What have you recycled today?

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

Spot on Michael ! Four sheds and a loft full of other folks junk means I am rarely short of the bits I need. Good job really as I can't afford to buy new stuff at todays prices.

Cheers Derek.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Recycled an old Lucas car alternator, attached to a 3hp Kawasaki motor, and found that with a few extra revs on start up, it self excites, ie., does not need a battery. Ian S C

[Martin Walsh 1Participant @martinwalsh1]

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 10/01/2014 04:59:41:

Posted by MICHAEL WILLIAMS on 09/01/2014 19:40:15:
Years ago there used to be several famous shops and some mail order suppliers that always had wonderful assortments of War surplus , factory closure , end of line and probably knocked off goods for sale .

 

cut

Several shops were in the Edgeware Road which was a splendid place to go junk shopping .

cut

Just nostalgia ,

MikeW

Hi Mike, Henry's Radio springs to mind, don't know if they till exist.

Regards Nick.

 

The shops you mention in Edgware road are long gone

Henrys radio is still trading but now sell disco equipment lighting etc

Best Wishes Martin

 

 

Edited By Martin Walsh 1 on 10/01/2014 13:27:43

[egaParticipant @ega]

SLOTDRILLER:

Thanks for your advice. Is the UV exposure something to do with etching the PCB?

On a different point, it did occur to me that the built-in turntable and fan might be useful for small-scale spray painting.

[egaParticipant @ega]

John McNamara:

Thanks for the advice and useful links.

Quite apart from the perils of dismantling, I gather that there can be danger from stray m/w radiation. I understand this is normally contained by the polarised screen in the oven door and wonder why it is nonetheless possible to see inside.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Is that not something to do with Faraday effect where radiation can be stopped by a wire screen? Most wireless tuning is carried out in a faraday cage. The door is a fine metal mesh in the glass.

Clive

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by ega on 10/01/2014 15:06:51:

Quite apart from the perils of dismantling, I gather that there can be danger from stray m/w radiation. I understand this is normally contained by the polarised screen in the oven door and wonder why it is nonetheless possible to see inside.

The microwave radiation used an an oven has a wavelength of about 12 cm so it can't get through the small holes in the door screen without considerable attenuation. It is not like ionising radiation, the only danger being the heating effect it has on tissue containing water. High levels can cook your brain or eyeballs but low levels are perfectly safe.

Russell.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by MICHAEL WILLIAMS on 09/01/2014 19:40:15:
Several shops were in the Edgeware Road which was a splendid place to go junk shopping .
 

Lisle Street was a better place to go for war surplus electronics such as the No. 19 wireless sets for tanks. Lisle Street provides a different kind of service now

Russell.

Edited By Russell Eberhardt on 10/01/2014 16:15:28

[IanTParticipant @iant]

I wouldn't know Russell – and at my age – probably don't care either!

IanT

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

> I annoy my wife by dismantling old household electrical items for parts and give them a second life.

"If you want to take it apart PLEASE can you put it in your workshop not leave it there for the next four weeks…"

> 4000Ah [presumably at 3.7 Volt] is enough to power a vehicle

It was a big phone.

Neil

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Hi

With a wavelength of about 10/12cm the frequency is around 2.5/3GHz, vice versa if you want to be pedantic, which is what modern PC processors are running at. Is your computer running under the desk alongside you vital bits ? Just a thought but of course no real problem as it is supposed to be screened, carries a valid CE mark for safe levels of HF/microwave radiated energy and of course most energy is radiated as heat, isn't it?

Martin

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Here is a magnet pair from am ex-military magnetron. Quite useful in the workshop for cleaning the floor. A one microsecond pulse with a peak power of a Megawatt, it was fun to light a fluoro tube in a tree and get the new Artillery persons looking for the power lead..

The compressor was used to pressurise the waveguides in a radar system, ie; all leaks were outwards. With a start capacitor it turned into a nice airbrush supply.

In the 1970's Ian Miller ran a great series on airbrushing using re-cycled fridge compressors in the Aeromodeller magazine.

