Workshop tips from long ago

[JimmieSParticipant @jimmies]

[JimmieSParticipant @jimmies]

Advice for engraving tools from a 1923 motorcycle magazine.

Procure one ounce of concentrated nitric acid from the chemist and a small piece of beeswax. Warm the tool in a stove, smear the beeswax all over it, and allow to cool. Then take a pen nib or some similar object and trace the characters to be engraved in the wax. When this is done pour a little of the acid on the wax where you have done the scratching and add just a pinch of salt. Leave for about 20 minutes and then wash the tool well in warm water. The letters cut in the wax will be found to be engraved on the surface of the tool.

Any more out there?

Edited By JimmieS on 23/05/2017 23:04:53

Edited By JimmieS on 23/05/2017 23:06:43

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Sounds perfectly reasonable … except, of course, that the process described is etching, not engraving.

MichaelG.

[JimmieSParticipant @jimmies]

Very true, but he was a motorcyclist after all.

Jim

[NJHParticipant @njh]

…….and today you can buy an electric engraver from around a tenner! – quite a bit safer too I feel!

Norman

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

One of my favorite old time tips is from Dykes' Automobile Encyclopedia of the same year. To get more life out of worn out piston rings, you can "put the tension back in it" by standing the ring edgewise on a steel block (vise) and peen around the inside diameter with a ball peen hammer.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Posted by Hopper on 24/05/2017 00:09:42:

One of my favorite old time tips is from Dykes' Automobile Encyclopedia of the same year. To get more life out of worn out piston rings, you can "put the tension back in it" by standing the ring edgewise on a steel block (vise) and peen around the inside diameter with a ball peen hammer.

Well, some years ago I acquired an old cable pressurisation compressor; oil-less with very worn PTFE piston rings,

At the time they were about £70 for a set of three, so I just packed them out with a sliver of coke can in the base of the piston ring groove as a short term measure.

Still runs fine, so I never did get round to buying/making more, but I did corrugate the sliver of can a bit to fill the space better..

[Eric ArthrellParticipant @ericarthrell78468]

Posted by Hopper on 24/05/2017 00:09:42:

One of my favorite old time tips is from Dykes' Automobile Encyclopedia of the same year. To get more life out of worn out piston rings, you can "put the tension back in it" by standing the ring edgewise on a steel block (vise) and peen around the inside diameter with a ball peen hammer.

We would use this method if we had slightly over rolled a piece of angle iron or iron ring to go around a boiler.

lay it flat on the floor ,walk around the ring tapping it with a sledge hammer would spring it out slightly.

[John FlackParticipant @johnflack59079]

Many years ago when I was mentored by an elderly JAP enthusiast as to the working of a rotary relief valve timing, he would at times wax lyrical about Manchester plate as a material. Sixty years have passed and I still have no idea what this material is, or even heard further mention of the material.

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

Gems of wisdom from the past. How about this link: **LINK**

It's every book published by the Industrial Press (of Machinery's Handbook fame) that is currently up on the Internet Archive. Most of the books are from 1900-1920, but information like that does not date. Sample titles:

• Lathe Bed Design
• Screw Cutting
• Spinning
• Milling fixtures
• Patternmaking
• Hobs and Gear Hobbing
• Screw Thread Cutting

Hang on, why are you still reading this & not diverted by the books in the link?

One of the best online resources you are likely to find.

Regards,

Richard.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Nice collection. You don't see so many "treatises" these days do you? They sound so earnest!

[Mike E.Participant @mikee-85511]

Use Lacquer Thinner to tap aluminium. Learned this 40 some years ago from an old machinist at Lockheed Aircraft.

[Chris GillParticipant @chrisgill22114]

Posted by Eric Arthrell on 24/05/2017 06:26:15:

We would use this method if we had slightly over rolled a piece of angle iron or iron ring to go around a boiler.

lay it flat on the floor ,walk around the ring tapping it with a sledge hammer would spring it out slightly.

I once saw something similar done in a pipe mill in the North-East (UK, that is). They had all the modern gear for the time (1970s) – X-ray machines, pressure testing and so on but they admitted they had no way to ensure that a pipe was truly round, as required for very high pressure work.

So they employed one little old man who was well past retirement and he spent his days walking up and down the pipes wearing heavy boots on his feet and carrying a sledge hammer over his shoulder. If he didn't like something he hit it. And they never had a complaint.

Sadly most of those industries are long gone.

[larry PhelanParticipant @larryphelan54019]

Reminds me of some of the hints and tips I saw in some very old books my Father had,called Home Mechanic,printed about 1900 or thereabouts. Some of the hints advised "Take six pennyworth of arsenic and a generous pinch of red lead ,from your local chemist,mix well together by hand and apply to whatever it was you were trying to repair. The book was full of useful tips like this ! Some of the stuff mentioned would get you arrested if you went looking for it today. H/SE Where are you ?

This of course was before "Super Glue" came along. If you ever come across any of those old books,they are well worth a read,for the casual way such things were regarded.

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

I wonder if a 3D printer could be used to 'draw' a beeswax or similar circuit onto copper pcb blanks?

Ed

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Ed Duffner on 05/08/2017 15:53:38:

I wonder if a 3D printer could be used to 'draw' a beeswax or similar circuit onto copper pcb blanks?

Ed

Probably, just make it one layer high and print it in PLA, should work if it adheres to the copper.

The resolution would be limited by the nozzle size though.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Sort of – but isn't the molten thread actually smaller than the nozzle bore, though? Something to do with the speed of the head being higher than the speed of the plastic through the nozzle. Haven't done the maths but that was my understanding….

Murray

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