25 Pounder info needed.

[Private_collector]

Originally Posted by rnixartillery

Just pulled these from a box ,NOS spike ends . Ah ,Tony you are never going to believe this but I have just picked up an aluminium carrier as the one you have just repaired !................

Rob.....................rnixartillery.

Rob, I hope yours doesn't need repair, because if it is the same as mine, it will be a very porous magnesium that is ridiculously hard to well....apparently. My fellow said he kept blowing holes in mine, no matter how low he ran the amperage. He used TIG welding, and spent several hours+, and also preheated the surface to gain maximum weld. Despite this, he said he has a horror time, because cracking would occur with cooling. The difference in cooling down between the two dissimilar metals stressed the weld.

Another undesirable complication is that the sector piece inside hits the strengthening I had to apply for reinforcing of the repair patch. This greatly reduces the extent the sector ca travel. I believe I've lost about 45 degrees of movement. I do have a plan to retake some of that loss, by making change to the sector itself. That is assuming it can be welded. For that reason, I am looking for another of those pieces to make the change to. If I use my own, and cock it up, then I'm stuffed! Best to use another to play with, so if you have another of those, we should talk!

I will make a stand for the assembly, but will hold off for a little while, until I know whether I can get that last piece i need or have to make one. The former, I hope.

David, the quantity (and quality) of the information I've received from you guys should be a tremendous help in making that system. Your help is appreciated. Until i get my act together, I will have a little play with tidying up a ground anchor/spade cover I bought from Holland, or is tha Netherlands these days? My cover has some significant dents on it, but is very usable. The attaching threaded rod & wingnuts are still present and in reasonably good shape. As stated earlier, I'm grateful for every piece I buy, and i believe it was Rob N. that said original parts in non-perfect condition is FAR BETTER than starting from scratch. The spade cover, amongst a multitude of other parts, is not something I could EVER make!

For now, my sight carrier assembly is sitting on a couple of rags on my living room floor, for want of a safer place to put it. I think I have about a fortnight before my Wife gets sick of it being there. The canvas cover for it, will be made shortly. That's one of those 'inside' jobs that I can do, provided Mrs B allows me access to her sewing machine again. That is by no means guaranteed.

[David Dunlop]

Do I sense a 'date night' for Mrs. B might be in the works, Tony?


David

[Private_collector]

Jeezus man, we went out for lunch on saturday. Surely that's enough?!?!

Maybe I'll just buy my own domestic sewing machine.

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by rnixartillery

Forgot to add image !


Rob..............rnixartillery

Hi Rob, How many do you have available? I need 2 for the long 25 and 2 for the short 25 but would be happy to just purchase one if you have one or all 4 for sale. If you only have 1 available I will machine up the others.
Regards Rick.

[rnixartillery]

I have a pair of these but they are my patterns if I need to reproduce any so they are not for sale ,sorry.

If you can drum up enough interest over there it is worth pulling one apart to have the inserts made up. The end caps were brass or aluminium.

I could possibly contact my machinist and find out the cost of running some more up as I am sure he will have the program saved.

Rob.....................rnixartillery.

[Private_collector]

An interesting item has arrived.
But what do you think it is?


Perhaps a precision spring?


A fuel can?


Maybe a canvas stretcher, with wooden poles?


Last clue. Yes, it does say WTF.
W.T.F & SON LTD 1/1940

[Tony Smith]

Hand pump for the recoil recuperator system?

[tankbarrell]

Yes, fluid pump for filling the recuperator.

[Private_collector]

And it will smarten up very nicely.

I'm fairly confident it will be fully operational.

[tankbarrell]

I'm after one if you know of a supply!

[Private_collector]

I think it was the only one for sale, Adrian.

Prior to this one, I had not even seen a photo of one, so I'm very pleased to have it.
Certainly is a complex thing. I must ask why the many rings around the cylinder?
Are they to prevent damage to the cylinder wall, or some form of heat-sink?
Must say, I wouldn't have really expected the latter.

[tankbarrell]

Tony, the rings are purely to prevent damage to the thin cylinder. It is just a transfer pump and doesn't work at too high a pressure.

Not easy to find, well done!

