What Did You Do Today (2017)

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

Price changed to cover out of stock, just reduce to normal when in stock, saves relisting!

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by clogs on 06/04/2017 19:32:23:

ED,

at least it's post free !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clogs

I think that would be the cost of a solid gold tap follower.

[DrDaveParticipant @drdave]

I have finally installed the 3-phase motor & VFD, that I bought at Ally Pally in January, on my lathe. That's January 2016; you can rush these things.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Good to hear you're having fun Paul

Neil

[Curtis RutterParticipant @curtisrutter61973]

Today I've been spending a backdated pay rise 😊 Goodies include 3 axis DRO for lathe, Mitutoyo Digital Caliper and a few other measuring tools and some of the sundries for the lathe.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Posted by Curtis Rutter on 06/04/2017 22:14:11:

Today I've been spending a backdated pay rise 😊 Goodies include 3 axis DRO for lathe, Mitutoyo Digital Caliper and a few other measuring tools and some of the sundries for the lathe.

… Pay rise! what are these? the only associated word with pay these days is 'cuts' , mind you my wife & I have just received a 'pension rise'… £2 48p, just about get a couple of loaves of bread… maybe just a couple of fishes too… … well done that man, must have a good employer .

George.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Haha – they are "savings", not "cuts" – get with the program!!

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

… Pay rise! what are these?

To reward my 'front desk' employee/contact person (Sonia / one year employee) I asked her if she would like a pay rise (talking about 1998).

Of course she said "YES" so I gave her until lunchtime to decide on a fair figure, with the proviso that if she got greedy it ain't gunna happen but not to undervalue herself.

Sonia asked for an extra $1 per hour (she was on $18 p/h) so I said OK. I also used to shout Friday lunch for the staff of 6 people but each week a different person had to pick the menu (and collect it) that was fun.

A few days later the local union rep waltzed in, asked for the boss and announced that he was permitted to talk to the staff. I said "no wurries" we shall comply with your wishes and 'award wages and conditions shall apply for all employees who join your union'

Staff sent him packing once they worked out how much they would lose by joining (the union).

If you have good employees, treat them fairly, train them well and pay them adequately.

Loyalty comes later – it you have earned it.

* Danny M *

[Curtis RutterParticipant @curtisrutter61973]

well done that man, must have a good employer .

George.

TBH it's due to the unions getting involved and having our job role re-banded (NHS employee) which has been debated for years! Like most employees in the NHS at times you feel like just another number or bum on seat to make figures look good

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Finally passed my Level 2 City & Guilds MMA (stick) welding course. Took me 12 1/2 days instead of the nine that it chould have, but the college really didn't want me to fail.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, this afternoon/evening, I finished making my version of Hacksaw's shoe puzzle, well! I just had to make one, as I used to love those "Chines Puzzles" that you could buy from Woolworths, when I was a kid.

I don't have any horseshoes, so yesterday at work I managed to bend an off cut of 12mm black rod, into two horseshoe sort of shape and salvaged a couple of rings from an empty MIG wire spool. I had some chain here at home, which was OK, but three links was not quite long enough. So today at work I made four 6mm I/D rings from a couple of more bits from the empty spool and I welded it all up when I got home from work.

OK, so I know you really only need one ring, but there were two rings on the spool and I cut them both off, just in case I messed one up during cutting and sanding them up. Two rings also makes it look a bit more complicated, I think.

Oh! and here's a photo of my mock up one, just to get some idea of the minimum parameters I could get away with.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 07/04/2017 20:46:28

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Posted by Mark Rand on 07/04/2017 20:02:16:

Finally passed my Level 2 City & Guilds MMA (stick) welding course. Took me 12 1/2 days instead of the nine that it chould have, but the college really didn't want me to fail.

Hi Mark, good for you, well done.

Regards Nick.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Posted by Mike on 06/04/2017 10:42:17:

Harry, I know just what you mean. Can you remember falling off your bike when you were a kid? You seemed to be in the air, hovering over the hard road surface for ages – certainly long enough to think "this is going to hurt." And hurt it always did! I also remember the same phenomenon when falling off a motorbike, and that hurt, too!

Yeah that's just what I'm talking about

H

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Mark Rand on 07/04/2017 20:02:16:

Finally passed my Level 2 City & Guilds MMA (stick) welding course. Took me 12 1/2 days instead of the nine that it chould have, but the college really didn't want me to fail.

Well done Mark

MMA is trickey, my stick welding looks like a lion bar,

Neil

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Fitted a "new" seat to the ride on – I may have got something wrong though.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Finally getting the (worst of the evidence) of the brown stuff out of my poor workshop, as well as an office sort-out.

So far 7 bin bags to the tip and four in the back of the car! Slightly more room to move, but still every storage space seems crammed.

I can't bear throwing out a cupboard full of BBC Micro games and all my program discs

I have just junked a whole tin of part-used tubes of plastic padding and the like – no hardener! Some of them must be >20 years old!

