What did you do Today 2024

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

I want to decorate the workshop with some self adhesive vinil posters. Here I printed the first one to check the quality.

 

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

On 10 May 2024 at 21:56 Michael Gilligan Said:

You can … if you you know the URL

But they’ve made more bother than it’s worth

MichaelG.

 

Ok, I can work with that. Another small thing which could/should have been part of the forum rebuild 😀

[Sonic Escape]

On Sonic Escape Said:

I want to decorate the workshop with some self adhesive vinil posters. Here I printed the first one to check the quality.

 

They look good for the workshop – are they historic Soviet designs or new work in that style..?

 

 

[Diogenes]

On Diogenes Said:

On Sonic Escape Said:

I want to decorate the workshop with some self adhesive vinil posters. Here I printed the first one to check the quality.

 

They look good for the workshop – are they historic Soviet designs or new work in that style..?

 

 

They are new, mostly from Adobe stock. The stile is very proletarian. For some reason I like it.

 

This one is my favorite. I’m sure it is new. Otherwise the author might have a free vacation in the Gulag 🙂

[JAParticipant @ja]

There is something very fine and impressive (I am trying to find the right words) about early Soviet art and design.

I think I prefer them to “Rosie the Rivetter”, Doris operating a large lathe and a lot of steam locomotives pictures. I could ask who sells them but I am sure I will quickly find somewhere on the internet. Such posters were very popular when I was a student.

JA

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, earlier this week I was mowing one of my lawns with my self propelled mower, when all of a sudden it stopped self propelling, which made it hard work to push on my uneven ground, and with the grass being on the really long side, made it worse. So when I’d done I had a look at it, and was expecting to find the gearbox that drives the wheels, had given up, however, it was just a build up of wettish grass between the gearbox that swivels and puts tension onto the drive belt, and the mower casing. The obvious cause of the build up, was due to a large piece of plastic missing from  the belt guard, and allowing the blade flinging the grass into the space where the gearbox swivels.

So today I decided to patch it up, and looking for something suitable, I came across a couple of old stainless steel wind shields that you get on those round Barbeque cookers. So cutting a piece big enough out, and folding it to a suitable shape, pop riveted on to cover the gap and another small hole.

Regards Nick.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Did not visit Shillingstone Traction-engine Rally – I think properly titled Three Okefords Rally – near Blandford Forum.

Well, I reached the gate this morning, only to be told “Sorry, we’ve had to cancel it. It’s a sea of mud and we’re trying to get everyone out!”

Ah! I offered my commiserations and Best Wishes for Next Year, and ambled back home via the East Dorset lanes, stopping for coffee and a sandwich on Bulbarrow Hill, though thick haze removed all the details from the scenery more than about two or three miles away from here, one of the highest points in Dorset.

I did take the trouble to telephone another club member planning to visit, but unable to leave home very early.

…..

Naturally, the clouds cleared and after ensuring the car is as ready as I can make it for the MoT, mowing the lawn and thinning the vegetation in the pond, I settled down to a few hours of work in quite hot sun, on the steam-wagon up on its outdoor assembly-bench.

I fashioned a bracket, from steel angle, to support both the injector water-valve spindle and the engine end of the exhaust-pipe, and to give an extra holding-down point for the footplate on that side.

The footplates and bunkers are secured by hex-headed screws into tapped holes in the chassis, and readily removable without disturbing any of the “works” and plumbing.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

..tested a graver rest.. ..an addition to (or should I say, replacement for)  the iron bracket that has long earned it’s keep as a workstop on the milling machine.

..must have bought back many happy memories for it to be stuck back onto a lathe again for a short while..

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

I found a new (for me) cleaning substance. It claims to be an replacement for acetone. But unlike acetone it doesn’t evaporate. Ok, this is not always an advantage. And it is also completely non toxic. It has no danger symbols on it. This is nice for cleaning parts indoor.

