MEW

Got a bit of a fright this morning when friendly postman gave me a package with MEW 195 printed on the label!! Where`s 194 I thought, haven`t seen that yet. Fortunately it was in the bag.

Excellent article by Ramon on anodising sums up the earlier thread here beautifully. Well done Ramon, with the spondulics from the mag you`ll be able to buy some more material for your next engine!! What about a twice size Amco 3.5 ??? Dark grey body with a red head would give you more oportunity to use your anodising kit.

Regards Alan

Yeah, labeling machine's just getting a bit enthusiastic... seems to be the correct issue no. on the mag though.

David Clark did explain this, back in 2009 ... see this thread.

Wow ... the Search Box on the home-page works quite well.

MichaelG.

"David Clark did explain this, back in 2009"

You mean he knew then that this was going happen ?? Wow ... with foresight like that he should be in No.10.

Nice one!

If I was in No 10, the country would be a lot different than it is now. For a starter, all able bodied unemployed would have to attend some sort of meeting in a football stadium or large hall for 35 hours a week. Then see them sign off because they can't go to work.

regards David

That's not fair David........I don't like football.

If they did not kick the ball they would not have to run after it.

Any large contained area would do.

Not the Olympic stadium though, we must all be sick of that.

regards David

I'll tell you later. SWMBO managed to score some tickets for the Paralympic opening ceremony, so I'm having to spend the evening finding out first-hand...

Hi Alan, glad someone likes it - thanks for the endorsement.

I guess you'd be talking about the BB 3.5 - now that would be a challenge to get that case out of solid. Don't know if you are aware but designer Ted Martin did a barstock 3.2 version the make up of which was described in Model Airplane News. There's good coverage of it over on MEN here (Hope this link works)

I never owned a BB but did the longer cased PB with a green head - theres some (rather a lot actually) history of Amco engines on MEN too - just go to Amco 3.5 BB in the engine finder - but be prepared for the time to disappear

Regards - Ramon

Looks like I got that wrong - try this one **LINK**

Can anyone explain how you link the URL to a word in the text please

Ramon

Ah! I can see there is no need - I take it this way eliminates 'the long URL making the text disappear under the adverts' problem

Ramon

Ramon,

If you prefer to hyperlink your text ...

First copy the URL to your clipboard

Select the word, then click the Hyperlink icon  [now affectionately known as the BubbleCar, thanks to David Littlewood]

Then just paste the URL into the box in the pop-up. < etc. >

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 29/08/2012 12:03:39

Great article Ramon,

Joey

Michael - not me, unless I did it in my sleep sometime!

David

David,

Sincere apologies for my slip of the digits.

I should have credited Norman [NJH]

MichaelG.

Good article Ramon. I do a lot of anodising and would like to add a comment or two.

Unless I missed it you don't seem to mention the safety tank.

This consists of a gallon of water into which is dumped 1/2lb sodium bicarb. Any problems with parts/ flesh etc coming into contact then a plunge into the bicarb tank neutralises in a few seconds. This tank comes out first and goes back last.

When it comes to the dyeing of the parts it all depends on two things,

1 The correct length of time in the anodising tank; minimum of 1 hour at 15v, longer is better. you will know when as the current will drop to low level as the surface becomes electrically non conductive.

2 The correct temperature of the dye tank. Assuming that professional dyes are used, ( £10 - £12 for enough to last a very long time. my tank has done several thousand parts and I have only used 1/2 the dye powder.) The temperature should be held very close to 55 deg C. At 60deg the anodised surface will start to seal. Dyeing will take about 30 seconds. Then into the water tank at any temperature over 70 C for at least 1 hr. There will be only a very slight leakage of dye.

As you say Anodising is a straightforward process that responds very well to order and method.

If anyone is interested then I can put up some pics of the holders I use. Simple to make but a bit expensive on Titanium. BUT well worth it. No lost contact.

Hope this adds to your article.

ray

Hullo Ray, it's been a while..

On behalf of other readers thanks for the pointer on the safety tank, something I use but have totally overlooked to mention. Mine is just another one of those plastic tubs cheaply and easily sourced - 3 for a quid at Tescos I think - and filled with tap water for dropping anything in that gets contaminated but it's a good point about the bicarb and will use that next time.

Dyeing so far has been somewhat unscientific - carried out initially at room temperature as well as recently, standing the container in the hot water previously used for degreasing. There did not appear to be a great difference between the two - but that was using writing ink as the dye which does have an incredibly short take up time. It's interesting to hear that the surface will begin to seal at 60 deg - so far all sealing has been done in steam at what must be considerably more if not quite a 100 but for a much shorter time - 15 to 20 mins

Can you say where you get your powder dye from and more importantly the correct type of dye. After the lack of success with the Dylon I did look into other powdered forms but did not find anything specific to anodising - at a reasonable cost (£10 -12 is fine).

For others I can't remember if I mentioned it in the article but titanium welding wire is usually available off Ebay - ideal for hangers

Thanks for the hyperlink info Michael I think I have the gist of it now.

Thanks for your remarks Joseph and yours too Ray but would just like to add this is all well and good but as yet I have to see the issue of MEW - I don't subscribe so will have to wait until it's in the newsagent.

Regards - Ramon

Edited By Ramon Wilson on 29/08/2012 23:02:08

Hi Ramon,

No need for thanks, your article was much appreciated. If you ever did think about a twice or even 21/2 times BB I`ve got a 2 foot length of 4" dia HE30 in one of the cuminandy boxes??? I`ve also got a bust original crankcase from when I collided with a brick in the long grass. Well it wasn`t me that collided with the brick it was my Frog Aerobat. It survived the collision but the Amco needed a new crankcase. When the new one arrived it was completely different from the smashed one. Made from different material & looking more like the PB Amco one. All the parts fitted though so it lived to fly another day. Must have been about 60 years ago now. Still got it & it still runs but the neighbours complain about the noise. Don`t know why its music to my ears.

Alan

Thanks for the anodising article Ramon.

I fitted my CL300M mini lathe with an old hoover fractional, just like the one in the letter of warning. I have seen plenty of rubber wire go that way, athough that in my motor appears fine. Even so, I will replace it all with PVC coated over the winter, whiles it's still easy to see what goes where.

Neil