What did you do today (2015)

[RainbowsParticipant @rainbows]

Discovered my mystery lathe has no gib in the cross slide and the grub screws were just riding on the dovetail. It's the lathe that just keeps on giving (unexpected and sometimes bizarre problems).

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Got round to my toduit list & set to making a new compound slide gib key; the original provided was an abysmal piece of mild steel, obviously hand ground at the manufacturers, why it took me so long to do a new one is beyond me; probably down to the 'get your finger out ' not being to the fore front… , any how made a new one from brass, the original was a piece of MS roughly, & I mean roughly 3.4 mm strip, that should have been a decent fit into a 5mm gap. I made the new one 4.7mm which slid in nicely giving enough gap to nip up neatly. As you can see the original bore no resemblance to a proper gib key shape, also the undercuts in the dovetail corners were far too big, reducing the width of the bottom mating face, looks like the Chinese machinist picked up the nearest slitting saw to hand & whacked that through, undercuts half the size would have been more than enough & would have allowed more bearing surface on the bottom slide, anyway I now have a much neater fitting compound slide with no tight spots when adjusted & now moves nice & smoothly when I wind the slide back & forth…

The OEM gib key…

OEM 'gib'… couldn't even get the angles correct…

Piece of scrap steel ?…

Machining new brass key…

New key, much better fit, although dovetail undercuts way to big!

Also modified the locking screw…

That's another 'mod' off my toduit list…

George.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited By mechman48 on 24/08/2015 18:28:46

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Machined root angles on blank for new propeller a very tough bit of material after checking angle twisted the blades using a three foot bit of pipe onto clamp that's like a big tap wrench.

Then roughly checked the various angles at different radius's.

Will machine 4 inch diameter then using templates to shape the blades that is the easy part.

Profiling the blade curvitures inner and outer is my next job tomorrow will take a lot of patience and time.

Will harden and temper then polish the hopefully finished prop.

[Clive FarrarParticipant @clivefarrar90441]

Not quite today but last week which is pretty quick for me.

A friends Thunder tiger GP42 carb had broke out the angled needle housing.

the thread is M4 0.5 mm pitch. Can he fix it YES i can.

Softened and threaded 4mm piano wire with the desired thread.

Mounted the dremmel on the lathe and ground the taper for 2nd and plug taps.

Rehardened the piano wire. Drilled and faced the plain end of the carb and tapped it with me newly made efforts.

Petrol cleaned , dried and a 2mm BB epoxied into the old feed hole.

Non setting gasket guuue on the inlet banjo and thread retainer on the needle sleeve.

Leave to dry overnight . Next morning put on test rig, fuel up, start engine , then tune correctly job done .

That afternoon at GOMA ( Grumpy Old Mans Afternoon ) scounge fuel of mate who's engine it is, start up prove its working and then hand over engine to mate. His Gob was well and truly smacked.

Two happy bunnies. Isn't it good to help people out.

Regards Clive

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi MichaelG, thanks for the link, however making a custom pad for my angle grinder and stand, will not be a suitable solution, as right where it would be needed, there are ventilation slots.

However there is a threaded handle mounting hole conveniently placed close by, which I intend fixing a bracket to which I can fix to the stand directly.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 24/08/2015 22:19:59

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Gordon W, a new and improved vice for my angle grinder stand would not take a lot of making, when it becomes needed.

Regards Nick,

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Well not today but hopefully tomorrow.

Got these thrown thru the door tonight.

The good better one on the right has 6 straight splines but needs to be like the one on the left with 14 16/32 involute splines. Be easier to just change the shaft and gear but the gear is totally different. Size, width and the offset.

How strong is bondo ?

Watch this space.

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Managed to machine prop diameter and face rear end before a visit to the local church for the holy water.

Could have carried on but have to consider neighbours'

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Today working on making a ball turning tool.

To make a handle for the 4-way "Gibraltar"-like toolpost I am making.

To use to turn and face a couple of four-inch lumps of oxy-cut steel to make a rotary table.

To make a couple of change gears.

To use to screwcut a thread for something or other I can't remember right now.

You know how it goes!

 

Edited By Hopper on 25/08/2015 00:24:04

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Spent a good hour today looking for my ball turning tool, need to make some radiused rollers. Can I find the bally thing ? I know where it should be, I know what sort of box it is in but can I find the damn thing ?

Anyway after wasting well over an hour I picked the phone up and ordered a new one. Should have done that within ten minutes as I wasted more than a new tool costs.

So tomorrow I'll put it in a nice box and put it away and hopefully it will be at the side of the other one

Not a complete waste as if the first one does show up then Gert MKll can have one for her lathe.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

One for the Astronomers:

Last week, I mentioned that Chris Heapy had shown me his new '10 Micron' mount [and the beautiful adapters that he has machined for it].

This morning, we received his 'first light' image

MichaelG.

.

.

Morning all,

Whilst not exactly clear all night there were enough gaps in the clouds to enable me to grab first light with the new mount. There were a lot of things to sort out along the way but finally I was able to test the tracking performance. It’s not a critical test because I discovered when removing the scope from the mount that it’s dovetail bar was a bit loose! It was never about to fall off but any movement like this loose connection would have caused plays havoc when generating an all-sky model (which the mount depends on). At least this explains the larger than expected errors I was getting and I can expect a better result when I tighten the thing up.

Anyway, this image is 3 x 20min Lum subs of M33, taken under poor conditions with intermittent thin cloud (which I ignored), and a dodgy pointing model. In addition, Polar Alignment is not correct either yet (18 arcminutes off) but with dual-axis tracking it doesn’t make that much difference. Despite these issues the subs were unguided and neither did I need a plate solver to centre the target.

