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If I want bits of sheet, rod or bar I have found that the local manufacturing factories are very helpful, have a chat with the managers or shop foremen and ask if you can have a rake through their scrap bins. Have found many real gems in these bins. See if you can get bar ends that are colour...

Hi Graham, I have a Colchester Bantam 2000 which is about the same size as your Master. I would be interested in seeing how you converted the machine to CNC. I decided to bite the bullet and bought myself a new Yamaha Niken motorcycle. Got a great deal on the m/c. as the dealer wanted to up...

Hi ****, You are right, not such a small town any more. Have lived in Verwood for about 30 years and it has grown at a rate that you have to see to believe. I live in Woodlinken Drive, 49, and although I'm well over retirement age I'm still working. The motorbike is a Yamaha Niken 850cc, the...

Happy New Year to you all. I'm in a little town called Verwood in Dorset so not a million mile from all of you. At the moment i'm building a Stuart Turner Major Beam engine and having fun with the valve shaft bearings. Next time I decide to take a "skim" off the top of the bearing I must make...

Hi Goldstar, I heard a story on Radio 4 many years ago about "Izal" medicated toilet paper. The company that made it started out by making coke for smelting steel. What was left over was coal tar and the chemist in their lab noticed that if a worker got a cut or other injury rubbed the coal tar...

Hi Norman, Many years ago, and I mean many years, my mother, bless her soul, sat me down and gave me a stack of books. I suddenly found that I loved reading and over the years have read many hundreds of books. From Dennis Wheatley to John Wyndham. When I was at the tender age of about 10 I...

It's a pity about the guinea pigs and their loss to your grandchildren, as for the rich, well the rich get richer and the poor get poorer as the old song goes. I see that Sir Philip Green has at last lost his empire, but I bet that he won't loose his yachts or his billions, and sod the workers...

What a wonderful example of devine twaddle and a possible start of the first chapter of a sequel to that excellent book "1066 and all that".

Loved playing the Alto and Tenner sax but unfortunately developed severe arthritis in my left wrist and it was agony to support the instrument so to avoid temptation I sold both instruments. Since then I have had an operation on the wrist and the surgeon have removed the trapizoid bone and...

Tubal Cain, the first artificer in metals, and Hiram Abif, and the Temple in Jerusalem. Regards, W.Bro. Graham T.

I've been looking for an anvil for about 20 years and I expect to pay at least 50p per lb. I will get one eventually.

I have been installing compressed air systems in workshops and factories for the last 50 years. I purchase PTFE tape by the thousand rolls at a time. Try the thicker tape that is supplied by BSS and is recommended for gas systems. Boss white and hemp went out with the ark and is an absolute...

Hi Photopro, I made this model Stuart Turner beam engine back in about 2002 but ended up selling it in 2012, needed the money to pay the wages. I now have the time to return to model engineering and I am in the process of building the Stuart Turner Major beam engine. Cant find anyone who has...

If any of you "Engineers" want to see some very interesting engines try L.J.K. Setright's book "Some Unusual Engines", It lists all kinds of curious engines from split singles to free piston engines as well as oddities like the Cross and Aspin rotary valve gear. Well worth a look at. Published...

I'm building the Stuart Turner Major beam engine at the moment. The quality of the castings is superb with no hard spots. Unfortunately, I've had to purchase the bevel gears for the governor as it would cost me as much to buy the tooling as the pair of gears cost me. The castings are available...

Talking about center punches being the tool of the devil and "Mr. Hammer" causing even more problems, has any one tried the "Dankroy" optical center punch ? I bought one at the Model Engineering show at Wembly Conference Centre many years ago and have used it with terrific results ever since...

I tend to sell, service and maintain air compressors a little larger than these, up to 100kW. Open the door in the side of them and walk in. I find that the Bambi and Jun-Air units are more than suitable for the small workshop and to all intents and purposes are as quiet as you will get. They...

Rich 12-12, I'm in the process of making a Stuart Turner Major beam engine, What part of Dorset are you from ?

Got a pair of these, they are great. Light weight and with the light they make fine close up work a real pleasure.

I used to buy air gauge barrel blanks from Doug Shillen for my long range pistols. When I received them I cut them to length, chambered them and then crowned the muzzle. With a 10x power extended eye relief Lupold scope we were regularly returning 0.2" groups at 200 yards. Have got 7x Bisley...