Member postings for Clive Hartland

My Nephew works as an Air Conditioning engineer. Recently I was looking at some of his stuff and there was a little pump that pumps the condensation out of the overhead air conditioners.

Being a fluid pump running on 240V I thought it would make a verty nice suds pump. He had others that had integral reserviers but were a bit big for the purpose of suds pump, they were peristaltic type pumps.

Perhaps if you are looking for a suitable pump keep an eye open for a defunct air conditioner.

Clive

herewith details of a supplier of Ether.

R & L Slaughter

11/12 Upminster trading Park

Warley street

Upminster

Essex

RM14 3PJ

www.slaughter.co.uk

Sales :- 01708 227140, Diethyl Ether Rectapur, £40.40 per 2.5Ltr flask. there would be a delivery charge also.

Clive

Here are deatils of the Micro fluid and supplier.

Intl. Products Ltd

Unit 5 Green Lane Bus park

238/240 Green lane

London SE9 3TL

CVlive

Most Ultrasonics have heaters fitted under the tank and if there is any burn through then if you are using volatiles it will vapourize and ignite.

I would not want to be around if one did!

Micro as such is an Ammonia based liquid with inhibitors and is biodegradable which is quite important to a lot of people.

Prior to placing parts in the Micro we wash them in White spirit and then wash in detergent (Washing up Liq.) hot rinse and into the Ultrasonic machine for an average of about 3 to 4 minutes.

Obviously we scrub the parts with an old tooth brush and get rid of as much detritus and oil and grease as we can.

Upon completion we again hot water rinse and use an air line to remove as much water as possible and then use a heat gun to dry the parts.

You can put glass and plastic into the Micro, the only thing that does suffer is the shielding that is sometimes put on the inside of plastic to stop RF breakthrough. Glass lenses and prisms I only allow max. 1 minute or just 30sec. in the ultrasonic.

PC boards can be put in to remove moisture residue if the board has been subject to water ingress. Blow off as much as you can and then warm gently for a while before testing/use.

Clive

The point I was trying to make about Volatiles is that we had an Ultrasonic that burnt through the bottom of the stainless steel tank and vapourized all the Freon, luckily it was over a weekend and nobody was in the building. ( Thats why the ho;le in the Ozone layer got bigger)

The heater thermostat had malfunctioned, maybe because the operator failed to keep the fluid levels up!

When we arrived on the Mon. morning all the bits and pieces around the Ultrasonic were covered in a white deposit. Not sure if it was dangerous or not.

Since then I have been ultra cautious about the ultrasonics but now we are with an aqueous solution I do not worry too much apart from boiling dry.

I will find out the UK supplier of Micro and post the detail.

Clive

You should not use Volatiles in an Ultra Sonic Cleaner!

Freon and Chlorothene of course are now banned.

This leaves only Aqueous types of cleaner, The one we have found best is a US made product called 'MIcro' and as it is only a 2% solution is very economical.

There are other people who can supply Aqueous solutions like Farnell and RS but nowhere near as good as Micro.

It is used by te US Atomic weapons manufacturers to clean the items they make!

If you want to use a volatile then us White Spirit in its own container in the Ultra Sonic bath so that it will not contaminate the fluid. Do this in a small plastic or metal container for screws or gears etc.

Clive

You put a smile on my face Wolfie seeing that! Well done.

Clive

Ether is available commercially, we buy it in 5ltr. bottles for optical cleaning.

Its sold as a reagent and comes in boxes of 4 bottles though I am sure it is available singly.

I can check Mon. where we get it from and I am sure you do not need a licence or a scrip.

I think all that is needed is a, 'A reason for use' and they will supply.

Clive

Have looked at the fan motor and the front bearing has a thick gooey lubricant which I wiped off and I applied PTFE lube which immediately freed up the shaft and bearing.

I will put this to one side in case it happens again and I can replace it anytime.

As Neil says I can endorse Espares for bits and things like cleaner bags as well.

They offer £5.00 vouchers now and again as an incentive.

Clive

The parts arrived at 0730 this morning but as I was working I could not get to it before 1400.

Removed all the bits and looked at the heating coil and there was a pinhole burn through at the bend as it turns into a spiral.

Replaced with the new one and then replaced the fan motor which came with a new fan also.

Clipped all the wires back on and put it back into the cabinet and switched on.

Set the time and turned the oven on and set it to 200C and it heated up with in about five minutes, fan ran fast and all seems well again.

Clive

We are talking about a 6BA grubscrew here, I do a lot of these in Alu castings where a Stainless steel screw has broken off flush.

My method is similar to Davids but I use a small drill first right through the center of the screw.

Then I open it out a 0.2mm at a time and eventually I reach the tapping size and the threads then disintegrate and I wind them out.

If its really badly damaged by ham fistedness, drill out oversize and make a threaded plug 2 sizes up and loctite in place. Further, use a helicoil if possible.

Drill and tap before or after if you have a drilling guide like a cover to work with.

Clive

Thanks Nick, you've given me the answer there.

I have some PTFE solution/paste and I can put some of that on the bearing.

The layout of the fan and the coil is that the fan bearing is exposed to the heat from conduction along the shaft, the fan is also acting as a heat sink to help the heat along as well!

These cookers are heavy, at my age I find lifting things like that hard work so have to make some support ready to place it on.

Also the kitchen at that point is quite restricted and difficult to work in.

I have found that PTFE is 'Searching' and will push out dirt and goo from tight contacts.

Found this on my shotgun as when its cleaned I apply PTFE oil and later the dirt shows at the joins of the breech and barrel.

Agree that the life of components is too short on some of these things but to happen at the 3 year point is a bit annoying as the last one was a good 10 years before it went the same way.

