What Did You Do Today 2019

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Used my recently purchased 'sensitive drilling' chuck to drill 1.6mm holes in part of my latest project… works a treat, much more of a 'feel' than using the tailstock hand wheel …

George.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Spent half the morning searching for two sheets of steel I knew I'd purchased for a specific purpose, then for two conventional parting-tool holders I'm sure I'd bought.

Found the sheets. They are safe.

Did not find the tool-holders; now wondering if I had bought them.

Found a different parting-tool holder I'd forgotten I'd bought and so have not yet used; a Myford special for the rear-toolpost. That's immediately replacing the Sorba holder perched uncomfortably in a quick-change holder!

Also opened the box holding the same pattern tailstock attachment as George's… only to my dismay, the parts of it nestling in the foam packing are all rusty! I've not even used the thing yet. I'm going to have to dismantle it to clean properly.

+++

Break for dinner, some gentle gardening and tidying that upset several frogs and a small furry animal I could not decide if mouse or vole. Then back to machining the steam-wagon crankshaft.

+++

I'd roughed out the webs and pins by milling between a rotary-table and tailstock, but the emerging pins (still healthily above finished size) are visually off-centre, also shown by the cutter nibbling the corners unevenly.

I knew the three centre-holes in each end of the bar were correct to each other as I'd set them out very carefully by DRO. Thinking about it, I had not realised the part-machined bar at that stage was less accurate than I'd bargained for, so despite using a big angle-box to set it vertically, one of the two trios of holes must be displaced angularly from the other. Initially I thought that would simply give the engine a slight off-beat, but thinking more deeply shows the pins would not be parallel to the shaft, as the effect is to build in a very slow helical turn.

Nothing for it but to machine off the centring lugs and turn the shaft ends to an interim diameter to take a pair of clamp-on centre-blocks I will have to make.

Well, this is my first attempt at making a crankshaft, and from a hefty lump of very solid bar!

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Ouch 💨

Not today but Saturday was pretty grim. I took my loco to the track and after two laps retired with no water going in the boiler. Frustrating but it happens.

Un hooked the tender and disconnected all pipes and Started to blow the boiler down and clean up. The wind was quite strong and the tender decided to roll of the track onto the concrete floor!! You can imagine my horror

[FullaFlavaParticipant @fullaflava]

Nearly finished a globe valve, still need to profile the tee piece, gland follower and make a handwheel.

Edited By FullaFlava on 23/08/2019 19:41:42

[LathejackParticipant @lathejack]

FullaFlava, that's a very nice little globe valve, is it sat on the bed of a Hardinge lathe?

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Bank Holiday saw SADMES members up early to get the portable track to Verulamium park along with 3 vital shade makers. We are not allowed to drive lamp irons into the historic site so have to use big bollards for the safety rope. Otherwise not too difficult to set up the track with the well oiled team. Most people who were too old for the splash park were hiding under each big tree so trade was not very busy even though the rides were free.

Some of the attractions that had no shade and involved physical movement had no customers but as we were near the café we caught a few on their way for an ice cream. We used to go next to the boating pond but bad water management has resulted in it all but drying up this summer.

Still we were able to give out lots of flyers for our exhibition on the last weekend of September and a positive response will hopefully keep us busy then.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Boiler Bri on 19/08/2019 20:47:23:

Ouch 💨

I feel your pain hope it's not too hard to fix.

Neil

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Today I replaced our outside light in the garden, it is an LED unit of 10 watts with a motion sensor, the one it replaced has been up for about 6 months. When I bought the previous one I thought perhaps if I pay a reasonable amount then it might last a fair while, it cost me £29.99 which I thought got me out of the bargain basement area where reliability might be an issue. Well six months it lasted so I wasn’t impressed, the replacement that I put up today cost me £12.99, I thought what the heck it can’t be any worse than the one it was replacing. When I got around to taking the old one down I realised that it was the same as the new one, the only difference was in the name and the actual LEDs other than that it was identical, same cast body and mounting bracket. My thoughts are now more reinforced as to what a rip off Chinese merchandise can be.

