What Did You Do Today (2017)

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Mark – £40 – I wish. Here in South Somerset near Yeovil it's £53.50 for the year this year from March, or £100 for 2 years. Goes up every year. But it saves going to the local tip which costs £2 just to get in each visit in Crewkerne, rip off, charge brought in because of the 'savage cuts' or so they claim, they wanted to close the tip before we protested. Who are the customers?

[JimmieSParticipant @jimmies]

We (in that oasis of peace and good will called Northern Ireland) pay annual rates. Our bill is about £1200 a year for which we get 3 bins (household waste, paper and food/garden waste collected every 2 weeks. Access to the 'tip' is free and the council will collect up to 6 (?) items from the gate for around £15. In addition library services, water etc are said to be included in the rates bill.

Near to our dump is a scrapyard outside which a sign had recently been erected which reads 'we apologise but due to a change in regulations we can no longer sell scrap to the public.' However they can still sell parts from scrap cars!

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Missed a critical episode of the Archers so caught up today.

Rob Tichener finally got his come-uppance

Neil

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Bunny inspectors – who would believe it. Came across this. Some may remember Gerry Pournelle wrote for Byte magazine back in the seventies though I was more interested by Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar.

Edited By Bazyle on 05/02/2017 18:29:26

[Adrian GilesParticipant @adriangiles39248]

Not today but Tuesday, went up to Milton Keynes for a family funeral. Stayed in a hotel in Newport Pagnell, and went to Bletchley Park, amazing place! When you think that nearly nine thousand people worked there during the war, and they all kept what they did and knew to themselves for years afterwards, is astonishing. A real eye opener was the complexity and standards of engineering in those code-breaking "bombe" machines! Towards the end of the war they were producing up to two a week, at a cost of £7.5K each, bearing in mind that the house and grounds were bought by Mr Sinclair for just under £8K. Paid for it himself as the MOD prevaricated and he wanted to get going. Next day walked up the street to the Aston-Martin factory and had a look round their selection of second hand motors in the heritage centre, different engineering again, quite fancied a 1965 DB4, but couldn't quite justify the £795K they wanted for it, although it did come with a year's warranty.

[Anonymous]

A mixed weekend here. Saturday morning I scraped some Artex off the bathroom ceiling and sent it off for analysis to see it if contains asbestos. The result will determine what the builder can, and can't do, during the bathroom revamp. Also revisited the tile warehouse to confirm the tiles I want, and to check delivery.

Saturday being a reasonable day I cut the raspberries back and then started weeding and digging over the vegetable patch. In the evening I caught up on emails.

Sunday the digging continued; I've dug about three quarters of the patch. The years of adding grit and compost seem to be bearing fruit (!) as the ground is much easier to dig that it used to be. The first seven types of chilli seeds are sown and on the propagator on the kitchen windowsill.

This evening I've been experimenting with more Bourdon tubes. It's not as simple as it appears. They seem to have a tendency to unwind. Still that's probably better than not moving at all. I'm using thin wall tube, so I can always go up a gauge or two to prevent the unwinding.

Andrew

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Yesterday went to Cardiff (and popped in to see my Dad in Barry) as my Daughter had visit for a University open day (Time flies like an Arrow! Fruit flies like a banana!)

To get to the point, in Queen Street was a massive Galloper. Not massive… HUGE! It had two stories! Excuse rapidly grabbed phone photo!

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by Sam Longley 1 on 03/02/2017 19:03:50:

Posted by Mark P. on 03/02/2017 10:20:23:
We've just been told that the charge for our green waste bin is now 40 quid!
Mark P.

Edited By Mark P. on 03/02/2017 10:21:04

Just lob the grass & leaves in a hedge— could you really be fined for that ?. Not really "waste" in the true sense of the word , as in "old fridge" etc etc is it?

The council leave grass clippings by the road side when they cut the grass & are quite happy for their trees to shed their leaves into someones garden on a windy day. They also trim the hedges & leave the arisings in the ditch. So what is the difference?

