What Did You Do Today 2021

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Very nice finish on those parts – The drawing looks a bit professional as well !

[BufferParticipant @buffer]

Thanks. The parts get a rub down with a fine garyflex block and the drawings came from a website called Dr Al's Miscellany.

[Mike HurleyParticipant @mikehurley60381]

Finally got the VFD conversion of my old BV-20 lathe together. Took much longer than expected mainly due to problems fitting the slightly larger motor – this did not fit on the original, rather ropey mounting on the lathe, so had to be fitted externally on the sturdy bench using a slide plate for adjustment. This required all manner of jiggery-pokery including moving the whole lathe about 2" to one side, butchering the covers to accomodate the new pulley / belt position.
Also added a rev counter, not essential, but, as I was doing all this other work why not! ( Had quite a bit of a wobbly with this until I discovered the in-joke that the manufactureres don't tell you about that stops it working! )
Anyway, it all seems to have come right in the end and I'm very pleased so far.
As we seem to be up to our ears in snow at the moment, looks like I'll get plenty of workshop time now rather than being dragged out shopping – oh what a shame.

Regards Mike

[Anonymous]

Building an engine involves making large numbers of disparate parts, which suddenly come together in one assembly. The basic motion work for my engines is now assembled. Turning the flywheel results in the crosshead and piston rods sliding back and forth:

Close up of the motion work:

All the components fitted together, and worked smoothly, with no adjustment needed. The slidebars and cylinders slope backwards by about a degree, relative to the boiler, as per the full size engines.

The far engine has a sheet metal chimney, made according to the plans. It has been pointed out that it is too skinny, and doesn't look right. Burrell fitted cast iron chimneys to some of their engines. The engine at the front has a prototype "cast" chimney, which looks a lot better. The "cast" chimney was modelled in CAD based on pictures of the fullsize engines. It was then 3D printed in two halves, stuck together and sprayed black. Since making the "cast" prototype the top has been changed, based on a picture of a Burrell pattern for the cast chimney and a convincing fluid flow explanation of why the top looks as it does. i will be going with the "cast" chimney as it looks much better, and is nearer to prototype.

Andrew

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Andrew, they are looking good.

Regards Nick.

[brickyParticipant @bricky]

Great work Andrew .

Frank

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

How many years does it take to get that far, Andrew.

Today I went to my next door neighbour's 100th birthday party. I have lived next door to her for half my life. If I start now on a traction engine would I have time to finish it?

[lee websterParticipant @leewebster72680]

It's silly really, but today I went to a local indoor market and bought 17 second-hand paperbacks by Dilly Court for a 92 year old friend. She is over the moon! She now has nearly 40 books by the author with 6 more to get for the full set.

[Anonymous]

Posted by Bazyle on 05/12/2021 21:15:46:

How many years does it take to get that far………….

Fourteen years so far. However, there are some factors in my defence:

Since I live on my own I have to do all the shopping, cooking, gardening, housework and so on…….

I have another time consuming hobby

Building two engines takes longer than one; I reckon about 50%

The drawings have many errors and omissions, so a lot of time has been spent creating CAD models, and assemblies to check function and fits

I want to make everything myself, including cutting all the gears, making most of the nuts, bolts and studs and forming and welding all the wheels. The main items I haven't made are the boilers and rubber tyres.

I am adding significantly to the design, based on fullsize, such as the singling valve and prototypical regulator lever

In order to make some items, such as injectors, I need to understand the underlying theory in order to create a design I can then make

The list goes on………………!

In essence it's the engineering that really interests me. Making parts is secondary, unless it's a technique I haven't used before.

Andrew

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by lee webster on 05/12/2021 21:37:26:

It's silly really, but today I went to a local indoor market and bought 17 second-hand paperbacks by Dilly Court for a 92 year old friend. She is over the moon! She now has nearly 40 books by the author with 6 more to get for the full set.

Never heard of Dilly Court and she's famous!

They're not for me: 'As the first Christmas snowflakes fall, Rosalind finds herself pregnant and alone…'

I reckon my mum will love them, and I'm short of ideas for xmas. As she doesn't care for Elmore Leonard Dilly Court will make a nice change. Mum will think I'm thoughtful and sensitive!

Many thanks,

Dave

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Mike, like your VFD conversion on your BV20 lathe, I am wanting to go down the same path for my own BV20 lathe and would be grateful for any helpful information that you have.

