Forgotten engineering techniques

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

"Forgotten engineering techniques"

If they were truly forgotten then nobody would know about them, the fact that these are remembered they are not forgotten.

Bob

[mickParticipant @mick65121]

Before tapping compounds became widely available, tallow was the only medium, apart from 3 in one oil, we had to assist cutting threads.

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

Using lead as a filler on car bodies is still being done. I am often called on to perform this task on vintage cars. many years ago Rolls Royce allowed 120 lb of lead per car on the Silver cloud & Bentley "S" series. Rolls Royce also helped to develop the body filler that is so common today, for use on the aluminium doors, bonnet, and boot lids.

Cheers Derek.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

When I were a mere lad (long ago), we used to have beef dripping spread on toast, put a bit of salt on it the take the greasiness off.

That lot should have the healthy eating brigade spluttering into their salad!

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

You still get that in sandwich shops in sheffield

Called a dripping cake

Breadcake/bap/roll spread with either white fat or brown fat and salted

or you can have a hot pork sandwich "dipped" in molten pork fat rather than butter

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I find a new step drill will make a very nice 1" hole whether an existing pilot hole is present or not

Lard is also a good lube for metal spinning

Never used to dilute Tallow, just drag the teeth of the tap over the surface so it picks some up and away you go. same with a woodscrew dragged over soap or candle wax to help it in

J

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

All this talk of lard , i remember reading somewhere that rancid butter was used as a cutting/tapping compound for some metals, aluminium i think.

[Roger Williams 2Participant @rogerwilliams2]

Marmite and dripping on toast, bloody marvellous. Probably better for you than you think !

[“Bill Hancox”Participant @billhancox]

Whoah Guys! I am trying to recover from both the solid and liquid excesses of Christmas past. So far I think I have gained 10 pounds just reading these posts and my arteries are quivering.. Must try Ian's suggestion of beeswax and emery. Sounds like a durable combination. I sometimes use crocus cloth with a few drops of mineral oil for a final mirror finish on some of my work. I have been using chalk on my files for years. I learned the hard way. There is nothing so disturbing as to be spend hours carefully draw filing pits from a gun barrel only to have the job fritzed by a chip lodged in the file. The large sticks of sidewalk chalk that they sell in toy stores work very well. At yard sales and flea markets, I keep an eye out for the older sticks. They contain lead (now prohibited I believe) which causes the chalk to adhere nicely to the file or any other surface. Rub it on a piece of paper or the vendor's table. If most of it stays on the paper when you blow on it, it probably contains lead. A rub of chalk and a good file card every few strokes will always result in a far more satisfactory finish to the work at hand.

Bill

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

In Morrison's today and they are selling tubs of pork dripping near the cooked meats. Looks about 75% white fat with 25% brown jelly.

Originally, margarine was made from beef fat although it's been exclusively vegetarian for years AFAIK, apart from that stuff "you can't believe" which includes cream (Milk Marketing Board wheeze).

Murray

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I thought it was whale oil that used to be in margarine?

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 11/01/2015 10:33:37:

Using chalk on a file to stop getting burrs sticking to the teeth, when using emery or wet & dry use bees wax for a superior finish.

Clive

The best chalk to use is "French Chalk" which is mined in the mountains near here; **LINK**. More correctly called talc and available very cheaply as talcum powder. I keep a bottle of "Baby Powder" in the workshop for use on files. Particularly effective when filing aluminium.

Russell.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

When I was a boy one of the delights was 'lardy cake', a rich, sugary current-heavy bun.

One of teh few things I miss as a veggie, along with kidneys and proper jelly.

Neil

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Re- the Lard, when I first joined the army as an army apprentice the Companies rotated on fatigues. A couple of times I was sent to the butchers shop for my fatigue duty, very cushy as i got to ride the grocers bike with the big front carrier. At the start of the afternoon when all the cutting had been done the scraps were put through the mincer and then into a big copper and heated up and the melted fat run off. I was sent to deliver quality cuts of meat to the RSM's wife and several Officers qtrs. Then the fat had set and it was sent to the cookhouse for use there.

Clive

[Larry Coleman 1Participant @larrycoleman1]

Ouballie

Back in the old days you were tested on how much you can remember not your actual ability. Now at the uni here they have a system called Project Based Learning and your final pass & fail is based on what you did through the year. Its a good system.

Dusty & Jason

Stepped drills are really good but I I don't have one and I only brought that trick up so we can pass it on to the new people taking up the hobby. If you are just taking up the machining hobby I believe it is our obligation to assist you if you need help.

Lofty

Yes I am well aware of scribe and reverse but you will never get a better reading than a cylinder square and looking at the blade against a light source. Cylinder squares are easy to make on the lathe and if you have time to spare providing the OD is parallel and you machine the end in the same setting you can not miss.

In regards to the lard I remember that being used with my grandfathers pipe threading machine for gal pipe and it worked well. I don't know what is in the new tapping grease but it really stinks it may be lard but I think it also has a sulfur additive.

