Member postings for Fowlers Fury

It's many years since my bilateral cataract removals.
I only find one cautionary posting above - from "Versaboss". Maybe I might add another.
The purpose is to recount my ophthalmic surgeon's invaluable warning.
In essence it went:-
"Be very aware of seeing a spider's web-like image in an eye. It would signify a likely detaching retina and you MUST seek immediate attention if you do experience it".
I asked why and his answer was plausible - to summarise. "A lens which has become opaque - a cataract - will have swollen over the years of its development. This increases the pressure in the posteria chamber of the eye. The replacement plastic lens we insert is much thinner so the pressure drops and this can lead to the retina pulling away, the first sign of which is the 'spider's web' ".

A few years later, one night a distinct spider's web appeared in my left eye. First thing next morning the retina was lasered back in the hospital.
So FWIW, please take note if you weren't warned of that possibility.
Unfortunately the remarkable outcome of having 'perfect' vision again may not be permanent for everyone. The surgeon was clever enough to make the corneal incisions in such a way that my astigmatism was corrected & my distance specs. were discarded. Over the years though, the corneal changes in that left eye have been significant, astigmatism is quite bad but simply corrected with a contact lens. The other eye has remained exactly in its post-op state.

I remain amazed at ophthalmic surgeons' skill and continue to wonder how a couple of hundred years ago, aged watchmakers. engravers etc, undoubtedly with cataracts, could achieve such precision in dimly lit workshops.

It's fascinating to watch a video of cataract sugery (if you feel you can !); this is one of the most informative:-
Typical Surgery
(If the above link doesn't work it's vimeo.com/10103153)

Re: " As I understand it the foam ,as used in furniture, gives off cyanide fumes when set alight, "

It's a complex issue and drifts way off topic but in essence:-
Flexible PU foam (not rigid PU foam used for insulation) when used in furniture has to comply with the tight UK Regs for flame retardancy. Smouldering (reduced O2) is very different from combustion or flaming in the presence of O2. But all organic nitrogen containing substances can produce HCN whether "natural" (e.g. feathers, rubber, wool etc) or synthetic (e.g. PU, polystyrene) in reduced O2 concentration. A definitive paper, 35 years old, explains - **LINK**

Relevance to model engineering? Very little I guess unless you insulate the loco's firebox with flex PU or feathers !

In the flexible polyurethane foam industry large blocks are cut with big factory-sized "band knives". And....the blade lubricant used is critical.
Hot wire cutting won't work and might well give rise to toxic fumes as well as the risk of igniting the foam.
Flex PU foam dose not have a defined melting point. It is a thermoplastic and gradually softens at higher temperatures. The softening depends on the specific material, but is around 100 C.

As others above have suggested, buy new foam blocks.

I'd like to better Peter Shaw's claim to fame viz " And there is the pistol drill at probably 35 to 40 years old (and which still makes the battery powered things look puny!) "
I'm now 76 and my parents gave me a Christmas present when I was 11. It was a mains Wolf Cub drill.
(I should add Santa also provided a lambswool polishing bonnet no doubt in response to my mother's letter to him because she used the my drill regularly for polishing the lino).
Altho' it has a 1/4" fairly crude chuck - it is still in regular use after 65 years.
I echo Peter's words - it makes the battery powered things look puny.
To my shame it has only been dismantled once to clean out sawdust and to oil the felt pad. I've also replaced the mains lead - again, once.

Of potentially more impact on your well-being than inhaling some elemental iron and carbon is washing your hands at night after machining cast iron. If married or under some similar constraint, then next morning SWMBO will discover the bottom of the sink/basin is covered with myriads of rust spots, acrylic sinks being the worst as the iron particles lodge in the surface to rust overnight. A rapid application of Jenolite or similar to the surface will be needed to placate her. A dedicated, plastic bowl for hand washing is probably the easier solution but of course, you’ll need to empty it outside every time !

Between centres boring bars.
The subject has been aired several times on here. After I made the simple version with vertical cutter, its shortcomings were soon evident. The main irritant being accurate measurement when advancing the tool tip. I then made one to the Geo. Thomas design and had no further problems.
(There were several postings on here in early November 2018 about b-c boring bars)
There are 2 sources of his design:-

1. GHT's original article in Model Engineer. Model Engineer, 3rd June 1977 p. 615 (Vol 143, No. 3562)

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 very much easier ability to measure the swing with a micrometer. Geo. Thomas wrote “….the boring bar in its usual form leaves a lot to be desired. My main objection to it is the absence of any controlled means of advancing the cutter and all my design attempts to provide a suitable means ended in severe weakening of the bar at the point of maximum bending moment.”

IMHO it would time well spent to make one to the GHT design at the maximum diameter commensurate with your cylinder bores.

This was my GHT b-c bar boring out a 5" CI cylinder casting.

That brass item on the casting, under the boring bar, contains several small Neodymium magnets. It should have been within a plastic bag so that thecollected iron bits could have been emptied straight in the bin !

I would have thought that purchasing a CI cylinder casting from one of the ME suppliers was the preferred start but respect your decision to machine from a chunk of CI. Your "raw block" seems to have plenty of machining excess which sadly, many commercial castings do not.
Suggest that first priority is to generate a flat datum surface (one that will be in contact with a frame side?) and do your marking out from that. Many critical dimensions and need for parallel surfaces so maybe generate next surface at a true 90 degrees to your datum.
Next I would then FIX the block exactly on the cross slide with that "90 deg" surface truly parallel to the face plate and bore out the main cylinders.
Almost certainly others will advise on a completely different sequence !

Have you looked at Minx postings here?: **LINK**

If you're going to c/s the tapped holes, do it before you tap them, not after.

