Member postings for Paul Kemp

Nigel,

You may be correct however I have witnessed their assistants giving trade account customers the same treatment. On my last visit there a couple of years ago to pick up a couple of black iron plugs which they were more than happy to sell me they wouldn't allow a trade customer with a large van to take a couple of lengths of pipe as they deemed them too long to fit safely in the back! The rather bemused driver had a phone call with his boss, took them out to the van with a tape measure where they agreed it was OK but then insisted the driver change out of his shorts into long trousers and don his hi vis etc before letting him go round to the gate to collect them to load. A couple of weeks later I saw one of their trucks delivering steel wearing......... Shorts! Their site has contracted massively over the years, I can't help wondering if the apparent scaling back of business is linked to their policy.

As noted there are other outlets either locally that are more co-operative (and cheaper) or nationally that even factoring in the delivery / postal charges also offer better value.

Paul.

Noel,

Our local steel stockholders (Parker Steel) will thwart you there with your hacksaw on H&S grounds. The won't sell you anything that won't fit in the load space of your vehicle, as ordered. They will not let you carry it out of the door unless they are satisfied your vehicle is suitable (their judgement). Chopping it up yourself in the car park is a definite no no, you wouldn't even get tit that far! You can't enter the yard without a high vis, safety boots, glasses and a helmet. When I questioned it I was told someone cut themselves in the car park cutting something. Needless to say apart from them being very pricey anyway I go elsewhere!

Paul.

Nigel,

Going on your description of your welds and it's a bit difficult without seeing them (and you in action) and taking some of your other comments re the relationship of current to rod size I would say a lot of your issues are technique. First off for the size job you are describing I would suggest some 2.5mm 6013 rods. For those in quarter plate you want to be up around the 85 / 90a mark. 6013 are good general purpose rods, ideal for down hand (horizontal) you don't need to weave them or play with any patterns just draw the rod along the joint in a straight line and steady correct speed. What is the correct speed, that depends on the job and the size of the fillet you want but 6013's are high slag so if you go too slow with the wrong rod angle you will get inclusions. Position the rod midway between the two plates for a fillet (45 degrees) and tip the holder forward of the weld about 10 degrees.6013's will run EP negative or positive so you only have to decide the current. If yours is an old AC transformer then up the amps a little. If you are getting blobs with mig then your wire feed is likely too slow and if you get slag then you don't have enough gas. If you are using old rods of unknown provedence treat your self to a new box, you may have got some exotic rods there that are more finicky!

good luck.

Paul..

Paul L

Depends where you go, most Tesco stations and a lot of the independents charge 20 - 50p for air. The local sainsbury is free but they are all these pedestal mounted self contained units with the compressor buried inside. Fine if you have a small car with low profile tyres but something with decent size wheels they struggle with! You don't know how well off you are! I spent a bit of time round Sydney and worked for a while at Fourjacks, Newcastle really enjoyed it (but not the flight home!). Have folks in Thiroul and my uncle used to be a manager at Port Kembla steel works so I know the area a little, not keen on your creepy crawlies though! Not sure about being full of hot air - most of your fellow countrymen I have worked with have been full of beer lol. Some the welders would put in a 12hr shift, spend 8 hrs in the pub and be back at 06.00 next morning ready for another day at the office! Great bunch to work with, how they kept up the pace I don't know!

Paul.

Most petrol station air lines these days seem to have the output of a fish tank pump and would struggle to inflate a balloon! Many are self contained electric units without seemingly any reservoir. All the places where I live the forecourt units take the whole 50p (5 minutes maybe?) to inflate a LR tyre from near flat to 35psi, that won't give you many slow revolutions!

Paul.

Std assumed passenger weight used to be 75kg now updated to 85kg as applied to most marine legislation. MCA use 85kg per pax for stability calculations.

Paul.

Just to be clear that would be a very unusual Rob Roy if it has a BSP thread on the boiler David. The likely threads will be 26tpi, 32tpi or at a push 40tpi and to the best of my knowledge you won't get a fitting from an industrial source in any of these threads. Usual way to address this is to make your own. However as pointed out by br you will probably find something that can be adapted from one of the model engineering suppliers. Measure the OD and the thread pitch and then have a scout around the web sites.

Paul.

Brian,

Generally it is good to keep any lagging material from contacting the boiler directly. There have been plenty of instances where an absorbent material has been against a boiler shell, retained moisture and promoted corrosion. Problem is on a 3" there isn't a lot of space! If you are planning to use wood again it would be worth making some crinoline steel bands to go round the boiler and put the timber on top of these, which will stop the timber contacting the boiler directly.

