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Member postings for Robert Miller 1

Here is a list of all the postings Robert Miller 1 has made in our forums. Click on a thread name to jump to the thread.

Thread: Eyesight problems
24/02/2012 20:09:40

There is a product currently being advertised in the USA called Superfocus. Basically, it is a pair of eyeglasses that can be focused by adjusting a slider on the bridge between the lenses. They aren't cheap, but in theory they are a whole lot better than bifocals, trifocals, varifocals, or multiple pairs of glasses. They are also not too stylish - unless you are into the John Lennon look.

These are something I intend to give a try for my next pair of glasses, but right now the only Canadian retailer wants an additional $200 per pair, so I'll have to get the prescription and order from the US.

http://www.superfocus.com/

Thread: ME Forum
07/12/2011 15:35:01
Are you on a wireless network? If so, that may be the problem. I can top (or bottom) all as to speed, I have Xplornet's high speed (ha!) wireless here in Ontario, Canada and though I am paying for 1.6Mb/s their fine print says UP TO 1.6Mbs, which in reality means down from 1.6Mb/s - which of course includes 1b/s. The reality is that I am one of 60 users sharing a 6Mb/s 912 MHz channel. The bottom line is that usually PDFs etc download at speeds typically about 180Kb/s but I frequently see speeds as low as 32Kb/s.
 
That said, I have no problem accessing the ME forum, but there are usually considerable delays. The digital editions are pretty much hopeless at these speeds though. A downloadable version would be nice.
 
Bob
 
Thread: Replacing lost threads
17/11/2011 04:43:46
Although they aren't made in BA, Helicoils are a quick and easy - no heat or adhesives required -, but somewhat expensive, fix for stripped threads. They are particularly useful for spark plugs in aluminum (or as you lot would have it aluminium ) cylinder heads in which the spark plugs seem to have a habit of welding themselves to the aluminum resulting in the thread often being stripped when the spark plug is removed.
 
I have no personal connection, but have found them to be useful and reliable,

Thread: Drawing Quality
28/10/2011 20:20:27
[q]Im new to this game. Was wondering if any one could tell me if auto cad 2009 is compatable with microsoft paint as i have some drawings on my computer that i want to try and load into my hurco CNC machine.[/q]

Since nobody else has answered your question, I'll try but I have no direct experience with AutoCAD as I use TurboCAD, so take my words with a grain of salt.

Drafting packages like AutoCAD are vector drawing packages. That is, the information is stored as descriptions of lines and curves. This allows the images to be scaled and manipulated relatively easily. Microsoft Paint and other similar products are pixel based so a line in paint is described only as a number of adjacent bits of the same colour. The two are not directly compatible.


However there is hope, what you need is a raster to vector conversion package. There are a number of these on the market (Googling bitmap to vector conversion software will point you to several such), but I haven't used one in years, so I can't make any recommendation. The last one I used was part of Corel Draw possibly ten years ago and the output from it took a lot of editing before it was of any use in a drafting package.


That said, it is possible that AutoCAD incorporates such a package as an import filter or bundles one with the distribution, but I really can't say. Maybe there is an AutoCAD user here who knows.

Bob
Thread: ME issue 4270
21/09/2011 16:09:28
"I'm afraid this is not going to happen in the foreseeable future. This is the decision of the MHS senior management. A PDF could be printed to file and thereafter it is a free for all. Anyone might file their copy and email it out to everyone on this forum..."

I am certain that .pdf files can be protected. I have the 27th edition of Machinery's Handbook and after replacing my computer and copying over the file, the copied version of the file wouldn't play until I had contacted the publisher for a new key.

Although I have access to the digital versions, because of low bandwidth, effectively* I don't so being able to download a pdf or equivalent would be a vast improvement.
 
 
 
*Although I am paying for 'High speed wireless' I am in fact one of 60 customers connected to a 6MBPS 912 MHz wireless access point. Unfortunately, our area - rural Ottawa - is serviced by only two ISPs and they both have the same horrible reputation.
Thread: At A Push PCB Suggestions
25/08/2011 21:36:59
 
A couple more pointers for SMT soldering.
 
Generous application of a flux pen containing a water soluble flux also helps, as surface tension on the solder tends to reduce the tendency to create shorts. If you do get shorts, which is usually due to melting too much solder, commercially available pre-fluxed copper braid such as Easy Braid or Dri-Wick will soak up the excess.
 
For most model engineers I've met, the grey hair would suggest the use of a 5X binocular microscope might be highly desirable if not, as it is for me, essential. I've tried 3X binocular loupes and found them inadequate.
 
Unfortunately, there are some parts available only in lead-less packages - solder paste is required for this and a hot-air rework station is desireable, There are alternatives though, the folks at SparkFun recommend using a toaster oven. They have several toutorials on their website the ones pertaining to SMT soldering are:
 
http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/36
http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/96
http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/97
http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/98
 
I have no affiliation with SparkFun except as an occasional customer
Thread: Chemi Blacking
24/02/2011 20:13:56
There is a detailed article on Parkerizing in the latest newsletter of the Huston, Texas based "Home Metal Shop Club".
 
