What Did you do Today 2022

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Still being on 'light duties' was indoors today and came across my Daughters cine camera in the camera bag were four 90mins 8mm cassette's so made a start on get them on disc

H

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

More mornings spent in the garden getting rid of some ornamental grass we do not want finishing the veg area ready for planting.

Afternoons workshop time finished the rear buffer beam riveting and today making a start on the horn blocks first one machined to fit the frames quite pleased nice fit no photos. Still got two more pairs to do as they are joined I am able to do a pair at a time which will be ideal as once split they can be fitted in the same pair on the frames so should all line up later on

[Bruce VoelkerdingParticipant @brucevoelkerding91659]

Derek,

don't be surprised after you split the Horn Block castings that the "open end" doesn't fit well. It has happened on all 20 Horn Blocks that I have machined (these were all 3-1/2" gauge cast Bronze and single piece – it sounds like you have the kind cast as a pair). Even though I made a special jig to hold them and there was no taper on the sides as they came off the Mill, they distorted by the time I got around to riveting them onto the Frames.

No need to worry – I used a Screw and a Nut as an internal Jack and held them tight in the Frame Slots as I drilled & riveted them. I machined the working faces holding the Frames as a pair outside Face to outside Face, Frames sitting vertical in the Mill Vice, using an End Mill.

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Posted by Bruce Voelkerding on 07/03/2022 19:45:52:

Derek,

don't be surprised after you split the Horn Block castings that the "open end" doesn't fit well. It has happened on all 20 Horn Blocks that I have machined (these were all 3-1/2" gauge cast Bronze and single piece – it sounds like you have the kind cast as a pair). Even though I made a special jig to hold them and there was no taper on the sides as they came off the Mill, they distorted by the time I got around to riveting them onto the Frames.

No need to worry – I used a Screw and a Nut as an internal Jack and held them tight in the Frame Slots as I drilled & riveted them. I machined the working faces holding the Frames as a pair outside Face to outside Face, Frames sitting vertical in the Mill Vice, using an End Mill.

Thank you Bruce for those words of wisdom I will now be aware of that and at lest know how to solve it. I will drill the holes in the frames from the blocks but may do so before splitting them which will give a guide for when I do split them.

I also will mark them so they only will be fitted to either left or right side as well as which slot they will fit into.

[Craig BrownParticipant @craigbrown60096]

Started work on a Autolock – ER32 adapter. Simular to the FC3 adapters you can get for the 6mm shank tools this will fit in the same way but have an ER32 nose instead. That's the theory anyway. Reason being its to go on an INT 50 machine and finding a tool holder with a 1" BSW drawbar thread with ER32 at the business end is nigh on impossible

[Terry KirkupParticipant @terrykirkup37827]

A simple soul's answer to non-faffy vise replacement. I hope!

But I did have to knock up a few tee nuts after I'd ordered the wrong size countersunk screws!

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Some pictures of the buffer beams and the first horn block ready for splitting when the rivet holes have been drilled, from the other day. As they are milled as a pair I have punched a single mark on either end and also in the first frame cut out as well as engraved a L and R on the appropriate side. Hopefully if I do this to all of them the axles should end up nice and square to the frame.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I started this little repair job yesterday afternoon and finished it this afternoon. It is a small hammer that I made in school metalwork when I was about 12, but it broke a good many years ago, where it goes into the handle. I came across it a while ago when sorting out an old tool box and as can be noticed, got a bit rusty and a little pitted here and there. So I decided that it was about time I fixed it, I could have used a new bit of rod between the handle and the head, but I wanted to keep as much in tact that I could.

First thing to do was to remove the bit of thread in the handle.

After heating the end up to a dull red and allowing it to cool, I put it in a three jaw and drilled a 3mm hole right through the centre of the thread and then opened the first 3mm with a 3.5mm drill. Then put the handle in a bench vice and used a thread extractor cautiously and got the old bit of thread out.

I then weld prepped a new piece of 1/4" BMS and the broken end of the rod in the hammer handle and welded the two together.

This was then put in a three jaw on my mini lathe and the weld turned down to 1/4"

The rod was then hacksawed off to length and a new thread put on the end with a die in a hand stock and was then screwed into the handle.

Just need to give a coat of rust inhibiting paint and store it somewhere, don't think I'll ever need to use it as a hammer again.

Regards Nick.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Oh, don't worry about using your hammer, Nick! Good to see you repaired it so it can snooze in peace again for years!

