What did you do today (2015)

I believe an MOT has to take a certain time now that they are computerised, from logging on to start the test until the certificate is printed can not be rushed.

Mike

Correct between 45mins to an hour.

I use Worksop council workshop (councils own vehicle workshops) for my MOT test they wont do any repairs so they aren't looking for work. I think most council garages don't do work for general public they have enough with there own vehicles.

Today I finally got a pic of the International Space Station, not as good as the last one posted, indeed, its pretty crap! t least you can make out the general 'H' shape.

What would the seven-year-old who looked up at the moon marvelling that there were people on it have thought to know that 45 years later NASA's computer would send him a message on his own computer, allowing him to be outside on the dot of the right time by his spot on accurate radio-clock to use an electronic camera to take a picture of one of their spaceships as it passed over head!

Mind-boggling.

se

Then later today I have been doing battle with Piccolo. Lots to frustrate...

Neil

Today I convinced myself that I am almost there with the re-arrangement of the workshop. Since buying a Tormach CNC Mill last year I have had little time,due to work commitments, to get round to generating a more useable workshop space so that I can get stuck into learning how to use the mill.

I have a lot crammed into my workshop, including 5 motorcycles which are housed at one end of the garage in a space approximately 11 ft x 10 ft. I have a storage bike lift which enables me to put two bikes underneath and two on top, The remaining space is just sufficient to enable me to work on a motorcycle or to park the latest machine of choice.

Next area is the machine shop area, this houses the Tormach PCNC mill, the Warco Manual mill, Myford MG 12 Cylindrical grinder, Bench Drill, Mini-Lathe and Cutter grinder as well as the compressor for the Auto Collet on the Tormach and an inverter for the Cylindrical Grinder. I reckon the space that all of this is housed in is somewhere in the region of 15 ft x 11 ft. At the far end of the workshop there is an area of approximately 10 ft x 11ft that houses the work benches, welding equipment and a newly acquired muffle furnace, all dirty work is carried out in this area.

I decided that I must keep the three areas separated to prevent dust and grime from the dirty end of the workshop invading the machine shop and motorcycle areas. To do this I opted for the easy solution of fitting some curtain doors. These are easy to make up and fit taking only a day to do. I have fitted the curtains with velcro patches that enable me to roll them up to make access easier when I am not doing any dirty work or if I am moving between work bench and machines a lot.

I never liked the idea of putting any machine tool onto a rolling trolley but decided that this was going to have to be done to enable me to maximise the space. I also decided that i would have to put up with using the manual mill without the chip tray extension because it took up too much room. I set too and made two trolleys, one for the Warco mill and the other for the BH 600 lathe.

The picture below shows the BH600 Lathe and the Mill. A close look will reveal the trolley under the lathe, the castors have a dynamic loading of 500 KG and a static loading of 1000KG so should be ample. The frame is made from 4" channel.

This picture is view down the workshop, three of the bikes are visible.

One of the curtain doors that separate the dirty end of the workshop from the machine shop.

By moving the mill and Manual lathe to their current positions I generated quite a bit of useable space in which to make a fitted bench and storage rack for material enabling me to put the mini lathe, tool and cutter grinder and bench drill on it.

After completing the bench and storage racks I moved all of the tools from their former positions to their new in the storage bench. I am sure I will take a good while to get used to where things are but I like the layout so far.

This picture shows the new bench/storage rack with the bench drill, cutter grinder and mini lathe in position.

Another view, the storage rack visible on the right.

View of the storage cupboard below the bench. Note the castors on the service trolley on the left and also the castors and trolley on the manual mill just visible beyond the service trolley.

View of Manual mill and lathe.

View down workshop toward (Dirty end) of workshop showing curtain doors rolled up.

View of the Myford Cylindrical grinder and rotary inverter. (90 degrees out)

The newly acquired Muffle furnace (with controller that has an instruction manual that is impossible to follow)

The Tormach Mill that started all of the re-arrangement is in it's final position.

All I have to do now is make some doors for the cupboards and some covers for the storage rack and I will be in a good position to begin to teach myself how to use the CNC mill.