Dave W

[LathejackParticipant @lathejack]

We have been making good progress at work with the restoration of the Burrell engine. Here is the fully restored crankshaft complete with eccentrics and a fresh paint job. I remachined the main and big end journals on our old Churchill lathe a while ago.

……………I also remachined the original big end and small end bearings, along with the very hard steel gudgeon pin.……………..The crank being carefully lowered into position.…………….The engine was treated to a full set of newly manufactured gears for the steering.

……………..Plus a full set of new gears for the drive train from the crank to the rear axle. The new gears were manufactured by Bell Gears of Sheffield. The large gear on the new rear axle is a new casting for which new patterns had to be made.…………….The gear cover refitted, a chap called Tony has been doing all the relining, and Kevin Grey retubed the boiler. Tomorrow we will be having a steam up and will be taking it for a test ride through the village. It's not a bad day job really!

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Posted by Samsaranda on 27/08/2019 19:31:01:

…

the replacement that I put up today cost me £12.99, I thought what the heck it can’t be any worse than the one it was replacing. When I got around to taking the old one down I realised that it was the same as the new one, the only difference was in the name and the actual LEDs other than that it was identical, same cast body and mounting bracket. My thoughts are now more reinforced as to what a rip off Chinese merchandise can be.

Dave W

Not necessarily the same guts (but could well be). Several years ago I was shown a set of three virtually identical looking angle grinders – apart from the brand name and perhaps slight changes of colour shade – that had been carefully opened up and displayed for comparison as the price points were so dissimilar.

One was of a better quality, the next cheaper one showed clear signs of ‘corner-cutting’. But the cheapest (about a quarter of the cost of the most expensive example) was very likely not even worth that quarter! The internals were so poorly made and cheap that the machine was not likely to last very long at all.

The shop owner had put these on a display board to explain why one should buy his variant (the good one) and how difficult it was to sell his version, while cheap ‘knock-offs’ were under-cutting the price!

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

LED light. You are likely to find that the psu is still functioning as a constant current supply that is fully potted so unable to be adjusted. It will pump out its designated power ramping up the voltage to do that. The LEDs array is pushed to its limit to advertise max lumens at minimum cost and any deficiency in cooling burns it out. You can get replacement LED arrays off ebay that cost as much as the whole lamp and pare probably the rejects from the minimum level of quality control exercised at the factory.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Samsaranda on 27/08/2019 19:31:01:

… When I bought the previous one I thought perhaps if I pay a reasonable amount then it might last a fair while, it cost me £29.99 which I thought got me out of the bargain basement area where reliability might be an issue…

Dave W

Well there's your problem Dave! Paying extra doesn't guarantee quality. I hope I'm not letting the cat out of the bag by pointing out there's nothing new about buying a pig in a poke.

Very few things do guarantee quality. Currency and old masters are forged. Banks manipulate interest rates. Contracts have small print. Air Force One was found to contain counterfeit parts despite the elaborate system of traceability used to ensure aircraft components are made to a standard. Previously trustworthy brand-names are sold to the highest bidder.

Here's the problem. There's always a percentage of humanity out to make a quick buck by nicking stuff, conning pensioners, evading taxes, carpet-bagging, ambulance chasing, cornering the market, overcharging, and selling time-expired pharmaceuticals and other shoddy goods.

Fortunately few of these techniques are a good way of making a living. Apart from the risk of meeting a policeman, selling cheap tat isn't profitable in the long run and there is constant pressure on manufacturers to up their game. There is far more money at the higher end of the market where reputation counts. There's a kind of inevitability to it – all manufacturing economies tend to follow the same path: they start at the cheap end and gradually move up-market. Most of us will remember 50 years ago when 'Made in Japan' meant 'Rubbish', today Japan = 'Quality'. None of us are old enough to remember when German and American goods were reviled for being third-rate or worse, or that 30 years before that most of the world's gimcrack trash was made in Birmingham, England. China is no different; on average the quality of what they produce is improving steadily.

