What Did You Do Today (2016)

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 08/08/2016 09:45:03:

Not only is it bent, it's unwound as well! I'm not sure where I bought it as it was loose in my spares box. I think it's probably a cheap DIY store drill intended for woodwork but even so…

.

I would guess you bought that one in Wensleydale, Dave

They are pobably O.K. for drilling cheese.

MichaelG.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 08/08/2016 10:41:02:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 08/08/2016 09:45:03:

…

.

I would guess you bought that one in Wensleydale, Dave

They are pobably O.K. for drilling cheese.

MichaelG.

Given time I might come up with a Zummerzet joke about the superiority of our Hard Cheddar to those soft girly northern cheeses. As it is I've failed miserably.

The disaster has got worse. Close inspection reveals that it's a 3.2mm drill, and I really do need it to be smaller. I've successfully made another beautiful reject for my scrapbox. The 3 is clearly indented on the shank but the 2 is very faint. Lessons learned: avoid cheap drills and check before cutting!

Cheers,

Dave

[Anonymous]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 08/08/2016 11:01:06:

Lessons learned: avoid cheap drills and check before cutting!

Avoid any sort of cheap cutters; they're cheap for a reason.

Andrew

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I'v got a tin of reject drills, there is a 1/8" one there that looks almost identical to Daves. About 40 years ago dad bought a set of drills through an offer in his Wood Work magazine, they were supposed to be guaranteed best English manufacture, after that he allways bought NZ, or Australian made.

Ian S C

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Had the steamer at Kingsbury Water Park the mods I'd done new section of generator tube and altering fuel and water pump flow certainly seemed to increase power it was like a greyhound setting off.

Looked like it could be 130mph then prop broke the vibration certainly loosened a few things main one pressure release valve. Fitted another prop but was not happy with it and generator popped maybe the reduction in steam at high speed caused overheating and destroyed the tube material? Strip down tomorrow will know if tubing degenerated then if not the prop was not correct. Pushing the limits in experimental speed machines whether model or full scale certainly can cause headaches but when success is achieved its worth it.

Did some stripping (model boat) this morning before corrosion sets in.

Cylinder head had certainly got hotter than usual but engine seems good.

The fresh bit of generator tube had burst at the hot end so indications are the replacement prop loaded the engine too much and burst the generator.

Not enough load on engine and genny cools.

Too much then stalls or pop goes the genny.

The old steam cars had various temperature and pressure control systems e.g quartz rods to reduce temperature when too hot but they were after reliability not absolute speed.

Full size steam vehicles have the room for these safeguards but the model weight is a strict rule and fractions of an ounce can push you over that limit.

The balance between success and disaster is a fine line and any alteration to hull, engine, generator, prop or skeg angles can open another fresh set of headaches.

Everything that is altered is recorded so always a record of success or failure.

[Michael Green 2Participant @michaelgreen2]

Had a chuckle when I looked at the latest MEW and saw it had an article about using CNC for complex shapes.

Sent these off to a friend today – all manual…

Nickel plated is original; bronze versions are copies.

Michael

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

Now the clock is mostly finished I've had some time to play with a Stuart S50 casting set.
Had it running on air but it's still a bit tight.
(please excuse the temporary feed pipes).

Edited By john carruthers on 09/08/2016 08:15:05

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

Sailed the boat from bradwell to ostend yesterday. Single handed. Had some winds up to 30knts at start but soon settled to 15-24 kts so good sailng weather for 90 miles

Autopilot packed up as usual so hard work hand steering and kn….d at end Big swell made getting sails down hard in the dark but now safely berthed

Here for the Paulusfesteen then the family come over until end august. When they go home 2 friends coming over on eurostar & we will have a couple of weeks cruising the Dutch canals

Lets hope the weather is better than it was for the 7 weeks i have just had cruising the channel isles & n brittainy

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, today I fettled a tilting table that I bought quite a while ago but never have used. I have a little job for it, but there were one or two issues with it, First of all the top side of the feet that are used to bolt it down on the milling machine were not very parallel with the underside, which meant that the bolts were only touching under the head at one point, this I didn't like at all, because I thought that it would put undue stress on the T-slots and I couldn't feel that solid feeling of tightness one would expect. The worst one of the two was about 1mm taper from one side to the other and about 0.5mm from the inside to the outside. So after a bit of mind boggling, I decided to mount it in a vice on my milling machine with one of the feet uppermost and using a long series end mill, carefully mill the taper off.

I took several light cuts, as I did not want it to suddenly snag on any hard spots that may have been there and rip it out of the vice or even break it. As it happens it machined very sweetly. This next photo shows how badly it was tapered at the worst end from the right hand side to the left hand side.

The next issue were the shaped washers that nip the underside of the curve in the base section. Needles to say, they did not match the curve at all well.

