Second Melbourne scraping class reflections

[Steamwhisperer]

some of the 'Rogues Gallery'

[Steamwhisperer]

and more, plus apologies for the blokes I missed.

[Ropetangler]

Thanks Phil for these photos, it's nice to see the faces of all these people I feel I know quite well already.


I doubt you will be hearing from them tonight, they are all in a hot bath or straight off to bed, exhausted. I’ve flogged them all weekend.

Phil.Machtool had this to say in the other scraping thread, but from the smiles in most photos, I'd say he was fibbing. Unless of course they were smiling because the flogging was halted momentarily!:wink:.
In answer to your question Steamwhisperer Phil, I didn't ache too much after the last school, - perhaps I didn't work hard enough!!
It will be great to catch up with those I have already met, and to meet all the newer graduates if and when we get to do the second semester.
Thanks again Machtool for your great effort in hosting these most appreciated events.:2tsup::2tsup:
Rob.

[Abratool]

To everyone at the scrapefest 2012
What a fantastic time :2tsup:
Wonderful & knowledgable blokes, all sharing a common interest,& continueing & learning from the best.
I had a few aches & pains on the first day,after scraping from 7 in the morning till 6 that night, & then out to dinner, a few reds & more talking.Came good the next day.
Could not have been a better weekend & thanks for the visit from the previous years "students" & sharing their know how.
This morning I stood staring at my old Churchill Surface grinder & imagining the work ahead in scraping the double vee cross slides.:rolleyes: A job I was told as "very difficult"
The toughest part is starting.:)
regards
Bruce

[Steamwhisperer]

Now for the random shots

[Machtool]

I'd say he was fibbing. Unless of course they were smiling because the flogging was halted momentarily! I’d put it this way, I don’t think we could have extracted any more out of the available time we had. I had them on their feet yesterday morning, eating morning tee, while we did turcite and bronze, so as to not waste 15 minutes.

Last guy downed scraper at about 7.00 last night. I dropped B.T off about 8.30. Neither of us were up to getting something to eat.

My Thanks go to Joe, Greg, Richard & Ray, for doing some remote consulting over the past 7 weeks. And this forum for hosting it. Especially the “Sticky”

And those that brought along, leads and clamps, etc. Especially Christian for the use of that super vacuum. That’s a fair investment to be loaning that to 13 blokes you had never meet before.

All up, I’m claiming it a super successful weekend.

Regards Phil.

[Steamwhisperer]

More random

[Steamwhisperer]

more random

[Steamwhisperer]

last lot

[Dave J]

Hope all you guys had a great time. It's good to put a face to a name, though a few of the names I don't know of.
I take it this is our young Andre?
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachments/f65/205119d1334528574t-second-melbourne-scraping-class-reflections-welder.jpg

Good onya mate, if only we had more young guys like you in the world.

Dave

[Machtool]

Excellent photo's Phil. I particually like this one.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachments/f65/205161d1334544903t-second-melbourne-scraping-class-reflections-2012-melbourne-scraping-class-042.jpg

I want to see that on the cover of a book.

Regards. The other Phil.

[RayG]

Thanks for the pictures Phil, certainly captured the atmosphere of the class with some great pictures.

It was good to catch up with a few familar names, on Saturday Night but all too brief.. :C

Hi Dave, yes that's Andre, he was doing a pretty good job as I recall.

Congratulations Phil on a great job, and another successful class. :2tsup:

Regards
Ray

PS...
That picture is a ripper! Here's the larger version, the lighting is perfect, and the crooked little finger implies the delicate measuring process... Definately book cover material.

Snipped..... :)

[Steamwhisperer]

Excellent photo's Phil. I particually like this one.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachments/f65/205161d1334544903t-second-melbourne-scraping-class-reflections-2012-melbourne-scraping-class-042.jpg

I want to see that on the cover of a book.

Regards. The other Phil.

Lol I was going to bin that from the pathetic attempt with the exposure. That is until I had a closer look. I love it!
I have a published author stays with me 3 days a week. Hmm a book you say!!

Phil

[Abratool]

Hope all you guys had a great time. It's good to put a face to a name, though a few of the names I don't know of.
I take it this is our young Andre?
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachments/f65/205119d1334528574t-second-melbourne-scraping-class-reflections-welder.jpg

Good onya mate, if only we had more young guys like you in the world.