On a different subject altogether have spent the morning sourcing a replacement battery for my Honda Jazz, it’s been playing dead on a regular basis for about 6 months and been revived by constant recharging. The battery fitted to my Jazz is a nonstandard size, well it would be wouldn’t it, added to that it is a stop/start battery which makes it more expensive than normal batteries. I could only find a replacement from the same maker, that’s Yuasa and Halfords are local agents. Cost £172.99, ouch, but does come with a five year warranty; is a direct replacement for the one I have fitted which coincidentally is 5 1/2 years old! Battery due in Friday, no problem fitting it have got the job down to less than two minutes, plenty of practice over the last six months, not prepared to pay Halfords an extra £25 to fit it. I shall now be able to put away my booster battery pack which I have had to carry with me for starting the car when battery went flat, the booster pack is only small, charges off a USB socket, and starts the car no problem, wouldn’t be without now. Dave W

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

so today I made the next to last 2 bits of valve gear for my loco. Then went to the drawer where I keep the bits so I wont lose them and found I'd already made them. I keep on saying I should do a parts list before I start and tick the bits off. It would also help in ensuring I've got the material before I start. Friend of mine has sent me 2 bits of PB to make the valves, the Post Office seems to have lost them. He sent 2 more bits, they've lost them as well

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I set up my steam-wagon's crankshaft with its 4 eccentric sheaves and straps, one connecting-rod and its cross-head with a proxy piston rod, between simple bench-centres on the milling-machine table.

This to assess real-life sizes, clearances etc to help me further design the engine. The proxy rod is gripped in a collet and the whole thing centred by eye so I can move the mechanism using the quill. Carefully because my milling-machine's quill is very stiff – possibly incurably.

Yes, it is theoretically possible to design an entire engine by drawing first, but it is far easier for me to produce a prelimary layout and a few motion component drawings, make and assemble them, then measure physical lumps of metal and intervening air. Thus to work out how and where all their supporting acts etc. can do their thing without moving bits hitting static bits!

The bench-centres are just two bits of m.s. rod, one end coned, the other drilled and tapped, screwed to angle-plates held by one of the T-slots; and adjusted to parallels for equal height

[LynneParticipant @lynne]

Samsaranda, I have sent you a PM. Regards, Lynne

[Mike HurleyParticipant @mikehurley60381]

So have I. regards Mike

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

Having been on the lookout for some metric keyway broaches as I'll need them soon I was glad to see a set on auction at a pretty low price weekend before last, ended up paying only £52 for a 4mm 5mm 6mm 8mm and 10mm set, they arrived today and I was pleased to see they are the Dumont brand and had no chips in any of them, they looked a bit worse for wear but cleaned up nicely, the bushes got a bit of damp on them at some point but are also cleaning up alright.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Installed a 'Billy Bookcase' in my workshop. A set of reasonably robust shelves for just £25 and exactly the right size for the available bit of wall. Leave a space for the dehumidifier, which can be moved out to allow the Warspite to be unracked.

Not much left to do, I want to add drawers to the benches and a couple of sections of plasterboard to tidy the wall/ceiling joint left to do.

Do not trust 'instant grab' in a sealant gun to stick plasterboard to plasterboard – you need at least one screw to hold everything while it sets!

I now have a date to empty the container and move everything in. I'm starting to get excited!

Neil

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Well, it was yesterday – delivered boiler plugs to the railway. They were M14 x 1,5 after a bit of investigation – I'd wondered if they were 9/16" x 16 BSF.

Simple job, but no standard nut or gauge, so I had to aim for the same fit as the sample (left in pic), which would only actually screw into the die without cutting if I sprang it open a little with the centre screw.

It was easiest to turn the screw blank to 14,2 mm or thereabouts so that I could clamp that hard in the dividing head and turn out any resulting chuck marks before threading.

Mercifully somebody'd left the divvy head set up on the Bridgy clone so I didn't have wrestle the thing into place, and there was a 2" carbide insert mill already in the spindle – just as well, cos the ring spanner for the drawbar was nowhere to be seen. So cut the hexes, then back home to the Warco to finish turn and thread.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Why is it when you volunteer at museums and the like you always seem to be looking for tools used by someone else and not put back where they belong. I wonder what the percentage of time wasted in this way is??

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I felt I ought get oily hands after some indolence lately, so hied hence I unto the workshop to dismantle a test-assembly on the milling-machine table, and thereto set the wagon engine's baseplate for further machining. It needs locating-nests for the main-bearing pedestals.

