What did you do today (2015)

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Sad sad evening – Had a Barbque of one of my bee hives. I had left it for a month whilst on holiday, returned to find all bees dead and wax moth infested. Lost 80,000 bees, 8 frames of honey (10Kg), the rest of the frames and the wooden hive itself . Because we don't know the cause of the death of the bees (Suspect local crop spraying but can't prove it), the only safe way is to destroy by burning, but we have a ban on fires until September, so the BBQ was the safest option. If I left it, then perhaps other bees could rob the infected hive. Trials and tribulations of a bee keeper.
BobH

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Rainbows on 06/08/2015 13:42:04:

Anyone happen to know what the colours the wizard lathe are? I am thinking emerald green and crimson red but my artistic ability is really not that good.

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Green with Red looks pretty good, here

… and a cursory 'forensic examination' of the chipped paint edges suggests that it might be original.

MichaelG.

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Edit: similar colour scheme shown on eveyone's favourite reference site.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 06/08/2015 20:56:59

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

The red and silver looks pretty space age!

I'm thinking of lettering the Adept in red.

Finished the M42 to 1 1/4" adaptor. Proof that a 63-tooth gear can cut a perfectly usable M1 thread on an imperial lathe

Neil

[RainbowsParticipant @rainbows]

Discovered on a random bit of rod in my Wizard that it gave 0.4mm of runout. :^) Why does the lathe god hate me?

Probably cause I refuse to pay more than £100 BUT ANYWAY

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Commiserations Bob regarding the beehive, it's the only answer to that problem. You would never know unless you took samples for analysis, but that is too late now.

Usually this time of year it's caused by losing the Queen, no eggs, no brood and then the wax moth is in and that is the end. They must have swarmed and then lost castes and then the last virgin Queen decamped as well.

I have had one this year that has had 3 Queens and still Queenless now, I do not know what they did with the last one!

Clive

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Whilst looking for an illustration of a suitable 'slde hammer' for capnahab's little job … I happened across these toggle clamps, on 'clearance' at a very realstic price.

Might be of interest.

MichaelG.

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P.S.  … It looks like Boneham and Turner [as above] might be my 'find of the day' … very clean web-site and useful products at honest prices. [how very refreshing!]

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 07/08/2015 08:20:36

[ken king, King DesignParticipant @kenkingkingdesign]

Last week I made these parts for the handbrake of a 1947 Humber Hawk, and my search for an economical quenching oil became the subject of a Forum query ( … which oil?). As a result I used Sunflower Oil, with complete success. Result !

Yesterday I was tasked with making a replacement part for one of the boot lid hinges on the same car. The originals are cast in Mazak, an alloy of Zinc, I think, commonly given a highly derogatory name by those who have to deal with blistered plating, efflorescent corrosion products, and stripped out threads, as here. Fixing studs should be locked in, but seized nuts inevitably result in the Mazak 'letting go', and that's when the'fun' starts.

The replacement part was made in brass, by a mix of milling, linishing and hand filing, followed by a little buffing. It's seen here alongside its handed partner, and all will be packed off to a plating company in due course.

[Jon GibbsParticipant @jongibbs59756]

Ken,

Those are very nice looking parts – As an old Myford owner I can sympathize with the Mazak pain

Looking at the new handbrake ratchet I can't help being inspired.

We have a VW campervan which has a big design fault IMHO – the driver's seat can only swivel with the handbrake off and even in gear the vehicle can roll on slopes. So you're forced to keep the d's seat facing forwards at some time or another. So, I'd love to convert the handbrake to a fly-off type mechanism where the button only operates when under tension and the lever can be pushed back down leaving the handbrake on. The Ford Wellhouse Terrier has such a fly-off h'brake.

Does anyone happen to have an idiot's guide how they work please?

Jon

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Jon Gibbs on 07/08/2015 11:20:40:

…. fly-off h'brake.

Does anyone happen to have an idiot's guide how they work please?

Jon

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Years ago I converted my Saab 96 …Very simple process

Sorry; just on my way out … will try to find details tonight.

