What did you do today? (2014)

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I have started a new thread for the new year as the old one was getting a bit long.

I know threads here tend to drift off topic but If we can try to keep it withing the main forum section of "Work in progress and completed items photos" though photos of progress are welcome and often as interesting as the finished item.

It's not just limited to model engineering or making tooling, if you have knocked up something for your motorbike or RC heli for example thats more than welcome, infact anything you have done in the workshop. That can also be extended to the study, kitchen table, etc as it would also be good to see any projects that are being drawn up or the latest item to be produced on that 3D printer that Santa has just dropped off.

Over to you

J

Edited By JasonB on 01/01/2014 07:29:36

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

Just cooked a stack of thick streaky bacon, on a bun with HP sauce and a mug of strong tea.

Bugger the cholesterol!

Happy New Year!

Steve

Edited By Steve Withnell on 01/01/2014 10:49:18

[Luke GrahamParticipant @lukegraham30014]

Posted by Muzzer

Never done it myself but apparently a common technique is to use a Dremel-type device to route out the copper from the PCB surface. This avoids the need for the nasty chemicals altogether and I suspect you may have problems getting a consistent flow of ink if you are using Dalo pens (from memory – do you still use them?).

That is another option I can try if this doesn't work out. The big difference is getting a positive vs negative result, just like positive vs negatives for photography. If you go for routing/milling, you need to travel around every trace, leaving the positive copper behind.

I'm using a black Staedtler Lumocolour pen, as recommended on various forums on the internet. Well, actually they say the red one works better, but this is what I could get my hands on.

From drawing on the steel plate that I intend to use as a backing for the blank PCBs, the pen flows well as long as the metal is absolutely clean.

This is the board I'm testing first – http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardSerialSingleSided3

Luke

Edited By Luke Graham on 01/01/2014 11:35:32

[Rufus RoughcutParticipant @rufusroughcut]

Hi Steve

Ther's only one Sauce for Bacon so no need to advertise.

MMMMMMMMMM! BACON

Great Joy for the year ahead

Barry

[Rick Kirkland 1Participant @rickkirkland1]

I stopped filing me block of steel and went in to cook some bacon.

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Looks like the pig population's going to take a hit this year

Martin.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Finished my first project after this past year setting up my garage conversion & making stuff to make stuff with, mods to machines etc.

Tried to post vid of it running but can't seem to load it , seems that album format only accepts JPEG/JPG pics… any advice of how to do it…?

Had to do a bit of tweaking as there was a tight spot that needed resolving, further pics in my album ' simple oscil' engine'.

Nice pleasant start to 2014, Happy new year to all forum readers.

George

 

Edited By mechman48 on 01/01/2014 14:15:43

Edited By mechman48 on 01/01/2014 14:31:34

[SverreEParticipant @sverree]

Not today, but yesterday, I finished (after several years of "planning"….) my QCTP! It is very simple to operate – just one handle to lock it.

Here is the first toolholder I made for a DTI:

I only need to add a screw for height-adjustment. By the way, I have an old Blomquist lathe, which is a South Bend clone produced in Sweden in 1960.

Sverre

[SverreEParticipant @sverree]

And today I finished the first actual toolholder, a tangential one:

And here it is on the QCTP:

And it works beutifully – tried soft aluminium, then proceeded to steel and then stainless steel – very nice surface finish!

Sverre

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

George you need to host the video somewhere else, Photobucket if you have an account or set up one on You-Tube which is better for video than PB.

J

[SvarvenParticipant @svarven]

Hi
I assemble my DRO, which became the Christmas present to myself.
Works perfect. Both accuracy and repeatability, and hysteresis is so good you could wish for.
And it's bought from China for £ 200. But no Rubbish, it was in all cases not.
And the same functions as those of the 850 pounds that I worked with before

Offensive word removed by JasonB

Edited By JasonB on 01/01/2014 17:18:14

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Nothing to complicated today (or yesterday). Had a go at starting to convert some end pieces from a pair of hand exercise weights into crank webs for the twin throw crankshaft for my latest build.