Dave
Good to be with you Andre.
I was the oldest at 70 on the bench of 4 followed by young Bob BT, then Frank, then Andre.
We shared some good technical talk, & thanks so much Andre to you & your father for the kind pickup & drop off in your car.
A wonderful time that all went too quickly. Stay the course Andre, you are on the right track :2tsup:
regards
Bruce

[Machtool]

Hmm a book you say!!
That reminds me, for two reasons. Those books. The reading material.

I don’t think everybody took theirs. They were complimentary. There were 3 left out in the shop. Drop me an email and I’ll post them out.

And I missed the boys in my thanks. They are courtesy of Jayson & Peter from the Horsham chapter of scrapfest 2011.

We had a little side deal going on for those, which I’ve not fulfilled. I was looking forward to them being here Saturday night. Let me know how to square that away.

One of those books, plus one of the handmade scraper’s, complete with a Ray G handle, plus an Australian insert, is making its way to America tonight via airmail. For a bit of peer review. I should have had a boxing kangaroo, laser etched into the shank.

Regards Phil.

[Steamwhisperer]

Very cool on the scraper heading to America Phil. I had a tooth pulled today that didnt go well and apart from uploading photos I have just sat here and looked at mine. What a work of art.

Phil (the other)

[Dave J]

Hi Phil,
Sorry to hear about your pain, nothing worse than teeth.
I had one out last year and had a dry socket, never knew what it was until I got it. It was Friday it got pulled and I had to suffer the whole week end with it, and even though I have all the heaviest medication for my neck, nothing worked.

Dave

[Machtool]

Good onya mate, if only we had more young guys like you in the world.

Stay the course Andre, you are on the right track
I’ve slept on this 2 nights, and thought about it all day. That kid needs a better apprenticeship. I’d happily write him a reference.

Andre, would you consider moving your apprenticeship? Your only first year, that should be easy.

This 4 man, pump refurbishment place might be a nice place to work. But how much are you going to learn? The Egyptians had pumps, 2000 years ago, and we still have them. The question is, do you still want to be doing pumps in 40 years time?

THE only place in Sydney, for superior training in the fitting and turning & toolmaking trades is Broens Engineering. They have 32 apprentices out of a 150 work force.

http://www.broens.com.au/Broens.html (http://www.broens.com.au/Broens.html)

They have their own training centre. In conjunction with the TAFE at Ingleburn. This little mickey mouse, set up I put on this weekend, you get that 5 days a week for 48 weeks there.

http://www.broens.com.au/corporate_trainingcentre.html (http://www.broens.com.au/corporate_trainingcentre.html)

They are showing availabilities for apprenticeships, on their employment page. Note the requirement for Math’s and English. Bob and I hit you up about that yesterday. Communication skills. They might over look that if you have other abilities. Carlos himself wasn’t that fluent when he got here. He might substitute English for passion. Don’t contact them until you have had someone proof read it. Quite probably one of us.

http://www.broens.com.au/downloads/employment.pdf (http://www.broens.com.au/downloads/employment.pdf)

Carlos Broens, is the closest thing, currently in this country to the apprentice master that I had, Karl Zeigler. I’ve admired Carlos, from a distance, for over the last decade. High tech company that invests in producing its own high tech employees. You wouldn’t find a better opportunity in Australia, for a bloke your age. If fitting and turning is your passion.

Whatever you do, click this link, and watch this video. In my opinion, this is the best guy in this country to fully exploit your talents.

http://www.skillsone.com.au/industry/3/metals--engineering/video/107/toolmaker-made-good/ (http://www.skillsone.com.au/industry/3/metals--engineering/video/107/toolmaker-made-good/)

I don’t know Carlos personally, I’d be sort of known to him if he was to dig through the Zenford / Kirby history. But I’d be prepared to write to him, and make a case for you. Kind of a diamond in the rough thing. But if he was prepared to grab you by the seat of the pants, and knock the rough edges off. You have the potential to make a fine craftsman, and beyond.

I don’t think there has ever been a 16 year old in this country, that has been a pain in the ####, begging to be let into a class to learn about hand scraping. (That’s not a criticism, just an observation).

And then to drive from Sydney to Melbourne to do it as a 16 year old. That has to give you some credits. I also don’t recall many 16 year olds buying their own cast iron surface plate. You are a strange fish in a big ocean, young man.

Regards Phil.

[Steamwhisperer]

I agree. I hope you consider this Andre, it's a safe bet an opportunity like this will never come along again. You already know the admiration I have for you.

Phil

[welder]

Wow Borens looks like an impressive place. I really have not thought about changing workplace, but that is something that I will seriously consider next year once i have completed my HSC.

