What did you do today? 2023

[lee websterParticipant @leewebster72680]

I have family coming to stay with me for week in a months time. I started the house cleaning process today. I hope to finish before they turn up. Any bets?

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by lee webster on 09/04/2023 21:56:03:

I have family coming to stay with me for week in a months time. I started the house cleaning process today. I hope to finish before they turn up. Any bets?

Waste of time, it'll only need doing again in 6 months.

[Bob Unitt 1Participant @bobunitt1]

Posted by lee webster on 09/04/2023 21:56:03:

I have family coming to stay with me for week in a months time. I started the house cleaning process today. I hope to finish before they turn up. Any bets?

Leave it till they arrive, it'll give them something to do…

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

Successfully got the repainted canopy reunited with the truck, the latter half of which was done the pouring rain, then put the (now sopping wet inside) tent down and stood on the tailgate of the truck holding it aloft to drain all the water out.

I now have about 2lt of that dark metallic blue paint left due to the quantity o had to order it in, so that might become my workshop project colour of choice from now on.

I also moved every machine in the workshop, the phase converter, the 3 phase DB and all the three phase sockets to create a new layout ready for next week, and bought some "high-strength" concrete blocks with a view to lifting the lathe up on them.

… and went for a walk in the woods, and did a couple of hours of "work-work" first thing this morning, I am not entirely sure where I found the energy.

[Chris Evans 6Participant @chrisevans6]

I am not a model maker but today indulged my passion for steam power. A visit to "in steam" pumping station at Clay Mills Burton upon Trent.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

I needed to make a wide trough in these lumps of cast iron. Having chewed out the trough I didn't fancy the next 3 hours getting rid of the rest of the material

So I thought I would try and saw it out with my Lidl bandsaw, which responded to the challenge with aplomb

Then tidied it up in the mill

So what's it for? I've tried making my own free vice to give me some more headroom. Although my attempt worked OK in this situation it was otherwise poor at holding lumps.

This is the "Gack" free vice from Hemingway. Works a treat – the pivoting jaw makes all the difference. I had to change the hold down bolts from M10 to 8 to suite my T slots.

Right, that's got the tool-making out of my system for a bit. A major cast iron clean up is required now.

Rod

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

Jacked my Lathe up on blocks as discussed elsewhere on the forum.

Haven't tested it at top speed (3200rpm!) yet which I would like to, to ensure there's no vibration issues before I call it done, but I need to re-level it first (Joy!).

Total height gain is about 210mm, which feels pretty comfortable… It is actually kind of odd though to suddenly not have to stoop to reach the controls and get clear visibility of the workpiece without having to hover over it.

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

Jelly now you have got a 200mm high storage space as well.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Posted by Baz on 15/04/2023 09:40:49:

Jelly now you have got a 200mm high storage space as well.

That may well be true, Baz, but seems somewhat overkill for one self-tapper!

John

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

Posted by John Hinkley on 15/04/2023 10:44:10:

Posted by Baz on 15/04/2023 09:40:49:

Jelly now you have got a 200mm high storage space as well.

That may well be true, Baz, but seems somewhat overkill for one self-tapper!

John

I currently use that space to store the oil that's leaking from the headstock after I cocked up by overfilling it but couldn't bring myself to drain it back to the right level after how messy draining it the first time was… The self tapper is a level gauge.

Although the lift should actually make it much easier to drain, and I should do it when I switch the change gears back from Module/DP to Normal threads.

 

My day has been quite eventful.

Fitted a camper conversion into the back of my truck, with my partner applying a newfound passion for welding and grinding to make all the bracketry for the folding bed, whilst I sorted out stitching a folding mattress cover (sewing a cumulative 26 metres of seams in thick upholstery fabric was bloody exhausting, something she clearly identified and avoided despite normally being the more accomplished seamstress)…

 

Then moved on to clearing space in the workshop ready for the collection of the new mill tomorrow, which revealed the weirdest thing:

a large flat plane, a bit like a large table but suitable for walking on, which was hidden underneath all the stuff in my workshop, Weird!

I swear I've seen one somewhere before, but it will never catch on.

 

After offloading the mill tomorrow I also need to make the most of my day off and service the sewing machine whilst I remember because it was making unhappy noises towards the end of its ordeal making the mattress covers.

