Member postings for Robert Atkinson 2

What voltage is the Loco motor? If it's 12 or 24V an engine driving a car / lorry alternator would be a better idea than a mains generator and transformer arrangment. A major limitation with mains generators is the need to keep the engine revs constant tto keep the correct frequency, this is not efficent. If using a vehicle alternator the engine can run at it's optimum revs as he AC frequence does not matter as it's turned to DC. This i what the modern "inverter" generators do, they generate "frequency wild" AC, convert to DC and then chop it up into AC at 50 (60) Hz.

If you use a vehicle alternator you could remove the regulator, connect the motor to the alternator output and control power and speed by varying the field of the alternator. Depending on the motor and if it has a governor you might have to provide some throttle control to that too.

Separate enge and alternator gives layout flexibility too.

Robert G8RPI.

Plenty heavy enough to support a phone.

I do understand the urge to hit a "smart" phone with hammer but don't see why you need a holder to do it

I thought this was well known, but have found no reference on here so I'll give this tip. Ice hockey pucks are cheap, a handy size and made from hard rubber. They make great bench blocks when hand filing or fitting small parts. Enough friction to stop the work piece moving, but won't damage surfaces (or tools if ou do slip. can be easily drilled, V slot cut or similar to locate parts. Also firm enough for backing up when driving small pins or collars etc. The rubber has filler and is quite "dead" so no bounce.
Put one no the cup of your trolley jack to stop slipping and damage.
They can be bought on ebay or Amazon as well as sporting goods stores. I tend to buy a few when I visit North America to save postage.

Robert G8RPI

Don't know how to turn it off, my account just gives option to turn it on. If all else fails ask them.

Robert G8RPI.

Close Mick, I'm pretty sure it was Moto Sails not sales.
Used to be shops everywhere, Even the used test equipment dealers have mostly disappeared or gone on line. Johns Radio and M& B radio in Yorkshire, are two examples. Property prices are a big driver I think. Why keep a business making a few tens of thousands a year when you can sell the property for a million or two and retire. That happened to two small car repair garages I used in Dorset Stewart of Reading that was Chiltmead (test equipment again) are still going but have moved out of Reading into what is basically a house in a small village.
It's not just in the UK. Most of the surplus places in "silicon valley" in the bay area of California have closed, A big one Halted Speciality Supplies closed last year. Helmut Singer in Aachen Germany also closed without notice recently. A big issue is that the "stock" can become hazardous waste "WEEE" and you have to pay to dispose of it if you cant sell it
Greenweld in Southampton (still going but new management selling mostly "new" surplus Chinese junk) had a huge batch of D size SAFT Lithium primary cells about 20 years ago for a fraction of the price of a standard D cell . They were just about to expire when they bought them. If expired SAFT could not sell them and would have had to pay for disposal.

My wife want's to know what is going to happen to all my junk when I die.......

Robert G8RPI.

Of a similar nature I had a very realistic Smishing attempt yesterday (Smishing is phishing by phone SMS).
The SMS purported to be from EE (my phone provider) saying they were unable to process my last invoice payment and providing a WWW.EE.CO.UK.abc/xyz.com/account link (not that exactly) link.

The giveaways were the .co.uk and .com in the link and the fact that the origin was a full mobile telephone number. A genuine provider SMS would normally be rom a 4 digit number. And of course the common on that it did not have my name in it.

Reported it to EE and they confirmed it was fraud and that anumber of people had fallen for it.

I don't authorise PayPal to automatically debit my bank account. You have to let them to open a paypal account these days, but can, and I suggest you should, cancel this once the account is set up. You have to transfer funds manually but at least you have control. It's not just fraud, I know someone who sold a vluable item and took the paypal payment out and a couple of weeks later the buyer made a complaint, paypal then took the same amount out of his current accout to put "on hold" while they sorted it out. No warning whatsoever.

A particular issue with modern filters is that the can is very thin (presumably to save cost and weight) so will not withstand removal forces. If you can get access, try applying impact force in the unscrewing direction to the rolled bead at the base of the filter. use a punch or blunt cold chisel. It's the strongest part of the filter I've had success with this when all else failed. If going for the punch-through method an old wood chisel is the best tool the flat side distributes the load over a bigger area than a screw driver.

Robert G8RPI.

Nah, this is how to annoy the neighbours

**LINK**

Not a model engine. I know the offenders.

I would dry assemble. drill for a small (1/8" / 3mm) pin and then clean and assemble with loctite retainer (correct fits etc). The pin is only an assembly aid to make sure everything is aligned properly. If you do use a large pin and loctite there will be some load sharing between the two as nothing is completely rigid.

Robert G8RPI.

That brings back memories. When I was at college in Bristol in early 80's I had a part time job repairing gaming machines and the Listers Dursley social club was one the sites Always a priority call, they had a habit of smashing the machine to get their payout if we didn't turn up quickly enough.
Back on topic there was Target electronics in Cherry lane at the bottom of Cheltenham road. Lots of surplus and new microtan computers. Further up Cheltenham road was Marshalls component shop.

Robert.

+1 for epoxy and threaded fastteners. Ideal would be low head shoulder type like this

https://www.accu.co.uk/en/ultra-low-head-socket-shoulder-screws/50351-SSHUL-M4-4-A4

with the shoulder crossing the break.

