What Did You Do Today (2016)

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

We all have our off-days…

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

What did I do today? realised that I now have to start fitting together the three-dimensional puzzle that my Jovilabe has become. But I have been a busy bee generating huge quantities of brass swarf over the last few weeks. This box doesn't include the various failure gears although the partition at centre bottom is perfectly good ones that turned out to be too big/wrong number of teeth etc.

You can see some are highly polished, some are ready for polishing and some are straight from machining. The sharp eyed will see some have nicely formed teeth and some (at reduced PCD) have slightly skinny teeth, but aside from the bevels I'm sure any gear in this box runs happily with any other gear. (The bevels are a spare pair left over from Norden that I made with bosses of the wrong size, but ideal for this application).

The challenge for assemble is that many will have to fit on 3/16" tubing on stationary 1/8" stainless spindles, a few will go on moving spindles, and the ones that drive the planets will be on telescoped tubes. One gear will go on a stainless steel cylinder that fits around the massed brass tubes and runs in the front plate.

Challenge now is making sure there are no clashes (so far only one found, easily corrected by raising a gear, phew!) and arranging support for any spindles that would interfere with another gear. This may involve a greatly pierced intermediate plate or several short cantilever arms which might look better. I can then build up the mechanism and decide how deep the frame will be.

Yes it will have more gears than the Antikythera mechanism, so I hope it works!

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

Will you be releasing it in monthly parts that build into a wonderful instrument Neil ?

[Anonymous]

Posted by Muzzer on 01/11/2016 02:59:10:

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 30/10/2016 21:49:00:

The toolbit was ¼" square HSS; no problem milling it using the same speeds and feeds as I used for low carbon steel, bur with a smaller DOC.

Carbide end mill, presumably? Must try that some time. I would have expected higher speeds to be required but clearly not!

Correct, an old Garr uncoated 3 flute 6mm centre cutting endmill. It may even have been one that I re-sharpened when I had the Arc EMG sharpener on loan. The theory is to cut with relatively shallow cuts and highish feeds so that the metal at the shear zone is red hot, and therefore softer. The tool looked ok afterwards. I've milled HSS on the Bridgeport with a 10mm carbide cutter and that did look a bit sorry for iteself afterwards. But I was pushing it a bit; in subdued light the swarf was dull red.

Andrew

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Being single now I have to cook all my meals, sadly last Thursday my oven blew up. Puff of smoke in the oven interior and nothing else. Meal half cooked as well.

Diagnosis due to white deposit on interior of oven, heating ring around fan blown. Had a chat to a nice lady, Alyson at E.spares and new ring sent at £46. del. inclusive. Ring arrived at the stated time by courier and I replaced the ring fairly quickly. The oven had to come out of the housing and I pulled it out onto a plastic crate I had. Of course the ring is at the back of the oven cavity but connections are at the back of the oven body so all the cladding had to come off. The ring itself was charred up and blow hole had appeared. Duly put it all back together and switched the wall plate on and reset the time and it was good to go, dialled up 160 C and within a few minutes was up to heat. So I was happy, later cooked a meal quite OK. No relationship to E.Spares.

Clive.

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Had a fantastic 3 days at Coniston Speed Week with Roger I’m so grateful for him taking this old coot under his wing.

My friend John was out with his flash steam boat for a couple of speed attempts and showed promise but seemed generator got excess water and cooled .

I mentioned the similar problems with my model and will maybe try my possible solution.

Roger got involved with the team Miss Albatross Gem gas turbine boat his knowledge of his old and new car injection systems came in very useful.

To get involved in our own small way was the icing on the cake for Roger and I the camaraderie like all club speed related events is mind blowing.

Being part of Johns quiz team at the Bluebird Cafe on Tuesday night then to finish the night at the Crown with two of the less sober Albatross team, one who has a fast drag racing car made for an enjoyable evening.

Went home on Wednesday evening after a meal with everything crossed hoping that Johns flash steamer and Miss Albatross have successful runs.

After my health problems thought I would never get to Coniston but that lovely part of the lake district did me the World of good.

 

Edited By Windy on 03/11/2016 16:17:59

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

Today I made a little tapered pin extractor for use on the drive shafts of the 28" refractor at Greenwich.
Knocking the tapered pins out with a brass punch and small hammer is frowned upon. One must treat these old instruments with a little respect.

Edited By john carruthers on 03/11/2016 16:51:59

[Colin HeseltineParticipant @colinheseltine48622]

Windy,

That brings back memories. I used to look after one of a pair of Class 3 Hydroplanes which had a Lotus Twincam engine in it. Looked after it at the speed week when it used to be held on Windemere. Great week up there.

Colin

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Posted by Colin Heseltine on 03/11/2016 20:32:33:

Windy,

That brings back memories. I used to look after one of a pair of Class 3 Hydroplanes which had a Lotus Twincam engine in it. Looked after it at the speed week when it used to be held on Windemere. Great week up there.

Colin

Been trying to find detailed information about the gem turbine and understand Rolls Royce wont help as still in use by the military was told this by record contenders that use discarded Gem turbines.

Any workshop manuals etc.and settings would be useful to try to help these record contenders

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

@windy – sounds an excellent event!

