What did you do today? (2013)

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The one I'm doing was made by Pacific Model Designs but they went out of business a few years ago. But fear not Maury of Lone Star Engine Works does the 2HP which is the one in the photo, he's a nice guy and knows his engines and the castings are very good. He posts on HMEM and MEM, his Swan engine is worth having a read about (interesting pattern making) and he has just started an interesting 4 cyl IC design of 1888 which will be worth following.

I think you will need a bigger lathe as the flywheels are 9" and the main crankcase is a whopper and with push my Warco 280. I can't find the link but there is a guy who made a 1/5 or 1/6 scale version from scratch.

If we are getting you tempted to build a hit & miss this guys build diary of his Pacific Vapour engine is worth wasting 1/2hrs of your Sunday reading through

J

Edited By JasonB on 27/10/2013 11:03:03

[Bob PerkinsParticipant @bobperkins67044]

I spent the afternoon finishing my between projects project. It's based on Tubal Cain's Polly.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

That's a very pretty little engine Bob – black and red paint plus polished brass – splendid!

Do you have a Son / Grandson to delight with this at Christmas and maybe sow the seeds of a future hobby for them?

Well done

Norman

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

Bandsaw belt tensioner, any one who has one of these probably already knows how crappy the drive belt tensioner is here is my simple but effective modification.

Also fitted an automotive drive belt in place of the Yak hair coated chewing gum item that was fitted.

Paul

[Bob PerkinsParticipant @bobperkins67044]

Thanks Norman

I ran it up with my two nephews this morning, both were keen to see it run again…… and again. My grandson is a bit young yet, but it's on the shelf for him.

Bob..

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

A little bit of 'coarse' engineering this afternoon.

After the ram failed again on my olde engine crane (and getting financial approval from SWMBO to buy an new one for my Birthday), I remodelled the frame into a workshop crane, bolted to the outside wall, to make lifting heavy items on and off the mill a little less traumatic

CB

Edited By CoalBurner on 27/10/2013 20:37:33

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

Finished the wenge fountain pen for me. Alsoa the walnut one for a gift.

Managed to complete a tricky burr walnut twist pen- wonderful grain but twisted all over so a swine to cut with skew chisel. Has taken ages but the colours of the burr are great and the personal satisfaction immense.

The moved on to repair eldest son's drum kit seat ( lost the securing collar etc so sketch then cut metal. New fitting worked fine, so feeling good decided to tidy workshop ( big mistake!!!).

Lifted engine assembly bench ( big tray with pillars to attach engine to it) to put it in the loft temporarily . Problem 1 – engine pillars not secured fully to tray, Problem 2 – gravity. Problem 3- tray smashes light bulb on way down to hit saw bench. Thankfully no damage to tray or bench just much irritation.

Much muttering later and about 3/4 hour hoovering- amazing how far glass fragments from ONE light bulb go Of course had to dust down, shake out all debris from saw table, work bench, assorted boxes trays etc stacked on those…

Pillars are now loctited onto tray and curing in the loft. On the bright side I can see bits of floor which were foreign to me.

a cleaner Ian

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I am amazed , all the stuff made by people on this forum, where do you get the time? Some are posting everyday, helping others. I barely have time to read them, and I'm retired. Haven't seen the lathe for two days until now. Just a sample- yesterday had to clean the gas cooker. Hot tap stuck shut. Stepladder for loft finally found in coal shed. Shut of water, take tap to bits, find washer in lots of little bits. Find washer was 16mm dia, all my spares are 19mm. Turn down washer, clean and reassemble. All working well, oven gets cleaned, morning finished.

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

My wife likes to watch soppy movies on true movies etc so she regularly 'sends me out' to the workshop so she can have some peace and quiet

I am being sent to the wood shop this afternoon to make some oak acorn keyrings for the charity she works for – what a chore!! LOL

CB

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Posted by mechman48 on 27/10/2013 09:56:29:

Blowlamp

Would be interesting to see any pics of your home made parting off tool?

George

George.

Pictures taken and uploaded for you – sorry for the delay.

I hope they're of some use.

Martin.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nice job, Martin

MichaelG.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Decided to make a tailstock fitting to attach a digital tyre depth gauge to my tailstock, to get a better reading for depth drilling, a lot of members will have something similar no doubt. Used some ally from my scrapbinium box, some neodiminiminum…? …. 'earth' magnets & some epoxy resin. It gave me a chance to use my rotab' for the first time since I got it a year ago so it was a learning curve as well as making something from my 'toduit' list.

