What did you do today? (2013)

Returning to Paul's (Windy's) intimations of mortality a few posts back, my suggestion would be, if he has an engineering-minded friend, to suggest to his executors (or next of kin if he has no will) that they contact that person and get him to sell the stuff in return for a decent commission on a site like this or JS's Homeworkshop.org.uk.

Of course, if Paul lives alone in rented accommodation which has to be cleared quickly, this isn't much help.

Andy

I scored a very good six-inch bench grinder for $5 at a garage sale. It is an older, Australian-made one, no Chinese junk, and both grinding wheels are like new. Quite pleased with myself I am.

On wedensday I bought an Auto-Darkening welding helmet, the one I'v been using died a couple of weeks ago, but its been enough to make me get a new one, I got it as part payment for a lathe job for a vintage car restoration. Ian S C

Hi Ian,

With an auto darjk helmet I can almost do a half-decent weld. But you shuld have got one of these:

My stepson wanted to get one, but they told him they sell out every time a new college course starts so he had to get a black one. The sticker costs and extra £5

Whoa! Just discovered these, if you want to celebrate the Mother Country. I'll have to watch out for the Red Dragon version

Neil

Edited By Stub Mandrel on 13/04/2013 14:13:49

Today I went to Enstone airfield to a Bi annual bring and buy primarily to shift some stuff and look for some parts for the restoration of some of my Stationary Engines, I collect Lister's and am always looking for bits.

Came home with a few bob and a campingstove to add to my collection, this one makes it 131.

Martin P

Neil, I got a black one, it was about $NZ20 cheaper than the fancy one with flames on it, at $NZ120, I thought wasn't too bad, I could have paid 7 or 800 for one, but I don't think it would improove my welding-blobbing, all self taught, learned gas welding in the RNZAF as a Boy Entrant. Ian S C

Well, I went to set up my 1936-ish Drummond lathe so i could make a new bronze halfnut for the leadscrew, so I could get started on my Stirling engine build. The threads on the current halfnut are worn down about .010" thick, so I figure it's about time to replace them.

But found one of the change gears needed to cut the 8TPI thread is cracked through one of the drive pin holes. So will now have to turn a recess in it and fit a steel ring in it to try to hold the gear together long enough to cut the halfut threads.

But in the process of setting up a desk lamp above the lathe so I could see what I am doing, I discoverd the lathe's serial number and found out it is a 1936 model, not World War 2 issue as the secondhand shop salesman told my Dad when he bought it in the 1950s!

Edited By Hopper on 14/04/2013 11:48:48

Hi Ian, looking at the specs, the decorated ones have a battery OK/low LED. I don't think the plain one even has batteries, it uses a solar cell powered by the arc.So there are non-cosmetioc differences.

Works fine though.

Hi Hopper - take it back and demand a refund, or at least a new change wheel!

Neil

I have never had any success with the battery type helmets. I do a lot of welding and first helmet which was very expensive as they had only just come out so probably 20 years ago ? lasted well until I ran over it I know, clumsy bastard.

Replacement, battery type lasted a week, they sent a replacement, another week then they said you want to solar one, changed it and it's been going strong for probably 10 years ?

Finished the Pattern for a Dore Westbury base casting, modified the design so both sides are symmetrical about the centre line and a wider footprint. Having to have this cast to complete the build of a Mk1 machine having searched the net for an original base casting without success.

Next job, make patterns for the hand wheel bearing trays for the Table and Cross Slide, incorporate a design change to enable the use of Thrust and Roller bearings for the screws, trying to reduce backlash, fingers crossed.

One of those really annoying things. I made the flywheel for the little suffolk out of 2 1/4" EN1A bar. I'm only being faithful to the general outline as it won't be covering a magneto and I want it to be as heavy as possible. But I do want it to have the original's fan blades for cooling purposes.

I got the blank all beautiful, including a 4 degree tapered hole for the crankshaft. Holding the far side of the crank in the 3-jaw the TIR of the flywheel was 0.003", which is good enough me (better than the original, I think...) considering it wasn't turned in place.

Unfortunately, the first endmill I used to cut the fan blades was bigger than I thought, the first full blade virtually disappeared

For posterity here is the flywheel fresh from having all the other blades cut, and a small block not quite filed up to shape for silver soldering in to fill the gap.

No mattter how nicely I clean it up, it will never be shiny again, at least it's going to be painted.

Neil

Been rushing around this weekend like there's no tomorrow, but sadly no model engineering.

