What did you do Today 2018

[Anonymous]

Posted by David Taylor on 22/08/2018 03:14:12:

Andrew, do you need to use coolant on brass? I never do. You could stand there and blow the chips away with an air nozzle which I did for the steel parts. That was just to ensure the cutter was only cutting 'new' metal.

I found with the GWizard software the feeds and speeds it gave me basically melted my cutters on the 1.6mm steel parts. Perhaps it assumes coolant. I did specify HSS cutters. I dialed things way back to basically what I'd do on the manual machine and the steel parts went smoothly (if slowly).

Normally no; I machine brass dry. Coolant on the CNC mill is primarily to wash away the swarf, especially in this case where it's a pocket and the swarf won't naturally fall away. For me the whole point of CNC is that I can go away and do something else, so I'm not going to stand around for hours with an air blast! Although I have been known to use a vacuum cleaner when machining relatively quick parts in plastic.

I tried GWizard a long time ago and couldn't get any sense out of it. The answers always seemed pretty daft to me. I now just base speeds and feeds on experience and use a calculator or do them in my head.

Andrew

[JohnFParticipant @johnf59703]

Intended to do it for some time but today prompted to make a "pocket box" for my hearing aid batteries, prompted by mislaying a small plastic makeup sample container from SWMBO — found it later on the back of the bench !!!!

Anyway a couple of pics, made from stainless tube with the bottom pressed in and screw top 40 tpi much more compact than the plastic box — just need to insulate the inside now.

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

You could turn it into a tie pin to keep it handy.

I spent yesterday evening and most of today tidying up the shed. Very therapeutic. I even took some stuff to the rubbish tip (not a lot, but some!)

If the collection of bits of HSS arrives from Ketan tomorrow, I'll be making a very long shank, small diameter boring tool and threading tool for the lad and some slotting tools for me. If not, the shed might get even more tidy.

[David TParticipant @davidt96864]

Made a cross slide lock for my ML7 by replacing one of the gib screws.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 22/08/2018 22:17:11:

Looks good, although I'm not surprised it didn't print the T and D. Pity really because it means you can't show it and go ta da! Some of the letters seem well defined, but it seems strange that others, like the A, seem zigzig? If I get time over the weekend I may have a go at printing it myself.

Andrew

The steps on the 'A' are barely visible from most angles, more of a surface texture than actual 'steps'.

I've checked and I think the issue with the TD was that I had -0.05mm horizontal compensation to reduce size to allow for surface texture. Taking a further 0.1mm of the descenders left virtually nothing to print. I'll experiment with just the ring, I can do a medium res version in about 25 minutes.

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

What's the next stage? Lost PLA casting?

[Anonymous]

I have decided that I'm not happy with the perch bracket fitted onto the smokebox with studs and nuts, as previously shown, after all. The most recent pictures I have of a full size Burrell SCC shows bolts. As do other pictures gleaned from the internet. The only SCC with studs and nuts is the one in the Burrell museum in Thetford. I'm beginning to think that the Burrell museum SCC is a frankenengine, as it seems to be different to all the other SCCs for which I have pictures. This evening I knocked out a set of bolts on the repetition lathe:

I'll fit them tomorrow. The existing nuts will go into the stock of 1/4" BSF nuts, but the studs will probably be recycled. Apart from anything else I suspect that the perch bracket is going to need to come on and off a few times. And that's going to be orders of magnitude easier and quicker with bolts than nuts and studs. Which is probably why they're used on most full size engines.

Andrew

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Didn't get my hoped for delivery of HSS bits to turn into tools, so ended up doing some more tidying up in the shed. Got another car load to go to the tip tomorrow.

I've found a number of things that I thought I'd lost and a few that probably need losing. One thing I found was a quantity of empty floor space. What should I do with this? List it in the ME classifieds or sell it on EBay?

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Mark

From experience I can assure you that you need to do nothing. In no time the empty floor space will simply disappear quite of its own accord.

Norman

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Mark – any chance of a photo of the 'car load'. I've never heard of a model engineer going to the tip with one before. Did you mean 'car loader' a sort of car tail lift to help you get useful metal found at the tip into the car to take home?

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by David T on 22/08/2018 14:38:19:

Posted by Hopper on 22/08/2018 10:49:05:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 22/08/2018 10:42:13:

Posted by Hopper on 22/08/2018 09:27:37:

After the long and laborious task of making my own fabricated version of GH Thomas's Versatile Dividing Head some time back, I scored a full set of the castings on eBay UK today for just 30 Quid. Brilliant! Then of course there is the 30 Quid for shipping to Australia. But still a fraction of the cost of buying the castings new. And this lot includes the tailstock, an added bonus. Very pleased with my day's work.

So do I have to bin your article now…

Neil

No way! 30-pound VDH castings come up but once a lifetime. So there's no chance of any dear reader being so lucky.

