What did you do today? (2014)

[Raymond Sanderson 2Participant @raymondsanderson2]

Its winter and workshop thermometer is showing 10C till lunch time over the last week I got chilled to the bone and have suffered because of it. Last 3 days in doors recouperating.

Mid day and late afternoon temps reaching 22C but its not for long.

I do have workshop heating but have had to work with the door open to the garage facing the street and winds off the Snowy Mnts even if light drop temps further.

For those OS I am 350k away from Snow

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Don't worry Raymond, I'm about 30 k down wind from the Southern Alps, and the snow, there's not too much of that yet(many would say not enough), our temps have been peaking at around 12*C. Ian S C

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

I now have a tachometer input working on my interface to "Yuriy's Android tablet DRO". I have used a modified version of my 1 to 99 pulses per rev tachometer design to feed the RPM value to the serial input on the interface as a 24 bit binary number. I did not have enough timer modules in the microcontroller that I used in the interface to implement the tachometer internally.

Les.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Just stripped a gear on the crosscut shredder.

Split the cutter section to see what was what and found that the steel motor worm gear has stripped the plastic one it spins.

Don't know if it's worth looking for a suitable replacement.

I bought it at PC World on a special for £15 about ten years ago.

So can I complain? YES because I tried to shred some paper I know will jam it if I try more than two.

I tried three of course, just showing how stupid one can be.

Geoff – I've never known such humidity before.

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

My class 8 ran well today just a few niggles to sort out 4qd controller would stop working after shutting the throttle think it may be a pot adjustment issue.

Edited By Bob Brown 1 on 21/06/2014 20:21:24

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

Sat in the back garden enjoying a cuppa after fitting two fluorescent light fittings in the kitchen and thought I heard some Wright Cyclone engines. I wandered round the front of the house and saw a plane heading off north west toward the Bristol Channel and possibly Wales, maybe a B29 or similar, huge tail fin.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Went to see a chap nearby who is restoring a 1909 car (professionally). Superb workmanship. Lots of sheet metal working tools and a bantam lathe plus the car stuffed into a standard garage yet it was quite a spacious layout.

I don't know how Raymond manages 10c in mid winter when here in mid summer my kitchen, which is on the south side, is only 15c. Sun came out so I opened lots of windows and the bedrooms might be up to 16c now.

[Four stroke FredParticipant @fourstrokefred]

Mid winter and today it was 26C high and 13C at night. Still wearing shorts and short sleeved shirt in the workshop that's why I love living in Queensland. Had a good day in the workshop, cast the two pistons for the model tractor and fitted the cod rods. Next step is the manifold systems and I governor . Plenty to think about and plenty to do!

George.

[Raymond Sanderson 2Participant @raymondsanderson2]

Posted by Ian S C on 21/06/2014 13:39:12:

Don't worry Raymond, I'm about 30 k down wind from the Southern Alps, and the snow, there's not too much of that yet(many would say not enough), our temps have been peaking at around 12*C. Ian S C

Ah so you're well protected and don't get the icy winds off the Alps or like it does here straight through the lower side of the GDR cold hole of Goulburn through Southern Highlands.

16 yeas of driving snow tours I still miss it just not the cold and chills that go with it age has softened me I used to walk round down there in short sleeves.

[Raymond Sanderson 2Participant @raymondsanderson2]

Posted by Bazyle on 21/06/2014 22:57:52:

Went to see a chap nearby who is restoring a 1909 car (professionally). Superb workmanship. Lots of sheet metal working tools and a bantam lathe plus the car stuffed into a standard garage yet it was quite a spacious layout.

I don't know how Raymond manages 10c in mid winter when here in mid summer my kitchen, which is on the south side, is only 15c. Sun came out so I opened lots of windows and the bedrooms might be up to 16c now.

 

1909 where's the photos and more info please interested very much.

 

Me either if the garage door which faces west is open of a morning 10amish it can be quite bitter. Closed with small fan heater going on medium and it soon warms up. By mid afternoon when sun is around to the west it can be very pleasant, but the wind off the Alps soon can change it to wind chill factor of 5C.

In the sun out of the wind and the old bones enjoy every once of sun.

 

Mind you the opposite can happen in summer when I have to get out there early before say 2pm when temps reach 35 to 40C and metal becomes to hot to handle and southerly breeze is hours away to cool things down.

 

Read my response to Ian S C re what I used to do for one part of my working life. Not sure if the link below will get you to the photo.

Edited By Raymond Sanderson 2 on 22/06/2014 00:30:12

[Raymond Sanderson 2Participant @raymondsanderson2]

Posted by Four stroke Fred on 21/06/2014 23:21:06:

Mid winter and today it was 26C high and 13C at night. Still wearing shorts and short sleeved shirt in the workshop that's why I love living in Queensland. Had a good day in the workshop, cast the two pistons for the model tractor and fitted the cod rods. Next step is the manifold systems and I governor . Plenty to think about and plenty to do!

George.

George have you got fishing on the mind or was that just a typo

I am not a footy fan but I believe the weather has given QLDer's something to smile about.

[Four stroke FredParticipant @fourstrokefred]

Oops for "cod rod" read connecting rod – some thing to do with big fingers on small keyboard.We may have lost the footy but the sky is still blue and the sun shines. Spent part of the day coming to terms with Windows 8.1 on the new computer.

