What did you do today? (2013)

[Another JohnSParticipant @anotherjohns]

Roughly printed the cab of my 3-1/2" gauge "Ivatt" in cardboard so that I can measure actual boiler dimensions, in preparation for CNC cutting the cab front and sides.

have a look at

http://cnc-for-model-engineers.blogspot.com

if you wish!

Another JohnS.

Edited By John Alexander Stewart on 07/12/2013 21:31:09

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Our house outside Cambridge had the TT connection, ie live and neutral coming in via 2 overhead wires with no incoming earth connection. There was an ancient RCD which was something like 130mA. The incoming water pipe was plastic and there was no ground spike. Not surprisingly, with all the leakage paths that existed, the water pipes (heating, taps etc) floated somewhere between ground (neutral) and live, certainly enough to light a neon (>90V, then) and provide a nice tingle when you touched the taps. I'm not convinced that a 130mA RCD would have been much of a live saver.

In the process of rewiring the place, I fitted a decent, modern dual RCD panel (30mA I think) and a proper 1m long ground spike. That cured it but the experience illustrated the critical need for an RCD and ground spike when you have a TT system with no incoming ground connection. Naturally all the exposed metalwork in the bathroom etc had been carefully bonded to the pipework. Nowadays you are not supposed to rely on the pipework and should instead run ground wires back to the consumer unit / ground connection. I laid a lot of green and yellow wires that summer….

Muzzer

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

Not today, but since 10 clock Thursday night trying to recover from house destruction and rescue by firemen's ladder from upstairs bathroom window!! All very exciting but a bit OTT for a pair of 70 + year-olds and their cats.

On line now courtesy of kind friends WiFi but on the move again today so may be out of touch for a while.

If Michael Gilligan is able to read this, my apologies' but the possible Pultra items are probably lost under collapsed ceilings!!

May be a while before I'm back on line

Rgds

Bill

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Bill, hope your insurance is better than that of many in the likes of Christchurch who are still waiting for their money after three years, and the insurance companies still can't make up their minds as to whether they should pay or repair, or replace. Wish you well(and the cats). Ian S C

[John ShepherdParticipant @johnshepherd38883]

Bill

I'm sure everyone on this forum is sad to hear this and hope that you and your family are hopefully unscathed. I am sure that if there is anything that can be done to help, even from a distance, forum members will be only too pleased to do what they can.

Please keep us updated as and when you can.

Best wishes

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Good luck Bill.

Russell.

[RJWParticipant @rjw]

Good Luck Bill, my thoughts are with you on this, we once had our home completely destroyed internally, not caused by storms fortunately, but a leaking water pipe whilst away on holiday, I wouldn't want to go through that angst ever again! (yes, we now turn off the water)!
Fortunately we didn't have the added trauma of having to be rescued from an upstairs window, good to hear you're all safe!

Best regards,

John.

[Graham WhartonParticipant @grahamwharton]

My metric tap and die drawer, some 0.9mm thick mild steel sheet, an angle grinder, a welder and one bored engineer on a sunday morning.

Might not be the prettiest of welding, but I think you'll agree its functional. It certainly floats my OCD "things neatly in drawers" boat.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Finished fabricating the front cart bolster, just waiting for the primer to harden and see if it shows up any imperfections that need attention

I did my BA, ME, BSP and milling cutter draws the other week, Metric threading still to do. No welding just some strips of MDF stuck to some 4mm ply

[Bob PerkinsParticipant @bobperkins67044]

So should I start to worry now I've started bringing things back from the recycling centre. The cover for my SX2 power feed used to be somebody's CD player.

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

As promised, some pics of my Bench Vice. Looks the absolute business now with the new milled Aluminium Jaws. Going to be a shame to actually use it in anger now:

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Graham

| You say " It certainly floats my OCD "things neatly in drawers" boat."

I don't call that OCD but simply good common sense. If you spend time on good organisation you will repay that time many times over with the ability to put your hand on just what you want when you want it. The alternative is hours of frustration tracking down the widget that is probably right under your nose in the first place.

I suffer from the same "disorder!" – here is a small example of a few taps & dies. I remove the whole drawer and take it to the job then replace it once I've finished .

Similar drawers hold the appropriate fastenings.

This organisation is the thing that most impresses any non- engineers who see my workshop!