The best I could do was to hold them in a hand vice and file them as best that I could for a decent fit to the curve.

Yes, the one unfiled really shows what an atrocious shape they were.

The final issue was that the table would not tilt either way to its maximum position, this was due to the bolts hitting the bottom inside corner of the slots, so using a carbide de-burrer in my battery drill to remove enough metal to allow the table to move just past the maximum mark both ways on all four corners and I just smoothed them off a bit with a small stone in my Dremel.

It now swings both ways nice and smooth and just past the last mark and bolts down to the table with a positive feel.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 11/08/2016 23:55:55

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Well done, Nick

Sow's ear now bears a passing resemblance to a Silk Purse !!

MichaelG.

[thaiguzziParticipant @thaiguzzi]

Made another 5 Dickson type toolholders for my Bison QCTP. Get 5 out of one slab with the 8" stroke on the Boxford shaper. T slot and dovetail style design are a doddle on a shaper, and i still only own slot drills, end mills, and a couple of slitting saws for my mill's armoury. No expensive dovetail or t slot cutters in sight.

To speed things up this time, i actually cheated and cut the slot for shank tooling on the mill. That was tedious the last time on the shaper.

Now up to 19 holders. I think i've got enough, one sits permanently empty for the odd special…

[Old ElanParticipant @oldelan]

Posted by thaiguzzi on 13/08/2016 06:36:16:

Made another 5 Dickson type toolholders for my Bison QCTP.

Wouldn't like to go into production, would you?

I could do with a few more but not at Dixon or Bison price!

[AeronutParticipant @aeronut]

Blimey, I'm at lot slower, only on number 4 for my ARCEURO QCTP and that's taken me a month.

Regards Lee

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Just had a go on a Kubota mini digger on a friends farm. Wheeee! I want one.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I found the floor in my workshop!

Space making drew to a temporary halt as my portable drill went flat trying to put up a hook to hang a telescope from the ceiling.

Neil

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

What's harder than finding a needle in a haystack?

Finding a LR44 cell dropped into a bin liner full of aluminium swarf. It's impossible.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

And no doubt shorted out by now! Reminds me of a batch of batteries that came pushed into that anti static black foam, all dead as doornails at £12.00 a throw.

Clive

[Peter KroghParticipant @peterkrogh76576]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 13/08/2016 19:37:28:

And no doubt shorted out by now! Reminds me of a batch of batteries that came pushed into that anti static black foam, all dead as doornails at £12.00 a throw.

Clive

Really make one wonder, doesn't it?

Pete

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 13/08/2016 19:37:28:

And no doubt shorted out by now! Reminds me of a batch of batteries that came pushed into that anti static black foam, all dead as doornails at £12.00 a throw.

Clive

ROFL

[Roger Provins 2Participant @rogerprovins2]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 13/08/2016 19:09:51:

What's harder than finding a needle in a haystack?

Finding a LR44 cell dropped into a bin liner full of aluminium swarf. It's impossible.

Magnet on a stick?

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Get down the pound shop and buy another half dozen…

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Wasn't today – actually Thursday but no internet access at the time.

I did my RYA Dayboat Certificate in Belfast Loch (Mirror dinghy) when I was in my mid teens and haven't been back in a yacht since. Fixed that to some extent this week by spending a few hours in a proper wooden-hulled, gaff-rigged Icelandic schooner. We were technically on a whale-watching trip (we actually spotted a hump-backed whale at close quarters) but the highlight came on the 90 minute return trip, when the crew hoisted all the sails apart from one of the jibs(?). We'd actually slept in it in the harbour the previous night, just the 4 of us, so it was interesting to see it given full pasty with a decent wind.

A couple more pictures in my album.

The company that operates these boats has a "hybrid" drive on one of them. This allows electric motoring (stealth mode!) and recharging the batteries when under sail, presumably using the propeller to regenerate.

Murray

[Peter KroghParticipant @peterkrogh76576]

Aye, that's a proper ship she is!!

Pete

[thaiguzziParticipant @thaiguzzi]

Posted by Old Elan on 13/08/2016 10:47:55:

Posted by thaiguzzi on 13/08/2016 06:36:16:

Made another 5 Dickson type toolholders for my Bison QCTP.

Wouldn't like to go into production, would you?

I could do with a few more but not at Dixon or Bison price!

I dare not even look at a new Dickson price! Last time i looked Bison holders were £30 odd quid upwards (plus VAT) for my T.1 size.

I've finally got round to adding a new album with some of the procedures, machining, and finished articles, these were from the first batch nearly a couple of years ago.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Thiaguzzi, I hope the box marked 'Fingers' next to the screwdrivers is empty. Looks like a great job, but its not fair showing us that you saw the holders off in pairs!
BobH

Edited By Speedy Builder5 on 14/08/2016 07:35:29

Edited By Speedy Builder5 on 14/08/2016 07:37:21

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