I've a few items I made in school metalwork classes, kept for nostalgia I suppose although family nostalgia has never been my strong point. (I wonder what I did with the birthday dates list my sister wrote for me…?)

…..

More to the point….

What I Did Today.

Finally cracked the problem of arranging my steam-wagon's ash-pan, so it will tilt, grate and all, for fire-dropping. I thought it would be the engine that provides the design headaches. It's not helped by being cylindrical and the grate having to enter quite a way into a 5" bore, vertical firebox – hence needing long swing-arms back to a suspension-rod on what will be the engine frame aft of the boiler.

The whole caboodle uses the damper control-bar also to control lowering the ash-pan, after releasing the intended retainers. The difficulty was making it work without fouling such details as the front axle.

Stopped for tea and a crack at the local paper's cryptic crossword ('tis 'ard), then ventured down the garden again.; but felt too tired to think or do much. As my Grandad would have said, I was like a wooden man made of smoke.

Even so, as I peered down into the chassis I realised I am making a confection of odd–shaped bits of steel yet again, and just laying two lengths of B&Q Best QA*-approved Angle-Iron on the frame-work so far, showed me a much simpler and more elegant approach.

I took the photo two years ago, and it's not progressed much since because it's 3 steps in full forward gear then 2 to 4 back all the time. The woodwork under the boiler is part of its special lifting equipment. The vertical engine will live in the chassis just behind the boiler: the large red plate is nominally for the outer transmission-gear bearings. The black thing to the left is the smokebox and chimney, not a miniature one of those trendy garden oven thingummies!

' ' ' '

*QA: Querulous Answers, Queer Apparatus, Quality Approximate, Questionable Accumulation….

[Craig BrownParticipant @craigbrown60096]

Finished off my Autolock – ER32 adapter. Not yet put it through its paces but I did spin it up and it wasn't wobbling all over the place so should be alright

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

At last the main horns are completed except for the rivet holes which have been marked. I was a little worried when I started them but soon got into doing them after many measurements taken and calculations checked double checked and even triple checked before a cutter touch the metal.

All three sets fit nicely into the frames now it is a case of drill the holes in them and the frames ready for riveting. I am happy with how they turned out, the inner corners will be filed square once they are fitted.

As can be seen in the photo they are still joined, that is why there is a gap at the top.

[RobinParticipant @robin]

Posted by Craig Brown 2 on 15/03/2022 02:09:25

…it wasn't wobbling all over the place so should be alright

Spoken like a true engineer

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, it's more what I did this last week, working on a bit each day. This hanging basket bracket which I made at school in metalwork when I was eleven or twelve, had been in use in one of my sisters garden for many, many years and lost it's paint and became quite rusty. My sister didn't have any further use for it and was in the way of her new Pergola, so she asked me if I wanted it or should she sling it, I decided to keep it and see if I could revive it.

Last weekend I came across it hiding in my garage and thought it was time to sort it out. The first thing to do was to remove the scrolls and put them back into shape with a little heating and then straighten the bar that forms the hook, as it was slightly bent between where the scroll, near the hook, is riveted on and the mounting plate. Both parts were then wire brushed with one in my angle grinder to get off the bulk of the rust and they were then put into some patio cleaner to get as much of the remaining rust off and they came very clear of just about all of the rust and were then spray painted with Hammerite No. 1 rust beater.

The scrolls and the bracket were then painted on the areas were it would be difficult to get to once riveted back together, but I decided to do the scrolls red and the bracket black, instead of completely black, which it was when done in school.

I then made a special rivet snap from a piece of 20mm diameter BMS EN8 with what is the bottom, milled off so it didn't roll all over the place and a short part of the top at each end has a flat milled on it for clamping down.

Each rivet was set up in turn and riveted down, leaving the head still in a rounded shape.

The whole thing was finished painted and I've fixed it to a wall in my hallway, but it might be a bit OTT for my Tea Light lantern.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 19/03/2022 23:01:01

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Posted by Harry Wilkes on 07/03/2022 18:47:18:

Still being on 'light duties' was indoors today and came across my Daughters cine camera in the camera bag were four 90mins 8mm cassette's so made a start on get them on disc

H

Hi Harry

Please advise which method you use to transfer the film images to disc, is it 100% sucessful method ?
I have some Super 8 casettes which I would like to transfer to CD or Memory stick.