Edited By Jelly on 17/04/2023 01:31:17

[Bob Unitt 1Participant @bobunitt1]

(Yesterday) Brewed 40 pints of IPA (from a kit). Made a new shelf for bottling same. Did a bit of 'make do and mend' to some dodgy fencing. Looked at 'Tina' and told myself I really ought to get back to a bit of machining – perhaps today ?

[Chuck TaperParticipant @chucktaper]

Made some small progress on the backsplash/toolholder for the ML7.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Found that someone had assembled the hinge pins I'd made into the smokebox door for one of the S160s.

Easily pleased, me.

I'd offered to put in a cross hole for a splitpin or suchlike, but nobody cared . Presumably gravity's adequate.

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

As previously mentioned collected a new (to me) TOS Kurim FNK25 Finessa mill.

 

[deleted image containing uncensored reg plates]

The seller arranged crane it onto my trailer with a Hiab, which was undoubtedly very convenient but a bit of squeeze to get both their wagon and my truck and trailer in.

 

It's around this point where I started to thing "oh god what have I let myself in for…"

 

However a lot of awkward reversing later it becomes apparent that unlike previous machines where they had to go up the slope and over the threshold, with the trailer all I really need to do is put the legs down and winch it down…

 

Nae Problem!

 

It's the heaviest and most awkward machine tool I've moved to date, but was moved entirely on my own with a fraction of the effort of previous machines where I had assistance…

The gravity + rollers + winch approach has much to recommend it.

Hopefully I can get a plug on it (it was a fixed install at the previous location) and in final position after tea ready to make some chips.

Edited By Jelly on 17/04/2023 18:17:25

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

New toy arrived today an Acorntools shaper, been looking for one for ages, but either been outbid or they are in poor condition. This one is grubby and losing it's paint but in excellent mechanical shape,on its original cast stand with vice.Good clean and repaint coming up, trying to find a nice grey to repaint it in so been studying the colour charts, I believe there's a book called fifty shades of grey, that may be helpful in selecting an appropriate colour! I used to visit the acorntools factory in Acton to pick up spares for work when I was an apprentice, and was always taken with the identical model shaper to this that was in their workshop.I used to ride fron Orpington in Kent on an ancient BSA A10 and was always given a nice hot cuppa by the works foreman, shove a load of machine parts in my jacket and ride back, wonder what H&S would say to that now. Can't wait to get started.

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

Dave that is a beautiful little shaper, I think Paragon paints do a nice machinery grey. I have got an Elliott 10m and have never regretted buying it.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

What did I do today, well I had to take one of my cats to the vet for an emergency appointment, you may ask what has that to do with model engineering, well yesterday when he was in my workshop unsupervised it appears that he decided to eat a quantity of long stringy aluminium swarf ! Yesterday evening he vomited up a quantity of this swarf which was how I became aware of his extra rations, so I decided that he needed to visit the vet at the earliest opportunity. I took a sample of the swarf for the vet to examine, the vet saw us at 9.00 this morning as soon as they opened, thankfully his opinion was that because the swarf was soft and stringy and relatively blunt then it should pass through the cats digestive system without incident. That was a relief to hear, I think there must be a moral in this story and that is that workshops can be dangerous places for animals and the dangers are not always the most obvious. Usually the cat comes with me when I am working in the workshop, he is deaf and follows me around like a dog, when in the workshop he sits on the bench near me and usually goes to sleep, he just wants to be near me all the time. I need to be sure that I watch what he gets up to when he comes with me in future. Dave W

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

Thanks Baz

I did used to have a 10M which I found very useful, I sold it when we moved house a few years ago, I had to rationalise a bit as the machinery all went into storage, but soon regretted selling the 10M. I've used the Paragon paints on a few machines and always been pleasantly surprised by the results, Chosen RAL 7031 blue grey with some help from the wife, always helps to get SWMBO on side. I'ts her fault I bought it ,was more than I thought I should pay but was told to make an offer which was accepted. Fortunately the seller palletised it very carefully and it arrived safely, all the way from Scotland and I'm on the south east coast, next stop France. Surprising how shapers have increased in price since the 10M went, sold that for the same price then as the pallet shipping cost now, oh well you live and learn, won't be selling this one!

