What did you do today? (2014)

[NJHParticipant @njh]

I agree – the Ashmolean is a superb museum with a wide variety of items well presented and the whole place not too big.. I used to live in Oxford and would often pop into the museum for short visits during my lunch break. It's nice to visit this way and go to look at some favourite exhibits – often discovering new aspects of them. I was up there a couple of years ago with my two sons – whilst the youngest was here from Australia. It is a round trip of over 300 miles so a co-driver is useful! Sadly we didn't make it this year but maybe next……..

If you've not been there I do recommend it.

Norman

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

I generally like Museums and I thank my Grandmother for that, though I am not big on paintings I love sculpture and earlier this year I saw Epstein's Rock Drill for the first time in the flesh as it were. It had a profound effect on me and I am glad I saw it when I had the chance. It is a very powerful piece:

Considering this sculpture is from 1913 it is very insightful. So much so that, although a celebration of man, the 1914-1918 caused Epstein to re-evaluate the piece and I am not sure but I think he dismantled it because of it's negativity. It is the Centenary of the First World war this year and if anything visualises that War for me, it is this piece.

On a completely different note, I would have thought that someone would have posted up "Today I went to Harrogate" – no?

graham.

[VersabossParticipant @versaboss]

Machined some parts for the locking mechanism for the new points (switches) we build in the club. Stainless steel, 3 mm. Then discovered that I drilled a 4 mm hole in the wrong position . 10 pieces!

Thinking about welding them up (stainless rod) and redo, right this time. What do you think, any chance?

Regards, HansR.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Yes, won't tell you how many times I have to do that.

[NilochParticipant @niloch]

Rod, Norman and Graham,

I've got to be honest and say that the Ashmolean exhibition was slightly disappointing in terms of the quantity of Cezanne oils on show, a good number of rather less impressive Cezanne watercolours and several Chaim Soutine oils which were not to my taste at all. The Ashmolean has undergone expensive re-furbishment in the last three or four years and is much better for it.

Even Jamie's Italian had it's faults on this occasion; why is it that the use of chilli is so prevalent/fashionable?

My wife and I made use of Oxford's Park & Ride facility where we encountered a feature that we had not experienced previously. One had to enter the registration number of one's vehicle when purchasing the parking ticket and there was no need to take the ticket back to the car for display. However, I did notice a small van with two roof mounted registration plate recognition cameras going along the lanes slowly!

Graham, if you like sculpture Google the work of Jaume Plensa, my wife and I saw his exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park last year – wonderful. Far better than the contemporary British gang.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Yes Niloch

The year that we went there it was the Claude Lorraine exhibition – and I think it would have been a long trip just for that. However they have a wonderful collection of Pre-Raphelite work which I'm always happy to revisit. It's good too to see the way that the museum has been enlarged and rearranged since I left Oxford. As I said before it was a trip with my lads and a big "memory lane" journey for all of us with visits to other places in the city that also hold fond memories. Supper in a favourite pub rounded it off before the long flog back home! No. 2 son says he will be over again next year so maybe we can repeat the experience.

Norman

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Had an interesting day at the Harrogate show I was allowed to fire my flash steam hydroplane outside it has some major new parts fitted and was an opportunity to bed them in. After Friday’s test running the valve clearance had reduced so early on Saturday took the head off and fitted a thinner tappet shim. Between showers managed to have another short engine run there was a vast improvement in the way it ran. Static test firings can only be short due to no load on the engine as excess water and fuel is supplied to the generator and burners. Hope to have another test tomorrow to verify today’s trial.

Paul

Edited By Windy on 10/05/2014 19:53:54

Edited By Windy on 10/05/2014 19:58:10

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Hi there Paul, I saw your Hydroplane today and I had only become aware of this type of racing some months back from one of your posts on here. I thought it looked very purposeful and I wish you luck for tomorrow. I find it very interesting.