Read the paper and posted on this forum!

Went to the gliding club to hand back one set of glider paperwork, pick up two more sets of paperwork and do a physical survey on two gliders prior to reviewing the paperwork and issuing an Airworthiness Review Certificate, if I'm happy that the glider is fit for flight. On one glider the inspector had forgotten to sign the inspection form and the logbook, and on the other glider there was no stainless steel plate in the cockpit with the glider registration on it. Not a good start! We got the paperwork signed and I'll make up a plate in the week.

Knocked out a further 220 aluminium spacers on the repetition lathe, during which there was some intermittent chatter from the main contactor. Normally this is due to the pull-in coil magnetics being dirty and not quite meeting, thus badgering the magnetic circuit. So I took the contactor apart, cleaned the mating faces, checked for loose wires and re-assembled. Not much better. So I then took the whole thing apart, contacts and all. I gave all the contacts a good clean with fine wet 'n' dry, brushed out any dust in the contactor and reassembled. At least it worked this time, although you only had to just rest a finger on the stop button for it to chatter. Oddly it seems to have stopped doing this now, and ran for two hours this evening with no problems, so fingers crossed a good clean has sorted it.

Transferred all the courgettes, tomatos, chillies and peppers from the propagator to individual pots on the kitchen windowsill. Put sweetcorn seeds in pots on the propagator. Cleaned the greenhouse with Jeynes fluid and loads of water. Cleared out the grass and weeds from around all the fruit trees in the front and back gardens. Spread fertilizer and sulphate of ammonia as needed.

Today's flying was cancelled due to a 25 knot crosswind, not good for training on an aircraft that I haven't flown for a few years, and which doesn't have a good crosswind limit. Read, and sent, some emails for work.

Started the paperwork review on three gliders, so that's the evenings gone for the next week.

Tomorrow I'll get back to the CNC mill and finish off 40 aluminium front panels for work, which was so rudely interrupted on Thursday night due to a bl00dy power cut. We then had another eight power cuts on Friday, ranging from a few seconds to three hours.

Wrote this post! Now time for a glass of wine.

Regards,

Andrew

> just rest a finger on the stop button for it to chatter.

You don't think it could be the contacts in the stop button that need cleaning?

> Today's flying was cancelled due to a 25 knot crosswind,

And 44mph gusts...

Joey

Joey,

I don't think the start/stop buttons have contacts as such; they're simply mechanical. The contactor is an old fashioned open frame 3 phase unit with thermal overload, so three main contacts and an auxillary pair for the hold-in coil. I've tried the contactor again this morning, and the stop button now has about 1/16" of play before it does anything. There is also no chatter when the button moves the said 1/16". It may be that I didn't quite get it assembled correctly first time round. Fingers crossed it works now. I certainly hope so, since I've still got another 180 spacers to go. I've had more trouble with electrics in the workshop than anything else, and contactors have been responsible for a sizeable proportion of the pain.

Whatever the units it was pretty breezy yesterday; not ideal for a tailwheel aircraft on an E-W strip when the wind is southerly.

Regards,

Andrew

Wounder if there is a weak spring in the contacter, might be ok when every thing is clean, but a little bit of dirt enough to make things marginal. Or just warn out bits, although I don't suppose there is much vibration in a machine like that. Ian S C

Fri went to Jeoff Shepherds funeral, what a turnout, standing room only and well over 200 persons attended,
I could eulogise but I am sure there will be far better than me to do this.
Bob Thomson

BSMEE

Got a spare minute tonight so took the carriage handwheel off the scrap CVA and bored it out and drilled for a driving pin and fitted it to the new Bligeport.

Now got the best of both worlds, quick release lever or handwheel for deep work to save having to reset the lever.

I come from Barry and used to know St Athans well. It's a good mile from the coast. Rhoose/Glamorgan/Cardiff/Wales Airport has a runway that has a road and very little else between it and the cliffs.

Neil

You'd be surprised how far the influence of a hill or cliff can spread. Having said that, the cliffs at St. Athan don't look that high, so I doubt they'd have too much influence at that distance. The airfield chart for St. Athan warns of wind shear in strong north-westerlies, not the southerlies you'd expect if the cliffs were involved.

It is pretty common to have similar effects at any hill top airfield, or where there are hills in the area, even if the airfield itself is in a valley. The effects can be fairly steady, or completely random with time. It can make for some pretty exciting approaches and landings, and I've had a few.

Regards,

Andrew