Member postings for Swarf, Mostly!

Good afternoon, Mark,

I had a quick look through the Myford web-site and couldn't find anything on the Trileva that matched the detail they give for the other members of the ML7 family.

I did find a mention on the lathes.uk web-site here Trileva but I didn't have time to search there for long.

Best regards,

Swaqrf, Mostly!

Good evening, Alan,

Before you go any further, I suggest that you measure the pitch of the thread on your lead-screw.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 20/09/2023 20:48:03

Those threads look like multi-start to me.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Michael,

It was a long, long time ago but when I bought mine, the standard tip was hardened steel. The tungsten carbide tips were an optional extra.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

I have a question about the old-fashined bee-hives. You know, the sort with which Alma Cogan's hairdo was sometimes compared.

Modern hives are neatly rectangular and populated with frames; how were the interiors of the old-fashioned hives arranged?

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Residents of Hampshire can access Ancestry.com free of charge at the Hampshire Records Office in Winchester or at their local Public Library.

Other Counties may differ!!

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Is one name for this device "cathetometer" ?

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

The Citroen logo was chosen to symbolise their competence in cutting herringbone or chevron gears.

I was told by a past acqaintance that David Brown's gear cutting machine (in Manchester? ) floated on a pool of mercury to isolate it from external tremors.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Thank you, DC31k, for making this point. And it's not the only member of that category.

I feel that this could, with great benefit, be expanded into a key paragraph as part of Chapter 1 of the next book anybody writes on screw threads.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 02/07/2023 18:46:54

My late wife worked in the Drawing Office business and had occasionally to visit the Test Laboratory of the (Government ) Stationery Office.

She told me that they had a machine to repeatedly dip a steel-nibbed pen in and out of an inkwell to determine the corrosion resistance of the nib and/or the corrosive properties of the ink.  It must have resembled that drinking bird mantelpiece ornament.

She also told me of another machine there that tested blotting paper for its resistance to abrasion by elbows! All that and other testing was to ensure that items bought, using tax payers' money, for use in Government departments were (please don't laugh ) good value for money.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 07/06/2023 11:05:57

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 07/06/2023 11:06:46

Stephen,

I had exactly the same experience. I won't quote the suppliers' name. It was an ER32 chuck.

Such investigation as I was able to perform suggested that the front and rear ends of the actual collet chuck were not concentric. (Or do I mean 'coaxial'?? ) As I had bigger fish to fry at the time, I proceeded no further.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Stephen,

Always type a space before typing a right-hand bracket - that leaves the smiley gremlins sleeping in peace!

Also, always type a right arrow after quoting from someone else's post and before typing your reply - that stops the left-hand quote line from following your post as well as theirs.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Rooossone,

You should be scanning this and other fora looking for posts that start 'Help needed to empty Dad's shed.'

You might get a few duplicates but you could always sell those on and you would be doing those posters a big favour!

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 27/05/2023 10:08:40

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 27/05/2023 10:09:26

My keyboard is having a bad day!!

For 'loking', please read 'looking'.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

I have used this type of shelf system, both in the workshop and indoors.

The version I used originally and that I prefer has the brand name 'Spur'. In early days this was made by an offshoot of Savage & Parsons Ltd.' known initially to me as manufacturers of transformers. The S & P in 'Spur' is easy to link to Savage & Parsons. I believe that, nowadays, the Spur operation is independent.

This shelving system is immensly strong and will support lots of books indoors and quite heavy tooling items in the workshop. Of course, the weight falls first on the shelves so the material used there needs to be chosen with care. The spacing between the uprights also needs to be chosen with care.

I have also encountered a very similar loking system, I think its brand name was/is 'module' or 'locus' or some such name. I have both and, in my opinion, the brackets from one brand do not fit well into the uprights of the other!

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Good afternoon, Andrew,

Might that frustration still be lurking in your sub-conscious? Of course, it is YOUR workshop but might a visiting fellow Model Engineer helping you get your Wyvern running properly help to assuage your frustration?

Are you a 'loner' or are you in contact with fellow enthusiasts (apart from this forum, that is ).

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Tim,

A quote: "Who but the English would write 'FIRE' on a bucket and then fill it with water?"

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

My late wife worked as a tracer in an engineering drawing office. She claimed to be able to perform modifications on linen drawings even if there had been multiple previous changes at the same position.

She was subsequently recruited by one of the manufacturers of drafting film and trained in that technology, then employed in a technical consultant capacity advising drawing office staff how to best use (and store ) the new materials so as to ease their transition to and hence the adoption of the new material. She 'covered' half of the country and a colleague of similar background 'covered' the other half.

Her new employers had (and I think still ) manufactured drafting linen, Their identification mark was the inclusion of a purple thread in the selvedge of their linen. They claimed that the original drawings of the Manchester Ship Canal had been drawn on their linen.

I had only sparse experience of engineering drawing and it was through my wife sharing her knowledge that I learned of the many varieties of polyester drafting film, some with coating for ink and others with coating for pencil and the need to ensure that one drew on the right side! I even learned that there was a version of drafting film with a photo-sensitive (dye-line? ) coating one side and a drawing coating on the other. So an existing drawing could be copied and then much of that image erased (i.e. scraped off! ) and extensive new additions made on the drawing coating side! (Remember to change the drawing number & title!! )

And yes, when visiting tracers in polyester-only offices, my wife would often take them off-cuts of linen for them to wash out to make pen wipers or even hankies.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 20/04/2023 10:03:12

This thread is aimed at UK. members.

Here are a couple of pictures of our sheet steel shed:

and

Sorry about neighbours' washing! I emphasise that this is not my workshop. It is for general domestic and garden storage, different but still useful.

This shed was given to me by a friend, it was originally purchased by his parents, long since deceased.  No manufacturers' description of assembly instructions are available.  The photos date from the time, several years ago, when the shed was reassembled after arrival at its current site.

I'm sorry that these photos do not show the doors in any detail. There are two doors, each suspended from an overhead track by two plastic sliding hangers. The foot of each door is trapped/guided in a channel formed in the steel foundation strip.

The problem which prompts this post is that one hanger of each door has broken due to deterioration of the plastic. I know it is a bit of a long-shot but does any member recognise the shed from the photos? In particular, please can anyone advise whether replacement hangers are available as spare parts and, if so, from whom/where?

In anticipation of the inevitable question: I am currently not able to make replacement hangers in my own workshop (closed for radical rearrangements!!).

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 06/04/2023 17:42:00

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 06/04/2023 17:44:22

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 06/04/2023 17:45:41

The 'mistakes' coin has another side:

Back in the 1970s, I did a few seasons on a 'Model Engineering Course' at West Ham College. It was an evening course, from memory a mere £10 per academic year.

During the day the well equipped workshop was the domain of day-release students on various vocational courses. They had to machine a succession of exercises for which they were issued with ready-cut blanks, mostly mild steel, from the stores. If they made a machining error, they discarded the blank and went to the stores for a new one!

Mild steel sold by the various Model Engineer suppliers usually came in 13" lengths and, including post & packing, wasn't cheap. So, when we 'Model Engineers' were admitted to the workshop each college night, the first port of call was to the swarf trays of the lathes and milling machines to see what windfalls might be waiting there. Not 13" lengths but beggars can't be choosers!

Eventually there came 'the cuts' and non-vocational courses were discontinued.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!