What did I do today? Well, up at 5.30 and out with the dogs, made the missus breakfast and started my trip to Harrogate from Manchester via Rotherham, Sheffield and Barnsley, and the reverse on the return in some of the worst torrential rain I have ever experienced over Woodhead Pass. What did I get? Amongst the usual bits n bobs a very nice English made roller box, if anyone knows what one is, for the princely sum of twenty quid, bargain! I will be making a holder for it on Monday*, that's for certain.

graham.

(*but I am going to use John Stevenson's workshop to build it in! Isn't that right John?)

Edited By Oompa Lumpa on 10/05/2014 20:46:01

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Graham Oompa!

I'll be at the show tomorrow – looking forward to it. Last time I used a roller box was on a Herbert turret in or around 1970.

Used to have to punch a time clock back then -yukk. Retirement is so sweet

Rik

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I went to Harrogate today. I saw Paul and his hydroplane (though not in action).

For some photos look HERE.

On a personal note I managed to get a few goodies. I wanted some 2mm x 35mm steel for an idea I have. Not sure how I ended up with two square feet of it…

A 1" bore slitting saw only 1 3/4" diameter, ideal for thin cuts that don't wander.

The springs for my driving car, only 15p each (hope they are strong enough).

A quality TCT tool recommended for small lathes with a couple of different tips.

Laser cut W irons for a 3 1/2" gauge wagon.

Neil

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

Had a good day at Harrogate "saving a fortune". Couple of woodruff cutters I wanted, couldn't resist a tool height setting gauge from DRO. 12 digital vernier might come in as well….

Peter at DRG was helpful as always and the lovely Jenny (JB cutting tools) is a pleasure to see.

The hydroplane looked very purposeful, hopefully see it tried out tomorrow? Also finally saw the intricate workings of the rowing skeleton – impressive. The RC fraternity with working Virtual flying display were good too.

See you tomorrow!

Ian

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Went today, has an interesting day out, met some interesting people, would have met more if pratt features here had remembered to take his phone after carefully remembering to charge it overnight

Bought some Allite <sp> gasket material for a job and to see how the laser handles this, some taper and parallel punches to replace the ones shagged up over the years, Couple of 13mm spanners, hopefully a breeding pair as I am desperately short of this size for some reason.

Three new Sino DRO covers to replace ageing ones. £100 pounds worth of cutters and tips of Jenny

Peak tools was selling some gen you whine Eclipse 12" hacksaw blades £5 for 10 which is an absolute steal so grabbed a few bundles.

One of those green A2 cutting boards thinly disguised as a combined keyboard mat, mouse mat and coffee cup holder.

Far corner, hall 2 was a young lady selling LED lamps, she's always in that spot. This year she had some 10W single LED floodlights in IP 66 format, bright ?? I reckon you could TiG weld with one.

Back workshop which has a high ceiling is not very well lit despite having a total of 20 four foot tubes in a bank of 5 lights. Partly due to them being recessed between the rafters and a non insulated ceiling and not painted. Roof needs extending to cover in another 8' x 8' area and existing felt roof is 20 years old and reaching end of life.

Late summer plan is to remove all the lighting, sheet up inside with 6mm MDF / ply ? etc painted white, then nip outside, rip the roofing sheets off, cram the space with insulation [ easier from the top ] then replace the roof with steel sheeting which is far more cost effective that having it re roofed and felted.

Then the idea is to use these floods inside to light walkways and each machine for general lighting and rely on machine lighting for the final solution. Bought 20 lights, got an ace deal on them and I reckon that they will pay back in under a year seeing as the lights are on 10 hours per day. Won't need all 20 but spares will come in handy around the place.

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Well, today I set to and made a TiG Jig. No, not some sort of a dance, but a jig to hold some of the very small things I need to TiG together once in a while. I have been using various lash ups and it just made sense to spend some time and make something I can use as a basic jig every time. For those that don't know, if you use brass and copper it will not weld or bond to the workpiece so the only iron or steel in it are the four feet and the cap screws holding the fixings.

