What did you do today? (2014)

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Good 24 hours – ordered my Christmas pressie from Senior Management last night. Had a longish and good conversation with Ketan from ArcEuroTade yesterday morning – and I am not the first and won't be the last to say what a nice man he is, full of good honest advice which he is happy to pass onto you – after which I placed an order for a 2 channel digital readout display with 2 horizontal bars to cover the X and Y travel on my mill. Yes, it is a simple system with no programmable moves, doesn't do trig calcs or give the state of the tide or phase of the moon, but it will do me and didn't cost the earth. Already have a stand alone DRO on the Z travel. Definitely a 'nice to have' rather than a 'need to have' item, but isn't that what Christmas presents are all about?

Then today got an all-day Exit Visa for the shed. Yes, really. Finished the meaty 45mm dia x 3.5mm internal thread on the new 4 jaw chuck backplate, and it fits well the dummy lathe nose I made. Thinking ahead, I then screwed the dummy nose into the backplate whilst it was still set up on the lathe and running true, faced off the rear face flush with the rear of the backplate centre boss and am now boring it out to take a 1in head on a MT2 stub to fit into the rotary table to allow chuck and job to be transferred from lathe to mill and back again with all running true.

Finished with a relaxing soak on the bath with Senior Management bringing me in a beer and cashews to nibble, and we have a curry to follow this evening. Senior Management is being especially nice today – wonder what she wants!

Chris – now relaxing with another beer before the curry in a few moments!

Edited By ChrisH on 06/12/2014 20:23:32

Edited By ChrisH on 06/12/2014 20:24:31

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Chris,

Is tomorrow your wedding anniversary…?

Neil

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

^^^^^

Good shout Neil, alarm bells are ringing !!!

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Neil – NO – it's April, but Russ is right, alarm bells are ringing! Maybe Christmas has something to do with it, although she already has half her pressie and the rest has not been an issue. So far!

Chris – keeping low profile and smiling sweetly.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Chris, you may have inadvertently earned some brownie points, I don't know what the rules are for earning these points but they can be awarded for simple things that you are unaware of, they can also disappear in a trice also for things that you are unaware of. After 28 years I still can't work the system out.

Mike

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Mike – and you never will! Getting close to 50 years now and I'm still mystified.

Norman

[GaryMParticipant @garym]

I remember hearing a quote once that went "By the time you can read women like a book, your library ticket has usually expired".

Gary

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I went to the Range this morning. Saw a set of metric drills with a new tip configuration – a semi-circular cutting edge. And only £1.99!

In contrast, they have really nice craft knife handles in the 'decoupage' section for £2.99 including blades. Larger then normal soft grip and metal collets. I always get numb fingers if cutting a lot of card or balsa, so looks like a good idea to me.

Neil

[Nick HughesParticipant @nickhughes97026]

Edited By Nick Hughes on 07/12/2014 11:52:26

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Had a good day in the workshop yesterday,on this my first week of retirement from the offshore oil industry so hopefully from now on I will get more useable time to re-build my business making bits for old cars and bikes.

I imported a Tormach PCNC 1100 mill in June and have struggled ever since to maximise on the available space in my workshop to accommodate it. First thing to go was the partition wall between the garage end of the workshop that houses the motorcycle collection, followed by the bench drill stand and bench drill being temporarily housed in the "Dirty end" of the workshop where I do my welding and brazing and all other hot work.

First off I built an outdoor storage unit for my gas bottles so they can be kept outside, which is much safer, the Oxyacetylene lines come through the wall into the workshop from the back of the unit, similarly the propane hose too.