@John – bet they put them in with a little hammer

Inspired by something at the Bodger's Lodge I had a great idea for an old battery drill today – when I can figure out how to unscrew the chuck (yes I have got the LH screw out of it, but I cant lock the bloomin' shaft).

Neil

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

I spent the day learning Fusion 360 and was pleased to get this far. It's my contribution to this forums latest "Spot the Mistake" competition:

Although the model assembled fairly well I'm having trouble getting joints to work consistently. They tend to break when components are joined together. Never mind, finding out why will keep me out of trouble tomorrow!

Dave

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

I has a simail problem a few years ago. I had to remove all the gears in the epicyclic gearbox until I got the the shaft connected to the chuck. The shaft had a plate on it with three pins on it (For gears.) I made a plate to match with three holes in welded to a rod. I gripped the rod in a vice and could then unscrew the chuck.

Les.

[charadamParticipant @charadam]

"Inspired by something at the Bodger's Lodge I had a great idea for an old battery drill today – when I can figure out how to unscrew the chuck (yes I have got the LH screw out of it, but I cant lock the bloomin' shaft)."

Neil – inertia might be your friend.

Insert the largest possible allen key in the chuck and hit the end sharply.

I should probably have said – short end of the allen key in the chuck, tighten the chuck, apply a nammer to the outboard end of the Allen key!

Edited By charadam on 03/11/2016 22:34:57

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

My problem is the gearbox has a plate with three screws – all obscured by the chuck…

I can't try locking the motor as the clutch will slip

Neil

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Neil,
This is a last resort type suggestion. Get a piece of rod and screwcut the end with the same left hand thread that was on the retaining bolt. Apply Loctite and screw it into the chuck shaft. (This is assuming it is a reasonable diameter to provide enough torque without shearing off.) When (And if.) the chuck is removed use heat to break the Loctite bond.

Les.

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 04/11/2016 08:28:28

[paul rushmerParticipant @paulrushmer83015]

Hi Neil,

The clutch normally only works on screwing try the drilling position, how about locking the chuck on to a short length of tube insert screw driver through tube on to screw and strap wrench round chuck? The first time I removed one of these chucks I did not know about the left handed screw and sheared it off I now have a 5mm left handed die for making new screws!

Paul

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Neil. ..like many situations.
If gentle technique won’t work..something is going to be sacrificed.
Decide do you want the chuck or the motor/gearbox.
This decided , allows more “options”

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

The idea of using an allan key in the chuck usually works. I hold the drill in left hand and wack the key with a longish bar, inertia does the rest.

[Roger Provins 2Participant @rogerprovins2]

I had a Makita 18v with a chuck that would not come off despite all attempts. 3 people tried and 3 failed. I ended up cutting and grinding the old chuck off piece by piece.

[TrevorhParticipant @trevorh]

I had the same drill and the same result – ended up stripping the whole drill down and breaking the chuck off piece by piece. Only problem was it was a nightmare to rebuild.

By the time I had finished it was actually cheaper to go buy a new drill……

[Anonymous]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 03/11/2016 21:35:30:

I spent the day learning Fusion 360 and was pleased to get this far. It's my contribution to this forums latest "Spot the Mistake" competition…………

That's pretty impressive! I've been using 3D CAD for more than 10 years, but I miserably failed to even draw a cube in Fusion 360. Obviously I need to persevere, although my main interest would be in the CAM capabilities. It's a pity that the CAM doesn't include 4th axis, as my current CAM program is generating some rather weird 4th axis paths that don't match the toolpath it displays.

Andrew

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I would quite like to have both…

My idea is to cross-drill the shaft and put a 4mm cross bar in it, if there's no easier way. Looks tricky to grind flats on it, even with a .3mm wheel.

Neil

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 04/11/2016 11:30:11:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 03/11/2016 21:35:30:

I spent the day learning Fusion 360 and was pleased to get this far. It's my contribution to this forums latest "Spot the Mistake" competition…………

…

I've been using 3D CAD for more than 10 years, but I miserably failed to even draw a cube in Fusion 360.

…

Andrew

I expect that's because you're having to unlearn a way of doing things that's been deeply embedded by long practice. I share your pain. I'm still suffering from trying to bend Fusion 360 into doing things "my way". This is despite me realising that the software doesn't work quite as I imagine – breaking old habits ain't easy. You're right about the need to persevere but gosh it's hard work.

Today's 'improvements' to the model produced this monstrosity:

Perhaps I'm in a fools paradise but at least I think I understand why it's gone wrong.

Much of the difficulty is due to faults introduced early in the model when I was very naive. I made a lot of mistakes. Today's good news is that I've been able to make some fundamental corrections that rippled through the model without breaking it. An analogy would be fixing seriously duff foundations under a skyscraper without having to knock it down and rebuild it properly.

I've a long way to go. CAM is far too advanced for me. Just as well – I don't have CNC and would be frustrated if I was able to generate tool paths without the wherewithal to use them. I suppose I could blow the kids inheritance on going CNC though…

Dave

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Just tied a few wet flies that (hopefully) might fool a trout.

Model engineering related, I just looked at some fly tying vices online, too expensive so decided to make my own.

Any ideas?

* Danny M *

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Danny M,

I'm impressed at your dexterity. How the heck do you get them to stay still enough to tie them?

John

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