Member postings for Gary Wooding

Hugh,

2K for a good condition 2B with Mk3 VH and power feed is about right. A friend also has one and we both paid around that price some years ago. Originally they were 3ph machines wired in star format. I converted both motors to delta and added VFDs. A very worthwhile conversion.

With delivery charge of £1.99 for one, or £3.99 for two, it's not such a good deal.

Since the shows are at various times of the year, in various locations (ie, Bristol in August, Harrogate in May, Midlands in October, London in January, MEX-Brooklands in September), and last for only a few days, it would make more sense to choose an exhibition that coincides with when you want to visit.

Judging by the types of items you envisage sawing, I'd go for a scroll saw that uses piercing saw blades. I do a lot of piercing in my work as a jeweller, and I once purchased a Hegner scroll saw for the purpose. The good points were the Hegner reputation and the fact that it accepted piercing saw blades.

It was OK in most respects except it was too fast (60-110 strokes/min is ideal for piercing blades) and the stroke was nowhere enough to use the full length of a blade. A minimum stroke of 50mm (70 would be better if its adjustable) is required otherwise the blade is worn out over just a short section. I had the Hegner rep come to see the problem and the agreed that it wasn't suitable and accepted it back. Pity, 'cos it was a nice saw; just no good for piercing blades,

Doesn't the magnet cause imbalance?

Hi BK,

It depends on the flux: Easyflow is quite sensitive - if it goes brown then its burnt. This can occur as quickly as a minute or two. High temperature fluxes, such as Tenacity, can withstand higher temperature for longer, but there's a catch: when the joint has cooled down, the flux forms a hard, glass-like, covering. Very hot water removes the Easyflow, but has no effect on Tenacity which often has to be chipped off.

Never heat the solder directly, it will ball up and refuse to flow; the normal reaction is then to keep blasting the area which simply ends up burning the flux. Heat the joint; sneak up on it from various directions, but avoid directly heating the solder. When the joint is hot enough it will melt the solder which will then run into the joint.

Consider yourself very lucky. A friend of mine recently purchased a Crusader Lathe from Chester - not an insignificant purchase. He requested a 3ph motor instead of the usual 1ph so he could fit an VFD. He took time-off from work to accept the delivery, which was aborted because of obvious damage. Chester arranged for another delivery on a Friday afternoon. More time off work, but the lathe didn't arrive. After lots of phone calls, delivery was promised several days later, this time it was OK, but the motor was completely wrong - it was the wrong shape and couldn't be persuaded to fit. Chester maintained that they had no other 3ph motors, so authorised purchase from an dependent supplier. This worked so the lathe was finally installed, but there were severe problems with the gearbox. This is not yet resolved after some months of discussion. As a result of work commitments, involving a move to 300 miles away, he is no longer in a position, to continue with getting the gearbox sorted, so it remains unresolved. The saga started in the summer, at one of Chester's open days, and is still not resolved.

Like I said, you're lucky.

I do this too; it helps with neutralising small amounts of grease or oil that might be present in the joint.

The job of the flux is to prevent oxidation of the joint when heat is applied. Oxidation will prevent the solder from flowing. Many propriety fluxes can do a limited amount of cleaning, but you shouldn't rely on that - its best to get the joint as clean as you can before applying the flux.. The water is simply to make it easy to apply the flux to the joint - it has no magic properties. When the joint gets close to the solder melting temperature, the flux will fuse into a clear liquid; as long as as it coats the joint then no oxygen can can intrude. There's a "gotcher" though, if you heat flux for to long, or at too higher temperature, you burn it and it loses its ability to exclude oxygen.

Also, because muscle and bone strength is dependent on cross sectional area and weight is proportional to volume, large animals such as elephants and rhinos have proportionally thicker legs than smaller animals.

Basically, area varies with the square of length, and volume varies with the cube.

If you make an engine to 1/2 scale (ie, the length, height and width are 1/2 of the prototype), then the cross-sectional area of the cylinders will be 1/4 (1/2 squared) and the swept volume will be 1/8 (1/2 cubed) of the prototype.

Not totally off-topic, its still DAB, but not in the workshop.

I hear lots of adverts on the radio about the virtues of DAB in the car. My new car has DAB, as do the cars of a couple of friends. We're all agreed - its a terrible choice for a car - the signal just switches off and on as you drive. We've all switched it off in favour of analogue.

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a quay and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
It's rare lea ever wrong

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
It's letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

(Attributed to Martha Snow)

OK, I'll buy it, what's a djvu and how would you download such a format from Internet Archive?

Just another manifestation of "The 93rd Corollary of Finagal's Law of Dynamic Negatives".

Many years ago, in a former life, I worked for a company that had some very active forums (fora?). Every now and again a post would appear with some grammatical, punctuation or spelling errors, sometimes severe enough to obscure the meaning.Such posts were subsequently attacked.

Somebody decided to create a forum called "Nit Pickers", where people were invited to post anything they liked and watch to see it torn apart as a result of various errors. The objective was to post something that nobody could criticise. Creating such posts was amazingly difficult.

Anyone interested?

Instead of cutting a bit of tube, use the profile shown below. Reproduce it on a piece of paper scaled to the size you need, wrap it round the ring and follow the line. Its been calculated to give the required 16 degree angle.

I've heard this concern from others, but I've personally never had an ER slip.

Hi Andrew,

To mark it out I would get a bit of pipe (copper, plastic, iron, whatever) with an ID suitable for boring out to accept the ring. Cut the end off at your required 16 degrees, insert the ring and follow the pipe end with the saw.

My Centec 2B came with a Clarkson chuck that, I also have never used. I got an ER32 set from RDG and have had no problems.It grips anything in its range from 2 to 20mm.