marking / layout blue

[HomeUseParticipant @homeuse]

Hi Slotdriller – Thought it was superglue on toilet seats (Not E Blue)

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Well BillyMills, I was at the office laser copier the other day, and fed my A4 sheet of 1/8 plate into the cassette. There was a whirr, munch,crunch before the fuse in the plug blew. Ho Ho !! Marking blue versus Laser printers – I guess 'blue' is a little cheaper??

Anyone else got a laser printer for printing onto metal components ?

[simondavies3Participant @simondavies3]

For a number of years I used a spray can of layout blue which I found really useful when boring, cutting internal threads or 'on the job' indication of which bit was being machined and which was not…

About 6 months ago I dropped the can onto my (tiled) workshop floor where it landed at an angle on the nozzle and sheered it flush with the top of the valve…not best pleased..

since then I have been hunting without success for a replacement can (the original came from my local engineering supplier when I lived in the Netherlands)….any suggestions?

Simon

[SpringbokParticipant @springbok]

No under the toilet seat we used clingfilm for grandad….. seriosly a small bottle of blue will last years.

Bob

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Hi Simon,

Google Is Your Friend: "spray layout blue"

**LINK** – not cheap though!

Neil

[I.M. OUTAHEREParticipant @i-m-outahere]

Posted by HomeUse on 02/08/2013 09:06:50:

Hi Slotdriller – Thought it was superglue on toilet seats (Not E Blue)

I'm not that sinister!

I once supa glued a 10 cent coin to the concrete floor and watched in amazement as anyone who spotted it would nearly rip their fingernail off trying to pry it off the floor !

My Brother supa glued the boiler room radio to the top of the fridge as his co- worker had a compulsion to position it in a certain way and it had to be exactly right or it would drive him nuts, so he moved it a little and glued it down. This guy almost burst a p@@ valve trying to move it !

Anyhow back to the orginal post, I have some dye in a spray can but found it too messy for smaller work but great if you have many or really large items as you can paint the whole thing if needed .

Ian

[Stephen BensonParticipant @stephenbenson75261]

I have been drawing parts for my clock on Turbocad and printing them on my printer gluing them to brass and steel with great success. My Epson printer seems to hold a 0.1mm tolerance putting dots in the holes centres means I can use my optical centre punch to do the holes taking a lot of the boring work out out of the job, in fact I am quite in enjoying myself which is of course the point.

Steve

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Marking out is a lot of personal choice, some can use pens some need the old fashioned Dychem.

I still have nearly a full gallon of genuine Dychem but must admit I use the fat Pentel and Eddings pens as a matter of convenience.

These are my two tools of choice.

Just a standard el-cheapo pair of verniers with the points ground off and the moveable jaw backed off a tad on the grinder.

I find these very useful bits of kit.

[simondavies3Participant @simondavies3]

Neil,

thanks, I must have been using another set of terms to search. Unimpressed by the price but it has given me some thoughts about hunting locally (France), or for cheaper versions of the same thing. The cans are very useful but by the time they arrive with me the total bill is around 50£…

further research required I think!

Simon

 

Hi Simon, Google Is Your Friend: "spray layout blue" **LINK** – not cheap though! Neil

 

Edited By Simon0362 on 03/08/2013 07:33:41

[simondavies3Participant @simondavies3]

Posted by Stub Mandrel on 02/08/2013 19:40:14:

Hi Simon,

Google Is Your Friend: "spray layout blue"

**LINK** – not cheap though!

Neil

Neil,

thanks, I must have been using another set of terms to search. Unimpressed by the price but it has given me some thoughts about hunting locally (France), or for cheaper versions of the same thing. The cans are very useful but by the time they arrive with me the total bill is around 50£…

further research required I think!

Simon

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by Stephen Benson on 02/08/2013 22:56:18:

I have been drawing parts for my clock on Turbocad and printing them on my printer gluing them to brass and steel with great success.

Yes, I do the same. Drawing with Draftsight (free program) and printing on an HP laserjet. I think it is more accurate than I can achieve with a scriber. Best not to use cutting fluid though!

Russell.

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I use a marker pen, it does wash off easily so a good idea to put a few relevant center pops in befor cutting. PS I seem to remember making the stuff as an apprentice, shellac and meths come to mind.

[Geoff~Participant @geoff46085]

Hello from the 'sunny' Isle of Wight.

Found this…

"Mix 2/3 denatured alcohol 1/3 bullseye shellac add powdered Navy Blue Rit Dye to suit."

from..

**LINK**

Geoff~

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Only problem I'v had with a felt marker pen was when I rebuilt a Stuart S9, I thought I'd cleaned all the ink off, but there was enough still there to effect the paint, and I had to strip those parts, reclean them, and re-paint, I don't like painting, and I really don't like doing it twice. Ian S C

[MICHAEL WILLIAMSParticipant @michaelwilliams41215]

(1) Finding some blue for marking out is relatively a small problem – a much bigger one is contriving a scriber that actually does what you want it to .