I also bought the small lathe to go with the Mill as well as lots of tooling, a vice as well and a 4th axis rotary table, by the time all of this was unpacked the workshop was completely overcrowded. I had to completely re-arrange it so that I could store all of the stuff and be able to work comfortably. Two trolleys for the lathe and manual milling machine were made so these can now be easily moved at will within the workshop. I was then able to move both of these machines so I could figure out the best position for them to free up enough wall space to allow the Mini lathe and my tool & cutter grinder to be placed in a useable position. With this done I then increased the available shelf space with an additional 60 ft of 14" deep shelves made from 3/4" plywood. Last night I started work on the curtain door to separate the "Dirty Area" from the machine shop side I got the materials in component form and the curtain strips are UV proof green PVC. I still have to replace the partition between the machine shop and the Garage end of the workshop, once I get this up there should be enough room for some more shelving. The Curtain doors should provide adequate isolation from the goings on in the "Dirty End" of the workshop so that when I go to get stuff off the shelves in the machine shop area they aren't covered in the filth generated from Welding and Grinding. The plus side of this is that I will have a much better laid out workshop and I have generated enough space for a small heat treatment furnace which I will probably purchase once everything is sorted out.

I will try to get some pictures and post them later today.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Bob,

In the the last eighteen months I have found enough space to erect two sheds, 10 x 8 and a 6 x 8, at the bottom of my back garden to allow me to clear my garage workshop to allow better access to my machines and give me space for my hobby, both sheds are now full with my hobby and household stuff yet nothings moved from the garage and I'm now considering another in the space thats left

 

Martin P

 

Edited By martin perman on 07/12/2014 12:35:46

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

That's the problem Martin, if you have space you fill it. Over the years I have had three workshops, initially all of them were adequate but as time passed I filled them with various bits and pieces associated with whatever hobby I was into at the time. Resulting in bigger and better workshops. My loft space is filled with model aircraft and a part built A-4 pacific that maybe one day I will get round to finishing. (I live opposite a park that Stockport MES has their track and I occasionally think that it would be great to be so close to a track I could use.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Tom Senior M.I. Overarm spindle bearing:

Can you believe, but it came with an aluminium one!

Have had a lump of drawn & cored bronze for some time now, to make a proper one, And decided it was high time I made it, so did so last week.

Photos of maching process in my Tom Senior Album.

Mill as received.

Bearings, as received with my replacement bearing.

The Tangential tool made quick work of the OD, with my 'Big guns' boring bar the ID, and the tipped parting tool finishing off to length.

Geoff – Trying not to swear at the curser jumping to the top left

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Chris

Just remember… you can earn loads of brownie points… but it only takes one 'Oh sh!t' to lose the lot…!

George

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Gentlemen,

I dont think I've cracked the Brownie point thing but for the last ten years I have taken a stationary engine to the Great Dorset Steam Fair with a mate, my wedding anniversary mostly falls in the middle of the rally week and all I have to do is make sure there is present and a card placed with my Daughter, I must say that for a couple of weeks before I go I do my best to make sure everything is good and working.

Martin P

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

You are all right gentlemen – you can earn Brownie points without knowing it and loose them the same way. Done both so many times. No idea how women work, been married for only 42 years. All I know is that you cannot combine 'women' and 'logic' in the same sentence!

And just why DOES that damned curser jump to the top left? It never used to. Progress isn't always a 'Good Thing'.

Chris – less than an hour to Beer 'o' Clock time!

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> curser jump to the top left?

It's caused by changes with Apple's iOS, and it won't be solved until a major update of the website is put through that will also affect things like picture uploading and smilies. As the potential for grief is high this won't be rushed, but it will happen in due course.

Neil

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Neil,

What you are saying is that it is an Apple thing, but for the record, unless I am mistaken, iOS is the operation system for iPhones, iPods and iPads, with the iMac computers and MacBook laptops using the operating system OS X, currently I am on Version 10.9.5, but there is a later version. My curser jumps to the top left on my MacBook! But it did not use to!

Chris

[NJHParticipant @njh]

iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac – All Apple products Chris. I have the, very recent, OS X Yosemite running on an iMac and I have the cursor problem (- and blooming' annoying it is!!)

Norman

( I am a recent convert to Apple following badgering from all my kids who say "for goodness sake Dad get an Apple". Yes it's very nice but, in many ways quite different to a Windows machine. No doubt I will suss it all out in time! )

Edited By NJH on 07/12/2014 19:58:16

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Totally Apple free zone here how.

If anyone wants an iPhone 4S there is one in a field near Colville on the north side of the M1.

So today, started a modification to a jib crane originally fitted to the original Bridgeport but now lacking reach on the newer larger clone. Probably put pics up later in the week.

