What did you do today? (2013)

[Chris HeapyParticipant @chrisheapy71135]

Today I fixed one of those annoying problems that kept getting ignored. The spoke arms onboth my mill and mill/drill were always too long I thought, the handles would often hit the vice or something else when going for a deep drilling job etc. So I made new ones.

The one on the mill I made much shorter, and it needed an offset so I had to do some blacksmithing on it to get those bends in. Ball handle was made with the tool I made a few weeks ago. Even though significantly shorter it is still easy to use.

The one for the mill/drill is similar but without the offset

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Haven't done much for a couple of weeks. Life is strange. The balance of the PPI that was going top be central heating radiators is now going to be a heart op on the dog (look up PDA). Very fraught – daughter is in pieces with worry. At least I got a few goodies and booked the holiday in time (just!)

I have found time to glue the neck on that violin (PVA was a fail, undertension the neck just peeled away. So I got some titebond liquid hide glue, still frowned on by luthiers (who insist on the melty stuff) but the company tell me it will be fine).

I also wired up the inverter to the motor and made a temporary pulley for round belting (I'll go poly-v soon). I used small red crimp connectors and discovered the reason I have struggled with them in the past is using small wires in big blue connectors!

Neil

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

I filled my boiler full of water and then tried to pressure up the boiler. Now i have to take it to bits to try and get the regulator to seal so it will stay pressurised. No other leaks so it's not too bad.

Annoying!

Bri

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Chris, what make your mill/drill, it looks similar to my Rexon 400, except for the colour, mines a dreary green. Ian S C

[Chris HeapyParticipant @chrisheapy71135]

Posted by Ian S C on 13/06/2013 12:33:49:

Chris, what make your mill/drill, it looks similar to my Rexon 400, except for the colour, mines a dreary green. Ian S C

It's an elderly Warco A2S turret mill I converted to 3-phase. I don't think they sell them any more. It's been a reliable machine for me over the years.

Chris

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Proberbly of similar lineage, Mine was made in Taiwan, had it about 27 years, bought on the spur of the moment, I was looking for a drill press, my hobby then was wood turning, but this thing was cheaper, so I took it. Gave up the wood soon after.

Yesterday had morning tea in town with a chap that has just discovered the marvel of a Bradley (NZ made)hot air pumping engine, they were built in Christchurch NZ for domestic water supply, it stands about 2ft tall, found when clearing out a garage, bit of heat and it worked straight off. One of his hobbies is making knives by forging laminates of high and low carbon steel. Ian S C

[dcostaParticipant @dcosta]

Hello Ian,

Does the Bradley hot air pumping engine you saw is the same referred in this place ***LINK*** ?
It's very elegant.

regards
Dias Costa

Edited By dcosta on 14/06/2013 14:50:29

[Chris HeapyParticipant @chrisheapy71135]

Sorry Ian I mis-read you question – you asked about the mill/drill not the mill.

The mill/drill is an (even older) Naerok machine (cute – Korean spelled backwards).

Chris

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Dias Costa, yes thats it, Peter is the local (about 80k away) stirling Engine gooroo. That little motor. connected to a pump similar to a drum pump for a 44gal(50 USgal) drum, was able to pump about 100gal per hour, the water was drawn up and pumped out via the water jacket. in the late 19th, early 20th century there were a lot of houses in the Christchurch area that were not on piped water supply, most relied on hand pumps to fill a bucket of water. Bradleys busines was right in one of those areas, and there must have been quite a number of the little motors, The gas works were also in that area, and houses would have gas long before electricity. Once heated to working temperature, they need very little heat from the burner. Ian S C

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Apart from removing plaster from a wall for repair I made a batch of left and right hand torsion valve springs for the steamer.

Will now have to stress relieve them in the household oven for 1 hour at 260C perhaps cook some food at the same time so can do two things at once.

Paul

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Dog back and in one piece, but essentailly now in similar condition to if she was hit by a car On the bright side the vet reckons she was only a whisker from complete heart failure.

Might even be relevant – replumbing a dog is not a long way off model engneering – is it?

Neil

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

A trip to the Vet put the dog in the pedigree class, price wise at least, even if it wasn't before. But a dog is one of the family, and it hurts when they suffer. Ian S C

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Well Neil

I don't know if re-plumbing a dog is relevant but, if I had to choose between my dog and model engineering ( thankfully unlikely), then the dog would win by a long way! Don't worry they have the most amazing recuperative powers. Ours had a major op a couple of years ago and could hardly move afrerwards. We put her bed in the sitting room and my wife slept on the sofa in the sitting room with her for a week. You will be pleased to know that she ( the dog that is!) recovered quickly and was soon on patrol ensuring none of the neighbours 12 cats venture into our garden. Yes it can be very expensive – I recommend a dog insurance – expensive itself but if your dog is ill are you going to say I can't afford to take it to the vet?

