What did you do today (2015)

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Hi Murray,

The engine is a 6" scale (half size) of a 3 1/2hp Ruston and Proctor traction engine which is only a small engine to start with. Originally designed for one man operation. Drawings and castings were supplied by Live Steam Models but I have re-designed it to suit the Australian code and for available material sizes.

The boiler barrel was originally 10" ID and our code requires a minimum wall thickness of 6mm. I chose to use seamless pressure pipe which has an OD of 273mm and a wall thickness of 9.27mm. Therefore everything is a bit bigger than shown on the supplied drawings. Aust. code for firebox plates are 10mm. Tubeplates are 16mm (minimum 12mm). Don't worry about my toes. Always wear steel cap boots around the workshop.

Will have to use a bigger mill to skim the side stays. Fortunately I know someone. The one below should be big enough. (Shown machining the steam chest)

Paul.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 04/02/2015 11:55:43

[VCParticipant @vc44480]

[VCParticipant @vc44480]

What I did to-day is try to fix the Fups of yesterday, this is what I do most days !!

The holes are all in the wrong place. No need for the pic if they weren't.

Fixed the bottom left , used steel knitting needles form the charity shop they were on their way to the "bin"

Sure takes longer to fix than it did to "make"

A problem shared is a problem etc. Feel better now

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Well Tuesday to be honest.

I have rubber matting down on the floor in the small shop, 3mm thick stuff with the penny round embossed pattern on it.

Been down now close to 3 years and this is a working shop so get a fair bit of use.

What with the traffic on it it has now started to stretch, bubble up and split and I can see it as an accident waiting to happen if I get a boot toe stuck in one of the bubbled up splits and go base over apex.

Looking at alternative that hopefully might have a better life and came across these horse mats.

Bought off Ebay they are left overs from horse shows in places like the NEC. First off the print the floor with a machine that drops tiny dobs of sand down to stop the mat sticking to the floor, then they cover it with bark and that's it.

After the shows, bark and sand are dumped and the mats sold off, probably to expensive to store.

They are 8' x 4' x about 10mm thick made from crumb rubber. I was a bit worried about how the hot chips affect it as sometime turnings come of the TOS literally glowing red.

Well after a couple of days have to report all is well, heavy and light chips brush up OK from the surface, so far no embedded chips. The sand marks are slowly disappearing and if it bothers you they can be hosed off or the other side used.

They are springy underfoot and could be used as is, I still prefer the boards in front of the machines as it's what I'm used to and even though they are only 1" high, without them I feel like I'm stood in a pit.

Anyway usual no connection with the seller, just pleased with the product.

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

John,

Is it this stuff? **LINK**

Bob

[wendy jacksonParticipant @wendyjackson]

I got some insulation matting from Halfords for 10 pounds a pack. Its around 10mm thick so would not last too long, so I got some large carpet tiles from the local carpet warehouse for free to glued them on top. I must say that its so much better to stand on when machining then the cold hard garage floor. Michael

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Bob, Yes same stuff.

I actually bought this.

 

**LINK**

 

And sorry told you wrong they are 10' x 4' but the ones you linked to are roughly the same, your link is 6' x 4' but two off for £2.00 extra.

 

TBH I didn't see these but the 10' ones mean less joins, all depends on the size and shape of the shop.

Edited By John Stevenson on 05/02/2015 18:12:52

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Unusual to see that much clear floor space in your workshop John

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Having spent the last few days emerged in 3D Cad drawings and CAM programming manuals I had a bit of a break. Last night I set too, investigating electrical problems on my old Motor cycles. I replaced the ammeter and starter solenoid on the Velocette and it looked as though things might just be OK but at 23:00 hrs my neighbours wouldn't have been too fond of me starting it to see if it was charging so it had to wait until today.

Success, it started straight away and more importantly it is charging, though it does need a new tail light as the filament in the stopping tail light bulb has blown. I also had a look at the BSA Gold Star and found that the handlebar mounted dip switch/horn/stop button is not functioning properly so a new on will be sourced tomorrow and if I get it fitted.

I will spend this evening making up a couple of new control cables for one of my Vintage bikes so that I can fit the original carburettor which was taken off a long time ago and replaced with a more modern Amal carb.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> Unusual to see that much clear floor space in your workshop John

Take a good look, the last time anyone saw it was during the Vietnam war… (or was it the Korean war?)

Neil

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Boar?

[Anonymous]

Posted by JasonB on 05/02/2015 19:53:44:

Boar?

Didn't look like a pigsty to me; it was quite clean and way tidier than my workshop?

