Member postings for Tomek

Thanks guys for your comments. Re chimney: drawings for Juliet shows alternative chimney (shape I went for) although from what I could see suppliers only offer an original straight chimney. Luckily I found mine together with some other castings on ebay.

Hi all. Here's some photos of my Juliet started in 2019. It was start and stop build disturbed by other projects, house improvements, covid etc. Still far from finish, but now it's on the stage where I can proudly display it in our living room

Any comments are welcome.

Stay safe!

Hi Brian. I have db8vs, I'm guessing they will have same belts?

Don't worry. I'm sure it will be back soon. Might be different user name or location, maybe different lathe. And if we keep looking and pointing out scams like this eventually he will switch to different category. Car parts, rare collectibles, antiques... People like this won't give up easily

Item has just been relisted!

24hrs auction as well?

Definitely looks dodgy

It is gear driven and never had a problems with it. I've fitted mine with dro few months back and only regret that I haven't done it earlier.

Another vote for Warco! I'm a happy owner of WM-14, had it for 2 years now and it performing great. It is a small machine and I've noticed that head flex a bit when you put too much pressure on it, but I didn't expect rigidity of full size mills from it so very happy with it. There is a backlash on leadscrews and always will be, not only on warco but any other machine will have it unless you upgrade to ballscrews.

Haha. Don't think I've walked away empty handed. Also got that dremel kit which indeed seems to be very good value and set of quick clamps (around £5 for set of four)

Looks like they've never made it to local distribution centre. Mate is checking one in Liverpool for me. Has anyone seen them in Cheshire West?

I visited 3 Lidl shops around Wirral yesterday morning and none have them. First I though i came too late and all stock has been sold out but manager told me that they never came, maybe Wednesday I've been told

Hi David. 2 years ago i bought 920 from Chester and I must say it was the worst piece of rubbish i have ever seen. I think the actual thing supposed to go straight to the scrap skip but accidentally end up in the shipping container heading to UK. I had it for a week I think, and the longer i had it the more faults I was discovering. Play on the headstock bearing could be felled just by moving it, ways looked like were grind with angle grinder in few places, tailstock was miles from centre of the lathe. Cross slide travel wasn't perpendicular to ways and so on...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say avoid Chester shop. I've ended up putting lathe in the boot of my car and went to see Mark in Chester (luckily I live half an hour drive from them). Mark was very helpful, after short examination decide that lathe will be replaced with a new one, unfortunately they only had imperial one in stock and mine was metric. I was given two options 1 - wait for around 6 weeks for new shipment from China and 2 - I can go home same day with DB8VS for the same price. Well of course i took DB8VS and with big smile on the face I head back home.

I can assume that 2 machines came from 2 different factories or maybe 920 was assembled by a bunch of kids . What a difference it was! Db8 is a bit smaller but the quality of built is like day and night. I'm not saying all 920 will be the same, maybe I was simply unlucky getting the machine that shouldn't pass quality control.

But if you are still looking to buy a new lathe I can honestly recommend DB8 from Chester.

Tom

Re: protection mentioned above. Everybody in the radius of 2500 metres evacuated and in the radius of 3000m not allowed outside. And of course ferry crossing shut for the most of the day. They did realise there's a high risk since divers weren't around when device was remotely set off.

I'll say the whole action well prepared and all the details are available on website (in Polish language) Link . Worth having a look even just for photos.

Tom

I have read that it is a good practice to use studs and nuts instead of screws on boiler.

These will be used to fix inner dome and regulator to their bushes .

I was thinking about making nuts myself but closest hex bar i found is 4BA. This wouldn't work though as holes drilled in inner dome flange are to close to dome tube and there is just enough clearance for 5ba size.

Thanks Dave. I must say I'm a bit surprised that stainless would fail boiler test. Link after reading this thread I thought it is the material to go for.

Could I use PB102 bronze round for studs then?

Can anyone recommend supplier of bronze 5BA nuts?

Hi all!

I was searching forums hoping to find an answer but no luck. Subject has been discussed here before but not in details I'm after.

Soon I will have to source the material to make studs that goes into a steam dome and regulator bush. Bushes are made of bronze I believe. Someone mentioned in another thread that bolts shouldn't be used on the boiler and the way to go is studs with washers and nuts. Stainless 316 has been recommended.

Problem is that 316 aka marine grade only comes in metric sizes (some imperial can be found on Ebay but what is the guarantee that this is going to be 316?)

I got a feeling that 316 wouldn't be easy to machine from 4mm to 1/8 (holes in bushes are tapped 5BA) so my question is, would 303 stainless be OK to use?

Same will be with washers and nuts, I couldn't find 316 grade in any online shops and hex bar in 5ba size is also impossible to find if I would decide to make nuts myself.

I'm guessing that bronze could be used as well but what grade? And if I to go for a bronze, what material could I use for nuts? Or isn't nuts and washers that important since they're outside and easy to inspect for any corrosion.

Also while I'm on it, what people use to seal steam dome to a bush?

Thanks, Tom

Hi Dave

In Juliet notes sifbronze no1 is recommended for brazing superheater return bends. It's got higher melting point than a silver solder and you should be able to do it with sievert torch.

Thanks for that Nigel. Actually the boiler is only going to be delivered tomorrow as the guy I've got it from couldn't send it earlier.

When I get it, I can start making all the fittings and think how to fit the fire hole door to the backhead.

Thanks for the tip with the washers! I was going to use ptfe to be honest but after your suggestion I might go for a washers.

Maybe not too exciting but still engineering Two flywheels just outside Ellesmere Port National Waterways Museum.

Link
https://maps.app.goo.gl/zsDpDimroLuGnKKL9

And if you carry on down the road you can see canal locks, dock crane etc.

Edited By Tomek on 04/10/2020 09:47:01

I definitely wouldn't attempt drilling into a backhead. I was thinking about brass plate to go over backhead witholes for all the bushes and solder hinges to it.

I haven't decide on the regulator just yet. Can I ask why you're against a disc type regulator? Wouldn't they shut steam properly or maybe tend to seize?

Another option would be needle type regulator which is probably easier to build anyway.