[lynx42]

Hi Tony, good pick up, did you also get the two attaching hoses? One is thicker than the other and they are made of flexible steel tubing with screw on ends attached. I was lucky enough to pick up a complete unit last year at Corowa.
regards Rick

[Private_collector]

No, unfortunately. I am still searching for the hoses.

Can anyone advise how i get the copper/brass bands from the cylinder?

[Private_collector]

The fluid pump has been disassembled for cleaning.

Got some bits cleaned up already,

and a big one yet to be attempted.

I straightened a few of the vanes that had copped a minor whack over the years.
So far, I have been cleaning the parts indoors at night. I don't think I'll try that with the last piece. It's more of a wire brush & turpentine job.

The weather is still dreadfully humid, so I've not attempted anything outdoors.

Also, our boy came home for the weekend, and brought the vehicle he purchased a couple of weeks ago. Wanted something to carry motorcycles and friends.

This is our old labrador, Caramel, looking studious.
You can never have too many labrador photos.

If anyone out there has either or both of the pipes that attach the fluid pump, and you wish to sell them, I would like to hear about it. Even if they're not great condition, I might be able to do something with them.

[David Dunlop]

Great looking Lab there, Tony! Would look lovely, head out the Blitz window, going for a cruise in the evening!

David

[Private_collector]

She's just as likely to spy a cat and jump out of the window. Lovely companion, friendly and placid.....but dumb as pig poop.

[Private_collector]

Fluid pump is finished. Only need the hoses to complete.

[Ken Smith]

Good day Tony,
Beautiful, careful workmanship on a very pretty piece of equipment.

Ken

[Private_collector]

Cheers Ken,

I'm currently in discussions with a chap down south, with a view to purchasing a portion of trails and carriage. Neither piece are in great shape, and the trails, which is about 1/2 of total length, has battle damage where a shell has passed through it from right to left, leaving some quite dramatic impact on the vertical part of the steel. I like it! I am tempted to retain it (assuming I purchase) but will need to examine closely to ensure it isn't so bad that it compromises strength.

[Ken Smith]

Didn't I say to you 12 months ago that this is going to end up very close to an original 25 pounder, you are still heading in the right direction to make it come true, and I hope it does.

Ken

[Private_collector]

Does anybody out there know someone that may travelling from western Victoria to/through South East Queensland, and have room to carry some 25 pounder parts? Parts will fit on a standard pallet, and would need a forklift to load. Three strong men from the circus may lift them up, but I wouldn't fancy trying. There is forklit available at loading point, and I can meet the shipper anywhere from Gold Coast to Hervey Bay, if that helps. Timing of travel is not critical, and I'm happy to wait a few weeks or so, if required.

I'm looking into transport companies for the move, but I have reasonably modest finances, so that could be beyond my means. If I cannot sort any other way, I'll have to take a jaunt down there with my trailer! It's only a 3600km round trip, after all. I'm hoping I don't have to do that though. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

On a different note, we have just receive word that our Son will be in the ANZAC Day Parade in Brisbane. We booked accomodation in Brisbane CBD, just across from ANZAC Square, a few weeks ago, hoping he would be participating. We're very glad we did, now.

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Tony,

I personally can't help you but you might be pleasantly surprised at shipping costs if you do all the paperwork yourself.

I use an internet based freight company, E-Go, which is part of Hunter Express which services all east coast capital cities.
Basically you supply the info: weight, size and type of shipment and you get a quote online. If you pick up at a main depot you save even more than door to door service. Just requires the seller to attach a connote which you can email to him and arrange pickup at his address. Fairly simple instructions are supplied.

I shipped two NOS Ford axle shafts from Brisbane to Melbourne for $27 a couple years ago. I dropped them off at the local depot in Brisbane when I was up there on business, and picked them up at the local depot at Dandenong which cut the freight cost almost in half. I stayed three days in Brisbane and the axles beat me home!

Just Google E-Go and follow the prompts as they say.....

Best of luck.

