What Did you do Today 2022

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Please use this new thread from now on, last year's is here

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

[OldMetallerParticipant @oldmetaller]

I got 2022 off to a good start by finishing the Guardian quick crossword in under four minutes, a personal best, and that was whilst fending off the cat, who thinks she's helping.

Hopefully I'll get the workshop tidied up today, and get my G3 wagons finished to clear the decks for the new loco.

Happy New Year to all!

John.

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

Just got up 9-15am and have no intention of doing much. Happy new year to all

Roy

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Ordered metal and some tooling so that I can make a start on my first project this year. The adventure begins as well as many hours of learning along with some mistakes I am sure will happen. As I say "Those that never made a mistake never made anything" and I have made my fair share when making models from wood.

Some of my work

Most are just slide shows and excuse the music on some just turn off the sound

Edited By Derek Lane on 01/01/2022 11:16:52

[David George 1Participant @davidgeorge1]

Polished a Lincoln Imp car mascot I found in father-in-law,s workshop when clearing it.

 

Something to do.

David 

Edited By David George 1 on 01/01/2022 12:23:00

[sean logieParticipant @seanlogie69385]

Up at 5am (normal for me) cleaned up my wee shed ,it'll only take 5 min and it'll be back where it was , some repairs to the lathe and caravan . Then did some contemplating .

Sean

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Finished the Mx5 engine and gearbox mounts for a friend's Cortina based kit car, and bolted the parts in place. Then we refitted the body, admired his wheel and tyre combination, added the radiator and intake trunking to see if there's room(barely) and discussed the way to get the seats, pedals, steering column, dash and Land Rover windscreen installed.

That's a good day, as it now looks like a car rather than a pile of junk. Although there is plenty of that left over from a very rusty Mazda.

[brickyParticipant @bricky]

Made three plug guages to fit a ball race a existing bored gear and a pulley so that I could get accurate readings when I make the arbour for all three.This is a part for the making of a shaper which I am trying to finish when the original maker died and left it 80% complete but with no idea of his thinking I am makeing the most of it.The plans are labled putnook but he never followed them completely which is making it difficult.

Frank

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Nearly 3 years ago I posted about the cross-slide homing system I installed on my CNC Super 7. Despite scepticism at the time it has worked fine ever since, but I have been aware that the homing accuracy has slightly degraded. This I think is mainly due to the slight deformation of the fixed contact pad that gets grounded by a sprung rod on the slide. The pad had a beryllium copper plate soldered to a piece of PCB – the bit that is contacted by the rod has developed a little "dimple" with time, because the BeCu plate wasn't soldered flush and had a little cavity behind it.

Finally I got round to making a new contact block. This is made from Corian with a beryllium copper plate glued to its surface (using Gorilla Glue clear).

Already I've managed to get a greasy fingerprint on it. Spent a tedious couple of hours recalibrating all my lathe tools that are fixed in QC toolholders.

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Spent the first part of the afternoon sorting out my metal delivery like cleaning the ends of some bar stock and stamping that with type of steel the smaller piece I had to resort to using a power engraver. I followed that up be doing some woodturning which I had not been able to do properly for 9 months due to renovations and new workshop rebuild.

Now that I have the metal and plans for the Rob Roy I want to build I may be able to make a start still waiting for some numbered drill bits to arrive to drill these as well as the build book(Thought that maybe helpful during the build)

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

At last I have now started my first model it is a Rob Roy loco, frames rough cut to size with a little extra so that I can mill off where the steel was cut on a guillotine. Holes drilled so that I can rivet them together. I am sure I will make mistakes but it is only metal at the end of the day I will also learn plenty.

I have spent quite a few hours studying the plans for the frames and working out the best way to approach the work hopefully without having to move them too many times. I am going to buy some storage boxes for parts so that I can keep them safe.

Wish me luck I have already forgotten how many times I have measured just the two frames before even cutting them.

I do have a plan of attack and will be breaking the model down into small projects and only thinking about that section that I am working on but also being mindful of other parts adjacent checking the measurements marry up just in case of any the plans do have any measurement mismatches.

[DiogenesIIParticipant @diogenesii]

Good luck and happy engineering, Derek, sure it will go well!

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Posted by DiogenesII on 12/01/2022 19:07:23:

Good luck and happy engineering, Derek, sure it will go well!

Thank you.

The journey begins spent the day riveting the two plates together and the set up on the mill cleaned up the left edge and long edge so that the rivets are close to the centre of the horn cutouts. I did give the right side a clean up so that it was parallel to the left edge but not yet down to the right length of the chassis.

I will be using the bottom right as a datum to start with as not all measurements are not taken from there so may have to change that as I go along luckily I have the DRO to assist in this

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Derek. You have obviously been on the site for some time so I hope you have read the other threads about the Rob Roy valve gear not lining up.

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Posted by Bazyle on 13/01/2022 22:56:17:

Derek. You have obviously been on the site for some time so I hope you have read the other threads about the Rob Roy valve gear not lining up.

Not yet but will have a look as it is 4 of the holes on the chassis need moving this is the first I know of and there are some others that I am aware of but not taken any notice of until I move to the next stage to check if any are needed then. One piece at a time.

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

One suggestion is that you provide some form of "fence" in the rear table slot. That would enable you to replace the frames (should you need to) in exactly the same place front to back with only the side to side movement to be finely adjusted.