[Dave J]

Hi Phil,
I totally agree to you about all this and only know the guy from the forum and pms.

I think the guys where he is will use him up over the years for his talents and youth. If he can get his foot in a door at that place it would be a dream job with being able to learn so much and have all the gear at hand to learn on.

Andre
Something to think about, having Phil as a reference would be a good one.
Like we have said, you are one in a billion to want to learn this trade and even go to the lengths to pay for it out of your own pocket. It would be worth giving it a lot of thought as I really don't think there are any ladders where you are.

On the other hand if your happy there you may want to stay, but going from I know of you, you want to learn more than they can provide.

I showed your picture to my 12 year old grandson today and told him your 16 and own your own machines etc, and he was impressed and said maybe I could buy some when I am 16, but the video games have got him in sadly.

Dave

[welder]

I have really been thinking about this and where i am at now is a great place to work but it's not the best place to learn.

[Anorak Bob]

I’d put it this way, I don’t think we could have extracted any more out of the available time we had. I had them on their feet yesterday morning, eating morning tee, while we did turcite and bronze, so as to not waste 15 minutes.

Last guy downed scraper at about 7.00 last night. I dropped B.T off about 8.30. Neither of us were up to getting something to eat.

My Thanks go to Joe, Greg, Richard & Ray, for doing some remote consulting over the past 7 weeks. And this forum for hosting it. Especially the “Sticky”

And those that brought along, leads and clamps, etc. Especially Christian for the use of that super vacuum. That’s a fair investment to be loaning that to 13 blokes you had never meet before.

All up, I’m claiming it a super successful weekend.

Regards Phil.

Hey Phil,

There was no microwave in the bloody hotel room. Cold ham and cheese croissant is not too bad! :D

BT

[Anorak Bob]

A few photos.

Phil F and GQ. Joe and Marko and Phil the photographer.

[harty69]

looks like everyone had too much fun
I would have loved to make it to tea but the planets didn't align for me
well done to Phil and his team for putting on a great show again by the looks of it
phil you can sign me up now for the advanced course on machine reconditioning :;
I would defiantly say that what I learnt on the first course has been invaluable to me over the last 6 months and I hope the new class get as much enjoyment as I have from the skills Phil and Marko passed on

now back to the shed for round 16 with the scraper and the shaper ram

cheers
Harty

[Machtool]

Cold ham and cheese croissant is not too bad!That’s exactly what I ended up having, I found it O.K also. It was all I could manage. I slumped on the couch when I got home and watched a few minutes of the Logies, with a cold croissant. Does life get any better? It was my Kerrigan moment.

Phil.

[Greg Q]

Fellas, sorry that I disappeared on Sat...duty called elsewhere, pronto. Sunday I stayed in bed with man flu. Today too, actually. I'll have to struggle over to Phil's tomorrow and get him to make me a java.

I trust everyone had a great time and found it worthwhile.

Greg

[Machtool]

I'll have to struggle over to Phil's tomorrow and get him to make me a java.
I wasn’t going to tell you, but I’ve had a play with the coffee machine today. God knows I NEEDED one this morning. I shouldn’t have hung up on you, on Sunday, when you were trying to tell me about making coffee off your death bed.

Your machine makes really ordinary coffee. Kind of like a cross between red gum sawdust and Indian Ganges tepid warm river water, just downstream from a public toilet, if you attempt it only 12 seconds after you work out how to turn it on. Apart from that it went O.K

I probably should have rang the other Phil, who would have told me, if you need to make steam, you need to light the boiler in advance.

However my attempts though out the day have improved. Its almost drinkable at the moment. It’s a miraculous thing once I worked out how to pass hot water / steam past the bean.

Phil.

[Machtool]

but that is something that I will seriously consider next year once i have completed my HSC.
Care to run that past us again. For those of us that read the below threads, we kind of assumed you had passed on school for an apprenticeship. I wont be alone in thinking that. We used to call in indentured apprenticeship.Meaning like a 4 year contract.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/random-question-139828/index2.html#post1388887 (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/random-question-139828/index2.html#post1388887)


But your still doing HSC? Is that one of these trade / school joint release things. Like when you get time off from prison. (/Joke)
Learn all you can in whilst in HSC. Take the teacher an apple tomorrow.

Regards Phil.

[Michael G]

Yes Phil - I didn't realise that Andre was still at school either until this weekend. He gets bonus points for keen-ness. Perhaps you'd better write to his school to let them know what he's been up to as well.
These days it's very rare to find anyone who hasn't finished high school out there. Most trade entrants have year 12. However, part of the school system now lets you do the start of trade qualifications which counts as part of your studies.
Gone are the days of leaving after year 10 to go off and do a trade.

