Shed Matters 3

[Stanley]

OG is great! Ian has been, says he thinks it is repairable and has taken it away.... Better service than the DVLA.....

[PanBiker]

Owt's better than the DVLA Stanley in my experience. I'll give it a coat of looking at.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

A bit of a potter in the shed this morning. I have been thinking for a while that I wanted to put my buffing mop on Johnny's big lathe so this morning I did it. I have also shifted the belts to give me the highest speed possible. I think by moving the motor belt as well I have got about 2,000rpm. Ideally I would like a dedicated bench mounted high speed motor with the buffing wheel and a wire wheel on it but I haven't got the space without having it outside on the welding bench and I don't fancy that, exposed to the weather. So this will do for the time being!

[Stanley]

Back to the clock.... I started the reassembly. Ian has made a tidy job of the coil.



I will leave you to guess how long it took me to get it reassembled.... Suffice it to say it wasn't easy! Once I got it to this stage I plugged it in and you won't be surprised to hear that Ian's repair is fine, no dead short and I could feel the armature of the clock buzzing so it is doing its job and energising the mechanism. Only problem is that otherwise it is dead as a dodo. I fiddled with it for about twenty minutes checking everything and finally came to the conclusion that whatever the fault is, it isn't the coil or the armature, something else is sadly wrong. It was decision time!



It didn't take long to decide its fate! I got my pot out that I keep clock parts in, stripped the clock down and saved what might come in useful in future and binned the rest. That's that sorted!



Then I had a clean up, put all the tackle away and installed a new tablecloth. The world is my oyster now. I don't feel I have failed, I did my best, Ian did a good job clearing one fault and I couldn't fathom out what else was wrong. No shame in admitting defeat. Better to box on and do something useful. So sorry lads, no triumph but no tragedy either!

[PanBiker]

Never mind, worth the try, some you win some you loose. Onward and upward Stanley.

[Stanley]

Quite right Ian and my view exactly. The good thing is that your repair was 100% successful, I could feel the armature buzzing with the AC frequency which is just what should have been the case but unfortunately it wasn't being translated into motive power! I know when I am beaten. Thanks for your help, and as you say, onwards and upwards!

[Stanley]

Too long since I was in the shed. Good reasons for it of course and I'm still in the present round of treatment but the spirit moved me this morning and I went in for a potter. Nothing more than that but still in the shed!
In the days when I was doing a lot of work out of the back of the van and on location I basically had two tool kits and one part of that was travelling sets of drills. Over the years since I have gradually integrated the 'outside tools' with the shed but it struck me the other day that I had some drill sets that never got touched, most of them metric. At the same time I had a proper metric drill set box in the shed which was underpopulated so this morning I put that right. All I did was identify all the drills and put them in the right places in the drill section of my cabinet.
As I say, nothing ground-breaking but it scratched an itch and got me in the shed for half an hour. In terms of the last few weeks, this is progress!

[chinatyke]

Just reminded me of a story. Whenever any of the ex-pats are doing a return trip to UK we ask around to see if anyone wants anything. One of my pals asked me to bring him back a decent drill bit and gave me the full details. Most Chinese ones aren't very good but they are cheap enough to be expendable items. I duly bought one and was amazed because it cost 6 or 8 quid, I forget now. The bloody thing was confiscated at Manchester airport because it was in my carry-on bag!

[Stanley]

Good drills, bought retail individually are very expensive. I always tended to buy sets and wait until there were clearance offers. In large sizes, best source is the stalls at steam rallies etc. Good brands can be bought cheap and if sharpened properly are just as good as new stock. Many other consumables are the same, try buying one All Hard Eclipse HSS hacksaw blade!

[Big Kev]

I learn something new every day, just seen a vertical lathe on the TV, it's for making snooker cues and being vertical it takes the 'wobble' out of the cue while it's being turned. A simple idea that works

[Stanley]

Variation on a vertical mill Kev. Vertical borer is the same but a larger version. Most cue makers use a normal lathe......