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Posted by KWIL on 14/01/2022 09:23:43:

One suggestion is that you provide some form of "fence" in the rear table slot. That would enable you to replace the frames (should you need to) in exactly the same place front to back with only the side to side movement to be finely adjusted.

Thank you for that tip worth thinking about but as it stands I will be doing a lot of work 90% on these without having to take them off the mill just move the clamps one at a time to mill the back edge of the plates to the correct width and take out a 3/8" along just under half the length.

 

All tips are very much welcome. I know that many will say that I should have started with a simpler model but I felt that this was not beyond me with a little pre-planning , One of my  favourite subjects when I was at school(I will not say how many years ago) was  technical drawing so reading plans is fairly easy, and as I stated there will be mistakes but I am prepared to learn from them as well as tips that I am offered.

As I have put on the bottom of posts I make on woodworking sites "He who never made a mistake never made anything"

Edited By Derek Lane on 14/01/2022 10:24:58

[Chris MateParticipant @chrismate31303]

Made 2x fixtures that bolt to the lower bed each side(Can be easily removed) to adjust the swivel bed accurately square without tapping it..
Decided to mill the fixtures flat to fit to bed, very happy with some milling for the 1st time, and how the quil fine asdjustment worked.

Previously ightend the MT4 Drill chuck as suggested on this forum with drawbar. Had no problem removing it, just one light tap with aliminium mallet. Replaced with Facemill that came with milling machine.

[Rob McSweeneyParticipant @robmcsweeney81205]

For the first time in ages I have something worth reporting. Finished laying plastic gravel grid and put down the gravel base in readiness for my new shed. We had the electrician working in the house this morning, so was able to discuss the outside power supply and shed wiring with him, I await his quote.

[lee websterParticipant @leewebster72680]

OldMettaler.

A friend and I used to do the Guardian cryptic prize crossword. We won it three times, once in her name, once in mine and just for a laugh we entered in the name of my friends cat Lizzie. She won!

[NR67Participant @nr67]

Machining continues on the Wyvern. Used the new (arc) 5×7 tilting table to set the 30 deg angle for the main bearings. Digital protractor proved the markings on the table were remarkably accurate although in reality +- half a degree would make no difference.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Another clock converted to use a GPO slave movement for the railway. This was a Smith's Astral 123 with a very nice movement, I'd guess made 1950s – 70s, maybe in Coventry. The posts supporting the original movement had to come out – they were effectively riveted or bonded to the back of the face, so I needed to fill the resulting holes and try to match the face colour to cover the repair.

I gave them back the extracted movement. They might be able to sell it on via auction site – they seem to fetch a few quid.

Edited By Mick B1 on 14/01/2022 20:55:45

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Stayed indoors most of the day, growling at the utter disorganisation surrounding my purchasing on-line from DELL, a refurbished DELL confuser with this 'ere WIN-10 I'm told I'd better have. (I am not expert enough to go all Linux-y).

Promised 21 days delivery despite ex-stock, of PC plus a mouse it lacked. (It has a keyboard.) Well, all right, distribution delays. Strange times as the new normal and all that.

Ought be easy for a big computer company to pack a rebuilt all-in-one PC, keyboard and mouse in one box and send it to me? Oh Lor' no. This is the IT world – the more obstructive, inept and inefficient the better.

What a bureaucratic, frustrating shambles!

Delivery would be Tuesday, then yesterday, then today, said shippers Syncreon whose poorly-designed web-site worked only once, to tell me my goods were lost in Holland. Actual delivery by DHL; anywhen 'twixt cock-crow and owl-hoot. So basically trapping me indoors, but I managed some afternoon workshop time – and of course , no delivery. To make it more fun Dingly Dell had split the single order into two: PC, and mouse; so two separate lots of paperwork, two separate invoices, two delivery dates to mess up.

Afrer another "no-reply" missive late yesterday evening I was so furious I could not relax in bed. I got up, steamed up the computer and fired an angry e-post to Dell's Customer "Services", telling them why I am on the verge of cancelling the order, and in capitals: "Stop confusing, inconveniencing and frustrating me! " . Ticked just 1 (lowest) on the " satisfaction" scale. Not had a reply yet……

Then another "no-reply" from Syncratic: this time the other box, delivery some day next week; again any time between cornflakes and cocoa. I've a "celebration of his life" to attend on one day so knowing my luck….

HA! Just had a message from DHL – delivery Monday. I won't hold my breath. Computer or mouse, I wonder?

'

Well, I have managed some model-engineering…. I measured parts of the steam-wagon to continue to design its grate and ashpan as a unit than will tip for disposal. After puzzling how also to fit a damper, I twigged I can use its control also to control that tipping. (With a draw-bolt to hold the assembly in place for steaming.)

Not easy. The firebox is a vertical cylinder with the foundation-ring in a lot of fairly empty space a long way below the chassis-rails, and far narrower than the gap between them. I've also to consider how to mount the boiler lagging, hand-brake gear and engine supports, in the same region, without filling the space with inordinately complicated, unsightly, un-prototypical metalwork that will need heavily modifying or replacing at least twice.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

As Bees pop up from time to time on here I thought you may be interested in this thermal image of one of the hives at the Lab. (Kept purely for enjoyment at honey)

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