I was watching that same set of castings; nearly pulled the trigger but decided to follow Harold Hall's route instead……..

There's only the quick and the dead. He did list them twice. Dropped the price 5 quid the second time. Bonus!

HH's version makes more sense. Much simpler and less machining. And for most work, using change gears for indexing works just fine. And with compounding, a la Sparey etc, you can index just about any number. I only made the secondary worm gear adjuster and my own index plates for an exercise (in sheer perverseness!)

I just like the period look of the GHT set up, to match my 1930s and 50s lathes. Bit like making model steam engines; you can make a good functioning model out of square stock but they look so much nicer made in the period style, even if it doubles teh amount of work involved.

Plus, I can't buy blocks of steel locally in the sizes for the HH version, and the price and shipping from the state capital city steel merchants 1,000 miles away is about the same as for these GHT castings from UK to Australia! Crazy. That's why I was so happy with my day's work.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 23/08/2018 21:50:10:

I have decided that I'm not happy with the perch bracket fitted onto the smokebox with studs and nuts, as previously shown, after all. The most recent pictures I have of a full size Burrell SCC shows bolts. As do other pictures gleaned from the internet……………………………………………

Andrew

Andrew, given the fact that the smokebox is quite thin material and prone to corrosion do you think that the bolts may have nuts on the inside rather than just being screwed into the thin smokebox material. Not sure if your smokebox is thicker than scale in which case you may have more thread depth to play with.

[Anonymous]

The smokebox is over scale thickness. But the bolts are long enough for nuts and washers to be fitted internally, as were the now defunct studs.

Andrew

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Well, I turned on print thin walls and had a trial with relatively thick layers. Print quality wasn't excellent but I thought this one was worth smartening up anyway. I'm trying printing a better one using 0.06mm layers and 'ironing' to give a smoother texture to flat surfaces.

Neil

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 24/08/2018 10:03:50:

The smokebox is over scale thickness. But the bolts are long enough for nuts and washers to be fitted internally, as were the now defunct studs.

Andrew

Seems better to have nuts on outside then not exposed to corrosive atmosphere insoide smokebox and easier to get off again.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by duncan webster on 25/08/2018 15:37:22:

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 24/08/2018 10:03:50:

The smokebox is over scale thickness. But the bolts are long enough for nuts and washers to be fitted internally, as were the now defunct studs.

Andrew

Seems better to have nuts on outside then not exposed to corrosive atmosphere insoide smokebox and easier to get off again.

So would I, but it seems that's not true to the prototype.

Neil

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Posted by Bazyle on 24/08/2018 00:35:54:

Mark – any chance of a photo of the 'car load'. I've never heard of a model engineer going to the tip with one before. Did you mean 'car loader' a sort of car tail lift to help you get useful metal found at the tip into the car to take home?

Bazyle, from your post I assume you can pick stuff up at your tip..? Not ours, they wont let you have anything once its on site. I was there a couple of weeks back and a guy was throwing away a small multi drawer metal cabinet which I thought would be useful in the workshop. The guy agreed to let me take it but one of the tip guys came along as we were carrying it from the guys car to mine. I explained but the tip guy said not on site could we, he said if we wanted to do that it had to be off site. On a couple of occasions I have asked if I could have something but its always the same…NO.

[Anonymous]

Sod it, I'm not typing all that in again only for the ****** forum software to decide I need to paste something, and then revert to a previous webpage, and all is lost. You'll just have to wonder what I did today instead.

All I will say is that it involved some bizarre tugging, taking off and one runway and landing on another that is also being used for winching. Thinning the heads of the bolts on my perch bracket as they just didn't look right and making a fixture that will locate the chimney base while I drill through the fixing holes into the smokebox. And while making the fixture I got a rather better finish when parting off than I get when normal turning. Controversially I'm in the part off under power feed camp.

Time for another glass of wine.

Andrew

Edited By Andrew Johnston on 25/08/2018 21:50:14

[Swarf MakerParticipant @swarfmaker85383]

Damn the forum, I always look forward to your gliding stories Andrew!

2 spitfires, 3 tiger moths and the Red Arrows flew past today at various times. Excellent!

Edited By Swarf Maker on 26/08/2018 00:15:35

[David TaylorParticipant @davidtaylor63402]

Following my recent theme of stress in the workshop and being sick of moving machines, this is what I did today. Hopefully the only damage is to the electrical box. A club member who knows about moving things said he'd come and help me get it back on its feet tomorrow.

Note the hardwood blocks under the lathe stand cabinets to raise the working height. What's the opinion on that?

Will they be strong enough, or will they or the cabinet sag? I made a hell of a mess dressing them so they're the same height, give or take 0.5mm, as well as you can with wood. The floor probably has more variation than that!