Finished my wood skip, will now hold 450 cu ft of waste wood offcuts from the local furniture factory. Needed the increase as we are now running 4 wood burners in total, 3 in the house and one in the workshop but this really is the size of two normal fires.

Neil will tell you that you have to run past it when it's on !! I have two melted Haz vests to prove it.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Today I did a bit more on the underwater optical elbow that started off as a 3.5" aluminium cube by cutting the male and female threads in two faces at 45 degrees to each other.

Three M6 tapped holes in two opposing faces allow the work to be removed and replaced (and located accurately) from the brackets attached to the lathe faceplate.

Once all the internal shape has been completed I will mount the job on threaded mandrels (seen in the picture) so that all the external excess material can be turned and milled off.

Ian P

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Here are some pictures of the mayhem created by trying to find space for all of my machinery after importing a Tormach PCNC 1100 Mill. i finished putting up the curtain door in the "Dirty End" of the workshop tonight.

It's an Easy job, just a case of cutting the strips off a roll, pop riveting the hanger plate and backing plate onto one end then hanging on the rail. This should keep the dirt from cutting grinding and welding in the far end of the shop. You can also see some of the shelving I have put up, The shelves are due to be completely reorganised and all of the kit for welding operations will be stored in the appropriate end of the shop.

As you can see I am trying to cram a quart into a pint pot. For those interested the bikes are, left Velocette Thruxtonised Venom, BSA RGS A-10 Lookalike under bike storage lift and on top of the lift is my 1927 Humber side valve. There also lurks a 1929 Humber 350 OHV and a BSA DBD 34 Gold Star.

Here's another view down the machine shop area showing the Warco Manual mill, Warco BH 600 Lathe and the Myford MG-12 Cylindrical grinder. The latter is a three phase machine and I use a rotary inverter to run it, this is visible above the grinder. The bench drill has been relegated to the dirty end of the workshop and is visible in the distance.

The Tormach with ATC, as you can see, apart from running a test programme I haven't used it in anger yet.

Another view showing the Tormach mill and the Warco manual mill.

The space created for the Mini Lathe,Tool & Cutter grinder and the bench drill.

The completed Curtain Door. I was amazed at how much the heat is held in by the curtain, while putting it up I had a small fan heater running just to keep the chill off me but very shortly after I got all of the strips hung I had to turn it off.

I hate to think how hot it will get in there when I am doing any big brazing jobs.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Bob,

+1 on the curtain doors. I have a long thin shop that is divided into two and a quarter bits by existing walls.

Doorways have been knocked thru and like you I have a dirty part on one end for metal storage and welding.

The short quarter bit is just a bit of an office / electronics's section and houses the laser cutter.

I have put a curtain door in between these two sections as there is no point in heating the metal storage.

I made mine out of a roll of DPC membrane that you lay on double brick walls for a damp proof course. I think a decent sized roll of this was under a tenner.

Just screwed a wooden strip batten up above the doorway and stapled this onto the batten. In summer I just roll it round a length of broom handle from the bottom and tie it up.

As you say works wonders with the heat in that if I'm in the cold end and walk thru when the wood stove is on it hits you as you pass thru the strips.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Some time ago there was a thread about lathe fixed steadies which is really where I should have posted this, but I cannot find it now. Not strictly what I did today because it was actually yesterday, however…

I needed to reduce the 1/4" wall thickness (to 5mm) of some 3" OD aluminium tube, I'm not sure whether 3" will fit in a standard Boxford steady but my lathe is a 5" and the steady I got with the lathe is for a 4.5" so I resorted to the above arrangement.

The lash-up clamp on the left it so hold the top half of the steady at the position it has to be to clear the tube. Ballraces from the scrapbox are just manually adjusted and clamped with the original fingers just acting as spacers.

The tube is 200mm long and I was able to bore slightly over half way from each end and I was able to finish up with an almost invisible joint mid way.

Ian P

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> The Tormach with ATC, as you can see, apart from running a test programme I haven't used it in anger yet.

Well that's the most expensive storage unit I've ever seen

Neil

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