Then and now
 

On 21/08/14 09:20, gareth wrote:
"Lordgnome" wrote in message
...
Someone once said to me, that precision engineering was the easiest
thing in the world - far easier than having to 'adjust' holes to fit
things and used a lot less material!
I freely admit that my earlier work was not something to be proud of.

Somewhere on the Net is a poster of silly screws to handle such problems.
along the lines of a screw with a bit shifted sideways!

Anyone got the URL?


========================
These screw type punchers were/are available from Radio Spares (RS).
I have a few sizes up to 30 mm diameter.

Frank , GM0CSZ / KN6WH

Then and now
 

highlandham wrote in news:lt5mcm$7ud$1@dont-
email.me:

Somewhere on the Net is a poster of silly screws to handle such problems.
along the lines of a screw with a bit shifted sideways!

Anyone got the URL?


========================
These screw type punchers were/are available from Radio Spares (RS).
I have a few sizes up to 30 mm diameter.


I think he had something far sillier in mind. :) Pythonesque, even. But I
know the puches you mean, I have a couple for 20mm and 16mm, I considered one
for 25 pin D-sub but in the end I never wanted to repeat enough to justify
anything other than finely dotted drill-lines followed by knocking out the
middle bit and light filing to clean up. Those hole puches don't always work
well, especially on thicker panels, or panels that already have a tough
enamel type coating. They're also not cheap, I just kept some for hole sizes
I did need to use a lot.

Then and now
 

"Brian Reay" wrote in message
...
They tend to be fine for thin steal (eg car panels if you are fitting an
antenna) or the softer aluminium alloys but can jam on the harder alloys,
a
little paraffin usually helps (assuming proper cutting fluid for aluminium
isn't to hand).

Paraffin _IS_ the recommended cutting fluid for aluminium

Then and now
 

Brian Reay wrote in news:558999594430351400.971108no.sp-
:

They tend to be fine for thin steal (eg car panels if you are fitting an
antenna)

Good point. I don't drive or own any large boatanchors so I'm not used to
thinking of non-portable or unsupported surfaces. It may even be easier to
improvise with a slightly wrong hole punch (or aim small and file
outwards) and some large washers than to attempt the way I usually do things.

For small round holes of unspecified size I have never beaten an M3 pilot
hole followed by a tapered reamer, deburring the result with a Stanley blade.
That is VERY cheap, I started out that way and it was a couple of years
before I needed anything better.

Then and now
 

Brian Reay wrote in news:1732547063430430770.633650no.sp-
:

Well, as you probably know, real precision holes (eg in watches) are pilot
drilled and reamed, rather
than drilled to size.

The Stanley blade is not, however, part of the procedure. ;-)

Indeed. There are reamers, and there are reamers. Mine is NOT a precision
instrument, but you knwo what they say: Don't fear the Reamer. Awl or
nothing, says I. :)

Then and now
 

Brian Reay wrote in news:1732547063430430770.633650no.sp-
:

They were all ones I had restored, rather than simply
bought working. It is surprise that, even for quite old movements, you can
still locate new, old stock, parts.

There was a time, very brief, when I was fifteen or so, and had been given a
few old watches and clocks after I'd shown an ability to get small mechanisms
moving after years of reluctance, but I never took it far, I usually ended up
just taking them apart and admiring the extreme balance and precision of the
tiny cogs and escapements, and also the precision and brilliance of the ruby
bearings. If I'd know that parts could be had to replace and fix them I might
have got deeper in and my technical history might have been very different
from what it is.

Then and now
 

On Fri, 22 Aug 2014, Brian Reay wrote:

Lostgallifreyan wrote:
Brian Reay wrote in news:558999594430351400.971108no.sp-
:

They tend to be fine for thin steal (eg car panels if you are fitting an
antenna)

Good point. I don't drive or own any large boatanchors so I'm not used to
thinking of non-portable or unsupported surfaces. It may even be easier to
improvise with a slightly wrong hole punch (or aim small and file
outwards) and some large washers than to attempt the way I usually do things.

For small round holes of unspecified size I have never beaten an M3 pilot
hole followed by a tapered reamer, deburring the result with a Stanley blade.
That is VERY cheap, I started out that way and it was a couple of years
before I needed anything better.

Well, as you probably know, real precision holes (eg in watches) are pilot
drilled and reamed, rather
than drilled to size.

The Stanley blade is not, however, part of the procedure. ;-) A fine
broach would be used I would think.

I've repaired a number of pocket watches and clocks but always by hunting
down new parts if needed, or getting them
made. Sadly, my dexterity isn't up to it these days, although it has been
improving recently- much to my surprise- plus I've learned to use my left
hand more. I may rebuild my modest collection of pocket watches, stolen
some years back. They were all ones I had restored, rather than simply
bought working. It is surprise that, even for quite old movements, you can
still locate new, old stock, parts. I recall a trek to a dusting shop in
Notting Hill for a part for a 1920s gold hunter. The shop owner looked at
the details and the broken part, thought for about 2 mins, turn to an array
of 100s of little draws, and produced one. The price? £1. The watch was
worth many times that. I return to the shop many times, it was always the
same. He always had a queue of others with similar wants. He fail once, a
balance staff for an 1883 cylinder escapement. I had that made, £5, inc.
fitting to the balance. He did have a suitable main spring and crystal
glass.

I expect both watches ended up being sold for scrap gold and silver when
the toe rags fenced them. The culprits were caught but the items were not
recovered.

Have you read this book "Longitude", I can't remember the author? (It's
rom about a decade ago.) It's a small book, more like an long essay, about
why a chronometer was needed for travel, and the prize and ultimate
entries to create a working chronometer that could be portable.

Things I'd never thought of. And surely the basis for common watches that
came later. All my life I've had watches, starting with mechanical, and
even those tended to keep pretty good time, likely fallout from that
chronometer work. And of course in recent years, I have a watch that
syncs up from the time signal, so it is very much close to "absolute"
time, for the purposes of everyday timekeeping.

Or a GPS, bought at a garage sale for five dollars, a tiny little thing
but amazing technology that couldn't be built in that small a package (let
alone imagined) forty years ago.

Michael

Then and now
 

"Brian Reay" wrote in message
...
Yes, your chum's comment is Bovine excrement.
Have you had a lover's tiff?

With your habitual daily output of nasty childish remarks, it is
hardly surprising that you have to go off at a complete tangent
on clocks and watches to get anybody to talk to you.

But how long will it be before you fall out big time with your
new found friends and send for them to be arrested for daring
to disagree with you on the Internet, as you have done so often
to others in these NG?