What did you do today (2015)

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nick,

Very nice work … Is the AXA as good as it looks ?

MichaelG.

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by capnahab on 12/07/2015 08:11:53:

Very nice work Nick. Can I ask how you grind the single point tool for the tangential toolholder ?. Looks very nice there. I seem to remember there were instructions – But can't find them.

.

I will try and find my instructions and send you that section.

Nick

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 12/07/2015 10:55:33:

Nick,

Is the AXA as good as it looks ?

MichaelG.

 

Dunno. (yet) I will have to decide on something to make to try it.

But it cannot be any worse than the Dickson far eastern clone that I had. It kept working the actual tool holder loose. Rubbish.! Not fit for purpose.

I know they are a very popular copy. Perhaps I was just unlucky and got one that was made the day after Beijing united got stuffed 10 – 0

Nick

Edited By Nick_G on 12/07/2015 11:35:15

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Nick – where did you get it? Direct from the address shown on the part? If so, it looks like 400 Euros for a holder and 4 tools for the A size AXA system. That's about £290 at the moment. Shipping seems to be about 24 Euros. They seem to charge VAT too??

A similar set (with an additional 5 tool holders) from Create Tools (China) would be £250. The AXA parts look very neat though.

A Multifix-type (aka 40-position toolholder) system has been at the top of my shopping list for a while now…

Let us know how you get on.

Murray

Edited By Muzzer on 12/07/2015 12:21:44

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by Muzzer on 12/07/2015 12:20:31:

Nick – where did you get it? Direct from the address shown on the part? If so, it looks like 400 Euros for a holder and 4 tools for the A size AXA system. That's about £290 at the moment. Shipping seems to be about 24 Euros. They seem to charge VAT too??

Murray

.

Hi Murray,

I did get it direct from them in Germany, albeit via ebay. (3 days delivery) Just shy of £290 with no extra VAT, plus postage.

This was with 4 holders, but I did order some extra ones also.

What tipped me towards this one over 'Create' and the other far eastern clones is that it is stamped 'Made in Germany'. It was shipped from there as I could track it and the packing voids were filled with Germanic news papers. (mostly articles about the Greeks for some reason ) And I do know the German government have very stiff penalties for German companies selling German products that ain't.

The standard of workmanship on these is in a different league to the previous toolpost. But then again it's in a different price bracket so they should be.

The low priced Dickson Chinese clone I do not now consider to have been cheap.! As it's worked out to be a rather pricey lump of scrap.

Anybody want to buy it.?

Nick

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Finished destruction of Wendy House. You wouldn't want to do this in Australia – it was a spider-fest!

Skip full, Issue 231 preview on line, gaff on Hints page, Editor knackered.

Time for a bath.

Neil

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

There's another guy selling Chinese clones on ebay in Germany (PW Tools) but the pricing is closer to the AXA price so seems rather a pointless option. He also seemed rather a strange fish when I emailed him with what I thought was a fairly simple question..

For a set of 9 A sized tool holders and tool post including carriage, Create works out around £315 compared to £545 from AXA.

Does anyone have experience of the Create offerings? The Accountant might have an easier time with them.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

One of the guys on MEM has used Create, seems happy with them and he has Wabeco machines so likes well made tools. And another thread about them

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Today I thought I would make a start on a motorcycle job that came in recently. This was for some replacement parts that I had made about 4 years ago for a steering damper for a 1920's Terrot. The owner had sent them off to be Nickel plated and the courier had lost them when they were posted back by the plater.

I made the original assembly based upon a drawing of the Torque arm, a dampener knob and a star spring washer and a couple of not very clear photographs.

I thought that the Torque Arm would be a nice easy project to do on the CNC Mill and that it wouldn't take too long to draw and get it run through the CAM programme. How wrong you can be. I haven't done much in the way of drawing and practicing the CAM software so I was a bit rusty. I started at 09:30 this morning and finally got it to simulate properly at about 22:00 this evening. To late to go into the workshop and tomorrow I'm off to the North East for a few days so it will have to wait until I get back before I can set up the mill and run the programme.

Here are a couple of pictures showing the drawing and the torque arm that I made 4 years ago.

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Had a go with the flash steamer after fitting new piston ring and valve springs with the help of John to judge the speed before timing runs it was dramatic.

Just about to signal timing and the hydro became a VTO and hit the lake bottom at speed as a rough guess about 135 mph.

A bodged repair was done the intense heat on the red hot manifold made it brittle when it hit the water so altered another one that was not compatible made it to fit.

After a couple of laps the boiler burst on my final attempt.

Since increasing the power looks like aerodynamics has raised it's head at another speed level

[Old SchoolParticipant @oldschool]

Paul it was a spectacular run, the revs the engine did went it was airborne I thought it would have flown. A credit to your hull construction that it was in one piece when you got from the bottom of the lake.

Olly

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Watched the news about the New Horizons interplanetary spacecraft, it seems that Pluto is a very interesting place. This is a typical web-link: **LINK** Lots of search hits.

Neil would be all over this so I should defer to the experts, but it is still fascinating stuff – Even if it's not a planet it's still a cartoon dog that I grew up with as a kid.

* Danny M *

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Posted by Danny M2Z on 14/07/2015 11:01:15:

… Even if it's not a planet it's still a cartoon dog that I grew up with as a kid.

I found this book very interesting – a fascinating insight into individual dedication and scientific politics.

