James May is the Reassembler 28th December 9pm BBC4

[Nimbus]

I would be interested as well. It looks like a couple of optical beam splitter cubes to which he has added fine black lines with a marker pen.

How about this: https://www.fohrmann.com/en/wheel-quartering-tool.html ? Not cheap, but you don't need to find a marker pen.

 

The Nim

[MikeTrice]

Thanks Nim that could be spot on. At those prices James is obviously a real enthusiast.

Edited December 30, 2016 by MikeTrice

[Guest 40-something]

Just watched the programme, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  You could see the passion on his face and hear it in his voice as he re-assembled the loco.

[hayfield]

I always wondered what a re-magnetising machine looked like, so that was interesting

 

Secondly never knew a motor running hot was because of a weak magnet

 

Would adding one of those Neo mags solve both the issues of re-magnetising and motors running hot on the older style motors please

[Nearholmer]

A permanent magnet motor will run hot when the magnet is weak, because greater-than-designed current must flow in the windings in order to produce a given torque ........ and because heating is a function of the square of the current, a quite small increase can produce a quite significant increase in heating.

 

Motors with weak magnets tend to produce little 'pulling power' at the wheels of the loco, but to run fast, too. The latter is because the weak magnetic field leads to a low back-EMF ....... if you want more on that, I can explain further.

 

Replacing with a neo-magnet often 'works', but will produce a different motor characteristic from what was originally designed. The exact affect will vary based on a stack of factors, but typically the motor will gain low-speed torque, but be "hobbled" by the very high flux, so will have a lower top-speed at a "full volts". Whether the new characteristic is better than the old is rather a matter of taste ....... if the original design of motor and drive was ideal, it might be better to simply remagnetise to get back to design.

 

Kevin

[Guest]

Another fine half hour of TV that doesn't involve some kind of bizarre contest with a dozen numpties chasing around after a cash prize and a glimmer of "fame". Excellent stuff. I'm probably the only one that thought the "realistic chuffing sound" was actually quite good at low speed. Certainly innovative and would have enhanced the "play" value. DCC sound is wasted on me, isn't it..?

[Pacific231G]

By coincidence, after watching James May's programme I came upon this from A.C. Gilbert's 1938 American Flyer catalogue

I don't know whether the amount of assembly was more or less than for Tri-ang's CKD range from the early 1960s. Offering a complete train set in that form was interesting but it certainly didn't include assembly of the motor. I don't think the idea reappeared after the Second World War and I don't think that Tri-ang's CKD range lasted very long so perhaps there was too much disappointment from locos that didn't work after they'd been assembled. ISTR that Hornby also offered his pre-war O gauge tinplate railway items in a self assembly form compatible with Meccano. 

 

A.C. Gilbert seems to have been the American equivalent of Frank Hornby with his "erector set" being very similar to Meccano and a strong commitment towards toys with a technical and scientitically educational flavour.

 

I don't though think that Frank Hornby ever conceived of anything like this "perfectly safe" set from 1950-51.

 

 

This was the era when we (or anyway Americans) were being told to anticipate railway locomotives powered by small nuclear reactors.

For once the description "most extraordinary set ever developed" seems quite true though not perhaps in the way that A.C. Gilbert intended.

I wonder if any of the kids who were given this set actually found any Uranium with their geiger counters. Did one or two of them even end up with a Nobel prize for physics?

 

 

both images licensed by the Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Far more examples of Gilbert and American Flyer catalogues at http://www.eliwhitney.org/

Edited January 1, 2017 by Pacific231G

[philsandy]

How about this: https://www.fohrmann.com/en/wheel-quartering-tool.html ? Not cheap, but you don't need to find a marker pen.

 

The Nim

 

That looks a very impressive piece of kit. I would imagine after setting the quartering with that it would be absolutely bang on, no further tweaking needed.

Has anyone had any experience with this?

[Pacific231G]

A permanent magnet motor will run hot when the magnet is weak, because greater-than-designed current must flow in the windings in order to produce a given torque ........ and because heating is a function of the square of the current, a quite small increase can produce a quite significant increase in heating.