I recently re-cycled my 15 year old Panasonic microwave oven btw., the lights went out. Sign said 'No User Serviceable Parts Inside'. A one Amp slow-blow fuse (in a socket) was the culprit. A new one soon fixed that problem. Now I wonder if I had called a sparkie would have he charged me an arm and a leg to fix it or tried to flog me a newer model (and taken away the old one to sell with a new fuse)?

Danny M *

[andrew winksParticipant @andrewwinks64215]

Farms are a great place to scrounge around, (what farmer discards anything?!) I was welcome recently to pick through a scrap heap of old irrigation pipes in exchange for some repairs to his equipment. The pipes and fittings were called Buzzacott in their day, galvanized thin walled pipe with brass fittings each end. (In Australia, not sure whether the same brand was available in the UK)

Which leads me to a question for the learned folk in the group. How does one positively tell the difference between brass, gunmetal, phosphor bronze and other forms of bronze? Probably an oft asked question and I have found that machining it will supply some answers…eg.brass will "chip" as well as gunmetal but phosphor bronze turns out long strings like steel. I have many kg of the various gold coloured alloys but when I want to machine a steam boiler fitting, for example, the concern is that the sample I've selected maybe brass and not the desired gunmetal.

BTW…I asked this question of a fellow engineer at a local club but was promptly told not to be so lousy and go buy the correct spec from a metal merchant. I guess the art of recycling was lost there..!

Cheers

Andrew

[egaParticipant @ega]

Russell Eberhardt et al:

Thanks for the further microwave information. I think I now understand why the internal light can be seen through the glass door. BTW, we used to hear a lot about the dangers of mobile phones overheating the brain but their present popularity seems to have overridden that concern.

andrew winks:

On the subject metal identification, John McNamara mentioned beryllium and I was intrigued to see from his link that the proportion of the element present could be assessed by tasting – sweeter indicates more, but, obviously, this test is not used today. I believe that the strength of car antifreeze used to be assessed by tasting.

[I.M. OUTAHEREParticipant @i-m-outahere]

Posted by ega on 10/01/2014 14:58:28:

SLOTDRILLER:

Thanks for your advice. Is the UV exposure something to do with etching the PCB?

On a different point, it did occur to me that the built-in turntable and fan might be useful for small-scale spray painting.

Yes the casing is stripped out and a set UV lights are mounted in the top of the cooking compartment and a tray is set up under this to expose the PCB .
You can add a timer to the casing to control exposure time then the PCB is etched as normal .
These days you can get a set of resist sheets that you print the PCB track layout onto with a laser printer and iron it onto a piece of blank circuit board then peel it off and etch .

I have also seen an old printer / scanner housing use in this way as well.

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

" How does one positively tell the difference between brass, gunmetal, phosphor bronze and other forms of bronze? Probably an oft asked question and I have found that machining it will supply some answers…eg.brass will "chip" as well as gunmetal but phosphor bronze turns out long strings like steel."

This has puzzled me too. With wood I am pretty good and can usually tell at a quick glance, Brass, Bronze, Aluminium Bronze, Phosphor Bronze and Gunmetal though, a real challenge.

Very helpful tip there though with the chip form.

graham.

[andrew winksParticipant @andrewwinks64215]

Thanks Graham. I do know that Al Bronze polishes best out of the lot. A few steam dome covers made from it.

Brass chips almost the same as gunmetal but the surface finish gives some clues. Brass is perfectly smooth being hard drawn, gunmetal is cast so finish will be a little rough (on unmachined rod or bar) and the odd small blow hole when machining. (though I'm sure I've seen drawn gunmetal) Confused??! I am. PB is probably the only one I can ID for sure, tough to machine. Drilling/tapping needs a bit of care. CRC seems to be the best cutting fluid for this..tried milk and all the other witches brews.

The other reason I'd like to positively ID is that I have about 100kg of various scrap I'd like to try in my new foundry. (next project) The type of metal apparently dictates the amount and type of flux used in the melt.

Cheers

Andrew

[MICHAEL WILLIAMSParticipant @michaelwilliams41215]

Andrew Winks ,

I explained how to do this in a very recent posting and other people confirmed that they had successfully used the method themselves :

Use the scanner at the nearest big scrap yard .

