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"mainly" nige's puffer


ditchman
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28 minutes ago, Whitebridges said:

Thanks for your insight, so were you involved in gun manufacturing? Or something else?

I suspect the works manager was targeted to deliver a certain number of units per day irrespective of the quality of them.    

Not gun related. Was in the time of the 3 day week, the boss had recently installed a generator to power the whole plant. Most certainly he was targeted to produce as were we all. Sadly he couldn't see the product had to work?

What instituted the collapse was one 11 pm call from one of his homes, Geneva I believe?

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51 minutes ago, old man said:

Not gun related. Was in the time of the 3 day week, the boss had recently installed a generator to power the whole plant. Most certainly he was targeted to produce as were we all. Sadly he couldn't see the product had to work?

What instituted the collapse was one 11 pm call from one of his homes, Geneva I believe?

So it wasn't German intervention then? To many houses and mistresses took his eye from the task in hand. 

As long as you're happy the collapse wasn't down to you old man?      

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2 points here if I may - the 109 and the Spitfire were so closely matched in overall performance that it was normally the better pilot or attack formation that won the day. As for BSA being lazy or uncaring r.e. their workforce it may be worth remembering that CNC technology was readily available when the mk3 Merc. came out - if the owners of the plant were unwilling to invest in new machinery then there's where the blame lies. Following the war, countries that had been crippled by bombing were re - equipped with modern machinery as we endeavoured to enable them to stand back on their own feet, whereas it was not uncommon in the 60's and 70's to walk into an English machine shop and find machine tools designed in the 20's . BSA did not help their plight with the "S" either by scouring the world for the worst piece of Walnut they could find.

Edited by bruno22rf
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11 hours ago, old man said:

Eventually it came to light that the works manager went round at shift end and put most of the rejects back through the system when our QC had finished for the day.

Just what you need some jobsworth who thinks that drawings and limits don't matter 👎👎 

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12 hours ago, bruno22rf said:

2 points here if I may - the 109 and the Spitfire were so closely matched in overall performance that it was normally the better pilot or attack formation that won the day. As for BSA being lazy or uncaring r.e. their workforce it may be worth remembering that CNC technology was readily available when the mk3 Merc. came out - if the owners of the plant were unwilling to invest in new machinery then there's where the blame lies. Following the war, countries that had been crippled by bombing were re - equipped with modern machinery as we endeavoured to enable them to stand back on their own feet, whereas it was not uncommon in the 60's and 70's to walk into an English machine shop and find machine tools designed in the 20's . BSA did not help their plight with the "S" either by scouring the world for the worst piece of Walnut they could find.

That was certainly true at the time of my apprenticeship, tooling from the 20's whilst we had replaced the vanquished with brand new.

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11 hours ago, ditchman said:

i think a lot of companies were suffering from the same desease back then.......British Leyland as well

Red Robbo was a classic, the BMC cars were absolute carp. 

3 new gearboxes in a Marina, one seized as it was backed out from replacement (swarf in the oil ways)  and an Ambassador that suffered from the main gearbox bolt coming loose. The real joy was that the engine had to be removed to tighten it. Twice for that nearly bankrupted us.

Deep Joy!

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1 hour ago, old man said:

Red Robbo was a classic, the BMC cars were absolute carp. 

3 new gearboxes in a Marina, one seized as it was backed out from replacement (swarf in the oil ways)  and an Ambassador that suffered from the main gearbox bolt coming loose. The real joy was that the engine had to be removed to tighten it. Twice for that nearly bankrupted us.

Deep Joy!

morris marina................aka...."the wally wagon"...:lol:.............there was some idiot who lived near Easton (norwich)....who souped his up and put a lotus twin overhead cam with weber dco 40's......engine in it....gas cooled brakes....internal roll cage etc...........it was still yuck orange   proper discription on the log book "Blaze"........

wonder if he is still alive........

i have another wonderous story about a morris marina but it is too early in the day for that............

