07-01-2022, 10:24 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-01-2022, 07:26 PM by Bob Culver.)
Nick Lettington got it. Oldies like me need not just spare time but lifetime. Large doses of energy, or any, also much coveted.
Slack Alice bewails lack of mechanically minded acquaintances and successors. Very real. I have only one immediate and one distant acquaintance with similar level of interest. Of my 3 close school colleagues, one still breathing, all were unusually practical but I knew of no others in the class or year level similar, and I met only one similarly minded workmate. The fate of all ones’ very well cared for micrometers, precision level, straight edges, tools inherited from father and grandfather etc a significant worry, more so than fate of real riches. My son is an accountant so even more than the average modern, cannot see the point of d.i.y (although I do occasionally capture his interest, always intriguing)
Someone wanted a dinner bell. As a widower, someone to make the dinner would be better, provided no demands on time or energy....
I do not recommend a rubber floor. For electrical safety I work off a sheet of conveyor belt. But any small item dropped rebounds a vast distance and takes ages to find.
A rattle gun the last thing appropriate near a Seven. Ratchet socket sets and torsion wrenches are threat enough.
Before I acquired a trolley jack I used to lift my Javelin from the house floor joists using a chain block and support on stands made from Seven diffs.....(not bent!)
I suspect many could use a plumber’s horizontal petrol iron. A useful source of considerable heat without the expense of cyl tests, hireage etc.
I do not know how persons survive without a lathe. Most work is not of great precision but great for making up jigs etc. However if driving Sevens is your thing a lathe can easily displace as a new hobby (safer and cheaper!) The challenge of devising methods and doing accurate work, esp on a worn lathe, is very satisfying. After a professional messed up a set of liners I rebored my Javelin within new tolerances. The only thing originally straight, square or parallel on the apparently home made Indian marvel of a lathe was the bed.
Price comparisons on the basis of wages are astonishing. Now that tools and machines are relatively very cheap, very few desire them. The Popular Mechanics fix it mentality of the 50s was not without a very real basis. Electric drills, bench grinders etc were a huge chunk of weekly wage.
My father was a plumber and sometimes on home fix it jobs would find the need for a nail, piece of wood etc. He was often intrigued how little of anything many had... a hammer and a screwdriver often the limit. Little boys used to regard his tool kit as a treasure trove. In the quaint past he let them play with some items.
And Stuart, is that a Chev 4 on the lift? I sadly disposed of my fathers long bed 4 inch originally treadle operated Brittania a few years ago. It has outrigger thrust bearing and very rapid saddle control, all with nice balanced handles
Slack Alice bewails lack of mechanically minded acquaintances and successors. Very real. I have only one immediate and one distant acquaintance with similar level of interest. Of my 3 close school colleagues, one still breathing, all were unusually practical but I knew of no others in the class or year level similar, and I met only one similarly minded workmate. The fate of all ones’ very well cared for micrometers, precision level, straight edges, tools inherited from father and grandfather etc a significant worry, more so than fate of real riches. My son is an accountant so even more than the average modern, cannot see the point of d.i.y (although I do occasionally capture his interest, always intriguing)
Someone wanted a dinner bell. As a widower, someone to make the dinner would be better, provided no demands on time or energy....
I do not recommend a rubber floor. For electrical safety I work off a sheet of conveyor belt. But any small item dropped rebounds a vast distance and takes ages to find.
A rattle gun the last thing appropriate near a Seven. Ratchet socket sets and torsion wrenches are threat enough.
Before I acquired a trolley jack I used to lift my Javelin from the house floor joists using a chain block and support on stands made from Seven diffs.....(not bent!)
I suspect many could use a plumber’s horizontal petrol iron. A useful source of considerable heat without the expense of cyl tests, hireage etc.
I do not know how persons survive without a lathe. Most work is not of great precision but great for making up jigs etc. However if driving Sevens is your thing a lathe can easily displace as a new hobby (safer and cheaper!) The challenge of devising methods and doing accurate work, esp on a worn lathe, is very satisfying. After a professional messed up a set of liners I rebored my Javelin within new tolerances. The only thing originally straight, square or parallel on the apparently home made Indian marvel of a lathe was the bed.
Price comparisons on the basis of wages are astonishing. Now that tools and machines are relatively very cheap, very few desire them. The Popular Mechanics fix it mentality of the 50s was not without a very real basis. Electric drills, bench grinders etc were a huge chunk of weekly wage.
My father was a plumber and sometimes on home fix it jobs would find the need for a nail, piece of wood etc. He was often intrigued how little of anything many had... a hammer and a screwdriver often the limit. Little boys used to regard his tool kit as a treasure trove. In the quaint past he let them play with some items.
And Stuart, is that a Chev 4 on the lift? I sadly disposed of my fathers long bed 4 inch originally treadle operated Brittania a few years ago. It has outrigger thrust bearing and very rapid saddle control, all with nice balanced handles