This club seems to be very active and has a lot of good info on their website.
 
Bob
Thread: My subscription is running out
16/01/2011 16:48:04
Robert George wrote:
"So John tells me that the latest Model Engineering Workshop has an editorial from David Clark complaining about whinging North American subscribers."


Whinging?  Hardly.  The quibble is not so much with MHS as with their North American distributor, Express Mags.  I was hoping that MHS (via David Clark) might see that it was in their interest to encourage Express Mags (and everyone else in the distribution chain) to be more reasonable.


The fact is that every middleman involved in the distribution chain adds to the cost as each wants what he sees as his share of the selling price.  In the case Canada that 'share' seems, to me at least, to be unreasonable.


For almost as long as I can remember, the Canadian dollar has traded below the US dollar with the ratio reaching a maximum of about 60% a few years ago.   Books and periodicals printed in both the US and Canada had cover prices printed on them that approximately reflected the difference.  I expect that we got used to this and as the Canadian dollar rose against the US dollar, the difference in cover price didn't track and that fact seemed not to garner much notice .  Typically now the difference is in the range of 10%, but 30% isn't unusual, and there are extreme cases such as that of Machinery's Handbook which costs nearly double from Amazon in Canada what it does from Amazon in the US.
 
I used to buy a lot of books and magazines, mostly from our local bookseller Chapters.  As complaining to the clerk at Chapters is clearly a waste of time and air, the only recourse the consumer has is to withdraw his business.  That is exactly what I have done.  I haven't been in Chapters in months.  I very nearly decided not to renew my subscription to MEW, but relented.  My reading now is done mostly on a KOBO and I generally buy the epub issues from the US as Revenue Canada haven't yet figured out how to tax that.  When my subscription to MEW runs out, I'll opt for the digital version (but I'd much prefer a printed copy for such a publication) and Express Mags will lose one, statistically unimportant, customer.
 
And yes it is annoying, but understandable, the we don't get the promotional offers.
07/01/2011 05:47:53
Reluctantly, I did renew my subscription to MEW in spite of  the $10 pre-tax difference . The reason given by Express Mags for the price difference between the US and Canadian subscribers was that mailing costs were higher in Canada due to the smaller volumes.  On the surface that seemed reasonable, but a subsequent check on the Canada Post website, for magazines in small volumes, indicates a cost of $0.58 up to 100 grams and $0.003 per gram up to a total of 500 grams.  Unless the US postal system is offering free shipping, I can't really see Express Mag's excuse as anything but BS.
 
The publishing industry has been ripping off Canadians for years and it continues.  For example, today's price for a new copy of Machinery's Handbook 28th edition larger print is $156.81 from Amazon.ca and $84.67 from Amazon.com.  Nice - if you are Amazon.ca.
 
 
 
 

05/01/2011 05:55:57
David,
 
My subscription to MEW is up for renewal.  Express Mags is charging US customers $89 and Canadian (Ontario) customers $99 + $12.87 tax.  
 
The Canadian dollar has been at or near par with the US dollar since September and is now slightly above par, with expectations that it will remain so for some time - due to the US printing money to cover it's deficit.  
 
 I will not renew at an 11% premium to that paid by US customers, particularly since Express Mags is a Canadian company operating out of Montreal.
 
I hope you will encourage Express Mags to bring their pricing into line with current exchange rates.
 

Edited By David Clark 1 on 05/01/2011 08:22:43

Thread: Screw thread article in MEW 168/170
23/12/2010 21:40:48
You can find something similar at the end of Spaenaur's (a Canadian fastener supplier) catalog.
 
 
There is a quite a bit of other useful information in section R of their catalog as well.
Thread: Why is everything you buy such rubbish!!
09/11/2010 15:16:19
KWIL wrote:
[quote] I have a similar car 2.5L V6, do not have auto box, it is nearly 11 years old, everything else as good as Terryd's and it is a Rover 75!![\quote]


I guess Rover made some improvements.
 
Years ago I bought a new Rover 2000 TC.  According to the car mags, this was the apex of automotive engineering. Ha!  Despite the advertised factory undercoating, in one year there were rust perforations in both front fenders.  In the course of the next two years, the starter's Bendix drive disassembled itself into the clutch housing, the fuel pump fell off, the clutch throwout bearing failed, and the differential started making strange noises.  My new bride, who has no comprehension of things mechanical, finally put the poor thing out of its misery by trying to climb an icy hill with it floored in first gear.  This was an expensive car and it went from new to the wreckers in only three years!
Thread: A strange fluid
11/10/2010 18:08:41
Further to Alan Gray's post at 08/10/2010 18:04:46:

Alan has raised an interesting point.  Increasingly the marriage between the mechanical and the electronic is becoming unavoidable.  Stepping motors and microprocessors are the gears of this century.
 