[lancelotParticipant @lancelot]

today I decided to go on the ''Scrounge'' for some bronze…I had previously been talking to a guy in a ship chandlery about the chances of getting some…he directed me to a marina boat yard he knew and a particular bloke to speak to, after some discussion I left with free gratis…some small bits and pieces, a roughly 4ft length of propellor shaft tube, and an approx. 10'' propellor, all bronze…very pleasant conversation and will not be pushing my luck for quite some time…

John.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Hi Mechman,

What is the range on the tyre depth gauges? Are they just short versions of digital verniers?

Neil

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Took delivery of a ten foot bar of 2 1/4" hex brass bar on Tuesday morning. spent the last couple of days making 50 unions for a well known aero engine manufacturer who wishes to remain anonymous but who's initials are RR

Actually tell a lie as I can only get 49 out of the bar so the last one has to be knife and forked out of a bit of 3" round.

Can't post pictures of the unions due to no disclosure clause but this is what i have finished up with.

There is 30 kg of chippings in the bag and I reckon close to 20 still in the tray or will be by the time I have put the 1 1/4" gas thread on them.

Off down the scrappie then it's pie and a pint night.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Yesterday.

Silver soldered the Boxford shaper table direction selector ratchet lever back together, after ANOTHER episode.

I was machining the bevels in the extra T-slots I'd just added to the lathe Cross-slide, it overhanging the shaper table by quite a margin on the RH side. Winding the table to the right I felt resistance, but brain was on strike so I just continued, the result being a bang, followed by a clatter as the selector knob and shaft flew across the workshop and landed on the floor.

Now, not all that long ago, I would have grabbed the nearest implement and hurled it far and wide, but I've now learned my lesson and just walk straight out of the workshop for a cuppa to calm down. Brain being on strike, however, such reaction was completely lacking on this occasion, with just a "Oh bother, not again!" thought.

By comparison, however, fitting the ArcTrade bellows to the lathe was a complete doddle, the lathe bed and Leadscrew between the Headstock and Saddle now completely covered, and easily removed when needed.

Now sorting out some quick and easy to tighten screws for the drill press vise T-nuts.

Geoff – The BH600G write-up is turning into a marathon, as brain still not co-operating fully!

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

John my sympathies.
.what a faff ..having to individually identify the odd union at the end and all of its own documentation .luckily you had some odd traceable bar to finish up with…

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Hi Stub Mandrel

Range is 0 -18 mm (since I modified it)

Handy for those little short hole jobs, there are a lot of members have used 6" digi verniers with appropriate fixings for longer sizes but I based it on that if I needed to find that extra 1/2 – 1mm at the bottom of the hole I would place my drill to the bottom then use this to get that bit extra.. horses for courses I s'pose.

The gauge was bought from flea bay as tyre gauges, cost me about £6 -7 IIRC .

George

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by jason udall on 03/11/2013 11:26:58:
John my sympathies.
.what a faff ..having to individually identify the odd union at the end and all of its own documentation .luckily you had some odd traceable bar to finish up with…

Traceable ??????

It was brass

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

What! JS not ISO9001 certified?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

BBC2 tonight at 7.00pm – How to build a Jumbo jet engine.

May be worth watching just for a glimpse of JS's nuts

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Posted by Bazyle on 03/11/2013 13:14:18:

What! JS not ISO9001 certified?

I thought he had been, certified?

Martin.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by blowlamp on 03/11/2013 13:30:07:

Posted by Bazyle on 03/11/2013 13:14:18:

What! JS not ISO9001 certified?

I thought he had been, certified?

Martin.

:

Not air side parts.

I gave up with accreditation after this cock up.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Thanks George.

Today I tried ice skating for the first time.

Annoyed everyone as I was more interested in standing upright than taking advice… so I fell over about a dozen or more times. Four circuits of the rink in an hour!

Back hurts, butt hurts, neck hurts, knees hurt, elbows hurt (one is all puffed up) even my little fingers hurt because I got friction burns trying to tighten the laces up really tight At least only ONE of mt shoulders hurts! Break out the ibuprofen – Grump! Grump! Grump!

I can think of several improvements to ice skates, the main one is to extend those spikes at the front all the way along the bottom of the blade.

Neil

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Neil

I recall, in the dim and distant days, when Adam was a lad, that I had a boss who took us on a "team building" day. This included ice skating. It does provide a wholly different perspective on your boss and colleagues as you slide into them on your a**e. A very  different take on the "Team Meeting" !

Norman

 

Edited By NJH on 03/11/2013 14:57:08

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