Richard Hed
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Did you post a photo of the whole lathe? I did not find it.
What have you been doing today?
- Thread starter Shelton
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Help Support Home Model Engine Machinist Forum:
I have no intention of posting pictures.
But here, 2 pics :
With so many negative comments about it on the internet, including manufacturing defects and the way buyers used it....wrong...
I thought for a long time before deciding to buy it, because I knew I could adjust it and I could make up for its defects with my experience and skills.., it was a my risky decision /.
Warning : if someone reads my post, and is planning to buy a similar lathe please think and decide. - Don't take my post as a suggestion - Those are your thoughts and decisions and you must take responsibility for that decision. We are not children !
But here, 2 pics :
With so many negative comments about it on the internet, including manufacturing defects and the way buyers used it....wrong...
I thought for a long time before deciding to buy it, because I knew I could adjust it and I could make up for its defects with my experience and skills.., it was a my risky decision /.
Warning : if someone reads my post, and is planning to buy a similar lathe please think and decide. - Don't take my post as a suggestion - Those are your thoughts and decisions and you must take responsibility for that decision. We are not children !
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Richard Hed
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I am (a child).
Richard Hed
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2018
- Messages
- 2,381
- Reaction score
- 616
We call it a Mechanical Pencil. You should learn English.
Thanks for telling us about that! And it is still working. Nice!
I don't think I have ever seen a twisty kind.
Richard. Nope. It is a propelling pencil. It is still working. Mechanical pencils all break and get tossed into the trash.
WisJim
Well-Known Member
We put a "lifetime" standing seam metal roof on our 120 year old house, even though we probably wouldn't outlive an asphalt shingle roof. We also bought what will probably be the last automobile we will ever need to purchase, barring accidents. And I occasionally use tools that were my father's, grandfather's and great-grandfather's, and they still are in good shape and do their job--mostly woodworking planes, chisels, etc. And some of my books on steam power and locomotives are from more distant relatives, printed in the mid 1800s.
It is sobering to think about the age of some of my tools and books and all the "owners" who used them and took such care of them that I can still count on them.
What have we been doing today? A lot of reminiscing. I guess that keeps coming as we get older.
The sentimental nature of some of the older tools we have, that have a story to go with them..... that is nice.
I'd like to take the liberty of reminiscing some more, thanks. We sold my parents house several years ago after they were gone. A small starter house but with a much used and loved garage that my brother, dad and I built when I was about 14. So many woodworking and car projects and pigeon club meetings in that place. There was actually a bit of a bidding war on this little inexpensive house and it finally went to young couple who both rode motorcycles. I talked to them and met them and they let me know that the garage had grabbed them and that the tradition of lots of activity happening in that garage would continue. That almost brought a tear to my eye. There was stuff still left in the garage, tools, crafts, material, even though I had already taken everything I wanted. I was talking on the phone to the buyer about the stuff left in the garage, and the women's voice from the background enthusiastically said, "Tell him we'll take all of it." That was big weight off my mind and I was glad they wanted the stuff.
On my last trip to the house I met them in the garage and I was poking around making sure I hadn't left anything that I really wanted. I pulled out an old Lufkin carpenter's folding rule from a workbench drawer and quickly unfolded it. To my surprise, their eyes got big, like, what kind of magic is that??? It had not occurred to me that folding rules were well before their lifetimes. I am glad they got the house and were carrying on the tradition. I was happy for them.
Nice story Lloyd.
Reminiscents are a good thing, as long as we remain well placed in the present. Keep remembering things, and keep an active brain by lots of "hard problem solving", conversation about some of the difficult stuff, as well as gossip and stuff that prompts memories, crosswords are good, cryptic quizes, etc. and really working the brain a much as possible.
I do a bit of Family tree research. cross-checking "Who's who" works the brain, but my best brain exercise "fun" has been 2 things: Challenging conversations on this site, and a bit of Steam design work (boilers and engines). I realised, while looking for something on boiler design in my Father's and Grandfathers' old text books, that work I did technically as a design engineer on pressure vessels, was not in any of their text books going back from ~1950 towards 1870s. Yet things like Maxwell's text book on the theory of heat (my inherited 1899 copy) was very close to my Physics degree text book I used in the 1970s. So we understood heat, structures, materials, etc. in Victorian times, yet the "best" book available for designing model boilers was the K.N.Harris book from 1967. I'm sure there must be many tomes around that I have not discovered, but trying to find the "modern right way" to design boilers has been something of a challenge - for the last 10 years or more. (Finally, 21st c. ASME regs and university papers from the web seem to have the answers - a bit more modern than the BS standards from 1970s).
