Reachable from every working position racks of high viz colored frame large lens specs in 1, 2, 3 long sight correction and a magnifying glass. If you chance to still possess any focussing ability, cataract ops eliminate. As a lifetime spec wearer, after a cataract op I do not need specs for a certtin range. I did not realise how much dirt specs had saved me from over the ages. One of the features of being very short sighted is that I could spot cracks others could not. And I could examine parts under the car 3 inches from my nose.
I have an invaluable selection of headlights and often use a jeweller's binocular magnifying head-set. One of the most useful gadgets I have is the tiny torch presented at the SA7C summer bash in 2019. Hardly fatter than a slim pencil with a flexible extension carrying an astonishingly bright led head and magnetic base, it certainly reaches the parts other torches do not, even through a spark plug hole.
I have heaped thanks and blessings on the device (and the presenter)!
Must admit I found the magnets not quite strong enough so Araldited some stronger ones on the bottom but they are great for welding etc. in fiddly spaces where the light isn't right. Small and powerful enough.
There's a second floor bed-sit in a Victorian house in Moseley which still must have heavily oil-soaked floorboards, where I built my first A7 engines in the 1960s. I did roll that carpet back but the landlord complained about the sump-shaped oil stains on every carpeted landing going up...
I owned a rental and the tenant kept and overhauled his motor bike on the (new) carpet in a bedroom. The room was always curtained. When I worked on the external house the two little daughters used to chat with me as little girls do. I steered the conv to the room. One girl asked me to guess what was in it. I tried a few comic answers like a donkey then " motor bike" The girls were dumbstruck and had clearly been instructed not to let on. The mum was apparently not impressed by motorbikes and associated company. She and the girls went to Oz to vist a supposedely sick mum....and never returned. The blokes mates moved in and I had Alsations to contend with as well.
(08-01-2022, 06:36 PM)Nick Turley Wrote: For me to allow a complete A7 restoration I would consider the following very desirable :-
Means of having the chassis at waist height
An engine stand with a ledge underneath for bits
A parts washer
Oxcy /Acetylene
A decent lathe
A decent Piller drill
A big compressor
Plenty of LED tube lighting
Heating
Good firm benches with at least one big vice
Power grinders/ polisher/ big wire brush
That's the best concise list so far - I'd add just one thing a 'Mill-Drill" that would replace the pillar drill and be a most useful piece of kit. Being able to position the vice directly under the drill bit or milling cutter makes life so much easier. On a budget? Get a cheap compound screw-feed vice to bolt to the table of the pillar drill - again, it transforms the machine and makes many jobs so very much easier.
I brought this compound table,on a cheap one off eBay.16 1/2 x 6 1/2 table for around 100 quid and since fitting it haven't swung the drilling table back and find it more useful than clamping down on the drilling table.
The drilling machine in my mind is one of the most dangerous things in the workshop,either trying to hold something by hand or often in a loose vice can spin and catch you out.
The other useful item I purchased then was a 2 Morse taper to ER 25 collet chuck and now use a Jacobs type chuck in it with a plain 16 mm shank.It gives you the option to hold light milling cutters more ridigly too.
Ridigity,there's no substitute for cast iron.try and get hold of a heavily built drill if this is what you intend to do.Mine an old Meddings ,bought for scrap 30 odd years ago is ideal.
11-01-2022, 12:53 PM (This post was last modified: 11-01-2022, 04:03 PM by Tony Griffiths.)
(11-01-2022, 11:35 AM)Austin in the Shed Wrote:
(09-01-2022, 01:19 PM)PTony Griffiths Wrote:
(08-01-2022, 06:36 PM)Nick Turley Wrote: For me to allow a complete A7 restoration I would consider the following very desirable :-
Means of having the chassis at waist height
An engine stand with a ledge underneath for bits
A parts washer
Oxcy /Acetylene
A decent lathe
A decent Piller drill
A big compressor
Plenty of LED tube lighting
Heating
Good firm benches with at least one big vice
Power grinders/ polisher/ big wire brush
That's the best concise list so far - I'd add just one thing a 'Mill-Drill" that would replace the pillar drill and be a most useful piece of kit. Being able to position the vice directly under the drill bit or milling cutter makes life so much easier. On a budget? Get a cheap compound screw-feed vice to bolt to the table of the pillar drill - again, it transforms the machine and makes many jobs so very much easier.
I brought this compound table,on a cheap one off eBay.16 1/2 x 6 1/2 table for around 100 quid and since fitting it haven't swung the drilling table back and find it more useful than clamping down on the drilling table.
The drilling machine in my mind is one of the most dangerous things in the workshop,either trying to hold something by hand or often in a loose vice can spin and catch you out.
The other useful item I purchased then was a 2 Morse taper to ER 25 collet chuck and now use a Jacobs type chuck in it with a plain 16 mm shank.It gives you the option to hold light milling cutters more ridigly too.
Ridigity,there's no substitute for cast iron.try and get hold of a heavily built drill if this is what you intend to do.Mine an old Meddings ,bought for scrap 30 odd years ago is ideal.
Spot on! A T-slotted compound table simply transforms a drill. Yours looks to be a Meddings MB4 with internal "backgearing" that gives 10 speeds from 80 to 4000 r.p.m. If you can find one at a reasonable price (they are very popular and do command a lot) it's the drill to go for. I did spot one on Facebook 'Marketplace" last year where, clearly, the seller had no idea what it was and listed it for £80 (they usually make £650 or more). Other small drills with slow-speed gearing include the very compact Kerry Super 8, Progress 2G and 2GS and the rather larger Fobco 7/8 and 10/8. The idea of using ER collets is an excellent one and, for those who don't know about them, they have so powerful a grip that milling cutters are not screwed in but simply clamped. Sets are available from the likes of RGD tools for very little money. Some of the Mill-Drills have an R8 Bridgeport-type taper and for that fitting a wide variety of inexpensive tooling is available.
If I was going to buy one new I'd go for something like a Warco major,unfortunately it comes with a 3 morse not R8.I've never tried one but look nice and heavy,not too expensive either.
My Meddings cost £20 along with a beaver ? milling machine and Vanco belt linisher,all been outside for a year or so and a bit rough but I'd sheeted them up out there. Swapped that mill for a Clarkson tool and cutter grinder later.
11-01-2022, 01:14 PM (This post was last modified: 11-01-2022, 01:15 PM by Reckless Rat.)
My son (who lives in Stuttgart) took me on a tour of the Mercedes Benz factory at Sindelfingen a few years ago. It's an impressive set-up, and VERY tidy. I do like order, but rarely manage to achieve it. I generally know where most things are, but they're usually on the floor including the spanner that you've just been using but can't find!