Cheers, Chris

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

20 minute subs with a floppy dovetail?

The man is blest!

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 25/08/2015 09:02:36:

20 minute subs with a floppy dovetail?

The man is blest!

Neil

.

… It's Gravity wot 'elps

I look forward to seeing what results he gets when it's all secure and aligned.

MichaelG.

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Grrrrrr – first day in my shed for 3 months (we have been away) and was expecting a parcel from Arc. Senior Management wanted to go shopping so I put an A4 size notice, black letters on white, on the front door right above the letter box saying that I was in, to knock, if no reply to come on round the back as I was in my shed. Came in and found a note from the postie saying he couldn't deliver my parcel as it wouldn't fit in the letter box. Just as well as there was a dial gauge in it. So either the postie was blind, or he can't read, or is too lazy to walk round the back, or is a jobsworth. Whatever, he's a lazy prat and will be told that tomorrow. Now I have to wait until tomorrow before I can go to the sorting office to pick up my parcel. Lazy ignorant jobsworth. Should be lined up against a wall and shot. Grrrr – end of rant!

Well not quite, the Little People have been in whilst I was away an borrowed both my 4" square AND my 6" square so am stuck as I need one of them to set up a job in the mill. Why is nothing ever easy?

Chris

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Probably not allowed to enter your property due to insurance or lack of.

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Well, he walked up the path to my front door, that's my property. Anyway, on my (or anybodies) property as I understand it the insurance on the property covers his risk. Jobsworth. Anyway, I am sure Arc would have put a "Fragile" notice on the parcel as it contained, amongst other things, a dial gauge, so why would he want to put a parcel marked "Fragile" through a letterbox, unless he can't read, or is stupid, or probably both. Our usual postie would have walked round the back, only involves walking a short distance, we only have a small house. Lazy prat.

France has a better system, you have little locked mailboxes and the postie has a master key so if he has a package he opens the box with his key and leaves your parcel inside the box – system works very well.

Little people still hanging onto my squares but.

Edited By ChrisH on 27/08/2015 16:31:48

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Posted by ChrisH on 27/08/2015 16:30:19:

Well, he walked up the path to my front door, that's my property. Anyway, on my (or anybodies) property as I understand it the insurance on the property covers his risk. Jobsworth. Anyway, I am sure Arc would have put a "Fragile" notice on the parcel as it contained, amongst other things, a dial gauge, so why would he want to put a parcel marked "Fragile" through a letterbox, unless he can't read, or is stupid, or probably both. Our usual postie would have walked round the back, only involves walking a short distance, we only have a small house. Lazy prat.

ARC doesn't put such stickers on small parcels because past experience says that if delivery person or anyone in process got out of wrong side of bed, the said parcel gets used like a football if marked 'Fragile'.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I have a perennial problem with one or two companies who claim to have attempted to deliver but we don't get a card. probably because missing us means a 4-mile detour for a second go.

Caught one out with real time tracking on Saturday three people in house for a couple of hours either side of the claimed time (one in the room next to the front door).

Another one failed to do a scheduled pick up three times and in the end another driver had to do the pick up.

I won't shop the bad guys, but some other companies – notably Royal Mail, Interlink and UPS are spot on every time.

Neil

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

UPS, RM

[JAParticipant @ja]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 27/08/2015 18:27:55:

I won't shop the bad guys, but some other companies – notably Royal Mail, Interlink and UPS are spot on every time.

Neil

I was very impressed by the Royal Mail's document delivery service. They promise to deliver documents by 9.30 next morning. In my case they failed to do so but their van was the first vehicle to get down my road after three days of heavy snow.

JA

Edited By JA on 27/08/2015 19:27:13

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Neil, it was a Royal Main postie that upset me – must have been a 'cover' man as our usual man is spot on.

Little People relented and gave me my 6" square back, so I could crack on, but they are hanging onto my 4" square still but! Wonder what they are making?

Chris

[Maurice Cox 1Participant @mauricecox1]

I was recently visiting my neighbour, when a postman put an "Unable to deliver" notice through the letter box in a frosted glass front door, while we were standing about four feet the other side! Lazy B*******s!

Maurice

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Maurice on 27/08/2015 19:36:17:

I was recently visiting my neighbour, when a postman put an "Unable to deliver" notice through the letter box in a frosted glass front door, while we were standing about four feet the other side! Lazy B*******s!

All I can say is my regular posties are and have been great, and the alternates are pretty good and all cheerful except one who always moans. He even compalins about all the extra overtime at Christmas!

Neil

[Colin HeseltineParticipant @colinheseltine48622]

I have very good royal mail postie. UPS are also very good. Even comes down drive to check correct house and that I’m in before bringing 5 very large boxes to door. Yesterday a parcel was left four doors away with a neighbour.no problem. I did have one occasion though where a 17mm wide angle lens was dropped over the side gate. A nice 7ft drop. Luckily it survived, but I did contact sender before I opened it and checked it out. It was very very well packaged. It must have bounced a few feet.

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Today I have been busy playing with the Tormach Mill. We have a Motor Home and use it frequently and on some camp sites you are requested to leave a site peg with your reg no on it if you leave the site during there day so that other folk know that you will be returning later so after a few false starts with the drawing of the number plate I finally got it sorted out and ran the programme. Here is a short video of the job. 

 

Edited By Bob Rodgerson on 27/08/2015 22:24:08

Edited By Bob Rodgerson on 27/08/2015 22:25:08

Edited By Bob Rodgerson on 27/08/2015 23:37:13

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