Member postings for Brian G

That will stop us complaining about spelling mistakes then

Brian G

"Enormity" as a synonym for vastness or immensity. I have even heard this on the BBC!

Brian G

Whiting in methylated spirit is a mild abrasive that may be used to clean silver or to prepare glass for gilding. In this case however could the whiting be there simply to protect the piston rings from corrosion until the engine is completed?

Brian G

The one in Chatham Dockyard is a bit closer to home.

Which reminds me of this dual-purpose machine **LINK** 

Brian G

Edited twice due to error between chair and keyboard

Edited By Brian G on 04/10/2020 10:54:44

Edited By Brian G on 04/10/2020 10:55:37

I wonder if "glass hard" silver steel might break under the bending load?

Brian G

My son has a DB10 Super and like any machine it is built to a price and has good and bad points.

On the plus side:

The power cross feed is really useful, and makes parting off a pleasure. Although the minimal gearbox isn't much help with screwcutting (most threads require exchange of the changewheels) it is handy to be able to switch feed rates on the fly (although the machine has to be stopped to do this).

The ball clutch on the separate feed shaft is adjustable and has prevented several jam-ups. This is a feature that we wouldn't have got on a leadscrew-only machine.

The work envelope is excellent for the price, especially on the long bed version which we have. Well worth the extra if only because the tailstock can be moved so far out of the way - a real luxury when moving up from a mini-lathe.

The motor is adequate but a bit gutless, especially at low speeds, whilst the lack of a backgear means that we tend to leave the machine in the low range. To be honest we expected this, but realised that even if we had to buy a larger motor and VFD later, it would still be cheaper than the equivalent from Warco (This isn't criticising Warco, our other lathe came from them).

The variable speed means that I can increase the speed as the diameter reduces when facing or parting.

The backplate design, which uses a rotating collar and three bolts, is almost as quick and easy to use as a camlock.

The slotted cross-slide means that it is possible to fit a rear toolpost or to bolt down a part for boring.

On the down side:

The emergency stop button on top of the headstock is awkwardly placed and duplicates the adjacent stop button. After we move I plan to relocate it to the tailstock end.

The motor is really gutless at low speeds (but on the plus side, providing you hit STOP immediately, a stall is less damaging than breaking things).

The toolpost sits on a boss which is integral with the compound slide, so that to fit an Aloris type toolpost you have to either bore out the toolpost body and cam (Chester will do this if you order the toolpost with the lathe), which can only be done with a piston type, or machine down the boss and make an extension for the stud. We chose the latter option, which means we can fit the wedge type later if we wish.

The lathe comes without a faceplate.

The swivel mounting for the compound slide is clamped down to the cross-slide with two bolts in the same way as a 9x20. As a result it is rather flexible, although to be fair, this seems to be the case with most (all?) similar lathes. Replacing this with a four bolt mounting is on our "to do" list.

The carriage does not move a full number of millimetres per revolution, and as a result the scale isn't as useful as we hoped, normally we set the tool to the end-point and just zero the scale.

The tailstock is designed to take a morse taper without a tang, and several millimetres of travel is lost if you use a drill with a tang. Worse than this however, the end of the screw is small enough to fit inside the thread of a drawbar type taper so that it cannot be ejected. Easily cured with a screw-in plug but annoying.

Are we happy with our choice?

Yes. The lathe is nice and solid with a work envelope that suits our needs. The machine was a good price, especially as it included the cabinets (even though in our case it it fixed to a workbench and the cabinets are stored in the loft). Its best features, the separate feed shaft with overload clutch, the chuck mounting and the basic screwcutting/feed gearbox are all things we couldn't add later, whilst its bad points can be fairly simply fixed (although I might try the low range conversion that was featured in MEW for a Warco before splashing out on a VFD).

Brian G

It should be easy to eliminate tramways by comparing its location to the Barnsley and District or Dearne District routes. It it is on either of these, perhaps it is worth comparing it to the sawn-off traction poles that Wikipedia says are to be found in Upper Sheffield Road?

Brian G

Hi Adrian

I saw a photo of one once with outside WaIschaerts', and assumed it used the cylinders from the Baker valve gear version. I doubt I can be any help but must admit that I am interested in learning more as my son has a part-finished Juliet Baker.

I'm afraid the website isn't set up to accept photos directly. You will have to put the pictures in an album before you can link to them. Instructions are here.

Brian G

Edit: Too many "once"s in first sentence.

Edited By Brian G on 31/08/2020 08:47:19

In the brewing trade, "ullage" is the beer which is left in the barrel when it is returned to the brewery. When I worked in the lab, one of our tasks was to check that the ullage being claimed was actually beer, and that the publican wasn't claiming credit on water. I was told that during a fuel shortage a brewery was contaminated with petrol causing thousands of pounds worth of damage, far more than the loss of his hoard would have cost the publican.

