What Did You Do Today 2021

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I don’t often share cartoons … but this one made me laugh today

.

MichaelG.

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

and for those that want a balanced article there are 4 pages of the Sept 2021 issue of “Practical Electronics” devoted to both genders of this plug as well as explaining the “neutrik” angle

Edited By Frances IoM on 14/08/2021 16:26:45

[Jim Young 2Participant @jimyoung2]

MickB1 are the details of bunny published anywhere or do you fancy telling us more….looks fun!

[Colin HeseltineParticipant @colinheseltine48622]

Went to ARCEuro to collect some 2 flute milling cutters. As was dry (when left home) decided to go in Caterham 7. Had good chat to Ian (who is into cars in a big way) and good chat to Ketan. Both very helpful guys. As I left it went black and the rain chased me all the way home. Only problem was when stopped at traffic lights otherwise rain went over my head most of the time.

Came back home managed to mow the lawns, then get some more ali milled of the gear lever I am making for someone.

Colin

Edited By Colin Heseltine on 14/08/2021 21:50:17

[Jim NicParticipant @jimnic]

MickB1. Love the bunny, fascinating.

Jim

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Posted by Roderick Jenkins on 14/08/2021 09:51:37:

Emgee,

The jaws were advertised in ME back in July 1987 together with a puff article in the editorial:

As you suggest, the chuck jaw would be easy to make from a standard soft jaw. The slots in my hexagons are 1/8" and the jaws fit a 4" Burnerd. The company still appears to exist but I made no enquiries about replacement hexes.

Regards,

Rod

Thanks for the info Rod.

Emgee

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, it was on Thursday afternoon last when I made this lifting beam with three separate points for attaching chain blocks directly to it, to get the maximum lifting height possible. It has been made specifically for the side section of my garage, which I'm nearing completion of partitioning off from the main part of the garage, and can be move along the length of it, with exception of where there are two cross angles of the garage structure and it can be turned round to put the two outer fixing positions on the opposite sides.

It will be used for lifting my old Chester milling machine and my Myford M type lathe into place as well as any other thing that can't be manhandled, but yesterday afternoon, I used it to move a heavy cabinet out and into the main part of the garage, using the hook transfer method on this beam and then onto one on my overhead traveling beam in the main part of the garage, this will allow me to finish this end of the side section, but this cabinet won't be going back in.

Of course the beam will need to be cleaned and painted in due course.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 15/08/2021 07:29:21

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Jim Young 2 on 14/08/2021 21:20:59:

MickB1 are the details of bunny published anywhere or do you fancy telling us more….looks fun!

Credit for original plans appears to go to 'Wombatmorrision' for non-commercial share. I've seen them on Instructables too.

I'd already made oak versions from the A4 sized plans, but I didn't know if a miniature metal copy could practically be made to work.

I smallified the plans in a printer/copier to fit onto 2" x 1/4" flat brass, then cut them out using a Scheppach scrollsaw with 35 TPI pinless blades (1 broken during cut).

A bit of 80 grit emery paper glued on the contact radius of the front paw proved necessary to provide friction to allow the back legs to swing forward – otherwise it just slips and slews to a halt. Plank friction and angle are also fairly critical, but they're for empirical determination – likely pointless to measure and post what I used.

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

I had a great afternoon at Basingstoke for a members day barbecue.

Lots of chatting and good weather, a good reminder of the social side of clubs.

SWMBO thought it was OK, so I am allowed to come again

Edited By Roger Best on 15/08/2021 20:36:49

[brickyParticipant @bricky]

I had a good day as I have solved a problem on my SX3.This required me to dismantle the machine with the aid of a download on ARC's website .My problem has been the quill which would not return on the spring which I replaced thinking this would solve it and I have always, from new had a problem with the fine feed which would jam after locking, and I had to knock it back to return to the digital reading.I found after the removal of the handle spindle that the fine feed gear on the spindle was jamming on and a lot of force was required to move it.I had to hammer this off and I then scraped it until it rotated freely,on reassembly it worked but the fine feed did not ,I think that the ball bearings in the spindle, lock the gear as there is a shallow groove in the gear collar.I will ring Ketan on Monday to find out how this works.

Frank

[brickyParticipant @bricky]

My weekend has got even better,I have just got my Rockerthump engine to run.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Finally got on with more work on my Scotch yoke engine. Assembled the frame, bearing support, crank shaft, cylinder assembly, & gave it a run with my hand drill, so far so good. Next steps are to make eccentric, eccentric strap, rod, valve, valve chest + covers, strip down ,degrease, paint & have it running on air, not a lot ..

**LINK**

Excuse the video attempt, I haven't put anything up for quite a while & it looks quite sloppy.

George

Edited By mechman48 on 24/08/2021 20:02:26

[Jim NicParticipant @jimnic]

Should be done next week then George.

Looking forward to seeing the finished engine, I haven't got a Scotch Yoke and I need a "next project" to be thinking about.

