Member postings for OuBallie

Have just been roused by the sound of a Merlin engine on full song.
Needless to say I belted outside to see what was making such a wonderful sound and spied a Spitfire, with D-Day markings, buzz Diss town twice, then head NNWest.
The pilot did a very steep climb and bank at the end of their first pass to come back over again.
The noise of a Merlin engine being worked hard is music to the ears..

Geoff - Busy morning at Banham Carboot with GD, who is 2.1/2yrs old, in charge.

Car baby seat easily fixed, so surprise as promised!

I have just posted a thread and added a 'Drawer' photos Album, covering my tool drawer organising sage.

Hope it helps and encourages others, as my final method was the winner hands down and one I will be using in the future if I'm dilly enough to even contemplate a repeat of this.

Geoff - I need a holiday somewhere warm/hot to recover, but Rooibos will have to suffice.

I don't know who will be more surprised by this thread, Forum members or myself!.

My never ending, that's how its felt over the months, HAS finally come to an end.

This is an explanation of what I did, good and not so good with regards to the methods of getting tool impressions using Papiér mâché, expanding foam and my last ditch solution.

Photo Album 'Drawers' added to my list

When I came to the conclusion last year that I was spending more time searching the drawers for tools than using them, I knew I had to do something about it. The drawers where added in 2008 with tools and such added willy nilly.

I estimated that it would take me to the middle of 2014 to finish the job.

How close can you get?!

Having used Papiér mâché at school, and seeing how effective the egg containers are, I thought 'The perfect solution' so went for it.

First attempt was paper from my crosscut shredder soaked in water overnight, drained of as much water as possible, then wall paper powder mixed in, emptied into a baking tray, covered with cling film and the grip pliers pressed into the mix. Result - mix far too lumpy and binned after a week waiting for it to dry.

Second was newspaper torn into strips, dipped into wall paper paste and laid over tools covered in cling film, ditto the drawer base. Much better as each layer can be pressed around the tools. A proper pulp was made using a blender this time, paste mixed in and then used as a filler on the underside of the dry moulding. Perfect except for the long drying time.

Third method was to use EPS and hot wire cutouts for the digital Callipers, the one and only attempt. This needs to be set up properly to get a decent cut.

Fourth method was to use expanding foam and although this worked, it was wasteful due to expansion, as containing it would force foam to expand under the tools, therefore needing lots of trimming. It worked but life's just too short.

Back to the Papiér mâché method as I was now getting better at it, but the crunch was the long drying time and I was getting well and truly peed off.

Fifth and last method proved to be the best and quickest.

Wood strips of all things, used as dividers! Photos show just how quick and easy.

If only I had thought of that on day one, I would have finished the drawers in weeks compared to months.

Lesson learned and used for the Tap&Die drawers.

I took photos of each drawer's content and printed them to fit the brass label holders. Someone on the Forum did suggest I use icons, thanks, but I battled to find a good selection, so resorted to taking photos of single tools where appropriate. Much quicker.

Geoff - What next?

Neil & others with tachos on their lathe,

How useful are they please?

I've thought long and hard about going to the effort of fitting one, but quite honestly I'm not convinced they are needed for hobby use. I'm certainly not looking to remove the maximum amount of material in the shortest possible time.

Having a VFD on the BH600G, I now adjust speed for cut or vv and I'm happy with this solution.

Just need to fit and external drive for the FeedShaft, as even with the gearbox set to slowest speed it's still too fast for a really good finish. Am I doing summut wrong? Probably. Using a diamond tool and holder.

My pillar drilling machine has a VFD, common with the shaper, and that has made drilling a pleasure.

Geoff - Surprise, a BIG one coming once I've seen if I can repair child car seat.

Echo what Dusty said.

BH I have an unused set of three in container that I was selling for the Princely sum of R21.00 back in the '70s, plus two lots of assorted straight in plastic folders.

Geoff - Now I need to put prices on everything for the eventual day.

I know what I said a little while ago, BUT . .

The drawer organising finally came to a most satisfactory conclusion at a quarter to one today.

When I last posted about this, I'd finished the actual organising of the tools etc, with the time since preparing, printing and fitting labels.

NOW I can start on preparing photos and content for a new thread.

I will do ASAP but, always a flipping but, I need to replace the fan PSU on my DIY coffee bean roaster that I managed to moer-toe/vrek.

Geoff - It's stopped raining. Had cheese on toast and now enjoying a mug of DIY roasted coffee. Lekker!

JohnS,

How did you discover the trick of machining the weld whilst it was still hot?

Anyone have the tech details of why this is so?

Geoff - Drawer organising finished! Promise!

'Dobbie' is the name used for the Fiat Dobló,

It carries all the spare parts, material etc.

Haven't decided on a name for the Austin Seven yet, so ideas welcome.

All cars up to 1960 are now exempt from MOT, but I will have my two Austins done when ready.

I think it will be a good idea to have someone not connected with the renovation having a look first time round, to find any 'unseen' problems.

Geoff - Office time to finish drawer organising - yes I know what I said previously, but this IS final! Except . . .

As appears the norm now, cyber companies don't tell their users of passwords being stolen until they are forced to do so!

I wonder what would make them behave in a responsible manner.

Monopolies can be/are bad. Delete appropriate.

Geoff - Dobbie passed MOT. Is it just me that it feels like waiting for a birth?

A Google search showed me where I've been going wrong with the bee tube nests.

They where on a sunny South facing fence, but the undergrowth has grown such, that they are now in perpetual shade, so I will be repositioning them.

