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A simple way to hydraulically test your tank is to use your mains water pressure, assuming it's high enough - it often is. Otherwise beg, steal borrow or hire a hand water pump and gauge. My own house pressure reaches 125psi late at night when the bulk of use has ceased. Alternatively, if you...

ajoeiam - couldn't agree more - I spent a good deal of my life as a professional engineer signing off on pressure vessel tests - conducting most myself. Failure under hydraulic load is nowhere near as dramatic as shown above and pinhole failure is the most common form of failure. I never had...

I have been using a cluster diamond for dressing my bench grinder wheels. This was a nearly worn-out unit from a centreless grinder and has lasted years. A friend asked if I could find him one - no luck - not at a reasonable price. Then I came up with this idea using the clusters off a Ø5"...

On this beam engine the ports are simply drilled Ø1.5mm holes - 3 of them drilled side by side to emulate a slot. I have done this Ø12mm bore engine with a single hole and it works just fine - its amazing how much air (or steam) can get through a small hole. Since we are generally interested in...

Here's a diagram I posted on the valvegear off Gerry's Beam Engine Cylinder heads and anything not involved omitted from diagram. As you can see the valve motion is 90° out from crank - changing timing from plus 90 to minus 90 changes rotation. Actual drawings in ACAD or PDF in the downloads...

LLoyd, Ther's a post on spindle bearings - for grinding :- Grinding spindle. See my post #41 and #39 For a lathe spindle you don't normally put to angular contacts at either end because of expansion and contraction - it is more normal to placve them in close opposing proximity to the chuck end -...

Lloyd, I have a similar lathe and almost all the noise that I detect is from the straight cut gears. Also if you are thinking of uprating to 3 phase or an inverter (as suggested in this thread), see my post on uprating my lathe here:- Single Phase To Three Phase Rewind - Lathe Uprate I took...

Never underestimate the amount of noise even minor imperfections in bearings can make (ball and roller) I have a few war stories of outrageous noises being traced to bearings - which disappeared on replacing the bearings - on cutting open the old units I have found very minor causes like...

Just a further update :- My "el-cheapo" vice does not hold it very well horizontally - so I added machined grooves to secure it by the corners. The grooves are slightly down to pull it into the vice. The qualifying spacer prevents the jaws from going out of alignment, Works a charm Regards, Ken I

Allied POW's during WWII would make bolt/wire cutters from mild steel brackets off their huts. They case hardened them by heating slightly - then dipped it in sugar to form a high carbon coating - then buried in the heating oven's coals to soak. Thereafter quenching and tempering as per normal...

See link :- silver soldering Gerry's beam engine crankshaft Similar to Xander but I Silver Soldered the pins in place - left the big end pin long (with centres) so I could machine it after soldering - which left it looking ugly (as expected) but it all cleans up (as allowed for). Regards, Ken I

Just to flog this dead horse a few more steps. I was cutting a thread last night - M12 x 1.5 :- Holding the three wires is a job requiring an extra pair of hands - so I use a piece of modelling clay to hold the wires. Since I was replicating a thread I had to hand, I simply took three pieces...

While studying "Cost Of Quality" for a thesis, I came across a US Army study - conducted under Demming's statistical process control and "Cost Of Quality" techniques during WWII. It studied the manufacture of holes by drilling, reaming, boring, grinding & honing and came to the conclusion that...

Gordon, guilty as charged but I fully agree with you - so elsewhere on my drawing there are usually notes about tollerances dependent on the number of decimal places - with the caveat that untolleranced 2 decimals (metric) when given for co-ordinate data does not imply tollerance (unless stated...

I noticed in your post #3 of your drawing that a number of dimensions are within (over) the outline of the part - whilst sometimes unavoidable or because it simply makes more sense to do so - is best avoided and all dimensioning should be outside the part being dimensioned. It is also quite...

When I design I also try to "explain it to myself" as if I am going to make it - which for models is invariably me in any case. I also like to post my designs for others to use. This is probably the most awkward part I have had to explain to myself - the main block of my V4 magnetically sprung...

You jumped in & I was going to edit in more :- Generally you need to avoid double dimensioning because of differing tollerance stack up (none in examples) - however you might , as you stated want to know these values without having to add them up - you can get around that like this :- Where...

I have done a lot of work for the automotive industry and I just trolled through several block and head drawings from several manufacturers - I would like to post one but I would be violating lots of rules if I did so. I can say that the styles are all over the place and have changed...

This is how I "made" my pins :- Squeeze end in a precision vice. You can knock them in and out plenty times - being careful to realign the "square" - when it all works according to plan add a tiny drop of Locktite to the square end - it will wick in and secure the pin. Even then you can still...

Green Twin - That "Dreaded Knock" is the IC engine going from ignition to detonation (from burn to explosion) - it wrecks petrol engines PDQ - unfortunately that is a diesel's default operating mode and the engine has to be built to take it. I have added a file on preignition etc. for petrol /...