Things you don't see anymore

[carni 10,046]

Chulla, Looking at your second picture reminds me of the table of torture awaiting me at my dentists tomorrow morning!!!! Yippee, Final appointment. Or Not?

[loppylugs 8,351]

If they've got tools that look like that I don't envy you one bit, Carni.  

[Ayupmeducks 1,728]

Not until I went to work for the Beeston Boiler Company in the early 70's, had I seen antique machine tools, they had lathes that must have been nearly 100 years old!! Everything in the machine shop was belt driven from a central overhead drive pulley system.

There's no wonder they went tits up.

[Ayupmeducks 1,728]

Dave, to you still have any of your Pyro tools, that is if you ever worked on MICC type cables...I still have mine, haven't seen that cable in years, I doubt I'd find a young elec who would know what the tools are used for.

 

 

[loppylugs 8,351]

Some of the connections to those DC motors look quite scary.  BTW.  Do you have Harbor Freight up there, John?

 

Edited to add.  No, never owned any Pyro tools, John.  The company owned 'em we just kept them in the van.  Haven't seen any Pyro in North America either.

[Ayupmeducks 1,728]

Most of Harbor Freight stuff costs more to ship than the items costs..LOL

 

[loppylugs 8,351]

We have a HF store just a few miles from our house, so no shipping issues.  They must spend a fortune on advertising though.  Ads in just about every publication it seems.

[Brew 5,007]

#4086

Haven't worked with pyro for more than forty years but I still have the same cutter as the one in your picture, it makes a great 15mm copper pipe cutter.

[Ayupmeducks 1,728]

I have a couple of pipe cutters, one cuts steel pipes, and the other I used for the gas line into the house which is copper pipe. I won't use the MICC cutter on plumbing work, it's an antique now!!, I have a stripper too, the simple shaped steel one with a slot about an inch long. Not the rotary tool type, never could get the hang of those. I think I may have a couple of the cheap crimpers too.

 

[Ayupmeducks 1,728]

As far as I'm aware Dave no HF stores within a hundred miles of me, might be one at Springfield. But that's way to far for me these days.

[loppylugs 8,351]

We had home made Pyro strippers.  As you say just a steel rod with a slot cut into the end.  Always manage to do a nice clean strip and then finish it off with the rotary cutter before screwing the pot on the end and compressing.  Still remember how to do it after forty odd years but not likely to see any more now.

 

Had some fun with that stuff.  We wired the stage area in a school in West Bridgeford with Pyro.  One of the pots must have had a sliver of copper shorting out the end.  Showed the short when we meggered it.  The electrician  ( I was just the apprentice) decided we didn't know which end the short was but he'd blow it out by wrapping the fuse With lots of wire and switching on.  The bad end was in a recessed plug on the stage.  At the time he switched on a carpenter was working on the floor with his rear end over the plug.  The end blew off like a rifle shot.  He thought the electrician did it on purpose and was ready to re-adjust his appearance with a hammer.  We managed to calm the situation but it was funny at the time.

[plantfit 7,206]

Couple of pages that may be of interest to the vintage motor car owner

 

When I first started work as an apprentice motor engineer (1968) we had quite a lot of old and very old motor car spares in a room upstairs in the garage,things from wooden motor car wheels,vehicle lights with small fuel tanks in the bottom and bone fittings for a wick to come out of,glass lenses with brass surrounds, various gaskets and gauges,I suppose they were all thrown away,today they would be worth a small fortune

 

Rog

[Compo 10,185]

I haven't used Pyro (tenax) since I was an apprentice in the 60s; which is probably just as well - I never managed to get the length right and always had to jiggle it a bit to make it all fit

 

[Ayupmeducks 1,728]

GT Ranby did a lot of schools and service stations so they were exclusively MICC, both makes, BICC and Pyrotenax. Last end I made off was at the NCB  training centre at Hucknall, nobody knew how to make ends off on pyro, there was one in one of the offices they were modifying, so I got the job. All NCB work was usually single wire or double wire armoured cables, even the surface lighting and power. Amazing how fast you can terminate an armoured cable when you've made a few off.

[benjamin1945 15,560]

Terrific ayup...................now where's them word games...........lol

[loppylugs 8,351]

Stay tuned, Ben.  You never know when you might have to run some Pyro.  

[benjamin1945 15,560]

Loppy ive read all your conversation with Ayup John,...............but am still none the wiser as to what 'Pyro' is.............please don't explain it either,..i love Ayups bursts of complete gobbledegook..........keep it coming John.................in the meantime i promise to keep my eyes open for some PYRO...does it come in tins?.........lol

[loppylugs 8,351]

My dear Chap.  You deserve to know what Pyro is.  . One trade name is MICC.  Mineral insulated copper cable.  The wires are inside a copper covering, kept separated by magnesium oxide.  I think.

 

It is especially suited to damp locations and hazardous areas like around petrol pumps.  It is able to withstand high temperatures so is often used in fire alarm systems.  It can even withstand a lot of abuse like getting thumped with a hammer etc.

 

There yuv learned summat today meduck.  

 

We rewired the RC Cathedral on Derby road with it.

[benjamin1945 15,560]

OK Loppy..............don't come in tins then.............

[crankypig 457]

Things you don't see any more.....Twink and Pin up,for ladies who wanted curly hair.

I used to have to do my mams....you had to apply the lotion,wrap small sections of hair around peg like culers( you don't see them anymore either) then after about half hour ( I think) you than had to apply another lotion,can't remember what that was for,maybe a conditioner.,then rinse it all off ,take the curlers out and then put the hair in normal rollers.

What a palaver,and I hated the smell...good job the result lasted for a long time.

Mam said it was cheaper for me to do it than going to the hairdressers.

[catfan 14,782]

I agree crankypig, I was brought up with a mother & 2 older sisters & yes that Twink didn't half stink vile !

[broxtowelad 175]

Was it ammonia? I remember an aunty doing my grandma's hair and it used to make my eyes smart.

[MargieH 7,423]

I used to perm my mum's hair for years until I persuaded her to let me cut it in a shorter, more modern style...

[catfan 14,782]

#4104.

Yes, it was !

[Gem 1,421]

My job was to wrap the paper round the rollers and the lotion smelt terrible.