Ah well

Norman

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

I am a little OCD in the workshop and office, you have to be really so you can spend your time doing rather than just looking for stuff. I have a couple of friends who are "professional" (ie. they make their living) engineers. One has his workshop so disorganised we once found six angle grinders because every time he went for one he couldn't find it so he bought another!

The other guy – Hell, it really should be condemned by the health authority. I don't think he has taken his rubbish out – ever!

My workshop has fitted carpet.

graham.

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Got the code working to interface 2 * 24 bit and 7 BCD scales to Yuriy's Android DRO

Now to start tidying up the code.

Les

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by Oompa Lumpa on 08/12/2013 20:25:12:

I have a couple of friends who are "professional" (ie. they make their living) engineers. One has his workshop so disorganised we once found six angle grinders because every time he went for one he couldn't find it so he bought another!

My workshop has fitted carpet.

graham.

Hey, I resemble that remark

I bet that carpet goes down a bundle when welding Or should that be up a bundle ?

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Posted by John Stevenson on 08/12/2013 22:10:04:

Posted by Oompa Lumpa on 08/12/2013 20:25:12:

My workshop has fitted carpet.

graham.

Hey, I resemble that remark

I bet that carpet goes down a bundle when welding Or should that be up a bundle ?

If I buy a welder I will rethink the plan, but right now it goes with my shirt

Terrific going Les, I am really considering the same setup. I am buying DRO's for the Mill for myself for Crimbo so I want to make sure they are going to work with this.

graham.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Hello Bill,

I've been too busy to post much for a few days. You seem to be remarkably positive for someone who's been through all that – was it the storm? I know you are off in the far east!

I hope you, wife and cats are all well, and that the damage isn't too much to put right. Let us know how things progress.

Neil

[Bob PerkinsParticipant @bobperkins67044]

Finished off m My DIY power feed for my SX2. It's powered by a B&D cordless drill motor that I had in the cupboard. Mostly built from the scrap box apart from the electronics. Total cost was about £40. The design is a mish mash of various other designs I've plundered from the web. I decided to mount the controls remotely rather tea on the drive unit. I think this will give me better control. 

**LINK**

 

Edited By Bob Perkins on 12/12/2013 19:05:06

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I bought the domain name http://www.stubmandrel.co.uk – I had to really!

You won't find anything there yet. Might take a while before it's up and running as I have to set up a website for my job first!

Neil

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Neil

I await events with interest! – In the interim however it seems that your home page gives prominence to links for ;- pay day loans ( inventions of the devil if ever there was one) , bad credit personal loans , all inclusive holidays and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line – is there a connection between the fist two and the last I wonder?

Norman

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Time off to wait for phone engineer. Too miserable drippy fog outside to do garden or car work. So ready for workshop when ….. power cut for 5 hours.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Bleeding fork truck broke down "again" [ best Forest Gump voice ], had to wait for the electrician.

Pain in the rear these modern trucks are, all electronic gismo's, need a laptop to find out what's gone wrong.

Old one before it died was far more reliable, built like a Hardly Dangerous, just had a flint to go wrong.

Turned out to be the throttle pedal ????????????? That stopped it from starting or even putting the display on.

Good news is he had a spare on the truck, bad news is it looks expensive.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Well the electrician called back today with an invoice in a black edged envelope, Yup, was expensive.

How do other users manage to run a fork truck on their OAP ?

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

John, if he had it on the truck it's a common problem.

How about discussing the six year rule with the guy?

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by Lofty76 on 13/12/2013 19:48:03:

How about discussing the six year rule with the guy?

Yer right,

He's 6'13" weights 18 stone, has a tattoo of Popeye on one arm that has genuine muscles.

In a previous life he used to buy and sell Exocet missiles.

More to the point the truck is 6 1/2 years old [ at least ]

Seriously I'm just grateful that I can get a guy out to sort this. We have a Fork truck main dealer round the corner but the fitters there are useless. Unless they have a rack full of brand new spares to play plug and swap with, they are lost. They send bits round for repair that any half useful person could sort out.

Unless you get involved with these things it's surprising how complex they have become in the last few years.

The steering wheel doesn't go anywhere, only to a rotary actuator, that in turn works a valve that controls the rear wheels via a hydraulic ram and at the same time works out which way each front wheel motor goes.

Once you reach a certain point the wheels swap rotation, one goes forward, one goes backwards, all worked out by an on board computer

[Author]

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