To be honest I don't believe lagging adds much if anything to performance in engines of this size, I ran my Ruston 4" for a year with no lagging or cladding on the boiler at all and it didn't seem to noticiably affect performance. That now has cork sheet under the cladding directly onto the boiler (been there 9 years and due to be exposed next year) so I am going to very interested to see what corrosion I may have when it comes off! On the 6" I will probably use wood but spaced off as described.

Paul.

Hexagonal collet block in the mill vice will give you 6 positions or a square one rotating the work half an index would give you 8. For support use a machinists Jack under the overhang with a clamp on top of the work if you don't need to go all the way to the end. If you do you will have to move the clamp mid cut.

Why not bite the bullet and get a rotary table and tailstock though, once you have it you will find other uses for it.for parts for your engines.

Paul

Its gas at 350 bar, currently standard pressures for h2 in gaseous form is 350 and 700 bar. On current efficiencies the price of h2 needs to drop quite a bit to be competitive with derv.

Ballard HC wave marine fuel cell is quoted at 58% efficient, not found one yet that is much over 60%.

H2 can be used in an IC engine but usually as a mix with another pilot fuel.

Hydrogen in a PEM fuel cell is the only current technology that is truly zero emission. There is another fuel solution requiring a solid oxide fuel cell that is very low emission but not zero.

Fact is if you want to be green you need to dig deep in your pocket! Economies of scale may well bring prices down and the next generation solid state batteries may well improve EV capability but there is going to be at least 20 years of financial pain for the man on the street while the investors cream their profits off the top. The green revolution requires not only a change in attitudes but a change in lifestyle too.

Mains water pressure in most areas is at least 60psi, at my mates out in the sticks we measured it at 120, so just connecting to a hose is an option.

Paul.

I would bin the lot and get a proper cylinder, regulator and couple in your flow meter. Apart from being more reliable it will be cheaper for gas.

Paul.

Well said Michael, censorship at its very best!

Paul.

Thanks gents, I must have missed them on Chronos site, didn't think of MSC, good call. Appreciate it.

Paul.

Anyone got any suggestions for a supplier of "traditional" 1/2" HSS parting blades? I have had a look at the normal suspects but can't see one listed anywhere? Seems everyone is turning to new fangled insert style tools!

Thanks,

Paul.

Try Neox DT. Used to be used in stern tube lubrication in the marine world or Neox 9000 which is a bit thinner and more fluid. DT used to be available in about 2 litre tins, warm it up to fill it flows better. Stinks, gets everywhere but it's a really good lubricant for slow speed bronze and steel gears in unfriendly environments!

Paul.

Andy,

Unfortunately because of the code of conduct your link has been deleted so you won't get much feedback I fear!

To explain there is a very strict code on this site to stop "unfair" competition and potential tax evasion, no doubt sponsored by HMRC that means any reference to cheap and nasty probably sub standard goods is removed tout suite. (I say this just in case you are confused and have recieved no other advise given this looks like your first post!).

Dont be discouraged! You will have to find a picture (unbranded and with no reference of source) if you want advise on that particular item. I think there are plenty of Boxford experts on here that may be able to offer advise on other alternatives.

Paul

Use a cheap gear cutter? That will give you a nice slot!  Grind up a suitable single point tool and 'fly cut'?  I think it's a spin indexer by the way.

Paul.

Edited By Paul Kemp on 18/04/2021 23:40:25

As you have current certs try asking the last person that inspected it? Hopefully they verified the number of the boiler they were inspecting, so on that basis they would know where it was stamped?

Paul.

Nigel,

lol, absolutely correct. However in the OP case and question if he were to order his 'questionable' material and request a mill cert with it, that would surely reveal any deception? If on request the certificate is declined either the material is untraceable or it is traceable as something else which the supplier does not want you to know. If the material is as advertised then there should be no problem supplying certification and everyone is happy.

However as I alluded too previously the supplier may have a certificate that evidences but actually he is supplying a copy of it with material from a different source and different composition. That's where the fun starts and highlights the weakness of the certificate system, there is still opportunity for fraud! However in an extreme case where a particular material has been purchased with a certificate from another batch and subsequently the component manufactured from it fails, is analysed and shown to be different from the claims as sold, the supplier is firmly in the cross hairs!

As you say, outside of boilers there is no requirement for material quality control in model applications but let's suppose for your steam lorry you decide the con rods require something like EN24t which you order (without requesting a cert) and as the supplier doesn't have that in his rack the boy decides to send you something else. Later the con rod breaks. I very much doubt you would send it for analysis and even if you did as you ordered the metal over the phone and the packing note only says steel, no-one is at any real risk of being sued by you as you have no evidence to support your case!

No need to make it harder than it needs to be and if you are not concerned as to exactly what you get then why bother. In the OP example where he was concerned about what he would get then ask for a cert. It's not hard and it's not expensive and even if it is fraudulent if you want to make an issue of it you can.

Paul.