[Stanley]

China, I realised yesterday that I hadn't responded to your query about bolt-cutters versus abrasive cutting discs. Cutting wheels can be handy but always involve sparks and abrasive dust. I have burned holes in more than one pair of overalls! For many jobs the bolt cutters are far more quick and effective and no dust or heat. Apart from simple lateral cuts of studs, bolts chain etc. they can be very handy for splitting jammed and rusted nuts using a vertical or longitudinal position. Quicker that a standard nut-splitter. So, no plugging in and using leccy, just one clean cut. I am going to swap the present standard jaws for the hard jaws I have as a spare so they will cut high tensile and hardened steel. Just the job if you have lost the key to a good padlock!

[chinatyke]

Thanks for the explanation. And today I've used my angle grinder to cut off some embedded anchor bolts, cleaning a wall in preparation for tiling. It takes 110 mm diameter discs. Frightens me using the thing!

[Stanley]

They are savage beasts China and I am always very careful using them. Possibly the most dangerous tool in the shed. Trouble is they are so useful!

[Stanley]

I must be better today, I went in the shed this morning and attacked the odd jobs that have built up.



Here's the piste! The first one is the re-framing of my two Craven Bank Notes. I went in the front room the other day where they hung on the wall and the frame was empty, the bottom stile of the frame had given way and everything had fallen out. Luckily the glass hadn't broken. That was the first job, wash the glass.



I won't bore you with all the stages but here we are after sticking the wood joints with superglue and reinforcing all the corners with a staple across each. Then using the framing nails to fasten the back in and finishing off with a border of masking tape all round and a new nylon string. Rehang in the front room and box on, next job.



For years Jack's ball has lived on top of the fridge in the kitchen and after losing one down the back I used this offcut of pipe as a holder to locate it. I have never liked it, sharp edges and gets rusty. I had this lump of plastic about my person, I think it's polyethylene.



A short while afterwards after making a mess on the lathe, I have a much more satisfactory holder that will never rust or scratch the paint on the fridge.
There you are, not big jobs but I am back in the shed and it feels good. As you can see from the first pic, I have some more little jobs to occupy me.

[Stanley]

I realised yesterday that for some reason I had forgotten to post on the day's activities....



You won't be surprised to hear that my first job was to clean Mrs Harrison, plastic swarf and horrible blue stringy chips.



I have decided to replace the perfectly serviceable normal 950 jaws in the big bolt cutters with the spare 950H jaws I have which will deal with anything I throw at them. First job was to strip the old jaws out of the cutters and then separate them. I got the first retaining bolt out after a bit of a struggle, it was very tight. Then I attacked the second bolt and it is as fast as a thief! I threw everything at it but couldn't shift it.



My final blow was to get some heat into it and melt some candle wax on it, hot tallow can be the best penetrating fluid there is. I have left it there soaking all night and this morning I'll attack it again. My fall back is that if I can't shift it I shall just reassemble the cutters as they are after a good clean. They are after all, perfectly serviceable, the old jaws are in good condition. I shall report later!

[Stanley]

Back to my problem. Despite sitting all night in penetrating oil and tallow, no trace of movement. So, In the hope that the trouble was a burr on the bolt where it emerged through the back retaining plate I polished off the raised portion and tried again. It moved slightly, I could tell by the polishing marks but the improvement was less than marginal so I cut my losses.



I cleaned the parts and rebuilt the jaws and plates. After all they are perfectly good.



Here's the end result, a pair of cutters that will cut up to 1/2" of mild steel rod, that's quite a valuable resource to have in the shed. I can settle for that!

[Stanley]

Here's this mornings job. Cleaning and checking this Tangye Hydramite 5 ton jack. Little bigger than my pint pot. First job was to clean the exterior than take it to bits.



This was a bit of a surprise, an expansion bag connected to a breather hole in the lid to cope with the displacement of hydraulic oil inside the jack as the ram moves.



Stripped down as far as we need. Everything in good condition but the oil was a bit dirty so I cleaned the interior and refilled it with new oil as I rebuilt it. Surprising how much tackle I needed including the big Bahco adjustable. The impact driver was a life saver for the refilling plug, it was fast as a thief!