Here is a pic of my best mate. What did I do today – I took her for a walk!

( So I guess this qualifies.)

Cheers

Norman

Edited By NJH on 15/06/2013 14:36:14

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

She slept in our bed last night – so I didn't

Not long ago carried her into the garden as it was clear she wouldn't use a puppy mat! She decided to bask in the sun, but rain was heading in fast. Following the vet's recommended technique we put her ona blanket to carry her in. Half way to teh back door, she wriggeld out, trrotted to the lawn and did all her business! She also managed to hobble back in, but she's sleeping most of the time.

I can't help thinking that despite our high opinion of humans, it's the pets that have won the evolutionary race – carefully training us to feed, house and care for their every need!

Neil

[dcostaParticipant @dcosta]

Hello Ian.

Thank you for the information on the Bradley hot air pumping engine.
Do you know, by any chance, where or to get plans for such a machine?

regards
Dias Costa

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

Today nothing as nice as dog walking i'm afraid i'm trying to repair the 6F table feed on my BP mill.

And I bought a P5 Kawasaki as well

Regards

Paul

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Dias Costa, I thought there was a series in Model Engineer a few years back, had a look in the index, but could not see it, I'm sure it was a Heinrici. I'll have to keep looking. Ian S C

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

My Hobby Store has 2 versions of Edgar T. Westbury's Heinrici motor, M42 is 18" high, with 6" flywheels, the M2 seems to be a bit smaller. Another similar(?) motor is the Baileys Bee. Ian S C

[dcostaParticipant @dcosta]

Hello Ian.

Once again, I thank you for the information on the Bailey's Bee (pardon me if I made a mistake writing the name of the engine) hot air engine.
Perhaps I'll order M2 plans after recovering from the fire in my workshop.

regards
Dias Costa

[Anonymous]

Amongst other things I've been cutting gears today. I've been working on the two pinion gears that fit on the crankshaft of the traction engines I'm building. Actually, I've been making a set of two gears for a friend of mine, who is building the same engine. The gears are in EN8. I've got a much better finish on his gears than mine, so I decided to bin my gears and make another two sets for me; that's because I'm building two engines. Today I've cut all the gears shown here:

The gears are 6DP, so the larger gears are just over 4" diameter, and the smaller gears just over 3" diameter. Why is one of the smaller gears not cut? Because I b0gged up yesterday and started cutting the slot for the gear change mechanism in the wrong place, so one scrap part.

First job tomorrow morning is to order another EN8 billet, plus some other steel, so I get 'free' delivery.

Oh, and I heard my first sonic boom today; see my post in the 'aircraft discussion' thread.

Regards,

Andrew

[Chris HeapyParticipant @chrisheapy71135]

That does look to be a very fine finish for EN8, are you going to case harden them?

Chris

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Are you sure the "sonic boom" was not the mucked up gear hitting the workshop wall as you hurled it across the workshop

[Anonymous]

Unusually I was cool, calm and collected when I b0gged it up. I simply walked away, leaving the offending gear in the lathe chuck, and made a cup of tea. Then I went back and machined the other two gears correctly.

I've just measured the finish on one of the new gears; an average of four readings gives 1µm Ra. On one of the old gears I get a reading of about 5µm Ra. More importantly the finish on the new gears is more uniform with much less 'tearing' of the metal. Roughing was done at 540rpm and 8 thou/rev feed. To get the good finish I ran at 800rpm and 1200rpm, both with a 4 thou/rev feedrate, depending upon the diameter. The figures equate to about 800fpm surface speed, any less than that and the EN8 seems to 'tear' rather than cut. I'm not planning to case harden, the mating gears are cast iron, so I wouldn't see any advantage in hardening the pinion gears.

The old gears will not be entirely wasted, as I'll use them as test pieces for cutting the internal splines to match the crankshaft.

Regards,

Andrew

[Chris HeapyParticipant @chrisheapy71135]

Partly made an R8 shank tool rack. It's constructed from square alloy tube and alloy flat stock. I wanted something the tools would drop into at an angle rather than vertical, so came up with this.

Chris

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Hmmm….. Neil

You say " I can't help thinking that despite our high opinion of humans, " – I'm not too sure that I do have a high opinions of humans generally. Who has caused all the problems in the world? I think that humans, as a species, are a duplicitous, self interested agressive lot! Of course many ( most?) individual members are not like that at all – but if we are suddenly invaded by a superior alien race it would probably be better to be a dog!

N

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