Michael

[welder]

I am doing what is called a school based apprenticeship, this means i go to school 3 days a week, tafe one day a week and work one day a week and in the school holidays. This counts for the first year of the apprenticeship and half the hsc units.

[pipeclay]

So based on that information how do you make up for the shortfall in practical training.
Is the employer that you are attending at present paying you for the 2 days (.work and tafe).

[welder]

I don't get paid to go to tafe.

[Abratool]

Yes Phil - I didn't realise that Andre was still at school either until this weekend. He gets bonus points for keen-ness. Perhaps you'd better write to his school to let them know what he's been up to as well.
These days it's very rare to find anyone who hasn't finished high school out there. Most trade entrants have year 12. However, part of the school system now lets you do the start of trade qualifications which counts as part of your studies.
Gone are the days of leaving after year 10 to go off and do a trade.

Michael
Likewise, I have been confused about Andres "Apprenticeship"
I was looking at an overview of his enthusiasm, attitude,& ability in pursueing something he is passionate about. Although whilst with him on the weekend we discussed technical aspects & the road ahead, I had no idea that he was going to school as well as doing 1 day work & 1 day Tafe.
This programme is totally news to me, as I have lost touch with the latest education systems. Perhaps now I would rephrase "Stay the Course"
Spent some time this morning looking up the Broen Eng Co as Phil highlighted & would strongly suggest to Andre to investigate this line of action.
At 16 yrs plus its very important to get into a place where one can get a variety of solid expertise & experience, that will carry you through life.
Like others on this forum, & particularly those that met you at the scraping course, we want to assist you Andre in every way. I may speak for others as well but we see you as exceptional. Please do not waste your abilities.
Like Phil, I would be pleased to write a reference.:2tsup:
regards
Bruce

[.RC.]

Apprenticeships are a lot different to days gone by...

School based apprenticeships are quite common and in Qld they even have what they call "recognition of prior learning" where by a mature age person can start an apprenticeship at the stage where their skills currently are...Could be first year or could be fourth year after they are assessed by an assessor...

I for example am already skilled in the breaking inserts and endmills part of the fitting and turning diploma...

[pipeclay]

Andre does this company employ your skills as a requirement of the shcools based apprenticeship only,or are they obligated to give you full training after the completion of the 1st year.
Are you going to your employers during Tafe/School holidays.

[welder]

The place i'm at now is obligated to provide full training, I work in the school holidays also. Although the machines are hardly state of the art modern machines.

[Machtool]

Although the machines are hardly state of the art modern machines. What machines do they have there? If its only a few lathes and mills, all manual, its going to be hard to get a good all round experience.

This arrangement you are in, are they expecting you to be there full time, next year. Are you committed to that? Have you signed any formal kind of agreement?

Phil.

[Dave J]

I would talk to your teaches when you get back and see if it's OK to give them Phil's phone number to have a talk to him. Coming from someone outside who is a trade person and has worked with you will go a long way.

Dave

[welder]

At work we have 3 manual lathes a mill and an cnc lathe. I have sighed a contract but i can leave we made sure of that.

[Dave J]

That was a good idea to make sure there was an out, my son said he was leaving his auto elec job to go somewhere else and they threatened court. The apprenticeship board was all mixed up with Newcastle telling him he could leave, and then Sydney saying he couldn't. In the end it all worked out and he got a 70% a pay rise to stay.

Dave

[Machtool]

I’m starting to stumble over little bits and pieces out in the shop, someone has left behind.

I have a 150mm Bessey speed clamp and a sexy looking yellow single into double power lead I found under a bench.
Let me know who’s they are, and I’ll get them back to you.

Phil.

[CGroves]

Thanks for the photos. Great to have them. After scraping for so my hours I don't think I could have held my camera steady enough :-)
Thanks again also to Phil and Marko for putting on a great course. I'm looking forward to seeing Marko's 5m long grinder in action for another future get together.

I was also having a chat with Marko about how hard it is to find powdered pigments. A place in Yarraville, VIC makes powdered pigments for artists:
Artist Dry Ground Pigments (http://www.langridgecolours.com/pigment/pigments)

Might be something for people wanting to play around with their own concoctions.