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2 hours ago, ditchman said:

morris marina................aka...."the wally wagon"...:lol:.............there was some idiot who lived near Easton (norwich)....who souped his up and put a lotus twin overhead cam with weber dco 40's......engine in it....gas cooled brakes....internal roll cage etc...........it was still yuck orange   proper discription on the log book "Blaze"........

wonder if he is still alive........

i have another wonderous story about a morris marina but it is too early in the day for that............

Most unlikely he's still kicking about, the brakes were carp too.

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17 hours ago, Whitebridges said:

So it wasn't German intervention then? To many houses and mistresses took his eye from the task in hand. 

As long as you're happy the collapse wasn't down to you old man?      

Definitely not down to me, the hatred I attracted for doing my job properly was good life training.

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well.....................must get on.....finally stripped the woodwork...........using the "modern day" nitromors...which is now rubbish as they have taken the active ingridient out now..........

sanded with different grates of emery and cabinate makers wire wool.....swept it off with spirits and then next to the fire to dry...........then back out ...mixed up my oil based stain...warmed the wood up with a hot air gun and swept 2 coats in....................

my Merc S is the same model...i fettled that up last year....if you remember the pics...and have put my stock next to nige's stock to try and acheive the same effect........

will let it dry out naturally now and then i will deciede if the coulour is right or start to add Boiled linseed oil..........

that is for tomorrow......:good:

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6 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Ooh, a lovely warm brown!:good:

its nice isnt it ..........its the only colour to go for when the walnut is a bit of dull straight grained boring stuff.........if it was a beautiful piece with swirls and colours...you would use a much lighter stain so you could see it..............

the saving grace for walnut ....is its ability to take a stain evenly...........unlike beech...which needs a lot of work and heat...

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23 hours ago, bruno22rf said:

2 points here if I may - the 109 and the Spitfire were so closely matched in overall performance that it was normally the better pilot or attack formation that won the day. As for BSA being lazy or uncaring r.e. their workforce it may be worth remembering that CNC technology was readily available when the mk3 Merc. came out - if the owners of the plant were unwilling to invest in new machinery then there's where the blame lies. Following the war, countries that had been crippled by bombing were re - equipped with modern machinery as we endeavoured to enable them to stand back on their own feet, whereas it was not uncommon in the 60's and 70's to walk into an English machine shop and find machine tools designed in the 20's . BSA did not help their plight with the "S" either by scouring the world for the worst piece of Walnut they could find.

Thanks for the enlightenment. 

I've seen quite a few Merc "S" s and sorry i can't agree with your last sentence:  "  BSA did not help their plight with the "S" either by scouring the world for the worst piece of Walnut they could find.".    

The ones i've seen have a very good grain in the main :lol: but have been let down on the finish. Mind you i have seen two dogs that looked worse than an Air Arms beech stocked gun.    

2 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Your talents wouldn't be needed!

:lol::lol:

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did a bit more to allow it to soak in overnight.............when nige brought it around we both agreed that there maybe a bit more i could do to bring out the patterning of a very dull and boring piece of wood...nige said there was a bit in there somewhere.......

i deieded not to put too much red in the mix but stick with walnut and old oak as the walnut has a bit of blue/red in it...if you know what i mean..............the stain has gone deep and thinned out as it went in...so i mixed the rest of the stain with BLO...and have put 3 lots on....but if it is anything like the last one ...another 10 days to go yet...........(am going to have an arm like a fiddler crab.............now where have i heard that before..:hmm:)

anyway it looks a bit "young" at the moment...but sofar quite pleased for an old BSA air rifle...:lol:

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17 hours ago, ditchman said:

hope to god demonwolf and other artisans dont look at this thread ...the would have a fit...as to what i do..

Thanks for the praise! Don't be silly - its about maintaining a standard and learning as you go. Anyone who thought they knew everything from day dot was wrong, and anyone who thinks they know it all by the end of their time has settled for "good enough" or simply doesnt care enough to continue the journey.

Your work is nothing to be ashamed of - just look at the hundreds of guns you see with rounded off but ends and a valley between the pad and end, checkering sanded over or even worse run over with some kind of dremmel attachment and little consideration.

Here are some recent works for the enjoyment of people who like to see this sort of thing!

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