 

Motors with weak magnets tend to produce little 'pulling power' at the wheels of the loco, but to run fast, too. The latter is because the weak magnetic field leads to a low back-EMF ....... if you want more on that, I can explain further.

 

Replacing with a neo-magnet often 'works', but will produce a different motor characteristic from what was originally designed. The exact affect will vary based on a stack of factors, but typically the motor will gain low-speed torque, but be "hobbled" by the very high flux, so will have a lower top-speed at a "full volts". Whether the new characteristic is better than the old is rather a matter of taste ....... if the original design of motor and drive was ideal, it might be better to simply remagnetise to get back to design.

 

Kevin

For most locos with an unrealistically high top speed that would surely be an improvement but would the motor tend to overheat with a higher current at lower speeds? That is important in other types of machinery though I assume that stalled DC motors overheat because of the lack of back EMF.

Edited December 31, 2016 by Pacific231G

[jjb1970]

This was just about the only terrestrial broadcast TV we watched over Christmas and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really like James May, he has that knack of conveying his enthusiasm and passion for things and seeing the humour in those interests without being patronising or mocking.

[Guest 40-something]

This was just about the only terrestrial broadcast TV we watched over Christmas and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really like James May, he has that knack of conveying his enthusiasm and passion for things and seeing the humour in those interests without being patronising or mocking.

Totally agree, if anything he is self-mocking which is a good trait to have

[Phil Parker]

I enjoyed the content of this programme but it was rather spoiled for me by poor camerawork/directiion. I know it wasn't really a how-to programme but I still wanted to see what he was doing and most of the time I couldn't. If you show someone demonstrating something then you've got to have close ups that are in frame and in focus and held for long enough to see what they're doing. That's not easy when they're working on objects as small as the components of a 00 loco but it is entirely possible (even in a live broadcast whcih this wasn't) and James May is an experienced enough presenter to take direction for this. 

 

 

I felt the same. We get better results on the BRM videos, even with a numpty like me doing the modelling. They seemed to have at least 2 cameras on the assembling and a wide showing most of the workshop. We started with a one-camera setup requiring lots of re-takes to provide close-ups, but now have a 3 camera system which allows me to get on with things while they generally stay in focus as long as I don't wave my hands around too much - if I do the cameraman tells me off. It's not always easy with such close working though, no Andy Y style photo stacking to get loads of depth of field!

 

While the programme is supposed to look like James sitting in his shed, I expect a fair amount of research and planning goes into the half hour.

 

And, yes, I thought it was brilliant. Not a guide to assembling a model loco (what would Hornby have to charge if all models were made by May), more waxing lyrical on the hobby and making things generally.

 

I'd like one of those screwdriver too.

[Huw Griffiths]

I felt the same. We get better results on the BRM videos, even with a numpty like me doing the modelling. They seemed to have at least 2 cameras on the assembling and a wide showing most of the workshop. We started with a one-camera setup requiring lots of re-takes to provide close-ups, but now have a 3 camera system which allows me to get on with things while they generally stay in focus as long as I don't wave my hands around too much - if I do the cameraman tells me off. It's not always easy with such close working though, no Andy Y style photo stacking to get loads of depth of field!

 

While the programme is supposed to look like James sitting in his shed, I expect a fair amount of research and planning goes into the half hour.

 

I suspect that might be the idea behind any "shaky" camera work - I'm certain it's deliberate.

 

After all, the BBC (or whichever production company are actually making these programmes) would have all the equipment - and skilled staff - needed to produce rock-steady footage, if they actually wanted to. However, they're clearly going for the "rough and ready", "men in sheds", look - complete with crew in outdoor clothing (make it look as if the shed is unheated).

 

Anyway, rightly or wrongly, James May strikes me as a bit of a perfectionist - a decent guy, but with high standards - traits which have been sent up in the past on some "Clarkson era" TopGear programmes.

 

As for the research and planning, I'd be very surprised indeed if he hadn't been involved in some way.

 

 

Huw.

[Coppercap]

Just watched this on the iPlayer. All that talk on whether it's a bolt and a screw... when he slips on the coupling rods to check the quartering was OK, James mistakenly calls them... connecting rods!

[russ p]

Just watched this, it appears to be a silver seal flying Scotsman. Would these have been sold with super 4 track? Also the tender has the triang split axels but only one seems to have silver seal tyres.