 

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

If you look at the data  sheet its not quite as friendly as you might think!

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Read all about RhodiaSolve on its MSDS.  Safer than Acetone but not entirely harmless.

The main ingredient is Dimethyl Glutarate, about which I know nothing, other than it’s Category Description: Products used for cleaning or safety in an occupational or industrial setting (e.g. industrial cleaning supplies or laundry detergent, eye wash, spill kits)

The best solvent to use depends on the application.   Many things dissolve in water, but not greases.  They require an oily solvent, such as white spirit, or an additive such as Caustic Soda that attacks the water-proofing properties of oils, allowing the water to remove it as an emulsion.   The alcohols dissolve other substances, and have the useful property of mixing with other solvents, so meths can be used to remove water.

Acetone is a more powerful solvent than Dimethyl Glutarate, but that power has to be used wisely because Acetone dissolves flesh and comes with other nasty health risks.   Safe enough in small quantities, but many accidents when it’s used commercially and a silly old duffer who splashes several litres about in a badly ventilated garage whilst smoking a fag is likely to learn a painful lesson.   Acetone dissolves many of the same things as water plus grease, paint, varnish and many plastics.   An employer could provide a bucketful of Acetone for handwashing, but Acetone is far too aggressive.   Products like RhodiaSolve are much safer in a washroom.

Aggressive solvents are appropriate for cleaning machines, with the man protected by gloves, apron, and plenty of fresh air.

Cleaning a long neglected machine can be difficult because time causes corrosion and alters the nature of the grease.   Most grease lubricants are actually soaps, that is a binder combined with suitable greases and solvents.   Over time the solvent tends to evaporate and turn into a varnish, whilst the grease leaches out.  What’s left behind is more like glue than lubricant, and it can take some shifting.   Acetone may be necessary to remove varnish, followed by a good soak in penetrating oil, then flushing out with white-spirit.    With luck, this frees the parts up so they can be dismantled and cleaned mechanically as well.

Dirt should be removed mechanically first where possible.   Something like a suds tank should be pumped out or excavated by hand before solvents are used – it’s takes a lot of solvent to remove a little muck.  Mechanical means include steam cleaners, pressure washers and sand-blasting as well as elbow grease.

All methods have advantages and disadvantages,  so be prepared to do the clean in stages, trying various different solvents and methods for best results.    Watch out for anything causing damage; paint can be replaced, but dissolving internal plastic components and or the electrics is painful!

Impatience makes me a bad cleaner. I’m inclined mess up by rushing in regardless, ignoring my own advice.  I often risk an unsuitable solvent because I happen to have some handy, which isn’t smart…

Dave

 

 

 

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

Very useful review about cleaning. I’m restoring an old milling machine where the grease turned into some kind of glue, just like described.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, not today, but last Saturday afternoon, I held a 5″ diameter by 30mm thick steel plate, like the one in the photo below, in my four jaw chuck on my Boxford lathe, and as you can see, these were cut out of a larger piece of plate on a large lathe.

After cutting away all this swarf.

I found this 120mm diameter chuck backplate hiding inside, which happens to fit my Boxford lathe spindle.

The three white equidistant spots, show where the holes are hiding, which is where the bolts for fitting a 6″ three jaw chuck that I’ve recently refurbished, and today I’ve drilled those holes, and fitted the chuck, but I had the go out and get some grease, before fitting the two parts of the chuck back together.

I’ve also marked the jaw numbers on the side of the backplate, that sticks out at the back of the chuck, which makes it easier than trying to see them on the chuck face.

Regards Nick.

 

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Inching towards erecting the steam-raising department on my steam-wagon.

My enquiry about solder, on the ‘General Questions’ section, was towards this, after I’d struggled to sweat together the two brass parts of a steady / guide for the injector water-cock spindle.

It is screwed to a steel plate that starts at one end holding that brass bracket, is one of the firebox retainers in its centre, and its extended opposite end is forked to take the damper reach-rod.