Anyway, keeping the brain active is the best counter we have for dementure, although the brain and body have been "dying" in the deterioration of life, as even things like eyes start deteriorating as young as 14 years old! I now realise my muscles and bones and joints are not what they used to be. I am a 37 year old brain in a 70 year old body! If I last as well as my Mother, that means I have to keep it all working for another 30 years or more! - That's my challenge!
Anyway, I loved the nostalgia of the garage story. Reminded me of my Grandfather's corrugated iron garage for his small 1950s Morris car. I sill have and use his tools, including a Vernier calliper he had as an engineer. No batteries to run flat on that one!
Keep smiling, and sharing new thoughts and old memories.
K2
Reminiscents are a good thing, as long as we remain well placed in the present. Keep remembering things, and keep an active brain by lots of "hard problem solving", conversation about some of the difficult stuff, as well as gossip and stuff that prompts memories, crosswords are good, cryptic quizes, etc. and really working the brain a much as possible.
I do a bit of Family tree research. cross-checking "Who's who" works the brain, but my best brain exercise "fun" has been 2 things: Challenging conversations on this site, and a bit of Steam design work (boilers and engines). I realised, while looking for something on boiler design in my Father's and Grandfathers' old text books, that work I did technically as a design engineer on pressure vessels, was not in any of their text books going back from ~1950 towards 1870s. Yet things like Maxwell's text book on the theory of heat (my inherited 1899 copy) was very close to my Physics degree text book I used in the 1970s. So we understood heat, structures, materials, etc. in Victorian times, yet the "best" book available for designing model boilers was the K.N.Harris book from 1967. I'm sure there must be many tomes around that I have not discovered, but trying to find the "modern right way" to design boilers has been something of a challenge - for the last 10 years or more. (Finally, 21st c. ASME regs and university papers from the web seem to have the answers - a bit more modern than the BS standards from 1970s).
Anyway, keeping the brain active is the best counter we have for dementure, although the brain and body have been "dying" in the deterioration of life, as even things like eyes start deteriorating as young as 14 years old! I now realise my muscles and bones and joints are not what they used to be. I am a 37 year old brain in a 70 year old body! If I last as well as my Mother, that means I have to keep it all working for another 30 years or more! - That's my challenge!
Anyway, I loved the nostalgia of the garage story. Reminded me of my Grandfather's corrugated iron garage for his small 1950s Morris car. I sill have and use his tools, including a Vernier calliper he had as an engineer. No batteries to run flat on that one!
Keep smiling, and sharing new thoughts and old memories.
K2
Well, you asked. My Grandmother's telescopic propelling pencil is this pattern. The pencil (bottom inch) slides linearly from the stem, so when in her handbag was protected from other stuff.
The propelling mechanism is by rotating the body around the lead, which visa a screw inside causes a pin to expel the lead by a small amount. Thus you have a pencil that does not need a sharpener to erode the wood body, but simply has a screw to propel the lead from the supporting tube.
This is the model of which I have a 1893 version, given to my Grandmother when she was going to "coming-out parties/ balls" and the like while doing the circuit / tour of other wealthy families when she was 20~21. The pencil was used to write names of dance appointments on her card of dances for the evening... should any Gentleman wish to dance with her. Dance cards were things that girls treasured and gossiped about... just a part of the era, now superceded by Tweets... etc.? Same games, different tools.
K2
Thanks K2 for taking the time to explain and supply a picture of a propelling pencil. I never knew or heard of a propelling pencil in all my years (65+years young) and travels ( sailed most of the seven seas). Always eager to learn new things, thanks again for the info. and the picture.
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Hi Richard, Just so you appreciate I am not lying. I understand your rhetoric, but maybe not everyone reading these posts has such a grasp of "English" humour, and think you are being honest in your statement?
So here's a photo of my pencils, from 1893 (Grandmother's telescopic propelling pencil) and my 1969 birthday present (Black). Also a newer "click" pencil from Japan, about 2010, and broken.... "They don't make them like they used to" - but repaired with tape! (still works and all in use).