Regards ,

MikeW

[andrew winksParticipant @andrewwinks64215]

Thanks Mike

Scanner??! That's too high tech for any yard I've visited, they subscribe to the "Its yellowish and not magnetic" scan method here…

Cheers

Andrew

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Same here, there are at least six scrap yards around me, one is a very big national company and they all use the mark 1 eye ball when sorting metals.

Martin P

[MICHAEL WILLIAMSParticipant @michaelwilliams41215]

You’ve been unlucky – there are positively lots of scanners to be found near me .

Perhaps not in the Rag and Bone men’s yards but certainly in the bulk sorting yards where scrap is graded and baled .

Other sources are industrial and academic labs and environmental health departments .

A reasonable way of identifying brass like materials is to get samples of positively known composition and just compare colour and hardness (after cleaning to same degree ) .

Also there is the literal acid test :

Zinc containing copper alloys will fizz in weak acids whereas non zinc containing ones don’t or only feebly .

Any microscaope available clean surfaces , pref etch , and compare grain structure .

Another comparitive test is melting point .

MikeW

[JAParticipant @ja]

Posted by Russell Eberhardt on 10/01/2014 15:52:02:

Posted by MICHAEL WILLIAMS on 09/01/2014 19:40:15:
Several shops were in the Edgeware Road which was a splendid place to go junk shopping .

Lisle Street was a better place to go for war surplus electronics such as the No. 19 wireless sets for tanks. Lisle Street provides a different kind of service now

Russell.

Edited By Russell Eberhardt on 10/01/2014 16:15:28

I remember the ex-government surplus shops in Lisle Street in the 1960s. Oh how I wish they still existed. Lisle Street then was a real red light district and had the London hospital for sexually transmitted diseases half way down it. Years ago it lost its old "charm" and became part of Soho's China Town.

JA

[MICHAEL WILLIAMSParticipant @michaelwilliams41215]

Thanks for the several responses to my posting on old suppliers etc .

Makes me a bit sad to think all that once was and is now gone forever .

Perhaps no-one on here under fifty years old remembers when there were lots of interesting shops in most high streets and lots of active factories everywhere .

There are of course still some factories but they are now usually closed secretive places behind razor wire fences . When I was a boy I could walk around where I lived and just look in through the almost always open doors of places and see many interesting things going on . Got invited in for a look a few times as well .

Makes me wonder whether any school leavers now know that engineering even exists as a possible career – they just won’t have seen or heard of engineering .

MikeW

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

MikeW,

In the last three years the company I work for has taken on four engineering apprentices all straight from school and all didnt have a clue, they all do day release at Northampton College in mechanical and electrical engineering subjects and they also get to learn the basics of lathe and mill work they spend the rest of the week with us learning the job which when they have done the three years course they will become service engineers working around the country.

Martin P

[Ray LyonsParticipant @raylyons29267]

I think that I was always interested in model aeroplanes but my interest in model engineering began when as a schoolboy, I was let out on Saturday mornings on my own to explore Sherards Bush Market. Under one of the arches, there was a workshop with two men working making steam locomotives. I would hang around at the door watching in wonder as weekly the next loco took shape. There was also a good secondhand book stall there where some weeks, I would spend all my pocket money on books about engineering.

Later, as a national serviceman, if there was a delay in my train home to Wales (always on the way home but never going back) I would go over to Goldhawk Road to browse in Marble Arch Motor Supplies. What a treasure. They had rows of boxes stacked all over the place, full of mostly surplus gear. I remember buying spanners at between 3p and 9p each, still wrapped in a greasy paper which seemed to be the usual rust protection used by the MOD.

I have visited London on many occasions since those days but only on business until recently when I took a walk down memory lane. What a disappointment – all gone, now the market is filled with clothes.

In the 50s, goverment surplus was a big industry. What about those bomb sights, advertised as full of small gears and motors. I just could not afford one since I think the price was about the same as my weekly wage as an apprentice but I still have a few things which are treasured, a small compressor which I have seen on a Merlin engine, a dynamo converted to an electric motor ( these were sold as grinders) and an Astro Compass which cost 17/6p

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