Neil

[JAParticipant @ja]

Rode a bike for the first time since having my new hip. It has taken time but well worth it. OK I know it was only ten miles round the block but it is a matter of confidence.

JA

[HacksawParticipant @hacksaw]

Horse shows… Gawd ,I hate going to horse shows … Daughter and Mum squawking at each other. Hours of hanging around… flies.. fed up dog…

Mum can't possibly tow the trailer …

The new horse apparently goes potty in a trailer .

"We need a lorry".

"Yeah right …you buy one then…" Grrrr!

So. Did it go potty? No.. I drive smoothly and give them a good ride..happy horse . I've still got the hump mind you

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

I have been rebuilding a Winson 5" Britannia for the last 12-14 months. It has been completely stripped, serviced and a new boiler fitted. My thanks to the engineers emporium for there help in finding a boiler. So today I put a fire in the firebox and gently heated it and then ran it up to 90 psi. The only problem was the steam valves leaking to the injectors. After it had cooled down I removed the valves and investigated the valves. The 2ba thread that the spindle turned on was not deep enough to let the spindle seat on its seat and close the valve. I ran a bottoming tap in and let it cut another couple of threads and hey presto they now seat.

The regulator on these models are a proprietary ball valve. This was a bit leaky under water pressure test Fortunately these can be dismantled and made good. I added a 5 thou brass shim under the nut that holds the PTFE seats and ball in place and this tightened the valve up and stopped it leaking.

Next weekend I will be going to my local club, North Wales Model Engineering society at West Shore In Llandudno and having the machine tested ready for the coming night season.

Lets hope this weekend's weather holds for Easter.

Brian

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by JA on 09/04/2017 17:30:37:

Rode a bike for the first time since having my new hip. It has taken time but well worth it. OK I know it was only ten miles round the block but it is a matter of confidence.

Sounds like a big milestone to me!

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Boiler Bri on 09/04/2017 19:30:24:

I have been rebuilding a Winson 5" Britannia for the last 12-14 months.

Nice one Bri.

Why a new boiler, i thought they were the one bit that worked properly, even if not the most scale of backheads?

Neil

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Yesterday I went to Worminghall airfield, nr Aylesbury, to a Bring and buy sale of Stationary engines etc where I sold a few bits and pieces and came home with a very good condition 4.5" jaw quick release Record vice for £35.00, today I fitted a new carburetor and gaskets to my lawn mower and it now doesn't hunt and runs a treat, Oh and put up a washing line for the wife.

Martin P

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Gave the new bandsaw a workout today cutting some slices of 60, 80 and 100mm bar, all came out really clean and square. The saw is an Axminster Model Engineer Series MCB115SHD Swivel Head Metal Cutting Bandsaw.

I've been using this straight out of the box, no adjustments to alignment, blade tension. So far really impressed, time will tell but what a great improvement over my old 4×6.

A pice of the 60mm bar, Cut face straight off the saw. The photo actually makes the finish look a bit worse than it really is.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Posted by martin perman on 09/04/2017 20:07:19:

Yesterday I went to Worminghall airfield, nr Aylesbury, to a Bring and buy sale of Stationary engines etc where I sold a few bits and pieces and came home with a very good condition 4.5" jaw quick release Record vice for £35.00, today I fitted a new carburetor and gaskets to my lawn mower and it now doesn't hunt and runs a treat, Oh and put up a washing line for the wife.

 

Martin P

 

Worminghall is one well hidden old Airfield! We were directed to park on it for Art in Action a couple of years ago then bussed to the show site.

Certainly would never have known about Worminghall's existance otherwise, in spite of driving near it a few times.

 

Edited By V8Eng on 09/04/2017 21:11:07

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Neil, when I bought the engine it was in good faith and from a decreased estate. The engine was in a bad state. The kit Probably bought by an individual who could afford a kit engine but was defiantly not an engineer. It looked like it had run quite a bit. The copper pipes on the engine were all 3/16" – no matter what they fed. Most of them were made up with scale. These have all been replaced with more scale tubes. The feeds to the boiler were all scaled up so I guess that as one failed the running was dependant on the next. The lubrication to the cylinders were all gunked up and not working. Luckily no damage done.

As I progressed with the re build I pressure tested the boiler, the foundation ring was leaking, so we're 15 stays. This meant a new boiler. As mentioned I was lucky enough to get one .

When I searched around it seemed that most of the providers of new boilers had been contacted by Winson owners looking for replacement boilers. Boy would I like to get hold of the original makers of the boilers and give them a piece of my mind.

The engine will never be a 'show winner' but that's not what I bought it for. I bought it to give all the happy people who come to outer track a ride round in the beautiful surroundings and give up my spare time. It's cost me a bloody lot of money but hey if your enjoying it why not😉

Brian

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