What Did You Do Today (2017)

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Well done Hopper

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Ah, I remember so well painstakingly drilling all those holes in the GHT division plates. The end result is worth the effort though and very satisfying. That said, mine has sat on the workshop shelf for about four years since I built a division master and then a Steve ward indexer.

Hopper, considering that is a fabrication, you have done and excellent job re creating the form of the original castings.

[geoff walker 1Participant @geoffwalker1]

Yes, nice work Pete.

I seem to remember that project was in it's infancy when I called to see you early last year.

Totally agree with Graeme regarding the fabrication, well done.

Geoff

[John GardenerParticipant @johngardener91897]

Today I got angry with Microsoft. New computer, MS Office one machine license. MS Online help, took control of my machine, authorised it for Office. O.K. so far. Desktop right click menu now partially in Armenian (I think) back to MS Online help. Nada. after a couple of attempts (MS taking control again) – still in Armenian. Bottom line? the 'undo' of Armenian is a PAID FOR EXTRA! All expletives deleted (and there are lots!!)

My next machine will probably be a MAC!

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Good idea John !

My No.2 son is a Graphic Designer and he bent my ear for years saying " For goodness sake Dad – get a Mac!"

A couple of years ago my latest Windows machine gave the well known symptoms of "congestive failure" so I took said son's advice and bought an iMac . I thought in for a penny etc and bought the 27" iMac with Retina display – then loaded it up a bit with 16 Gb of RAM !

I'm sold – almost instant start up and never the slightest hesitation. As a nod to my Windows past I purchased Office for Mac ( Word, Excel, Publisher) so all that works the same. I do quite a bit of photography so also purchased a subscription to the Adobe CC – (Lightroom, Bridge & Photoshop) package.

I am very happy with the whole set up.

My wife still has a Windows machine so there is access to that if ever it is needed.

John I don't think you will regret the change.

Norman

 

Edited By NJH on 19/08/2017 16:57:32

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by John Gardener on 19/08/2017 16:20:39:

Today I got angry with Microsoft. New computer, MS Office one machine license. MS Online help, took control of my machine, authorised it for Office. O.K. so far. Desktop right click menu now partially in Armenian (I think) back to MS Online help. Nada. after a couple of attempts (MS taking control again) – still in Armenian. Bottom line? the 'undo' of Armenian is a PAID FOR EXTRA! All expletives deleted (and there are lots!!)

My next machine will probably be a MAC!

 

I've got my worry beads out John. That doesn't sound like Microsoft to me. It's a long time since I installed a paid for Microsoft product but I'm pretty sure the process didn't require Microsoft to take control of my machine. Perhaps someone more up to date on the activation process can comment?

I think you may be a scam victim. Scammers very much do want to take remote control. Where did you get the computer and MS-Office from?

Corruption of the right click menu is characteristic of certain malware. You might try running malwarebytes to see if it finds anything nasty. Others may be able to recommend better products – I'm not up to speed on the latest and best.

Dave

 

 

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 19/08/2017 17:11:39

[John GardenerParticipant @johngardener91897]

Thanks Norman, it will be a while before I get a new machine, more important things to spend my money on. Dave, definitely MS. I have paid malware and Trojan zappers and a paid firewall. My passwords etc are all controlled by a paid password manager anyway. But definitely MS.

It doesn't affect anything I want to do with the machine and no-one is going to die because I can't read Armenian but it is annoying and seems to confirm my theory that MS wants us all on W10 and using pay annually office type products. I am planning moving all my stuff to Open Office/Firefox and away from MS based stuff anyway. This just confirms my conspiracy theories.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

John you certainly won't regret it if and when you commit to a Mac, I did so in 2011 because of frustration with Microsoft, like Norman I use Word for Mac which means I keep connectivity with all my old documents. Same experience as Norman, crisp and speedy setup and no problems since I converted, expensive to change to Mac but well worth it.

Dave

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

One way to fix the language problem might be to install Google Translate onto your smartphone(?) and use it to translate the text "live". Then you can go into the control panel and change the default language settings. Yes, I've checked that Armenian is one of the supported languages.

If you have never tried it, Google Translate is a revelation. You can speak to it in one language, it will convert to text, translate the text to the other language and even read it back to you. Even better, if you use your built-in camera, it will recognise text and do instant translation on the live image as you watch. So you can examine foreign text and read it directly in your own language. It works and can be a life saver. And it even works in places like China, Japan etc. Having said that, the translation is by machine, so you can get some amusing outputs although generally you get a pretty good idea even then!

Murray

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Posted by Graeme W on 19/08/2017 15:47:10:

Ah, I remember so well painstakingly drilling all those holes in the GHT division plates. The end result is worth the effort though and very satisfying. That said, mine has sat on the workshop shelf for about four years since I built a division master and then a Steve ward indexer.

Hopper, considering that is a fabrication, you have done and excellent job re creating the form of the original castings.

My own ventures into building dividing heads resulted in this design:

http://www.jeffree.co.uk/pages/divheadmk2.html

A blatant crib of the GHT approach, but using 30:1 ratio worm wheels to give "only" 1/100th of a degree of resolution, and small enough to be used on a Taig lathe cross-slide with the spindle at centre height. My use of it as a manual dividing head ended once I had drilled all the division plates; once I had built the stepper-motor attachment, there was never a good reason to use a manual dividing head from that point on. I did attempt to cut a gear wheel using manual division after I had finished all the plates, but inevitably, I lost concentration and cut a "thin" tooth. At that point I realised that life was just way to short to do manual division.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Nicely done Hopper. Only one scrapped plate when I did it ( for the HDA)

Rod

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by John Gardener on 19/08/2017 17:45:46:

You may have loaded a program that adds commands to your context menus, nothing to do with M$ and sometimes very annoying.

