What Did You Do Today (2016)

[Anonymous]

After a slow start it has been mostly gardening today, cutting down the blackberries and Jerusalem artichokes. But I did get into the workshop this evening. I cleared one of few free areas of bench ready for the arbor press. I cut a rounded slot on the front edge of the bench so that longer items can be used with the arbor press. I say cut, but me and wood tends to be a fudgit and bodgit affair. I also dismantled the arbor press as far as I can. It's still too heavy for me to lift, even with a series of intermediate height steps. It's probably over 150lbs. I can see me having to make a trip to A&E if I try by myself. So I'll get my neighbour to give me a hand, with his wife supervising!

I also machined a lump of 8" diameter steel that will eventually become the arbor press slotted plate:

There is a blind hole tapped 5/8" BSF on the back. The final job is to cut four slots of varying widths in the blank. The simplest way is to use the CNC mill, but I promised to write something up on this for MEW so I will be using old school methods on the vertical mill.

Andrew

[Nigel BennettParticipant @nigelbennett69913]

I lit a fire in Tom Rolt for the first time. There are several snags to sort out – the steam-operated cylinder valves don't close, and neither of the injectors work, but I'm sure I can sort that out. At least it goes!

[Anonymous]

Drove down to Berkhampsted this morning to pick up some collets, and other accessories, for the Britan that I won on Ebay recently:

The round ones are mostly duplicates, but there are a couple of useful metric ones. The tailstock collets and bars will also be useful. But what I really wanted were the hex collets along the back row. Some of them are old school Whitworth sizes, but there's a good selection of smaller hex sizes from 5.5mm to 1/2" AF. Home made nuts and bolts here we come!

Andrew

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Nigel

If the injectors you are using are commercial units then judging by the problems Ron Hancock has had with 'bought in injectors' then it is not surprising the ones you have are failing to operate. To see the saga look for his threads re the building and testing of his Black 5 loco. It was only after another member of this forum came to his aid that he got the things working.

Nice looking loco in your pics.

Martin W

PS

You can find the saga here

Edited By Martin W on 29/11/2016 17:28:10

[Roy MParticipant @roym]

Just spent an enjoyable 20mins watching a British Pathe film on you tube. Called "Power(1930-1939) showing the making of all the engine components for Moris Motors. No wonder cars were so expensive! Well worth a watch. Roy M

[Mike E.Participant @mikee-85511]

I disassembled a nice little 3" Abwood machine vice I recently purchased, degreased it, brightened up the bare metal, and repainted parts of it to match my milling machine. Will post a photo after the paint has dried and its put back together.

Happy day.

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

Posted by Alan Wood 4 on 27/11/2016 16:14:12:

Update on Nelly the Elephant ….. on good advice from one of the subscribers I duly gave her 4 coats of Wickes MDF primer (not sure this is any different to any other primer but whatever).

A few days later I painted the first grey gloss top coat using Wickes Exterior Gloss. As the weather outside was not too brilliant I did the job in the workshop. The paint was oil based but not really smelly.

Woke up next day with an unstable feeling stomach which quickly evolved into a very serious 'trouser clip' session. As management had eaten everything I had in the prior 24 hours I can only put it down to the paint fumes.

Anyone else had similar 'experiences' ? Alan

Mine was more fun! I glued some carpet onto a bath panel using a solvent based contact adhesive. The label on the tin said 'use only in well ventilated space' so I opened the window. I felt very well afterwards, so well that my wife asked me if I had been drinking, I hadn't but it felt very much like I had, had a bad headache later. Obviously stuff to be treated with respect. Modern water based contact adhesives are much safer, completely and utterly useless but much safer. Dave.

[OldMetallerParticipant @oldmetaller]

About 25 years ago I was fitting out a new narrowboat shell and had got to the stage of putting down the floor timbers, after treating them with Cuprinol. This particular cold morning I set off early to drive in my pick-up truck from Derby to the Black Country, where my boat was being built. I put the 5 litre can of Cuprinol in the footwell and set off.

After about 5 miles I heard, over the clatter of the engine, a subdued 'Bonnnnggg'. 'What was that? Another imminent engine blow-up?' Then again I heard, 'Bonnnnggg'. I realised that the heater was blowing on the can of Cuprinol and it's contents were expanding. Feeling pleased that I had identified the sound and wouldn't have to stop and look under the bonnet, I drove on.

Around about Burton, I realised that my vision had gone blurred and my head was 'swimming'. I had a strange sense of unreality, as if I was watching myself on television. A slip road fortunately presented itself and I managed to get the truck parked up and myself out into the fresh air. My head cleared after a few minutes, the Cuprinol went into the load bed where it should have been in the first place and I drove on.

A close shave, I think!

Regards,

John.

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

Quite a few years ago an acquaintance failed a breathalyser test after using GRP etching primer. It took a lot of technical argument and an expensive lawyer to persuade the police he hadn't been drinking. You can't be too careful…….

