Member postings for old Al

my one, is where something is described as 'rare'. This just means, dont buy it, you wont find anything else to fit it.

The other one is where photos are upside down. That means, im trying to hide something thats can be seen in a regular photo and lazy people wont bother to examine too closely.

Its still fun to look and enjoy others attempts at adding that extra bit of sparkle to something that would be skipped before the site started. buyer beware. anybody want to buy a car. rust free, im only charging for the good bits!

If you want a TIG outfit, spend a little more and get one with an impulse start. Scratch start ones are not good. TIG is an art, but, with a bit (lot) of practice, you can get some really good results. Give 'Welders Warehouse' a ring.(on the internet somewhere). they have been very helfull to me.

I junked my mig for doing welding on models and the other thing i did was junk the non refillable gas bottles.Check the availability of gas in your area.

Cant do without my tig now.

Best of luck

Yes a recording of the noise would be useful. Our machines are capable of a full symphony of noises

Im not a fan of Chinese tooling. I curently have a Brigeport mill-short table, a Colchester student lathe and 2 Myford 7 lathes.

I started with a Warco minor mill and a myford. The mill did its job and the support i had from Warco was second to none and i didnt even buy it from them, i got it second hand. The mill got me going, it earnt me a few bob and fitted size wise well in my workshop. At the time of my model engineering career, i was very pleased with it.

The worst you can do is buy a machine that is too small for what you need, the second worst is buying a machine that is far to big for your needs and filling your valuble space with something that 'will come in handy one day'

Rotating photos................

I have a policy, that anything that needs rotating is hiding something and therefore not worth looking at in the first place.

It is generally motorbikes on EBAY i look at, but its simple basic good avertising, or am i just old fashion or just too lazy to do it for myself.

Now, just think. If a 4 jaw chuck was invented today, every jaw would have to be a different colour. wouldnt that make life easier

most 4 jaw chucks have a manufacturers label on the face of the chuck.

Use the jaws adjacent to the label if you are doing repetition type work. Maybe mark the bit of work with felt tip to coincide with the label, if it has to go back after another operation.

Yes you wear two jaws out quicker than the other two. And in my life time, i dont think i will notice.

Why cant you bore the hole

I cant believe the amount of people that actually purchase catalogues. If a company has something to sell me, they have to tell me they can supply it.

If model engineers stopped buying catalogues, firms would have to start giving them away again. The suppliers i use give me cataloges whist others buy them.

Imagine if tool suppliers charged for catalogues or even Tesco.

If i dont know a firm sell it and another does, who gets my business?

Go find all of your 4 jaw jobs and do them first. getting the machine warm in the process, might take 3-4 hours of doing stuff. Then try and undo the thread. Dont do it the quick way and put a blowlanp on it.

the inside jaws will have one number on them and the outside jaws will have another number on them. What you have sounds correct

some boiler examiners think they are God.

They have an important job to do, but some just want to make their own rules cos they dont understand what is already written.. glad our last one left !

From how i see it, a new boiler going for its first shell test should have all holes simply plugged, ie no fittings on it including blow down valves

Whats wrong with really sharp tools, worked in industry years ago

Oooh, that looks scary. Thanks for sharing the info and photos.

Take the wheel to a proper engineering shop and see what their response is. Im with all of the above. You only need to see one burst to understand.

Joining a club also opens up a huge volume of free information and fault finding knowledge. We have people without cars and they get welcomed into our club and get ferried around to all sorts of places.

£20 for membership, free boiler tests and help when it fails-------------------------bargain

Send it back

Why send anything back. Their is no manufacturing fault in either the toolpost or the parting tool. It is the bringing together of the two parts that has created the problem. Engineering is all about bringing bit together.

If you were in the South east, i would happily bung the toolpost, or parting tool holder on my mill and do the job for you. Im sure you would find someone at you local model club equally ameanable to do a quick job for you. We are a friendly bunch really.

Im with Peter Neil.

The threads would have work hardened when they were made and running a die down them again will blunt dies quicker than anything, even with the best of fluids.

Sounds like a good earner, but their will be tears.

Martin

You disengage the screw thread indicator to save wear. The same reason to disengage the gearbox when not in use.

Screwcutting can be very frustrating and great fun. But i would suggest getting someone to show you how its done first. reading books make it look so difficult.

Hi

Just seen Jim c posts

I fabricated my crankshaft, its a bit of a lump.