Andrew

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

LOL

Only thing better than pi$$ taking is have the pi$$ taken

Something the yanks have never managed to understand

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Went shopping, found this in a second hand place for $15 new in the box.

Should be useful for cleaning model engine bits and bobs and cartridge cases.

* Danny M *

Edited By Danny M2Z on 06/02/2015 04:14:22

[“Bill Hancox”Participant @billhancox]

Posted by Danny M2Z on 06/02/2015 04:13:10:

Went shopping, found this in a second hand place for $15 new in the box.

Should be useful for cleaning model engine bits and bobs and cartridge cases.

* Danny M *

Edited By Danny M2Z on 06/02/2015 04:14:22

OR KNICKERS AND SOCKS!!

Great find for the money.

Cheers

Bill

[ANDY CAWLEYParticipant @andycawley24921]

Posted by John Stevenson on 05/02/2015 18:12:15:

Bob, Yes same stuff.

I actually bought this.

**LINK**

And sorry told you wrong they are 10' x 4' but the ones you linked to are roughly the same, your link is 6' x 4' but two off for £2.00 extra.

TBH I didn't see these but the 10' ones mean less joins, all depends on the size and shape of the shop.

Edited By John Stevenson on 05/02/2015 18:12:52

What's it like for wheeling tool boxes on castors?

[TSHParticipant @tsh73987]

Finally finished an eyepiece projection adaptor for my telescope (the bright parts here):

The dark parts are from the existing telescope focuser. It all screws together using 0.75mm pitch threads and the smaller diameter threads are M42 x 0.75 — i.e. T-mount thread, which is the thread used throughout the telescope focuser.

So how did it work? Here are a couple of pictures taken using it:

Trevor

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

.

Been to Machine mart for compressor oil. Cup of char then change said oil.

I then have several options for my afternoon :-

1) Continue with the James Coombes.

2) Tidy the house.

3) Have a nap. Then 1 or 2

4) Take flowers to girl then have to endure retard TV and listen to inane chatter about her female friends and their unreasonable partners or similar blah-blah-blah.

*Note. Doing 1, 2 or 3 will involve feigning illness re No.4

Nick

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by Nick_G on 07/02/2015 13:53:24:

4) Take flowers to girl then have to endure retard TV and listen to inane chatter about her female friends and their unreasonable partners or similar blah-blah-blah.

Nick

.

Flowers ? Flowers ???

Never thought of that.

I'm usually expected to take vernier high gauges, surface plates, collet chucks.

Am I doing something wrong ?????

To Andy who asked what it's like for wheeling toolboxes on I can't say as all mine are fixed and anything with wheels on that will fit in is on largish rubber pneumatics.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Finished off my lathe mod; gear train disengagement lever, from an idea out of Journeyman's workshop from Maurice Duckworth, simply to quieten the gear train down if you're not needing leadscrew feed, works a treat.

Quadrant pinch bolt..

Stop bolt on top of quadrant…

The bolt fits into a slot in the angle iron carefully filed to give enough clearance when disengaged & proper backlash clearance when engaged.

Have got a small video to show the effect on noise it has when operated, but, as usual with Photobucket it's still loading up & then I might get lucky & be able to put link in…. have got it in my Dropbox but can't see any way to link from there as I don't see any URL copy facility as P/bucket has. Does anyone have the method of linking videos from Dropbox to here..?

George.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

That's good Trevor, what type of scope do you have?

Neil

[Michael CheckleyParticipant @michaelcheckley34085]

Trevor – Your picture of the moon is fantastic!

Today`s task was a second attempt at the crankshaft for my Stuart 7A. The first attempt was intended to be silver soldered but it did not go well!. Version 2 will use loctite and pins.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

George try uploading the video to youtube as its quicker to play than ones hosted on PB.

I don't find the noise a problem when they are all set up just right but if one of the washers between banjo and gear is wrong or the mesh a bit off they can sing a bit.

J

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

"from an idea out of Journeyman's workshop from Maurice Duckworth"

Interesting mod George – do you have a link?

Rik

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

With all the iron castings completed on te 1/2scale Gade I gave the machines and workshop a good clean in the week. So today was back on the Cameron pump for a test assembly and trial run.

Went quite well, there is a slight knock which I have now traced to the piston rod hitting the end cover. Sorry about the compressor kicking in at about 30secs which speeds it up too much, ran best for the last 10seconds of the video where I had my finger against the flywheel to load it up a bit.

Stripped down now for final tweaks and painting.

J

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