Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
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TEN SHILLINGS WEEKLY for the nest Communication Received, and One Penny a Line of ten words for any
thing else published.
Drivers of commercial-motor vehicles and tractors, and mechanics and foremen of garages OY shops, are invited to send short contributions on any subject se/Inch is likely to prove of interest to our readers. Workshop tips and smart repairs ; long and successful runs ; interesting photographs : all are suitable subjects. Send a post-card, or a letter, or a sketch to us—no matter how short, or how written, or how worded. We will " knock it into shape" and prepare sketches, where necessary, before publication. The absence of a sketch does not disqualify for a prize. When writing use one side of the paper only and mention your employer's name as a guarantee of bona fides. Neither your own nor your employer's name will be disclosed. Payment will be made immediately after publication. Address your letters to The Editor, THE CONIMERCIAL MOTOR, 7-75, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
Some Spanner Tips.
[730] " R.S.T." (Newcastle-on-Tyne) writes :—" I think the spanner shown in my sketch [We have had this redrawn.—En.] will will be found to be a useful tool for any 4itearn-wagon driver to have in his kit. This spanner is adapted for use on the nuts of a gland stud, as it enables a fresh hold ot the nut to be obtained after each twelfth tof a turn, instead of each sixth as does the ordinary ..spanner. This makes it particularly useful in such confined spaces as are usually occupied by glands. I have hy me now a set of such spanners, ranging from 4 in. to
in. by 1-16ths. I made mine of 3-16 in. plate and casehardened the working faces. They can, of course, be made single-ended or double-ended according to fancy.
" Another extremely-handy tool is the toothed wedge which is also shown by means of a sketch. It enables an 'Ordinary spanner to be effectively used as a pipe wrench. Mine is about 24 in. by I in. by in. thick, and, I find that this is a convenient size. It should he made of tool steel, hardened right out and drawn down in temper till a smooth file will just touch it, when it will he found -about right.
" In removing piston rings from both petrol and steamengine pistons, a good plan is to have by you three or four pieces of softened hack-saw blade about three inches long. The end of a ring should be fitted and a piece of blade should be placed beneath it and across the groove. This should be worked round about a quarter of the circumference of the piston. Then another should be placed and worked round, keeping the two pieces about a quarter of the circumference apart. This must be done until you have four or five pieces of blade inserted, and by that time the ring will be clear of the groove and may be pulled off endwise."
A Useful Little Chuck.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the 10s. prize this week.
731] " (Gateshead) writes :—" I am submitting to you, for your D. and M.' column, particulars of a very-handy little chuck which I have made for a small lathe. The rough sketch which I enclose [We have had this redrawn..—Eo.J will explain its construction without a lot of description from me. Its principal advantages are that it is handy for holding drills and valves, or anything of that kind, whilst it is cheap and easy to make, and it also has the advantage of being semi-self-centreing. I use three castings: one for the main body of the chuck ; one for the sliding centre; and one for the adjustment piece. When the drill. what else it is that has to be chucked, is passed through the hole, it fits into the V, which, of course, has to be made perfectly central with the wholo chuck ; it is then screwed down by the small setscrew. This centres the piece in one direction, providing, of course, as has been mentioned, the chuck is made accurately. It is now necessary to centre in the other direction, and this is done by releasing the locking piece, by slacking the screw with which it is held, and by moving the central slide up or down until an accurate centre is obtained. The locking piece then has to be held firmly in position by the screw. It is a simple little device, and I think a great
many of my fellow readers, if they have not already providea themselves with a useful chuck of this description, will find it will pay them to have one by them."
Patching a Troublesome Boiler.
[732] " E.13." (Dartford) writes: --" 1 am sending you a few notes of a repair job that I recently carried out on the firebox of a steam wagon. The boiler of this machine has already had three fireboxes, and it is only live years old. Of course, this is outrageous, and some sort of explanation has had to be found. The conclusion that was arrived at was that the pump feed was delivered in such a way that the water was forced on to the firebox surface about 4 in. above the foundation ring, and that this had the effect of constantly causing fractures from one stay to another. The trouble with this box, I may say, always happened in about the same position. When the second firebox was put in, its pump was left off, and four 1,; in. stays were put into this particular place where the pump delivery used to be, but we still had trouble. The. third firebox to be fitted was made of best Lowmoor iron, thick; the four 11 in. stays were again fixed. This box worked for eight months, and then fractured in exactly the same way, so I came to the conclusion, eventually, that tho large stays, which we had put in had expanded so much in that position, that bulging of the plate took place, and so caused the fractures. All the other firebox slays were only in. As a preliminary repair, T stitched the fracture with Lowmoor studs right from one stay to another, but, of course, this only lasted about six weeks, as they all bulged and leaked badly before long. My hext operation was to tut out ti c laid place and 1c pat a copper plate on ahaut 9 in. square and A in. thick. So far as the stay boles in the outside shell were concerned, I drilled and tapped these out to take 1 in. gas plugs, and fitted four mild steel plugs in these screwed holes, and caulked them over well, inside and out, and cut them off flush with the plate. I next drilled the holes, which were to take the new stays, right through the centres of these plugs, and I tapped these boles in. with 12 threads per inch. I then put the stays through from these plugs into the copper patch which I had put on to the firebox, and in this way I was able to save a patch on the shell. We have been running ten months with the present patch, and everything has stuck together all right. I think this method is much better than putting a patch on the outside, and it is certainly a goo-1 hit cheaper!'