The things you do to keep out of mischief.....

Earlier today I was going through the saved photo's on my phone, deleting as many as possible to free up space. I found a few that I'd taken a couple of years ago during one of the lockdowns when I'd busied myself in the garage workshop. I thought they might be of interest to a few others just as nerdy as me. In the batch of ex-Indian No32's that I bought in 2016 were quite a few that came with brackets. Unfortunately four or five had either one or both of the cradle clamps missing, or in some cases, had had mis-matched top clamps forced onto them. I'd just left them to one side for several years, but as I had plenty of time on my hands & nowhere to go I decided to have a go at making some replacement clamps from scratch, using what tools I had available. A friend in Devizes very kindly put a one inch diameter drill down a length of mild steel rod that I'd bought, & then slit it lengthways to give me two lengths of steel channel like a gutter in section. I cut pieces from this as needed, & the rest I did largely using files & a pillar drill. A specially modified (ground) centre drill was used to create the holes with the correct angle of taper for the cradle screws. Anyway, all of the brackets seemed to turn out functional; one even was a very nice REL example.

And it kept me out of my wife's hair for a good few days during lockdown.....

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Originally Posted by Roger Payne

the rest I did largely using files

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Yes it is possible to file to accurate sizes/dimensions but not many people seem to have the patience to learn how do so nowadays.

Peshawar or bust! :D Well done! :thup:

The conical countersinks and reliefs for the screw heads must have been pretty tricky? What did you do for those Roger?

Your copper file protectors are noted.;) Hang on, home-made soft jaws are they?

Darra comes to Sutton Coldfield....!
The countersinks were drilled in the pillar drill using the specially reground centre drill. The reliefs an end mill.
Copper vice jaws (now worn out & well overdue replacement) .

I see that you have my kind of bench, Roger, with plenty of stuff on it, in an "organised muddle". I know that some "engineers" would have a heart attack, preferring a spotless, polished bench with nothing on it.

I feel that manual skills are not valued today as much as they should be or use to be.

It's not a muddle to the one using the area, my wife at times uses items from my shed I go in there to find a certain item at a certain place to find it missing.
This leads to questions of where did it go as it may not have moved for some years! I have always been taught put it back where you got it from.
As I said it's not chaos to the one who uses the stuff all the time.

Very nice work Roger it would have taken a fair while to get the meat off that piece of material and to then fine finish it to the correct tolerance.

F10UK, I have to hold my hand up to that one - the garage workshop is a muddle, & not even a particularly organised one. However, I do know where things are, at least most of the time! My wife has promised to treat me to a hobbyist mini milling machine if I tidy the place up, so now I have an incentive.............but it won't be the same!

Yes, Ron, it took ages to remove the meat by drilling multiple holes 'along' the cradle caps-to-be, then taking out the residual metal between the holes with a combination of a very coarse hand file & an electric rotary file. My own milling machine would have made life easier, although there was always going to be a fair amount of hand finishing.

I havent been told to go to the shed for some time but i have been called to come out of the shed on a regular basis.
Great work Roger

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Originally Posted by Roger Payne

A friend in Devizes very kindly put a one inch diameter drill down a length of mild steel rod that I'd bought, & then slit it lengthways to give me two lengths of steel channel like a gutter in section.

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Mr. S by any chance...?

Just might be......;)

It would be interesting to know how they machined that rad on the original brackets, whether a milling machine was used or perhaps a shaping machine.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

It would be interesting to know how they machined that rad on the original brackets, whether a milling machine was used or perhaps a shaping machine.

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Probably on a mill with a form cutter--

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

It would be interesting to know how they machined that rad on the original brackets, whether a milling machine was used or perhaps a shaping machine.

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If you mean the convex radius on top of the "cradle caps" it's a rough cast surface usually, sometimes worked over on a belt sander or with a rotary stone (N92 brackets) Some of the early brackets were very well molded and finished, but rough as guts soon became the norm it seems.

Yes, both Rose Brothers & Dalgleish brackets have cradle clamps that are only cleaned up where needed, & are definitely of two distinct patterns. As it happens a Black & Decker belt sander just gets in nicely on both! I did it approximately 650 times over thirty years on my reproductions (in fact 650 x 4 I suppose, as each bracket has two cradle clamps each with a left & right side).....;)

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Originally Posted by Surpmil

the convex radius on top of the "cradle caps" it's a rough cast surface

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Ok thanks. It's interesting to know how the originals were produced.

The pictures were taken somewhat hurriedly with my phone, but hopefully you can see the minor but real differences in contour between the Rose Brothers & Dalgleish variants. They came out like that pretty much from the sand moulds.

Photo 1 Dalgleish
Photo 2 Rose Brothers. Note the minor flat on the top of the clamp.