Dave

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

Had a morning at the now defunct Rolls Royce Aero Heritage Collection in Derby. They have donated several mechanical calculators & slide rules to my collection. They have a huge warehouse that is being used for storage of items waiting to be stripped for recycling or restored to any owners who lent them to the collection and may want them back. Anything left in this warehouse at the end of May next year is going for scrap. The building has been sold to Great Northern Classic cars who are going to repurpose it as a Classic car showroom & rebuild centre. Work on that project has already been started.

One very interesting item they are trying to rehome on a permanant loan or donation basis is this original Royce Ltd of Manchester (of Rolls Royce fame) 10 ton + 3 ton cross travel crane. Designed and built by Mr Royce himself. All the motors & controls are the original Royce design. Probably 15 metres or so wide. Up for grabs if anyone wants it for a workshope etc. It was being used up to the closure of the collection. They are trying to save it from the gas axe. Needs to be collected and dismantled if wanted. I have contact details if anyone is or may know someone interested. Can be viewed by appointment in Derby. A fabulous piece of history crying out to be saved and used.

Some picture of the crane below. Not too good as access was very difficult.

A picture of the main warehouse with the wife wandering back after a long walk to find some scissors. There are a couple more photos in my album.

All the cardboard boxes are filled with many treasures. Many claimed but the lot of most to still be determined.

Unfortuanatly there will be no public sale of any items.

regards

[William HowcroftParticipant @williamhowcroft68688]

http://staticcontents.investis.com/html/r/rolls-royce/virtual-tour-osmaston-road/index.html

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

Posted by William Howcroft on 19/04/2023 15:23:09:

http://staticcontents.investis.com/html/r/rolls-royce/virtual-tour-osmaston-road/index.html

The warehouse in my photos is the one in the virtual tour. Now all the displays have been broken down. All to be disposed of. End of an era and much hard work by many volunteers.

regards

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

On the face of it RR seems being extremely wasteful, destructive, mean and selfish, not to mention trying to wipe out their own history.

Have they given any genuine, convincing reasons? Selling or renting the building to a dealer in secondhand cars, is not one!

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

Currently sat answering a set of clarification questions from IChemE in response to the Chartered Engineer application I made back in 2021.

I can't say I am super-impressed by the turnaround time, or the attention to detail by the reviewers, but ultimately they're all volunteers and IChemE's directions to the reviewers sems to actively discourage digging into the details, so it is what it is.

What's particularly infuriating though is that because I don't have a neat tidy modern MEng as my educational background I have to essentially duplicate the entire process, resulting in a total of four separate application forms and two interviews each of which comes with its own fees and waiting period.

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 19/04/2023 19:06:29:

On the face of it RR seems being extremely wasteful, destructive, mean and selfish, not to mention trying to wipe out their own history.

Have they given any genuine, convincing reasons? Selling or renting the building to a dealer in secondhand cars, is not one!

I could not agree more Nigel. RR have sold off the building and are leasing part of it back at huge cost just to store all the collection items. They have offered items to the Imperial war museum, Bletchly Park and other places but have not had a lot of interest apparently. In May 2024 anything left in the building is destined for the scrap pile. I have my name down as #1 on the list to collect as much of the leftovers as I want. The lady dealing with the disposal is at a loss as what to do with most of it as for some reason it cannot be sold by auction or other means.

I will just bide my time and hope I get a chance at some decent items I will be able to use or give away.  Such as the 10 or so vernier calipers from 12" up to 6 ft in length. Many model boats and planes etc just sitting doing nothing.

regards

Edited By Oldiron on 19/04/2023 21:08:08

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

Posted by Jelly on 19/04/2023 19:59:43:

Currently sat answering a set of clarification questions from IChemE in response to the Chartered Engineer application I made back in 2021.

I can't say I am super-impressed by the turnaround time, or the attention to detail by the reviewers, but ultimately they're all volunteers and IChemE's directions to the reviewers sems to actively discourage digging into the details, so it is what it is.

What's particularly infuriating though is that because I don't have a neat tidy modern MEng as my educational background I have to essentially duplicate the entire process, resulting in a total of four separate application forms and two interviews each of which comes with its own fees and waiting period.

Well good luck Jelly. I hope you are successful in your application.

regards

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