Emgee

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

I assume by super 8 you mean film. I first tried one of those transfer devices that you used to be able to get where you project the film onto a 45 degree mirror and it then shows on a tiny screen that you photograph with a digital camcorder. Unfortunately this had a bright area in the middle of the final video. I than started to project onto a normal screen and recording the show. Tricky to line up to avoid the projector or camera shadow appearing on the screen but manageable.

I was told that there would be issues with the shutters of the camera and the projector not synchronising, but for the few family reels of 8mm and 16mm it was not an issue. If it had been I should have had to send them away to be done.

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 20/03/2022 10:06:11

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

At the beginning of February, Iain Downs posted a request for assistance in producing an eccentric for use in a die filer. As one of the respondents, I postulated that it might be possible to make a variation of a shaper ram action in the vertical plane. Certainly not all done today, but this is what I've come up with.

I've not shown any of the fastenings but it should be fairly clear how it works. With the "bull wheel" turning in an anti-clockwise direction as viewed, It not only provides a variable stroke length but also a slow downward stroke and fast upstroke. I don't intend to make it – I have no requirement for one – it was just an exercise to keep the grey matter ticking over and see if it was a viable design.

John

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Over the last few days yet more gardening (nearly at the end) then afternoons in the workshop managed to fit the Main horns into the frame as well as turn and fit the two weighshaft bushes

The pile of metal work is getting larger. I also rough milled the gunmetal black for the Axleboxes to find that using the 1/2" cutter left a ridge when making two passes next to each other. Double checked the mill tram but that was OK eventually found why this was happening the mill vise grub screw was a little loose and this allowed the moving jaw to lift the block and cause the problem.

Anyway that problem sorted I got around to taking the block for the axleboxes to final size but this time I used the fly cutter which I am pleased with the finish that it left all this before milling the slot down the length which will be the next job followed by cutting it into six pieces.

This photo of the parts with the axlebox in its rough size.

I did find that I had made a mistake when I drilled the frames and that was the centre hole for the brakes my original hole I had drilled too low and have now drilled one in the correct place now I need to fill this hole. Do I just leave it or counter sink and make a plug and treat it like a rivet and file flat or just fill with a plug and loctite it in place. Suggestions welcome

Edited By Derek Lane on 23/03/2022 19:32:05

[Iain DownsParticipant @iaindowns78295]

John – thank you very much for that. I did look at the various ram approaches but I've ended up with something slightly different.

That's a fairly plain scotch yoke in principle but I think it will be easier to make than a quick return and be a bit more compact. On the down side the stroke (based on a screw in bearing on the grey block that will give 10, 15, 20 and so on mm stroke) is not continuously adjustable, with the quick return is.

At the moment in design terms I'm debating if I need the table to tilt or to keep it simple.

My other challenge is that I planned to make the gears mysefl, but I've been struggling a bit with the accuracy of my (small) rotary table and ER32 chuck which has a run out of about 0.12 mm. It something I may be begging for advice on at some point, but I want to try and identify where the error is before I expose my ignorance further.

When I get properly started I will do a build log.

Iain

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Off to a good start in the sunshine by digging a vegetable plot in the nature-reserve, sorry, back garden; and fitting a plush "bee hotel" – a Christmas present – to a sheltered spot on the boundary wall.

Then to the serious stuff: converting part of a computer case to parts of my steam-wagon's ash-pan. This area of the project had led down a maze of dark alleys of mangled metal and confections of steel and bits of scrap until I realised a simple rectangular box is the answer.

The original was probably cylindrical, a downwards extension to the cylindrical outer firebox; and the photos give no clues to the ash-door and damper arrangement. This proved so intractable to resolve tidily that I decided that provided I reasonably respect Edwardian practice generally, frankly, if some Inspector Meticulous wants to grovel on the floor to peer at its shape, that's his look-out. It will not be easy to see otherwise.

There is a more important point here. The boiler is heavy and awkward. I made a lifting-attachment that requires removing the grate and ashpan then assembling the attachment down from the "stoking-shoot" (original name for that). Very awkward. So I am making the top of the ash-pan as a separate "lid" : reinforced and provided with discreet lifting-lugs or eye-bolt bushes so to also act in conjunction with Slings, Lifting, Special-to-purpose, as an erecting-cradle. Hence allow lifting the boiler from the chassis, leaving the undisturbed ash-pan, grate and damper assembly still screwed to their sub-frame.

