Member postings for merlin

I once bought a cheap set of HSS drills and they were very out-of-true when spun in the drilling machine. I tried to gently straighten a couple and they snapped, being glass-hard. I got my money back.It then paid about £25 for a set and they are fine.

One of my luxuries a little while ago was to buy an extra imperial set 1/16-1/2" and lightly hand-stone a vertical flat on the cutting edge, to stop the drill grabbing when drilling brass. Wonderful!

Come back, trouser turn-ups!

What/when is a regular bike night? Motorcycle? Every month, say?

The reasons that I mentioned the o.d. of the rod were that I wanted to submit all available dimensions to the forum and that I expected the grotty thread to be undersize which would could have meant an original diameter of possibly0.280" i.e. heading for 7mm.

Thanks

Thanks.

The reason that I go to the trouble of dismantling the six candle sticks, although it might seem slightly obsessive, is that, apart from buffing into the corners, in the long term it is easier to do that than to faff about with an old toothbrush. Actually, no-one would notice much but I get some satisfaction out of doing it properly, as I see it. It is my only claim to fame in the village. The worst part of the job is cleaning down the horizontal surfaces in the workshop afterwards - the black dust and fluff from the buffing make a lot of mess.

I use Duraglit because it doesn't leave the dried remains that you mention.

You have just reminded me that I want to find out why the twisted ('barley-sugar' tubes are called 'olivers'.

Well, that is interesting.

The rods are ovally and nominally 1/4" all the way.

I have the threads hand tight but this year two of them had siezed in the candle-holder at the top, due to water leakage I supposed. I dismantled one of them and looked at the thread from about arms length and knew, with all my experience, that it must be, could only be, 1/4" Whit.so I died it down for 1/2" just to clean it up. All my Whit tackle is scrounged second-hand so it was no surprise that it was a bit stiff going down. What was a surprise was that the candle holder had then become a sliding fit, touching hardly anywhere.

I didn't have much time so a few turns of PTFE tape filled it up well enough to last another uneventful 11 1/2 months.

I too am surprised that the shine on the 22 brass items lasts so long but the church isn't used much and there is no evidence of bat urine stains. There are always some stains and I use a buffing m/c to remove the pits. To be able to safely reach the nooks and crannies I completely dismantle the candle-sticks.

I think that the few parishoners are so pleased to have someone to do the job that they are willing to accept my annual interest. The church is in clean country air. To do them weekly seems unnecessary although it would catch corrosive droplets before pitting began. Is your church sponsored by Duraglit?

I would like to know more about the manufacture of church brass accesssories, if that is what they are called. The large altar cross is stamped 'Cox, London' a well -known name I think, but the vases and sticks are not marked.

Do you know of any literature on this?

Very many thanks.

I am interested in all aspects of models; if you manage to turn a WT, does the W turn with it?

Again, thanks for the replies. The six candlesticks are now polished and back in the church, behind the security alarm system. I will next be handling them in about 11 months time.

I thought it very unlikely, with them being in an English village church and possibly dating from the Victorian refit in 1892, that I would have to think metric or USA threads, but probably Mad Mike is right; oversize die, use any material to hand etc.

I can't find ASME threads in my M/C Handbook 17th Edition (1964) but no matter, they will be there.

The steel rod is rough and oval and I suppose it could have expanded through corrosion to 0.258-60". Perhaps it could it be old enough to be wrought iron with inclusions that have allowed damp in.

Thanks again.

Thanks very much for all the replies.

Each candlestick is made up of about 9 separate decorative brass rings (ie short tubes) of differing diameters. These locate with each other and, together with the large base, are pinched up by a steel rod up the middle that is threaded for a short distance at each end. The bottom thread screws into the base and the top one into the tube that holds the candle - a simple collection of polished fancy rings with a rod up the middle. There are six of these standard-looking candlesticks and I guess that all of them are the same thread. They are not 'one-offs' I am fairly sure.