The ordinary carbon steel scribers on common sale work moderately well but frequent sharpening is needed to maintain the nescessary sharp fine angle point .

Tungsten carbide scribers last much longer between sharpenings but never seem to produce crisp sharp lines .

Nowadays I use either a sewing needle or a small diameter HSS drill shank in a pin chuck – both work better that any bought scriber .

(2) When marking out relatively small components which need reasonably good accuracy I use surface plate and slips . One slip or a small number in a stack and scribe along top edge .

Slips need not be expensive bought ones – a collection of known size bars and shims will do most jobs .

MikeW

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

I know this is an oldish thread but I have been having fun and games trying to make my own marking (layout) blue, with hilarious results and thought maybe I could get some advice.

I want layout blue for large areas too big for felt pens. And I find felt pen rubs off the job too easily. And being blind in one eye and can't see out of the other, copper sulphate does not make a clear enough medium for me. But I live in a remote small town so cant buy any layout blue and cant get inflamables shipped in from the outside world.

So I read in an old book, which I cant remember exactly which one now, that you could make marking blue out of blue oil paint and methylated spirits (denatured alcohol if you live on the western Atlantic). So I bought a nice tube of artist's blue oil paint and squeezed some into a jar and poured in some metho. The oil paint just sits there like a blob of grease on the bottom of the jar and the metho does not mix with it AT ALL. Even after stirring it up, breaking up the "slug" of paint and shaking the jar vigorously, within minutes I have a slug of blue paint in the bottom and clear metho again in the rest of the jar. I mean, this stuff does not mix at all.

I wonder if the old book I read (could have been Sparey or Bradley etc) meant oil paint powder?? Does such a thing exist? Or is oil paint made from some unsoluable synthetic goop in this day and age?

I looked for methylene blue powder as mentioned in this thread earlier but none of that locally either.

Just wondering if anyone can throw any light?

Edited By Hopper on 06/03/2014 13:59:00

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Well no expert in oil paint blue or otherwise. .but oil paint will be oil based…unlikely to be soluble or miscible with meths ./ denatured alcohol. . ( pure alcohol maybe but not the watery stuff of today)
I guess the aim is to thin the paint with something
that “drys” rapidly ..
What about white spirit..( uk name).?

.two nations divided by one language….

[MICHAEL WILLIAMSParticipant @michaelwilliams41215]

Hi ,

Oil paint dissolves in Turps / white spirit or Linseed oil but not in meths .

Standard method in industry for coating large areas for marking out was to use whitewash . Still ok but thinned down emulsion would probably be just as good .

Regards ,

MikeW

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

You want nothing that flakes !, Snopake is OK for smaller areas if thinned a bit. Layout blue is available from Reeves 2000. It is a bit messy and dries quite quickly. Marker pens are OK and I have used the Queen marking pens that come in colours though a bit expensive. You can find them in Thornes or Maisimore bee cats. Most times just a line where you want tp mark out is enough.

Clive

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Earlier on in this thread ;- Meths, flake shellac and blue pigment ( or any colour you like.) You want something that will clean off easily, don't use oil paint or white acrylic type paints. Whitewash is good for castnigs etc. and easily made from lime and a drop of water.

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

100gms of copper sulphate delivered a week ago from ebay seller – less than 2 quid. Mixed some up and placed in 35mm plastic film case. I've already used it to mark out a few jobs and 100 gms will last me for ever.

On the subject of lining out, its all very well for some who claim that lining out and centre popping are not for them – they do it with the "DRO", but how many of us have a DRO fitted to our bench/pillar drills? (I bet there's bound to be one).

Rik

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

I have used blue layout fluid for donkeys years and still prefer it to marker pens,a big bottle lasts me about twenty years so I dont expect to buy another one, blue is a bit like mustard most of it gets spilt or wasted, When I was doing my weekly stint at technical college studying for city &guilds ,the lads were having a laugh prior to classes starting ,when i walked in one chap said have a look at so and so,well his hair had a good tinge of blue apparently this lad was not to fond of soap and water and his workmates fed up with the pong had up ended a full bottle ,over a pint,over him so he would have to have a wash,

[Geoff StevensonParticipant @geoffstevenson56049]

Shellac flakes and metho and mythylene blue from an artists supply shop will do the job.. Watch out for mythylene blue though.. the damn stuff will end up everywhere if you are not careful.. Ok if you like the colour all over your workshop.. It takes a long long time to wear off…

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Thanks for the suggestions. I shall try another art shop for this mysterious methylene blue powder.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Hopper,

It may be worth a look at this Wikipedia page …

and then at Fred Aldous

MichaelG.

.

Edit: for reference;  here is the Dykem page

 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 08/03/2014 04:46:53

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 08/03/2014 05:02:12

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