Larry

[Michael Cox 1Participant @michaelcox1]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 11/01/2015 19:11:49:

When I was a boy one of the delights was 'lardy cake', a rich, sugary current-heavy bun.

One of teh few things I miss as a veggie, along with kidneys and proper jelly.

Neil

Neil you have just rekindled some long suppressed and forgotten passion. As a student in Bath I can remember buying lardy cake in the local bakers. I am sure it must have had some addictive substance in it since once started it was impossible to stop eating it. Happy days.

Mike

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

Posted by Larry Coleman 1 on 11/01/2015 20:37:41:

Lofty

Yes I am well aware of scribe and reverse but you will never get a better reading than a cylinder square and looking at the blade against a light source.

I expect you are Larry, but I was posting a simple option for those that may not have a cylinder square (which in itself could be 'out' )

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Cheap and readily available cylinder square is a gudgeon pin out of an engine.

They will be far more accurate than anything you can make at home, hardened to boot.

I have a couple out of big diesels, we used to just throw these away as the clean alloy piston was worth more for scrap without it.

Edited By John Stevenson on 11/01/2015 21:59:39

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

Posted by Russell Eberhardt on 11/01/2015 18:16:37:

Posted by Clive Hartland on 11/01/2015 10:33:37:

Using chalk on a file to stop getting burrs sticking to the teeth, when using emery or wet & dry use bees wax for a superior finish.

Clive

The best chalk to use is "French Chalk" which is mined in the mountains near here; **LINK**. More correctly called talc and available very cheaply as talcum powder. I keep a bottle of "Baby Powder" in the workshop for use on files. Particularly effective when filing aluminium.

Russell.

I'm fairly sure that Talc has not been used in 'Talcum Powder' for a number of years. Natural Talc contains Asbestos. The modern replacement for this material is processed vegetable starch.

Dave

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by daveb on 11/01/2015 23:30:34:

I'm fairly sure that Talc has not been used in 'Talcum Powder' for a number of years. Natural Talc contains Asbestos. The modern replacement for this material is processed vegetable starch.

.

Interesting

MichaelG.

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Talcum powder is still talcum powder/

Fom wikepaedia

The studies reference, by subject: pulmonary issues,^[11] lung cancer,^[12][13] and ovarian cancer.^[14] One of these, published in 1993, was a US National Toxicology Program report, which found that cosmetic grade talc containing no asbestos-like fibres was correlated with tumour formation in rats (animal testing) forced to inhale talc for 6 hours a day, five days a week over at least 113 weeks.^[12] A 1971 paper found particles of talc embedded in 75% of the ovarian tumors studied.^[15] Recent research questions if a link does actually exist between the two. ^{[16] [17]}

From searches on talc BP

(pharmacuetical grade) shows several compnaies producing purified takc for that sector

pgk

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

Indeed so, find an asbestos mine and close by will be a talc mine. We wont have the stuff in the house! Im a qualified biochemist and my wife a doctor!

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

IIRC, the mechanism that causes asbestosis is repeated scarring of the lung tissues due to the unique particle (fibre) size of asbestos, particularly the blue variety. For other materials, smaller particles are caught in the mucus lining the lungs and cleared by the natural ejection of sputum. Larger particles are caught by the cilia etc in the respiratory passage and are prevented from getting down to the lungs. Unfortunately, asbestos has a rather unique particle size that defeats both mechanisms and can get permanently lodged in the lungs where it repeatedly injures the surrounding cells. Eventually the scar tissue builds up and causes problems including increased risk of cancer and mesothelioma. The fibres themselves are actually inert.

No idea how talc compares with asbestos in terms of particle size or if it's a chemical hazard but breathing anything other than clean air can't be a benefit. Presumably it's a very wide range of sizes but the smaller particles seem to be able to work their way almost anywhere in the body.

Time may tell how healthy it really is to inhale clouds of propylene glycol aerosol ("vaping&quot. Although it's got to be better than inhaling any kind of proper smoke, it must condense back again in the lungs and get expelled out again eventually, or ingested. It's been used for years in "smoke" machines and is presumably well understood but not at these high concentrations.

Merry

[John OlsenParticipant @johnolsen79199]

Tallow is carted around in New Zealand in tankers like the ones used to take petrol to the petrol station. The freezing works produce it in quantity and I presume most of it gets exported for various purposes. I'm sure I could get you guys a few tonnes if you want it.

We used it when restoring the 1877 Beam engine at MOTAT here in Auckland. The piston on the condensate pump is packed with rope which is soaked in tallow. The bore was also wiped with tallow on assembly and the guy who climbed inside the bore to do it also ended up well soaked in tallow. The bore would be about thirty inches in diameter.

John

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Can't remember where I heard/read it, it refered to a factory in England over one hundred years ago, and the use of stale beer as cutting fluid on lathes, and collecting the slops from the local pubs.

Ian S C

[Author]

Posts