George

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> I don't know how Raymond manages 10c in mid winter when here in mid summer my kitchen, which is on the south side, is only 15c.

My workshop was up to 27 two days ago.

Neil

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

We were bottom equal in the country today with a maximum temperature of 8*C, it's going to be a bit cool tomorrow morning, should be a good frost, but a clear day. Ian S C

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

2 ft granite walls might have something to do with it in my case.

Raymond, no photo I'm afraid as it is a commercial operation and need to respect his privacy and security needs.

I seem to be finding more car builders than modellers at the moment. Last week I also met someone building a 1500cc V twin from scratch for the '20s car he was recovering from a box of bits someone took into a scrap yard.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Finally got round to making a display stand for the Firefly engine that I made ages ago, had to get it done as its going to be at the Guildford show along with a few of my other engines in a couple of weeks.

Also took the oppertunity to knock up a nice prop nut as I never liked the steel hex one.

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Bit thin on the ground at the boots this morn but did manage some odds & ends.

1 x set of Tesco floor mats for the new car.

2 x 25 drums of writable DVD's

Good quality German riveter with 3 packs of rivets

2 x slabs of 1/4" thick MS

1 x John Bull DTI with accesories in fitted case.

1 x New Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer

5 metres of 1" 90 degree pine angle molding

2.5 metres of 20mm x 17mm oak

1 x set of 12" x 16" repro steam train related posters on varnished card

With one exception the DTI set accessories are not familiar to me, could it be automobile related?

Shopping bill for this morning was £11.

Rik

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Made a skid and moved an upright piano down a flight of stairs. We need to sell it and I want to replace the stairs which are in a state. Moving the piano before replacing the stairs seems like the correct sequence. The coefficient of friction between the skid and the wooden stairs isn't quite enough to control the descent but it certainly helps!

And I hacked out the blank for a motor / belt / pulley housing on the bandsaw. This will be for the X-axis of my CNC conversion. Plastic (3D printed) space model behind gives some idea how it should end up. Progress is slow, as I fit this in between authorised activities. I can't help thinking that machining this part would be simpler on a CNC machine…..

Murray

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Hi Murray,

Why not use the plastic one?

Neil

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

Rik the DTI accessories are bog standard engineering

Roy

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Neil, I must admit, it might have been possible to do that but I'm not certain how resistant PLA and ABS are to the solvents that it would encounter. Slight complication is that I couldn't quite fit the brackets on the printer table so had to make them in 2 pieces welded together using pipe adhesive. I'm also attaching the X-axis bracket using the bolts that hold the bearings in place and take the full thrust.

I'm sure it would be possible to design these in plastic, perhaps with metal inserts in critical places but as I've set myself plenty of challenges on this job as it is, I've gone for conventional simplicity(?) ie carve it out of solid loominum.

I'm planning to make a dished finger guard for the spoked hand wheel in ABS using the printer. I reckon these wheels would make a fine finger mincing machine when used in conjunction with the machined brackets. I'll remove or shorten the handles so I don't get my nadgers tweaked when they are going full whack. I may also make the covers in ABS, although they would be black or "silver" – I tend to use the garish orange and purple for space models.

Murray

[Raymond Sanderson 2Participant @raymondsanderson2]

Ah at last got my hands dirty still bitter cold outside. A quick trip into the garage grabbed my Vernier, Micrometers, hex keys and Dremel a shifter.

Job No1
Oldest son asked on Saturday night to repair a Nail Puller

Some fellow at work had taken to the plunger tip with a grinder made a real mess of it.

Quoted cost of replacement almost as much as original unit. A few searches brought up the links and for about $60+ it can be replaced.

Alternative plan is

1 re-grind the tip correctly which will shorten it by 5m then turn down the shroud to suit

2 Make a a whole new plunger section if I can undo the two parts. Tried today but not able to.

Job No2
My Dremel an old one some 15 years or more gave a shudder bad vibration and bounced about in my hand and cut out last week.
Its been dropped a few times not had a hard life really but done a fair bit of work.

I figured bearings and/or brushes ere due for a change

Opened it up gave a clean, checked brushes all ok, bearings ok, then spotted two loose wires going into rotor area. Now its never been apart before tightened them up re-fitted everything and is sweet once again.

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Posted by Windy on 20/06/2014 22:33:59:

Just finished adjusting the various angles on the tail fins and front canards on the new steam hydro.

A new design of cylinder head has been made to cure a weakness on the previous one.

It will be a very nervous time once it has been released as I'm always a pessimist with these flash steam hydro's despite possible mechanical mishaps aerodynamics come into play at the speeds it can achieve.

Will it be a high speed submarine or a flying boat on Sunday time will tell.

One way or the other I will let you know hopefully might be able to have a video of it.

Paul

Sunday at Kingsbury was a lovely day Ron Hankin broke another record with his IC engine hydroplane with a best lap of 137mph.

Bob another steamer boy was having problems my steamer was the same we were both trying new modifications and they did not work.

Back to the drawing board and workshop.

Paul

[GaryMParticipant @garym]

Had my first attempt at screw-cutting on the lathe and made the first part of Harold Hall's Simple Grinding Rest – the infeed screw.

Gary

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Just ordered some of these for the

"I'm bound to find something to make with them one day" box

MichaelG.

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