Member postings for MadMike

I have followed this thread from the beginning. I am somewhat surprised at all the apparent uncertainty regarding the increase in state Pensions this year. In simple terms it is of the order of 10%, regardless of whether you are on the current "new pension" or, as many on here will likely be, the older scheme.

Tax has always been payable on pensions but by holding the State Pension to below the tax threshold by all governments, the tax has always been co;;ected fro other pensions and/or earnings from continuing employment. It has always been the case I am struggling with some of the comments that have run into three pages of comments on this forum. Back to work on your (insert machinery of choice) and take your mind off of pensions.

Well you will have to forgive me/us for swimming against the anti Jacqui Lawson tidal flow.

Normally we would send around 80 Christmas cards to family and friends. Then we have as a result birthday and anniversary cards that we send to many of the same people, a few Sympathy cards (these are increasing now) and the occasional Congrats cards. The cost by using traditional cards and the postal service will undoubtedly consume many of our hard earned pounds.

So we decided a few years ago to send the JL electronic cards. These all get delivered to the recipient(s) on the day that we choose. They are a bit of fun with the choice of both serious and light hearted content. They are not meant to be works of art but to each one you can, and we do, add a personal message to suit the recipients and the occasion. They are animated, musical and entertaining. At least the recipient will, from our experience, read the message, watch the animated images and listen to the music. This means that they do more than simply look to see who sent a card. Without exception every one of our friends and relatives enjoys receiving the JL cards. They even have a facility to send a note of thanks when received.

So many positives and at a known fixed cost or around £30 year. Many/most of our family and friends have now adopted the JL electronic cards rather than going through all that faff with traditional cards.

I find it amusing that some on here can extol the virtues of modern technology using 3D printers and CNC machines but struggle with the concept of computerised Christmas cards

I hope you all had a great Christmas and will have a happy and prosperous New Year.

It is worth remembering that most kitchen spray bottles are designed for very thin liquids rather that, say 20-30 oil. I bought a spray bottle from Amazon which is designed for spraying cooking/olive oil. Only about £6 when I bought mine and it works perfectly with thin oil.

At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious......why not simply get a cable made by Venhill that replicates the Honda one at the brake plate end and with an adjuster at the brake lever. That would avoid all the concerns about dissimilar metals, stainless steel galling etc.

Wow what a lot of advice.

So you have a mill, a vice and an ER32 collet chuck. With that simply clamp the ER32 CC in the vice. Insert your piece of steel and clamp it. Fit a DTI in a chuck in the spindle and centralise the bar you wish to drill. Then lock the table in position. Now get your Zeus book and check the co-ordinates for three holes equi-spaced around the centre. Using these you can then simply reposition the table for the correct X and V axis positions and drill away. If you want to drill the central hole do this before you move the table. It really is that easy.

If you live close to Leicester I have a RT you could borrow if all else fails.

Edited By MadMike on 29/12/2022 12:44:55

Come on you engineers. Having freed the jaws we are now discussing "run out" of the chuck. Really? We all know that a three jaw chuck is simply a holding device and is not accurate in itself to worry about the run out amount that has been described. What matters is simply what happens to a piece of bar when you turn it. So put a piece of 1 inch bar ( the size is not important) in the chuck and have it projecting about 3 or 4 inches (75mm to 100mm for the Napoleonic fans). Reduce the diameter by about .020 to .030 so that the bar has been cleaned up all round. Then use the DTI to determine if the bar is now running out. The purpose of the lathe is to produce a finished surface which is true to its centre. It is the finished product that is important. If it is OK forget about the run out that has been described.

If Mr Phelan resides in the Irish Republic then the law is similar to the UK. If a vehicle is not being taxed as it is off road/no longer being used then a statutory notification to that effect is required. This is by, sending a form to their DVA, or on-line, or notifying the Garda. However, there is a slight difference in procedure. This notice MUST be made in the month before the tax actually runs out. Sending it after the expiry of the tax results in a charge equivalent to three months tax.

So that clears that up in principle, but what on earth has any of this to do with model making and/or engineering processes?

I am with NDIY here. just what are you trying to make? A sketch with dimensions would be of great help to the gathered throng.

However with the limited/inaccurate information available I think you are all approaching this from the wrong direction. Chucking a bolt head, use of an angle grinder etc etc? Really? I would simply get a length of hexagon bar, turn down the end to size, the reduce the diameter along itds length and simply cut the desired thread. Then reverse the bar and part off to length.

So, Philip Hardy, a sketch please in case I missed something.

I do not know what your sandwich structure is used for, butI would simply use stainless steel screws. I know all of the theories about aluminium and stainless steel being subject to galvanic action, but it is a fact that nearly all of those aluminium framed glass roofs and facades that litter shopping centres, office blocks etc use stainless steel fixings to secure the corner joints. These structures are of course exposed to the elements, but despite the theories broadcast on here none have yet fallen down due to the dissimilar metals problem. Indeed I have an aluminium pedestrian door on the back of my garage. So today, out of curiosity, I removed some of the screws used in its construction about 27 years ago. Guess what? Not a sign of corrosion or deterioration.

I have a fully comp policy with Peter James. It covers five classc bikes from, 1951, 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1972 plus my 2012 TriumphThruxton. I renewed just about a month ago and the cost was £238. That was a few pounds less than last year.

I Googled Max-T turning tools and good old Google immediately gave me pages where they had corrected the name to T-Max which are Sandvik products, and so not HSS tool suppliers.