By and large the system works reasonably well. Most of the goods and services I've bought over the last 40 years have been satisfactory. My home is full of CE Marked equipment still working happily years out of warranty, and I've never been electrocuted or burned the house down. This is very strange because it's well known that CE marks are a Sino-European con-trick invented solely to give poor innocent John Bull a sore bottom.

BUT! Unfortunately, consumers are always exposed to the criminal end. Buying anything is always a risk, whether it be a LED Lamp or a Mortgage with hidden PPI. You can't assume anything. Always read the small print and apply your best judgement to purchases. I prefer buying from sources who care about their reputation; not foolproof, but I have to say that ArcEuroTrade, Warco, and other suppliers have all been far more honest than my High Street Bank. Be a lert, Britain needs Lerts…

Dave

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Samsaranda on 27/08/2019 19:31:01:

Today I replaced our outside light in the garden, it is an LED unit of 10 watts with a motion sensor, the one it replaced has been up for about 6 months. When I bought the previous one I thought perhaps if I pay a reasonable amount then it might last a fair while, it cost me £29.99 which I thought got me out of the bargain basement area where reliability might be an issue. Well six months it lasted so I wasn’t impressed, the replacement that I put up today cost me £12.99, I thought what the heck it can’t be any worse than the one it was replacing. When I got around to taking the old one down I realised that it was the same as the new one, the only difference was in the name and the actual LEDs other than that it was identical, same cast body and mounting bracket. My thoughts are now more reinforced as to what a rip off Chinese merchandise can be.

Dave W

.

May I just ask, Dave …

Where did you buy these, and who set the price ?

MichaelG.

.

Edit: Post crossed with S-O-D's

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 28/08/2019 09:15:10

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Michael, I bought the 29.99 version at my local Screwfix, the cheaper 12.99 version was purchased from Amazon, I realise that neither are regarded as high end retailers but I felt that they could be trusted, I never purchase anything electrical from EBay as I have seen too many horror stories on tv programmes about the possible consequences.

Dave, I hear what you say and realise that I have to be more cynical in my regard to those who are vying to take my hard earned cash. I am now very wary of the CE marking on any product, it would appear to be worthless because too many products that appear in our marketplace do not meet any standards.

NDIY, I can see how easily companies in China would use common components, such as cast cases and fixing brackets, but the quality of internals could vary widely.

Many thanks for your responses.

Dave W

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

One was of a better quality, the next cheaper one showed clear signs of ‘corner-cutting’. But the cheapest (about a quarter of the cost of the most expensive example) was very likely not even worth that quarter! The internals were so poorly made and cheap that the machine was not likely to last very long at all

It may surprise you that even some well known brands do not last very long.

A while ago I was on a course and was told by the instructor that the drill their company produced has a working life span of about 1/2hour as it was a DIY model and many DIY'ers would only use the drill for 2 minutes at most at any one time and this may happen only a few times over the period of the guarantee and will not add up to the.

Having said that many of that brand have gone on to give great service.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Black & Decker drill used to be tested for 24hrs continuous use as they considered this would last for years of use, I know this as I installed a test track to test the drills.

Re LED lamps, I bought two solar powered units with detection, one is eighteen months old and the other is twelve months old and both still going strong and both from Amazon.

Got back from the Great Dorset Steam Fair yesterday, an excellent seven days, one of the posters on here introduced himself and his wife, sadly due to the heat of the week and old age I've forgotten his name

Martin P

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Hi Martin,

'Twas us. You must have had a very hot and tiring week at the show.

There was a magnificent array of stationary engines being exhibited – all chugging away so thanks to you and all the other exhibitors. It was really nice having a chat with you.

Cheers,

Rod (and Sally)

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Rod,

Just resting my eyes, I thought it was hot until I returned and found my wife was suffering 30 degrees plus.

Martin P

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Just spotted the Bonhams advert at the head of the page.

