Member postings for Greensands

Yes, my tins of the stuff have been on the shelf for some years. Belzona is still available in various forms and there is currently a supplier on ebay selling a two part product type reference 1221. Just wondering whether the 1221 Solidifier would be the answer to my problem

Hi - Can anyone suggest a possible source of Belzona Molecular "Fluid Metal" sold as a two part system for mixing and curing to a form a solid metal compound. Although rather old I have a decent stock of the Base component Product Code 619 but have completely run out of the Solidifier component Product Code 722. All suggestions most welcomed

Without wishing to hijack the post but at £15 I could be very tempted to have a punt on the Drawing Board App. It appears to offer all that I would want in a 2D system. Does anyone else have any practical experience using the system or perhaps other relevant observations?

Hi All - Many thanks for all the advice offered - Very helpful

I do have some Kester Organic Core Solder available, the end face of the reel being marked up as SN05PB93.5AGO1.5 #50 HF1189CF. Other than that, no obvious sign of of type of grade. It would appear to be a lead free solder but I have not been able to find out the melting point. Can anyone advise please.

Hi - Can anyone suggest the required grade of soft solder necessary to achieve a nice rounded fillet when for example soldering copper to brass. I am currently using a standard off-the-reel electrical grade of solder which in practice tends to be too fluid in use and does not produce the required fillet.

Duncan - Thanks for your reply. It means that I can live with my present valves with some reassurance that they should be OK in practice.

I am always happy with EKP Supplies. Never had a bad deal

Hi - I have made up a couple of tender water valves for the injector feeds on a 5"G locomotive and bench tests carried out on the valves with a head of water equivalent to the full tender height show a small but persistent leak. My question is - Is this of significance and what are the consequences of the feed pipes leading to the injector inputs filling up with water leaking past the valves?

In the absence of a die having a zero lead-in on the back face a useful dodge I have found certainly for brass, is to tap the mating female thread into a short length of BMS Hex stock and face off the end to leave a well defined cutting edge. Works well with brass.

Hi - I have a number of standard threading dies in the usual ME sizes, some of which have a generous lead-in on the front face for easy starting and effectively a zero lead in on the reverse face which is very useful when threading up to a shoulder. With more recent purchases I notice that dies now now come with a lead-in on both front and rear faces making it a lot more difficult to continue the thread up to a shoulder.

What I would like to be able to do is to grind off the lead-in from the back surface of these dies but in the absence of a surface grinder I am loathed to try any lash-ups for fear of having a disaster on my hands. What have been other peoples experiences in this regard and can anyone suggest a simple and safe way of achieving the desired effect.

I am in also two views as to whether annealing before bending is always a good idea and certainly with the more generous radii it is possible to achieve very good results bending by hand pressure alone using conviently available stub ends etc as mandrels.

The question was prompted by the statement made by Bill Bailey in his article - "Making of Union Nuts and Nipples" (ME 15/02/1985). End of fourth paragraph, page 189 - after describing his making of coned fittings there appears the statement "Injectors are a different matter"

Hi - Can anyone explain why model steam locomotive injectors as drawn by Gordon Chiverton and supplied by Pavier Steam amongst others have flat faced mating surfaces as opposed to the more usual 60 deg conical fitting? Why should it be that standard steam and water connections can be made with conical fittings but not injectors? I sure someone has the answer.

Hi Simon - Thanks for the info. Does anyone have a copy of Brian Wilson's book on the building of Eric? Have done a search oe ebay and other likely sources but to no avail. A previous post suggested that Brian Wilson was at one time a member of this forum. Has anyone had any recent contacts with him?

Hi Simon - Thanks for the info. I was rather hoping to use 3/8" Hex as in my opinion 7/16" hex nuts can look a bit 'clunky' on a 5"G model. One way around this I know is to use a stub or short length nipple in place of the standard design where the tail of the nipple passes out through the hex nut. The problem with usingthe standard design of nipple however is the precious lack space when using a 3/8" Hex nut.

Hi Jacob

I have always found that a 50% mixture of engine oil and paraffin for aluminium alloys, BMS and PB works well for me and for silver steel I have found nothing better than a 50% mixture of Neats Foot oil and paraffin for cutting silver steel.

I am sure this question has been asked many times before but can anyone suggest a useful source of information on the sizing and making of brass union nuts and pipe nipples for the typical range of copper tubing used in ME. My immediate requirement is for use with 3/16" diameter copper pipe using nuts turned from 3/8" brass hex.

Update - Have decided I might be pushing my luck with 26g tubing ((ex EKP) and have ordered up some 22g (ex maccmodels) as an alternative.

Photo of current pipe bender