|
Post by ilvaporista on Jan 9, 2019 9:41:15 GMT
Drawings and drawing boards are big in our family. Our lounge carpet in the Lake District was the scene of the laying out of the M6 through the Lune gorge. Rolls of plans would be laid out and curves plotted and discussions would go on until late. All very fascinating for a 5 year old and I had lots if scrap paper to draw on. The carpet after some years in storage has been reused. The big double elephant drawing board on which the detail drawings were done is now a headboard of a bed, nothing is wasted in our house! I have my small drawing board from my days at SU Carbs on which I laid out many a new project. In the workshop there are tools dating back to the 1880's and pieces made by both grandfathers. I always smile when one gets used, the one I use the most is the big set of wooden dividers.
|
|
JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,907
|
Post by JonL on Jan 9, 2019 10:12:25 GMT
...I have my small drawing board from my days at SU Carbs on which I laid out many a new project...
I can't help but be excited by that, I've been a keen SU enthusiast for years, recently converted my TR6 engined GT6 to a set I refurbished from a Dolly Sprint recently as I didn't get on with the Strombergs. What sort of projects were you involved in? Where would that have been based? I live quite near Burlen Fuel Systems who have restarted SU production I understand, they have been handy to have around when various projects have needed new mixture needles.
Sorry for all the questions but you've piqued my interest. Maybe we need a thread on peoples engineering backgrounds as I'm sure it would generate a lot of discussion!
|
|
|
Post by suctionhose on Jan 9, 2019 10:30:57 GMT
maybe we need a thread on peoples engineering backgrounds as I'm sure it would generate a lot of discussion! You should kick that off! It'll be fun....
|
|
JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,907
|
Post by JonL on Jan 9, 2019 10:44:01 GMT
maybe we need a thread on peoples engineering backgrounds as I'm sure it would generate a lot of discussion! You should kick that off! It'll be fun.... I don't know if I dare...
|
|
|
Post by ilvaporista on Jan 9, 2019 11:09:50 GMT
...I have my small drawing board from my days at SU Carbs on which I laid out many a new project...
I can't help but be excited by that, I've been a keen SU enthusiast for years, recently converted my TR6 engined GT6 to a set I refurbished from a Dolly Sprint recently as I didn't get on with the Strombergs. What sort of projects were you involved in? Where would that have been based? I live quite near Burlen Fuel Systems who have restarted SU production I understand, they have been handy to have around when various projects have needed new mixture needles.
Sorry for all the questions but you've piqued my interest. Maybe we need a thread on peoples engineering backgrounds as I'm sure it would generate a lot of discussion!
I was at SU Automotive from 1993 to 2000 when the last of the K series carbs were made. The tools and fixtures went to Burlen and I handled the follow up. The factory was in Wood Lane, Erdington, Birminham the traditional home of SU. The production building is still there but the development shops have gone. I probably should write the bit on the later history of SU. I handled new projects, then became the commercial manager and finally ended up running the induction systems side. The company was sold out of what became the Rover Group to Hobourn who then quickly sold on to Echlin. Echlin were then taken over by Dana under whom the final closure of SU took place. My projects were the non Rover Cars business so included Ford, LandRover, Triumph and Bombardier. I was then handed the poison chalice of the plastic throttle body which warrants a book of it's own. I was the idiot that found the problem that spelt the end of that product and in effect hastened the end.
|
|
JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,907
|
Post by JonL on Jan 9, 2019 11:11:01 GMT
Fascinating, thank you.