Regards, Christian

[Steamwhisperer]

here is the last of the pics I have

[Steamwhisperer]

still going

[Anorak Bob]

here is the last of the pics I have

I reckon Bruce is resting in that photo. He definitely has his eyes closed.:roll:

[Steamwhisperer]

nearly there

[Steamwhisperer]

now the last

[Anorak Bob]

Thanks for the photos. Great to have them. After scraping for so my hours I don't think I could have held my camera steady enough :-)
Thanks again also to Phil and Marko for putting on a great course. I'm looking forward to seeing Marko's 5m long grinder in action for another future get together.

I was also having a chat with Marko about how hard it is to find powdered pigments. A place in Yarraville, VIC makes powdered pigments for artists:
Artist Dry Ground Pigments (http://www.langridgecolours.com/pigment/pigments)

Might be something for people wanting to play around with their own concoctions.

Regards, Christian

Hey Christian,

Can you recall what Marko used as grease in his mix?

BT

[CGroves]

Hello BT,

All I know is "grease" for the blue mix and vaseline for the white mix. After have the fingers in it all weekend at least you know what consistency to aim for :-)

Christian

[Machtool]

Can you recall what Marko used as grease in his mix?
There’s nothing super special about the grease. You just want new and clean. And you don’t want heavily coloured grease to start with, Those blue or red ones, wouldn’t work as well. If you start with a blue one, how would you know when you have enough pigment.

What we used at the weekend was Shell Alvania RL2. That’s a light cream / beige colour. We didn’t bother showing you how to mix it, as that would be boring. You just keep adding pigment until you get that deep Prussian blue colour.

It also gets better with time, when the pigment is fully saturated. We mixed that a month before class. It could also get a few drops of oil, just what laying around, Vactra 2.If its looking dry.

Phil.

P.S. Even the President knows what 5 microns is now. He can still smell it.

http://data5.blog.de/media/883/3433883_b0b24b60f2_m.jpg

[Abratool]

I reckon Bruce is resting in that photo. He definitely has his eyes closed.:roll:
Bob
Hey, I am not old enough to have an afternoon sleep.
What you see is leverage applied from the left arm, with the right arm, "PUSH.... PUSH......PUSH.... LOWER ANGLE " (Markos loud voice over my shoulder) My ears are still ringing !:U
More concentration....... MOVE that metal !:2tsup:
Thats my story anyway.
A great weekend.
Thank you to last year graduates, Joe Hovel,GregQ, Ray G, Steamwhisperer Phil for his photos & others for there visit, friendship & encouragement.
I am looking forward now for a machine alignment course :rolleyes:
regards
Bruce

[Anorak Bob]

Bob
Hey, I am not old enough to have an afternoon sleep.
What you see is leverage applied from the left arm, with the right arm, "PUSH.... PUSH......PUSH.... LOWER ANGLE " (Markos loud voice over my shoulder) My ears are still ringing !:U
More concentration....... MOVE that metal !:2tsup:
Thats my story anyway.
A great weekend.
Thank you to last year graduates, Joe Hovel,GregQ, Ray G, Steamwhisperer Phil for his photos & others for there visit, friendship & encouragement.
I am looking forward now for a machine alignment course :rolleyes:
regards
Bruce

If there was an alignment course, I'll be back over there!

[simonl]

If there was an alignment course, I'll be back over there!

I'm hearing you! I think I know just enough about scraping to get myself into trouble! I have time and patience on my side so I can brush up on my skills to scrape a flat surface but to scrape the ways of a mill and scrape them so they are both flat AND in the same plane is another thing! Then theres the dovetails, How would you scrape them parallel and in keeping with the correct angle?!

Now that I have the bare bare basics, my thirst for an application of it is strong! Would love to scrape the ways of my mill but like I mentioned above, each contact point is relative the the next. I'm seriously thinking of buying the machine tool reconditioning book by connelly.

I find myself looking for straight edges, camel backs etc. Did anyone ever end up buying any from China? I read a thread on it about 1 or so ago, people were looking at either from China or a bare casting and machining/scraping it themselves....

Cheers,

Simon

[Abratool]

I'm hearing you! I think I know just enough about scraping to get myself into trouble! I have time and patience on my side so I can brush up on my skills to scrape a flat surface but to scrape the ways of a mill and scrape them so they are both flat AND in the same plane is another thing! Then theres the dovetails, How would you scrape them parallel and in keeping with the correct angle?!

Now that I have the bare bare basics, my thirst for an application of it is strong! Would love to scrape the ways of my mill but like I mentioned above, each contact point is relative the the next. I'm seriously thinking of buying the machine tool reconditioning book by connelly.

