What Did You Do Today 2019

[Ian Johnson 1Participant @ianjohnson1]

Posted by Mike Poole on 02/09/2019 00:12:34:

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

Yes Mike it's not just economics, and it was fun little job to do. Works great too

Ian

[Ian Johnson 1Participant @ianjohnson1]

Posted by Joseph Noci 1 on 02/09/2019 00:18:14:

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

Now where's that black bamboo?

Ian

Here it is….

What the heck is that thing???? If I found that in my garden I would emigrate to a safer country!

Ian

[Richard S2Participant @richards2]

Superb image of the black snake from Mr Noci 1.

Today I finished the wheel build jig and made the axle for a 1" scale water cart –

Spokes are next….they may be some time!.

Edited By Richard S2 on 02/09/2019 18:03:04

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by Bill Phinn on 17/08/2019 20:48:49:

Levelled my rather worn and uneven concrete garage floor with Mapei Ultraplan renovation screed.

Since it's described as "not a wearing surface", I'd be interested to hear what people recommend in these circumstances for producing a good wearing surface for moving machinery (mostly on wheels) around on and for general use. I've looked at other threads on workshop flooring but I still can't decide.

Continuing with my garage floor, today I applied the final wearing surface, consisting of six bags of Ardex K80.

At £40 per bag, the cost is not for the squeamish, especially after you've already spent £300 on 14 bags of Mapei Ultraplan. The Ardex took considerably longer than the Mapei to go off, in spite of the blurb saying it is "walkable after two hours".

I plan to expoxy paint it in a week or so, after which, hopefully, I'll have a very smooth, very hard garage floor that will "see me out".

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 01/09/2019 22:21:04:

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

Have you tried the trick of rubbing a hardened steel rod along each cutting edge?

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Martin Kyte on 02/09/2019 13:17:40:

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

Are there any items that should be drawn to the attention of the authorities? Surely like fine art some of those models must be of national importance?

Neil

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Hi Neil

Bonhams are not exactly 'under the radar' so maybe the science museum is awake enough to notice.

I would have thought that the most significant piece was this one.

AN IMPORTANT 8 3/4-in GAUGE MODEL OF GEORGE STEPHENSON'S "NO. 1" 0-4-0 "LOCOMOTION", perported to have been constructed by George Stephenson and 'a friend',

**LINK**

It is certainly worth anybody's time to have a good look through the catalogue.

regards Martin

[Joseph Noci 1Participant @josephnoci1]

Posted by Ian Johnson 1 on 02/09/2019 15:47:52:

Posted by Joseph Noci 1 on 02/09/2019 00:18:14:

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

Now where's that black bamboo?

Ian

Here it is….

What the heck is that thing???? If I found that in my garden I would emigrate to a safer country!

Ian

Just a play on 'words' – black bamboo…black mamba…

Quite prominent in my playgrounds…from egg to 1meter in 1 year, grow to 3meters typicaly, and can move at up to 12mph in sand..Keep your shears handy! one of the most venomous snakes about.

Sorry, nothing to do with anything being discussed on this forum at all..

Joe

[Anonymous]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 02/09/2019 22:47:58:

Have you tried the trick of rubbing a hardened steel rod along each cutting edge?

No. Oversize wasn't the only problem; the reamer also left a very poor finish. It feels like one of the flutes has been dinged in several places and the cutting edges are blunt. So if I ever need to use the reamer again I might stone the flute and sharpen the end. But not at the moment. The hole has to be flat bottomed with a sharp internal corner. So I needed to make the D-bit anyway.

Andrew

[DrDaveParticipant @drdave]

I don’t normally listen to music in the workshop: I find that it is too distracting when using machine tools. But this morning I broke out the filing buttons to round off some clevises that I am making. Time to break out the dulcet tones of Led Zeppelin to help pass the time!

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Found a 1/4" threaded mounting block off a small telescope designed to fit a round barrel of the right diameter, so I decided to pop it on my guidescope (seeing as I'd temporarily being holding it in place with gaffer tape and rubber bands…)

Easy job – spot through for two holes, tap M4, shorten a couple of cap screws and there you go.

Then fit it to my dual mount bar with one of those fancy looking chromed ones with a big knurled knob. The blooming thread shears off – with the unmistakeable big crystals of a cheap zinc alloy!

I hate to think that there are people out there with thousands of pounds worth of camera kit being held in place by a 5/32" neck of monkey metal under tension…

Found another knob. Will make some of my own soon.

Neil

[Ian Johnson 1Participant @ianjohnson1]

Posted by DrDave on 05/09/2019 12:56:24:

I don’t normally listen to music in the workshop: I find that it is too distracting when using machine tools. But this morning I broke out the filing buttons to round off some clevises that I am making. Time to break out the dulcet tones of Led Zeppelin to help pass the time!

Saw this post and thought of filing to Led Zep's 'Kashmir'! Guaranteed to remove metal fast and furiously!

Could be a whole new thread on what music do you file to?

Ian

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

I'd have thought 'Immigrant song' would have a higher metal removal rate!

