WAYS AND MEANS.
Page 31
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Practices Followed in the Workshop by Our Driver and Mechanic Readers.
IN the case of engines holding a large amount of oil in the sump it always seems wasteful to throw away that which is drawn off from time to time. . This may be used on springs and other
. portions where there are no ball or . other bearings, but it is strongly advisable, says " F.G.B.," of Beckenham, to filter the oil to remove the solid deposits which are found in all engines. The filtering medium can be a large piece of closely woven cloth or thin felt nod sawdust. For this job a funnel is bandy, this having a few pieces of wire bung over the edge and stretching across the mouth of the funnel to support the filter.
The best way of filtering is to allow the oil to run through a fairly large area of cloth, afterwards filling the brillrar of the material with sawdust and pouring the oil on top. Naturally the process is most easily done when the oil is warm. Even the oily sawdust need not be wasted, as it can be thrown on the garage floor and used to keep down . the dust when sweeping. '
DRAWING the hubs from detached wheels is often far from easy, when proper plant is not at hand. " R.F.W.." of Burton-on-Trent, fouffd difficulty in pulling the hubs from the rear wheels of a 1-ton Oldsmobile.
His method was to take a long 3-in. . bolt with a washer of sufficient size to cover the outer end of the huh boss. The bolt was passed through the washer, then. through the hub, and finally through a hole drilled in a stout strip of fiat iron, which bore at each end upon wooden packing blocks. These • blocks rested upon the interior of the brake drum. By tightening the nut on the long bolt considerable pressure was exerted and a hammer blow on the end of the bolt caused the hub to move, and . it was withdrawn easily once it had been started.
When reassembling, two fin, bolts of orilinary length were passed through the ordinary bolt holes of the hubs and the wheels, and by tightening them up evenly, the huh was pulled back into the wheel without damage.
IN such cases as the fitting of new glasses to water gauges, glass tubes sometimes have to be cut, and " of London, E.C.1, Ends the following method to be a serviceable one. The only tool needed is a three-cornered or half-round file with a sharp edge. The glass is cut carefully at the proper point, a good deep nick all round being all that is necessary. To break the glass it should be held firmly in both hands, the point of fracture, of course, being between them. The tube is bent sharply, preferably supporting it on each side of the break by the two Humbs.
Other tips given by " W.J.H." concern emery wheels. When ,sharpening tools, sparks fly off in all directions and the operator may find that one or more lodge in his eye. To avoid this a guard can easily be made from tin • or other suitable metal and fixed by means of
an arm and bolts or screws to the casting, or clamped between the thrust and the boss.
When tool rests are fitted to emery wheels, care must be taken to keep them well up to the revolving "bob," otherwise fingers are likely to get caught between the wheel and the rest, In order to obtain long life from the abrasive, it is advisable to use the whole of the surface of the wheel uniformly.
TIGHT and broken sparking plugs are not often experienced, but when the trouble does arise it is not eas:ly handled in the average garage. For this reason a tip given by " G.A.L.," of Washington, may prove useful. The method is to remove the centre Portion of the plug, that is, the electrode and insulator, which is done quite easily, particularly in the case of a two-piece plug.
A hacksaw Made fitted with a temporary handle—like a file handle— is then passed through the shell of the plug, and by means of vertical strokes the shell is sawn almost through. Application of a spanner puts a severe strain on the weakened plug and it generally gives way at the saw-cut, which means that it is a very loose fit in the threads and can be undone quite easily. It should be remembered that care must be taken to extract any porcelain which may fall into the cylinder if the plug centre has to be broken at all, as the porcelain will-grind up into very fine powder and soon cause trouble.
WHEN aluminium castings have to
be handled for acetylene welding, great care must be taken lathe-cooling process, and " W.E.S.5" of Leeds, describes a method which he employs when facilities are not of the.best.
Strains and cracks soon develop in a casting if the cooling process be not carried out with great care. The idea, of course, is to pre-heat the whele casting in a muffle furnace until solder melts when robbed on it. After weld:, ing, again heat in the muffle and allow
the casting cool down gradually. Those who have not a furnace, of course, have to adopt other Means, and a good plan is to heat up carefully with a blow-pipe, weld the damaged point, and smother the job with sawdust to a depth of 2 ins.
TIM principle of expansion by heat does not appear to be in general use among garage fitters, and many might save themselves a deal of labour, according to " E.H.," of Hitchin, if they adopted it. A fitter may often be seen hammering the end of a shaft with a lead or copper hammer in an attempt to move a stubborn steam piston head or other parts fitted together on the taper, such as driving shafts and hubs.
To separate the parts easily the method is to heat them so that the hand can just stand the heat, and it will be found that a slight tap will remove the one part from the other. The temperature mentioned will have no detrimental effects on case-hardened or tempered steel. The heating can be carried out either in a forge or by a blowlamp, and where these aids are not available, small quantities of petrol may be poured over the parts and ignited, the process being repeated two or three times until sufficient temperature has been obtained for the job.