November 1995 Newsletter
November 1995 Newsletter
Issue 77
Report written by Adrian Ashford
Our seventeenth annual Meccano exhibition took place on Saturday 7th October at Christ Church hall, Shooters Hill, and turned out to be another successful show.
The hall soon filled up with models, and rapidly filled up with visitors when the doors opened. As in previous years, many people stayed a long time, making the attendance seem greater than it actually was! It was gratifying that so many club members and guest exhibitors produced an extremely varied selection of models for display, filling all the available table space. John Longbon, John Linder and Dave Taylor sold new and second-hand Meccano, while Francis Paine provided an interesting and varied selection of Meccano products from over the years.
A general view of the hall
Members exhibiting models were Chris Warrell, Tim Everest, new member Don Overall, Andrew Couzens, Paul Heather, Eric Humphries, Jim Arthur, John Gay, Geoff Davison, Robin Lake, George Foard, John Cowdery, Ike Ascher, Peter Clay, Nigel and Martin Pope, Dave Taylor, Tim Surtell, Les Baker and Adrian Ashford.
In addition it was a great pleasure to welcome as guest exhibitors former SELMEC member Eddie Oatley, Philip Edwards (over from America, where he now lives, on an extended stay) and also Howard Sie, a Dutch Meccano enthusiast, also staying here for a while. Thanks to everybody for their contribution to the show.
Thanks are also due to the small band of willing helpers who set up the tables the night before, and to those who helped clear away afterwards.
As usual the Christ Church Hall & Social Committee provided refreshments, and did a magnificent job in keeping everybody well fed and watered for the day.
Cutting from the Eltham Times, 12th October 1995
This was one of our informal quarterly meetings where our members showed off their latest Meccano creations.
Written by Frank Paine
“It’s a great asset to be able to play a musical instrument” my parents used to say to me as I wrestled with my violin as a small boy. The violin beat me at wrestling, so I concentrated more on Meccano as a result.
One Meccano problem I had as youngster was with using pulleys. I could never get the darned tension of the string between one pulley and another just right to transmit any usable power. String too loose — belt slip, too tight — binding bearings. I was unaware of the existence of Meccano rubber drive bands, which would have been too short for most of my ambitious schemes anyway, and the string I was trying to use was thick stuff (unravelled Army Surplus socks, no doubt), which didn’t help.
After being born again, Meccano-wise, I came up against this problem again when making models requiring simple transmission systems with changes in direction, so I had to apply my adult (?) brain to the problem. Which is where the violin comes in. I still had it, and remembered that in its dusty case was a block of violin bow rosin. Applying this by rubbing it along the string (genuine Meccano green, of course), gives ample grip, even when it’s quite slack.
So, if you are after a simple, adjustable way of transmitting power, consider pulleys and string, using rosin to give grip — if you can get it from your local music shop. If not, I wonder if the powdered version used by your ballet-mad daughter on her points, or by your weight-lifting son for his presses and jerks (who are these people? — Editor) might also work. Let me know. Other possibilities include lathe belt grease (messy?) or ‘rubberising’ the string using Copydex. Any volunteers to try it?
A more technical solution of course is to use an idler wheel to tension the string. If this can be applied and released at will by a lever it will serve as a clutch — useful, for example for transmitting power from a steam engine, to maintain high revs.
Me, I like the smell of the rosin. And it works.
So my parents were right.