|
|
|
Post by terrier060 on Jan 9, 2019 11:37:10 GMT
I don't have a picture to hand but I would say that my relic would be my Unimat 3 which my father bought for me at Wembley ME, IIRC that was 1983 so 36 years ago this month. I still have it and plan to make good use of it when making the various boiler fittings. When I was at secondary school in the 70's I had Metalwork, Woodwork and Technical Drawing classes. I made a working submersible submarine in metalwork, so that was my first pressurised vessel, the second and last being the vacuum reservoir for Doncaster. In woodwork, my project was a 'racing car'. When it came to choosing my options I had to choose one from those 3, I chose TD as I found it a challenge and was pretty good at it. It's a real shame that such classes have been confined to history these days... Pete Oh Pete - you have started me off now. There was once a wonderful education system in this country until those educationalists started meddling. We had Technical Colleges (where I did my A levels), Polytechnics and Universities, the latter doing the more academic work complemented by the Polys which turned it into something useful. Now we have 'The University of *****' - what a joke - and a lot of others I could mention. Dozens have sprung up from what were once teachers training colleges or institutes of some kind or another. We had a great system which has slowly been destroyed. When I was at University, it still felt like one. By the time I left all the wonderful woodwork in the laboratories - solid ash and teak (which incidentally still had samples that Darwin brought back with him from his travels around South America and the Galapagos Islands), were replaced with horrid white plastic coated benches - said to be more hygienic. It was all about money - not Science. Sorry about that, but I feel that certain people like to get into jobs where they have to justify themselves just by meddling - not really thinking about what they are doing or the consequences. Ed
|
|
|
Post by simplyloco on Jan 9, 2019 12:34:00 GMT
It's a real shame that such classes have been confined to history these days... Pete Oh Pete - you have started me off now. SNIP By the time I left all the wonderful woodwork in the laboratories - solid ash and teak (which incidentally still had samples that Darwin brought back with him from his travels around South America and the Galapagos Islands), were replaced with horrid white plastic coated benches - said to be more hygienic. It was all about money - not Science. Ed Ed, funny you should say that: I made this one inch thick iroko cabinet in 1995 from worktops 'liberated' from 'renovated' classrooms at Pates Grammar School in Cheltenham! John PS. That reminds me: I still have to make better links on that blasted machine! WP_20190109_12_19_56_Pro[1] by inkaboat, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by terrier060 on Jan 9, 2019 13:35:13 GMT
That is a beautiful cabinet John. My claim to fame is a foot stool, which is still in use, and made of oak during woodwork lessons at Peter Symonds Grammar school in Winchester. Nothing like the quality of yours, but I was made to make hidden mortise and tenon joints I seem to remember. Towards the end, the woodwork master let me work on my tank loco!
I like the little beam engine too. I bought a set of castings long ago for the 'Vulcan' beam engine. They were in gunmetal and the patterns were so worn that they produced terrible castings - even blow-holes in the flywheel. I got disillusioned and gave it up. Then I saw the major beam engine - expensive and heavy. I could hardly lift the wooden box it came in from the old Stuart Turner. It was all cast-iron and beautiful to machine except the oily dust settled on everything in the workshop and took months to clean up! I used to cover as much of the workshop as possible after that when machining cast-iron. It is a wonderful model to make and the only part that cannot be made on a 3.5" Myford is the flywheel.
|
|
jo479
Hi-poster
Simplex, Pricess of Wales, Prairie, N24X, LNWR Jumbo, Jeannie Deans, 7 1/4 Lion
Posts: 188
|
Post by jo479 on Jan 9, 2019 21:31:22 GMT
My two "relics" are an Archimedes drill and bit given to me as a birthday present in 1951, as part of a "Hobbies Fretwork Set" still gets used now and then, and a 1984 A3 Technostyl Portable Drawing Board, which I don't think I've ever used. (I haven't ran out of the backs of envelopes yet). Happy New Year to everybody.
|
|
Lisa
Statesman
Posts: 806
|
Post by Lisa on Jan 10, 2019 10:35:15 GMT
While looking for some pictures earlier, I came across this shot of the aforementioned 3½" gauge battery electric loco, with a 5 year old yours truly driving. Judging by the colour, this is the original cardboard body that didn't survive a storm. This would be about 1986/87.
|
|
|
Post by David on Jan 10, 2019 21:52:50 GMT
Lisa, that's great! Nice 'signal gantry' too :)
|
|
dscott
Elder Statesman
Posts: 2,437
|
Post by dscott on Jan 11, 2019 0:16:10 GMT
What have I started Now? Yes a lovely cabinet Simplyloco and one to bring back memories! Talking of wood I still have the handle of a shovel my Dad used often to mix Concrete when I was Five. 60 this year and still keeping things for memories. Another is a workshop part in Brass made by Dad in Chatham Dockyard during the War! Using a shaper. it being a 45 degree angle guide no doubt for something in ships!! Drawing board wise a Tee Square possibly in Box! From Grandfather comes bowl and two vases in enameled Copper and a Cormorant Fisherman from Hong Kong 1947 when they came back. I growing up with stories from their time in the tropics Possible influence on choice of Wife/Workshop assistant. Best Regards David and Lily.
