Table of contents for December 2024 in Model Engineer & Workshop

It was great to see you all! A few days ago I returned from the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition. I can report that I was able to successfully demonstrate 3D resin printing with the SMEE, although I had a few technical issues. My other responsibility, hosting the MEW Talks programme, went well but we had a few exciting hiccoughs. First most of Roger Fraud’s first talk had become trapped in the ‘cloud’, and we had had to rebuild it at short notice - well done Roger! We also had a few things go astray, but they got tracked down and are on their way to their respective owners. I must say a huge thank-you to Mark, Malcolm, Peter, Shaun, Bob, Noel and Roger for their excellent talks; as well as…

Don’t Lose Your Grip TIP OF THE MONTH WINNER! This month’s winner is John Harding with a tip for those of us with arthritis or painful hands. And a quick note: please see ‘On the Wire’ for news of a Chester Machine Tools open day in December! Pain in the fingers drove me to adding handle extensions to tools such as the chuck key in the photograph. This solved the pain and also yielded the bonus of eliminating drill slip, so it could be an idea of benefit to anyone really. John Harding We have £30 in gift vouchers courtesy of engineering suppliers Chester Machine Tools for each month’s ‘Top Tip’. Email your workshop tips to meweditor@mortons.co.uk marking them ‘Readers Tips’, and you could be a winner. Try to keep…

Workshop security is something we should all take seriously, unfortunately there are bandits around who see garden sheds and outhouses as easy targets, these are just the places where we have our workshops. If you take the time to add up the cost of all the equipment, you’d be surprised at the value of the kit you have. So, it’s well worth investing in good workshop security. A few common-sense precautions will help deter them: - Good motion sensor lighting, window bars, cover the windows, don’t make it public that you have a workshop, and guard your address from prying eyes on the internet, and if its practical fit an alarm in your workshop. But none of this will deter a real determined thief; determined thieves are fortunately in the…

Model engineering can be one of the more expensive hobbies, but the cost is proportionate to your aspirations. A mini-lathe and a drill press or perhaps a small bench top mill may be perfectly adequate for some to make small steam engines or models, while others might aspire to a more substantial Colchester or Harrison lathe, Bridgeport milling machine, surface grinder and power saws for making large locomotives or traction engines. Unless you happen to have access to such equipment at work or a local college, there is going to be a capital outlay to buy not only the machines, but also the accessories. Then there are hand tools, measuring equipment, materials and consumables to consider. Unlike many hobbies, model engineering is not a hobby you have an initial capital…

I think it is fair to say MMEX 2024, organised by Meridienne Exhibitions, was a great success. As the exhibition opened on Thursday morning numbers were high, giving the feeling of the successful shows of the past. Attendance continued to be good, although it did drop a bit on Sunday, probably because of an atrocious weather forecast as the first named storm of the season barrelled through. Ironically, despite a few heavy showers and some robust winds, the expected downpour didn’t materialise. I won’t go into detail of the non-workshop aspects of the show, which will be dealt with properly in the pages of Model Engineer. Suffice to say there were many magnificent locomotives on display, from LBSC’s legendary coal-fired Ayesha, photo 1, to a computer controlled, jet-turbine powered, loco…

To achieve smooth motion and minimize backlash. the gib strips on our machines must be adjusted for no play and sometimes for a slight drag. Use spring washers, photo 1, underthe lock nuts; tighten each nut to flatten the washers and no more, Hold the nut in position with a spanner while turning the set screw for play adjustment, photo 2, as the set screw is maintained in “back contact” by the washer springiness. This way you avoid the plague of the usual play adjustment (with no spring washer), as when the play is correct, you must tighten the nut for locking, that moves back the screw and so the play is increased and the adjustment lost! The springiness of the washers is usually sufficient to avoid unscrewing, remember the…

I attended Oregon Technical Institute majoring in Gunsmithing/Metals (as it was then known), and Drafting. After a stint in the Marine Corps, I married and set up my one-man operation in the shop we built at our home; gunsmithing, locksmithing and fabricating replacement parts for obsolete mechanisms for nigh on 40 years, though now thankfully retired. As my wife is a spinner, and weaver I was coaxed into a second career (now gone over 30 years), designing, crafting, and repairing spinning-wheels, looms and all relative appurtenances, for which I’ve garnered several awards. Over time one acquires some wheels beyond repair, thus when the ‘great-rack’, photo 1 with its capacity exceeding 100 files overflowed I pressed a couple of derelict wheels into a second rack, photo 2 and fig. 1. The…