As Jason recollects above, there were articles describing in full the installation of the M-DRO kit on a S7.

The first article appeared in MEW No. 267, May 2018.
The whole process is quite straightforward but the articles do point out a few potential problems.

Jon, checking a couple of your "later articles" I assume they're all by Bernard Lundberg. I'm not aware his impressive articles were ever published as a collection.

The original construction series by Robin Dyer was easy to follow (must have been as I made one) but Bernard's research adds markedly to the authenticity of the model. For example ME vol 170 (3946) repeats Dyer's confession that he had no information on the front axle; Lundberg's article corrects that.

I'd recommend obtaining a copy of ME 170 (3944) as this contains an informative but very short article by Lundberg "Clayton Wagon General Notes". In the same issue, there's an article about building a Clayton with twin rear axles - though never produced by the works.

There are a few significant shortcomings in the original design. Main one being that the main drive gearing is too fast. My failing memory is that at least one remedy for this was published in ME, but it wasn't elegant or of course, prototypical.

This has provided a not-so-welcome break from the trials & tribulations of Walschaerts valve timing.!
I thought it'd be easy to help the OP as I have a Startrite, as well as an e-copy of their brochure with specs.(PM me if you want a copy). Nothing on the brochure about the depth gauge though.
However, I removed the threaded depth stop bar and went through an extensive collection of old nuts from BSC to metric with a view to finding a couple to send on to the OP. No such luck, nothing fitted BSF, BSW, UNC etc.
My thread pitch gauges didn't help with identification either. It looked metric but if it is, it must be between whole numbers. So herewith an attempt to lure the thread experts into an answer:-

Edited By Fowlers Fury on 21/04/2020 16:45:32

All sound advice above but one question.....how are you returning the boring bar to start another cut?

If you're using the self-act (or winding out with the lead screw hand-wheel) at the same setting to back out the tool this could be a contributory factor. The safest way is to stop the lathe at the end of the cut, release the carriage and wind out by hand. Now put on your next cut and continue to bore with the self-act engaged. Carry on ad nauseam.

(if you use self-act to withdraw the boring tool and there is slackness between the carriage and the lathe bed shears, the carriage can tilt and take off some more material from the bore on the return. I appreciate I'm inviting abuse for offering this but years back, on an old & worn ML10, I discovered this issue. It was when boring out the rear axle for the Clayton wagon. Eventually after stopping the 'powered withdrawal' I got it parallel).

I still have (& must get rid of) all the issues of Motorcycle Scooter & Three-wheeler Mechanics, from No. 1 through to early1966.
At the back of my aged brain was that there had been an article on a strip-down of a James scooter. Having now searched through all those issues, the brain was clearly faulty again.
However there was a road test, just after the scooter's release. Like most magazine road tests in those days, they could find little to criticise - commending the scooter on its effortless hill-climbing ability !!!
Were the mag publishers too frightened then of losing advertising revenue from the manufacturers if they were critical of the machines?

Anyway if the OP wants a pdf of that test - for what it's worth - just PM me.

Credit where it's due..........

The original was from the great John Cleese, back in around 2013, I think.

Re. comments after my earlier posting about solar panels maybe needing an annual clean.
As before, " Depending on your location and therefore amoount of "dust" in the atmosphere".
We live in a rural area and soil erosion in high winds & rain means there is a lot of deposition.

I suppose If your house windows remain clear after 12 months without any cleaning, then don't bother about the panels.

Around here. our (vertical) window glass becomes quite coated in dust, bird cr*p & muck in 6 weeks so an annual clean of the panels seems worthwhile.

Agreed, the FIT and money back is welcome yet there always seems another side to a benefit.

Our builder demanded another few hundred quid for software he was advised to install at the last minute. Apparently if you don't have the s/ware which shows how much each panel is generating then in the event of fall-off in generated power, it costs a substantial amount to find which of the panels is faulty. At least that's what all the new house purchasers were told.
Depending on your location and therefore amoount of "dust" in the atmosphere, you will probably need to have the panels cleaned annually. Rain doesn't seem to be very effective. Our window cleaner does ours - for an extra fee of course !
I'm surprised you were in net profit over the winter quarter. On the principle that all women have faulty thermostats, the heating in our abode is such that we (i.e. me) are net payers by a considerable margin during the winter months and also we have a big air-source heat pump supposedly reducing our power from the grid.

An awful image as it has been scanned from the phone but the aforementioned s/w is "SolarEdge".

To: Dave B.

Should you wish to add to any confusion you still have after your original posting , there were a number of opinions on this website a couple or so years ago. (I'd hesitate to write "all relevant opinons":-

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=130308&p=2

In 2015 there was a short article on Steam Operated Drain Cocks in David Carpenter's Model Engineers Website. I like the design and eventually plan to make a set as described by Peter Squire.

Usual "for personal use only" applies to downloads, so check the website:-
**LINK**

Doubt there's a problem with me showing the article's heading:-

(You could PM me if interested)

The box on the RHS is indeed for watch/clock lathe work (mine has a plate showing "Boley" on the lid).
Can't recognise the item on the bench RHS but from your description "chrome item on left (??)...2 brass wheels etc...." I'm not sure it's clock related.
There's an old hand-held small vice missing its wingnut (replaced by crude nut & bolt).
Next, an Archimedean drill.
Last on left is a hand-held tool for tiny collets.
The wooden box on the left appears to contain hand tools for cutting 'cups' on clock plates where wheel arbours emerge (cups cut for oiling and reducing length of brass for arbour once broached.

They're all pretty much interesting antique items and if your offer to pass them on isn't taken up, such items often appear on Fleabay .