What did you do today? (2013)

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Thanks Jason. I think my 'piece of 3/16" bar with an 8mm hole and some screw holes in it' probably does more or less the same as the Franke one, but more simply. There's an astracast bracket that looks more solid.

Neil

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Well, this is really my "yesterday" post, I am so far behind it's a joke.

I went off to the Chester Machine tools open week first day yesterday. Very, very interesting. The Internet is great for buying stuff but you just can't beat having seen one in the flesh first. Paul down there gets a special mention, he couldn't have been more helpful.

A few days ago I took the wrapping off the outside jaws of my three jaw chuck from the DB7 VS and found I had one number two and two number threes! No questions, give them here and a minute later a replacement set. I was not the original purcaser of the lathe (but it was unused) so really there was no obligation. Geat service.

And I bought a brand new Vertex machine vice for my mill, for fifty quid! Even taking into account my petrol money I was well ahead. There were some cracking vices for sale for notmuch money, some big suckers too. If you were in the market it is worth the trip.Quite a good deal of run-of-the-mill stuff att very competitive prices and some top of the range stuff too. I really should have bought that tailstock for my rotary table. But I have spent enough for one month really. If you are not far away, worth the journey just to get a perspective on some of the kit.

graham.

[mark mcParticipant @markmc72333]

Well today I tied out my shaper, think I have to work a bit on tool shape a bit tho. And I have to cut a new thread inside the knob for adjusting the table movement as some one replaced the shaft but cut the wrong size thread on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTlaT1JePXg

Edited By mark mc on 03/12/2013 22:12:37

[M0BNDParticipant @m0bnd]

A very long stroke for what's required, however, it does take me back a few years…..lovely.

Andy.

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Marc Mc, 

There's some good info here on shapers, including toolbit shape.

Edited By CoalBurner on 03/12/2013 22:22:17

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Neil,
This is how I stiffened the fixing for the tap in our kitchen. Like you plan to do I extended the stud but I fixes the bracket to the wall. To make it even stiffer you could tap a hole in something like 15 mm bar and use this in place of the nut so it is tight up against the washer. This would flex less than the extended studding.

Les.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

No pics but pulled the slotting head off the Bligeport clone and stripped it down.

Fitted it unused when the mill was new earlier this year but first time in use it sounded like it had no bearings in it.

Sure enough the bearings, all 4 were clapped out. Rang the rewind company who buy tens of thousands of pounds worth of bearings every year and pleaded poverty and they gave me 4 new bearings.

Second bit of luck was this head is grey and not very pretty, Warco supplied some paint rattle cans when I bought the machine but did say the commercial size machines are a different shade to the hobby machines. However a different shade of green is better than crap grey.

Rattle canned the motor and there was a big difference, just then the paint sprayer from the body shop across the road called in wanting a stainless nut for his steering damper on his racing bike.

Explained the problem and he went back, came back over with this fancy camera which you place onto the machine, press the trigger and it gives you the paint code.

So once the new bearings are fitted he's going to pop over and waft it with some hi-build two pack, only costs £125 per litre !!!

[mark mcParticipant @markmc72333]

Yea Mobnd stroke is long but I'm only getting to grips with it, never used one before(playing really). Thanks Coalburner will have a read of that cheers.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Thanks Les. My mod has improved it – at least i don't feel the sink will be kinked by someone knocking the tap now.

The best answer may be a thick bracket from the cabinet or wall that fits right hard up under the tap. Fitting a 15" long tap to 24 gauge steel seems incredibly poor design, but I suppose these are made to a price and you have to be able to form the sheet as well.

Neil

[Rick Kirkland 1Participant @rickkirkland1]

I managed to cut the stock to make the components of a DTI holder for the lathe a la Maurice Cunnington, MEW 89/2003. I then cut out the stock components for a bench grinder tool rest cos that's also another job I'll get round to but only now when not having one is untenable. The amazing thing is that I got all this done. The unbelievable thing is that I had that length of uninterrupted workshop time! Couldn't get off to sleep last night thinking about it and wondering if it happens more than once in a lifetime. Answers on a postcard. . . . .

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

Hi Les, current legislation states that domestic water systems are NOT bonded to the electrical Earth system, especially as many new installations have a PTFE water supply pipe.

If there is a failure of the earth itself if relying on the water pipe system then any fault could go directly to anyone handling a tap or associated part.

Best regards

Lofty

[Anonymous]

Taking a short break from engineering; up north to retrieve my mates glider. Flew my small glider today, a couple of hours on the ridge. And a nice climb to 4200ft over Cheviot, watching the Typhoons diving down in to the firing range just to the south. It was -1C on the ground, so probably -8C aloft. Equals very cold tootsies! Now I've warmed up it's down to the bar for a beer and then in to town for an Italian meal. Life can be tough!

Regards,

Andrew

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Broke my first ever milling cutter today. That'll teach me – I was using it to part a bit of aluminium bar stock for my new vice jaws. It was too small and the cut was too deep for it.

I know, but we all do it

Well, some of us anyway.

graham.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Andrew

What is your "Small" glider?

Norman

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

It's the one that's smaller than the bigger one.

[Anonymous]

Norman: John is correct, my small glider is smaller than the bigger one! Small glider is a DG200, 15m wing span, as opposed to my big glider, a Nimbus 3DT, 25m wing span.

