Member postings for Chris Gunn

Colin, An alternative to the hoist is a trolley on castors, to store the indexing head on, make the height of the top the same as the height of the table when lowered. The indexer or anything else can be stored on the trolley, and when you need to use it, just slide it across onto the bed when lowered. I keep a rotary table and a big vice on my trolley, plus small vice clamps and other stuff on 2 shelves under the top. The trolley can be wheeled around when not in use.

Chris Gunn

Andrew, Nice work with the drive pins, so much better than a non typical screw. How did you cut the slots for the Spring?

Chris Gunn

From a practical standpoint, in the absence of CAD and the time to do it that way, I usually copy the drawings in question, then use a fine point correcting pen to white out the original dimensions and then overwrite with the new ones. This saves dobbing back and forth from drawing to spreadsheet, and inadvertently looking at the wrong line on the spreadsheet. You will still have the original drawings to check against if required. As Jason says keep one eye on the results and amend to use standard size materials.

This method works just as well when converting from imperial to metric or vice versa.

Chris Gunn

Jack, it will make a difference what the boiler is made of, I would guess copper at that scale, so it is not going to go rusty which is one benefit. If copper I would fill it up with water as SOD suggests, for long term storage. If you are steaming it frequently I would not bother.

Chris Gunn

Nicholas, maybe I should have added that write the size of the reamer or drill on the block by each hole. I have to say that some of the pictures of tools with sharp end up look like an accident waiting to happen.

Chris Gunn

Andrew, why not store them the other way up? if you use a wood block deep enough, just drill the hole a touch oversize to suit the reamer, and bobs your uncle.

Chris Gunn

David, that's OK, I have several boxes I will never use, hence the offer.

Chris Gunn

David, I have some 1/32" pins if they are any help, PM me

Chris Gunn

Ken, not if you fit non return valves between the hand pump and injector feeds and the clack, so the injector and pump cannot feed back through the other.

Chris Gunn

Robjon, You are right about this scam, there was a warning about it on Moneybox or You and yours on the radio very recently. This seems to coincide with a push by Amazon to sign folks up to a free months trial of Prime.

Chris Gunn

Robin, no one has mentioned using coolant when reaming steel, I always do, it helps to wash the chips away, and helps the reamer cut.

Chris Gunn

Thanks Michael, I knew I could rely on you.

CG

I am still struggling with the average of 1 and 2 being 2

Chris Gunn

Hopper I too remember the drifts on every machine, lathes and drills. Very handy when doing multiple drilling operations on components when one had to change drills a lot.

We also used ours to "bang in" anyone who was late for work, as the offender walked up the machine shop everyone would bang on the machine drip trays with their drifts, and the sound of a hundred folk doing this meant the latecomer did not go unnoticed.

These were the days when if one clocked in 3 minutes after start time, one lost a quarter of an hours pay, but was still expected to start work as soon as they got to their machine.

Happy days, I think.

Chris Gunn

The Bambi compressors are not all designed for continuous use, some were designed for applications where small amounts of air are needed intermittently. The manual states that the machine "can get quite hot in operation", and also "not to let the oil get hotter than 100 degrees c", which is also quite hot. I have a copy of the manual if anyone wants one, please send a pm.

Chris Gunn

Karl, I meant to add that the club I belong to is specifically for road steam, we have no premises, we meet in a pub in the winter, and at rallies in the season. However for our subs of £35 you do get a steam test, and we are able to test 6" scale boilers within limits, which includes my 6" 4CD and some 6" Fodens. We are based in the Rushden area, but have 2 pre-season boiler testing weekends 1 near Bedford, and one at Northampton. we have a few members who travel 30 or 40 miles for the tests, when the time comes you would be welcome if you cannot find anyone that suits you close by.

Chris Gunn

Karl, I see you are keen on a Burrell, but I would recommend the 4" Garret from A N Engineering for a beginner, as the drawings are the best I have come across out of the 4 traction engines I have built. The castings are at a sensible price too.

Whichever example you decide upon, I would buy the whole set of castings at the same time if funds permit, then you have them no matter what. Check everything before you cut metal, castings, drawing and mating parts. Having all the castings to hand means you can machine all similar parts in one session, this saves time.

Make an item list once you have the drawings, and list the materials you will need, you can start collecting that as well.

Once you get started with all castings and materials to hand, then you can rattle on without waiting for parts and materials to arrive.

I would recommend AJB boilers for your steel boiler, but there will be a waiting list, so if you order the boiler when you order your castings it should be ready by the time you have machined the mating parts.

Good luck, and you can look forward to some fun when it is ready and you can rally it.

Chris Gunn

Thanks JAS for showing practically that a hexagon can be held in the 4 jaw self centering chuck, that will save some time in the future. As said before I used it a lot building my 4CD for all the clevises and rod ends from square stock, and am using it quite often right now on the 6" Ruston proctor I am finishing for the same purposes. Once one has such a chuck plenty of items are easier to make from square stock rather than round, but it depends what your interest is.

Chris Gunn

MIchael, I read it, but not 100% convinced by the drawing. I will have a go when I get a minute and report back.

Chris Gunn

I have one and find it handy making clevises and so on, it will grip round of course, but not hexagon. A lot will depend on what you make, if you work with square a lot, then it will save loads of time faffing about with an independent jaw chuck. I often use mine to make rod ends that need to be rectangular in section, I do all the turning and cross drillin and so on, then mill the square to a rectangle.

Chris Gunn