'

The ex-server panel (scrap from my work) is of zinc-plated 1mm thick steel; just in range of my anonymous rotary shear, Warco "3-in-1" former and WSN "Rotary Machine" (a jenny).

I measured, marked out, re-measured…. took a deep breath – I am retired and scrap server panels don't grow on trees – cut the development (the two walls, floor and 3 pairs of end flanges).

Then after tea……

Folded it….. and it fits! Just as it should, easy sliding fit so no need to jiggle bends or file holes into vague slots. The bends may need squaring, but nothing serious.

Another step forwards.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Iain –

Filing-machine. Interesting project!

I looked back at John's suggested design with quick-return; a neat arrangement though fairly complicated.

I'd not worry too much about quick return though. With a short stroke the time-saving won't be much and I presume you won't be using the filer for production work on piece rates!

You could make it continuously adjustable if you wish, with some extra work, by cutting a T-slot across the blue crank-disc for a T-bolt through a spacer that carries the bearing itself. That was common on shapers for both the ram control and adjusting the feed mechanism.

Regarding your Rotary Table, I think the most likely place for run-out is in whatever holds the collet chuck to the table. Its register should be a good but not wear-inducing tight fit on the table (mine is plain cylindrical, some use a Morse taper), and concentric with the collet register above.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Iain,

Thanks for the feedback/comments. It's always been a principle of mine not to try to re-invent the wheel, only make it more complicated! As I said, it was really just a brain-stimulation exercise, but who knows, it might get built one day. Making a tilting table would be a fairly trivial step, I would say.

Having a slow downstroke and fast upstroke was introduced into the design from my memories of being taught to file by by father, a time-served engine fitter apprentice at the Hong Kong Dockyard School, in the early thirties. He taught me to use a conventional file (as opposed to die file) such that the cut is put on during the forward stroke and, keeping the file in contact with the workpiece, draw back slowly. This, he told me, had the effect of helping to clear the filings from the teeth of the file on the non-cutting stroke. Maybe he was wrong or my memory is failing?

The major problem with any design will be sourcing the files with the gripping bit at the "wrong end", as it were, so that it will cut in the opposite direction to a normal file. They appear to be a very rare commodity these days. With my design, I had intended to use the commonly available needle files with the business end ground to a circular section.

John

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Posted by John Hinkley on 26/03/2022 09:45:19:

The major problem with any design will be sourcing the files with the gripping bit at the "wrong end", as it were, so that it will cut in the opposite direction to a normal file. They appear to be a very rare commodity these days. With my design, I had intended to use the commonly available needle files with the business end ground to a circular section.

John

If you arrange the file attachment to accept say 1/4 inch rod you can make yourself a load of 1/4 inch steel adaptors (thimbles) drilled most of the way through. The needle files can then be araldited into the thimbles. It is quite easy to rig up a jig to ensure that the files are dead straight to the thimble as the araldite will allow for movement until ot sets.

regards Martin

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by John Hinkley on 26/03/2022 09:45:19:

…

He taught me to use a conventional file such that the cut is put on during the forward stroke and, keeping the file in contact with the workpiece, draw back slowly. This, he told me, had the effect of helping to clear the filings from the teeth of the file on the non-cutting stroke. Maybe he was wrong…

Trouble with workshop lore is it's never certain how true it is! Three ways of looking at it:

1. Slow withdrawal allows more time for the filings to fall off. Maybe.
2. Fast withdrawal puts more potential energy into the filings, making them more likely to fly-off when the stroke reverses. Maybe.
3. Slow withdrawal is the best way of not disturbing the filings. Maybe.

I suspect much depends on the metal being filed and the lubrication: Aluminium is much stickier than Brass, with Steel in the middle.

Hand-tools methods aren't necessarily best for machines. Machines can be set at a consistent rate, apply more power, and can include a swarf removal mechanism – flood cooling, compressed air, built-in brushes, or whatever.

On a filing machine, I'd be tempted to try a quick return mechanism that ends each fast backstroke with a clunk to shake filings loose. Quick return is also good because the machine files much faster due to not wasting time on non-cutting backstrokes. I think the extra complexity compared with a simple yoke is worth it.

Dave

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Martin,

It's not very clear from the angle of the screen shot, maybe, but there is such a thimble inserted in the end of the ram. I think your idea of using Araldite or similar to secure the files is a good one. I'll pinch that for when/if I make it.

John

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

My filing machine uses needle files and cuts on the up stroke and has never been a problem, after all how much metal do you think you are going to take off each stroke???

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