Hi Off work at the moment so yesterday had time to do some fettling. And I had two jobs to do that just so happened were solved by two techniques taught to me by a very good old friend of mine who I used to help in his garage. Thought I would pass them on (I know to most of you they will be old hat). First had to make a NRV tool, Easy at the workshop (a cutting disc in an angle grinder is just shy of the right size) but I'm at home with limited tools hence. Tip one. "If you need to cut a slot in a stud so you can use a screwdriver to turn it don't mess about trying to cut the slot with a hacksaw it will be too narrow. Put two blades in the hacksaw frame, facing opposite ways and cut it using that perfect." Transferring that to todays problem three blades in the frame some small adjustments with a warding file and Bobs your uncle and Fannys your aunt. Tip two. I have this russian 8r clone that has become a real pain in the nether regions. Everytime I think I've got it sorted the control mechanism jams again. I thought I had it fixed using a cleaning needle I got from one of our stove mates, but the machining of the burner was rough and when hot it still baulked. So I hunted out some valve grinding paste (took a bit of finding, farm out my head work now sick of blisters on my palms ooer) and packed the inside of the burner with it reassembled and operated it over and over again. Disassembled said burner good flush out with meths, put back together smooth as my favourite 111. We used to use this on allsorts of unwilling mechanisms. This one comes with health warnings, use as a last resort (check for actual failings in the mechanism first) clean out all the paste and don't over do it you are just accelerating natural wear and tear. I wonder how old these tips are, who showed my old mate? I wonder what convalescing has in for me tomorrow.
Yep i guess i am getting old the saw blade been doing that for a long time valve grinding done that many times on small engines.
Stacked hacksaw blades to cut a wide slot. Must file that away in the memory banks. That is a very useful idea. Thanks. Best Regards, HTG
I found out about the stacked hacksaw blades many years ago when I had to make half a dozen stove bolts out of wrought iron rivets. I was having the devil's own time cutting screw slots until the lazy sod inside me decided to stack two in the frame. End of problem. Valve grinding paste is one of my favorite tools. A friend has an el-cheapo muzzleloading rifle that would barely shoot a 20" (50cm)pattern at 50 yards with patched roundballs. He was going to trade it off for a sick old mangy dog, then shoot the dog until I talked him into winding a tight patch on his cleaning jag, slobbing a gob of valve grinding paste on it and running it the length of the rifle bore four or five times. After the second rub-out that rifle now shoots five shots into 2" (5cm) at 50 yards/meters. It's still a POS, but its a POS that shoots well now. I did the same thing with my favorite muzzleloader. It had a "funny" place about halfway down where the patched ball would jam when loading after two or three shots. I lapped the bore with a very tight patch loaded with fine valve grinding paste just until I could no longer feel the hard spot. It worked, I now win more matches than I lose. The fiftieth load is as smooth and easy as the first. Between lapping the bore and using Wonderlube 1000 I have had no trouble with that rifle since. WL1K is a non veggie oil product. Cast iron cookware and muzzleloading guns do not like veggie oil. I think its because they're carnivorous. Animal fat only, lard preferred. I also "lapped" the lids on a couple of my dutch ovens with valve grinding paste. It made them fit like a bank vault door. DO NOT use oil based paste, that stinking oil gets into metal and will not come out short of nuclear heat. Water based washes off with dish soap and leaves no residue. Gerry
Gerry, Is that WL1K suitable for brass ? I've got several spindle valve assy's that could use a bit of lapping...
