What Did You Do Today 2025

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

..Webpage seems to very slow to load..

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

SOOOO SLOW!!!!!!

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Glad it’s not just me

[sorry, chaps]

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Just wondering … could this be what has been crippling the forum:

https://www.themodellinghub.co.uk/

?

it popped-up unexpectedly, during an excruciatingly slow page-refresh.

MichaelG.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

I have removed comment myself because it was political. V8.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

More weirdness noted this morning:

.

.

MichaelG.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Today I noticed that ‘Aluminium Droitwich’ have interesting stuff in their Ebay store ‘Clearance Bin’..

inc. 48mm dia 6082 and various thicknesses of CZ121 3/4″ strip..

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Well-found, Diogenes

MichaelG.

 

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

I thought that I had started a topic on my Rob Roy build. Anyway, could not find it so will post what I did today on it.

I have not done much to it while I was building the Farm Boy.

So I have made some of the linkages, which there are a few.

Started by machine some scraps of Ali into blocks on the left of photo. I knew that they would get used.

 

Start of the lifting link

 

May remake these depending on how the ends go when rounding off

 

Valve rod arms ready for the spacers yet to be made

 

The two lifting arms. I tag parts as some later on look the same but with slightly different dimensions but only slightly saves having to measure them to confirm which is which

 

 

 

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Yesterday, must have been about 6pm, I saw a loco reversing up the M4. Well it was an 0-6-2 on a lorry. Number 6689 I think.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

It all came together today, been running for 12 hours.
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[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Burning the midnight oil Duncan ?  But its great when a project comes together.

Bob

[Jim Young 2Participant @jimyoung2]

Duncan….can you tell us more about your project?

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I just written it up for SMEE journal, if our noble knight of the blue pencil wants it I’ll send if to him after SMEE has had first bite. In brief, the black thing below the pendulum is a coil of many turns of fine wire, and there is a magnet on the end of the pendulum, so as it swings to and fro, a small voltage is induced. This voltage is amplified and sent to an Arduino, which puts a much higher pulse of current (although still only a few mA) through the coil, which repels the magnet and makes up for any losses to keep ir swinging. The silver thing off to the left is a Hall effect sensor, if that gets triggered by the magnet the next drive pulse is omitted, thus controlling the amplitude. The Arduino also outputs an alternating polarity signal which drives the motor from a quartz clock.

1. It has now been passed as fit for display in the house, so here’s a picture with the hood on,  just needs a big of white wire to make if less obvious

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Jim, I’ve sent you a pm

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Whilst waiting for a lump of something to turn up for the Vickers cylinder, I thought I’d make a start on the lower end with some pedestals – I’ll need to sit back and ‘consider these in context’ when more is done – I find it really hard to picture how an individual part is going to ‘work’ with other bits visually once it all done..

Will these look okay if I fix the ‘lowers’ permanently to the base with a generous fillet round them..?

I’ll update the Vickers thread once I make a decision..

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Fairly unusual to have bearing pedestals as an integral part of a “casting” like that. Back in the day it was easier to put the base in the planing machine and skim the raised pads flat. Then the separate bearing pedestals could be “fitted” as separate parts.

So I would be more inclined to do without a fillet. You could mill a couple of mm off the bottom and as a slightly larger “foot” and then fillet the foot to the pedestal so they look like castings.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

😁- yes, that makes sense and the ‘foot’ solution was one I’d considered, particularly as it’s an easy way out! Thank you!

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Well, over a couple of days…

Finished assembling the nice shiny new-to-me screw-cutting gearbox to my ML7. It has not had much use, judging by the paintwork and very light wear on the change-quadrant mechanism, then I moved some protectiove grease from the wheels and saw to my dismay chipped gear teeth suggesting either an accidental endways crash as my previous gearbox had suffered, or a previous owner trying to change gear with the lathe revolving.

Ah well… It does work but I was not happy.

If the damged parts are still replaceable I might try repairing the old gearbox; but it is hardly priority and if it all comes to the worst I have carefully kept the original leadscrew, banjo, gears, etc.

 

Yesterday, an expedition to Ockbrook for the twice Yearly NAME Delegates’ Meeting. Would have been a more enjoyable drive up if the Police actually signpost sensible diversions when they close major roads like the A-whatisit past Oxford, on the way to the M40. Then coming home, via the Fosse Way, the M4 junction was closed forcing me through Bath… not what I wanted!

Perhaps the most salient point for us all to watch, raised by one of the meeting attendees, is the so-called Martin’s Law, named after a victim of the terrorist atrocity at the Ariane Grande concert and resulting from a campaign by his mother. It will enforce as-yet vague anti-terrorist security conditions on undefined “premises”, to be operated according to as-yet unwritten guide-lines; with >200 attendees. (Over 800 attendees means higher levels of security.) This will include shops and places of worship as well as theatres. Enforced and overseen by a new agency to be established, with venues having two years to comply so suggesting considerable complexity and cost. How it will impinge on model-clubs at their own sites, working portable railways at fetes and the like, or booking places for exhibitions, is anyone’s guess – indeed how it will affect all public events, even village fetes that are normally non-ticketed, is an open question….. Clearly, corporeal lives are far more important than anything else, but I wonder and fear for the future of the social lives we all enjoy and perhaps take for granted.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Reading through the ‘dot-Gov’ outline of Martyn’s Law, sounds like it is mainly be a RAMS/RP (Risk Assessment / Method Statement / Responsible Person) exercise for smaller venues – or, a bit like a Fire Plan..