The difference is a £400 fine for flytipping, as well as being totally antisocial**LINK**

[julian atkinsParticipant @julianatkins58923]

Hi Neil,

You ought to have popped in on your visit to Barry and Cardiff!

I saw the same Galloper in Queens Street Cardiff Friday afternoon.

Cheers,

Julian

[russellParticipant @russell]

despite the 35 C day on Saturday, I managed to 'unshorten' my sons corolla, being the meat sandwiched between 2 other vehicles when the rearmost declined to stop when the others did.

Very pleased, the boot lid lines up all around and locks and unlocks (almost) perfectly, having removed the 'overbite' caused by the shortening. Very useful things, hydraulic rams. If you have something to push against.

The trouble with older cars, minor damage results in an insurance writeoff…

-russ

[Simon CollierParticipant @simoncollier74340]

I converted a Hercus 4 jaw with backplate into a Myford 4 jaw without backplate. I made an adaptor from cast iron, screwcutting the Myford spindle nose thread and turning the register. The outside diameter was turned to a close sliding fit in the bore of the chuck body. I will Loctite it in tomorrow. The chuck was given to me, an ex-school one. The schools are closing down metal work these days because it is, apparently, too dangerous. Our club was given a 3-phase lathe and drill for the same reason. I have an excellent directly threaded Hercus 4 jaw, but not a 4 jaw for my ML 7. I'll probably never use it, but I wanted it for completeness. The threading was extremely difficult for me as you can't test it until you remove it. In fact I ended up removing it twice, and returned it and clocked it up and continued. Good fit in the end, if a bit ugly.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Posted by russell on 06/02/2017 02:29:27:

despite the 35 C day on Saturday, I managed to 'unshorten' my sons corolla, being the meat sandwiched between 2 other vehicles when the rearmost declined to stop when the others did.

Very pleased, the boot lid lines up all around and locks and unlocks (almost) perfectly, having removed the 'overbite' caused by the shortening. Very useful things, hydraulic rams. If you have something to push against.

In the old days we would find a large tree or gatepost and use the vehicle's momentum and large ropes / straps to pull things back out. Gone are those days of youthful exuberance, luckily….

[fishy-steveParticipant @fishy-steve]

Posted by Simon Collier 1 on 06/02/2017 09:17:15:

I converted a Hercus 4 jaw with backplate into a Myford 4 jaw without backplate. I made an adaptor from cast iron, screwcutting the Myford spindle nose thread and turning the register. The outside diameter was turned to a close sliding fit in the bore of the chuck body. I will Loctite it in tomorrow. The chuck was given to me, an ex-school one. The schools are closing down metal work these days because it is, apparently, too dangerous. Our club was given a 3-phase lathe and drill for the same reason. I have an excellent directly threaded Hercus 4 jaw, but not a 4 jaw for my ML 7. I'll probably never use it, but I wanted it for completeness. The threading was extremely difficult for me as you can't test it until you remove it. In fact I ended up removing it twice, and returned it and clocked it up and continued. Good fit in the end, if a bit ugly.

Loctite is good stuff but I wouldn't trust it for that application.

Steve.

[Anonymous]

Posted by Bazyle on 05/02/2017 18:28:49:

Bunny inspectors – who would believe it. Came across this. Some may remember Gerry Pournelle wrote for Byte magazine back in the seventies though I was more interested by Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar.

Indeed I do remember Chaos Manor and Circuit Cellar. I started reading Byte in the mid 1970s when it was still a good mix of hardware and software. I can't remember when I dumped my subscription, but it was after the magazine had dropped Circuit Cellar and primarily became a software reviewer.

Andrew

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 06/02/2017 10:41:15:

Posted by Bazyle on 05/02/2017 18:28:49:

Bunny inspectors – who would believe it. Came across this. Some may remember Gerry Pournelle wrote for Byte magazine back in the seventies though I was more interested by Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar.