The electronics side of this marriage presents a barrier to construction by the amateur, and if that isn't enough of a problem there is usually the issue of software as well.  If electronics is to be incorporated into an essentially mechanical project, there needs to be some requirements imposed on the presentation of the electronics in the article. 
 
 As electronics evolve away from parts with a 0.1"  lead pitch toward ever smaller packages with fine pitch 0.5 mm lead spacing or worse, no accessible leads at all such as ball grid array parts, it becomes difficult (but by no means impossible) and somewhat costly for the amateur to implement.  Sparkfun in the US have a number of tutorials on surface mount soldering on their website. ( I have no affiliation with Sparkfun.)
 

At a minimum, the electronics in any project should be accompanied by computer readable copies of the following on the publisher's website and released under some form of copyright copyleft.
1)  A clear and complete schematic diagram.
2)  A parts list consisting of currently available parts identifying the manufacturer and one (or preferably more) vendor(s).
3) A circuit board layout in file formats for the user and for the circuit board manufacturers.
4) A complete commented listing of any software required identifying the language, compiler used, and vendor thereof.
5) A binary file of the object code and instruction for loading it into the target microprocessor.
 
For the hardware, CADSoft's Eagle provides schematic capture and circuit board layout and is available in a free version that is probably suitable for most hobby  projects. (I have no affiliation with CADSoft.) 

For software, things get a bit too complicated to suggest a vendor.  There are many.
 

 
 
 

 
Thread: Measuring the pressure angle of gears
08/09/2010 21:14:17
There is a description of how to do this in Huston Tx's home metal shop club's latest newsletter at:
 
http://www.homemetalshopclub.org/news/10/newsletter1008.pdf#Page=8&view=fitH
Thread: Copyright
25/08/2010 04:57:29
Here is something to consider. 
 
If you write a song or a novel, you and your heirs and successors retain the rights to it for something like 70 years without your having to lift a finger, and should it come to a dispute, you only have to prove you wrote it - which, should it go to court, should be a fairly simple issue to resolve.
 
If you invent something of commercial worth  you have to spend tens of thousands of dollars patenting it in the various jurisdictions where you might want to sell it.  If you are granted a patent, it is yours for twenty years from date of application.  If it comes to a dispute you have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers to argue complex legal and technical issues to prove the validity of your claims in court.
 
Isn't there something seriously out of kilter here?
 
The USA used to have the best patent system in the world.  In 1998 in a supposed move to harmonize with the rest of the world, they made several changes.  Notable among these changes  is the publication of the application after eighteen months. Previously, your application was confidential and if the patent was refused, you still had a trade secret.  No more.  Worse, when the application publishes, anyone can challenge the validity of your claims even before you have a patent.  As well, prior commercial use is now allowable as a defense in a patent dispute.
Thread: Ignition coils for small engines
23/07/2010 23:34:27
On a somewhat related note, does anyone know how much energy is required to ignite the fuel air charge in a small engine?  With that figure, it shouldn't be too difficult to make an electronic magneto to suit.  The circuit in common use in chainsaws, string trimmers, lawn mowers, and the like is found in the1979 US patent  #4,163,437. 
 
A word to the wise, these things have no protection for the darlington transistor so if there is no spark path, the stored energy goes into blowing up the transistor.  IOW don't pull the starter cord with the spark plug disconnected.
 
Bob
Thread: NA Subscriptions: What's Happening at ExpressMags
14/06/2010 22:57:45
I was able to access both the Canadian and US sites with no problems.
My subscription has been arriving fairly promptly and regularly.  
So far so good.
 
Bob
 
Thread: Countersinking - guidance please...?
07/06/2010 21:45:26
If the picture is the countersink you ran at 2500 rpm, the dull edge is the result.  2500 rpm is way too fast.  The resulting heat softens the tool and the edge is quickly dulled.
Thread: MEW Digital Archives
07/06/2010 21:38:02
I subscribed to the paper version back in January through Express Mags in Montreal.  I didn't realize that tht included access to the digital back issues until this months edition arrived in which the editorial indicated that subscribers had access.
 
My problem now is a subscriber number.  I phoned Express Mags and got a seven digit number that doesn't work.  I tried e-mailing [email protected] but that bounced.  


Earlier, not realizing it was included with the subscription, I had attempted to subscribe to the digital edition as a paid subscription and after entering all requested information was advised I would get a subscription number by e-mail.  It didn't arrive and my credit card wasn't debited.  Concerned that their website had been spoofed, I emailed regarding my experience (or lack thereof) but never received a reply so I didn't try again.


I used to buy both Model Engineer and  Model Engineer's Workshop at our local Chapters but boycotted both magazines after Magicalia demanded J.W. Early remove all the scanned back issues he had posted on his Yahoo group.  I subscribed to MEW after learning that Magicalia was out of the picture.  Unfortunately, it is beginning to look like My Hobby Store is no improvement.
 
The message I would like to convey to My Hobby Store is that you have to smarten up your customer service.  Bouncing and unanswered e-mails are not acceptable.  Don't make impossible to sort out what should be simple problems.
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