Didn't realise they where cold blooded creatures.

Geoff - Dobbie spring cleaned ready for MOT

Edit:

It was fascinating watching a leaf cutter bee doing her thing.

Edited By OuBallie on 19/05/2014 17:49:47

Neil,

Good to see the bearings outside the wheel track, therefore no chance of tipping.

Clive,

Are the bees that inhabited my nest of tubes Fossor or Mason?

The seven clumps of tube 'nests' where doing great until the bad 2012 spring, and been empty since.

From what you have said, me thinks I need to bin the tubes and start again.

Geoff - Drawer organising continues. What can I say?

Gray,

A sad day indeed for the hobby if you don't continue writing up your doings. Without the likes of you, our hobby would suffer.

I have two of those drill sharpeners lying in one of the drawers I've just finished organising, and your improvement has encouraged me to haul them out to see which to use, Spiralux in a fetching bright red, or the no name brand in common grey.

General:

Just as an aside and my philosophy with regards the Wild West that the Internet is, and my method of dealing with it.

I post what I hope will help/encourage others whenever I can, here as well as on other sites, and totally ignore brickbats and/or comments from the morons/idiots/*holes that inhabit every forum on the 'net.

I do, however, take onboard positive suggestions and comments.

In the past, when I ran Esswex Development, I spoke with and advised many newcomers to the hobby, and soon learned that they where only too happy to be pointed in the right direction and even discouraged from doing something that would not suite them, or was beyond their ability.

I went as far one day, of threatening to throw a customer friend out of the shop when he started to slag off another customer, not present at the time, who he had fallen out with.

I'm proud to say that I never got one negative feedback. Delays in delivery accepted

All the above may sound as if I'm conceited, but the truth is the truth, and I'm proud of what I achieved.

Politicians and newspapers seem to differ on the definition of Truth from us mortals.

Can we just imagine what out hobby would be like now, if all those past masters had been put off writing articles?

When I view a near perfect miniature, I'm inspired to try harder. Don't always succeed of course, but that's life.

Geoff - A Romford geezer.

Edit.

Martin,

Welcome, and please stick around. You WILL get excellent advise and all the help you need here.

Like that politician said;

"Don't let the bastards get you down"

Geoff - Rooibos agin Neil!

Edited By OuBallie on 13/05/2014 16:42:13

David,

PTFE will creep unless constrained.

René Etter (RSME) did extensive experiments using the stuff in making D valves, and found this problem.

Cannot remember if he found a solution or not, but I think details where published in ME in the '70s or early '80s.

Geoff - Time to get wet plugging exhaust leak. Oh the rain has eased.

_Paul_

My Boxford did the same when I first started using it.

I didn't remove the ram when I got it, so can only assume it was years of accumulated gunk being pushed out.

Seems to have settled, with clean oil now appearing.

I do appreciate the shaper's ability to produce nice flat surfaces.

Geoff - Need to crawl under her indoors' Ka to plug exhaust hole. It's raining again today!

​Finished sorting contents in the five small multi-drawer units, two having 50 drawers with the others slightly less.

Just need to make a list of contents and then decide in what fashion to print in order to make it quick/easy to read.

Geoff - Relaxing with a cup of Earl Grey. Happy now Neil?

NJH,

Rooibos (Red Bush) tea sans caffeine, from South Africa.

Neil,

Wash your mouth out with soap

Its a good brew, but an acquired taste.

Geoff - Home roast coffee time.

Woo(censored)hoo!

I have finished organising my drawers, and it has been well worthwhile seeing the end result.

That old saying KISS certainly proved just how truthful it is, as I found out doing the last few.

Why oh why do I always look for the most complicated/involved way of doing anything? I don't want to think about how long this sage has gone on for.

Give me a few days to sort out photos and annotate them, then I will do a separate post with details of the various methods I used and tried, just in case there are others who want to go down my route.

All but one method worked well, with some taking ages to dry.

Geoff - Rooibos time, then a talking to myself.

Helped a friend save his electric razor.

A moulded plastic part, that kept the 'U' shaped spring in place, had broken thus allowing the moving blade to flop about.

After much thinking, the shaver had its innards removed, then careful measuring then a 2mm hole drilled in either side in appropriate places.

A piece of 2mm galvanised horticultural wire was then inserted to hold spring in its correct position, reassembled and voila!

It actually worked, much to our joint surprise.

Totally forgot to take photos.

It is so satisfying when something like this works out.

Geoff - That ongoing saga of mine has reached a satisfactory conclusion.

JS,

Blast, never thought of doing so on my machines.

Perfect and saves floor space.

Will gladly give an explanation as to what floor space is if required.

"Bill Hancox"

Bungalow actually

All those wires are attached to various pieces of equipment such as headphones, ear buds, memory cards, charging cable et al, bit time to have a sort out, as some haven't been used in years.

That side lamp was the perfect place to hang them from.

Sympathies about your Dad.

Mom and I went through the same with Dad, and he always had a smile like your Dad has.

My cancer is under control right now, but has the ability to spread to the bones, hence the X-rays.

Must say that my 'invention' is making reading my collection of Model Engineer, bought from JS all those years ago, a pleasure.

As can be seen in my Album, I'm at issue 777. The articles by "Phoenix' are fascinating, what with me being and ex motor biker.

Geoff - Chin up.

Deleted as duplicated.

Oh man talk about finger problems this morning.

Geoff - Must be my DIY newly roasted coffee

Edited By OuBallie on 04/05/2014 11:01:04