Member postings for Bruce Voelkerding

I have a used DIAL Caliper that has seen a lot of industrial usage by non-Machinists. It is Mitutoyo. However, when measuring anything, I always "close" the Jaws to the Workpiece with my Thumb & Index Finger on the Jaws - I "squeeze" the Jaws across the Diameter being measured, or across parallel surfaces being measured. I find that gives good Repeatability when cross-checked against Gauge Blocks.

That being said, I always use a Micrometer if it can be used and I have the size.

a couple of Questions -

o is it Copper Tubing ?

o how many Turns will the Siphon have ?

o are you intending to use a grooved Former and Roller ?

in the mid 70's while attending University I worked at an R&D Lab of a Company making automotive Lead-Acid Batteries. The Lab also performed on-going Quality Assurance for the Manufacturing Sites in the US. One check was the alloy Composition of the "Lead", it being in Reality an Alloy of ~93% Lead and ~7% Antimony. The Technician would get a small Sample of Lead (maybe 5 grams ?). He would weigh it dry first. Then he would put it in a small Glass Vessel which had a ground Stopper. Distilled Water would then be added, vibrated to remove any Air Bubbles, then the Stopper installed. The Trick to the System was the Stopper had an extremely tiny Hole thru it and the final bit of Water would escape thru it as the Stopper was pushed Home. Then another Weighing was done. I do not remember the Accuracy of the Scale, just that it was a Balance Scale contained within a Glass Enclosure. Nothing was touched by Human Hands - weights were placed with Tweezers. All this was done in a Temperature controlled Lab. A quick Calculation gave the percentage of Antimony.

The Alloy mixture was at the "eutectic" Point, i.e. the point where the conversion from Molten Liquid to solid occurred with minimal change in Temperature. This allowed quick cooling in the Plate Molding Machines, leading to higher Production Rates. Unfortunately, Antimony generates excessive Electrolysis of the Battery Acid causing Water Loss. At the time I was employed there was a big Push to develop a "Maintenance Free" Battery.

and to think that the original air-cooled VW Beetle had no Oil Filter (it did have an Oil Cooler).

my Father had a 1968 Ford Galaxy with a 302 V8 here in the US. He had a habit of starting the Engine before going to Bed, "to be sure it would start in the Morning". He had to have a Car to commute to Work. One cold Morning (~ -10 deg F), when he tried to start the Car (by now it had 125k Miles on it), there were strange Noises and would not start. After the Mechanic at the local Dealership learned of his "night-time Start", he told my Father it was the worst thing he could do to the Engine. Since he did not allow the engine to thoroughly heat up, water condensate was everywhere inside the Engine including the Oil. During the Night the Water would freeze and that meant Valve Stems, Valve Lifters, and Cam Shaft could be stuck. What happened was the Timing Chain skipped over the partially worn plastic Sprocket on the Cam Shaft. Once the Cam Shaft was out of Position, a few Valve Stems were bent. Luckily no Piston were cracked.

My last Job Posting required me to drive 100 Miles one-way to get to the Manufacturing Plant. I made that Trip 3 to 5 times a week. The Oil in that Car always looked pristine. Although I have no real Proof, the Car always seemed to use less Gas after an Oil Change. Perhaps the Oil did break down over time.

my Wife told me to try a Pair of Suspenders from my late Father. These were the kind that just snap onto the Trousers. It scared me to no Ends when I leaned over my running Lathe to read the Cross Slide Dial and the back Snaps let loose and the Suspenders flew over my Head across the running Lathe. There was no Accident, but the Suspenders went directly into the Trash.

we had Stand-By Diesel Generator Sets at our Glass Plants (GE Lighting) in case the Plant lost Power. Since most of our Transmission Lines are above Ground, it is not uncommon to lose Power during a Thunderstorm or Ice Storm. There was not enough Power to run the Plant, but enough to run the Glass Furnace(s). The Diesel Engines were kept at Operating Temperature by some means (Block Heaters in the Coolant ?). Sadly, all the Lighting Glass Plants are gone in the US.

I live in the States where there are "Quick-Lube" Stations all over. You just drive up and they change your Oil & Filter while you sit in the Car. They are very convenient. I have tried in vain to get an answer to this Question - how long does an Oil Filter last ? The typical ones I see appear to have a paper Cartridge. How long before the paper Element starts to disintegrate ??? I had a Ford Focus station Wagon that I stripped to carry my Steam Locomotive. I would get comments that I shouldn't wait a year between Oil Changes due to the Filter Life.

As an aside, all the "Quick-Lube" Shops (there are about 3 or 4 major Franchises here) I have visited have Pits that you drive over. None of them lift your Car up in the Air. But I have heard that at many new ones, they use an Oil Pump with a Suction Line down the Dip Stick Tube to remove the Oil. (that was the only way I could change the Oil on a certain Sailboat years ago.)