With over 125 years of Model Engineer magazine and nearly 35 years of Model Engineers’ Workshop in our archives, there’s a huge selection of fascinating and often useful ideas for the workshop to be found. This article by Tubal Cain (pen-name of the Late Tom Walshaw) gives sound advice on choosing a pillar drill for your workshop that is still relevant today. I have no idea why the photo of a Myford Dividing Attachment was included, perhaps it was relevant to the longer series of which this was a part. From Model Engineer 3486, Vol. 140, 5 April 1974. WORKSHOP EQUIPMENT & MATERIALS by “Tubal Cain” THOSE who have good drilling machines can in fact cope with the ½in. and yet still “feel” the No. 60 as it feeds in,…

WHILE commercial panel beating is a highly skilled process demanding years of practice for proficiency, many of its principles are sufficiently easy to assimilate, and by restraining one’s ambitions until experience has been gained success in some degree is not too difficult. Neither are materials-soft aluminium, brass and copper sheet, well annealed and between l/32in. and 1/16 in. thick-too expensive and tools may already be in the workshop. Main types ot hammers, of which there are numerous variations, are shown at A: (left) type for general work and stretching and riveting; (centre) type for blocking and hollow-ing; (right) type for finishing or planishing-removing small dents, irregularities and previous hammer marks. These may be supplemented by wood and rubber mallets, of normal and pear shape, B. To rest the metal,, a…

Chester Open Week 2-6 December 2024 Following their recent successful Open Week this September, Chester are holding another event this December 2nd - 6th at their Hawarden showroom! Come along and view their latest machines and discover some great offers, just in time for Christmas! Visit Chester at Hawarden Industrial Park, Clwyd Close, CH5 3PZ. This December 2nd - 6th, 9am - 4:30pm. What Three Words: ///ever.launch.page You can contact them to register interest at sales@chesterhobbystore.com or 01244 531631. News from Chris Vine author of the Peter’s Railway books With Christmas approaching, maybe there’s someone who would enjoy the Peter’s Railway books. There are 20 books” in the series with something for everyone - age 3 to 90. The “Little” Peter’s Railway books are for 3-6 year olds while the…

SUBJECT INDEX This index is arranged by Subject, listing Articles, Quick tips and letters to Scribe a Line. Column five: C = Construction, P = Process, M = Miscellaneous, Columns three and four, e.g. 299 21 refer to the particular issue and page number. Column six: A = Article, T = Trade, L = Letter, Q = Quick tip, S= Subject. INDEX BY AUTHOR, SUBJECT, ISSUE AND PAGE NUMBER Credits This index is compiled by David Frith, who has taken on the task of compilation from Barry Chamberlain. For the latest computer searchable indexes please visit: www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/topic/latest-mew-index/…

When I was thirteen my dad suddenly announced that in order to comply with the new ‘clean air’ act, our coal-fired suburban semi was soon to be heated by electric fires instead. Apparently, the first nuclear power station was about to be commissioned, and it was rumoured that before long the energy would be so cheap that it would hardly be worth sending out bills. I was very pleased to know that soon I would be free of the weekend chores of clearing the ashes from the living room back-boiler and breaking up the coal into manageable lumps for the next week. But I was even more delighted when Dad suggested that I might like to equip the lean-to brick-built (and now redundant) ‘coalhouse’ as my very own workshop. Of…

The finished chainsaw vice is shown in photo 1. Overtime I have, like most gardeners I suppose, assembled an array of tools for the jobs in the garden in my case this includes tree and shrub cutting tools from chainsaws down to secateurs. One of this assortment is a small four-inch battery chainsaw this is ideal for cutting branches too big for the normal loppers and too small to use a normal chainsaw. The idea After using the battery chain saw for some time the blade required sharpening. New blades are available and are not that expensive but why replace a blade that with a little fettling with a file can be as good as new. The only problem is it is not possible to hold it in a normal…