Incidently all the house built in this estate were built by the same builder and all the white goods are Whirlpool and slowly they fail almost at the same rate as they were built and fitted out.

It can be fixed and as long as I dont get anymore verbal it will be OK.

Clive

I know this is not a modelling query but the answer I am seeking will be.

My cooker has just failed and I have found that the heater coil is open circuit. It has hot air fan circulation.

Also the fan that runs inside the element is running extremely slowly, about 10rpm. The shaft is stiff to turn and I think that the bearing nearest the heating coil is now dry.

Diagnosis is that the fan has all but stalled and the heating coil does not lose its heat quick enough and has gone short circuit.

The question is does anyone know of a high temperature lubricant that will withstand 230C+ that I could use on this bearing, it is a sintered bearing.

I have just now ordered the two spare parts from Espares, The heater element at £10 and the fan motor some £89.

Any ideas welcome how to stop this happening again as we bought a new cooker as the last one also gave up the ghost after about 10 years.

This one was bougt in 2009!

Clive

Always make two of everything, they will always want another one!

Clive

John, I have the same sort of fixed scale on the ML10, what I do is set the Lead screw scale at '0' and then feed in the top slide and tool to touch the work and then I can advance the Lead screw using its scale.

I appreciate the problem of the odd markings of the scale against the lead screw pitch but a '0' mark is always useful when working repetition jobs.

I have wracked my brains to see if I could make the lead screw scale a, 'slipping scale' but it would mean a complete re-work and making of a new mounting boss.

The problem is getting the scale off as a ring but then mounting it on another part to allow 'slipping'

Clive

Just one point, is the belt laid on the right way round? There is a specific direction of the links so that the drive gives the most impetus.

On Fenner belts there is an arrow to show the drive direction.

Clive

I enjoyed my time at Chatham Technical College and used all the machines they had, at the age of 14 I left school and joined the Army apprentice College at Arborfield and spent three years learning to be an Instrument Technician. The emphasis was on Optical and mechanical equipment like Binoculars and Dial sights and the mounts on the guns and tanks. Progressed through the various stages of Technician and had some great postings like Hong Kong and Kenya where I worked on the E10 and E11 Marconi Transmitters and the R211 Receivers. A little bit of hunting and fishing and sight seeing along the way. Due to a change in the regulations I hit a ceiling as any one who joined before 1968 would get no further promotion so I sailed on to get the pension and spent the last 5 years at larkhill, at the School of Artillery. Nine months before my discharge after 22 years, I applied for a job with what is now LEICA, they held the job open for me for nine months. The firm was only about 5 miles from where I lived so commuting was easy. With them I became R & D and special projects manager ( Military oriented) whilst also running the day to day service section. We had Shaublin machine tools, Milling machine and lathes. Also an engraving machine and we had a good tool inventory mostly supplied by Brutsch Reugger or LEICA.The work was much varied from Theodolites to Map making machinery and we went through the Digital change selling lots of gear to Ordnance Survey.

During this time the holding Company Wild Heerbrug aquired Wild Leitz and with it LEICA, including the Leica camera division. Though run as a seperate company as they were a loss maker!

With this aquisition the company name was changed to LEICA and the company then merged all the divisions, Microscopy, Metrology and the service Department and the Hydrology division all under one roof in a new building in Milton Keynes.

I resisted the move but they offered a 25% pay increase so accepted the offer to move and they paid all the move costs. I had a few months before lost my first wife to cancer.

I re-married and we stayed in Milton Keynes until I was offered early retirement due to a further re-organisation of the company, I was then 62. That was in 1999.

I had worked for them for 22 years.

We moved back to the Medway towns and I started work with a small local instrument repair firm that took work from LEICA, exactly the work I was doing when I left as they no longer had anyone to do it! By then of course they had moved forward to electronic theodolites and improved Infra red distance measurement systems.

I have now got to the point of working only three mornings a week and the rest of my time is my own.

My hobby is as a philanthropic bee keeper and of course as a model engineer. I make everything I need, hives, wooden accessories and metal parts and have a good relationship with a local bee supply shop and get work from them making up hives etc.

The background to my hobby was making model airplanes, control line and free flight. I had a selection of engines to use. McCoys, Dooling and other sundry engines along the way.

Now I am set up in the garage with a Myford ML10, with lots of attachments and an Aciera bench drill and lots of tools and cutters. Sawbench and planer, I really need more space, but who doesnt.

Clive

Hi Steve, the only Black Powder gun I had was a Beretta O/U shotgun, when I took it to the skeet range everybody wanted a go and it used up all my powder very quickly. It smashed the clays every time but was slow to reload and made lots of smoke.I did for a while use Pyrodex powder, a Black Powder substitue but again it was expensive. It was also very good on Pheasants, patterning very well and the dog did not like the boom instead of the bang of a cartridge gun.

Your right that they did not call in the B/P guns but the following was very low, now they use cut short rifle type guns with pistol grips to get around the pistol ban.

Clive

If you make a part from Nylon you can stabilize it by boiling it in water and it will stay at the size and not absorb water.

How I found this out was through an Australian manufacturer of surveying staves that had nylon sliders that would sieze when wet!. They boiled the nylon parts and they were OK after that.

clive

Interesting point Neil, I have a friend who is a very good gunsmith. He now lives in the US and made lots of replicas.he always marked the muzzle end of a barrel, 'Fecit, L J Bull' he made a replica Colt type pistol and he would load it with Blackpowder and a .36" ball. and then seal the cylinder with beeswax and grease mixture.He worked as a gunsmith in the gunshop in Nairobi when I was there, we hunted and fished together. he had access to many different types of guns and pistols which we could use on the range.

I have in my time re-loaded many types of ammunition and cast and swaged bullets. Until the Gobment called in all the pistols and self loading rifles I spent every weekend on the ranges.

Clive