Member postings for magpie

A load of us going from the Crewe, and Hartford "Men in Sheds". We will be there on the Saturday. For the benefit of those going for the first time, a few of us old timers meet near the big window opposite the main entrance at around 12 noon. Come and say hello to a beige baseball cap topping a pair of specs and a beard.(me).

Cheers Derek.

Well it's been a long time coming folks but here it is at last. The VID. Hope you like, although Ralph (the bloke who made the vid). is not too happy with it.

Cheers Dek

Edited By magpie on 22/04/2014 20:05:31

Edited By magpie on 22/04/2014 20:08:09

Welcome to the forum Nick, you will need that good sense of humour to deal with some of the posts on this forum. If you can make it to Harrogate for the model engineering show next month you will learn a lot from the folks there, plus you will be able to view lots of chucks and decide how to spend your hard earned.

Cheers Derek. (like John, another Crewe bloke).

Hi Folks, I think Jason is right, they were trying to rid their own planet of bankers & lawyers but were too late the sods had done for it, the ones left here went to work for "Tefal" designing electric irons.

Cheers Derek.

F Finished at last !!! I am afraid the photos are very poor (taken with an old mini Kodak) but I will post some better ones when my pal has been and taken some. The top one shows the fibre optics in place in the back of the clock face, the second one is the face in close-up. The white lights are the seconds, which move from the bottom to the top, fading out as they go, the red lights show the minutes, and the blue ones show the hours. I hope you like it, and can tell what time it was when I took the photos. I am hoping my pal will make a video when he comes which I will try to put on here.

Cheers Derek.

P.s. First photo is the real spaghetti junction.

Hi Alan. I have a very similar background to yourself, coachbuilder by trade and started by own bodyshop a few years after finishing my apprenticeship. Even your workshop is the same size as mine. NOW !!! please don't make the same mistake as I did when buying your equipment. I started off buying an ex school Boxford and as I knew nothing at all about lathes I could not understand why everything I tried to make turned out rubbish. I had no one to teach me but eventualy realised that the lathe was so badly worn that I would never have been able to turn out decent work. I then had a small windfall and bought a Chester DB10VS and a Chester Champion 20V mill and it is now a pleasure to play in the workshop as I can now make things that fit together, whoo hoo. The moral of this is, that unless you have someone who really knows what they are looking at, to look over any second hand stuff, go for new machines.

Cheers Derek.

P.S. I love your bit of the world, i once worked a bit further up in Forres, and I still have a mate that lives in North Ballachulish.

Many thanks for the kind comments gents, I have no problems with things going OT now and then, it makes for interesting discussions, and, or a good laugh. Michael, I like the idea of the competition but max size for entries is only 30 x30x30 cm. now if that was cubic meters !!!!!. Neil, in an earlier post you made on this thread you said "not an easy option for a clock build " (or words to that effect). I now know the wisdom of that statement. Stew and Alan, the cheques are in the post.

Cheers Derek.

P.S. The clock is now finished, and when a pal of mine next pays me a visit he plans on taking some GOOD photos and a vid, so for those interested keep watching this space.

Hi Neil, in a previous post on the 17/2/14 (a bit further up this thread), The last of three photos shows the clock face. This is black Perspex but in the photo it is covered in a protective film for marking out. At the top are two concentric squares, the outer one will show the minutes and the inner one the hours. the two curved lines will show the seconds with both rows working simultaneously. (you may have to bring the photo up to full size to see the markings). The clock face will be fixed to the top of the tube showing at the rear of the main unit. I think "steampunk" fits the job rather well, but as I had the idea for the clock in 1979 I don't think the expression was around at the time.

Cheers Derek.

Jason, thanks for the compliment and yes it will look even more like an "interrositer" when the face is fitted. Stew, it took best part of a week to polish all the bits, and looking for the ones that the mop threw up the workshop. Not "brasso" but some stuff called "clockshine" which was recommended by some of the other clock makers on this forum. Seems like good stuff, but time will tell !!!