I'd sort out clamping, and possiblr drilling jig, throughly clean mating surface, uses quality slow cure epoxy and about 40 deg C heat. Leave for a couple of days then dirill threading holes an clearance in small part for standard screw. thread and bolt with standard screws statting ain to places and screwing up before drillin next. On last hole after tapping drill, ideally ream, and counterbore the hole for the shoulder bolt. Clean hole and assemble bolt with permanent anerobicthreadlock / bearing retainer (loctite). The move to the most distant hole, remove screw and drill /ream/counterbore for bolt. untill all done. If the counter bore / head is wider then the dovetail just machin back after allowing 24 hours for loctite to set.

Robert G8RPI.

For this sort of work a loupe magnifier with scale is a good option. Peak make nice ones and can often be picked up used quite cheaply. Only problen I could see is if you can't get your head close enough with the workpiece in the lathe. A little jig to keep it squae to the work and at the same distance might be useful.

Another option woud be a USB "microscope" camera in a fixed position connected to a cheap laptop or tablet with a scale stuck on the screen calibrated against a couple of slip gauges. There is also measuring oftware available see https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=144331 for a similar application.

Robert G8RPI

Neil is totally correct. The Police typically ask "is this your car" not are you the owner. They ar intersted in both ownership and registered keeper. The owner for possession and keeper for road traffic offences.
These could both be different from the driver. An example is a leased company car. The owner is the lease company, registered keeper the limited company and the driver anyone with permission.
You need the owners permission to drive the car but in the case of a vehicle on finance or lease the entity taking out the finance / Lease as delegated authority. The finance company does not want to be the keeper because they would some liability if the driver was not identifiable following an incident.
Just because you have the V5 and you are the keeper does not mean you own the car. If it is on finance (even from the previous keeper who did not tell you) the finance company can come and take it back if te payments arn't made. Conversly dody people lease cars because they can't be seized aginst other debts.

I've been in the situation when I was stopped one night by the police when in the company (limited company but only me, owner and keeper) van. They tried to ttell me I could not drive a company van on personal use without permission. They were a bit miffed when I held a board meeting with myself and gave myself permission.

Robert G8RPI.

I've been selling on ebay for many years, mostly electronic test equipment. I used to start everthing at 99p but things have changed. It used to be an auction site but is now more of a marketplace. Starting low is now too much of a risk as many buyers don't know how to bid these days. I'd start at 25-50% of the prices suggested here. If you are prepared to ship it (look at pallet services, about £50 for mainland UK) you will open up a much bigger market and get a better price.

Robert G8RPI.

Bill raises an important point. the "tax" (road fund licence) no longer transfers with the car. It is cancelled when the car changes registered keeper. Unless your son has actually paid for new tax the vehicle will be untaxed. The online status may not update immediately especially as the previous keeper does not seem to have notified the DVLA of the sale. If they had it taxed then the website may be showing that.

Robert G8RPI.

Judging from the CE mark on the front it's more likely to be early 90's rather than mid 80's

We need more measurements than that

in addition to the two readings you have can you do

Black to Brown

Case "ground" to Green / Yellow

If there is a reading between case and Green / Yellow also measure case to brown and case to black.

The machine probably originally a dynamo may have been modiifed in the past, we can't be sure.

Basically here are two ways to wire the basic motor windings- series or parallel (Shunt) as you only have 3 wires it appears that only parallel is possible unless there is also connection to the case (as there would have been in the original dynamo).
The other thing to sort ou is the direction of running, if you reverse ONE of the windings the motor will run the other way.
There is an extra decision which is where to connect the speed controller. while it may seem opvious to connect it to both field and armature, there is no reasion why it should not be connected to just one with the other connected to the supply all the time the motor is running.

If you want to try different combinations without fireworks get a couple of 55W headlight bulbs and put one in series with two of the (positive) motor connections. This will limit the current to safe levels. The motor shaft will have to be disconnecte from any load of course.

Robert G8RPI.

Just a thought as these in light alloy and are for woodworking use you could just about use a router on lowest speed. Make up a jig in MDF rough out blanks with a hacksaw, chain drill the through slot first.....

Robert G8RPI

The slots are undercut so actually quite a challenge to make with hand tools. You would have make a lot to justify buying a mill.

Robert G8RPI.

The best option as suggested by Guy is an auction sale. A clearance firm or dealer will pay rock bottom prices. With on-line bidding an auction gets good coverage these days and many items go to end users who will pay more than the dealers who were the traditional buyers at auction. I've bought but never sold with them, but Peaker pattinson seen to be very good. see **LINK**

Look at some of their sales and then call them for advice. Probably best to put it in one of their collective sales. If looking to clear everything be sensible with starting bids i.e. low and do put a reserve unless he knows for sure he can get the reserve elsewhere for a quick sale. Big advantage of auctions for the seller is no comeback, warranty etc, everything is sold as is. You deal with the auction house not lots of individuals. It's worth batching up small items, you would be surprised what a box of bit and bobs, off-cuts etc. will go for.

Don't forget to post the auction details on here.

Robert G8RPI.