Once it was back together I made a new handle for it. If you look carefully inside the socket where the handle fits you'll see a square in the bottom. This is the release valve and to operate it you need a 1/2" square on the end of the jack handle. I shall mill that tomorrow. The jack is working just fine.

[Stanley]

Had an hour in the shed and finished the jack handle off.







First I cut the square on the end of the handle and then after trying that out I knurled the end of the handle to give a better grip. Last pic is a fully functioning 5 ton jack with custom made handle. That'll do for this morning!

[Stanley]

First job was to make space on the shelves for the jack and its handle and stow it away tidily.



This morning I shift my attention to another accessory that came with my old compressor, the tyre inflation tool. When I am running my engines I always have to have a jury rig to get air to them. I have never got round to doing something about it. The aim is to have a valve I can control and a flexible hose all fitted up with a standard plug in nipple that fits the connectors on the new compressor. First job was to cut the connector for the Schraeder valve on the tyre off and fit the quick connect nipple.



I don't need the pressure gauge on the fitting so that has to come off and I need a plug for the resulting hole. I did all my measuring and identified it as BSP 1/4", found the die in my treasure chest and sorted out a piece of stock. Then it dawned on me that if I searched I probably already have a plug. I was feeling a bit fatigued (not uncommon these days!) so I decided to knock off and do that tomorrow.....

[Stanley]

I managed just over half an hour. I had a good furtle and found a plug that only needed a bit of attention to make it fit.





I admit to being a dinosaur when it comes to jointing compound, it doesn't get much more old fashioned than this. Probably illegal today as I suspect the red colour is old fashioned red lead.



This was knocking off time. All tools put away, the plug installed and tested. I can think about the next little job now.....

[Stanley]

First job was the highly technical task of driving a nail into the edge of a convenient shelf to hang the modified tyre inflater on.



Then I addressed something that cropped up when I was having a furtle for the jack etc. the other day. I came across several padlocks that hadn't got a key. I brought out the old bait tin that has all my lock associated items in it and spread the contents out so I could root through them. Don't ask me how I have accumulated this many keys, it baffles me but there you are. There were some interesting ones, for instance I had three of the keys for RAC boxes that you used to get when you joined.



This one has happy associations. It's for the first Lancia Fulvia I had and scrapped when it finally gave up the ghost. I scrapped it myself because I wanted the engine and gearbox for the second Fulvia I bought.



About an hour later I had four good padlocks with matching keys attached to them. Not a bad result and the added advantage that my old bait tin is tidy now as it contains nothing but keys and working locks. All the other items that were in there are sorted and tidied away to join their fellows in the various treasure chests.
Not a biggie but very satisfying. I can start thinking about writing articles now as my shed itch is temporarily scratched.

[Stanley]

Sorry for the hiatus lads, I am writing articles for the paper, I need to build up the stockpile again. I shall return!

[Stanley]

I went into the shed this morning for a purposeful potter.



Here's what triggered me off. As you know I never walk past what might be a useful bit of stock. I found this this morning as I was walking Jack, cast iron and a good weight so into my pocket.







Apart from anything else it was a good chance to give the Banggood cutters an outing and they did well. I cleaned the exterior up and then bored it to a good clean finish. It's good clean tight cast iron and free-cutting. Nice piece of metal and well worth saving.



Here's the result, a useful bit of stock and when it's needed and pops out of the treasure chest everyone will give a cheer. By the way, the rubber was a bit of a surprise, it was bonded onto the face if the casting and not a CI spigot as I thought.



The last job was to give Mrs Harrison a good clean. Cast iron dust needs to be taken off straight away. As you may be aware I do not share in what seems to be a very widespread hatred of CI. I reckon it's all right as long as you clean up afterwards. I think this is because I am used to seeing people like Newton who worked with cast iron all his life and the machines he worked on, I bought one of their lathes when they finished. All right the machines wore but so do all hard worked machines and I could never see that the wear was excessive.
Anyway, Mrs Harrison is still a tight lathe and I have been cutting CI on it occasionally for 40 years. I think it will last me out!