WAYS AND MEANS.
Page 61
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Useful Contributions From Our Driver and Mechanic Readers.
Some Practical Workshop Tools. MHE suggestions and tips from cone spondents who have a mixed fleet to look after are always welcomed, as the mare mixed the fleet the more interesting is the advice. " T.C.H.," of Putney, appears to have to deal with vehicles of many makes, and the following are some of his ideas:—
'When dealing with the reassembly of vehicles in which the engine and gearbox are made as it unit he has found that it is not uncommon for the bearings of the engine to have been either wrongly machined or that owing to wear and the rebedding of the engine bearings they are no longer concentric with the axial line of the gearbox. In many cases this misalignment has been known to cause considerable trouble, and set up stresses in both shafts, as well as in the clutch.
Before replacing the caging, our correspondent fixes a piece of thin steel to the end of the crank in such a position that it comes near the register of the part of the casing which is attached to the gearbox. By this means he can easily detect any misalignment. He does not tell us what he does to correct any error, but we may suppose that he places packing under the engine bearings until he has brought them central with the case.
In the 20 h.p. Austins he has in his care, " T.C.II." finds that the journal bearings in the wheels are held in place by screwed rings which no ordinary tool will reach. He has seen these nuts operated upon by punches, etc., but not with much success, so he made the tool shown, which he holds in a vice, and places the wheel on the top of it, when the ring can easily be unscrewed.
It is often found that the ordinary die-nut is not a very satisfactory device, as it is not possible to adjust the die for slight differences of diameter. The plan adopted in this case is to take an ordinary circular die and to replace the usual stock with. one made from a piece of steel tube. At the end which receives the die the tube is bared out so that the die will meet an internal shoulder, then holes are drilled and tapped for the usual grub screws,
A Magneto Tip.
sO many tips relating to small happenings which temporarily put the magneto out of order are given us by drivers and mechanics, that we are sur prised measures are not taken by the makers of these machines to render sueh little, but aggravating, faults impossible. This is especially the case where a little research work and a departure in minute details would entirely overcome the difficulty. We, almost weekly, get letters from drivers saying how they overcame the trouble caused by a broken contact-'breaker spring, or a swollen fibre bush of a rocker arm, but surely more difficult problems than these have been tackled and mastered.
The tip given by " of Luton, is for the remedying of a trouble of which we seldom bear, but which, none the less, could easily be made impossible.
Occasionally, due to careless replacing, the small key in the taper fitting of a magneto contact-breaker gets 'closed in, and sometimes in .endeavouring to open it out again it is broken away altogether. This key is pressed up out of the solid and, of course, when broken out, cannot be replaced.
Here is a method of putting the contact-breaker in working order again.
Exactly opposite to the old key, drill a small hole and tap it out 4BA. lilo not use the plug tap; but leave the thread slightly tapered. Now insert a 414A brass screw until it is really tight, cnt it off short, and file the exposed
part to fit the keyway in the armature
spindle. If there be room for two screws so much the better, although one will take the drive for a long, period. Care must be taken that the screw does not protrude through to the inside sufficiently far to touch the centre screw, or the low-tension current will be earthed and the magneto will not function.
A Tip Relating to Piston Rings. IN some makes of engine of the de
tachable-head type difficulty has been experienced by those who have to At new piston rings to get the nags sufficiently compressed, as in many cases there is no taper portion on the bore of the cylinder to induce the rings to enter. In this connection " A.H.S.," of Scunthorpe, Lines, tells us how he had to, assemble the rings of such an engine, 'and, having no proper device for compressing the piston rings by means of ty,screw, he had to do the best he could, like many others, with the means at his disposal. The rings being rather stiff, he could not compress them sufficiently to induce them to enter the cylinder, so he tied a piece of copper wire to one of the studs which hold down the head, and passing it around the piston ring, he fixed the other end of the wire to a piece of wood, which enabled him to get a strang pull on the wire, and so compress the ring that its gap was closed.
Preventing Paraffin Lamps from Blowing Out.
w 1TH reference to the suggestions. of
"T.Irir." regarding certain improvements to oil lamps and methods of cutting the wicks, " H.1‘1,," of Croydou, has written to say that he has adopted a very simple method of preventing the lamps blowing out in boisterous weather.
His method is to add a teaspoonful of petrol to the container oteach lardp when. he is refilling it. He says that he has employed this scheme for about throe years arid found it of great service.
We should have thought it advisable to employ petrol only with paraffin lamps, as, if employed with oil lamps, it is quite possible that the containers might burst, as has frequently happened when cychi lamps have been filled with paraffin instead of oil.