Jim

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

A long time go a fellow club member died and his stationary engines came up for sale ,I bought a Blackstone and my wife bought a Stuart 600 petrol engine ,so I gave it some running to sort out the governor springs and water cooling pipe work,it was restored a year ago but as there were no shows we decided to let the paintwok have a long time to dry,then this week gave it a long run of 2.5 hours ,went well,very steady with no coughs ,splutters or other trouble,used 2 pints of petrol which I thought was quite good,will have to run it on the high grade petrol which currently has a minimum of ethanol,I am expecting some future problems with ethanol,as one of my larger engines refused to start the carbs jet is blocked even though I ran the carb dry last year when run on 5% ethanol.When I show my engines they usually have a run time of 6 hours so a long bedding down run is essential beforehand at home.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Completed, apart from painting, the upper part of the choke for my steam-wagon's chimney.

I had sought advice on here ooh, quite a while ago now, about designing these things so thank you to those who responded!

Time will tell how effective it is, but it's a fabrication of thin sheet-steel (ex- central-heating boiler panel) for the cone, a top ring and flange, both turned from solid; the latter for screwing it to a flange on the of the petticoat pipe.

MIG-welded together. Sort of. Luckily it will be concealed in the depths of the high "stove-pipe" outer chimney.

'

Then a pleasant evening at the club track. The evenings are certainly drawing in!

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Slowly the work for the new workshop has reached a point where I am now waiting for it to be delivered. The foundation is all down and ready the woodstore (old workshop) has now got some shelving but still hard to move in there due to some of the cupboards for the workshop being stored in there. Touch wood the workshop should be up by the weekend.

Then it is a small wait for the new toys to be delivered mid September. Looking forward to having a play and find things to make to give me some practice before making my first live steam beam engine.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Fitted a new electric shower, well known UK brand. Plumb it in, wire it up, switch on, load bang and flash from pull switch. Probing with dvm showed dead short twixt live and neutral. The eyelet on the live was touching the neutral. Took less than a minute to sort it, but do they not test them before shipping? Just shows how much value there is in CE mark. Now need a new pull switch as existing is welded on. The manufacturer will be hearing from me.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

As an addendum to the electronics leadscrew project on my lathe, I made up a simple Perspex chip guard to ward off the worst of the swarf and help protect the servo motor driving the leadscrew. I can still access (with minor inconvenience and a bendy spouted oilcan), the leadscrew oiling points under the rear face of the servo motor and as a bonus, the colour almost matches the lathe.

With the VFD set to a maximum of 60 Hz and in 'top gear', the rev counter shows a speed of 2250 rpm, well within the max. rated speed for any of my chucks. In 'bottom gear', I can go down to 2 or 3 rpm, though why I would want to do that is anyone's guess! All that and no rattling change gears. Bliss!

John

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

That seems like a really worthwhile project John, the main gripe I had with the 9×20 lathe I owned was the noisy gear train, that imo was quite quite poorly designed.

Spinning up to over 2000rpm without that noise must be a massive improvement.

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Because of the Covid restrictions, all of the planned engine rallies have been cancelled and I needed to let off a bit of steam with a couple of laps around the local neighbourhood

**LINK**

[Craig BrownParticipant @craigbrown60096]

Posted by Paul Lousick on 04/09/2021 05:43:06:

Because of the Covid restrictions, all of the planned engine rallies have been cancelled and I needed to let off a bit of steam with a couple of laps around the local neighbourhood

**LINK**

Paul, your video is showing as private so can not be viewed

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Try the Youtube link now

**LINK**

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Did a bit more on my Scotch yoke engine; didn't have any material of near enough dia. to make eccentric strap so used a piece of larger dia. This gave me the opportunity to use my rotab' which has sat idle for a long time. Marked out strap OD inc. lug for connecting to valve rod, chain drilled through with 3mm drill followed by 4mm slot cutter to leave strap attached by lug. machined lug to dimensions still using the rotab, separated the strap via sawing down ea. side of strap, then finish machine the lug itself, pleased at how it has turned out. Onward & upward as the cliche goes..

Having the connecting lug integral prevented the need to mess about trying to braze a separate piece on.

George.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Exeter & District Model Engineering Society has enough of its new track laid to do public running on it for the first time today. From now on it will be possible every first Sunday of the month but there is an extra day on the 19th Sept as it is the open day for the model railway club who also live at the St Katherine's Priory community centre in Stoke Hill Exeter.

There was good support from the local children wanting rides so a great start to our operations at the tracksite. Well done all those who have been working hard to build the track under the restrictions of the last year. Still more to do if anyone finds themselves at a loose end on a Tuesday.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by duncan webster on 03/09/2021 13:49:34:

Fitted a new electric shower, well known UK brand. Plumb it in, wire it up, switch on, load bang and flash from pull switch. Probing with dvm showed dead short twixt live and neutral. The eyelet on the live was touching the neutral. Took less than a minute to sort it, but do they not test them before shipping? Just shows how much value there is in CE mark. Now need a new pull switch as existing is welded on. The manufacturer will be hearing from me.

Well I contacted the manufacturer, who claim that all their showers are tested before shipping. Either they missed this one or they don't check for shorts. They also deny any responsibility for consequential damage, which conflicts with my understanding of the law. They seem to think their reputation isn't worth the £8 I was claiming, so no need to be coy, I won't be buying from Triton again, and would advise anyone else to avoid them.

Edited By duncan webster on 07/09/2021 16:28:15

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