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Today I finished the restoration of a pair of Girder forks for a late 1930's BSA . Here is some video of some of my projects and the first part of the restoration. I know it's Motor Cycle Related but there is some other stuff in there.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Please get a tripod Bob, that's the second time I've got sea sick

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Well not exactly today but tomorrow I take delivery of a Myford refurbished Super 7 to replace my old one. I'll tell you how I got on on Friday. Upgraded to power cross feed and gearbox so no more messing with change wheels (apart from metric threads which are rarely done anyhow).

regards Martin

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Bob Rodgerson on 30/11/2016 10:05:23:

Today I finished the restoration of a pair of Girder forks for a late 1930's BSA . Here is some video of some of my projects and the first part of the restoration. I know it's Motor Cycle Related but there is some other stuff in there.

Nice work there Bob. Motorcycle stuff is always welcome on this site, a lot of fellow travellers here.

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Hi John,

I have got a tripod but it isn't always easy to use in the confines of my cramped workshop. You should have seen it before I used Youtubesshake reduction facility.

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Just waiting for my fishing acquaintance to come with the feathers then he will whip them onto the brass bodies and I will finally finish the lures.

What can I use as white paint for the eyes on the Delrin heads or wont  Delrin paint? thought about a transfer instead  any suggestions.

Edited By Windy on 30/11/2016 14:09:46

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Actually got around to making a start on my Worden T & C grinder kit which arrived some while ago. I decided that I didn't like the look of the supplied table traverse kit, so set about recreating it to a bit more aesthetically pleasing design (I think). I also intend to try using it as a rudimentary surface grinder for small items, so this should help in that respect, too. I hope.

Briefly, the feed screw is a 10mm x 1mm pitch threaded rod supported on a ball bearing at the handle end and by the brass lever mechanism at the other. The lever rotates the outer tube and this engages the pin with the slider block, locked in place by the small thumb screw. (I haven't drilled the location holes yet.) Handle is from Messrs Arc Euro Trade and is, I believe used on an X2 mill. More progress as it happens in the album.

John

Edited to try to get the photos side-by-side.

Edited By John Hinkley on 30/11/2016 17:37:34

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Fumes etc. I think Alan's reaction above was not the 'intoxication' effect during the exposure but a subsequent allergy reaction and a histamine reaction which is why it was delayed. The body's reaction to fighting a threat can be worse than the treat itself. An anti-histamine taken just after the exposure even though you aren't feeling effects can prevent the next day's problem but the pill is no good once you have the symptoms. Trouble is if it works you don't know for sure what you would have felt like without it. I have been suffering today from a smoky fire on Monday. I am affected by pollen, solvents, dust, oil fumes, vacuum cleaner dust, smoke, and mostly get a headache a day or two later after I thought I would get away with it.

[Clive HaynesParticipant @clivehaynes74488]

I'm allergic to the vacuum cleaner, washing up suds, household dusters and cooking fumes.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Windy, I recently saw some of those wobbly eyes, perhaps you could glue them to the lure? They were very small, about 5 mm dia.

Clive

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Hi Clive I've had a look at most of those types of eyes as far as gluing is concerned I found some glue supposedly to stick that type of plastic but it's useless.

Maybe one of those types of eyes that can be riveted or mechanically pinned might be a way.

Did think maybe melt some white plastic into a guide hole otherwise will leave as it is.

[Alan Wood 4Participant @alanwood4]

Interesting comment from Bazyle about reactions. I am not consciously aware of having any allergic reactions to things but with increasing age maybe they are more likely to manifest.

My health fanatic daughter has, since my trouser clips session, been stuffing me with acidophilus bugs to, as she says, 'get my system back to normal with the necessary microbes'.

Lovely.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Allergic reactions are generally caused by an immune response to proteins (and some metals apparently), so any reaction to solvents, oil fumes, smoke etc is unlikely to be an allergic reaction as such. They might be better described as "sensitivities".

You can develop an allergy at any time in life. It seems that the immune system can become confused when fighting off a bug and accidentally generate antibodies to something else that is being encountered at the time. This seems to have happened to me about 4 years ago when I developed an allergy to house dust – or more accurately the excrement of the house dust mite. Quite a common one but one that is almost impossible to eliminate completely. It's more a question of trying to moderate it by taking sensible precautions – and simply getting used to being constantly bunged up and suffering more than hitherto when a cold strikes.

Murray

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Alan Wood 4 on 30/11/2016 20:21:19:

My health fanatic daughter has, since my trouser clips session, been stuffing me with acidophilus bugs to, as she says, 'get my system back to normal with the necessary microbes'.

Fifteen years ago there was a lot said about the state our digestive and immune systems are in because we don't eat enough dirt as children.

Nowadays lots of stinky cheese is the favoured solution

Neil

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

Windy,

Because my wife's sight is poor she uses dressmaking pins which have a white "glass" head so they are easier to see. Obviously they are only one colour, so no black centre.

I say "glass" because they may be that or some sort of plastic.

Perhaps cut short they could be driven into the Delrin.

I'll look them out tomorrow.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

A bead headed Dressmaker pin with a blob of plasticine makes a good wiggler.

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