What did you do Today 2018

[colin branniganParticipant @colinbrannigan54160]

Posted by Rik Shaw on 15/03/2018 00:14:34:

"I have done enough.

Colin"

Me to Colin – enjoy your retirement.

Rik

Many thanks Rik

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Jimmie, didn’t you know that the crowd belongs to everyone! But to some people more than others…I have had the same experience as you with neighbours and visitors to them showing such a lack of any awareness or consideration. All part of the motor vehicle culture that sees people get in their tin box and become the mr Hyde inside us all.
I’m tired of cars parked on double yellow, kids on motor bikes without helmets riding on footpaths,crazy overtakes etc etc.
And all because the police have no time and resources to stop and deal with the motoring public any more.

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Road sorry

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Propped neighbours fence away from the shed as it's ripped the gutter off

They are waiting for someone to fix the lot as they have been nearly blown flat already.

Will see if my Heath Robinson survives the winds next week.

Geoff – If not then neighbourly 'words' will be spoken.

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Popped into Sally Ann shop and picked up a years worth of ME – 1945 – in leather (?) binder.

Rik

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

Just yesterday I was reading the Highway Code on line, it makes interesting reading. I looked at vehicle maximum speeds, road markings, pavement use and roadside parking. Judging by what I see around my way the police could be in for a nice little windfall if they were to take appropriate action on offenders, but then I suppose they would have to employ more to sit on their backsides.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Mick B1 on 05/02/2018 13:24:35:

Finished the piston rod oilers for a tank engine on a steam railway (the bit with a just-visible ring in the top pic):

Simple parts, but not so easy. The main thread is a total batsrad – M22,46 (prob 22,5) x 2,5 as near as I can measure. It would've been nice to've had one o' them 3-wire spiral gauges to measure the originals and work to that, but nothing like that was to hand, so I just started from the OD and cut the thread to just under the 1,53 nominal depth for 2,5 pitch.

The only gauge I had was the loco sitting in the shed, and my lathe is in my garage.

So I've ended up with a bit more of a rattling good fit than I'd like, possibly due to the crest flat I had to put on my screwcutting tool to stop the tip breaking off. I'm hoping that good old PTFE tape will resolve any problems.

I'm sure they'll let me know…

Edited By Mick B1 on 05/02/2018 13:29:12

Ah, well – they did let me know – on Tuesday, with the Polish tank engine due back in service tomorrow!

The front 2 oiler connections really are too lose, with the stuff hissing back up through the threads. So I needed to make 2 more a bit quick.

Out came the Warco manual again to look up the change gears for 10 TPI (same config as 2,5mm pitch) along with the big screwdriver and nylon hammer to dismantle the severe slide fit of the gears, bushes and spacers. Maybe if I do this often enough there'll be a distant future day when I can do it by hand alone.

Any road up, the only way I could think to make 'em a better fit was to cut the thread shallower. So I took the 2 badduns and measured with the tips of a caliper the diameter where they rested on the thread flanks. OK, so it's a non-preferred measurement method, but what other options I got when I've no way to even know what the thread's supposed to be? "Effective diameter"? You can whistle for that. The female thread it screws into is a bit tapered, but you can tell the taper's too gradual to be due to anything but 67 years of wear.

So on the first of the new ones I cut the thread to measure 15 thou up on the bad ones. Brought it back to the engine shed and tried it – it started in but wouldn't go all the way without seriously unreasonable effort on the end of a long monkey wrench, so I whipped it back out, took about 3 thou more and cut the second one to the same dimension – if it deserves that name.

Took both back in this morning, and it seems to me they both fitted as well as practically possible – first few turns easily by hand, then needing a spanner, but coming to a sharp and clear stop at the underside of the hex. So I connected the lube pipes. Hopefully they'll work OK now; I guess I'll be back here again if they don't…

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

Posted by Mick B1 on 16/03/2018 14:51:35:

Out came the Warco manual again to look up the change gears for 10 TPI (same config as 2,5mm pitch) along with the big screwdriver and nylon hammer to dismantle the severe slide fit of the gears, bushes and spacers. Maybe if I do this often enough there'll be a distant future day when I can do it by hand alone.

..

I had the same problem with my change wheels which would never fit & ran a 14mm reamer through them but they were still too tight. So solution was to rub a piece of silver steel up the cutters of the reamer which gave a thou or two more & now they slide on & off OK. How they can justify supplying like that really beggars belief.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Not really Engineering, but:

Granddaughter (5) drew the Easter Bunny yesterday on orange paper.

Carol scanned it and reduced it to fit the width of 12mm wood I've got, then printed it.

I drew around it over the wood and inked the scored line so I could cut to it.

Used the Lidl Parkside jigsaw to cut out the shape, sanded it and filled in the details with a pyrograph thing.

