Member postings for Nigel Graham 2

Interesting approach, Nick.

All looking the part, as if an original pressed-steel tray supplied by Chester with the machine.

Did you use a former for the bending or simply tap the flange gently all the way along each part until it met the flat? I was wondering how you persuaded the web to bend without cockling.

I'll have to remember that tip for turning the saw inside-out. It's a shame 'Abrafiles' seem to have vanished but I've found those abrasive-wire blades sold by builders' merchants, I think for cutting tiles, will cut mild-steel fairly well. Sometimes when cutting sheet metal I back it closely, even including the cut itself, with some scrap board, with more wood clamped on top, to deaden the vibration and prevent too much "flapping".

Chuffer:

For locomotive cylinders, depending on what was visible on the full-size, you may be able to disguise the oiling-plugs in the covers as dummy (even working??) relief-valves.

Perhaps easier on narrow-gauge styles. On his 7-1/4" g version of the Kerr-Stuart 'Wren', Ken Swan specified replicas of the displacement-lubricators on the valve-chest covers, as cold oil feeders.

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Dave:

I think there are water-treatment compounds for copper boilers, to minimise scale; though that intended for steel probably won't hurt. It can give problems with fittings, by clogging small pipes, passages and injectors though, if used a bit too enthusiastically.

I'm a bit confused by your question about water-treatment. I assume you mean only in the boiler, but I doubt it would do any good in the cylinders. For one thing it normally stays in the boiler, for another it would need a lot of water (heavy priming) to put enough in the cylinders to coat the iron - defeating the object and not exactly good for the engine.

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A friend used to keep his 7-1/4" g., NG loco, a Hunslet I think, in a wooden garden shed. He used an ordinary garage inspection-lamp with low-wattage bulb in the firebox, and draped an old blanket over the whole loco. It not only worked for the engine. A mouse made himself a very cosy little nest on the footplate!

Andrew -

Thankyou for that link!

That's a very reasonable price at £35 for 20.

Interesting that the manufacturers, William Lees & Sons, say on their site's home-page they sell to distributors and private buyers too. At one time industrial companies would only sell to industry, even though that may include distributors.

I see they stock 'Clecos' pins and their pliers too, as well as other tools including a slew of mysterious bars and clamps no doubt intended for building aeroplanes and similarly highly-specialised work..

Anyway I have added that to my ever-growing 'Engineering' bookmark index.

For a round belt pulley, you could free-hand grind a tool-steel blank to a semicircular edge to match a radius-gauge.

Alternatively make a simple tangent tool-holder to use a piece of round tool-steel or hardened and tempered silver-steel.

Fine work! I will follow the traction-engine progress with interest.

I recall seeing skin-pins used by one of the metalworkers in a small contract electronics-engineering company for which I worked many moons ago, but rarely since.I didn''t realise they are colour-coded for diameter.

If they are still made at all, I'd think them something our tool suppliers might consider stocking, or at least able to obtain on order.

Thank you for the tip on rivetting to avoid problems with stretching.

I have known of, but not tried, using that insert method for splines.

Jason -

If the bar is drilled at an angle, say 45º, and the grub-screw enters from the end, you lose the adjustment by screw but gain extra clamping area with less protrusion above the bar. It may need an angled slug between the screw and tool for better clamping.

You'd need some other way to measure the feed, but if the assembly will fit the bore before cutting, that can be applied by the lathe's cross-feed or the shaper's down-feed anyway.

This being a potential question for my own project, I looked at using the shaper - manually-operated in my case.

The text-books for that indicated internal shaping is by drawing the tool through the work, with the clapper-box locked. The latter point is emulated by using the lathe as a shaper by winding the saddle back and forth (not recommended for frequent use).

Though not explained, I think this is to avoid digging-in, as the spring of the tool-bar will tend to lift it. The top-rake should be low to minimise the risk further.

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The tool-bar is best not contacting the bore, as you don't want to risk scoring or wearing that. and anyway if made the same diameter would require either the flanks cutting back to allow down-feeding, or setting the feed by adjusting the tool-bit itself. The area ahead of the cutting edge needs enough relief to accommodate the shaving.

If needed, you can relieve the tool on both the shaper and lathe by using the appropriate feed-screw. (For short, one-off operations such relieving might not be necessary anyway.)

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To support a drill or slot-drill removing the bulk of the slot material, plug the bore with a piece of the same material.

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I don't know the gear-hobbing machine you describe so I don't know what are specified for the universal joints, but neat ball-type joints are commercially available, that would very likely handle the loads on this machine. I have set two aside for the feed-drive on a small horizontal mill I am slowly re-commissioning.

The word billet is not confined to aluminium alloy.

It does not mean "scrap".

It does not indicate any particular metal, grade or physical properties.

It is an ill-defined term for an ingot to be extruded, or short length or slice of cut bar stock.

The latter, typically but not necessarily round, is usually either of a specific length for a particular purpose (including sales-units as by our retailers), or is the bar-end from cutting those pieces.

It is an old, generic word and cannot possibly be used as a trade-name.

Thank you John.

Have just altered it., though the new edition hasn't appeared on the list yet.

How do I edit a published advertisement, so the entry in the 'For Sale' list makes sense, please?

I don't know what I did wrong but it is a Drill-Grinder I am trying to sell, not an "Uncertain"!

Be careful using that suction technique not to draw any particles of ash down with the oil.

Running the engine gently on low-pressure air may be one solution where the valves drop away from the port faces; assuming a normal pump lubricator. Use ordinary lubricating oil rather than steam-oil for that.

Welcome to the Forum, John!

There are others here interested in astronomy and restoring motorcycles.

If you are familiar and happy with the Seig machine-tools I'd suggest as a start, looking at the larger machines in the same series. If nothing there to suit your needs, try Warco.