– presumably as all public events have some existing paperwork to do in this regard anyway, it will just be another ‘section’ to complete..?

[Robert ButlerParticipant @robertbutler92161]

It looks as though gear box components are available at a price. Cheaper to source another secondhand gearbox?

Robert Butler

[Charles LamontParticipant @charleslamont71117]

Over the last few days I made a 1″ diameter Boyar-Schulze pattern internal lap. While it will come in handy for other jobs, the immediate need was to correct a bore that was very slightly oval, I think due to variability in the iron casting.

Total shop time making lap: 9-1/2 hours.

Lapping time to make hole a good fit: less than 30 seconds.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Diogenes –

Well, we can but hope it will be as simple as that, but with barristers, insurance companies and “consultants” all hanging around, and the real law’s detail requirements not yet known, can only hope.

 

Used my new-to-me Myford gear-box to cut a BSP thread on the bolt for a banjo connection. This is part of moving the pressure-gauge on the club’s locomotive to a location easily visible to the driver perched on the driving-truck, on a ground-level line.

Took the bolt to the club to test it and other parts for fit, and found everyone trying to determine why a loco just bought by a member would not run, and why setting its slide-valves’ Walschaerts valve-gear proved so hard. The fault was traced to the return-crank on one side having slipped on the crank-pin. It relied on the split-clamp grip, and although drilled for a locking-pin, had no such pin or key.

These gear-boxes were designed for a 12T primary pinion on the reverse-tumbler output, but for anything up to 28TPI (1/8″ BSP), and all power feeds I use a 24-tooth pinion and put the gearbox in its [intended X 2] setting. So 58tpi in this case.

 

A fellow club member told me he tried a gearbox on his lathe but found no great advantage over change-wheels. The latter also make it easier to cut metric threads, and the common mm pitches are available with the standard Myford change-wheels.

My fitting a gear-box makes my lathe physically more convenient simply because its end is usually not readily accessible. In fact the time saved is not that great, partly because engaging the gears entails a lot of careful manipulating. I could revert it to all change-wheels. I have carefully kept all the original components including lead-screw, but having fitted it, even a second-hand gear-box costs a lot more brass than the brass I turn!

 

[Clock polisherParticipant @clockpolisher]

Having a loft workshop with no natural light I have been struggling to work recently, especially on the lathe. I couldn’t read the dials. I do have two 5-foot strip lights but they have been getting dimmer as I get older.

I’ve just fitted 4 LED lamps, they are Daylight/6500 Kelvin, with standard BC fitting. They consume 15w and are the equivalent of 100w older lamps.

The difference is amazing, it’s like walking outside into the sun. Everything is so clear.

I fully recommend them. Bought them off EBAY from a company that does less than 24 hour delivery.

regards,

David

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Felt a bit too cold and lazy to go in the workshop, but not too lazy to do a bit of designing!

Combined with finding how much Alibre Atom I can remember since last time…

 

It’s for the boiler connection for the pipe to the pressure-gauge on our club loco, a Ken Swan model of the Kerr-Stuart ‘Wren’. If you place the gauge where he did, replicating the full-size, you cannot easily see it when driving on a ground-level track as it’s up under the roof.

Someone had moved the gauge to a lower location but even that was back-cricking for some of our taller members, so I’ve found it a new home. One or two people had waffled about wanting girt big ‘oles cut in the cab roof, but having helped build the loco, I was not having that inflicted on it!

I had already made the bolt from a rough sketch, now need make the connector body, but I have drawn both parts  properly (ish) to add to the existing plan set. Yes I know real model-engineering drawings put oodles of other components on the sheet, all chain-dimensioned in sixty-fourths. Even combining both of these small items on one A4 sheet would be a bit crowded.

Nor do I pretend my technical-drawings would ever please the ISO-fans, but I had hoped I could create consistent centre-lines that span the elevations properly, and align those properly with each other. I am not worried about omitting screw-threads.

I created the bolt as a half-outline rotated about the axis, in drawing it, so the only added extrusion was the square.

I don’t know why I added the scale note about the 3D bit. It does not mean much, and it seems under-size on a test print.

 

The exercise kept me in the warm and out of mischief for some three or four hours. The hardest part was deriving the workshop drawings from the model. I’m glad there were no ladies present at times as my language was not always quite respectable engineering….

 

If the square looks small for the rest of it, that is deliberate, to limit the spanner size (hence applied torque).

Incidentally I was a bit surprised to find the pressure-gauge and vacuum gauge, both bought from the regular model-engineering retailers, have BSP connections. Presumably ‘our’ retailers simply buy them from industrial suppliers. I discovered too that the boiler has BSP bushes, hence my making all three joints the same.

 

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