What Did You Do Today (2017)

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Hi Murray,

I moved from Whitley Bay about 10 years ago but still go back to the North East regularly to either meet old pals or to ride vintage bikes on lovely quiet roads. I now live in Cheadle Hulme.

You are best to call One Stop, they are pretty helpful people, at times a bit gruff but well meaning. I have dealt with them a lot since moving here and they have a good range of the usual stuff EN1A. EN 8, EN 9 & En24T etc. They will also cut steel plate up to 12mm and bend/fold stuff too. Not sure what their range is for deliveries though.

[Bill PudneyParticipant @billpudney37759]

Some weeks ago I bought a QCTP from Arc Euro, for my Sieg C3. Because it seemed like a good idea at the time, I decided that more toolholders were in order. So I found some bits of S12L14 steel (similar to EN1A I think) and started hacking it into toolholder sized bits. This process resulted in ten blanks. The next operation has been cutting the dovetails, so far seven (dovetails) have been completed. This morning the seventh dovetail happened. It's fairly tedious work, but ultimately quite satisfying to end up with a nice well fitting dovetail!!

cheers

Bill

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

The 2" Crayford ready to fit on the 12" Fullerscope next Time I'm over that way.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Bob Rodgerson on 07/06/2017 21:10:02:

…

… they are pretty helpful people, at times a bit gruff but well meaning.

…

My local supplier is very similar. Whilst waiting for metal to be cut I've come to understand why. Places like that are a magnet for time-wasters. 'Will I be able to cut the padlock off my shed door with a junior hacksaw?', 'can this (badly rusted £20 new) garden arch be mended?', 'how much! I think I'll leave it', and 'can you recommend a good plumber?'

They're much friendlier if you know what you want and are only there to spend money.

Dave

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

I got a reply from Onestopmetals. For a 500mm length of 25mm x 100mm black MS, they want £22.50+vat – and £30+vat for the carriage ie £63. That makes Jenkins Steel online (£50 delivered for bright) look like a good deal.

Incidentally, the Jenkins prices on ebay include vat while their online shop prices exclude it. But that still makes about 15% difference to the final pricing.

Much better would be for me to find a local outfit. The search goes on but for now I may just have to pay my £15-odd for carriage.

Murray

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

I bought a new ram for my hydraulic press it need a new plate making to mount it so buying a pice of mild steel 50×125 x 220 it need a hole boring 90mm dia and 2 holes through the 125mm length 20mm dia

Just need to make flats on the collar to clear the side frame of my press

Boring that big hole took about 60 mins

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 08/06/2017 10:34:57:

Posted by Bob Rodgerson on 07/06/2017 21:10:02:

…

… they are pretty helpful people, at times a bit gruff but well meaning.

…

My local supplier is very similar. Whilst waiting for metal to be cut I've come to understand why. Places like that are a magnet for time-wasters. 'Will I be able to cut the padlock off my shed door with a junior hacksaw?', 'can this (badly rusted £20 new) garden arch be mended?', 'how much! I think I'll leave it', and 'can you recommend a good plumber?'

They're much friendlier if you know what you want and are only there to spend money.

They tend to like model engineers and will help you if ask sensible questions.

My local stockholders laughed when I got out a colour code chart "That won't help you, we all use our own colours!"

[NigeParticipant @nige81730]

A copy of L.H. Sparey's book "The Amateur's Lathe" dropped through the letter box this afternoon and is proving an interesting read. It speaks directly to me as 'newcomer' looking to setup his first lathe and uses English as you don't see it written much these days; a delight to read I seem to be doing a lot of reading recently so its just as well I enjoy it When is the next MEW due through the letterbox

Nige

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Got up, thought about high policy in the shower and decided who should run the country.

Returned home to cut an internal 3mm pitch thread to match an external thread made yesterday. Had a lot of bother fitting the two together. After much measuring and fruitless fettling I realised that I'd somehow cut the internal thread left-handed…

Don't worry about my actions in the Polling Booth though – I'm an expert on Politics, Economics and International Affairs. What could possibly go wrong?

Dave

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 08/06/2017 17:23:26:

Got up, thought about high policy in the shower and decided who should run the country.

Dave

Presumably whilst soaping the nether regions

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Today I went to pick up the repaired Ballscrew for the Tormach and while on the way I picked up 3 lengths (3.5m) of .625", .875" & 1.0" EN36 at High Peak Steels.

I noticed that when I got them home each bar end had a different colour painted on it so I hope they are colour coding them for sizes otherwise I have three different grades of metal. No doubt I will find out when I try to case harden it.

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

I would check if I were you. When I was working most metals were marked as per the grade. ie EN8 is usually mid green.

regards Gary

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Yesterday… changed out the cracked spindle in my WM16 mill, under the impression it would be difficult not having a bench press but managed nicely with a small bearing puller.

George.

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by Nige on 08/06/2017 16:54:12:

A copy of L.H. Sparey's book "The Amateur's Lathe" dropped through the letter box this afternoon..

Nige

And you shan't be disappointed, it's a very good book by a great writer, well done!