One last little gripe how come it has two brake coaches

Otherwise it was a very good program!

[RJS1977]

Another fine half hour of TV that doesn't involve some kind of bizarre contest with a dozen numpties chasing around after a cash prize and a glimmer of "fame". Excellent stuff. I'm probably the only one that thought the "realistic chuffing sound" was actually quite good at low speed. Certainly innovative and would have enhanced the "play" value. DCC sound is wasted on me, isn't it..?

 

Yes, now we need a £100 sound chip to do what a piece of sandpaper could do in the 70s!

[Scottish-Exile]

Tonights programme just as enjoyable. Never thought I could/would be enthralled by a programme about a Kenwood food mixer

 

Nice name check for Sir Kenneth Grange and the HST 125 too.

[bertiedog]

I would be interested as well. It looks like a couple of optical beam splitter cubes to which he has added fine black lines with a marker pen.

It is just a cube of glass, the far side acts as a mirror surface reflecting the face touching the wheel, with the added lines the quartering can be estimated. You need to buy a glass cube, or a perspex cube and add the lines, Who to buy from I am not sure, we used to make them at work, but closed  now. The perspex one could be sawn from square bar, as the sides are unimportant to the reflection.

Stephen

[bertiedog]

Try this site for the glass cubes, most sizes to suit model wheels are made, prices in Euro's

http://www.glass-sphere.com/en/eshop/sklenene-kostky-sklenene-hranoly.html

[bertiedog]

I should add that a wood block can be used with a glass mirror glued to it, and four legs to hold it a standard distance away from the wheel but parallel. It is simply a mirror at parallel plane to the wheel. The lines are drawn on the mirror in this case, or by wire stretched between the legs against the wheel.

[MikeTrice]

How about this: https://www.fohrmann.com/en/wheel-quartering-tool.html ? Not cheap, but you don't need to find a marker pen.

 

The Nim

Having studied the programme and freezing the frames I can state that it definately the gadget identifed by Nim previously. Not a cube either but something far more custom:

 

I daresay it would be possible to make a cheap version using cubes/mirrors.

[Black Sheep]

Tonights programme just as enjoyable. Never thought I could/would be enthralled by a programme about a Kenwood food mixer

 

Nice name check for Sir Kenneth Grange and the HST 125 too.

 

I'd better watch that one as my Kenwood dates from the 60's as my gran gave it to me

[bertiedog]

From the close up of the cube it has a surface at an angle to reflect upwards to make it easier to see if you cannot see through the spokes, this can be duplicated with a plain mirror at the angle, supported by a wooden block, with a vertical glass plate, (or perspex) fitted to the front vertically. The plain cube would work, but you would have to stare though the spokes to see the reflection, more suited to O gauge.

A small vanity mirror, a block of wood and a piece of perspex is going to be cheaper than a commercial unit and 100% accurate

 

[DonB]

Enjoyed all of James May's "Assembler"  programmes so far. They obviously are not intended as Tutorials, but here and there incorporate a little gem of information, and the occasional mistake in terminology or information, (I thought that the FS tender had narrow corridor at one side not "down the middle" as he said.)

 

The shed was implied as borrowed in the Kenwood programme, when James could not find a box with a required tool. He also, I think, implied that the idea for these programmes was not his, or did I misunderstand that?  

Liked his complaint that his mug of tea was often cold when he got round to drinking it! 

 

His stated time of assembling (over 9 hours iirc.) would have produced a wry smile on from any worker on the original production line.... Any guesses or inside knowledge??.... My guess would be 45 minutes Max. There would likely to have been "Time and Motion" assessors to monitor "piece work" activities.  Ahhh.. the joys (sic) of the commercial assembly shop!!

[RJS1977]

Somewhere in my father's loft is (the remains of) a copy of "Triang Railways- The First 10 years", which IIRC gives the time to assemble a 'Princess' - unfortunately I can't remember what it is! Obviously James's FS and coaches have more parts so the time would be longer.

 

And yes, assembly by one person will take longer than a production line as each person in the production line will specialise in a particular part of the assembly and will do it o many times that in the end they could probably do it in their sleep!