|
|
stevep
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,070
|
Post by stevep on Jan 19, 2019 17:27:17 GMT
I didn't post on this thread straight away, as I wanted to see what other people had lurking in their workshops. Now I decided to share my relics. This first one will be familiar to lots of you. I did know how to use it once, but not any longer. This second one is a real peculiarity. It's a calculator which will work in fractions. The display is showing how it represents 3 1/2. It will perform all the normal functions, but in fractions rather than decimal notation. A final press on the 'fraction' button then converts the answer to decimal. Finally, something I made a long, long time ago, but never finished. It is a single cylinder steam pump, and I'm sure it was designed by LBSC, although I have been unable to determine where it was published. This is a video, so I think you will need to click on the picture to see it.
|
|
jo479
Hi-poster
Simplex, Pricess of Wales, Prairie, N24X, LNWR Jumbo, Jeannie Deans, 7 1/4 Lion
Posts: 188
|
Post by jo479 on Jan 21, 2019 19:10:06 GMT
I also have a slide rule, in the draw next to a set of Log Tables" I haven't used either of them since Calculators became popular, debateable whether I could still use either for anything other than a simple calculation that I could probably do in my head anyway. My teenage grandchildren look at me in horror when I tell them all I was allowed to use in my "O" level exams in the late 50s was a set of log tables, and they were checked to make sure some cheat hadn't written formula in them, as if.
|
|
|
Post by ettingtonliam on Jan 21, 2019 22:31:25 GMT
We had 'scientific' slide rules at school, which had useful formulae on the back. Prior to taking it into an exam we had to blank the back off with adhesive tape which was checked by the invigilating teacher before and after the exam. When I started work in a civil engineering design office in 1971, the company owned a massive main frame computer with punch card feed, in another office about a mile away, and there were 3 HP desktop calculators shared between about 50 engineers, so most calcs were done on our slide rules, and only when we thought we'd got it right were we allowed to do a final check using the main frame. The tricky bit was working out where the decimal point was in the answer - is it 1.00, 10.0, 100? Thats the one thing slide rules won't do for you, apart from adding up!
|
|
JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,907
|
Post by JonL on Jan 21, 2019 22:53:37 GMT
My paternal grandfather (not the engineer I've named my locomotive after, different one!) was head of Photographic at A&AEE Boscombe Down. Somewhere we have one of his old Photographic slide rules. I remember being very confused by it as a child.
|
|
|
Post by doubletop on Jan 22, 2019 5:06:05 GMT
Pincers and chisel from the set of tools my dad bought me for my 6th birthday, so 62 years old. Tap wrench from my O level metalwork course, which I failed. So that's 52 years old My Thornton(?) slide rule is long gone. I recall it always used to be close to hand. If anything needed to be calculated it was an automatic reaction to pick it up, even if the question was simple mental arithmetic. The one in the photo came with my dads tools, I think he got it from a friend who worked for Cunard. It may be thought that the chisel would be a bit dangerous for a 6 year old. It was! I've had the scar on my left hand for 62 years as well. The other one is rather newer, I don't learn... Pete
|
|
|
Post by silverfox on Jan 22, 2019 10:55:09 GMT
Just seen this on the Drawings of yore! It was certainly Technical Drawing in my day (1963) and teacher 'Woody' Williams, used to mark me down if he saw the slightest mark of a compass point on it. He said i would ail through the O level. When he found out i had failed he actually cried. I still have my set, 58 years later, couple of bits missing ,and the box is a bit warped, but still in working order, In fact i made a drawing board in Woodwork, it was fun taking that home on the bus!
|
|
jem
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,064
|
Post by jem on Jan 22, 2019 17:12:53 GMT
I still have my Band D electric drill, it cost 6 pounds 19 and 6! all aluminum it still works and is still used, about 65 years old. they knew how to make them in those days!
Jem
|
|