What did you do today? 2023

As far as I know there is nothing in law to have stopped the workshops repairing the firm's ladders provided the repaired ladder passed independent inspection before being released for service; but it was probably cheaper to buy a new one!

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The last couple of evenings actually.... trying to fathom out the second-hand screw-cutting gearbox I have fitted to my Myford ML7. I have the facsimile instructions, copied by lathes.co, for the two types that were made; but had really struggled to make the machine cut the right TPI. The manual is really vague and ambiguous, but finally I realised I was using the wrong size tumbler pinion. It should be a rather worryingly tiny 12T wheel described as for extra fine feed. I put a beefier 24T pinion on and successfully cut the intended Brass Thread (26tpi) by setting the gearbox to 52tpi. I will have to use the 12T pinion for ME threads though.

Had to screw-cut it as I've lost my 1/2" BSB die...

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Me today?

A leisurely day at the club, as with a crocked shoulder I was not going anywhere else and won't be for a while.

'Twas busy with several people running traction-engines or locomotives. One member's young son proved himself a very capable driver of Dad's steam-outline battery-electric loco. The club's petrol-hydraulic loco was not co-operating, with a lot of misfiring and so many loud back-fires from its Honda engine someone remarked the neighbours will be calling the Police Firearms Unit. Four, I think, went home clutching new boiler certificates. (Why is the paperwork so complicated?). I managed a little light hedge-pruning before it hurt.

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Later resumed making the cave rescue team's new ariel-wire reels, after a hiatus while they examined the prototype and suggested a modification that meant me buying extra metal.

Full marks for prompt service for that, from M-Machine and Royal Mail: it arrived this morning.

I cut the remaining cross-bars ( a pair per reel of 75mm lengths of 1/2" diameter aluminium alloy) then found by the ER32 collet would not grip that the first batch I'd made were actually of 12mm stock, the new metal 1/2"! (I'd used a chuck for the first ones). Still, I had all 34 pieces now faced and spot-drilled one end. The latter as a second-operation to bring all to the same stage - hence the size snag.

The size difference won't matter in practice; I'll pair them by diameter.... and if God Forbid it's me one day the rescuers are hauling out from below ground, the last thing on my mind will be my metalwork!

Now found when setting to bring all to length that the Myford-accessory spindle depth-stop will not allow the work to enter the collet to a sensible distance. More naughty words based on, "What use is this as a depth-stop?", and lots of cogitating.

Nowt for it. I will have to make a depth-stop that allows the work to protrude backwards into the spindle, but with the proviso that rather than be a jig for this one task it will be adjustable, to suit other, similar work (e.g. studs).

The distinction between illegal and unlawful applies. Clearly illegal when a law specifically forbids it, such as possessing an unlicensed firearm in the UK. Unlawful is much broader, covering anything contrary to and unauthorised by law, including stuff that isn't specifically forbidden.

Not illegal to repair a ladder, or to use it yourself. So far so good!

However. expect legal trouble if a home repaired ladder fails whilst being used by someone else. Worse if the ladder fails after a professional repair, or is owned by a business and an employee is injured. Order of magnitude more expensive if the failure injures a passer by.

Most businesses choose not to take the risk of repairing ladders. New ones aren't expensive, are properly made, and the owner isn't liable for the consequences of supplying kit that might fail due to a botched repair. Different story when expensive safety-critical equipment like an airliner is maintained. The work is never done untraceably as a side-job by a workshop optimist! Or shouldn't be.

Seems to me that most practical men don't know how much accidents cost. Not being personally responsible makes it easy to be gung-ho about H&S. Very different when you carry the can and know fatalities cost a couple of million each. Life changing injuries are even more expensive. That's just the money, the impact of accidents on people and their families is often off-the-scale.

Dave

Hi, as far as repairing ladders in a work place, it's always a no-no. Even if they are repaired to a high quality, it is probably unknown if they would require some heat treatment to restore their strength, and it is unlikely the insurance company will cover a repaired ladder, short of replacing any makers fasteners. Every time the insurers inspected ladders where I've worked, those that had damage had to be cut up or removed from site, before the insurers would sign off their inspection. Even ladders that were slightly bent or twisted, had to be scrapped.

