What Did You Do Today (2017)

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

At the weekend I did some more work on my 3D printed light tank's turret.

Now printing the main body of the turret in eight(!) pieces.

[colin hawesParticipant @colinhawes85982]

I have owned an old flat belt horizontal mill for about 50 years and all that time intended to get the power feed working and make the other bits to go with it; trips and disengaging mechanism . Now I've done it ! The machine was retrieved from a scrap metal merchant in pieces all that time ago. Colin

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by colin hawes on 04/12/2017 19:11:27:

I have owned an old flat belt horizontal mill for about 50 years and all that time intended to get the power feed working and make the other bits to go with it; trips and disengaging mechanism . Now I've done it ! The machine was retrieved from a scrap metal merchant in pieces all that time ago. Colin

You can't leave the story at that! Unless you want to write it up for MEW, that is…

Neil

[RichardNParticipant @richardn]

Spent a day fiddling and ended up with a sprung buffer, just the one mind… the next 3 should be a little quicker…

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Cute!

What gauge?

[RichardNParticipant @richardn]

0 gauge – LBSC seemed to suggest buying such items pre-made from one of the likely advertisers- it seemed such a satisfying little task to design and machine myself… Ran out of time to make the jig for drilling the rivet holes, or the beam itself… but I feel I have now started building the loco, just about…

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Oven? OVEN!!! All these years people have been singing The Christmas Song and playing it on the radio and still you don't know how chestnuts should be roasted?

(and you're supposed to put a slit in the flat underside)

Edited By Bazyle on 04/12/2017 23:04:47

[Johnboy25Participant @johnboy25]

Bazle… I agree – I remember my father slitting the chestnuts then roasting them on the coal shovel in the fire! As I don’t have an open fire in my house I slit the nuts and microwave full power for about a minute. It doesn’t have the aroma of roasting on the fire but a good way to ease into the festive spirit!

John

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Chestnuts- What chestnuts? Early frosts destroyed the fruit buds this year and therefore hardly any about. Those that were were riddled with maggots or very small and shrivelled up.
BobH SW France

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Chestnuts- What chestnuts? Early frosts destroyed the fruit buds this year and therefore hardly any about. Those that were were riddled with maggots or very small and shrivelled up.
BobH SW France

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Chestnuts?

All we ever find is the empty green cases under our tree, the wildlife has already feasted on the contents.

Edited By V8Eng on 05/12/2017 08:08:44

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I have a mature walnut tree in the orchard and every year it shows lots of green walnuts but within a few days I start finding them on the floor with cuts on the skin, Crows are the culprits or squirrels and like last year we got nothing this year. The Chestnut tree produced loads of nuts but again nothing left for us, I find the prickly cases on the roofs of the bee hives where the birds open them.

 

Edited By Clive Hartland on 05/12/2017 09:09:09

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Chestnuts? Fire? What are these things of which you speak?

Looking forward to mangoes and prawns this Christmas.

( I have to admit, when I lived in the Northern Hemisphere for a while, Christmas made sooooo much more sense.)

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

These chestnuts of which you southeners are speaking – are they sweet chestnuts or conker type ?

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Sweet Chestnuts, you would be rather unwell if you tried Horse Chestnuts (Conkers) as they contain a mild poison Aescin. Even horses can't eat Horse Chestnuts

John

[colin hawesParticipant @colinhawes85982]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 04/12/2017 19:25:04:

Posted by colin hawes on 04/12/2017 19:11:27:

I have owned an old flat belt horizontal mill for about 50 years and all that time intended to get the power feed working and make the other bits to go with it; trips and disengaging mechanism . Now I've done it ! The machine was retrieved from a scrap metal merchant in pieces all that time ago. Colin

You can't leave the story at that! Unless you want to write it up for MEW, that is…

Neil

hmm………….That might be interesting……………??…..It's a long time since all my previous articles and now we are bogged down in new technology………… Colin

[Steve PaveyParticipant @stevepavey65865]

Finished off my mother’s xmas present today – a display cabinet of tools left by my father, an ex- Vickers apprentice who later worked with Barnes Wallis during the later years of the war, and afterwards became a teacher (of engineering workshop theory and practice as it was officially known by those in the know, metalwork to everyone else).

Many of the tools he made himself, but he was a big fan of Moore and Wright, Browne and Sharp and Starrett. The mic was a B and S and always carried in the pocket of his white workshop coat.

The case is made of teak reclaimed from a refurbishment of Exeter library many years ago, and the photo was taken before I fitted the glass and beads to avoid reflections.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

That's nice Steve.

Colin, old or new, it's all good.

Neil

[Simon Williams 3Participant @simonwilliams3]

(Showing my ignorance)

What's the tapered spike third left top, just below the dividers? Second left is a taper gauge, what's the thing to its left please?

Rgds to All

Simon

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Looks good Steve – I am also ex Vickers Weybridge, but somewhat later than your dad (apprentice 63 – 70). Your display has solved a mystery "tool" for me. For many years I have kept a grubby bit of tinplate and cardboard in my tool drawer and now see that it is a points protector for a set of dividers.
BobH

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Simon Williams 3 on 07/12/2017 19:58:16:

(Showing my ignorance)

What's the tapered spike third left top, just below the dividers? Second left is a taper gauge, what's the thing to its left please?

Rgds to All

Simon

It's like a centre-finder for round bar I've seen in an old ME. There are two pins on the back that press against the side of the cylinder. The left edge is the rule.

Dave

[Steve PaveyParticipant @stevepavey65865]

Yes, it’s a centre finder- I actually used it last week before putting it on the display board. I think my favourite is the pin vice (pin chuck?) on the left just above the square – the handle is hollow to allow a thin rod to pass all the way through.

Dad had a huge stack of Model Engineers in his office at work, so I’m not surprised that the centre finder was an ME design. I remember reading through them when I was probably 12-13, not understanding most of what was in them. Anyone else remember the cat sitting on the log?

By the way, for anyone wondering why the choice of some (on the face of it)rather run-of-the-mill tools, they were mainly chosen on the basis of ones he either made, or marked with his initials, or I remember him using a lot. Some of the ones he made such as the square, the centre finder top left and the centre punches were tools he actually taught his pupils to make in lessons.

[thaiguzziParticipant @thaiguzzi]

Posted by Steve Pavey on 07/12/2017 19:09:53:

Finished off my mother’s xmas present today – a display cabinet of tools left by my father, an ex- Vickers apprentice who later worked with Barnes Wallis during the later years of the war, and afterwards became a teacher (of engineering workshop theory and practice as it was officially known by those in the know, metalwork to everyone else).

Many of the tools he made himself, but he was a big fan of Moore and Wright, Browne and Sharp and Starrett. The mic was a B and S and always carried in the pocket of his white workshop coat.

The case is made of teak reclaimed from a refurbishment of Exeter library many years ago, and the photo was taken before I fitted the glass and beads to avoid reflections.

Very nice. Thoughtful and different. Like it.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Steve Pavey on 07/12/2017 22:19:23:

…

Dad had a huge stack of Model Engineers in his office at work, so I’m not surprised that the centre finder was an ME design.

…

More likely your Dad's centre-finder is a genuine apprentice piece. I'd have to find it to make sure but I think the ME article described an existing tool, not a new one. Also, the ME design was simplified compared with your Dad's version – I don't recall it having that fancy trefoil end.

Quite apart from the family connection the collection makes a fine display. You're lucky to have it.

Dave

[egaParticipant @ega]

"Anyone else remember the cat sitting on the log?"

Was that K R Whiston's "cat"?

Edited By ega on 08/12/2017 11:02:00

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