Indeed I do remember Chaos Manor and Circuit Cellar. I started reading Byte in the mid 1970s when it was still a good mix of hardware and software. I can't remember when I dumped my subscription, but it was after the magazine had dropped Circuit Cellar and primarily became a software reviewer.

Andrew

I used to read a mate's BEEBUG

Neil

[Swarf, Mostly!Participant @swarfmostly]

Posted by fishy-steve on 06/02/2017 10:26:48:

Posted by Simon Collier 1 on 06/02/2017 09:17:15:

I converted a Hercus 4 jaw with backplate into a Myford 4 jaw without backplate. I made an adaptor from cast iron, screwcutting the Myford spindle nose thread and turning the register. The outside diameter was turned to a close sliding fit in the bore of the chuck body. I will Loctite it in tomorrow. The chuck was given to me, an ex-school one. The schools are closing down metal work these days because it is, apparently, too dangerous. Our club was given a 3-phase lathe and drill for the same reason. I have an excellent directly threaded Hercus 4 jaw, but not a 4 jaw for my ML 7. I'll probably never use it, but I wanted it for completeness. The threading was extremely difficult for me as you can't test it until you remove it. In fact I ended up removing it twice, and returned it and clocked it up and continued. Good fit in the end, if a bit ugly.

Loctite is good stuff but I wouldn't trust it for that application.

Steve.

I'd suggest carefully drilling a hole at the junction between the chuck body and the insert and tapping for a grub-screw. Maybe 2 BA? Maybe four-off, angularly midway between the four large holes in the chuck body. On the same principle as the fixing of the gear on the back end of the ML7 arbor. Carefully check first to ensure that there's enough 'meat'.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

[Anonymous]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 05/02/2017 21:20:00:

Yesterday went to Cardiff (and popped in to see my Dad in Barry) as my Daughter had visit for a University open day (Time flies like an Arrow! Fruit flies like a banana!)

A good choice of university. But of course I'm biased as both my niece and nephew are there. My niece did her degree in ecology there and is now finishing off her Ph.D., and my nephew is in his final year reading piano and composition.

Andrew

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, just got home about an hour ago after going to Warrington with one of my workmates to finish off some servicing for one of our firms customers. We left the workshop at about 4.20 this morning and although it was a little cold it was nice and clear, but after we were travelling along the M62 away from the A1 we suddenly hit a big of fog.

The picture is a bit wobbly, but this was at 6.43 somewhere along the M62, but a fair way before that big concrete arched bridge that goes across the motorway at a bit of an angle. I got a couple of photos of that bridge on the way home, one from a bit of a distance and one a lot closer.

Fair amount of traffic around daybreak during the run up to the M60 with a half hour or so of slow traffic with a little bit of stop/start, but we got to the customer on time and successfully finished the servicing.

Regards Nick.

P.S. My mate was doing all the driving, just in case anybody is wondering.

 

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 06/02/2017 20:07:44

[Simon CollierParticipant @simoncollier74340]

Thanks Swarf, I had thought about scotch keys. I know people don't trust Loctite but with this large surface area, and the access to clean it properly with acetone, I'd bet money it would take any amount of torque an ML7 could throw at it. I think the bad reputation came from the widely held mistaken idea that Loctite required a gap to fill. A close sliding or light push fit is correct, leaving only micro structure to fill.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

That would be the Scammonden Bridge near Saddleworth. I passed it twice myself today on the way to Huddersfield and back. Miserable wet weather today, even by local standards.

Murray

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Muzzer on 06/02/2017 10:16:10:

Posted by russell on 06/02/2017 02:29:27:

despite the 35 C day on Saturday, I managed to 'unshorten' my sons corolla, being the meat sandwiched between 2 other vehicles when the rearmost declined to stop when the others did.

Very pleased, the boot lid lines up all around and locks and unlocks (almost) perfectly, having removed the 'overbite' caused by the shortening. Very useful things, hydraulic rams. If you have something to push against.