[Private_collector]

Another friend of mine mentioned e-go too. The sender is really quite remote, though not enough to cause a problem, I hope. I want to make this as simple for him as I can, because he is very busy in many ways. I will email him to ask if he is can give me dimensions and approx weight, so I can look closer at e-go. The printing of shipping labels is pretty standard practice. l have been cought out in past with dimensions or weight not being entirely accurate, with this costing a LOT more once transpost company checks this. With something like the pieces I'm talking about, there is real potential to be charged huse excess costs.

At first appearance, my 'treasure' may look unimpressive. A closer look reveals all the brackets, and attachments that make a great difference to a build up like mine. It would be possible to cut (literally) dimensions down, but that would be a shame to do. Won't say any more publically about the parts or their source, to avoid identifying the seller.

[Private_collector]

Just did a quote on e-go. It is a very rough guestimate because I'm not 100% on dimensions yet, and weight is a wild shot in the dark. Cost is around $375.00. Hmmm. May just be comparable to fuel, accomodation, meals costs of a long road trip. Oh, and I don't get to inspect the extensive collection if shipping co does the move I have about 100hrs of 80s music for just such a trip!

Added: Now able to narrow down weight to within 50kgs ish. At the revised weight of 500kg, shipping is over $1000 via e-go. Yikes!

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Tony,

Yikes! is right. $1,000 freight, didn't realize you were shipping half a tonne. Anyway, it is still handy for fellow Aussie MLU members to know about E-Go.

They are a lot cheaper than Aussie Post and will ship larger items in any event.

It does require a bit of liaison and cooperation with the seller but I found fellow old vehicle enthusiasts were always more than willing to help out.

Hope you get some success finding a cheaper way of getting the items to you.

Cheers,

[Ken Smith]

Good day Tony,
I found Land Transport in Toowoomba very helpful. I sent a very heavy pallet load of wheels and a winch to Melbourne and I think the price was under $200.00. The only thing was it all had to be on the pallet and absolutely nothing sticking over the edge, weight didn't matter.
They also brought one of my complete AB160 teaspoon tippers up from their depot in Dubbo to their depot in Toowoomba, and it was reasonable freight as well. They didn't even bend the tailshaft on it, when they loaded it on the semi with a big forklift, which I was impressed with.

Ken

[jack neville]

Tony if you PM me the details I can try another online quoter. Australian Online Transport. I actually sourced them through E Go when they quoted on some freight of mine and I now deal direct with them on phone. Cutting out the middle computer Man so to speak. I have sent personal stuff, often pallets of 200-400 kg all over Australia and they have always beaten everyone else's price. Or I can put you in touch with them and you can deal direct.

Jack

[Private_collector]

Jacques: I didn't realise I was shipping half a ton at first either! Really wouldn't have picked it was going to be that heavy, but seller knows these things. He also has a contact who is driving a heavy transport vehicle to Nth QLD. I have emailed that guy several days ago, and awaiting reply.

Ken: I will try Land Transport if suitable pallet can be used. Seller advises the larger piece (trails portion) will require 2x pallets to carry it. Too big for one. If memory serves me right, there are longer pallets??? The frustrating thing is, if I were down there, it would be a piece of proverbial to organise packing and shipping because I'm VERY motivated to get this happening. I want it to be as little inconvenience for seller as possible. I can't explain, but he is really doing me a great favor in handing over these parts, so I don't want to keep bothering him with more and more tasks. Unfortunately, without his help, this won't be easy. I think my best bet is the fellow mentioned above, who is not only travelling from that area to QLD, but is intending to visit the seller shortly before leaving. All i need is to hear from him, with agreeable costing.

Jack: Coincidentally, and considering Australian travelling distances overall, you're not far from the seller. I'm checking the Australian online trpt website right now. They sound refreshingly down to earth. I'll call them Monday.

If everything else fails, or is too costly, I will be taking a long roadtrip. My trailer is 7' by 5' and strong. Fitting the parts won't be a problem. I hope weight isn't too great. It's a long way to drive a heavily laden trailer. I've successfully carried the 25pr axle (wheel to wheel). Didn't even feel the drag of it. Surely my parts won't be heavier than that. I'll want to buy a spare tyre for trailer before attempting such a distance.

[Euan McDonald]

Tony, pump looks fantastic but it should have been blue.
I have a box that is marked pump that looks like it straps to the trail but I don't think it holds the hand pump. any clues welcome.