The dovetail column type machines, with either knee or a rise-and fall head, are preferable to the round-column mill/drills, because the rectangular column maintains the centering when changing the table or head height.

Many of the commercial metric hexagon-headed screws have rather ugly embossed numbers on them, but you can face them for appearance, and really, I don't think there is a noticeable aesthetic difference between many ISO-M and near-equivalent BA dimensions, for most applications.

BA is metric anyway, just specified in inches, though of its own angle, diameters and pitches.

Size-smaller metric screw-heads may be available though the bureaucratic rather than geometrical ISO-Metric sequence, with no numerical relationships, hinders that by large spanner increments with random jumps in the series. Often acceptable in large-scale model-engineering, and workshop duty, but not ideal for fine-scale modelling and horological work.

I have not seen size-smaller metric nuts but where these really matter, are not difficult to make if the hexagon stock is available. I don't know if the ISO-Metric Fine thread series has corresponding hexagon proportions.

Anyway, don't clock screws normally have slotted, round heads? I don't recall seeing hexagon-headed screws on clocks I have examined in exhibitions. Nor do they have many nuts.

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The Thury thread others cite, was developed for clock and instrument making.

Edited By Nigel Graham 2 on 02/10/2023 11:01:39

Ah, I see! I was wondering how you'd hold the workpiece on a lathe to do that, then twigged that if you drill and tap it first you can hold it on a nut and bolt to use that as a makeshift spin-indexer on an angle-plate.

I have done something like that to drill pairs of holes at 60º from each other in the ends of three rods, to make a triangular framework a bit like a Toblerone slice.

I'm not clear what facing the nut will achieve other than making thinner, unless you mean facing each facet to give a smaller across-flats size.

It would be easier to make a new nut from BSW-size hexagon bar, or full-diameter round and mill it hexagonal to size.

If of course I don't have a suitable nut anyway, lurking in the come-in-handy "stock" !

Howard -

Forging draught angle. I appreciate that, but it is rather larger on these building-trade fixings than on most nuts and bolts. There is also a rather generous fillet with the flange.

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My Myford's rear tool post is of modern manufacture, and the nut on the main Tee-bolt always has me searching for the right spanner. The two small ones on the base flange do seem to be of BSF size.

It is the nut size that is awkward. The thread does not really matter.

Obvious solution: make all the accessory fastenings compatible with the original machine, with as few different sizes as possible!

Obviating needing two spanner sets for servicing machinery is one thing, but the flanged bolts sold nominally as building components seem to be a law unto themselves, heavily tapered and not the normal A-F size for the ISO-M Coarse thread.

While I've yet to identify properly the nut on my ML7's rear tool-post's main stud!

So either the different speedo drives had different cases, or it was done by tooth-sums. Different tooth-counts on each wheel but all adding to the same sum. Would that work?

File Handle -

That may depend on your route and local knowledge. From the South, the only sign to the racecourse is that off the motorway, and the route is through the city. On the other hand, I was bound for Skipton and beyond afterwards, and Northwards along the same road from the racecourse car-park soon emerged from Doncaster without further problems.

I have approached what was the Great Yorkshire Showground ( or whatever is its forgettable name the corporate-branding types have since demoted it to) several times from both the East and West, and left on each occasion Westwards. Yes, driving through the town is a bit stop-go, but not far, on more or less one road - though the venue's entrance is not properly signed at all.

I have travelled to Alexandra Palace on coach trips and more recently as a passenger in a friend's car. I could not drive the long, very complicated, very difficult, very busy route from the M25 junction to Muswell Hill; even worse afterwards, in the dark, at the start of over 100 miles home.

Sometimes we drove just a short distance after the show, to a restaurant; that hour or so meal break giving the London commuter traffic time to ease slightly. I did say "slightly".

One one trip somebody in our party said, "We must be nearly there: lots of men with white hair all going that way!" (I should add that applied to most of our group, too!)

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Bricky -

Don't "... might go..." . Do go!

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If I am returning from the Midlands or North-East now I set my sat-nag to the Warwickshire Show Ground. I know my way home from there, down the Fosse Way, a lot shorter than using the motorways, though Cirencester is very difficult to navigate !

Oh, I am sorry you do not feel fit to attend any exhibitions.

Would a smaller club one reasonably near you, be better than one of the major shows, which can be physically tiring or awkward if you have something like the arthritic knees I had (until they were replaced).

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My first was local - Weymouth & DMES', in the Sidney Hall, a Victorian benefactor's gift to the town but demolished I think back in the 1970s to suit a supermarket! I was probably about 12 at the time, and visited it with my Dad who may have known a few members as work colleagues.

The Society, which had both a live-steam and 00-gauge layout branches, ran a series of exhibitions in the town in the 1960s to 70s, and few since, although the 00 section has long gone. These later shows included as a guest-exhibitor in the local model-railway club's own exhibition. We do though now have a number of members interested in the "garden" scales and they have built a raised, non-scenic layout within our ground-level track loop; not as a separate branch but all one club.

I joined it in my teens a few years after that Sidney Hall show; and am still fairly active in it, as its second-longest surviving and serving member!

......

Some while ago Taunton Model Engineers ran a successful and very enjoyable series of exhibitions in a school not far from the town - and easily-accessible! With room outdoors for the miniature traction-engines to operate too, these were augmented by displays from perhaps half a dozen other Somerset clubs, and several trade stands; indeed I ordered the Western Steam-built boiler for my steam-wagon there one year, and collected it next year!. Even Reeves put in an appearance one year.

A shame they stopped, but where there is a cluster of like-minded model-engineering and related societies within a relatively modest radius, might there exist the possibility of a similar exhibition held jointly?