Sodbury

Who's for the sort-out this Sat? I thought about giving it a miss as there is nothing I actually 'need' at the moment, but decided that, even if you treat it as a visit to an open-air museum of inadequately labelled rusty iron, it is still a pretty good day out ;-)

Reply to
Nick H
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Oh yes, I'll be there.

You never know ..........

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
Kim Siddorn

A good day out indeed. Very well attended, plenty of buyers and sellers. I spent about 3 hours wearing myself out pushing her indoors around in the wheeelchair and having a rummage on some of the more interesting stands. We arrived rather late so the real bargains had long since been snapped up, it really takes at least the whole day to have a thorough hunt.

In the end I spent very little, coming home with a Douglas SV45 in "as found" condition as a spares donor for my machine and some Petter A1 tinwork. The Douglas came with an interesting centrifugal clutch with a chain cog, so it most likely came from some kind of factory truck.

Reply to
crn

Formula for a good day out

No traffic on the M4 (got there an hour early !) + sunny (didn't care about being early, watched the queue grow from my car) + found 2 out of three things I wanted (the third I saw being carried around, should have joined that queue) plus other assorted 'bargains' + got home and the deputy sheriff was at work so decanted items from car sans 'looks'.

Perfect

Ken

Reply to
Kenneth_John_Russell

Martin P

Reply to
campingstoveman

Yes, one should never underestimate the opportunities for parting with money! As well as the usual 'few odds and ends' I came back with another hot air engine and a Singer 221 sewing machine. I was taken by the clean condition of the latter (in box with instruction book and loads of accessories) and consulted with Helen on the mobile. She expressed an interest so into the boot it went. A little internet research later I have found these are quite desirable machines, particularly in the USA where there portability apparently endears them to members of quilting circles.

I met a few bods from our local club but saw no one from NG - I knew Kim was about as a chap an ABC auxiliary engine told me that it had been identified by a large bearded gentleman! I also suspected the presence of P-TE when I saw a sold sign on a Bush TV22.

All in, a very good day :-)

B.Rgds

Nick H.

Reply to
Nick H

What is your secret ?

My wife counts the larger lumps, going to pick up a Fowler 2PB next week and have failed to mention it yet.

Ken

Reply to
Kenneth_John_Russell

To have a good wife who lets me do these things without comment.

John

Reply to
John

...or who has balancing hobbies/interests of her own.

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Web:

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Reply to
Peter A Forbes

I too had a good time. I found an aircraft starter magneto - I've got a few of these now, not enough to be a collection in their own right, but moving in that direction. It was uptogether & really cheap & was promptly followed on the next trailer by another identical device, but this one attached to a bit of plank in a more or less professional fashion along with a bit of square section steel pipe with brazed up end plates, two inspection ports, two plug 'oles opposite the windows and topped off with a nice brass cased pressure gauge & a Schrader valve! The HT leads are clamped to the unit & end in proper Lodge rubber plug caps & it even had a couple of VERY expensive Platinum plugs in the holes. The box was stove enamelled black & showed the remains of a makers name which might have been "The Lameler" . It caters for long & short reach 18 & 14 mm plugs & is, of course, a plug tester. It was very dusty & dirty, so I am actually restoring this one - and yes, the magneto works just fine. It even has a little mirror so you can peer into the ports more easily whilst cranking & see the plugs sparking - or not!

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I suspect it was one of those short lived devices that spring up after major wars to take advantage of a temporary glut of very cheap well made machinery of all kinds. I have seen several like this based upon the little compressors fitted to most aero engines. Churning out 400PSI they must have been much sought after & are now with Autolocus, that well known collector of unconsidered trifles!

Next, I found an engine from a British Bulldog rail drill. I have one already & could do with the bits.

Finally, I discovered a soft soldered, hand made, copper sheet replica of the standard two gallon can which I snapped up for a tenner. It has a few marks upon it, but no dents per se & it will look stunning & hard to look at on bright days. Close investigation shows no marks or identity of any kind and it is slightly larger than the original, holding 13 litres or 2.85 gallons.

I came upon the ABC unawares & it took a few moments to recognise it as the engine was resting on the sump lengthwise. The engine itself appears to be complete, but is sans auxiliary gear box and generator. There was a big sign asking for identification, so I wasn't hopeful & sure enough it wasn't for sale, no thank you, not at all. As it is a Mk1 APU, I'd have been delighted to have had it follow me home to join my Mk 2 & vee four, but nothing doing. It seems it was amongst a collection of vintage outboard engines (and indeed looks not unlike a Yamaha flat twin outboard at a quick glance) that have gone to form the basis of a museum collection & it was recognised that the ABC was something else.

It appears to me to be something of a hybrid with the long sump off the Mk2 - but for all I know they were making them like that for years, no-one knows now.

I of course took several photos & you will find both these and a couple of Factory photos so you can see what's missing.

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& the six that follow it and the factory pics ....

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Quite made my day!

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
Kim Siddorn

"Kim Siddorn" wrote (snip):-

Funny, the first time I saw it I hardly gave it a second look, thinking that I was looking at some sort of modern outboard with the reed valve housing missing. The second time I walked by it had been stood the right way up on its base and looked far more interesting!

Reply to
Nick H

I'm not sure about the 'short lived' bit. All maintenance hangars would have a device similar to that, and standard practice would be to test every plug after routine cleaning and gapping. It's still the same today, but a mains powered step up transformer supplies the HT and pressure is supplied by the 'shop' airline. (only about 80psi or so IIRC) Modern devices incorporate a sand blast cabinet for plug cleaning.

Julian

Reply to
Julian

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