from agricultural equipment, gates, railings, welders and even cars. Their mf silver mist looks brill on alloy wheels. OK, it doesn't dry like 2k but it is a lot safer to apply and if you leave it for a couple of hours in a spray booth with the heater going it will be dry enough to handle. Apply it like you would with cellulose, using several light coats but try to put on the final coat slightly heavier to achieve a better shine. Please note - use only tractol synthetic thinner to thin paint. Other thinners can cause the paint to go lumpy. I only found this out when the paint went lumpy in the spray gun, such a mess to clean out. On the subject of spray guns, I now use a HVLP gun. It's only a cheap one from Lidl but it works well and I use 1/3 of the paint I used before.

For a really shiny finish there is a Tractol clear lacquer available but I've never tried it. My paint supplier told me you can apply 2k lacquer over tractol but I've never tried that either."

No doubt of little help, but to return to the OP's request......

The key word to search on is "Retro" fonts.

Here's a link to a huge collection, all free. I've d/l several in the past. You'll need to wade thro' screen after screen but some are close to maybe what you're looking for such as "Penshurst" on this page:-

**LINK**

Quote - "As far as I know VLC - which is arguably a better media player than the Windows one ever was - still works with Windows 10 ..... although I haven't checked out the W10 Anniversary Update yet (since I haven't been non-optionally upgraded yet on my trial W10 installation)."

Agreed, the free VLC is excellent in many respects except one.

It's accepted to be virtually unusable for playing TV progs via a usb or card uner on the pc. I tried and tried but gave up as have many others. That's why I wrote above of the old Windows Media Center which was dropped from Win 10.

Anyone who has a TV tuner card or usb tuner "needs" WMC as IMHO those players supplied by the tuner manufacturers are poor (& I include Hauppage's in that). WMC is stable & reliable under Win10, even in its latest incarnation.

Quote - "Additionally some things which were in with Windows no longer are, Media Centre,...."

Perfectly true, if fact "Windows Media Center" was an excellent prog and the only one which would run my usb HD TV tuner with recording etc. However, it's easy to run it under Win10 thanks to someone, in Italy I think, who developed a work-around. Here's one of many links:-

**LINK**

As for the 'old' games, tho' not for Pinball AFAIK, most these can also run under Win10, again herewith one of many links:-

**LINK**

I'm happy enough with Win10 but it took a long time to become so. Blocking all the M/soft spying took time & effort but the hardest challenge was blocking the unwanted "Cortana" from hogging huge amounts of RAM. I eventually found the solution via extensive 'Googling'.

Were it not for my several costly bits of s/w which only run under Windows, I'd have switched to Linux ages ago.

Depends on diameter of pipe you're using but for best appearance buy some white,woven sports shoe laces. Cut off the end bits and 'thread' the lace over the length of pipe. Get some fine brass wire (empty bottle of Rioja !) and wind that around the ends of the lace to bind it to the tube.

The "shoe lace lagging" can now be painted with a water/Polyfilla mixture and as Jason sugggests, add some PVA glue. If you don't make the Polyfilla mix too thick, the effect looks quite authentic.

To add to the praise for Mitutoyu dig-calipers, mine are (is?) also over 30 years old and it gets used and abused daily. I occasionally check it against a standard and cognisant of ambient workshop temperature, it's always been accurate.

I can preset it to to the 3rd decimal place (inch) thanks to the aforementioned excellent thumb wheel and it's then even been abused by light scribing of lines etc with no detrimental effect on the jaws' sharp points over the years .

My eyesight is no longer good enough to read a vernier scale without finding a magnifier so the 0-1" M&W micrometer gets little use. The other great benefit of a digi caliper is surely its ability to zero at any point. Put a piece of rod in the chuck you need to turn down to say 0.250" D, set the Mitutoyo to that dimension - zero it and then measure the diameter of the chucked rod. Divide new reading by 2 and wind tool in to that.

Cheap Chinese DROs, calipers just eat batteries, because - I'm told - they draw considerable current even when switched off. The Mitutoyo requires a new battery about once per year. I've never once begrudged the cost of buying it.

True enough ! (If you don't know someone with a spark erosion machine).

Try to scrounge used sharp-pointed diamond burrs from your dentist and use 'em in a high-speed mini drill. (Only genuine dental burrs are any good with HSS). It is relatively easy to eat away at a broken tap or drill in a ferrous part without doing much, if any, damage to the hole or thread providing the broken bit isn't too long. Once the centre part is ground down, you can usually break up the remaining bit with a hammer and carpet pin. (Carpet pins are invaluable in the workshop & can often be "found" lying around in carpet stores. Grind off the round top and they make very tough, small pin punches).