Hi Trevor Coming up to fourth week off, which would be great if I was mobile. Two weeks mainly in bed and I've been told by the doctor I can't drive, so I'm bored stiff. I haven't got enough stoves that need only the minor fettling I can do. I'm tempted to hammer Ebay while the other half doesn't know what I'm buying but nothing going in my price range, but then again people say I'm tighter than a fishes a***. I was NOT happy to miss MIT, a 111 was my first and still my favourite stove, I've never seen a 22 in the flesh but need one badly coz there are 5 of us to feed. See you soon
Good stuff gary. Thanks for reminding me. Tend to forget things after awhile. Sorry you have to laze round haunting ebay and looking for the mis placed and misspelt stoves to snavvel. Could be worse...Apparently
Sounds like Ian, Trevor and me need to descend on you again and completely take over your garage for a few hours... N.E. Mini-Meet No. 2
Hi David Sounds like a good idea to me. You know lamps better than me, I picked up an X246B today from a junk shop in Masham. It was in the bottom of the box never seen one before, is it some kind of preheater?
Hi Gary, Romac make clamps and couplings of various kinds so maybe you can use some of that time you've got to find out exactly what that is! But depending on the size, it might just serve as a Tilley preheater. I thought I'd cleaned out Masham last year, but I'd have left X246Bs anyway - was it the old bloke in the corner of the market square? He had a nice boxed Bialaddin/Vapalux lantern but he wanted a bit too much for it IIRC. Also an R1 heater/radiator, but he leaves stuff outside and it was knackered... Cheers...
Hi David Thats the very place, I don't usually hanker after X246Bs' myself but it was a 1965ish one (the receipt was in the box) boxed with all instructions mantle etc. only lit once by an idiot (tank smells of white spirit) and was cheap. The best bit. Also I ruin my lamps using them for fishing with very stupid friends who kick them over drop them in the water etc. so require new victims all the time (that vapalux I got from you is a family camping job only). His stock renews quite quickly as he has many contacts scavenging for him. Like you I wonder why he puts so much stuff outside to be spoiled, I saw at least fifteen blow lamps most of them outside slowly becoming unsalvageable. The reason I thought it was a preheater was the felt in the jaws of the clip, I might just douse it in meths and set fire to it and see how long it burns we should set a date for another mini meet. By the way there is a camp site near Masham behind the Black Swan Pub that I'm hoping to test soon, Could be a possibility for a weekend stove meet.
I'll bet even money that felt in the jaws is to use as a heat sink for soldering copper pipe. It has that look to me. To use, soak the felt in water then clamp on the pipe to keep the heat away from another joint which would be effected by the heat of the one you are soldering. Look to see if there is any solder or flux in the felt before you heat it up. lance
Wonder Lube 1000 is a non mineral, non petroleum, non vegetable oil based muzzleloading patch lubricant. The patch is what the lead ball is wrapped in to engage the rifling and seal the bore. I have no idea what is in Wonder Lube 1000, except wintergreen, likely there to mask some unpleasantness. Gerry
Same stuff I've been using for the last 35 years, 'cept I've called it 'Bore Butter' I've got three rifles, 2 - 50's and 1 - .54 T/c. and 2 or three pistols...Coupla .44's and a .36. fun to shoot, messy to clean up ! I've taken 6 or 8 deer with the .54 Renegade, great rifle, kicks hard ! I use the 430 grain (1 oz) bullet, knocks em right down! No bloodshot meat, you can eat right up to the hole !!!
My Coleman NRV tool was simple... a Snap-On F62 screwdriver bit (3/8" wide hollow ground bit in a 3/8-drive socket) and a 3" 3/8-Drive extension. And wrapped the extension with 1.5" wide vinyl electrical tape until it was a good (but still slightly loose) fit in the pump bore and 3/4" wide tape around the body of the socket http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...group_ID=11449&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog I've only ever encountered ONE NRV that I couldn't get out with this combination and a Vermont-America #4 EZ-out and a Vermont-America #5 tap socket removed that "early" style (stemmed) check valve. The later style adopted in the 80's with the "skinny" NRV stem has never given me a problem... But the point of this is that I can remove and install the NRV's with a 3/8" ratchet handle, and even use a torque wrench, though I haven't a clue as to correct tightening torque for an NRV. AD