Michael W

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

Made 4 parts for a friend who restores Michelin man compressors

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Today I connected my small compressor to my 4" Durham traction engine and made it come to life. I will have to play with the valve timing but at least it ran in both directions. I now need to get the wheels finished so that I can get if off the building bench and run.

[Iain DownsParticipant @iaindowns78295]

After a considerable amount of swearing, I've FINALLY got my new spindle in my SPG0618A headstock. When dinner goes down, I'm going to see about mounting on the bed.

The original spindle was extracted to replace the plastic gears which broke on me. It was ridiculously stiff and I ended up persuading it with an 'engineers friend' Later I became convinced that this was a bad idea. The taper appears to have been damaged and it's impossible to get a good finish on steel.

Getting the spindle out was a challenge. I'd made a press out of some scrapyard I beam – which works but turned out to be too small, so I had to take it apart and stretch it.

It still needs some fettling as it rattles around somewhat – I need a collar or something round the screw.

I've replaced the bearings with angular contact bearings and was concerned about how tight the originals were on the spindle. I asked in another thread about 'push fit', the concern being that the bearings were jumping in 0.5 – 1mm increments when pressed on or off, so hard to get sensible pre-load.

ARC's pictorial says to polish up the old spindle on your lathe. Ah. Apparently you need a lathe to fix a lathe!

Using a bit of lateral thinking I mounted my little 4 Mt2 4 jaw in my little mill and found I was able to polish it up nicely.

The fit is still tight (i had about 6 trials – not wanting to take too much off), but it pushes on smoothly without any creaking or jerking.

When I came to refit, I found that the spindle gears wouldn't push on, so out came the gear idler and a bit more polishing on the key. I got the spindle gears mounted in nicely and then realised I should have put the gear idler back in first whilst I could get to it.

After all this I really didn't fancy getting the spindle out again, so a bit more drilling and jig making and I've finally got it all together.

Now to hope that it's reasonably in line when I get it back on the bed and I shall be happy. If you don't hear from me by the end of the weekend, it's probably all gone horribly wrong again…

Iain

[Chris GillParticipant @chrisgill22114]

Today I visited my mum to repair and sharpen her gardening shears and replace a leaky old outdoor tap. Not serious engineering, I know, but we ended up rumaging in cupboards and she pulled out an old tape measure like the one below (which is mine).

Her tape is 25ft and mine's 50ft, they're identical fabric tapes in polished leather cases marked up in feet & inches (no fractions) and links (that's 7.92 inches or 66/100 feet). Interestingly, though we think they were both my grandfather's, mine shows the maker as Chesterman of Sheffield while my mum's is John Rabone & Sons of Hockley Abbey.

Other finds, in a random assortment of broken drills, old wine-making kit and other bits we found two interesting drills (I'm sure there's a better word) and a cast iron spanner.

Look out children, you'll inherit these one day!

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

C.I. spanner for assembling (Vono) beds ? The drill for re-seating water taps ??? Third implement is a Tank cutter with spare blade (pointing upwards)?

[Anonymous]

Posted by Boiler Bri on 09/06/2017 21:16:53:

Today I connected my small compressor to my 4" Durham traction engine and made it come to life. I will have to play with the valve timing but at least it ran in both directions. I now need to get the wheels finished so that I can get if off the building bench and run.

Impressive stuff. Even after years of toil I'm still a long way from running anything.

Andrew

[Anonymous]

Posted by Speedy Builder5 on 10/06/2017 21:17:36:

C.I. spanner for assembling (Vono) beds ?

Good grief, that's a blast from the past. As a kid my brother and I had a Vono bunk beds.

Andrew

[Chris GillParticipant @chrisgill22114]

C.I. spanner for assembling (Vono) beds ? The drill for re-seating water taps ??? Third implement is a Tank cutter with spare blade (pointing upwards)?

I agree with the spanner – I had a feeling it was for beds. But I think the two-blade thing is a hole cutter for wood (it fits my old brace drill). Still not sure about the other one

Chris

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Many is the time my father has told how he used to use a tank cutter to cut holes in galv water tanks with a brace and bit so could be used for both materials.

[Iain DownsParticipant @iaindowns78295]

So I got into the workshop and re-assembled the lathe. I've only had time for one trial cut. My observations before were that hss would produce a bit better finish than my carbide insert tooling.

I'm not sure you can tell from the photo, but the left part was with hss (I think) with the original spindle. The middle bit with the new spindle and a carbide insert (at around 1500 rpm) and the right bit with hss at around 1000 rpm (or a little less).

The bar was originally 20mm and I guess the turned down bit is now 15 mm or so.

The hss cut part is actually quite pleasing (to me at least, I'd guess someone with a bigger lathe would think it rough).

All in all, it looks like a success

Iain

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

I went to a steam rally today in my 1931 Austin RN Box saloon and bought a very nice Chesterman height gauge, in its box with all the accessories and even the original sales literature giving the price as £27-00-00. It cost me £28-00 and I don't really need it but it is in such good condition with no engraving or damage, it just needs a good clean. The Austin went well too following some problems.

Brian

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