Minesweeper

My Grandparents had a Bakery business right through the War years and into the 1950's - operating two Bakery vans. The relevant "C" licences had to be purchased for each van in addition to the ordinary Road Tax Licences - and were displayed in the windscreens along side each other. They were much cheaper than the Road Tax Licences and the last ones I remember were 2/6d each - but you had to have a "C" licence for a delivery service such as theirs.

[QUOTE=Ian L;468694]Found an original manual on ebay for £5 the same week as I bought the Tillys & nothing since, also apart from the origional tax discs in their holder I found this, any ideas what it is ? That is an old "C" licence or "Carriers Licence" - used during the war, I think and for a few years after!

Wonderful! Tony

Please post some pictures of the chassis for us to see, Andrew! I am sure that Ben H on this forum will be able to help! Tony

I can imagine that this is a question that will set off another flood of answers and tips and I am sure that they will all be welcomed as we all face the same problem. It will be interesting to know what others do! Quite simply, what I do is to be as careful as I can - but also stick a small piece of masking tape over the hole on the opposite side. So should any paint go through then it can be removed when the tape is taken off - obviously take the tape off quite quickly before the paint dries. Tony

Very impressive - rather looks like something from "Star Wars"! No visible debris? And can this be a dangerous weapon? Tony

Probably not much use to you but I painted the markings on the K9 of No. 2 Intelligence Platoon, early in 1960. On one front wing was a white "1" on a square black background and on the other wing was the formation sign of 2 Inf Bde Gp being two red diamonds on a white background - all within a shield -I think - it was a long time ago! I used sellotape to get nice straight edges on the square - and when I took the tape off, it took the green paint on the wing with it!

Followers of this thread may remember Posting No. 2025 dated the 30th December last where we mentioned excessive end float on one of the then newly mounted back wheels. The general opinion was that whilst one wheel had a satisfactory end float of about 1/16”, the spacer on the other wheel was not thick enough to reduce a much higher end float to something acceptable. So we were resolved to obtain another piece of bronze to make a “fatter” spacer to take up some of the excess so that it could be reduced to about a 1/16” as well. But it was shortly after, we started work on the axle that Mike kindly sent us from NZ to find that the spacers were still on that one and lo and behold, one of those was just the correct thickness. So the wheel came off again last weekend and the spacers were substituted and the end float was checked out with a D.T.I and then found to be satisfactory! The wheels are very heavy to move around and although not very clear in the pictures, our friend Mark H made up a stout wooden trolley with caster wheels on each corner, which could take the weight and size of the wheel so that the wheel could easily be slid on and off the axle end without any danger of damaging the bronze bearing. A simple but effective idea!

The assembly was then washed down with paraffin when it became quite free so that it could be turned quite smoothly, just by hand. Hopefully, there will be little to be done to it.

The diff assembly was then lifted out of the case and laid on the ground. It was all beautifully oily and looked to be quite sound!

The cap over the worm shaft bearing was removed to reveal the bearing – all looked good!

Another of the jobs undertaken over Easter whilst the full team was in Devon was the removal of the Diff from the Back Axle. We could see that the three arms of the “Fork for the universal coupling on the worm shaft” had been broken off or removed and in its place a disc with similarly placed bolting holes had been substantially welded on to the remains of the original spline. More pattern making to be undertaken so that we can replace that with a replica of the original.

Several minor tasks were completed over the Easter Weekend and reports on all will follow and one of them was the stripping down of the Scuttle in readiness for sand-blasting. The scuttle was still attached to the half chassis from North Wales, recovered by the late Mike Jones many years ago. Many re-useable fittings were still attached to it – including the remains of the front bracket which holds the supporting brace between the scuttle and radiator. One of the two main parts of that was broken but leaving sufficient information to make a new one.

Interesting "handle"! Any connection with Falmouth Cornwall?

Well done, Ben and Sarah - that made me chuckle! Tony

The Company that we uses is an ordinary commercial company who specialise in replacing tyres on standard factory equipment such as Fork Lift Trucks and similar vehicles that only work in an internal type of Factory environment. They were able to specify the correct type of Poly for our purpose on the lorries. There must be similar companies in the USA - and start off looking for one of those! The first wheels that we ever did, we stripped off all the old rubber ourselves - not a nice job - but the company that we have used since has a facility to do that and they did that for us on the Dennis wheels and also the rear Thorny wheels! Good luck! Tony

Interesting that cutting these holes has caused so much interest! I am no Engineer or Fitter or Machinist and in my simple thinking, there was no other way of getting these holes in the correct place other than by the method that I used. Access to the job was very limited in any case - unless the front wheels were taken off again so that I could more easily get in there - and I certainly was not going to do that on my own! Tony

[QUOTE=GeePig;460957]Does your other chassis have the 1 inch holes in it for the yokes? I couldn't find a picture (so many pictures... ) trevor The only other bit of Thorny chassis that we have is the front half of one that came from North Wales many years ago - and yes, that does have the 1" holes in it - though they are still filled with 1" nuts and bolts. I can only guess that those must have been put in to help hold the thing together after the Lamp Brackets were removed and when that part-chassis was installed in a Pump House for further use. Tony

Thanks everybody - all good interesting stuff! Tony

It is a superb bit of work and will do the job admirably, I am quite sure! I have annealed both copper and brass in the past but have never tried annealing aluminium. I guess there is a danger of melting aluminium and I am curious to know how your father did it. Propane? - and what sort of temperature - and what colour did he take it to which I guess would have given him an indication that he had gone far enough with the heating? And did he quench it or leave it to cool naturally? And how many times did he have to heat that top plate as I guess it would have work hardened after an initial bending and would then require heating again (and again?) before he got it to the required shape. Tony

No decision so far made about the Gills - Steve will explore the options! I don't think that any of us actually saw the patterns for the Thorny Radiator. It was all coordinated from Basingstoke and from the best of my memory, an old shot Thorny Radiator was supplied to the Pattern Maker and he worked from that -or it was made from that. Steve may be able to add to this when he comes along! Tony

Absolutely remarkable and wonderful -what absolutely superb work it is. Tony

Rob - that really is an amazing job! We have enough trouble welding steel as we are not Welders but welding aluminium for that wonderful job is an amazing feat! I patched up the Top Tank of the Dennis Radiator but another enthusiast told me at the time that I was wasting my time as it never lasts - and Steve told me only this morning that it was looking very sorry for itself again. He hopes to patch it up for one more season but it will need new tanks - they will have to be castings as there is no way that we can emulate your father's work! Perhaps one of your pictures will show the welds inside the tank? Tony

Earlier more specific calculations actually came up with the definitive answer of 22,000 Gills - I said 20,000 earlier as an illustrative approximation! No doubt Steve will pick this up later when he gets back from work and will be able tell you more! Threading them on the tubes will not be a lot of fun - especially as they are square and must be placed on "square"! I visualise several people with sore fingers when we start on that game! Tony

That really is a superb bit of work! Could you get your Dad to explain how he did it? You mention that it was fabricated - so does that mean that it was not a casting to commence with? And how did he obtain that marvellous finish on it? Tony