Took maybe an hour.

See what she thinks of it on the weekend…

[Richard S2Participant @richards2]

Assorted jobs done on the refurbishment of this Vintage English Manual Bench Drill-

fully stripped down to component parts.

Pressed out the worn/damaged Main Drive Shaft from the 'Pin Locked' Bevel Gear-

Prepping for making new shaft.

Pressed out Main Column from Base Plate and located some replacement 5/32" Ball Bearings from replaced 'End of Life' Civil Aircraft Bearing stock I have from back in the 70s-

Also replaced the 1/2" x 20 UNF Chuck mount on the end of the Main Spindle. Enjoying this little refurb.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Today, I purchased what appears to be a 'new and unused' gyroscope

Manufactured in 1951, by the Mineapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co.

AUTO PILOT COMPONENT

CONTROL-FLIGHT, RATE GYRO TYPE Y-2

It's a discreet little box, finished in crackle black paint.

… Grateful for any information anyone may have about this system

MichaelG.

.

Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co. leveraged its scientific and engineering talent to adapt to changing times. We radically improved mass production and added an array of aeronautical equipment to our portfolio. In 1942, we invented the electronic autopilot, which proved vital to the U.S. war effort.

https://www.honeywell.com/who-we-are/our-history

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 16/03/2018 18:42:36

[Barnaby WildeParticipant @barnabywilde70941]

Posted by HOWARDT on 16/03/2018 14:39:51:

Just yesterday I was reading the Highway Code on line, it makes interesting reading. I looked at vehicle maximum speeds, road markings, pavement use and roadside parking. Judging by what I see around my way the police could be in for a nice little windfall if they were to take appropriate action on offenders, but then I suppose they would have to employ more to sit on their backsides.

Your local Police are very keen to generate revenue where it adds to their budget, but this source of revenue has now mostly been passed over to your local council.

Have you ever wondered why there is precious little enforcement regarding the laws surrounding disabled parking & blue badge misuse?

It's because it is mostly a criminal offence & the revenue generated from any fine goes straight to central government.

When you understand this principle, then you are on the way to maybe understanding why your world is totally mucked up.

[Anonymous]

I've been experimenting with closing 3/16" steel rivets prior to riveting the spokes on my traction engine wheels. I am using a home made guide and snaps. I first tried closing by hand, with mixed results. This evening I unexpectedly had some time spare so I tried closing some rivets using my flypress. That was after I'd notched the shelving upright behind the flypress so I could swing the handle.

Here are the results:

The bottom plate is 6mm, the upper is ¼". On the front row the rivet on the right was closed by hand. Success on the first trial! However the next two closed by hand (on the left) were a complete fudge up. In addition the snaps left marks on the plates. The middle, and one to the right, rivets in the front were closed with the flypress. Not perfect but not bad at all, at least to my eye. And no marks on the plate. On the slightly fuzzy back row the middle rivet was done with the flypress, the others were by hand. So three out of three for the flypress versus one out of seven by hand, ie, hitting it was a hammer. At the very least I think the flypress techique will be fine for the front wheels where the formed head will be on the inside.

An afterthought – for the rivets closed by the flypress the top snap didn't quite reach the top plate. The rivet is slightly (4 thou) under the theoretical length, but I wonder if I made it shorter by another few thou the head would be better formed? I'll try and give that a go ASAP. It shouldn't take long so I should be able to fit it in over the next week or two.

Andrew

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

While this may not be exactly the truth, it forms an amusing story. It appeared in a QLD (Queensland for us Pomms) newspaper some 40+ years ago.

`A couple who had been married for about 12 months, drove into the local supermarket car park and found a convenient space to park. Clad in the usual summer attire of thongs, shorts and tea-shirt, they climbed from the vehicle.

Instructing his young wife to carry on and do the shopping while he attempted to fix a car problem, she duly disappeared into the shopping complex. Returning some time later, she became aware of a semi-circle of titillated onlookers surrounding her car. As she approached, she noticed that protruding from beneath the car were a pair of male legs clad in shorts. Not to put too fine a point, `things’ were hanging out. Unable to contain her embarrassment, she stepped forward and dutifully scooped everything back into the shorts.

It was only when she stood back and looked across the bonnet of the car, that she saw her husband standing idly by.

The mechanic had to have three stitches in his forehead.’

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Andrew, I think the flypress does tend to help stop the rivit going off to one side better than a hand held snap so you do get a more consistent result and there is no chance of the snap tilting and marking the surface. Are you using a single snap to close the rivit or a conical one before the rounded one? You can grind the end of the hand snaps back at a shallow angle and round the edge to help stop them marking the surface.

Good thing with the press is the neighbors won't need ear defenders.

