What did you do today? (2014)

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Hey Rod,

There's nothing quite like the sound of a CI engine being started up, espeially the chatter when it's almost about to go.

I'm much better at starting diesels than glows,, for some reason. Most folk find glows easier.

Neil

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Posted by John Haine on 18/11/2014 14:38:31:

Nice engine! Took me back to those heady days of starting my PAW19, putting my hand round to lean out the mixture or adjust the compression and taking some skin off in the prop! Somehow the mixture of ether, paraffin and oil seemed to aCt as a good antiseptic….

I managed to take a lump out of my hand with an Irvine 40 in a Barnstormer – not too much damage but as we used to fly on Compton horse gallops I felt it wise to have an anti-tetanus booster.

Neil, I never had much luck with diesels as a kid, this is the first one I have actually managed to make go. I was advised that the long stroke of these early designs would make starting easier. You're right about glows though, much easier…..

…….with a 12v starter

Cheers,

Rod

Edited By Roderick Jenkins on 18/11/2014 20:13:52

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Sacrilege?

Those of us who are not graced by classic British bench drills may consider a counter-intuitive mod to the table of their economically priced one.

The typical 3/4" hole in the middle of the tables of most such drills is far too big if drilling near to the end of small items, especially little holes that don't demand the use of a vice or clamp.

So… commit sacrilege and drill a 5-6mm hole to one side of the main hole, and be not ashamed of it! I have and it's transformed the ease of drilling small holes near the end of along thin bar.

This is not an excuse to decorate your drill table with an arc of different sized and partly overlapping holes…

Neil

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Why don't you just slip a piece of MDF, perspex or any other expendable flat item under the work Neil or did you just need an excuse for that ding in the drill table?

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Finally Tig welding the burst generator from my last outing with the flash steamer and putting a bit more thin gauge 321 tube in it.

That Generator lasted about 5 years reading up about the 321 tubing and the temperatures it is now operating at it's a wonder it's lasted so long.

When done will subject it to high pressure test 4000lbs per square inch and various temperatures and rapid cooling similar to things that happen when in competition if the hydro becomes a submarine at speed.

As a newcomer to Tig but can gas weld I have done test pieces with the tube and hopefully it should be OK.

Paul

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> or did you just need an excuse for that ding in the drill table?

My lips are sealed!

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Spent just over three hours on Hands & Knees with a bright torch and the vacuum cleaner [with a double layer of muslin taped over the nozzle], searching for the tiny screw out of my glasses.

To my amazement and delight, I found it.

I think perhaps some Loctite "lower strength threadlocker" is in order.

MichaelG.

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Yes Michael been there and done that fortunately I have plenty of old glasses of the same design to pinch the screws from.

My Optician comes across customers losing their spectacle screws and he has a bottle of Loctite at the ready.

Paul

[Kevin FParticipant @kevinf]

Today I fitted some soffit vents to my workshop to try and stop the condensation , I'll find out tomorrow if it has been a success .

[Raymond Sanderson 2Participant @raymondsanderson2]

My machinery and tools supplier holds a 3 day sale twice a year and the Hornsby Model Engineers are always present this year a few new items on display.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S8chGzFjV9w

Edited By Raymond Sanderson 2 on 22/11/2014 22:16:14

Edited By Raymond Sanderson 2 on 22/11/2014 22:19:09

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

After a few cool days a warm front has moved in so all cold machines in draughty sheds will be covered in condensation. Kevin seal your shed and run a dehumidifier.

[FatgadgiParticipant @fatgadgi]

Posted by Bazyle on 22/11/2014 23:06:29:

After a few cool days a warm front has moved in so all cold machines in draughty sheds will be covered in condensation. Kevin seal your shed and run a dehumidifier.

Yep, oil filled radiator was switched on last Wednesday in readiness. Bit of a wimp, I know !!!

[Raymond Sanderson 2Participant @raymondsanderson2]

Bazyle send it over here after sitting out the front of the garage n shade @ 25C by 10am it got to 35C by Noon by 1.pm 40C hd to head in doors to where the aricon was running.