Brian G (who in his youth was paid to be a beer drinker)

Edited By Brian G on 25/07/2020 10:45:12

I did wonder if it was for checking bilges, but thought that 4" was a bit optimistic.

Brian G

Last night my dog was frantically trying to get this out from under a cabinet (I think he believed it was a rawhide cigar). I guess it rolled under there when clearing my father's shed and has lain there in the dark ever since. There are no markings, not even a broad arrow, although I wouldn't be surprised if it came from the 'yard.

The body is a solid brass cylinder 1" in diameter with a black clip attached to a square loop at the end. One side is flattened and marked from the bottom up to 4 inches in tenths. I doubt it is intended as a weight as at 15 1/2 oz, it doesn't lend itself to calculations.

Any ideas?

Brian G

To be fair, Graham Lee and his team may have left Gertrude as she returned from Canada, but they have effectively replaced her twice over with Jack Lane and Statfold. I wonder if somebody could persuade the NRM to build a couple of Merchant Navy class locos to make up for sectioning Ellerman Lines?

Seriously, with a vast collection of steam, electric and ic locos (and the other exhibits including an Eirie steam shovel) Statfold Barn is a great (and importantly for me dog and wheelchair friendly) day out.

Brian G

I first hit problems due to Y2K in 1984, so 18 years isn't that much farther away! In my case, long term planned-maintenance orders for spare parts to be delivered early in the 21st century were generating requirements 100 years early, and whilst we negotiated to remove the orders from our system and hold them manually, the MRP system attempted to reschedule supply orders back to the early 1900s (sometimes future order suggestions were generated as well because "stack to stock" lead times went back before 1900, which put them in the 1980s and 90s, as strictly speaking Y2K didn't just affect the millenium but any rollover of 2-digit years), so that all of our production planning, financial forecasting and purchase expediting was thrown into chaos.

In a later job we started planning for Y2K about 1995 and had new systems in place by the end of 1998 (the supplier of our original software was no longer in business, so we took the opportunity to move to new production, inventory and accounting systems) so we were able to avoid the financial hit that we would have taken if unable to process orders or invoice customers. I suspect that a lot of Y2K spending, whilst it was necessary to avoid the problem, would have taken place anyway as part of organisations' normal upgrade processes.

Brian G

I had a nose about on YouTube and found a couple of videos. The first gives an overview of the machine and shows some accessories as well as (at 18:30) a wiring diagram, whilst the second shows the fitting of a Unimat-style fretsaw attachment. (I think some of the parts shown in the first video are for this attachment which seems to use a spring return for the blade).

I don't speak Russian so have no idea how good or bad the auto translation of the auto generated Russian subtitles are, or for that matter if the videos contain advertising banned under the new terms and conditions - hopefully the moderators will forgive me.

Brian G

Bumped because I would also like to know if the archive will be re-issued. Since this was first raised back in 2017 there has been a format change for the newest content but it is still required to view most of the archive and Microsoft's announcement that "Flash will be completely removed from all browsers by December 31, 2020, via Windows Update." does appear pretty final.

Brian G

Welcome to the donkey saw fraternity. Not as fast as a bandsaw or a cold saw, but a lot less noise, mess or flying metal. Cromwell Tools/Zoro stock 12" Kennedy all hard power saw blades in 5/8" x 18TPI and 1" in both 10 and 14 TPI, although I also use standard all-hard blades with the hole opened out in my Hexacut.

I found this picture which shows a saw with an additional plate from F. J. Edwards of Euston Road but suspect they were just acting as a dealer, their main business being "Besco" sheet metal machinery. Can't help wondering if the name "Senior" suggests there is also a Benchmaster Junior?

Brian G

I intend to claim that the same effect operates, but to a lesser extent, when a hammer is swung. It neatly provides a blame-free explanation as to why I can never get a nail to go in straight

Brian G

I find bookfinder.com a good place to start as its search results are easier to filter than Abe Books and they include eBay UK "buy it now" as well as worldwide Biblio, Alibris, Abe Books and Amazon listings. The last two are hardly surprising as Abe Books and Bookfinder are both owned by Amazon (not quite a monopoly?).

Before ordering, a quick check on a few independent booksellers and the auction listings on eBay can often come up with a saving, whilst for new books 123 Price Check may come up trumps. This is certainly an area where having more time than money can be useful.

Brian G

I wasn't sure how to describe a price of £1.50 a page delivered to the UK without getting moderated...

If I could get Amazon prices for everything on my bookshelf, I could set up a really nice workshop

Brian G

Edited By Brian G on 02/07/2020 17:13:25

There is a copy of "Steam engine and boiler (Modern engineering for schools)" on Amazon.com but at a price!

Brian G