In the old days we would find a large tree or gatepost and use the vehicle's momentum and large ropes / straps to pull things back out. Gone are those days of youthful exuberance, luckily….

I once straightened a mate's escort using the work landy and chain with a hook on it

I also heard the tale of the chap who used a rope around a lamp post – he replaced the bend in the front with one in the roof

Neil

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Posted by Simon Collier 1 on 06/02/2017 20:12:37:

Thanks Swarf, I had thought about scotch keys. I know people don't trust Loctite but with this large surface area, and the access to clean it properly with acetone, I'd bet money it would take any amount of torque an ML7 could throw at it. I think the bad reputation came from the widely held mistaken idea that Loctite required a gap to fill. A close sliding or light push fit is correct, leaving only micro structure to fill.

Its not a mistaken belief that Loctite requires a gap. Its true, sometimes!

There is Loctite and there is Loctite, numerous versions for different purposes and some are designed to fill gaps.

I would not like to use that chuck, regardless of the fit and how its chemically locked. I suggest that you make a thin (3 mm or preferably a bit more) disk that is trapped between your threaded bush and the spindle drive face, fasten it in the chuck rear recess with suitable screws in the existing bolt holes.

You might need to reduce the overall length of the bush you have made to get the full thread engagement back.

The hole in the plate could be clearance or a good fit on the spindle register, after all its an independent jaw chuck so less critical than a self centering one.

One disadvantage to your internal threaded sleeve is the slight loss of a large bore to the chuck but that might not be a problem depending on your usage.

Ian P

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Muzzer, thanks for posting the link about Scammonden Bridge, a very interesting little read, I've past by it a few times now in the last ten years or so and still think it's a wonderful bit on engineering, all be it civil, must have looked impressive during the construction with all that scaffolding and all. I dare say there are many hundreds of people who see it every day, but I still think it's awesome.

Regards Nick.

[Another JohnSParticipant @anotherjohns]

Re Byte magazine – I remember reading a letter by a certain "Bill Gates" whence he was complaining about people taking his software without paying for it. At the time I thought "he just doesn't get it – we share stuff for the better of all". (mid-70s timeframe)

Of course, he's relaxing with (most likely) a few people around to pour drinks, whilst I'm busy writing computer code, looking after a dog, and succeeded to miss my SM-EE Digital group Anymeeting today because just when I was trying to figure out how to get past one prompt, the dog indicated he needed out, and the rest, as they say, is history!

So, maybe Bill Gates did better than I did. 😐

Taking my frustrations out on something, I finished todays' coding, walked the dog, and now am gluing together my 3-1/2" gauge "Bobber" caboose kit, from fairweatherfoundry.com. It looks like it will be a nice, not too detailed but hard to damage addition to the hind end of my Shay locomotive.

Betcha Bill Gates doesn't have this much fun!

Edited By John Alexander Stewart on 06/02/2017 21:11:59

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Posted by Simon Collier 1 on 06/02/2017 20:12:37:

Thanks Swarf, I had thought about scotch keys. I know people don't trust Loctite but with this large surface area, and the access to clean it properly with acetone, I'd bet money it would take any amount of torque an ML7 could throw at it. I think the bad reputation came from the widely held mistaken idea that Loctite required a gap to fill. A close sliding or light push fit is correct, leaving only micro structure to fill.

Hi, I agree with Simon. Years ago during my maintenance years, the company I worked for, were having trouble with a helical pinion, holding on an electric motor shaft, which was driving a gear reduction box. The manufacturers of these boxes were consulted about the problem and recommended the use of Loctite in combination with the normal fit and they never came adrift again and had to be heated to the temperature in their data sheet, to remove them when a replacement motor was needed. These boxes had a very arduous work load. at a 24/7 stretch and sometimes longer period and the load per area of Loctite ratio, was far in excess of Simon's bush.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 06/02/2017 21:29:17

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