Recent content by Ed T

Thanks for taking the time to reply and for the experience based insight.

Possibly dragging this further off subject, but here goes. I have been planning to do some casting for some time and I have gathered all the bits needed to do it. AFA burners go, there seems to be a lot effort put into making various kinds, all of which seem to work adequately if not...

DRAWN OVER MANDREL TUBING Drawn Over Mandrel Mechanical Tubing (DOM) is a cold drawn 1020/1026 electric resistance welded tube with all of the flash removed prior to cold drawing. In comparison to traditional electric welded tubing, DOM tubing is produced to extremely tight OD and ID tolerances...

One thing to consider when using tubing (as opposed to pipe or other things with a hole in the middle) is that the OD is very closely controlled to maintain compatibility with tubing fittings. The wall thickness is fairly well controlled consistent with the pressure rating of the tube. The ID is...

AFA the oils go, lubricants have changed a lot in the 100 years or so since these machines were designed. I try to use the "correct" lube for each area, but I think it's more important to have something oily everywhere all the time and the exact type is less important. It's a total loss oiling...

I rebuilt my 10" using one of the kits and was pleased with the result. I think the most likely screw up if you just start taking stuff apart is the bearings in the headstock which can be ruined if disassembled incorrectly and are very expensive if you can even find them. On my lathe, the wicks...

I have a 4x6 bandsaw with an ENCO sticker on it. It has served me well for more than 30 years and consumed a number of blades and one motor. I recently picked up a well used KAMA 96 saw for about $150. Cleaned it up and added a VFD that I had lying around to deal with the 3 phase motor. It's an...

Jim et al, Just to clarify, I don't think I have ever had the valve itself clog from paint. However, depending somewhat on the kind of paint, I have had what I feel was dried paint inside the valve stem come loose from the action of the solvent in the new paint coming through the valve. This...

I have found that the little "straw" that is on cans of brake cleaner is a good fit for the valve side of the spray can button. I clean out the paint by removing the button and spraying brake cleaner through the nozzle. I also try to get out any paint that is down in the hollow valve stem. IMHO...

In my experience, plain teflon sheet creeps under load so probably not too good for a gasket that is under compression where the TEFLON is not fully captured by the mating parts. TEFLON also has a fairly high rate of thermal expansion which needs to be considered if heat is part of the puzzle...

A million years ago I made a 90 degree V-twin from two COX .049's. I grafted two crankcases together to address the threading problem and modified the con rods to fit onto the crank pin. It ran on both cylinders, but I failed to take the crankcase compression issue into account so it didn't run...

If the engine will be run on air, the plastic may work out fine. If it's going to be steam powered, you may run into some issues with thermal expansion of the piston being greater than the expansion of the cylinder and things may get tight.

In a past life, aluminum bronze was difficult to machine. It may depend on the exact alloy. The stuff we were using was continuous cast bar IIR.

In my previous life, we made tens of thousands of round balls in conical seats by coining (tapping) the ball into the seat. It was, most often, a carbide ball into a conical brass seat, but an ordinary ball bearing ball will work as well if it's harder than the seat material. One big advantage...

If you google Winchester signal cannon you will find a couple for sale over near Chester which is, I believe, about a three hour drive from where you are. Could be one closer, but that was the first thing I saw when I looked. It might be worth going and taking a look just to see how it's made...