Neil

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by geoff walker 1 on 19/08/2017 16:01:42:

Yes, nice work Pete.

I seem to remember that project was in it's infancy when I called to see you early last year.

Totally agree with Graeme regarding the fabrication, well done.

Geoff

Thanks Geoff, and all the others offering encouragement. How time flies, more like 18 months or so I have been working on this, although hardly at all this year due to family matters etc. I'm trying to get it finished off so I can take pics of the finished unit and do a write up for MEW on fabricating the body as it seems to draw a lot of interest.

Yes if I was smart I would go to stepper motors, CNC etc but mostly I wanted to build this particular unit because the style of it matches the old Drummond lathe perfectly, and as a bit of a refresher course to get back into serious machining after a 20+ year hiatus. And it's just such an exercise in what Neil calls GHT's "over-solutioneering".

Will let you know how the drilling progresses over the next week or so. I'm doing one or two circles at a time so slow going. As GHT advises, hasten slowly.

I have a little half-sized worm and wheel out of an old aviation gyroscope so have been thinking of making a half-sze working model just for the heck of it. Need another lifetime to get all those holes drilled though methinks.

Edited By Hopper on 19/08/2017 23:43:04

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Roderick Jenkins on 19/08/2017 19:21:24:

Nicely done Hopper. Only one scrapped plate when I did it ( for the HDA)

Rod

LOL, I've already plans in place involving filling "bad" holes with steel blanking pins loctited in place and redrilling — just in case I get to that stage.

Edited By Hopper on 19/08/2017 23:55:11

Edited By Hopper on 19/08/2017 23:55:47

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Hopper on 19/08/2017 23:41:46:

Need another lifetime to get all those holes drilled though methinks.

3D print the plates, you can always paint them silver

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Posted by Hopper on 19/08/2017 23:54:44:

Posted by Roderick Jenkins on 19/08/2017 19:21:24:

Nicely done Hopper. Only one scrapped plate when I did it ( for the HDA)

Rod

LOL, I've already plans in place involving filling "bad" holes with steel blanking pins loctited in place and redrilling — just in case I get to that stage.

Edited By Hopper on 19/08/2017 23:55:11

Edited By Hopper on 19/08/2017 23:55:47

I used brass plates and soldered in brass blanking pins

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 20/08/2017 10:14:10:

Posted by Hopper on 19/08/2017 23:41:46:

Need another lifetime to get all those holes drilled though methinks.

3D print the plates, you can always paint them silver

There you go. A great business opportunity there for someone with a 3D printer.

One more circle of holes successfully drilled, all in the right place, today. Could only do an hour in the shed today. Two more circles and the first plate will be done, bar deburring and stamping. Glad I don't need this thing in a hurry.

Edited By Hopper on 20/08/2017 11:17:34

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Just been given a small Axminster wood lathe for our Men's Shed. Small enough to be fairly safe for beginners and saves me feeling obliged to lend mine.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

What I didn't do today was drive to the Bristol Show as planned. After years of faithful service my car won't start. Battery is OK, plenty of fuel, nothing obviously out-of-place. Trouble with modern cars is that everything is hidden away making even simple checks a trial. Once I liked messing with cars, now I've got no enthusiasm. No distributor, a thingy on the crankshaft. Engine Management Unit. Engine bay packed like a parachute. To my eternal shame I shall be sending for a man tomorrow…

[geoff walker 1Participant @geoffwalker1]

After years of faithful service my car won't start. Battery is OK, plenty of fuel, nothing obviously out-of-place. Trouble with modern cars is that everything is hidden away making even simple checks a trial. Once I liked messing with cars, now I've got no enthusiasm. No distributor, a thingy on the crankshaft. Engine Management Unit. Engine bay packed like a parachute. To my eternal shame I shall be sending for a man tomorrow…

Have you tried shouting at it?

If that doesn't work, give it a good thrashing…..Basil Fawlty style

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Spent most of the weekend driving about to pick up these two new engineering apprentices.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Very nice too Jason! I suspect though that they may reduce your output a bit – firstly because they will entertain you no end and take your mind off the job and secondly that they will ensure that they get you away from that workshop and out pounding the local fields / pavements / parks etc.( If my experience with dogs is anything to go by they are very entertaining and hence terrible time wasters! )

Norman

( PS If the choice was dogs or workshop I would be selling my kit! – thankfully it's not an either / or situation)

Edited By NJH on 20/08/2017 17:44:02

[FatgadgiParticipant @fatgadgi]

Hi SillyOldDuffer

I agree about the difficulty of fault finding new cars the logical traditional way. But there is an upside to all that electronic trickery, which is the on board computer stores fault codes, which is where the garage mechanic will likely look first.

I have one of those hand help devices that read the fault codes, which works a treat. For example, my daughter's petrol Fiesta (12 plate) failed it's MOT on emissions a couple of weeks back. The diagnostic tool identified a misfire fault on one cylinder, which was so difficult to detect by ear that I couldn't be positive that I was hearing it. It was promptly dealt with by changing the plugs and leads and the fault code disappeared. It passed the re-test with flying colours.

You may think about buying one for next time as they are cheaper than a trip to the garage. And don't I know – my wallet is still in intensive care after a trip to the main dealer to get the cambelt changed on a Jag. Ouch, and the diagnostic tool didn't help me one bit.

Cheers – Will

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Posted by JasonB on 20/08/2017 17:00:13:

Spent most of the weekend driving about to pick up these two new engineering apprentices.

Ahhh! I didn't think I liked French Bulldogs

Rod

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by JasonB on 20/08/2017 17:00:13:

Spent most of the weekend driving about to pick up these two new engineering apprentices.

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