I did have a bit of a problem since my last escapade with the Tap Wrench in that I hadn't made or bought a big wrench to replace the one left in pieces. For the big tap to make a thread in the Big Bar, I used a Big Wrench. Just for you Ian:

So after that I drilled the base plate for the Jig:

I decided to use the Speedy Tapwrench:

All done in two ticks:

Drilled and Tapped in less than twenty mins, don't think I'll bother with a tap wrench.

graham.

(sorry, forgot to add, it is 5/16 brass plate)

Edited By Oompa Lumpa on 11/05/2014 19:07:26

[norman valentineParticipant @normanvalentine78682]

About a year ago the thread on my rubbish Chinese vice sheared. Since then I have been using a 2" Stanley clamp on vice that has struggled to hold my work. I did not want to buy another cheapo vice but did not have the funds to buy a goodun. Finally last week I got a decent English made vice on Ebay for £10. I stripped it down and repainted it over the last couple of days.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

I fixed up an extra CCTV camera to cover a blind spot on my existing set up.

The rest of my day was spent replacing the kitchen taps with a mixer tap plus a filter tap for drinking water.

Quite a productive day really, would have been a lot easier if manufacturers would standardise on things like fittings, for instance the old flexible water pipes had male 15mm couplers and the new ones have 15mm female!

Edited By V8Eng on 11/05/2014 19:34:24

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Took a couple of links out of the drive belt on my Boxford lathe. Easy way was to remove the counter shaft, remove the inspection plate on the top of the headstock. Then with a small screwdriver, lever off the links from the 'rivets' and put it all back together again. About 40 mins spent, so I hope I can now take deeper cuts !!

[ScottParticipant @scott]

Posted by V8Eng on 11/05/2014 19:32:49:

I fixed up an extra CCTV camera to cover a blind spot on my existing set up.

Me too!

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

Posted by Oompa Lumpa on 11/05/2014 18:59:42:

So after that I drilled the base plate for the Jig:

 

Looks like that plate is levitating. Are you building a model mono rail Graham?

 

After faffing around with a slitting saw and discovering the arbour wouldn't reach the cut, I hacksawed through 150mm x 20mm plate in preparation for my headstock bearing supports.

Edited By Ed Duffner on 11/05/2014 20:59:20

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Harrogate today. Such a lot to see. This was probably the best ME show I have attended since Olympia in the ‘eighties.

Came away with tired feet, a T type tap wrench to replace one that is at end of life, half a dozen inserts for a 20mm Sandvik boring bar recently aquired from a boot and four new tool holders for my QCTP.

Sadly this will probably be my last visit to this show as the nearly 200 mile drive proved to be a bridge to far for my dodgy old back.

Still and all, Sandown is much nearer and it is wifes favourite anyway.

Rik

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Posted by Ed Duffner on 11/05/2014 20:55:34:

Posted by Oompa Lumpa on 11/05/2014 18:59:42:

Looks like that plate is levitating. Are you building a model mono rail Graham?

Edited By Ed Duffner on 11/05/2014 20:59:20

Actually it is much thicker than it looks so it gives it a bit of "abstract three dimension" – my interpretation anyway.

graham.

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

.

Went to Harrogate. Bought goodies for my new quest.

Also learned a lot by just looking.

Nick

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

mended the shed roof…wicked!

[TrevorhParticipant @trevorh]

Just starting the Stuart S50 – spent the day cleaning and priming the bed casting

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

.

A friend of mine has just donated me 4 quite beefy anti-vibration machine feet for my lathe.

I am in the process of shortening, turning down and threading to a 12mm thread the main shaft. I am having to do this as they are presently 20mm and as such far too big to pass through the mounting holes on my Boxford.

Bit of overkill but they will make a good pad for the lathe to sit on. – It also gives me a good 'excuse' to use the Starrett engineers level I bought yesterday at Harrogate.

He tells me they originated from an Xray machine.

Nick

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Hi Nick, are cushion feet a good idea. We are repeatedly told to level our machines to within a gnats whisker and fix firmly to the floor. Will rubber feet allow this.. That said, they have lathes on board big ships !! So what do I know.

BobH

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