Rod

[Involute CurveParticipant @involutecurve]

Posted by Bob Rodgerson on 12/07/2015 23:36:48:

Today I thought I would make a start on a motorcycle job that came in recently. This was for some replacement parts that I had made about 4 years ago for a steering damper for a 1920's Terrot. The owner had sent them off to be Nickel plated and the courier had lost them when they were posted back by the plater.

I made the original assembly based upon a drawing of the Torque arm, a dampener knob and a star spring washer and a couple of not very clear photographs.

I thought that the Torque Arm would be a nice easy project to do on the CNC Mill and that it wouldn't take too long to draw and get it run through the CAM programme. How wrong you can be. I haven't done much in the way of drawing and practicing the CAM software so I was a bit rusty. I started at 09:30 this morning and finally got it to simulate properly at about 22:00 this evening. To late to go into the workshop and tomorrow I'm off to the North East for a few days so it will have to wait until I get back before I can set up the mill and run the programme.

Here are a couple of pictures showing the drawing and the torque arm that I made 4 years ago.

Hi Bob, What software are you using? I make parts along the lines of this all the time, I either profile them to almost full depth, leaving 0.05 of material in the bottom of the slot, I then break the part out of the parent material or I leave small legs on (like airfix stuff)and snap them out after machining full depth, I often hold the sheet metal by fixing it with screws to plywood, I would expect to make a part like this from cad to finish in about an hour, however I understand how frustrating Cad Cam and CNC can be, if your in the North east, your welcome to pop round for a gander……….. id better tidy up.

Shaun

[Capstan SpeakingParticipant @capstanspeaking95294]

Using castings from College Engineering Supply I finished making a fixed steady for my mini lathe. It's meant for something the size of a Myford but I have managed to modify it to fit.

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

Windy,

It has occurred to me that your boat is probably the fasted steam powered vehicle I have heard of. Do you happen to know what is the fastest speed a steam powered vehicle of any sort has done? 135mph beats 'Mallard' so far as I can see… even if it is straight down.

Regards,

Richard.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

I think a British Steam powered car topped 139 mph in 2009, it was on lots of news broadcasts at the time.

Just corrected that (Wikipedia), apparently a later record by the same car was ratified at over 148 mph.

Sorry this answer is not from windy.

V8.

Edited By V8Eng on 14/07/2015 17:11:32

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by V8Eng on 14/07/2015 16:51:50:

I think a British Steam powered car topped 139 mph in 2009, it was on lots of news broadcasts at the time.

Just corrected that (Wikipedia), apparently a later record by the same car was ratified at over 148 mph.

Equally interesting,look up how long the Stanley Steamer held the record before that (production steam car modified with an aerodynamic cowling). Amazing how much new technology was needed to increase the record by about 15%.

Neil

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Here is a video of it **LINK** in 1985 an American did 145 mph one way.

The Stanley steam car was very basic and did 127.66 mph in 1906 **LINK**.

A steam powered bike broke a record last year 80.4mph **LINK**

With an active lifelong interest in motor cycle speed records a record steam bike is a project based on my hydro power plant that I'm thinking of building as usual cost of materials etc. is the bugbear of all record contenders.

There seems to be a tendency to over complicate things instead of getting back to basic designs in this day and age.

As far as I know my Model Flash Steam Hydroplane is the fastest model or full size steam boat in the World.

If I can keep it on the water it's not reached it's fastest speed yet.

You get to another speed level then fresh problems arise.

Sadly Bob Kirtley my fellow steam competitor has suffered major damage to his engine after many hours of machining my design of slipper piston.

Having stripped my engine it's condition is first class it had done a lot of high speed 100 metre laps before it's VTO.

You can never take record breaking for granted as I found in 1974 at Elvington with my scrap yard special with wind blowing across the runway stopped me using a fairing for my attempt which would have increased my speed .

Fastest one way naked run (bike) was 193.54mph over a flying 1/4 mile.

As you can see speed attempts are still in my blood a member of the local ME club was heard to say it's a wonder I'm still alive after some of my high speed mishaps.

Paul

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 14/07/2015 19:02:50

Equally interesting,look up how long the Stanley Steamer held the record before that (production steam car modified with an aerodynamic cowling). Amazing how much new technology was needed to increase the record by about 15%.

Neil

Also I seem to remember reading somewhere that increases in speed require disproportionate amounts of increased power.

Windy.  I checked out some of exploits,  and am mightily impressed!

 

Edited By V8Eng on 14/07/2015 20:26:45

Edited By V8Eng on 14/07/2015 20:27:28

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

V8eng, we were at Coriss in North Wales recently, 6 Stanley steam cars were in the car park filling up with water, which made my wife chuckle, there was only a small hose pipe . They were all in different states of repair, some resplendent and some with filler on the bodywork. What made me gasp was the speed in which they could move, and only a slight chuff chuff. Magnificent.

Bri

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Boiler Bri.

I have seen a very smart Stanley at one of the Warco open days, like you I was really impressed with the lack of fuss and noise in moving.

Edited By V8Eng on 14/07/2015 22:08:50

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by Bob Rodgerson on 12/07/2015 23:36:48:

I thought that the Torque Arm would be a nice easy project to do on the CNC Mill and that it wouldn't take too long to draw and get it run through the CAM programme. How wrong you can be.

For a simple profiling job like that I wouldn't bother with sophisticated CAM software. Just draw it using 2D CAD, draw the toolpath using offsets and feed the DXF file into DXF2GCODE. Simples!

Russell

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

What's wrong with a hacksaw and a couple of files ?

Roy

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

Or a cold chisel and your teeth

[Author]

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