Before I started machining I fully expected to find cast iron but was most surprised to find they were made from what seems to me to be a very high quality nickel steel which incidentally had been plated with copper roughly .005" thick before being chromed. I call that a high standard of manufacture. Almost seems a shame to chop'em up…….almost

Using my homemade indexable lathe tool ( I refuse to cough up £30-40 when I can easily make one myself) I am getting lovely finishes on this material particularly on the OD which with a finishing .020" deep cut leaves it with a mirror like finish. This pleases me no end considering the set of weights only cost me two quid from my normal Sunday morning "supplier".

Three shown here in various stages of manufacture, the fourth is in the lathe chuck:

A relation works with high quality makrolon 6mm polycarbonate and he is allowed the off cuts – some "off cuts" are very large indeed! He gives me whatever I need. As you can probably see, the WARCO guard will not fit with my tool shelf over the lathe as it is, so I used a piece of this stuff to make a hinged splash guard. With it fitted I carried on machining the crank webs but found that my coolant oil was still splashing out underneath the lower edge. The solution was to hinge fit a thin sheet of ally to the bottom – problem solved…….

……..and when not needed it lives up there.

Also, as the next job is a cast iron flywheel I cut and fitted a piece of hardboard as shown to keep the dust away from the bed and lead screw. A simple life I know – maybe I should have been a monk.

May you all have a peaceful New Year and be blessed by great wealth (I could easily get into this habit)

Rik

PS Pushing seventy neither of us like noise so have booked our summer hols in Bulgaria this year – I bet we'll be able to hear a pin drop over there by then.

Edited By Rik Shaw on 01/01/2014 17:15:29

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

What have I done today ??? SOD ALL ! Happy new year to one and all.

Cheers Derek.

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Derek,

I'm with you there, so miserable out there that I decided to hibernate, again. Shame I can't stay here till spring but every hour is one less till the spring warmth!

chriStephens

Edited By chris stephens on 01/01/2014 17:25:15

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Jason B- Thanks for the tip

Oompa Lumpa / Mike – will sort through my dwgs folder & pm you link later.

George

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Posted by Luke Graham on 01/01/2014 11:32:11:

Posted by Muzzer

Never done it myself but apparently a common technique is to use a Dremel-type device to route out the copper from the PCB surface. This avoids the need for the nasty chemicals altogether and I suspect you may have problems getting a consistent flow of ink if you are using Dalo pens (from memory – do you still use them?).

That is another option I can try if this doesn't work out. The big difference is getting a positive vs negative result, just like positive vs negatives for photography. If you go for routing/milling, you need to travel around every trace, leaving the positive copper behind.

I'm using a black Staedtler Lumocolour pen, as recommended on various forums on the internet. Well, actually they say the red one works better, but this is what I could get my hands on.

From drawing on the steel plate that I intend to use as a backing for the blank PCBs, the pen flows well as long as the metal is absolutely clean.

This is the board I'm testing first – **LINK**

Luke

Edited By Luke Graham on 01/01/2014 11:35:32

Hi Muzzer, I presume you mean the Dalo Mark 33 which came with a spare tip, which was stored in the top end of the pen. See photo below.

I do believe that I have two unused pens somrwhere. Haven't done any PCB's for some time now, but I never found these to be the easyest things to use and very difficult if you needed fine tracks beside each other.

Allthough they have not been used for several years, I've tried one out on a small piece of blank PCB board and it still works but would need to use the new tip if I were to use it for real. Below is a photo Dalo Mark 33 compared to a Staedtler Lumocolor 318. I have never tried using the Lumocolor 318 for ecthing though.

As Luke says, the Lumocolor 318 seems to be recommended these days and thats what you'll find at Maplins if you search for etch resistant pen.

Regards Nick.

P.S. Happy New Year everyone.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 01/01/2014 19:31:26

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I hate Dalo poens … but what did I do today?