I find myself looking for straight edges, camel backs etc. Did anyone ever end up buying any from China? I read a thread on it about 1 or so ago, people were looking at either from China or a bare casting and machining/scraping it themselves....

Cheers,

Simon
Simon
Same here.
regards
Bruce

[Anorak Bob]

I'm hearing you! I think I know just enough about scraping to get myself into trouble! I have time and patience on my side so I can brush up on my skills to scrape a flat surface but to scrape the ways of a mill and scrape them so they are both flat AND in the same plane is another thing! Then theres the dovetails, How would you scrape them parallel and in keeping with the correct angle?!

Now that I have the bare bare basics, my thirst for an application of it is strong! Would love to scrape the ways of my mill but like I mentioned above, each contact point is relative the the next. I'm seriously thinking of buying the machine tool reconditioning book by connelly.

I find myself looking for straight edges, camel backs etc. Did anyone ever end up buying any from China? I read a thread on it about 1 or so ago, people were looking at either from China or a bare casting and machining/scraping it themselves....

Cheers,

Simon

Simon,

I dropped $96.45US for a copy of Connelly's Machine Tool Reconditioning. Might be a start.

Machine Tool Reconditioning for Machine Tools by Machine Tool Publications (http://www.machinetoolpublications.com/index.cfm)

BT

[Abratool]

Fellow Scrapers
Following what we learnt last weekend, I was keen to try a set up for resharpening the carbide.
Had a 6"dia flaring cup type diamond wheel stored away, it had never been used.
Its got an inch & a quarter bore to suit my surface grinder, so I set it up as per the photo.
All worked well. The diamond is 126 grade, a little coarse perhaps, however the finish grind was good. Although I ground dry,might try wet to see how it performs.
regards
Bruce

[Anorak Bob]

I have one of the cheapo Chinese diamond dusted wheels like the one Gregory showed us on his Bunnings(?) budget grinder. Be nice if it works and works for more than five minutes. I can imagine the cost of the diamond wheel mounted on Phil's Waldown would gobble up a fair bit of play money!

BT

[Greg Q]

My wheel has about 3 mm of "material" on the rim, which I expect is about par for those $35 ebay wheels. I have used it to shape about ten carbide tips, sharpen the cat's claws, and touch up a couple of old cemented carbide lathe tools. I expect that it will last another 45 years at my rate of use.

Those real diamond wheels like Phil has cost more than my car. (not my wife's car). Just discovered that I cannot do smileys on this infernal pad thang.

Friday I start tool reconaisance in HK. Pete F has given me his cheap Indian tap vendor's details, so now I'll be set. Well, as soon as I make an EDM.

GQ

[CGroves]

I'd be up for an alignment course also.
Christian

[Ropetangler]

Friday I start tool reconaisance in HK. Pete F has given me his cheap Indian tap vendor's details, so now I'll be set. Well, as soon as I make an EDM.

GQ

For a moment there I thought that you were going to say "Indian Hemp Dealer" there Greg:D:D Perhaps not the best career move! On second thoughts no worse than confusing Venus for another collection of rivets flying in close formation, on a reciprocal heading:B.
I hope that you are now feeling much better than you were a few days ago,
Best wishes
Rob

[Anorak Bob]

My wheel has about 3 mm of "material" on the rim, which I expect is about par for those $35 ebay wheels. I have used it to shape about ten carbide tips, sharpen the cat's claws, and touch up a couple of old cemented carbide lathe tools. I expect that it will last another 45 years at my rate of use.

Those real diamond wheels like Phil has cost more than my car. (not my wife's car). Just discovered that I cannot do smileys on this infernal pad thang.

Friday I start tool reconaisance in HK. Pete F has given me his cheap Indian tap vendor's details, so now I'll be set. Well, as soon as I make an EDM.

GQ

Gregory,

I would have thought that with Pete's experience in broken tap removal he would have developed a simple extraction technique, something a bit more basic than an EDM. I also though he had been purchasing the taps direct from Mumbai in an effort to avoid the Chinese middleman's inflated pricing.

BT

[Greg Q]

Thanks boys, I am feeling better now. That Venus caper has all of us shaking our heads at the shear scope of the stupidity involved. Venus is lesson 101 in night flying, not something you react to when in an actual mofo airliner. Jeez.

Pete is probably going to get thingy with me over my jibe about his punjabian taps. Just kidding Pete...

Trip after this will be with my step daughter which will mean fashion, and lots of it. So tools are going to be my May mission. Reconaisance this weekend, of which I shall report upon my return.

Greg gwai lo