What did you do Today 2018

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Bob, there’s no mystic art involved it’s just a simple pipe work job to connect with any wastepipe contained within the walls of the house, mine is connected to a basin wastepipe in our downstairs toilet which coincidentally houses our condensing boiler as well, the basin waste is then connected to a 4 inch internal soil pipe. Not so easy if your boiler is mounted in the attic which seems to be a fashionable place to locate them now.

Dave W

[Anonymous]

The traction engine meeting arranged for today, near Reading, was cancelled due to the snow. So I had a spare day.

I started by finish boring the second smokebox to fit the boiler:

And the smokeboxes in situ; they're a light tap fit on the boilers so no bolts are needed to keep them as shown:

Rather than use proper rivets to fix the smokebox to the boiler and to the front ring I am going to use threaded bolts with a rounded head. So I knocked out a number of these, at different lengths as required:

Once I am sure I have enough of each length I'll make a form tool and set the Britan up for facing the head to length and rounding it to mimic a rivet. Here's one of them being reduced from 3/8" to 1/4" prior to threading:

And lastly I set up the first of the perch brackets on the lathe and rough drilled the central hole:

I am happy to state that no 3-jaw chucks were used, or abused, in the making of these parts.

I now need to fettle some 3D printed production parts for work, while I listen to "Sounds of the 70s" on the TV.

Andrew

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Andrew

Its getting out of hand when you have to use axle stands for model engineering projects . That said it looks like you have a nice set of twins when its all finished.

Martin W

[Anonymous]

Posted by Martin W on 04/03/2018 01:11:13:

Its getting out of hand when you have to use axle stands for model engineering projects

Possibly, but I'm not sure I'd trust them with a real car. I have had a glider trailer on them, one in each corner. But the trailer was empty at the time.

Now that the smokeboxes are in place the engines are beginning to look big. And that's without the tender on the back. I may have to order a larger kitchen.

Andrew

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Went to my local B & Q ( usual disclaimer ) & got some MDF offcut, 2 x 900 mm pieces of 21 x 10 pine plus 4 corner brackets for the base assembly for my Vertical cross engine, then picked up two granddaughters from school.

​George.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

At EDMES club night Dr Brian Neale from SMEE digital group demonstrated their collaborative build of a wire EDM. Impressive speed of cut and precision too. Although 250 miles from the SMEE HQ in London he is able to participate in their activities by fortnightly video conferences.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

AJ, nice to see a lathe with scratches and dings in the paintwork. I find it rather sad when some of us care more for the paintwork on the tools than the parts which we could make with them.
BobH

[Anonymous]

Posted by Speedy Builder5 on 10/03/2018 07:33:48:

AJ, nice to see a lathe with scratches and dings in the paintwork. I find it rather sad when some of us care more for the paintwork on the tools than the parts which we could make with them.

Quite, it was less than perfect paintwise when I got it. My lathe is a tool – I use it for making parts. I clean it down and oil regularly, but I don't worry about appearance. It might get a clean once a year, or after turning a lot of cast iron.

Similarly I keep my car serviced and MOT'd, but I don't spend every Sunday morning washing it.

Andrew

[Anonymous]

Now for some more examples of using a less than pristine lathe.

This morning is best not mentioned. This afternoon I've been machining the chimney base castings for my traction engines. First the flange was faced, turned to diameter and bored to size:

In view of the limited clamping I kept cuts to a maximum of 30 thou DOC and a feed of 6 thou per rev. Spindle speed was 260rpm for about 290fpm on the outer diameter. The other end of the bore was tapered in a rare outing for the 3-jaw SC chuck. Must be the first time in probably 6 months:

The holes for the exhaust pipe and blower were then drilled. This was all done by eye; there are no details on the drawings. The holes aren't even shown, let alone dimensioned. I consulted some pictures of full size SCC Burrells before deciding what to do:

Finally I've hand ground a form tool and set the Britan up to make the rounded head on the "rivet" bolts previously machined:

I'll mull them over for a while before doing the whole batch. Not least because I'm otherwise occupied tomorrow as afternoon tug pilot.

Andrew

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

I was turning some cast iron, actually a 10kg weight lifting weight. I had it on a tapered mandrel and was turning the central bush parallel so I can flip it over, hold it in a chuck and put an ACME thread on the inside bore. All this to make some stands for SWMBO's pottery tea cup selling stall at a local craft fare.

I needed a left hand tool to cut the part and I realised that I hadn't got one mounted on any of the QC tool holders. I found the tool and swapped out a little used RH tool. I was having awful problems turning this Oriental cast iron. The cutting forces were enormous and were even causing the top slide on the Hardinge HLV to rotate on the cross slide (had a large overhang on the tool, since the weight is 10.5" dia on an 11" swing lathe). I even took the top slide off and cleaned all the oil off the mounting faces to help. I was despairing and thinking that I'd got a bit of cast iron with severe chills.

Then I looked at the tool and thought "it seems a little high…". Some moron had removed a 12mm tool, replaced it with a 20mm tool and not reset the centre height. I'd been trying to machine cast iron using the tool tather than the carbide insert. . Having reset the tool height, the Oriental cast iron machines very nicely!

[David TaylorParticipant @davidtaylor63402]

While waiting for my old steel double garage to get replaced with a new purpose built workshop (luxury, I'm not ashamed) I'm giving my hobby 'quality' lathe and milling machine a work over.

