Member postings for fizzy

Thanks John...about as helpful as a dose of herpes! Is it beyond your itelect to actually be helpful instead of abusive and rude for a change?

I need to order some replacement top slide nuts but have no idea what thread they are - machine is 70 yrs old, any advice please?

Graham gets a detailed explanation and I get a link to a sewing website..........

I have just moved my gasses outdoors. Whilst the regulator bodies are all brass im assuming the components within the gauges are not. Do they therefore need additional protection against the elements?

Hi Greg

This is a problem I too have encountered. Here is how I solved it. First plan for a thick wall, 1/8 minimum after reaming. Lay barrel flat and put in place the joining web (hold it any which way you can), apply heat evenly and solder in place. Be sure not to use higher temp silver solder or the whole thing might just melt! Now put in 3 jaw and drill/bore to the desired undersize for reaming. Next solder the base plate in place - the previously added web will help stop things distorting - apply heat to the outside of the base but dont clamp anything as if you do it will surely distort. You can then add the end section and hand ream as described by others. When I make mine I tap the end and screw on the ball valve section to do away with the risk of any distortion after fitting the base. If you go down this route you can solder it all together and then bore and ream in the lathe. I also always add several O rings and find that they are 100% reliable. Hope this helps.

At this scale you can make everything from raw materials. I have built in 31/2, 5 and 71/4 and have never bought a single casting. You may choose to buy wheels as they can be difficult.

This is a good page for beginers **LINK**

I have a set of these, well i did once! I still use one in the fly cutter as it tends not to get blunt too quickly and the other i use for cutting stainless at high speed, something hss simply doesnt do, the others have been lost or binned. For general lathe work i strongly advise against them in favour of hss.

Julian - loctite bearing seal is very low strength and seals brilliant, very good for this application

If its a semi permenant join I use bearing retainer which is especially good for sight glasses, otherwise a fibre washer gets used and screwed in only hand tight these never leak - i do tighten them as well!

Phil - there was a recent thread which went into depth on this subject, but most fittings are brass, they just need unscrewing and inspecting once in a blue moon. I think people are confusing boiler bushings with boiler fittings. All my bushings are bronze, all my fittings are brass.

Thanks Iain, that was the most informative ive seen. We werent shown how to scrape so the process has always been a myatery to me.

It is, I recon its 7/8 x 20, does this seem correct? thanks

I have two boring heads, one has a 1 1/2! dia thread for the arbour (which I have)and the other, sold online as a 'silver' boring head has a much narrower thread. I only have the head, anyone know what thread I need for the arbour? I could measure it but I still wont know what thread it is?

Its not all for the worse, as a child we had a ready made trampoline on the farm, it was two sheets of roof corrugate layed over a hole. My friend and I loved bouncing on them. The hole was a 300ft lead mine shaft! I still cringe when I think back to it. How were were not killed is a miracle. These are all capped off with copncrete railway sleepers now.

I grew up on a farm and we would see who could hold on to the electric fence the longest, you soon learn not to try it with wet hands though!

Completely mental as usual. Why not ban all adverts depicting people driving cars in case children try to copy them and take daddies M Sport for a drive?

Hi Vasco. I recently had to improve my taper turning skills in order to successfully make steam cocks for my Loco. I tried many techniques, most of which ended up looking like yours! In the end I had to tighten all gibs and as others have said already, use both hands to give as smooth as possible turning action - the key step was that the final few cuts were taken by dragging the tool rather than pushing it. Tool starts at the thick end and finishes at the thin end. I suddenly had a near perfect finish. Hope this helps.

Depends on how much use it is likely to get. If its mostly display then brass will be ok but if it will see action then definitely bronze.

My experience would be to use a gel flux, usually comes in a small plastic tub and buy Leaded Solder - Screwfix in UK sell both. Get a decent reel of 2mm solder as you will be surprised how much you will need. Paint on the flux and if possible apply heat to the reverse side. Dab the solder onto the flux until it starts to run. Withdraw heat and you should be able to 'paint' the solder along the joint. When it starts to get 'claggy' apply a little more heat and continue till done. Hope this helps.