David.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by David Taylor on 26/08/2018 07:46:53:

Following my recent theme of stress in the workshop and being sick of moving machines, this is what I did today. Hopefully the only damage is to the electrical box.

…

There but for the grace of God go I!

Lathes are often very top-heavy and much inclined to roll over when lifted. I guess you were on your own when it flipped? Two people make lifting a lathe a lot easier because one keeps it balanced while the other works the crane. Doing both jobs yourself is tricky!

Hope it's easily repaired; they're sturdy beasts.

Dave

[RobinParticipant @robin]

I discovered that engine hoists are not 100% solid, dented the floor, missed the car by inches…

[Anonymous]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 25/08/2018 15:15:51:

Well, I turned on print thin walls and had a trial with relatively thick layers. Print quality wasn't excellent but I thought this one was worth smartening up anyway. I'm trying printing a better one using 0.06mm layers and 'ironing' to give a smoother texture to flat surfaces.

Looking good! Already the same or better than on the full size engine.

Andrew

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Robin on 26/08/2018 08:59:01:

I discovered that engine hoists are not 100% solid, dented the floor, missed the car by inches…

Wow! Big sash weights!

What's the story? Did they cannon swing too far?

And why do you have two cannons in your garage?

Neil

[Anonymous]

Posted by Swarf Maker on 26/08/2018 00:14:06:

Damn the forum, I always look forward to your gliding stories Andrew!

Right, let's have another go, and this time save as I go!

Yesterday was a busy day, although it didn't quite go to plan. It was my day in the big glider so I ambled out to the gliding club mid morning. Odd I couldn't see the launch point when I arrived? Part way round the peritrack I saw it had been set up on runway 34; only used in strongish NW winds. There were also a lot of gliders parked along runway 27. I got the big glider out, finished rigging it and did the daily inspection (DI).

It seemed strange that the second tug wasn't being flown, so I enquired in the office who then contacted the launch point. After a delay the launch point said yes, bring the second tug down. So I went to get it out. There was a note in it to say it had been DI'd but not signed for. Wot? If it's been DI'd why not sign? No way I'm going to sign and fly it without doing my own DI. So I did the DI and got a rope out. On the way down I did the power checks in a quiet corner of the airfield. And the stoopid engine stopped on slow idle. Fortunately it restarted.

Having arrived at the launch point I went straight into towing the grid, 9 tows in just under 2 hours, which is not a particularly good rate. But the set up was bizarre and involved some waiting on the ground with the engine running. The main winch run was on 34, and that is where gliders were landing. But aerotows were from 27, which was slightly more into wind. Which was just as well as it's quite short, the grass was long and some gliders were carrying several hundred pounds of water ballast. But the tugs were also landing on 34 and having to taxi back. To make matters worse lots of gliders were being towed out by car …… down runway 34! So winching on one side, gliders being towed down the other, and gliders and tugs landing in the middle!

In the back of ones mind is that the tug is trailing 150 feet of rope behind, and it's a bad day all round if you catch something, or somebody, with it. It led to some rather unconventional landings in the tug. Rather than come straight in sometimes it was safer to come in at an angle part way up the runway and straighten up at the last minute at about 50 feet. Oh, the other thing is the peritrack runs across the bottom of 27/34, so there were also cars to look out for. Most aircraft were doing RH circuits, but the odd newbie glider pilot did LH circuits, which meant that we were towing out directly under them at right angles to their track, while avoiding the local farms and village, and changing frequency to give the airfield at Little Gransden a courtesy call.

By the time I'd finished towing there were a number of very heavy showers upwind. Not a surprise; the first six or seven tows were easy, tow to any cloud and there's strong lift. The last couple of tows were more difficult, bigger gaps and tatty looking clouds. So after a bit of a dither I abandoned flying the big glider and put it away. I then got wet refuelling the tug and putting the rope away.

So far so good, I had a cup of tea and a KitKat while waiting for the man who's glider ARC I was going to do. Once he arrived and we were settled into the paperwork the 'phone started ringing as gliders landed out.. I was asked to do an aerotow retrieve from Cambridge Airport. I deferred to the official afternoon tug pilot. Then I had a vague recollection that there had been a note from the club saying aerotow retrieves were no longer possible from Cambridge. Asked the office person to ring Cambridge air traffic, and sure enough no aerotows are allowed. I'd have looked a right wally flying in only to be told no. So a road retrieve it was; Newmarket Road going into Cambridge on a Saturday with a 30 foot trailer on the back; glad it wasn't me!

Andrew

Note: Newmarket Road has a lot of small retail parks with the likes of Halfords and DIY chains, so it's often worse at weekends than weekdays. The Cambridge United football ground is also right by the airport and Cambridge were playing at home yesterday afternoon, so cars parked everywhere and all ways.

[Author]

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