What Did You Do Today 2025

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Thanks very much, both – I mirrored the moulding above and below the middle bead and it was a bit of a b****r figuring out the depth & infeed for the fly cutter I used for the elliptical moulding – it’s a bit more bull-nosed than I’d like but it’ll come right after priming and sanding; lesson learnt – next fly-cutting form tool will have a more distinct ‘datum’ that can set to a known radius before we start.

[DellParticipant @dell]

I made a taller copy of my Pultra P type tool rest for my recently purchased Pultra 17/70,I used an original base to save me having to mill a T slot but everything else is shop made including the flip over part, not a perfect copy but close enough for me.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Looks like you had a very satisfactory outcome there, Dell.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

whippet con rod finished tonight lots of little set ups with very little machining and seems to fit the crank ok, time will tell!

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

After moving almost the entire workshop about 2000 km west half a year ago, I still had the feeling that I had lost something. It seems that I was right. Today I found two lost boxes with all kinds of tools. Including my collection of small abrasive stones. It’s interesting to rediscover things that you forgot you had.

[Julie AnnParticipant @julieann]

When machining a part recently that required the vertical head on the horizontal mill to be tilted one of the T-bolt clamps broke. Having finished the machining I decided to take the head apart and look at the T-bolts. The result was one T-bolt broken, one T-bolt that has been brazed and two ordinary bolts. Plus two nuts 1/2″ long and two standard nuts. Clearly I am not the first to have had problems!

I decided to make a complete new set of T-bolts:

The nuts are made from 0.6″ AF hex EN1A and the bolts from EN16T as I had it in stock. The thread is 3/8″ BSW and the threads are screwcut. Everything back to together and working:

Julie

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Nice clean work – looks like if one isn’t careful with the choice of spanner it’d be easy for the ring to ‘cam-over’ the bolt shanks and put considerable sideways thrust on it – awkward..

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Soldered the beads into the panels – still have ‘keystones’ to do but need to order some stock for that..

[Diogenes]

On Diogenes Said:

….looks like if one isn’t careful with the choice of spanner it’d be easy for the ring to ‘cam-over’ the bolt shanks and put considerable sideways thrust on it – awkward..

Got it in one; access is poor for nuts that will be used frequently! I suspect that is why the bolt broke in the first place. I’ve ordered a 3/8″ BSW spanner that should be better than the adjustable I’ve been using.

Julie

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Another small step forwards with my steam-wagon.

I spent the day lagging the boiler.

 

The string is sisal garden twine, more likely to withstand the heat than plastic cord.

I am not sure what the matting is, only that I bought it from EKP Supplies. I have not yet obtained the sheet-steel for the covers but the odd shape will necessitate fairly involved developments for them, and practice with cardboard or some old galvanised sheet I have.

 

The two black crinolines on the barrel, one close up to the smokebox, are of thick plywood liberally treated with preservative. How well they will survive remains to be seen… I realised a problem when making them. The smokebox, a slice of standard steel pipe, is significantly larger than the boiler barrel, in fact more than an inch larger diameter than the vertical outer firebox, and this would make the cladding very awkward unless I fit a reducer. This is in the profile of the forward crinoline, but it does not show in the photo.

Yes I know the injector is at a very odd angle. I have now set it right!

The creamy-coloured disc on top is part of a special boiler-lifting cradle, here used to support the flanged sheet-steel, lower cladding support ring around the bottom of the firebox while that is disconnected from the top cladding cover. Both components are spun, using a chunky bronze (or copper?) bar held in the tool-holder as the pusher.

The chassis’ large red plate is a bit preliminary but it or a replacement will become part of the transmission-gear frame.

 

I found an oddity on the front wheels yesterday, only (harrumph, lots of ) years after making them. The hub in one is drilled and tapped to take, eventually, a Stauffer-type grease-cup. The other should be, and isn’t! I have no idea how I managed to miss that, but it cannot now be provided in the same way. It means the plain bearing can be lubricated only by oiling the outsides and hoping some will penetrate the bearing; but I might be able to remove the wheel and drill a diagonal oil-hole.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Can you drill the axles and lubricate from the ends?

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I could, though not easily.

I had envisaged putting the wheel on the milling-machine and drilling diagonally into the hub itself.

However, I looked again more carefully with the vehicle back up on that bench for today’s gripping episode, and to my relief found I had in fact drilled both hubs. Cobwebs and grime had hidden the one I could not find while the wagon was on the shed floor!

I’ve still to make the grease-cups, but I squirted some oil down the holes.

I may, longer-term, make new stub-axles and bushes anyway. They are a bit shaky, and also I think making them quarter of an inch longer will slightly but usefully reduce the rather large turning-circle at some cost of heavier steering.

…..

Right, that’s the lost hole found. Now, what the hell have I done with one of the wagon’s two crew seats? How do you lose a 6 X 5 X 4 inches wooden box, painted in light grey primer? And the blast-pipe connection. That might in said box, with its hinged lid.

[Author]

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