What did you do today (2015)

[Steven GreenhoughParticipant @stevengreenhough56335]

Joined my local MES. Had a great time showing and discussing my build so far, and seeing what a few of the members were up to…

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I fully expected some bee swarms yesterday as it was hot and muggy, the bees always swarm on these days. Got the call from the Nephew that there was one out and I went down to collect it and it was on a pole, a broom handle stuck in the ground and it looked like a giant brown lollipop. Easy to take as all I had to do was lift the pole out of the ground and carry it to a waiting hive.

A couple of weeks ago I had a Nucleus that lost its Queen, so this swarm was going into a box on top of that hive. I placed a wire mesh screen with a side slot and then put a Brood box on it and 4 combs of foundation and put the bees down on it. Within a few minutes they had gone down into the frames and I was able to place a crown board on top and shovel what bees remained outside into the ventilation hole and put a mesh cover over it. Job done, 10 minutes from start to finish.

The principle here is to establish Queen right colony above the bees without a Queen, they gain Queen pheromone through the mesh and soon integrate with the new swarm, in a few days I can remove the mesh screen and re-arrange the combs in the box and I have an operating hive.

It is possible it can go horribly wrong and the 2 lots of bees fight to the death but as yet I have never had this.

Clive

[Four stroke FredParticipant @fourstrokefred]

This afternoon the Saunderson and Mills tractor model fired up for the first time – not for long but long enough to know that all the systems are functional!. Not quite walking on air yet but not far away. Tomorrow will be a case of fine tuning or at least running for a longer time. I did have some problems and had alter some of the linkage lengths, governor bobbin, ignition timing disc and the float in the carburettor and as a consequence had to change some drawings. I can't wait to get out to the workshop tomorrow just to hear that sound of the engine running.

George.

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

Very good love vehicles from the turn of the century. I'm still in the stage of gathering information about the Holt gun tractor. There's only the engine to worry about as far as castings are concerned but first I need to settle on a scale size. Difficult since I can't find out whether there are any full size ones in England which are on view to the public and okay to photograph.

Nice one George.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Does it not use the same engine as the Holt 75? as the engine is available for that as castings and there are a few complete vehicles that have been made.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Mini-quiz! Did this last night.

Can anyone guess what this is?

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Jesse, the Bovington Tank Museum has one, and there will be one at the Great Dorset Steam Fair in September (WW1 reinactment, trenches and all that).

Ian S C

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Neil,

it looks like a Cyber Spider to me.

Bob

[Michael Cox 1Participant @michaelcox1]

Neil – white led viewed through a CD?

Mike

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

ISS?

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

"Can anyone guess what this is?"

Its the diamond ring you bought your wife with your first months salary as Ed

Rik

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Home made Kalidascope from an old toilet roll and half a box of quality street wrappers

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

It must be the giant super poisonous spider that's loose in the midlands. ( see popular press) Last night I was looking to the heavens ,about 11pm, and was watching a bright light in the west, started to get chilly so decided it must be a helicopter coming in late to Aberdeen and went to bed.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Second thought sit could be the next batch of EMG-12s comming in to land at ARC

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

It's what Arcturus looks like with this fitted to a telescope:

When slightly out of focus the central line moves to the left or right of where the angled lines cross. Makes a very fiddly hit and miss task very easy.

Neil

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

A very credible explanation but I'm still going with the diamond ring answer.

Rik

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

I thought you had misspelled arceuro for a moment but it would seem to be a very cunning gadget after all.

[Brian OldfordParticipant @brianoldford70365]

Continued to make some overly complex brass fittings to go into a GWR Bow-end composite carriage being restored on the SVR.

Edited By Brian Oldford on 07/06/2015 08:40:05

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

>Can anyone guess what this is?<

Hi Neil, have you tried a Y shaped piece of thick wire? (coathanger wire?)

It gives a similar diffraction patter, though maybe not as bright spikes.
Certainly saves a lot of fretting out.

Chris Lord did a paper on them.
**LINK**

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I think the coathanger would be too faint, as I imagine it would be much like the pattern produced by the spider – he does say the thicker the brighter.

I will try the thick Y and if it works I will post on an astronomy forum as the Lord Mask!

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 07/06/2015 11:30:11

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Spent a rather enjoyable morning at Worseley Clay shooting ground trying out my "new" gun. A venerable GE Lewis of Birmingham side by side in 12 guage. Just rebuilt by my good self and I have to say, it shoots lovely. Did a round of a hundred between my pal and I and found a cartridge it likes.

I am not especially good with a shotgun, but that doesn't detract at all from the fun, I can thoroughly recommend it if you get the chance, the old girl is a hundred and fifteen this year, so I was using light loads. We took young Tom along for the ride and here he is trying her out for size. He is only fifteen, but has a much better reaction time than I so I only let him play for a short time before he showed us up

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Nice gun, captain speaking, it's the humans I worry about😳

Brian

[Capstan SpeakingParticipant @capstanspeaking95294]

Don't worry, the police do some very careful vetting.

Even including criminality, the UK is one of the safest countries in the world.

That aspect isn't a topic we want to get into though. I'm sure the mods will agree.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Made some mods to my new welder, added wheels, gas bottle rack and carry handle (Telescopic). Must make a nice pin for the handle some time. I have used all the original screw holes so as not to upset any guarantee claims etc. Incidentally, the instructions for the welder encourage you to remove the screwed on cover from time to time to vacuum out any dust that is inside.
BobH

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Just for interest all you gun people- I was told that that shotguns had the barrels and ribs soft soldered together, is that true and is it still so ?

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