Member postings for John MC

Reading about the "black cap" silencers reminds me of having lunch with Gordon Blair when he visited my employer. We discussed motorcycle silencing and while some make a nice noise, too loud can be incredibly wearing when riding long distances. Easy to design a silencer to stifle the sound along with the performance, thats where his expertise was invaluable to the Norton engineers. The result of that lunch for me was modifying a pair of Ducati "Conti" replica silencers as Gordon suggested, much easier to live with! (That was some 35 years ago and those silencers are still on the bike!).

What "black cap" silencers are and were known as was "annular discharge" silencers, they take advantage of the boundary layer effect.

I'm thinking of something along the lines of an annular discharge silencer to subdue the (slightly) excessive noise of my Norton.

John

I have fitted hour counters when I installed my two lathes, not sure why, probably because I had a couple!

That was 15+ years ago. I take a note at the beginning of each year of the hours. When I worked the total yearly hours was, on average, ~90 hours each year. Since stopping working this has risen to, again average, ~200 hours a year.

Even at that rate of use its less than four hours a week the two machines are running. It doesn't sound much but if I was to assume my mills got the same use, they probably do, the drilling machines, CNC mill and various other machines along with the time not machining then far more than 4 hours a week!

I tried adding up the total hours, difficult but must be 25+ a week?

I find that, because the workshop is part of the house, well insulated and on the heating system, makes it easy just to nip into the workshop for a few minute or several hours at a time. And very easy to lose track of time.....

John

The way I have tackled jobs that require case hardening is to have the part cased, then machine the screw threads and any other feature that do not need hardening, then heat treat. After hardening, the hard surfaces can be machined to size if necessary.

Don't forget that this process can cause the part to "grow" a very small amount.

John

I would be interested in why the boiler has failed like this. Corrosion would be my guess, possibly fatigue?

I think welding, by a competent welder (coded or whatever its called these days), would be an entirely satisfactory repair if the cause of failure can be determined and insurance companies can be convinced. The cost of this and getting the "gasman" to remove, strip, assemble and re-install the boiler may well cost as much as a new boiler.

Some 35 years ago I installed a "Trisave" condensing boiler. It split its heat exchanger (aluminium) clean in half. Only noticed when the cover was removed for servicing. A call to the manufacturer said not to worry, they all do that. They are welded together to make machining and initial assembly easier, no risk of a leak.

John

After having workshops in garages and various wooden buildings I decided one day that the workshop would be part of the house. When we moved in to our "forever" house and extended it that is what was done. Most of the extension is single story. Insulated cavity walls, heavily insulated roof space, insulated floor, all of which exceeded the requirements of the time and double glazing. The workshop has no external doors, access is through the garage or utility room. Its on the central heating system, the TRV is on a low setting, it can get too warm.

I'm surprised I've not come across more of this approach to keeping warm. Not the cheapest of things to do but well worth it, no more working up the motivation to take the cold walk to a cold workshop.

John

It looks like a tool for lubricating leaf springs. The anvils spread the leaves of the spring so grease can be pumped in to it. The version i had had a large screw down greaser on the end of the threaded bit.

John

Years ago I bought a well worn one of these, served me well for a few years. Mine came with chucks and a face plate but no C-spanner for the chucks. I got a couple of spanners flame cut. I still have one, needs finishing so if the OP, or anyone else needs one PM me.

John

Andy G3, we questioned him about the useability of his creations during the Q & A session after his talk. He was completely open about this and agreed that the bigger bikes were something of a handful, not the sort of thing to ride home after a day at work on a cold and wet evening! The smaller creations entirely suitable, I would love to try them.

A couple of years ago Alan Millyard gave a talk to my local motorcycle club about his creations. I admired his enterprise, imagination, his craftsmanship and his ability to get through these projects. The finished product less so and in some cases some very dubious engineering. The way I look at these is would they stand up to "real world" use, I very much doubt it. Having said that I would suggest that was never his intention.

His latest project (that I'm aware of) is the Velocette V-twin, certainly looks very nice.

John

I've seen used and occasionally used myself a similar set of "gears" for teaching. A demonstration of meshing, profile shift, undercutting and so forth. Not as many gears but an effective teaching aid.

John

From Germany. I think there is (was?) a UK agent.

I have an Optimum drill grinder purchased new in preference to the near identical Warco product, purely on the grounds of cost.

Its been reliable and, importantly, accurate. I've since been able to closely compare with a Warco grinder, appears to be identical apart from colour and some differences in the switch gear.

On the basis of this I think I would give "Optimum" machinery serious consideration if I an ever in the market for workshop equipment.

John

Ian B.'s comments on depositing gold on to things to examine in an electron microscope brings back memories of 10 or so happy years working in a metallurgy laboratory. Always done on non conducting specimens, a fly was always a good example to show visitors before getting down to the serious stuff!

There is a motorcycle chain new to the market that claims not to need lubrication on its sprocket interface surfaces. Also very much increased life. I wonder if that has a coating as described in this thread?

John

This may well be an apocryphal story but the Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs were the only bombs that the bomber crews were instructed to bring home if they couldn't find the target rather than dump due to the cost of each bomb. High grade steel for the case that wouldn't brake up on impact and some fancy machining on the nose of the weapon.

Another story in a similar vein was the "gate guardian" at an RAF base (Scampton?), a Tallboy that was thought to have been deactivated but was in fact still live!

John

I have a "Vertex" 3 -12mm tapping attachment bought new some 25 years ago. I've used it right across the range and found it to be good. Tap wobbles a bit but doesn't seem to matter! It replaced an "Archer" head of similar capacity that was worn out. I have found vertex equipment good, I would suggest its middle quality equipment from the far east.

With any tapping head I think its vital to use a good quality tap.

John

Any videos of the Martin Cleeve tool holder in action?

John

Those Clarke toolboxes are available new at very reasonable prices, is the OP's box new?

There's one on display in the window of my local branch of Machine Mart (can I say that?).

John

They do the work for free, its the "back story" of the piece being repaired that decides what is going to feature on the show, this approach has been well documented on t'web.

As has been mentioned, timescales have been compressed along with other things which, to me, make it look all too easy to do the work when clearly the work requires plenty of skill, knowledge and, possibly, a bit of luck. Reminds me of "Wheeler Dealers", Edd gets under a car, a squirt of penetrating oil and that nut and bolt that hasn't been touched for 30 years comes undone immediately. Anyone else and it would be a mornings work. That show must have been responsible for many failed attempts at vehicle restoration because they made it look easy.

Never the less, I enjoy watching the "Repair Shop".

John

Could it be the type of wood? Some types of wood can cause corrosion, I'm sure this has been discussed on the forum.

I have a wooden toolmakers cabinet (Union?) bought some 40 years ago, corrosion has never been a problem even when my workshop was a cold and damp wooden shed.

John

I don't think a 3 wheeled motorcycle will be any better there in those (exceptional) conditions. Whats needed there is a 4 wheeled motorcycle, aka a "car".