> kitchen table

Well if that is eligible can I mention that I tiled the kitchen? At least the 18" above the worktops, with the exception of finishing round the plug sockets. £4.20 for 8 50mm socket-fixing screws – I should have made my owm actually i [probably will need to make 2 as one socket is now 3/4" further out from the wall – whoever built our kitchen extension did not work to ME standards of squareness and accuracy!

Happy New Year to all!

Neil

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Neil,
How about these ? You will find many more if you search for "3.5 mm electrical screws" on ebay.

Les.

[russellParticipant @russell]

a good New Years Day in the workshop…

i spent a couple of hours cleaning up and putting away last year, then…

first, i repaired (brazed) a kids garden rake, the handle socket had broken away from the rake – not surprising really, with only 2 tack welds originally, about 40 degrees apart…it now has a nice purple highlight to contrast the green tines!

then i brazed the mounting extension onto my parting tool holder, an impulse buy which turned out to be slightly too large for my lathe.

then i started on the cylinder for Jan Ridders vacuum engine, by turning a piece of 55mm dia Al into a piece of 38mm dia..

-russ (from Oz)

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Posted by Svarven on 01/01/2014 17:02:13:

Hi
I assemble my DRO, which became the Christmas present to myself.
Works perfect. Both accuracy and repeatability, and hysteresis is so good you could wish for.
And it's bought from China for £ 200. But no Rubbish, it was in all cases not.
And the same functions as those of the 850 pounds that I worked with before

This is the same make as the one I bought during a visit to Shenzhen, China recently. Like you, I've found it to be fine and not bad value for money at all. The instruction manual is worth the cost alone – makes Xmas cracker jokes look lame! I ended up downloading manuals from other manufacturers – they are mostly very similar in operation.

There are some pictures in my albums under "DRO fitting".

I now have 2 Z scales – one on the quill and one on the knee. I actually find the quill one to be more useful.

Muzzer

Edited By Muzzer on 02/01/2014 04:17:18

Edited By Muzzer on 02/01/2014 04:20:26

[Another JohnSParticipant @anotherjohns]

New Years Day – steamed a live steam locomotive in -18c weather.

Uploading to Youtube at the moment – will post a link later, probably tomorrow, if the upload goes ok.

We do this steaming every New Years Day, some years it's warmer, but I think this is about the coldest day we've done this so far.

John.

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

 

Edited By JasonB on 02/01/2014 07:32:43

[IDPParticipant @idp]

Today I spent time in the workshop machining some bodies for cylinder drain cocks for my 71/4" Collett.

The best Christmas I ever had was a couple of years ago ~~~ I'd borrowed my eldest son's classic Mini Cooper on Christmas eve to0 go to wok and on the way home broke it ~~~ had to be recovered by the RAC. Spent most of Christmas removing large lumps from the engine and fixing it ~~~ Ace!

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Posted by John Alexander Stewart on 02/01/2014 05:03:06:

New Years Day – steamed a live steam locomotive in -18c weather.

Uploading to Youtube at the moment – will post a link later, probably tomorrow, if the upload goes ok.

We do this steaming every New Years Day, some years it's warmer, but I think this is about the coldest day we've done this so far.

John.

**LINK**

 

Edited By JasonB on 02/01/2014 07:32:43

-18 is pretty cold. I've been there once but managed to keep warm because I had to dig the car out of the snow to drive home from the Alps.

I see from your blog that you are having a go at my ER25 for the Worden. There were a couple of issues with the translation of some dimensions from drawing to magazine. The originals are in my album here .

I have the self same diamond wheel from ARC waiting for an arbour!

cheers,

Rod

Edit: Album link works – Ta, Jason (though slightly different in Firefox)

Edited By Roderick Jenkins on 02/01/2014 11:20:08

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Happy new year Gentlemen,

I took one of my Lister engines one hundred miles yesterday for an open day crank up at the Twyford Waterworks to find I was the only one daft enough to attend, lashed it down all day but got to look at the stripped boilers that are being brought back to working order to power the large Triple expansion pump engine in the next room. **LINK**

Martin P

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