MichaelG

[Jon GibbsParticipant @jongibbs59756]

Hi Michael,

That'd certainly be much appreciated – thanks.

Jon

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Jon,

Sorry; I can't find a decent picture of the SAAB conversion, but I do remember it being mostly a simpe matter of reversing the ratchet pawl. Whether this convenient arrangement was by accident or design, I shall probably never know.

However: I have found this thread … Scroll down to post #103 to find a useful diagram showing the principle.

Shock/Horror: I have just realised that the Rally Driver's 'fly-off' is not quite what you are looking for [because your main requirement is for the lever to drop down out of the way.

Mmm

Best bet is probably for you to post some pictures of the VW mechanism,so that 'the team' can discuss design ideas.

MichaelG.

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

Posted by john carruthers on 06/08/2015 15:50:18:

>>Anyone happen to know what the colours the wizard lathe are? <<

Octarine?

only if the lathe is being carried on the back of the Great A'tuin!

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 07/08/2015 19:57:39:

Shock/Horror: I have just realised that the Rally Driver's 'fly-off' is not quite what you are looking for [because your main requirement is for the lever to drop down out of the way.

Mmm

Best bet is probably for you to post some pictures of the VW mechanism,so that 'the team' can discuss design ideas.

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I found this little video … useful as 'prep' for 'the team'

MichaelG.

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Edit: … in my opinion, the Terrier handbrake [although obviously useful] is mis-described as 'fly-off', because the actual operation is conventional; it appears that the lever just 'breaks' like a shotgun.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 07/08/2015 21:36:19

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Wheel chocks?

Managed to find an ali extrusion from an old laminator. Once the rails we milled off I had a nice bit of 4mm plate as the basis on my next wee gearbox (using scrounged nylon gears. Made a 6mm gear spindle from some of the 'unknown' 1/2" stainless. Clear to see how the CCGT tip prefers a reasonable DOC (40 thou) to a shaving cut even on a small lathe. Managed to make my finishing cut 11 thou so I got away with a reasonable finish (polished with a sponge block!)

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Thought of turning a new cap for my 35-year-old Shubb capo. but then why spoil the ship for a ha'pporth of tar?

Quick google and a genuine spare is £1.63 all the way from the states.

Neil

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Managed to get the cross head slides and support finished and ready for welding to the boiler top for my 4" Durham. All the motion is now complete and as soon as I have welded the plate down I can have a trial run on air.

😅

Edited By Boiler Bri on 08/08/2015 20:44:46

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I have been taken over by WIN 10, now this is a smart bit of software but, after going through everything it seems one has to pay a fee for almost all the functions. The word is that even the dvd player will be charged for monthly, this may or may not happen later on. Meanwhile pretty much everything you have, W 7 orW 8 that is will not function. It has copped out my Canon Lide copier and my Adobe Photoshop 7 has gone, it will not work under Win 10.Though ver. 4 and 6 will.Some other Adobe photo manipulation software will work like CS 2 and 3.

My Epson R300 printer is useless also, I would have to buy another one. There is no print function in the photo view panel. Win 10 collects all your photos in one collection.

It took 55 mins to load and 25 to get through all the Microsoft security settings. They really want to know who you are!

Bluntly, all in all I am going back to Win 7. Any comments?

Clive

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

made a component to a bought drawing today, namely a soft pop valve – usually do all my own designs but this is a no brainer!

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Clive

I was always quite happy with Win 7 but, after constant pressure from all my artist & graphic designer kids, I was persuaded into the world of the Mac! It has been a bit of a culture shock but it does all work! After some 6 months with it we are now pretty comfortable together. My wife continued with the old win 7 machine until we changed that for a new one running win 8 a few months ago. She seems to get on with that pretty well – but I have to scratch my head if I use it. I was doubtful about upgrading to Win 10 and you have now confirmed my doubts – we will stay with v8. !