"It's amazing, there doesn't seem to be any explanation of the phenomenon on the web. Even wikipedia references this website! On a chemistry forum the question is asked but goes unanswered"

Neil,

Musn't teach granny to suck eggs, but if you put ["aluminium sulphate"+"iron corrosion"] into Google you find several references. Herewith one of the most informative:-

**LINK**

That great source of info on engineering "The Engineering Toolbox" lists a table of metals vs. various agents.

**LINK**

Although it doesn't show HSS, carbon steel is listed and given a "3" for contact with aluminum sulfate (sic), that is, 3 = "not usable". However my earlier point about alum not having magical qualities is born out if you look down for hydrochloric & sulphuric acids which also have "3".

Michael Cox 1 above has explained - the potassium radical is irrelevant for the enforced corrosion of iron . I've used dilute hydrochloric acid in a covered jam jar for a 10BA broken tap in gunmetal. It works well and just by warming on top of a radiator overnight. Do this in the kitchen though as the HCl fumes will rust any nearby iron/steel in the workshop so it's best to get downstairs before SWMBO does next morning !

Geo Thomas advised the method many years ago & in his inimitable way, explained the "best" way to do it. (it's on page 291 of the collection of his words of wisdom in "The Model Engineers Workshop Manual" Vol 1 (it'll also be in ME magazine of course). Well worth reading if you're having problems

There's nothing magic about using alum. All it is doing is accelerating corrosion (rusting) of the steel or rather the Fe to be precise. Dilute mineral acids work just as well.

As an expert, with years of experience in breaking drills and taps in bronzes, there are two major reasons why alum or acid corrosion doesn't appear to be working. The first is because a thread lubricant, other than saliva, was used before breakage. Not surprisingly, this prevents surface action on the broken drill or tap. I've seldom had any success getting rid of such lubricant with broken small drills & taps in situ as the flutes are choked with it. If the part is small enough and you have access to an ultrasonic cleaning bath, this will remove most of the trapped oil & swarf but by Sodde's law, the part with the snapped tap or drill is invariably too big to fit the bath.

The other problem is trapped gas .......bubbles preventing access of alum soln or acid so these need to regularly dislodged.

Before the editorial blue pencil descends for this all being off topic for model engineering..........

Re. "16th" post, a couple of points, not to disagree, just maybe clarify

1."Even this forum links to google analytics and facebook and myhobbystore, these are in the background how many know this is happening?". Probably few is the answer but the solution - for Firefox users - is simple. Use the free add-on "No Script". This will block all scripts running on a web page unless you expressly allow. For example on THIS page, as "16th" states, Google analytics, Facebook and MyHobbystore all try to run scripts. I only allow MyHobbystore to run theirs. Also add "Ghostery" and you're fairly safe from data harvesters.

2. The loss of Windows Media Centre from Win 10 was serious (e.g. it was the simplest & most reliable way to watch TV via a usb stick) but a quick Google search will reveal that it's simple & straightforward to restore it.

In many ways I envy the Linux users who don't have to contend with these countless updates and quirks from Microsoft. Furthermore, they haven't yet become targets for scammers etc. But many of my expensive progs aren't available for Linux and I really don't want to get into 'dual booting' for other reasons.

It's difficult to justify Win 10 over Win 7 IMHO. Consider the infamous "Cortana" designed for hand-holding users. It ("she" is not only a user-data harvester but a major consumer of computer resources (about 29Mb). There are innumerable websites asking how to stop it running in Win10 and to do so permanently requires a complicated procedure as I discovered.

Win10 is fast and stable for sure but it's been foisted on us by Microsoft marketing - presumably why it is still free, at least for another month.

"And just to repeat yet again, there are downloadable utilities that will block Win10 download - links have been given several times on this forum".

True of course, but SWMBO has just got caught by the latest Microsoft dirty trick:

Microsoft won't back down from Windows 10 nagware 'trick'

Redmond assumes closing nagware dialog means 'yes', says that's by design

Microsoft is hurt and disappointed that people would think it was trying to “trick” them with a confusing Windows 10 upgrade dialog that scheduled an upgrade without users explicitly agreeing to do so.

Redmond recently created a new Windows 10 nagware reminder that presented a dialog asking you to install the OS. But if users clicked the red “X” to close the dialog - standard behaviour for dispelling a dialog without agreeing to do anything - Microsoft took that as permission for the upgrade.