Member postings for Bob Wild

I notice that there are a miriad of opinions, one for each person who replies. I can only reflect on when my company decided to redesign our software. So we gathered all interested parties and each and everyone had a different idea what the look and feel should be. In the end I said “yes” and some time later said “this is what it will look like” (actually based on the colour of my car). Sometimes what you need is a Benevolent Dictator

#JasonB - Apple changes the name of a file when using an iPhone to something incredibly long which makes photos in an album unidentifiable

I’ve read the comments above about members posting on other forums as well as this. I indeed do just that; because as a relative beginner I look for as much help and advice from experienced model engineers as I can get.
And I notice a few comments about the shortcomings of the technology of this forum. My biggest and really serious gripe is the torturous way of inserting photos into a post from my iPhone. It is a real pain to have to email a photo to my pc, then rename it and load it into an album before inserting it into my post. That is four steps, not to mention having to go from my workshop to my pc, whereas in the other forums I can upload a photo directly from my phone  into my post. I’m sure you are losing a lot of potential content because of the effort involved. I would certainly do more if it were easier.

Edited By Bob Wild on 27/08/2020 00:41:27

My garage workshop never gets above a very pleasant 18 deg. Firstly because it is half buried in the ground an secondly because there is a roof garden on top it; wooden planking and an inch of stone chips act as an excellent insulator. Unfortunately my wife has made me go away in our caravan and it’s 38 deg currently!!!

Edited By Bob Wild on 12/08/2020 17:18:25

I love those stories of real people in the old days. look at my first post and the link to the Model Engineer from 1908 and the fascinating things you can do with this new fangled electricity.

Anyway, I carried on before getting Werners suggestions and plugged the holes. I cleaned then up and they look like new.

No more posts for a while, as Mrs W wants to go off social distancing in the caravan !!!

Edited By Bob Wild on 08/08/2020 23:30:36

Thanks chaps. But bother, Werner, why didn’t I think of that solution ☹️

Disaster! Just finished the cylinder bottom cover. Discovered to my horror that one of the studs in each cylinder will pass straight through the inlet steam passage. I suppose that's what you get when you try to change someone else's design on the fly and don't think far enough ahead.

So I have a few choices:

1. Throw it away and start again.
2. Abandon all hope of ever making a working model.
3. Plug the holes and re-drill them turned through 180 deg.
4. Ignore that position and only use four instead of five studs.

Not sure the best course of action. Any advice would be most appreciated.

Edited By Bob Wild on 06/08/2020 00:11:00

Thanks for all your replies, although no-one has explained how these things actually work.

#Ian P - not sure if I was allowed to mention brands, but what the heck - it was bought from Arceurotrade. There is no info on their website as to the type.. The part no is 100-061-00500.

#Stuart Bridger - there is no facility to earth the unit. In fact the display unit is supplied with a plastic mounting plate with keyhole slots to slide it in. It is battery operated, so I'm not sure whether an earth is necessary.

#mgnbuk - Looking inside I cant see any light ?!? so I suspect it is magnetic

#Bryan Ceder - I could see the screws when the scale bar is removed and it did not touch or distort anything.

#Dave Halford - absolutely correct. I tightened the screws after I shortened them.

I could vent my spleen about the fact that the documentation provided only described how to use the thing and not how install it. Although it was titled "Digital Scale with Steel Deam Instruction". Your guess is as good as mine as to what that means. Not to mention the four other spelling mistakes. I would have thought any self respecting supplier would proof read with due diligence anything coming from abroad where English is not the native tongue. But that is a digression.

Bob

PS New restrictions tonight in Kirklees means I shall have more time for the man cave.

I bought a Digital Readout kit from a reputable seller to install on my new milling machine. The y-axis assembly went on fine, but I had a terrible time getting a stable reading from the x-axis one. The reading fluctuated wildly even when the bed was stationary. At first I thought it was due to some sort of misalignment and spent ages tweeking and adjusting the mountings but to no avail. Then I got to wondering about the way the measuring head was screwed down. For the most rigid method I changed the screws which were supplied and used my own countersunk screws. I had already made sure that they did not foul the sliding scale, but I discovered that if I released them by a couple of threads the problem went away. So the solution was to shorten them by two mm, and bingo everything was hunky dory.
I’m not an electronics expert, but I’m most intrigued to know the technology and how a piece of steel in close proximity could cause such interference? Any reply from a knowledgeable guy would be most appreciated.
Bob

Brilliant, I want one

Hi. I stared on this model recently. I have described my progress so far in this thread :

**LINK**

In the first post there is a link to Frank Finches article. You will be astonished by the lack of instructions and dimensions! But I did find a complete set of plans from Julius day Val. There is another guy called Werner who has also built a (slightly bigger) Fire King. He has described his impressive model on this site and has given me a few pointers. Hope this helps.

Bob

Edited By Bob Wild on 14/07/2020 21:52:33

Thanks chaps for all your replies. I now understand the issue. I've found the most convenient way to add postings was from my Iphone 7. I've just emailed a photo to my PC, renamed it and found it could now be added to my album with a sensible name.

It does beg the question as what is the purpose of the Title and Brief Description fields.

THe only problem I have now is that 'Er Indoors wants to spend more time outdoors with the easing of the lockdown restrictions. So I'm taking her to the Yorkshire Dales in our caravan. Model Engineering on hold for a while

Here's the ball turning photo that I have been having such problems with:

I'm actually quite proud of the attachment as it does just what I wanted.

Bob

Thanks Werner, I'll bear that in mind.

Bob

Well I didn't expect such a furore of responses, but it does make interesting reading. Thanks to everyone for their replies.

Nigel, I should have been more explicit about my application. It is a Merryweather Fire King self propelled fire engine. It is described in my thread Merryweather Fire King

Dave "If your engine was originally serialised in a magazine, then assembly, marking out and lining up was dealt with in the write up." There is a reference to the 1908 article in my thread, and I was astonished by the lack of guidance from the author, not to mention the lack of dimensions!

Many years ago I were an ingineer. All drawings had a tolerance on each dimension. But now I’m building a steam engine where there are no tolerances at all on the drawings. It’s quite complicated as it is a twin cylinder and each is driving a water pump. My big concern is how to get them all lined up. Obviously the greater the clearance between the pistons and their cylinders the easier it is. So my big question is “How much clearance should there be between the piston and its cylinder”. Incidentally the bore is 3/4 in. Any suggestions from the experts would be most appreciated.

Bob

Thanks Werner. I will be happy if my machine is half as good as yours. I’ve got a copy of the Henderson book, and it does contain lots of interesting info. I’m going to try etching the nameplate as you have done, but I think that will be some time in the future. At the moment I’ve nearly finished the pumps and the cylinders. But I’m so worried about how to line everything thing up. I was thinking I might use some dummy pistons connected with a rod so I can bolt them all together. Then I can also clamp the pumps to the water cylinder.

Bob

Whenever I try to add a photo to a post I can only see the original file name. For example 5ee397c3-c5f4-4b12-a1e2-af43a93484c2.jpeg This makes it almost impossible to find the right one. Any bright ideas what I’m doing wrong.

Bob

The most interesting part of the water pump is the air cylinder. The original design was a bit boring so I decided to use the design of Tubal Cain which he used for his Lady Stephanie bean engine. This had a fluted cylinder and a relief valve.

Machining the flutes

Turning the end with my homemade ball turning attachment

The final assembly