Norman

( A further reason for NOT getting Win 10 that our BEST download speed is about 3Megs. By the time it was downloaded Win 11 would probably be available !)

Edited By NJH on 08/08/2015 21:49:51

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

I tried installing W10 on my 12 month old 11" notebook, after the system checker Ap had indicated that everything was good to go.

After the install process finished, the machines Touch Pad no longer operated the cursor, the mouse buttons did not work either.

My IS indicated that it would only have limited functionality.

I returned the machine to W8.1

Next day I tried again, just in case the first time was a fluke, but with similar results.

I have now returned to W8.1 (probably permanently).

Edited By V8Eng on 08/08/2015 22:08:51

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

Win10 has immense privacy problems – it is possible with varying amount of effort/knowledge to turn most spy functions off but as already noted it wants too much personal info which as in Dixon (of Dock Green) will be taken down and used against you – also make sure you do have an escape route back as many are reporting major problems (no manufacturer is going to bother to update already paid for drivers of now obsolete equipment) Apple has a policy of forcing upgrades about every 3 years that will not support older machines – Linux is generally fine on older machines but there is a new Microsoft trick in that the the built in start software on Win 7 + 8 could have some security features turned off to allow any Operating System but in Win10 MS would appear to have ‘relaxed’ this rule thus new machines with Win10 pre installed will only be able to run Win10.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Gentlemen,

I upgraded to windows 10 the other evening and so far the upgrade was a little long but I have had nothing fail or not work, I have a touch screen on my notebook and it still works, my computer is approx two years old and had 8.1 installed, my daughter upgraded her four year old laptop last night and she says it seems quicker and all is working, I have paintshop pro X7 running with no issues.

Martin P

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

I suspect I may install a new SSD, load W8.1 on it and then "upgrade" it to W10. That way if I don't like it I can easily revert by putting the old drive back in. I would expect it to run all existing W7 apps if MS are to avoid another fiasco but we know what MS are like.

Many new laptops that ship with W10 probably won't run W7 or W8 simply because the manufacturer won't develop or release drivers for W7/W8 and MS will be trying to force adoption of W10, you can count on it. Trying to downgrade will then be a matter of hoping to find drivers that work. That's particularly the case at the moment with "home" computers where there is no pressure from corporate users to provide legacy (ie W7) OS's. You'll see that it's usually only the "business" machines that are available today with the option of "downgrading"(???) from W8 to W7. If you get a "home" machine and look for W7 drivers, you will be disappointed. Even if you manage to install W7, you will struggle to connect up many of the devices.

I'm not about to carry out a wholesale "upgrade" of my machines. The corporate world will be keeping W7 for many years to come…..

Murray

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

This is more about what I did a year ago (time flies when you’re old).

Having been obliged to replace my (crashed) desktop computer operating on XP Pro with a brand new one running on Windows 7, I make the following comments :-

Although it was a battle coming to terms with the new layout, for the following reasons the new setup has helped to reduce my operating costs significantly.

My HP scanner wouldn’t work and I couldn’t find a driver for it.

Being little used, but when I did use it, my Canon printer used far too much ink at switch on – (nothing to do with Windows).

A Kodak desktop camera wouldn’t work and I couldn’t find a driver for it.

They all ended up at the local Op (charity) shop.

I now have more desk space and if I need a document or picture scanned, or something printed, there’s a local store which will do a scan for a few cents per item, and their quality prints are also low in cost.

As for W10, I watched and engaged in the struggle as my friend did battle with W8. He has been wondering about `upgrading’(?) to W10.

Mind you, we are both into our early 80’s.

Sam

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

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Did the free upgrade the other night. Took about 25 mins to do. No problems at all other than me finding out how it ticks.

I use Adobe creative suite 5 and this is running quicker. Not overly impressed with the much vaunted 'edge' browser. Chrome is still a quicker and slicker application.

PC has 2 SSD and 4 platter drives, 16 gig of RAM and a fairly hot graphics card. All seems stable and feels more responsive. Even more so since I downloaded the latest driver for my graphics card for W10.

Nick

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