The quarter-imperial drawing board that I use. - With pencils.
Pencils (opened).
Pencils (Telescopic and modern Click both closed)
Hope that clarifies any misunderstanding?
Now this prompted a curious thought about progress.
Pencils were originally sticks of charcoal - used to write or draw anything, on any suitable surface.
Then they added clay to make "pencil lead" - called such because it made a mark on paper that looked (greyish, not black) like a stick of lead would make.
After having wooden sticks with pencil lead inserted within, a clever watchmaker, who had screw threading ability, made a metal (brass? Bronze?) tube to support the lead, and a screw mechanism to be able to propel the lead along the tube as it wore-away with use. That was something that could be mass-produced - from maybe ~1840s? The threads are very fine - perhaps 56 to 100tpi? (MUCH finer than the 40tpi generally used as fine threads by many model makers), metal thicknesses just a few 'thou', with sliding fits (like a telescope), and everything works after more than 130 years from being made. I can use 0.5mm "lead" in the imperial pencils, but the old imperial 0.020" leads jam in modern metric pencils. Holding a thin-walled tube while threading with a fine thread is beyond me! - As is the engraving of the silver tube.
Has anyone ever tried to make one? - that would be worth a picture! Precision on a par with the aero-engines some clever modellers make (I'm not that capable!).
K2
(Whatever adversity or insults come your way, just laugh them off as "misunderstandings"!)
STAY HAPPY - No time for "sad" in my life. - Just the excitement of living every day!
So here's a photo of my pencils, from 1893 (Grandmother's telescopic propelling pencil) and my 1969 birthday present (Black). Also a newer "click" pencil from Japan, about 2010, and broken.... "They don't make them like they used to" - but repaired with tape! (still works and all in use).
The quarter-imperial drawing board that I use. - With pencils.
Pencils (opened).
Pencils (Telescopic and modern Click both closed)
Hope that clarifies any misunderstanding?
Now this prompted a curious thought about progress.
Pencils were originally sticks of charcoal - used to write or draw anything, on any suitable surface.
Then they added clay to make "pencil lead" - called such because it made a mark on paper that looked (greyish, not black) like a stick of lead would make.
After having wooden sticks with pencil lead inserted within, a clever watchmaker, who had screw threading ability, made a metal (brass? Bronze?) tube to support the lead, and a screw mechanism to be able to propel the lead along the tube as it wore-away with use. That was something that could be mass-produced - from maybe ~1840s? The threads are very fine - perhaps 56 to 100tpi? (MUCH finer than the 40tpi generally used as fine threads by many model makers), metal thicknesses just a few 'thou', with sliding fits (like a telescope), and everything works after more than 130 years from being made. I can use 0.5mm "lead" in the imperial pencils, but the old imperial 0.020" leads jam in modern metric pencils. Holding a thin-walled tube while threading with a fine thread is beyond me! - As is the engraving of the silver tube.
Has anyone ever tried to make one? - that would be worth a picture! Precision on a par with the aero-engines some clever modellers make (I'm not that capable!).
K2
(Whatever adversity or insults come your way, just laugh them off as "misunderstandings"!)
STAY HAPPY - No time for "sad" in my life. - Just the excitement of living every day!
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Wow WCE - you are old and experienced! - I have only been 37 for a few decades - because I still have so much to learn of the world from my wee corner...
Always glad to read of what people get up to each day. My stuff is usually too boring to write about - servicing a boiler, cleaning clacks and pump valves that have furred-up from winter storage, clearing loft rubbish, gardening, shopping, polishing shoes, and all the other stuff of life. Other people's stuff - world travels etc. - sounds more interesting?
K2
Always glad to read of what people get up to each day. My stuff is usually too boring to write about - servicing a boiler, cleaning clacks and pump valves that have furred-up from winter storage, clearing loft rubbish, gardening, shopping, polishing shoes, and all the other stuff of life. Other people's stuff - world travels etc. - sounds more interesting?
K2
"I have only been 37 for a few decades"
"because I still have so much to learn of the world" Same here K2, again thanks for the info.
PS how old is that drafting board with parallel bar?
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I think this is appropriate for this thread, but I will delete if it isn't.