The steel rod is not truly round and looks pretty rough so perhaps they are older than I think. Of course, for all their lives they have been standing in a cold and damp church. Perhaps the rod began life at 0.250" but that still wouldn't explain the 18 tpi.

Thanks again.

.

I have come across an unusual thread on an early 1900's (I guess) church candlestick.

The male is a steel rod 0.258" diameter with a pitch of 18tpi or 1.4mm.

I can't relate this to Whit, BSF, UNC or Metric standards - did the makers have their own exclusive one?.

Thanks.

My 1977 copy of Bradley's handbook 'Screw Threads and Twist Drills' is falling to bits and is probably out of date with regard to metric threads.

Is there an up to date similar handbook?

Thanks for the replies.

Joining the BHI would cost me about £95 for a year which is a lot of money, although their magazine is very good.

This might sound a bit wimpish but I can't locate a list of model eng clubs on the internet. Perhaps there isn't one, in which case I would have to visit and search the websites of all the towns, large and small, in this area.

Am I missing something?

My apologies: Ikea do deal with internet orders in the usual way, but I didn't find it easy to register.

Perhaps it is my fault - it often is these days.

At £10 these Janso low-voltage lights are what I have been searching for for years.

Ikea's website reads as though I can't order, and have delivered, via the internet in the nomal way.

There is a basic charge of £15 within the branch delivery area, or have I misunderstood?

I hope that I am posting in the correct area of the forum.

Although I have made many of George Thomas's tools my main interest is in clocks, specifically the one I am making at present, the Merlin Band Clock.

I would like to join a clock club, or a clocky mod eng club, although I have reached the age when I don't want to turn out in the evening very often. I would be happy to be a paid-up member and correspond mainly by email, hopefully with a fellow Merlin loony. Hopefully I would get to know when exhibitions are being held, if there are any!

Does anyone know of such a club in the Grantham/Melton/Newark/Sleaford area?

Thanks.

I would like to know why Ramon Wilson recommends counter-boring to fit top-hat bushes; why not plain parallel ones?

My 1940s education was minimal and my dislike of the classroom situation lasted for many years after leaving, so I didn't do an apprenticeship of any sort and even now, at 77 I am not sure what I want to do for a living.

This topic is now off into the clouds with 'grammar Nazi's' (sic) and discussion about opening our workshops and 'constructive discussion on M.E.' Hitler hasn't actually been mentioned yet but might be called on yet.

If I have to struggle too much to understand a posting, I give up. I might have been able to help, or to learn something, but I give up. I feel too old and perhaps therefore deep down too short of time to re-read and re-read a posting that is difficult to understand. I don't care what sort of person the poster is, all I expect is plain English.

To the Show at the Warks Showground, a round trip of 150 miles.. First time on my own with the satnav. I upset the Garmin lady; on a straight road to the showground she was telling me to turn left, then a mile further on to turn right, on and on.

I am always careful wherever I park and I noticed that the car park surface was soft but was really surprised to get stuck, with the front wheels (auto gearbox) just digging in. A couple of kind fellas towed me out using my rope. On the way out of the car park I saw at least two other cars being pulled out by 4wd vehicles, so be warned!

Bought a strange hybrid grinder/polisher and, at last, a graduated scale for the mill table.

It was a good show, but no Merlin clock.

Trying to understand a badly spelt and punctuated post is sometimes so tiring that I give up. I am usually visiting the forum late at night and often I don't want the struggle.

It is also irritating; if someone is hoping for help and advice then surely they should take the trouble to present their question in an everyday readable and understandable way. This is particularly important if small details like decimal points are involved.

As someone has said, ask a friend to skim through it.

The odd mistake or badly formed sentence are unimportant, I think.

A slower setting Perspex adhesive can be made by putting small clean chips of Perspex into chloroform and leaving it for a day or two, shaking occasionally. It has filling properties which help.