So next Google search was Max-T engineering. This threw up two entries and you nee to be very specific at this stage to identify the company you are searching for: -

(1) MaxT Engineering Limited: This a Plant and Machinery company based in Lowestoft. not a tooling supplier.

(2) Max-T Engineering Supplies. This is a company based in Gloucestershire apparently supplying some tooling.

What is in a name? In this case simply the little old hyphen. Inclusion or omission of the hyphen gets you totally different results.

I would seriously consider remaking the cast bloc which supports the end of the screw so the more of the screw protrudes, then weld a stub/extension to the spindle, carefully machine the welded area to the original size, and fit the handle etc to the extension on the shaft. It would take away all of the anxiety that appears to present with identifying the correct thread form and the making of a suitable cutting tool etc. If threads are a problem, real or perceived, Nicholas simply look for an alternative......it's what engineers do.

I had a suds pump problem about 5 years ago on my 254S. Single phase or 3 phase? I threw the thing away and bought a submersible pond pump which would lift the coolant up to 2 metres and simply popped it in the tank.. Plugged it in and five years on it is still running and pumps coolant at such a rate that I had to turn the volume down using a tap as a restrictor. Like they always taught us as apprentices... KISS.

As a rebuilder and restorer of British bikes I see a case of over thinking this issue.

The relevant parts are 6082T6 aluminium. You do not need to do anything at all. Simply make the parts and fit them. The aluminium will oxidise naturally and as a result will go dull and become a natural grey colour. Anodising is best discounted as that will provide an anodic surface to the aluminium which will retain its clean silver appearance for years. Other processes like blasting, rumbling etc will also create a non natural finish which will for a long time look like the cleaning process took place. If you want to speed up the process make the parts and simply leave them outside over winter, otherwise let nature take it course.

Taking AdrianR's point. Making your own tools is something we all appreciate. however I would do a quick evaluation of time, cost and need for the tool. As others have pointed out there are some potential problems with making this adaptor yourself. As Adrian has pointed out our friends at ArcEuro Trade have the MT5-MT3 adaptor you require in stock. Cost is about £13.50. I would simply buy the adaptor and get on with doing something creative with my machine. After all can you actually produce this apparently simple, but not quite so simple item at that price or anything even close to it?

Martin Connelly, can I suggest that you look at the link to the Yale Euro lock cylinders in Davids link. Remember these are cylinders only and they are clearly noted as being anti-bump and snap resistant.etc..

Insurance companies are happy to accept multi locking mechanisms in place of dead locks, and Euro cylinders in lieu of the UK traditional round cylinders.

I saw reference to traditional Yale locks in an earlier message and just to be clear, the Yale lock so common on timber doors in the UK is actually only a night latch. It is not a security device, hence insurance companies demanding a BS standard 5 lever mortice dead lock in addition to a night latch.

The pictures from the collapsed turbine which were on last nights news did not show the bent and collapsed mast that appears on that video. the turbine housing with blades, while obviously damaged, appeared to be still connected and did not appear to have exploded like the one in the video. Conclusion? Old Dodgy Knees is absolutely correct in his comment about the video.

EDIT: Hornslet is of course a Danish town.

Edited By MadMike on 18/02/2022 10:01:20

I have read this posting/query from John Smith 47, and others of his that have preceded it, with some cynicism. I have a friend called Alan who frequently posts on a motor cycle forum that I inhabit. He usually asks a technical electrical/electronic/mechanical question to find a solution to his problem(s). His questions very often are based around some idea or design that he has created and which will make him very wealthy (it never does of course).

This usually results in a large number of answers giving potential solutions (so far so good) but he then replies explaining why that suggested solution will not work (does this sound familiar guys) and continues to bait the forum members. I guess by now you will understand my cynicism about this and other questions from Mr 47.

So I actually wondered if No 47 was my friend Allan at one stage, but I am sure now that it is not (well almost certain anyway).

However in order to be helpful, I did some searching and found that our dear friend Mr Google appears to identify many companies supplying spatulas with Teflon coated or moulded ends, which I guess would solve Number 47's problem. However I await his reply repudiating all that I have said and giving at least 47 reasons why the readily available spatulas are not fit for purpose.

Have a great day everybody.

As usual lots of good advice but sadly mainly of the "stone" the edge variety to "blunt" the drill

I have seen reference to Rake and suggestions that you can alter this easily. Rake is the angle of the spiral relative to the cutting edge. For brass this can be an important factor. Slow helix/spiral drills have the rake required for drilling brass. Modifying the point by stoning or honing simply alters cutting edge clearance which is not the same as rake on a spiral drill.

If you intend to drill brass, of any type, I would suggest an investment in some "Brass Drills" (not made from brass obviously. LOL) and these are readily available at no great expense from our friends at Tracy Tools. These will have the helix, point and clearance required in a single drill bit. HTH.

Like many others I have received these scam calls over the years. However, having tried most of the discussion tools mentioned here, i thought that as they had probably heard them all before I would try a new one.

Again like others I merely respond "hello" for any incoming call. Then allow them to have their initial introduction and at a key moment before they finish, I demand to know how they got my number and why are they calling it. They try to ignore the question so I then very loudly ask again but continue with......." This is an ex-directory number and is a Security Services phone line, so tell me how and why you called as I have put a trace on this line. Your own security services have been notified......at which point they instantly hang up.

A bit of fun, but interestingly the frequency of these calls has diminished noticeably to the point of almost disappearing altogether.

My daughters ploy is to stop them in their tracks and tell them that she is just a squatter.