I usually scan the news but this morning my wife asked if I had heard about the bridge in Baltimore. Baltimore is a major port in the eastern USA. Last night at 1:30 AM a container ship leaving the Baltimore harbor lost power and drifted into the Francis Scott Key Bridge. It was an accident, but a super big one. It hit one of the main pillars of the center span. There was a mayday from the ship, which had a harbor pilot onboard, so the bridge was evacuated before the crash. Jezzus!!
I usually scan the news but this morning my wife asked if I had heard about the bridge in Baltimore. Baltimore is a major port in the eastern USA. Last night at 1:30 AM a container ship leaving the Baltimore harbor lost power and drifted into the Francis Scott Key Bridge. It was an accident, but a super big one. It hit one of the main pillars of the center span. There was a mayday from the ship, which had a harbor pilot onboard, so the bridge was evacuated before the crash. Jezzus!!
Ken, I love the old drafting machine. I used a Dietzen (sp) plastic one in the 1980's, but I had never seen a ancient wooden one. Does it work with stone tablets, LOL? Quarter-Imperial? What is that??
Bentwings
Well-Known Member
Ha ha nice job re cycling tools !
An amazingly lightweight structure.
I had a cousin in the Navy who drove daily over the bridge in California that fell during the earthquake, and he just happened to not be on it at the exact time when it fell.
I am not a structural person, but I would guess that is a high-stressed structure, perhaps with some high strength steel?
Even the hollow vertical concrete supports seem very thin/lightweight.
I am very surprised that tugs were not required while clearning the bridge, especially give that it did not have any significant bollards/protection at the supports.
Gigantic container ship; tiny little bridge supports; very delicate long-span structure.
Perhaps hindsight is 20/20, but that seems like a totally predictable event.
Makes you wonder how many other bridges like this are unprotected in the US.
The Tacoma Narrows bridge was build using a very lightweight deck structure, and it hit its harmonic frequency on a windy day.
They immediately added stiffeners to the Golden Gate bridge, which was built using the same design.
Life is unpredictable.
Enjoy every minute of every day day, and pretend that this is your last day on earth, because it may be.
.
Edit1:
The transmission line that runs parallel to the bridge is protected with piers (not sure if that is the correct term), but the brige supports have no significant protection.
Edit2:
From internet comments:
Ship had no bow thrusters.
Used a single two-stroke 9 cylinder engine, 41,480 kW.
Single fixed propeller.
Main engine stops during a power outage due to loss of lube pumps.
Electrically-driven aux blowers are needed to restart the engine in reverse.
Heavy black smoke indicates sudden full throttle.
Turbos can't maintain enough intake flow to keep engine running well at low rpm, so electrical blowers are used in lieu of turbo boost at low speeds.
The blowers require multiple generators to operate, and so too much sudden throttle can cause an electrical trip.
Same vessel hit a berth in Antwerp Belgium in 2016.
.
It looks like the ship had two power outages before hitting the bridge support, and it turned hard to its right side just before it hit, which some speculate is from a hard reverse.
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Nikhil Bhale
Well-Known Member
From my experience as a marine engineer I can contribute to "free" knowledge on internet.
Ocean going ships generally have a single main engine to turn propellers. It is generally 2 stroke reversible engine running at low rpm. About 150.
Aux blowers are required during starting of engine and running of engine at low speeds. They are in auto mode and will cut in or cut off depending scavange pressure.
Ships engine are not like car engine. You cannot rev from zero to full by pressing a pedal. Think about all the momentum that needs to be overcome.
There is a crash astern mode to operate engine where engine at full ahead speed is stopped, cam position changed and engine start and run at full astern speed. I have never seen this tested other than during sea trials.
Boiler firing will also cause heavy black smoke initially. All ocean going ships are equipped with auxiliary boiler for heating purposes.
One bow thruster is not enough to steer the ship of this size. They are mainly use to berth the ship and not for steering. Bow thruster are effective at low ship speed and their efficiency decrease as ship speed increases. They stop being of any use above 5 knots of ship speed.
Extra generators are always running during manoeuvering and restricted passage.
All ships have an emergency generator which should come online within 45 sec of power failure. This will provide power to essential consumers only.
Rudder is used for steering. Its effectiveness increases as ships speed increases.
My thinking is that the ship lost steering system due to power failure and the crew was not able to avoid the bridge. There is emergency steering provided but it requires manual operations. Time was a constraint here.
Regards
Nikhil
