Member postings for GaryM

I've not posted much since finishing my Stuart S50 in 2014, but two weeks ago I got given the engine below. Some of you will recognise it as a grasshopper engine to the Sydney Owen design from ME in the 1960's. It was made by an ex-workmate years ago and I think he lost interest before completely finishing it. When he retired, he left it behind in the workshop at my place of work. He said he'd had enough of metal working. I ran it on compressed air just to see how it would run before dismantling it as much as possible with the intention of cleaning it up. Some parts are either press-fitted or assembled with loctite so I've left these alone. There should be an outer bearing support for the crankshaft and a drive pulley which I might try and finish. How's that for a Christmas present?

GaryM

Video of it running here:

**LINK**

Not posted on here for a while, but I thought I'd give this a bump as it's in my neck of the woods in a fortnight.

27/2/16 & 28/2/16 Middleton Arena, North of Manchester.

**LINK**

Looks to be smallish but hopefully if well supported may continue. I couldn't understand why the one at Event CIty near the Trafford Centre stopped after just two years. It was certainly well attended.

Gary

Great work Nick. Runs very well. Even though I've not posted much in the last few months, I've been following your build with interest.

Gary

My Tiguan has a space-saver which will do me but my OH is considering a Mini which doesn't. I think this is another example of when manufacturers change things things that annoy some of us but not enough to lose many sales. We've just paid for a headlamp bulb change on her Yaris, would you believe, because you can't easily get your hand behind it and have to remove the front panel and headlight unit. If it was summer I would have done it, but last weekend was bloody cold. They only charged £20 including the bulb which I thought wasn't bad, but I would have preferred to do it myself. I've changed a camshaft in a car in the past so I'm not completely clueless.

Gary

Car spare wheels:

Interesting article on Which

**LINK**

Gary

Hi Nick,

Great progress so far.

Re: valve orientation. I asked the same question when building my S50. See this thread

**LINK**

Gary

I remember hearing a quote once that went "By the time you can read women like a book, your library ticket has usually expired".

Gary

If you think hospital parking is an issue for patients, it is nothing compared to the debate it arouses in hospital staff, of which I'm one. The waiting time for a staff car park permit at my Trust is around three years and is partly used to discourage car use. Lots of staff park on local roads which understandably upsets residents so the council is introducing a residents permit scheme. This will push staff further afield. The hospital do try various 'sticks' and 'carrots' to encourage alternatives but these only work on a small minority of people. It's not an easy problem to solve.

As I'm sure you all realise it costs money to provide parking spaces, therefore if the hospital doesn't charge patients who come by car then they are effectively subsidising car users compared to those who use other forms of transport. My main gripe with hospital parking as a patient is 'pay and display' charging as you often don't know how long you are going to be so you end up overpaying just to be on the safe side. I think all hospital patient parking should be 'pay on exit' so you only pay for the time you are there. They also don't seem to cater well for people who have a relative in for an extended time. When my dad was in hospital for six weeks the parking must have cost us close to £200.

My two penn'orth

Gary

Not sure what caused that Neil and I can't think of a witty comment without descending into bawdiness.

Gary

Good luck with the build Nick. One thing I found with the S50 kit was that some of the stock supplied is only just slightly larger than the part to be made, a bit mean considering the cost of the kits. I found it useful to have some spare stock in the appropriate sizes to give a bit more room for manoeuvre and also if I made a mistake I could have another go immediately without waiting a few days for metal to arrive.

Gary

Thanks for the compliments, guys.

Gary

I've finally finished the Stuart S50 that I've been building for the last 18 months .

It was almost finished in April, apart from painting, when I broke my ankle. This set things back a bit and I struggled a bit with how to do the cylinder cleading as I only had the one piece of anodised aluminium so no room for mistakes. I'm very happy with the finished project. Could do with a base for it now.

Gary

More pics in the album and a couple of videos of it running here

Edited By GaryM on 26/10/2014 22:40:54

Nick,

Here's a thread on MadModder that will give you a start.

**LINK**

Don't be tempted away though, there's lots of bike related stuff on there.

Gary

Nick,

Not sure whether you can postpone your purchase but occasionally Arc do special offers on their machines where they include a selection of the most useful accessories in the price. When I bought my SX3, I got a 100mm vice, ER32 collet chuck, clamping kit, four R8 collets plus other items included in the price. Altogether this lot would have cost me another £220. That was January 2013.

Gary

Spent an interesting few hours at the Manchester Mini Maker Faire **LINK** which was at the Museum of Science and Industry.

An event that combines technology, art, computing and model making as a workshop of ideas. Lots of stuff that I'm sure would interest some people on here. 3D printing, laser cutters, Raspberry Pi, Meccano and even a railway layout. Kids seem to love this sort of event and if it encourages them into science and engineering all the better.

Also, had a good look at the stationary engines in the power hall.

Gary

For UK residents: programme about the Lancaster Bomber on BBC2 9.30pm. Sorry about the late alert.

Gary

Hi Anthony,

Not sure which book you've ordered but one I found useful when I started was:

"Model Engineering: A Foundation Course" by Peter Wright.

It has a broad coverage of the techniques and skills you will need.

Two useful web sites for beginners are:

www.start-model-engineering.co.uk  **LINK**

www.steves-workshop.co.uk **LINK**

Best of luck with whatever you decide to have a go at building.

Gary

Edited By GaryM on 14/07/2014 15:17:54

I also use one of the cook's blowtorches to light the propane torch. I found I kept blowing out matches and tea lights even with the gas turned down. With one of these little blowtorches you can turn it on, ignite the flame and turn it off again with one hand. Also handy if you fancy a Creme Brulee in the workshop

Gary

When you want to put six sides on something rather than four?

Sorry.

Gary

Thanks, Michael. As I said, it is based on commercial designs so I can't take any credit for using acrylic. The advantage is that you can see the item you're trying to punch a hole through. A steel base might be better long term. It was just easier to cut the piece in half and try it. The punch is untreated silver steel. Probably should be hardened and tempered.

Gary