Dr_GMJn

Taper Pins are made to 1/4" per foot taper on the DIAMETER - not the Radius as you queried on 7/7/23. 1/4" per 12" is 1:48 on Diameter, 1:96 on Radius. Note METRIC Taper Pins are 1:50 taper.

When I use Filing Buttons in the Case shown above, I would make the Pivot Pin about .016" longer than the Sum of the thicknesses of the Part plus the 2 Rollers. I would put .008 x 45 deg Chamfers on both Ends - no Threads.

Instead of the Nuts, clamp the assembled Parts in the Bench Vice (I have replaced all the serrated Jaw Inserts in my Bench Vices with smooth Brass Replacements). Note at this Stage the Part and the Rollers are free to rotate independently. I install a Screw in the Part to control its Position and I file until both Rollers rotate freely. It is satisfying to feel both the Rollers rotating - you know you are at Size and have not damaged the Roller Diameters.

The Rollers are used unhardened and will last "forever".

I finished my Eccentrics today. 2.344" max OD, x 1.000" bore x 0.312" Throw. First operation was to part turn the OD, turn the Sheave diameter, and face in the 3Jaw. For the second Operation I made the Fixture shown. Note the 2 Sets of Holes in the Fixture Plate, one Set is offset by 0.312". The Fixture was bored on the Lathe Face Plate and then relocated to the second Set of Holes. The Eccentrics were bored while they were clamped with the qty 2 Clamps shown on the Fixture. The Fixture Plate was offset from the Face Plate with qty 2 Spacer Bars shown. After boring, the heavy Washer with the Adapter was used to clamp the Eccentric thru the Bore. This allowed machining the material off where the Set Screws will go. The Fixture Plate made machining the Eccentrics very easy.

while boring the Hole in the last Eccentric the ancient Lathe Belt gave up the Ghost. Time for a new Belt ($29.00 including postage).

I don't know what I was thinking, but I bored that last Eccentric oversize. Did my aerobic Exercise hack sawing a new Blank from 2-3/8" diameter Stock. Here are the finished Eccentrics mounted on their Axle.

The Humidity can be bad here. I find liberally oiling Parts keeps the Rust away. I make up disposable Oil Trays from Kitchen Aluminum Foil. And yes, that is a Juliet Chassis I am working on.

to John Olsen - I was asked to design a Repair for a Quadruple Adhesive Dispenser used in a Fluorescent Light Factory. Four Bases (the metal part at the End of the Lamps with the Pins in it) at a time would be indexed thru the Machine by a Walking Beam and at a Dwell in the Motion four Nozzles would enter the Base and a specific amount of "Base Cement" would be dispensed. The total Cycle Time was on the order of 2 seconds.

The Body of the Dispenser was a very complicated Part machined from a Block of Aluminum. It had ~1" diameter Air Cylinder Bores bored directly in the Body. These Bores would become scored and led to scrapping of the Part. The problem was the Cylinder Bores were so close to each other one could not bore them out and fit Sleeves. The Bores were pitched closely to match the Walking Beam and the Cam driven motion of the Machine. Changing the Pitch would lead to all sorts of non-standard Parts.

The Solution I came up with was to line them with the very thin drawn Stainless Steel Tubing used by BIMBA brand "Original Line Air Cylinders". I purchased four Air Cylinders from them with about 2" of extra Stroke and had a Machine Shop carefully cut the Cylinder Tubes from them. The Wall Thickness is on the order of .030". The Tubes were Loctited into the Body (after a very small required sizing boring). I added non-metallic Wear Rings to the Pistons (they required re-sizing anyway) and put it into production. These Units ran almost 24 hrs / Day 6-7 Days a Week for 10 years.

We used BIMBA "Original Line Air Cylinders" all over our Manufacturing Plants, often running in 1 sec total Cycle Time Applications to operate Part Release Gates. Rarely did one fail before completing 10 million Cycles. Some seemed to run forever.

The point is - I would recommend lining a Pump Bore with their Cylinder Wall Tubing. The Air Cylinders are inexpensive.

I would also suggest searching Google for "Harold Hall website", (www.homews.co.uk). Click on "Metalworking Index", then click "S - T", and look at subjects "Steam Engine, Tina" and/or "Seam Engine, Stuart 10 V/H". That will get you started with lots of Pictures. Plus many topics are cross-linked in his Descriptions.

Harold worked most of his Life as an Electrical Control Systems Engineer. He does a superb job describing how to do something since he assumes his Readers, like himself, aren't trained Machinists. I have made some of his Projects.

