Member postings for 1

Mrs Naughtyboy

Since I was the person who started what was taken to be mockery perhaps you would take a moment to hear what I have to say now and reconsider you and your husband's decision to leave the forum.

Any mockery was self mockery at my own inability to keep up to date with what I believe is known as text speak and I feel that any similar comments were in the main equally lighthearted. I regret that you and others took offence where none was intended.

May I take the liberty of suggesting that you stay on the forum and continue asking your questions, which many who are perhaps reluctant to ask them themselves learn from. After all, it seems that you were offered plenty of advice on your original question.

To avoid any future offence being caused you may rest assured that I will no longer take part here.

I must be getting old, I didn't understand the question or the language it was written in.

Ah well, back to the shed.

Jim

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned to a friend who is a handyman/builder that if he ever came across a window sash weight he had no use for I could do with a bit of cast iron to make the cylinders on my current project, Mogens Kilde's Double Diagonal engine.

Today he dropped by and gave me a dozen sash weights varying from 30 to 40mm in diameter. I've already sawn one up and it seems to be lovely metal, smooth to cut, no blow holes and no hard spots in the bit I cut. At the rate I work I now have more than enough cast iron to last me several lifetimes.

Hooray for the people you know!

Norman

The title of the thread mentions "independant".

Jim

I would also be very interested in any feedback on the Eccentric parting tool.

I note the enthusiasm for the Greenwood tool and have been put off in the past by the price of it and also the cost of replacement inserts at £9.95 each.

The Eccentric blade appears to be easily resharpenable (is that a word??) so although the initial outlay is similar the running cost should be less.

Jim

Without knowing anything at all about the machine under discussion, I think I would be looking at the force needed to push the stop rod towards the headstock and deactivate the carriage feed. Perhaps all that is needed is a little lubrication. I would have expected the screw and brass plug to fix the collar to the rod securely enough to operate correctly if it is a manufacturer designed arrangement.

Jim

Edited By Im Indoors. on 20/07/2013 23:16:44

Norman

After experiencing similar problems (with similar expletives) I have found that ball type shut off valves respond well to periodic operation to keep the seat and ball clean. Once a year I go round the house with a screwdriver and just turn them all and check they work. Whether I do anything about duff ones or just note it for the future depends on its location and my state of mind at the time.

Jim

Rather sounds as if they're stringing you along Neil.

Jim

Rik

I have a suds tank, pump and pipery sold by Axminster, which they still do for £95.00. I bought a NVR switch from them at the same time which makes it safer and easier to use.

Jim

Chronos do a tube bender the same as the HF item in Thor's link.

I have one and find it works well providing I fill the tube before bending to avoid it collapsing. I use fine dry sand and have found that crimping a couple of mm at the ends of the tube retains it OK.

Jim

I used pumped mystic on my lathe and milling machine without problem for a couple of years. I recently moved my workshop and took the oppportunity to change to Warco Neatcut, which as the name implies is a thin, neat cutting oil. I found it pumped no problem, although I needed to reduce the flow rate, and worked well BUT getting rid of it was not as easy as soluble oil. As Hansrudolf has suggested it clings to swarf, does not drain away as quickly and having no water content does not evaporate as mystic will. The result was a swarf tray full of oily rubbish which was messy to dispose of.

I have now gone back to mystic.

Jim

I have silver soldered some test pieces of 5/32 copper tube and found that after they had cooled down they were annealed and softened to the point of being tricky to handle. In fact by merely picking one piece up with pliers to drop it into a quench I had crushed it (did I just hear a cry of "clumsy so-and-so"  . Before I get round to soldering the actual parts I am making I would appreciate some guidance.

My vague memory is that copper age hardens. Is this true and if so over what timescale and is there a method of accelerating the process? If age hardening is just what is happening to my arteries is there a way of putting a bit of rigidity back into the tubes?

Jim

Edited By Im Indoors. on 07/06/2013 14:05:34

Mark P

I'm afraid I will have to show my ignorance and ask what are mill vice indexing buttons. I have had a bit of a thunk and a guess but I'd be grateful for a fuller description since they sound like a useful gadget and something that should be on my tuit list.

Jim

There seems to be a whole branch of our hobby devoted to parting off in hobby lathes and if you have the time to read it all there is more written on the subject than any other topic I know. Many experienced and learned model engineers recommend a rear mounted tool post as the answer to parting problems but I've never been convinced enough to go to the trouble of making one. I use a similar parting tool to the one you have and after a little practice have few difficulties with it.

I make my parting cuts as close to the chuck as I can, I have the apron and top slide locked, I have the parting blade, tool clamping bolts and toolpost firmly tightened and the workpiece tight in the chuck; in short, making everything as rigid as I can. I have the blade oilstone sharp and keep the speed down to around 200 RPM whatever the diameter of the job. I use plenty of flood coolant on steel and have an old 2" paintbrush handy to clear swarf if it starts to build up. Once I start the cut I keep the tool cutting but without forcing it into the workpiece.

Regardless of what others may say, I find the above practices work for me on my Warco lathe although I haven't tried parting anything more difficult than mild steels, brass and cast iron. Hope this helps.

Jim

Needed to bend some 5/32 copper tube into a right angle and my first 2 attempts failed miserably as the tube predictably collapsed. After some head scratching and lunch I remembered a technique learnt about 50 years ago at HMS Fisgard naval apprentice training school but never used, or seen, since. One end of tube plugged with soft solder, tube filled with dry sand ( a bit tricky ), other end of tube plugged and "Hurrah" a successful bend. Don't you just love it when a plan works.

Jim

I also have found difficulty sourcing metric sized stock. I was at a dead end looking for 4mm thick brass flat until I tried M Machine who cut me a piece to the size I needed at a very reasonable price and with fast delivery. Usual disclaimers apply.

Certainly, imperial sizes are more common among the usual model suppliers but working in metric is still achievable.

Jim

Rik

I have a variable speed WM240 and would wholeheartedly recommend this functionality. Regarding the reliability of the controller electronics, mine is 2 years old and I have had no problems so far. "If I knew then what I know now" I would probably have dug a little deeper in to ErIndoors purse and gone for the WM250 with powered cross feed as a nice to have luxury, but the lack of it is not that big a deal.

Jim

Edited By Im Indoors. on 26/04/2013 12:03:18

Chris

You're right, it is not a new trick, I have oft seen this device called a "nudger". However, this post is a good reminder that I need to make one, especially as I have just decided to scrap an old printer which will undoubtedly produce the necessary bearing.

Jim

Stew

I've been following your trials with this engine since you first began posting your progress and may I say I have learnt a lot, as I always do from following your builds. I can well imagine that you would weary of it a bit since you probably didn't expect to do so much to it but I for one would be sorry if you did get so fed up with it that it got pushed permanently to the back of the shelf.

Jim

On my machines I use pumped "Mystic" when the job demands and I have no problem with corrosion through it in my uninsulated and unheated garage. I have got some staining on the surfaces but there seems to be no other adverse affect.

I have been using the same tankful, occcasionally topped up, for a couple of years and it hasn't yet developed any nasty niff. I have got some Warco Neatcut cutting oil standing by for when the suds come to the end of their life but have seen no reason to change yet.

Jim