Very nice Bob, I think you will find it has been well worth the effort.

Bob Seventh picture down Do NOT leave chuck keys in chucks

Roy ( common sense not H&S )

I had a Nissan X trail and now a Discovery 4,both had thin spares,the Nissan Handbook stated that temporary spares should not be used when towing,and I had a letter from Landrover also stating that the temp spare should not be used for towing,we were assured that our new discovery would have a full size spare,after having a puncture within a week I found the spare was a temp skinny type, Dealer eventually would only supply a new alloy wheel and we had to buy the tyre, and thats on a very heavy £50k go anywhere fwd vehicle,typical Land Rover. On my Ifor trailer ,when I set it up for towing with a 6inch Burrell I fitted two spare trailer wheels,the total carrying capacity of the 4 tyres is 3600 kilos,the gross trailer load 3500 kilos,bit too close in my opinion.Met a chapsome time ago who had similar problems with Ifor trailer tyres and fitted transit tyres and wheels.My next car will have to have a full size spare.

Nothing for the last fortnight, except for making the FeedRodMotor RCS label, and then having it print out a tad smaller than expected, then punched the holes without realising it, then saying "sod it, it can stay as it" once I glued it into place.

The cause of the non-activity was me catching the nasty chest infection that's doing the rounds, from family

When younger, much younger, I went to work over the weekend, in winter and having a cold, as the company was moving into new premises. The norm in those days. Is it the same now?

Well a few days later I was laid up for nearly a month with double pneumonia.

So although I can get the Workshop heated quickly, once bitten and all that.

Her indoors has been doing the shopping, as she has just about recovered from her bout.

Trying to sleep at night, I now know what a death rattle must sound like.

Geoff - Lemon, honey & glycerin to the rescue. Home made of course

Posted by OuBallie on 18/01/2015 10:47:11:Geoff - Lemon, honey & glycerin to the rescue. Home made of course

Wot no whisky!

Back to car MOTs- There is a min. time set. If the mechanics just log in and then wander off to do another job it is a good sign. It means they think your motor is in good condition and won't need long to check.

Best thing about a VFD is that a slow start means you have half a chance of escaping injury or damage if you start up with a key in the chuck. Only half a chance, mind.

Neil

Today I fitted a taper roller bearings to my sc4 lathe, to my surprise it had a descent bearing in the front but the back one was some no name standard thing. All went too easy, still waiting for some thing to fly off. I will give a shout to simplybearings.co.uk they had the bearings in stock and arrived next day. 25 quid well spent.

Edited By mark mc on 18/01/2015 16:30:57

I used to have 3 large oaks on the drive but 2yrs ago in the bad snow one cae down and took out my woodstore and barely scratched he wife's car. I;ve been hunting for a climber (at sensible money) to top out the other two since then.

The guys turned up today and did the first but took out the phone line with a large branch. Out here in the sticks getting Openreach to sort stuff can take a few days so I spliced in some weatherproof ethernet cable I had,, twisted the wires, soldered, heatshrunk, wrapped in insulation tape and heatshrunk over the lot. The big problem was getting the heat from my 50Watt gas iron to do the job outdoors - pretty darned cold today even in the sun bits and then it snowed. Still we have internet again and the phone 'cos this is a cellphone and terrestrial TV dead zone

Hope they did not get full price for job.

To go completely off topic of cars... finished my version of a mini tube bender to a design by G.Britnell. It works ok but it may need tweaking as it does not quite complete a 180* bend. I may have missed something reading the drawing measurements as some measurements don't seem to tally up... not to worry,

The two bent pieces of brass are top.. 4mm rod... the lower 3mm o.d. tube, this has curved quite nicely with out any kinks or sharp nicks. Have made a couple of bushes for other sizes, 3.2mm..4.5mm.

George.

Finally finished my con rod, just got to finish the strap and then i can run on air, yippee👍

Edited By Boiler Bri on 18/01/2015 20:59:27

Mechman thats a real nice bit of work

Neil, do you think you might get a look at this ? **LINK**