In "Blondihacks" latest YouTube (Let's build a Die Filer, part 9) she completes the Die Filer. At 8:27 she mentions a US source for proper Die Files made for Die Filers. She does mention the company has stock and when the stock is sold off that's it. At 9:14 she makes her own Die Files in the Video.

this was in the States, out in the Country. We had a '63 Ford Galaxie, color Light Blue, which developed a strange Problem in 1968. Sometimes, not always, it would burn "Oil" and leave a blue Cloud behind it like a war-time Smoke Bomb. Us Kids thought it was fantastic - naturally we named it the "Blue Streak". It was odd that it was an intermittent Phenomena. Even more odd, there was no detectible loss of Engine Oil Level. It dawned on me one Day to check the Automatic Transmission Fluid. It was quite low, so it went to the Ford Shop.

Back in those days Automatic Transmissions were treated as some sort of mysterious Object that most Mechanics would dare not touch. There were specialized Transmission Shops that would work on them. Common knowledge was a Trip to one of them meant quite a hefty Bill.

I remember the Repair Cost was surprisingly low. They had replaced something the Guy called a "Vacuum Diaphragm" which he said was in the Vacuum Line between the Carburetor and the Automatic Transmission. Today I doubt it was a true Diaphragm but rather some sort of Oil Limiting/Collecting Surface.

In Automatic Transmission Shops they would always have a half-sectioned Valve Body. They were about 8" or 10" square with more Holes & Cross Holes & Spools than you can imagine. A great Tool for explaining the Cost of the Repair.

If you search YouTube for "Blondihacks", you will see She is currently making a Die Filer. I imagine she will be dealing with the Files in the next week or two. I believe she is located in Canada.

SOD,

I have a couple of the garbage brazed Carbide Tools you mention. They came with my 9" South Bend Lathe when I picked it up second hand. The only use I have found for them is for the rough Cuts on Cast Iron Locomotive Wheel Castings. I have machined Wheels up to 6-1/2" diameter using them. They are a pain to use on the South Bend with its "Lantern" style Tool Post. To obtain a close to 0 degree Top Rake requires shimming under the "Boat" Assembly of the Tool Post. They do function per your Statement " My Guess they are good on a slow Lathe when it turns large diameter Work". For finishing Cuts on the Wheels, I revert back to good, old HSS. I use 1/4" square Tool Blanks, all ground by Hand. The 1" wide Flat Belt Drive to the spindle can hardly handle anything more.

are you supplying the Air Pressure in the opposite direction which the Steam would flow ? In that Case I doubt it would seal with using just the Spring. But that Test indicates nothing regarding the Functionality of the Regulator.

There is an almost identical Thread currently on "Model Engineering Clearing House", i.e. "modeleng.proboards.com". You do not need to log-in to read it. Click on "General Chat" and about 24 Topics down is "Stroudley Regulator Problem". It's worth a read.

I hope this helps.

A Machine Shop gave me a Boring Head and one Boring Bar - they said it chattered. When I tried it in my Mill, I found the R8 Profile was not to spec - it rattled in the Spindle before tightening the Draw Bar. The upper parallel Section of the R8 was much undersize. I purchased a New R8 threaded Adapter and presto - the Boring Head has given excellent Service - no Chatter.

I agree with Howardt - the Cutting Bit geometry is more critical than the threaded Joint. The Boring Bar I was given looks like it came from one of those sets you see advertised with Boring Heads. What I did not care for, there was no Flat on the Boring Bar to set the angle on the Tool Tip to the Boring Head axis. Plus, the first time one might tighten the Set Screws, one would have a horrible time removing the Boring Bar from the Boring Head. By measurement I determined the Carbide Tip Cutting Face on my Boring Bar was right on centerline. I set the Boring Bar horizontal in the Mill Vice and indicated across the Cutting Face to set it horizontal. I then milled a Flat on the Boring Bar a little wider that the Set Screws in the Boring Head. Problem solved.

Allan - thanks for the Pictures. I have been thinking about making something similar for my 9" Southbend Lathe (I think specified as 4-1/2" swing in England). It is fitted with Tool Holders that sit on an Adjusting Rocker (sometimes called a "Boat". I have no Problems with Turning Tools, but my Boring Bar Holder is useless. I have seen various designs in the past in both Model Engineer and Live Steam (a US Magazine). Yours appear to be similar to an Article by L.C.Mason in ME dated 2. Jan 1970, except the Clamping Bolt is on a different Face.

Do you have a dedicated Tool Holder for Boring Bars ? I have seen another design in ME which had a plate silver soldered or welded to the front of the Slot to prevent the bottom portion of the Tool Bit Slot from bending down. Have you noticed that on yours ?

Would it be too much trouble for you to supply the following Information ? The measurements can be Scale, not down to the last thousandth.

diameter of Post

overall dimensions of the Tool Holder

what size Tool Bit do you use ?

dimension from bottom of Tool Holder to Tool Bit Slot

Tool Bit Slot height

dimension from Tool Bit Slot to top of Tool Holder

size of Tool Bit Clamping Screws

thanks in advance, Bruce

Vic - is that really a Steady Rest ? The Holes appear to be conical all the way thru. Is it actually a Device to steady the End of long Stock so a Center Hole can be drilled in it ?