This “multi-tasking” is in pursuit of minimising “spaghetti engineering” . The injector steam-valve and three boiler-feed clacks are above that assembly and though three of these pipes three drop vertically clear of it the third, not yet made, will not. So I had to saw and file small recesses in the plate and in the chassis bracket to which itself is screwed, ready for when the pipe is made.

Which won’t be until the feed-pump is made…..

….. probably after I’ve made enough engine to know where and how the pump will fit!

…

Oh: and I was going to cut the water spindle down so its handle is neatly on top of the guide, two inches above the footplate.

Then I realised it would look fair enough if translated to full-size (six inches above the near-side floor, and by the mate’s right foot) but be inaccessible to a driver on the model vehicle – and the gauge-glass is on the off-side, as on the originals. “Ergonomics” is a fundamental problem with miniature steam-wagons…

So it will stay of accessible boiler-top altitude, and eventually run through a little bracket screwed to the top of the cladding.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

A bit of progress on the Moriya Stirling engined desk fan. I welded the legs onto the sideplates, nearly setting the shed on fire in the process. (see the fire extinguisher thread.)

I do have to say I do my best welding with a grinder and paintbrush. Nevertheless, it scrubbed up ok. Biggest chore was cutting down the 1″ x 1″ x 1/8″ angle iron into 1/2″ angle as the latter seems to not be available in Australia. Then bending the four legs in vice with a piece of pipe slipped over for leverage so they all came out the same. Somehow we got there. So it is starting to look like something now. And I can go on and make the underslung hot end cylinder now it has legs to stand on.

It is always good when you get a project to the stage where it starts to look like something rather than a pile of disconnected parts.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Finished the mini pallet today complete with tool steel finger clamps and some mini mitee bites. wasn’t I glad I kept the Archer tapping head!!. Now I need a job to test it out.

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Bought or made mitee bites?

Looked at them a few times, but always put off by the price!

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, spent a couple of hours on a kind of “don’t try this at home” kind of thing, no doubt it broke most H&S rules, but I needed to get a 68″ x 40″ x 1/4″ thick piece of Chequer plate onto my old outside welding bench frame. The only way I could think of doing it, was to attach a scaffold pole to a substantial scaffold, that I already have, and fix the other end to a single pole, with a cross pole near the bottom, for extra stability. I used a link on the pole I lifted on, to hang my chain block, which slid along the pole quite easily, by pushing it with a piece of 4 x4 timber. Setting up was the longest part of the job, and the Chequer plate had a 17mm hole in it which an eye bolt was fitted into, but the hole wasn’t exactly in the middle, so a lump of steel was clamped to one side to get a good balance on the length of the plate.

It all went very smoothly, without any struggling.

Regards Nick.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Yes Mark they are home  made, I have had the T slot versions for years but am not keen on the pressure it puts on the T slot but this version is only a socket head with the head turned eccentrically to provide the sideways nip on the hexes although these could be round as well.

Nick, lots of thought and little work!!!

[Craig BrownParticipant @craigbrown60096]

Finished boring a collar I’m making for a Fobco drill press. Just need to tidy up the welded lug and put the slit in it

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Nice neat bit of welding Craig. No pigeons where you live!!!

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Why can you not buy these?

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Disaster, the washing machine has been leaking for what appears to be some time, but seeping into the flooring underneath without my noticing, then spreading under the vinyl. Workshop now in chaos as I try to dry it out.

I’ve ordered a catch tray to go under the washing machine.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Now I do feel a twit. Washing machine repair man came today, turns out the problem was a spilt washer on the feed hose. Zanussi type machines should have a different washer to everyone else’s.

Moral of the story is, turn off the tap on the feed when not required. Will SWMBO remember? Doubt it. Workshop still in chaos waiting for it to dry out. This cold weather isn’t helping

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Why do you say the Zanussi should use non-standard sealing washers?

Ian P

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