Regards Nick.

I have a Weller soldering Iron similar to above, but after over 20 years use, is considerably more worn and battered. In view of the silly prices being asked for spare parts, I have reluctantly decided to scrap it. I have replaced it with thermostatically controlled soldering station, which cost no more than a couple of the Weller curie point bits.

Edited By Anthony Knights on 29/05/2023 10:48:09

As it hasn't rained for a few days it was decided by senior management that the French windows need repainting. Set about scraping off the obviously flaking paint, only to find lots of rotten wood. Next stop the DIY shop for wood harder and loads of body filler. I'll whittle up some pieces of hardwood to fill any gaps that I can make rectangular. The doors are quite narrow, so if I replace them with Upvc there would be not a lot of glass left.

Edited By duncan webster on 29/05/2023 15:21:08

After 25+ years of twiddling the x - axis handle on my Sharp mill, completed a project to build a power feed.

Utilised a stepper motor and controller from an abandoned job and incorporated an electromagnetic clutch to allow manual feed.

Covers are 3d printed.

Controller is old school - made with discrete gates before Arduino appeared on the scene!

HSE legislation also puts board members in the dock - which is a constant threat of jail time just to keep people sharp.
 

Edited By Steve Withnell on 30/05/2023 10:47:19

I started the restoration of a 6 cylinder BTH magneto. Got the points and advance/retard all freed off and working. Plan is to drive it off a small electric motor as a demonstrator set.

I realised I don't know if the magneto is driven at the same rpm as the engine - the gearing in the mag looks like 6:1 so it should be. ChatGPT says it should be the same - but chatGPT makes stuff up.

Any experienced views?

Edited By Steve Withnell on 30/05/2023 10:51:02

Hi Steve

Not sure if it applies to all BTH magneto's but certainly the twin cylinder ones fitted to old British bikes, the armature must not be withdrawn without a keeper fitted to the body otherwise the magnetism will be lost. There used to be details on the Brightspark magneto website, which is full of usefull information. Who will also remagnetise it if it's too late!

Beautifully made mag's have had a couple of bikes in the past fitted with them, always seemed a cut above the prince of darkness's ones!. If you make a demonstration rig it may well interfere with everyones telly and make them cross, you may ask how I know........

Dave

Got my Acorntools shaper project running for the first time today and spent a happy half hour watching it swish back and forth as the feed ratchet clicked away. Mesmerising, and it makes a change from cleaning and painting, which is all I seem to have done for the past few weeks.

So you don't want to refurish mine too Dave?

Regards,

IanT

I went to a vintage weekend earlier in the year and brought a number of things like a pot of cap head bolts and a pot of odd springs. I had already done the cap head bolts and put them into plastic draw unit divided into their respected sizes.

The only thing I kept putting off was sorting the springs which cost me £2.00 for the tub, so todays job was to sit and do these and took most of the afternoon. This just so happened lead to clearing some draws which was very convenient as I al waiting for a order of quite a few BA nuts and bolts.

I had also purchased from the local charity shop two plastic containers one of which is pressed into use to store the springs.

Any bets the first time I will need a spring I will not have it.

Could be driven off a camshaft at half engine speed?

Almost definitely off the camshaft.

So then the mag would be geared up 12:1 to get 6 sparks per rev. I'll check the gearing! Thank you.

But if it is a 6 cylinder four stroke, you only want six sparks per two revolutions.

On a Meteor / Merlin the rotor turns at, I think, 3 times camshaft speed. I suspect that this is in order to give enough energy for the coil. The points camshaft and rotor arm are geared to rotate at camshaft speed. I don't know if this is relevant without a pic of the mag in question.

John

If the magneto produces a spark for every revolution of the crankshaft, on a four stroke engine, the second spark occurs during the exhaust portion of the cycle, and should not ignite anything.

Howard

So the camshaft goes at half engine speed, the mag goes at 6 times camshaft speed, 6 sparks every 2 crankshaft revolutions and everyone is happy.

Edited By duncan webster on 31/05/2023 14:43:33