[Four stroke FredParticipant @fourstrokefred]

The last couple of days have been quite warm so decided to work in the air con workshop office and have been sorting out the drawings of the tractor. I have decided to break them down into three areas: the chassis, the gearbox and differential and the engine. I am trying to check each drawing as I go but I expect there will some errors that will creep in! I will check them all again after a break. I did manage to find a drivers hand book for a 1915 model "G" and an advertising book for the full range of tractors of that era. The model tractor now has a quarter scale drivers hand book in the tool box.

George.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Tom Senior M.I.

Thursday machined the replacement Y-axis hand wheel to fit, BUT forgot to measure, resulting the following morning in discovering the hole to be 20mm instead of the required 19mm.

As with Clive, my Garage is well insulated so little resulting noise from my lips got out.

I packed up laughing reading about his double mistake

Fitted said hand wheel, and it of course wobbled!

I could of course have bored it out, fitted a plug and started again, but life's just too short.

The hand wheel is held in place by a single grub screw, so I just drilled and tapped for second one 90° to the first, and now it's wobble free.

More photos in Tom Senior Album.

Geoff – Man's ingenuity knows no bounds!

Hand wheel being bored.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Friday, decided it was high time I sorted out the storage position of the QC tool holders.

NOT very convenient or particularly save to say the least!

So after scratching the old noggin for a while, whilst studying one of the holders, I suddenly realised that they have the perfect hook machined in them.

A bit of drilling and tapping and the solution is a below. The holders clip over a piece of flat bar secured to the splash back.

Geoff – Clever am I not!?

PS: I'm not one to boast, BUT by heck it felt good coming up with that solution!

Someone is now going to deflate me by saying it's been done before. I don't care!

Edited By OuBallie on 23/11/2014 11:46:20

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Yep! it's been done before… used a couple of shelf brackets for mine off the back shelves…

Sorry to spoil your day… … have a nice one ….

George

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I've worked out that a strip of 1/4" by 1" wood with a 45-degree bevel on the top will happily store all my QCTP holders.

I just need to find a bit of bare wall…

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I sawed off a 5./16" slice of 2" square EN1aPb. Mounted it on a mandrel and spent ages turning it down to round and then blunted my tangential tool getting it down to 43mm by forgetting to swap back to carbide.

Switched it to the dividing head and cut six tooth spaces for a 41-T gear, then noticed the fat tooth.

My own fault – my spread sheet said something like 2 2.8 meaning complete 2 turns then 2.8 degrees, like an idjut I did 2 complete turns (i.e. three time past zero instead of once).

What a PITA, still at least I proved that its really nice machining steel.

Well tomorrow I will go to my local stockholder and hopefully get some useful EN1a(Pb) in some useful sizes.

Neil

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

Neil, why not just use the tables for dividing plate hole spacing in Machinerys handbook ,(assuming you are using a 40 to 1 or a 60 to 1 dividing head) tables are more reliable than messing about with computers, EN 1a Leaded is nice material to machine ,I expect your supplier warned you not to weld it ,

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Duly deflated, thank you so much, but I still DON'T care though

I don't remember having seen the peg method before, but will definitely use it if/when those holders multiply.

I needed something quickly done, just to make then easier and safer to get at.

Every time I reached across the spinning chuck I would castigate myself for being stupid.

Geoff – Nothing new there then.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Neil,

How on earth did you manage to blunt the bit?

Surely not due to the interrupted cut.

Geoff – Shopping duty today for 'her indoors'.

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Neil,
I think it's time you built Steve Ward's rotary table controller. (Or similar if you can not bring yourself to use a PIC.)

Les.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> How on earth did you manage to blunt the bit?

Only cutting EN1a, but I kept going when the interrupted cut was finished, trying 2" diameter at 1000rpm and 0.5mm cut, and winding hard as I could using the apron handle. Red hot swarf – for a while.

Changed to carbide, as I should have done, and just got a spray of very hot chips and lovely finish.

Neil

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Nigel- just slow down! People asking questions about how to start will think carbide is a must, with all the extra costs.

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