With the milling machine exploded all over the bench I decided to disassemble and cleane the lathe compound slide and replaced the 3 oilers on it so they have the same sized balls (gotta look neat) and the balls actually seat home so grit doesn't fall in through them.

Things I noticed:

1. The tapered jib has a nicely finished side and a rough side. The rough side is the sliding surface that is against the dovetail :-

2. I didn't understand what I was doing when I made the big t-nut for the quick change tool post. The way I did things the tool post is only held steady by the stud bearing on the compound slide – ie the stud screws all the way through the t-nut. I put a couple of pop marks in the bottom of the t-nut thread to stop the stud going all the way through but now the tool post just slides around because the top the t-nut flanges are not clamping properly so I need to shave .5mm off the top the nut. Which would be a job of minutes if the milling machine were together.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Spent a couple of hours catching up on my Vertical cross engine base.

George.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

p.s. I have now posted the same amount as when the American war of independence constitution was declared

George.

[David TaylorParticipant @davidtaylor63402]

Took my lathe motor apart, put it back together, no clue or improvement except lots of sparking/arcing from a capacitor. At least I know how it comes apart and what it looks like in there now! I also can't figure out how the fan has any effect… it is on one end of the shaft but both ends of the motor are enclosed so I can't see where the fan would draw air from inside.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

The fan will be in a cowl that directs the air over the outside of the motor, cooling the whole thing. A totally enclosed motor so you don't fill it up with gunk. Often on these the switch gear is mounted on the end opposite the pulley and can be got to by undoing 3 or 4 little screws. On a number of these type motors I have found arcing from the switch to the motor frame, easily cured with some insulation added.

Ian S C

[Dave MartinParticipant @davemartin29320]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 10/03/2018 21:40:13:

…Finally I've hand ground a form tool and set the Britan up to make the rounded head on the "rivet" bolts previously machined:

I'll mull them over for a while before doing the whole batch. Not least because I'm otherwise occupied tomorrow as afternoon tug pilot.

Andrew

Andrew – just out of interest, when you come to use these, how will the bolt be held whilst you tighten the nut?

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Finally got back in the workshop to start on the cylinder will finish bore for the liner tonight then the part I enjoy profiling the outside and creating the exhaust ports.
I think that is easy compared to when I see George another speed nut machining various car heads from castings on manual machines with the blueprint on the wall.
Will change my nickname to Swarthy again after today looking at my bucket.

[David TaylorParticipant @davidtaylor63402]

Got 3 phase supply hooked up to the house in anticipation of getting it into the new workshop if it ever gets built.

Took the capacitors off the lathe and milling machine motors so I can order some new ones.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Posted by David Taylor on 12/03/2018 04:35:22:

Got 3 phase supply hooked up to the house in anticipation of getting it into the new workshop if it ever gets built.

Took the capacitors off the lathe and milling machine motors so I can order some new ones.

Your post is a little confusing (to me anyway).

If the capacitors you intend to replace are for the motors then they should not be required as three phase motors dont use them.

Capacitors are only normally replaced if they fail as they are not really a 'wear' component.

Ian P

[Anonymous]

Posted by Dave Martin on 11/03/2018 11:03:20:

Andrew – just out of interest, when you come to use these, how will the bolt be held whilst you tighten the nut?

For the ones I've fitted so far it hasn't been a problem. The bolts are quite tight in the holes, they often need tapping in with a mallet. If one nips up the nut it is often possible tighten a bit further with an "impulse" on the spanner. The bolts don't need to be particularly tight. There are 20 of them around the circumference and the loads are entirely in shear.

Andrew

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

Posted by Ian P on 12/03/2018 08:12:23:

Posted by David Taylor on 12/03/2018 04:35:22:

Got 3 phase supply hooked up to the house in anticipation of getting it into the new workshop if it ever gets built.

Took the capacitors off the lathe and milling machine motors so I can order some new ones.

Your post is a little confusing (to me anyway).

If the capacitors you intend to replace are for the motors then they should not be required as three phase motors dont use them.

Capacitors are only normally replaced if they fail as they are not really a 'wear' component.

Ian P

Clear to me

The answer to the three phase issue is immediately above – David has three phase supply, but it isn't connected to a workshop, and said workshop may not come along for a while.

So, for the forseeable future, his machines are single phase.

Re the capacitors, see the post at the very top of the page

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Posted by David Standing 1 on 12/03/2018 13:07:42:

Clear to me

The answer to the three phase issue is immediately above – David has three phase supply, but it isn't connected to a workshop, and said workshop may not come along for a while.

So, for the forseeable future, his machines are single phase.

Re the capacitors, see the post at the very top of the page

I did not connect the two postings, but it all makes sense now.

Motor capacitors are usually in cans or cases with blade terminals (or flying flying leads) was the visible sparking or arcing actually a failed capacitor or just bad terminations?

I recall a question here recently where someone was considering changing all the capacitors as a precaution, maybe it was in this (multi topic) thread.

Ian P

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Over the last week I have made two abortive trips looking for my local Flo-gas supplier to change my propane bottle, both of teh 'flogas' places turned out to be calor… 'sorry mate, it's our Derby branch that does flogas'.

Then today, loading wood for a shelf bought in B&Q I noticed the bottle says 'Energas' – Doh!

What is really irritating is that all three places I went to are on the same road…

[Anonymous]

It's raining outside, but it's been snowing in the workshop this afternoon:

Andrew

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Ate too many sugar-free sweets

[Author]

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