[Anonymous]

After the previously reported fumble of using a secondhand reamer and my home made D-bit I created a trial hole in steel using just the D-bit after normal drilling. Worked perfectly, the hole was a nice push fit on the piston rod with no shake. So this morning I went ahead and made the holes in the crossheads:

Total ***** mess; the holes were oversize and the piston rods rattled around. No idea why the holes were a mess compared to the steel block. Although of course the tool has been reset, the clamping arrangement is different and the material is cast iron. After a sulk, and considering various options, I tried fitting a ring of steel shim. One hole needed a 1 thou shim, two a 1.5 thou shim and one a 2 thou shim. This was in conjunction with some fine tuning of the piston rods as a couple of them varied in diameter by a few tenths over the length in the hole. Fortunately the result is now piston rods that fit tightly in their sockets with no shake:

From the CAD model the diagonal dimension outside to outside on the piston rods is 4.1447". On both assemblies it measured 4.144"; not bad, especially as the piston rod material is half a thou undersize. The piston rods seem to be parallel to within a few thou as well. Although not an important dimension the distance from the top of the piston to the bottom of the crosshead should be 9.875"; it measured about 9.880".

Given the disaster of this morning I'm pretty pleased the way things have turned out. So may be I won't bin the engines and take up knitting just yet.

Andrew

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Second attempt… diverted to verify something and lost the draught message!

I'd had a disheartening cock-up trying to make a pair of centring blocks for machining the crank-pins on 4"-scale steam-wagon's crankshaft. Roughing the shaft by milling revealed a loss of symmetry I put down to the two sets of original centres on flanges on the end, being misaligned with each other.

I'd milled the blocks from a piece of mild-steel bar about 2" square, thinking ahead to their possible further use as Stevenson's Blocks 50mm sq x about 40mm thick., with a 25mm central bore in each (and turning the embryo crankshaft's temporarily over-diameter ends down to match).

Try as I might, for reasons I have not established I could not make the stock square and parallel for its length – all of about 4 inches. "Only" a simple fly-cutting operation with the stock held between an angle-plate and the milling-machine table.

Decided to think only of the initial purpose, and selected the 2 most-square sides on each, indicating them by filing a generous chamfer along their shared edge.

Then… realised the centre-drillings for the crank throws are 1", errr… from the centre of a 2-less-a-bit" square?

Called myself all the names under the Sun, and reverting to Plan A, started machining to 98mm square two pieces of nominally 100 x 25mm flat bar; wondering where I could remove metal to reduce the massive overhung weight this would add to the shaft for its own off-set turning.

'

So TODAY….

Spent a relaxing day in the sunshine at the club's track site, instead, by helping tidying the garden that has become as much a feature as its encompassing ground-level railway's shorter home circuit and the raised 16mm-scale track within that oval.

Then Eureka!, or something like it.

Collecting wind-blown litter and cutting brambles from the boundary hedge without cutting the dog-rose stems, must have swept the tubes in what passes for my mind, for I realised I can still use those 50mm blocks.

Never mind future use, beyond this one engine project. All I need do is set them out with the hole and the two centre-drillings off-set towards the one "square" corner.

So home, a brew then into the workshop….

By the time I stopped for a late tea, I'd set the centres on the mill (albeit with one mistake so it's a good thing cuboids have opposite faces…) then transferred each block to the 4-jaw chuck on the Harrison lathe to pilot-drill the holes 21mm, finishing with a quick pass by boring-tool to lessen the boring-head work to come.

(Why not finish-bore in the lathe? I want the blocks identical, and stand more chance if I use the milling-machine, with DRO, for the finishing operations. It won't be as easy to test the bores on the mill by using the crankshaft itself, it being nearly a foot long; but I have a milling-cutter with one-inch shank to use as a plug-gauge.&nbsp

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Loco auction if you want to save some time and have deep pockets then this is readymade.

Mike

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Replaced two of the turbo hoses on my car, one was split.

Now I think I need a skin graft, a blood transfusion and, despite a warm bath and half a box of cleaning wipes, a deep clean.

Neil

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Neil, your state of affairs after the car repair is pretty much par for the course these days on cars and trucks, I have much the same experiences…. no room, sharp edges everywhere, no tool access. Wonderful progress!

Now checking RobotMart.net to see if that car repair bot is ready for market yet…..

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I even resorted to grinding the corners off a spring clip with the dremel after it had claimed too much of my blood!

Neil

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

The pop up waste on my sons washbasin was leaking, investigating I wondered where all the blood was coming from, the spring clip was razor sharp and I didn’t even feel it slashing my fingers, I am afraid to say it was made in China.

Mike

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Why are you afraid to say it was made in China?

Looking round the room I am in, the house I am in and the shops I visit, the majority of the contents, the furnishings, and the goods on sale, originated from China. It would be the same or similar in USA and many other countries.

Where the clip came from does not have much connection with its quality. I think only today the MEW editor sustained minor injuries working on his car which (I understand) is not from the East.

Ian P

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

The clip requires to be manually adjusted and therefore it should not slash your fingers, it’s pretty basic engineering to not leave sharp edges on a finished product unless it’s a cutting tool. It would be unacceptable wherever it is made but in our quest for cheap these are the corners that get cut. Many pressings supplied to the car industry are tumbled to remove the sharp edges, not a universal treatment but done where required.

Mike

[Michael HornerParticipant @michaelhorner54327]

Finally got my calculated 18000 RPM spindle done. Motor and spindle get very hot so will keep me warm this winter. Hopefully will bring the machining times down, 10 hours was getting a bit long!

Cheers Michael.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Yet another racing car, ultimately for the grandkids. Generic sort of 1920s shape, OAL approx. 78mm., wheel track at Brio gauge.

Brass/Delrin/PB102/Titanium – the Ti hubcaps were torch-blued in the lathe before parting off.

All machining was in the WM250V, with vertical slide for milling and drilling.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

I've been getting on with my Farm Boy. These are some of the governor bits:

Rod

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