With an eye on the sundial, so I did not forget to return to the house for a coffee and listen to the play on the BBC Home Service. Thus entertained by the Moomintrol's dramatised Winter adventures (he'd awoken in mid-hibernation), and with the crankshaft assembly safely back on the dining-room window-sill, 'twas the hour of braving the drizzle and sallying forth to sister and brother-in-law; to partake of Christmas Dinner and exchange gifts.

Back from my less dramatic Winter adventures, here I am awaiting a rather different story on the wireless… one of terrifying paranormality experienced by two climbers in a Scottish Highlands bothy. Will I need a cushion to hide behind if Things become too Ghostly and Nocturnally Bumpy ? Dare I go to bed immediately after, with the lights off ?

Happy Christmas All!

[clogsParticipant @clogs]

I want/need to go and use the grass cutter and strimmer but the wife wont let me…..

she says it's to near Christmas…..bah Humbug……..

first time I hear a chainsaw I'm off…..lol…..

it's 14 plus deg outside and the weeds are going nuts…..

so will go trim the grape vines and perhaps run some string lines for the new workshop….160m2….

All the best ……..

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by bernard towers on 25/12/2021 21:47:12:

Why is it when you volunteer at museums and the like you always seem to be looking for tools used by someone else and not put back where they belong. I wonder what the percentage of time wasted in this way is??

IMO that's part of the job. You don't usually get a drawing either, and often have to guess or calculate the sizes, threads and tolerances when you're asked to duplicate a worn or mangled component.

You can't always run an outfit partially staffed by disparate volunteers like it was an efficient business. I'm just grateful to be able to participate without having to clamber about in sooty smokeboxes or weed kilometres of lineside.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Last week REALLY, but as of yesterday, G'Chn, and their girl friends now have "over the door" hangers to increase storage space in residences and some new egg cups (Bored out in the Lathe )

Can't repeat, as these jobs used up the last stainless steel sheet.

Next job will be to make up holders so that I can grind the brazed carbide boring tools

(Santa brought a new drawbar Arbor for the Boring Head to replace the tang type. )

So that letter did get through to the North Pole or wherever!

Howard

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Posted by clogs on 26/12/2021 07:52:49:

I want/need to go and use the grass cutter and strimmer but the wife wont let me…..

she says it's to near Christmas…..bah Humbug……..

Good on your wife. It's Sunday too. Shouldn't do noisy stuff or hang out washing on a Sunday. It's against bylaws in some sensible parts of Germany. Even worse is the oiks in little planes that want to fly their noise machines over my garden in the summer when I want to sit peacefully reading Model Engineer.

Meanwhile I liked your little Dickensian commentary Nigel.

[Chris MateParticipant @chrismate31303]

Still busy setting up the mill I bought.
I recently received a new vice, 2x 1-2-3 blocks, Wiggler & Edge finder and a clamping kit.

Mounting the vice:
My mill bed has 4x T-Slot channnels, so I gave it a thought on how to mount the vice. Decided to bolt it to the 3rd channel from the front and decided to mount it in the centre. With the vice mounted to the 3rd channel, if I move the bed Y-Access front to back with spindle centre from fixed jaw to vice max opening moveable jaw, I have in both cases at least 2/3rds of the bed enganged, I think it ok.

I also decided to mount a 20x30x bed with bar on each side of the vice. Now I must slightly mill the vice on both sides 100% square(Not the bolting area on both sides), as well as these bars bolted(And milled) with 4x bolts(Shortened) on each side of the vice. I did mount these bars with 4x bolts each to bed.
Idea is to slide vice between them to get a quick truing position of the vice, seeing I got a swivel bed, then one check is eliminated for most work. I hope this works out. The swivel bed looks it was machined at the square position(0-degrees). So maybe I can make a lock for it in this position. Will have to see if this works out in reality by checking the tramming after shifting the bed or removing replacing the vice..Cannot do this yet.

Wooden Cabinet:

Clamping kit(Blue holder):It has the T-Slot protection build in bolt cannot screw through it in bed.
I mounted the Clamping kit away to the left, + 1-2-3 blocks & Edge finder & wiggler in a sliding wooden box mounted to the wall left side out of the way easy to get to..

Vice Handle:
I made a mount for the vice handle, so if I take it off the vice(Most of the time), it has one place to go next to this wooden cabinet out of the way.

Edited By Chris Mate on 27/12/2021 17:57:47

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