Cheers Derek.

It's that man again. Here are a few more photos of work to date. The first four show the fibres being attached to the "sending" ends of the mechanism, and the last two show progress at putting the thing back together. The base is,at present mounted on a jig to enable me to work underneath. When the clock is finished, I hope to get a mate to make a vid, as my little camera does not take the best of photos.

Cheers Derek.

That's started me dreaming ! Had I been the winner of that 107.9 million I would have been of to the USA in search of a 1959 gull wing chevy coupe just like the green one, and I would like to bet that even over there you would NEVER find a van version like the one in an early photo. Even the models are superb.

Cheers Derek.

Here we go again ! This is the new base for the clock, drilled and ready for all the bits to be fitted (after they have all been polished that is). The next pic shows the rear of the base with the LED power units on a slide for easy access. The last pic is of the clock face marked out ready for drilling. It is also black Perspex but it has a protective film on at the moment to aid marking out. With a bit of luck I may even finish the whole thing this year.

Cheers Derek.

Hi Thor. I would have used brass angle if I had some, or could have afforded to buy some. Everything on the base, and everything on the clock it's self is made from scrap from the local scrapyard, even the Perspex came from there. The only "new stuff" are the electrics. When making the frame, I used soft solder which is ok on such a light material, however as the only half inch brass angle if have managed to locate is 1/6" thick, I think I would be inclined to silver solder that stuff.

Cheers Derek.

I have never been able to marry photos to the text when posting on here, things always come out wrong, so I will just refer you to my photo album. Although what is shown there is not a display case, the method of construction could be used to make a nice case. Starting with some sheet brass, I cut 1" strips and folded them into 1/2" angle section then mitred the corners. Next make a small reinforcing piece to go inside the corner, then with the aid of the jig solder the four parts together. repeat the opp for each corner. To hold the frame in place, (or to hold glass in place) I intend to use some very strong double sided adhesive tape.

Cheers Derek.

P.S. The photos in question are in the "Clock base" album

Edited By magpie on 10/02/2014 16:39:46

JOHN, I think half the members here are a bit "loco". They have clubs you know.

Cheers Derek.

Edited By magpie on 09/02/2014 15:43:22

Hi Steve, you can download a manual that is much better than any UK one from www.grizzly.com . I think the nearest one to your mill will be G0704 but best to have a look at their mills section first to make sure. Make sure you have plenty of paper in your printer.

Cheers Derek.

Hi Steve, welcome to the grumpy old gits forum. Congrats on the new mill which looks to be the same mill as my Chester Champion 20V . All I did with my mill when I first bought it, was give it a good clean up, plug it in and start milling. I bought it about 3 years ago together with a Chester DB10VS and (although I should not tempt fate) I have had no problems with either. Apart from the essentials like a decent vice, and cutting tools, the first thing I bought was an ER32 collet chuck and a set of collets. I have since added DRO's to X & Y and a fan to the top of the motor housing. I also replaced the rather poor little spindle locking knob with an indexing lever from Arc Euro. I hope you have the same trouble free time with yours as I have had with mine which you should have as long as you don't try to take BIG cuts with it.

Cheers Derek.

I have been using ER32 on a 2Mt in my Chester Champion 20 V for the last 3 years, but as I am in no great hurry to do ANYTHING these days, I don't try to take big cuts and expect too much from the machine. So far I have had no problems with this setup. Says he touching wood.

Cheers Derek

Spot on Michael ! Four sheds and a loft full of other folks junk means I am rarely short of the bits I need. Good job really as I can't afford to buy new stuff at todays prices.

Cheers Derek.

Being on the rock bottom state pension, EVERTHING I do has to be made from other folks scrap, including my long term fibre optic clock project. Click on my name (magpie) to find out more.

Cheers Derek

Edited By magpie on 10/01/2014 09:45:14