I do tend to find that the theoretical length is a good starting point but you need to adjust to suit your own snaps and it will also depend on what size the holes have ended up at and how heavily they have been deburred as the rivit will expand into these spaces which leaves less metal to form the head. By the time you have a few coats of paint on them I doubt a thou will be noticable.

[Anonymous]

Jason: Thanks for the notes. Both hand and flypress use the same jig that keeps the snaps aligned, alhough of course there's nothing to stop the work being off. I ground the ends of the snaps some while back, which significantly lessened the marking with the hand method but didn't completely eliminate it. I'm using a single hemispherical snap. I have read the book by Edward George. But I simply don't see how a conical snap would form a nice cone, whereas a concave one wouldn't form a hemisphere? The flypress forms the rivet head quite easily up to a point. Then no matter how hard I swing the handle no more forming takes place. I take that to indicate that the head is fully formed as far as the snap is concerned so there is nowhere left for the metal to flow. So if I take a tad off the end of the rivet the same thing will happen, but slightly lower. The holes are close to size, the rivets need a slight tap to fit, and are lightly deburred. I think my issue is too much metal, not too little.

The lack of noise from the flypress is major plus for me. Although the houses are fairly well spaced on my road the area is very quiet. My neighbours are pretty tolerant, but there are limits! I thought my work bench was pretty solid, but really swinging the flypress has shattered that illusion.

The rivets need to be perfect; you know what some people at SCMTEG are like; they don't feel satisfied unless they can point out the errors in ones work.

Andrew

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Yes Andrew, after they have had their say I just ask them about there own work of that nature, with me it's usually something about Stirling Engines, more often than not they walk off.

Ian S C

[Anonymous]

Flying has been cancelled this afternoon on the wishy-washy grounds that there are snow showers, and the rather more serious issue of the airfield being waterlogged. So I've grabbed a couple of hours to do some more riveting trials (in one sense, if not both).

As an aside here is the jig I am using:

And the results of the riveting:

The results are not bad, but not perfect. There are a couple of outliers that aren't really acceptable. I experimented by shorting some rivets, ranging from a couple of strokes of the file to about 20 thou. It didn't seem to make that much difference. I suspect more experimentation is required.

Andrew

[SpurryParticipant @spurry]

I'm enjoying this riveting experience.

Pete

[Anonymous]

Another riveting episode:

Starting from the front row on the right the first rivet is full length. Clearly there is too much metal for the snap to close the rivet flush. The next rivet left is about 60 thou shorter; here there is not enough metal to form a proper head. So at least that sets limits on the length. The rest of the rivets going left and then to the right along the back row are experimenting with lengths. The rivets start about 0.890". Running down the back row I started at 0.870" and removed a few more thou each time, ending up at 0.855". This seems about the right length. In due course I'll add another two rows of rivets to the back of the plate above, to see what consistency I can achieve rivet to rivet.

If that looks good I'll set up the Britan to knock out a batch of shortened rivets, after I've finished the rivet bolts for the smokebox.

Andrew

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Not long ago I treated myself to a Vertex 6inch rotary table I have an old 4inch table it looks like one I saw on a Centic milling machine.

The small one is certainly well made the Vertex was bought as am working on larger projects but the manual is not perfect so downloaded the Grizzly manual.

The Grizzly had a lever to engage the worm to reduce backlash where mine was just a knurled dial.

So did a quick modification and put a lever on it.

What a difference as when your grip is not that good the Grizzly type lever is a lot easier to use to eliminate back lash.

Tomorrow Elvington calls the Straightliners team have been setting the timed American mile course and conditions look good.

Will see if the fastest Granny can better her record of 264 mph on her bike the air should be denser but wind has to be the deciding factor for runs at that speed.

This machine is her new one after crashing the record one a few years ago.

Edited By Windy on 19/03/2018 23:13:57

Edited By Windy on 19/03/2018 23:19:05

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

A lousy wet start to Elvington top speed meeting but what a surprise I had.

A team from the Isle of Man was there with a steam bike that had only run around an industrial site.

First run was over 49mph the next run over 72mpf the last run something went wrong so could not run.

It had data logger and many electronic control systems the engine was fairly conventional with a flash type generator.

[Old SchoolParticipant @oldschool]

Thats really interesting and it shows some promise for a first time out. A bet that's inspired you Paul.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Repaired the wife's die cutting machine loads of brownie points

H

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Not today, but last Friday. I finished making a cup stand for SWMBO's pottery stall at a craft fair. The stand was made from an ALDI 10kg weightlifting weight and quite a lot of aluminium bar and tube. It actually looks quite good. Unfortunately, it snowed last weekend and we didn't even take enough money over two days to pay for the stall. It was nice to have a couple of relaxing days out of the house though .

[Author]

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