I'm currently sitting in the clubhouse, watching it rain. Still, there is a promise of a clearance and some wave, so we live in hope.

Regards,

Andrew

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Very nice too Andrew – although I don't fancy the prospect of putting that Nimbus into a field ! I guess though, with the performance and the ability to switch on the motor, that is unlikely! I had part of a Pilatus B4 for a while and enjoyed my time in that.

For anyone who wonders what gliding has to do with model engineering the answer is – workshops! At the vast majority of gliding clubs ALL the jobs and functions are carried out by club members. It is the most cooperative hobby that I've come across and you do have to rely on your colleagues – you can't get airborne alone – the flying is almost an incidental activity ! All maintenance work on aircraft, trailers, winches,tractors, cable recovery vehicles, control point vehicles etc. etc. is carried out by club members. If they get to know that you have a workshop at home you will become very popular – although the scale of some of the tasks can be rather on the large side to call model engineering!

Anyway Andrew I guess even if the rain continues there will be a bit of "fettlin'" to do on something!

Regards

Norman

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

Posted by Oompa Lumpa on 06/12/2013 17:42:14:

Broke my first ever milling cutter today. That'll teach me – I was using it to part a bit of aluminium bar stock for my new vice jaws. It was too small and the cut was too deep for it.

graham.

The first one I broke was a 6 mm slot drill, it flew 16 feet down the garage and pinged off the fuse box, then ricocheted off the wall. A reminder of what safety glasses are for.

Steve

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

Posted by Lofty76 on 06/12/2013 16:59:53:

Hi Les, current legislation states that domestic water systems are NOT bonded to the electrical Earth system, especially as many new installations have a PTFE water supply pipe.

If there is a failure of the earth itself if relying on the water pipe system then any fault could go directly to anyone handling a tap or associated part.

Best regards

Lofty

Hi Lofty,

This is very interesting and quite surprising. Is it a part of 17th edition reg's?

The reason I ask is that when I did my electrical installation training back in the late 80's (15th edition) an incoming water supply pipe was not to be considered as a means of providing a premises with its main earth even back then. A separate main earth was to be installed by either using:

1. Supplied earth from the incoming terminal (PME or TNCS)
2. The cable sheath of the incoming cable (TNS)
3. Via earth rod and ELCB, mostly used on two wire over head supplies in less urban areas (TT).

But, the gas pipes, water pipes and sink tops etc in a house are(were) always electrically bonded to bring them all to the same electrical potential (apologies if you already know this) so that anyone coming into contact with them and any fault current would not create a circuit and have a current flow through them due to any potential difference.

If bonding to main services is now removed from installations it could introduce a possibility of somebody receiving a shock IMHO and experience. In the case of a water supply, a fault current could still flow through the water regardless of whether the water is flowing through PTFE and at some point would come into contact with a metallic earth.

Regards, Ed.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Ed

My house was built in 1989 and the earth is supplied onto the distribution board via an earth spike. All water pipes are bonded to earth. I'm pretty sure that the incoming cold water feed is not copper.

Norman

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I managed to get my cart wheels soldered up in the week so first job was to open up the bore in the hubs to 3/8" which corrected any slight misalignment of the parts.

I then spend a while removing any excess soft solder and generally cleaning up the wheels ready for painting.

While the etch primer was drying I tackled the next part which is the front bolster, this is my sketch of what it should be like.

And a few bit sof metal machined and cut

First I welded the curved section as I wanted a fillet where it joins the flat.

I'm not the worlds best welder but does not look too bad after an initial clean up.

As I write this its all sitting in the pickle after being silver soldered together.

J

Edited By JasonB on 08/12/2013 08:25:59

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Much of our water system is bonded to earth (which uses a terminal with the supply as Ed's nO. 1). I was confused to see the earth connection to the old sink had been deliberately cut and the new sink didn't provide a terminal for fitting one. I was planning to bond everything together (a bit of a job as I used some plastic speedfit, as did the folks who installed our boiler). I won't do this now, and I presume it was the boiler chaps who disconnected the sink earth.

Neil

[John ShepherdParticipant @johnshepherd38883]

Re Earth bonding – without getting too deep – Main earth bonding is still required. supplementary bonding in rooms that have a bath or shower is not needed (subject to certain conditions) on new installations that are protected by an RCD.

**LINK**

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

Seen on a visit to Darley Mill near Harrogate, I especially like the fitting work on the steel pulley, a very practical use of a recycled item from somewhere else

Brian

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

Re the earth bonding to water pipes, when I had my workshop built about ten years ago, the electrical installation was carried out by Southern Electricity and comprised of a fully conduited individual wire system i.e seperate live neutral and earth.

The Earths were provided by new rods sunk to provide the correct potential (?).

There were no earthing cables connected to the copper water pipes and when I queried this, the installer replied that as the feed from the house (some 50 metres away) was by plastic pipeline would not provide an adequate earth, which is why the additional earth rods had been installed.

He then pointed out that if a fault should occur and the water pipes in the workshop were connected to the earth being copper, the whole water system would become live.

I don't pretend to know the technicalities of it, but it seemed logical to me and considering the majority of new installations these days are using a plastic type of piping for all of the internal pipework you wouldn't be able to bond to it anyway.

[Author]

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