MichaelG.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Samsaranda on 27/08/2019 19:31:01:

Today I replaced our outside light in the garden, it is an LED unit of 10 watts with a motion sensor, the one it replaced has been up for about 6 months. When I bought the previous one I thought perhaps if I pay a reasonable amount then it might last a fair while, it cost me £29.99 which I thought got me out of the bargain basement area where reliability might be an issue. Well six months it lasted so I wasn’t impressed, the replacement that I put up today cost me £12.99, I thought what the heck it can’t be any worse than the one it was replacing. When I got around to taking the old one down I realised that it was the same as the new one, the only difference was in the name and the actual LEDs other than that it was identical, same cast body and mounting bracket. My thoughts are now more reinforced as to what a rip off Chinese merchandise can be.

Dave W

I think it was your British retailer ripping you off for the extra £17…

I got a little solar motion light from the local Barnados for the front porch, cost £1.50 and it's been working for three years…

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 28/08/2019 17:58:47

[Anonymous]

I've been machining the fancy shape on the top of the drive pins for my traction engine rear wheels. The end of the drive pin, and the locking mechanism, have been changed from the drawings to reflect fullsize engine practice. The end of the pin will hold a wire loop which sits over a stud and is held in place with a spring clip. The shape was machined using a hydraulic copy unit:

I couldn't be **** to CNC mill the flat pattern so it was created by sticking a 1:1 paper pattern on the steel sheet and using a file. The finished drive pins:

And one in situ in the rear hub:

The fit of the pin in the six holes in the winding drum behind the hub varies from a push fit to a thou or so clearance. Not bad given that the hole in the hub and those in the winding drum were machined 9 years apart.

Annoyingly part way through the clamp on the Dickson toolpost on the copy unit broke:

Not a problem, except that the broken bit jammed the toolpost so I couldn't get to the screws to remove said toolpost. After removing every part of the toolpost bit by bit I managed to extract the broken parts and reassemble. Poor design really, the clamping force puts the bottom of the clamping shaft in bending. Not sure yet if I'll make a new one, or TIG weld the parts back together.

I also made a 9/16" D-bit in anticipation of drilling and reaming the holes in the crossheads for the piston rods. My secondhand 9/16" reamer is fudged as it cuts a thou oversize.

Andrew

[Ian Johnson 1Participant @ianjohnson1]

Fun little job today mending a set of broken garden secateurs which were not up to the job of pruning black bamboo, which is tough stuff. Tough enough to shatter the plastic anvil!

So I set about making a new anvil out of Acetal which is good and strong.

Milled a step to suit the anvil carrier, drilled a hole for the rivet and filed to shape.

Made a new rivet out of aluminium

And the jobs a good'un

Now where's that black bamboo?

Ian

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

That’s the sort of thing I do but does it make sense? A new pair are not expensive but the pleasure derived from an effective repair is huge, not everything is about economics.

Mike

[Joseph Noci 1Participant @josephnoci1]

Posted by Ian Johnson 1 on 01/09/2019 23:42:47:

Now where's that black bamboo?

Ian

Here it is….

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 28/08/2019 15:43:45:

Just spotted the Bonhams advert at the head of the page.

MichaelG.

Yes Michael, I've just been scanning through the catalogue. We went down in 2006 ish when they were last going to sell everything off just to have a final look. I was so pleased that the entire collection had been bought and it looked as if, after restoration, it could be kept together rather than sold off piecemeal and sent to the 4 corners of the globe. It looks very much like this is now happening. I still have the original Bonhams catalogue for the entire collection and there were so many historic items particularly models by Stevenson and Timothy Hackworth to name a couple. Cartloads of original drawings on linen some of which were hand coloured. It's such a shame to see a collection broken up. I understand that the restoration of the site was far more expensive than originally envisaged and I guess with the financial crash coming on top of that it was a perfect storm.

It's amazing how some of these places managed to keep going for as long as they did really. I used to visit anytime I was in the area and several times I was the only person in the place. I don't know what the answer is really short of the goverment stepping in and saving things for the nation. Fat chance of that really, I don't think the current lot could run a bath.

regards Martin

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