What did you do today? 2023

The cumulation of several Days What I Did Things on...

Photo 1:

Left: Dial Gauge Holder, Top-slide, Myford ML7 and Harrison L5.

Machined from an off-cut of some sort of engineering plastic (probably reinforced Nylon), it temporarily replaces the QCTP block. It places the gauge probe horizontally on the centre-height, used one way up on the Myford and the other way up on the Harrison.

The appropriate hole fits loosely round the tool-post stud on its lathe. On the Myford, the shorter web is downwards and registers against the top-slide end.The Gauge is held by its mounting-lug screwed to the side by the appropriate of 5 tapped holes, and steadied by its body resting on the plastic.

I machine the bulk on the manual Drummond shaper.:

Right: One of the Reels, Cave-radio Ariel-Wire; made for Mendip Cave Rescue. Size approx. 180 X 95 mm outside. I greased the stainless-steel screws and the countersinks with "Vaseline" to give some protection from corrosion, bearing in mind that in use one pair of reels could be lying in a wet pasture and the other hauled through a wet cave! MCR wanted 16. I made "production spares" and ended up with 18 complete reels!

Photo 2: Part of the batch-production line: using the tapping-head for the Ariel Reels' cross-bars. I spotted the tapping-holes on the lathe but drilled them to depth on the bench-drill. The 3-jaw chuck is on a Myford nose-piece registered and screwed into a plate with central spigot, made to be concentric with the BCA Jig-borer table.

(When I make a jig or fixture I try to consider future possible uses.)

All rot dug out and holes filled, undercoat applied. Painting in direct sun isn't easy, it dries too quickly. Fortunately my standards are quite low, I'm into the 'slosh it on and spread it out with a hairy stick' school of art.

Drilled two 5mm holes with a 25 L/D ratio in a piece of ground 100MnCrW4, then opened the top 80mm out to 5.9mm and reamed to 6mm...

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Only to immediately cut into pieces on the bandsaw, and mill matched flats onto the cut face.

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And start making some features...

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All being well, tomorrow evening I will end up with something which looks a bit more like this, and can start worrying about hardening the components.

I am wondering how best to make the angled face and features... Going to have to play about with work-holding to see what's most secure.

Once that's done, I will need to bash out two more, which will hopefully be easy once the approach is all worked out.

Hi, not so much as what I did, but what I received in this mornings post. Photo shows a 500mm length of M6 Nylon threaded rod on the tube it came in, I guess the supplier didn't gamble on it going missing.

Regards Nick.

Finally put it together today but I have to say its a stretch too far for my skills, I will do a larger one next or I may dig out the wallaby!

Jelly -

I am intrigued. What is it?

...

Quiet afternoon at the club, helping tend the gardens. We reckon we do more gardening than engineering there, but gave ourselves a few laps of the track with a battery-electric loco as a break.

Back home I resumed making the boiler plumbing for the steam wagon. I posed a question elsewhere recently, about loose steam-cones in injectors. Errr.... I mis-identified the end.

Discovered tonight after being so careful not to lose the loose steam-cone, that actually it was the delivery-cone that was loose and is now lost.

SO What Will I Do Tomorrow?

Guess.

The cone could fallen out anywhere over the last week, in the workshop or out on the patio where I assemble the vehicle, so it could have been swept up and put in the rubbish, swept into the "garden", rolled under the garden-tool box, fallen into any of the many parallel-universes within the workshop.....

Unless I am extremely lucky and find it I am looking at trying to obtain a replacement cone or buying a new injector of the same vertical pattern (but I forget from whom I bought it and when), or replacing it with a horizontal one I do have but which will need new pipes making.

Today I burned a multimeter. I found a nice 3-phase motor for a chop saw projects that I'm working on and I wanted to test it with the lathe's VFD. The EMI was so severe that the multimeter switched from VAC to mA DC!

An this was the result inside:

Until now it was my favorite multimeter, but now it disappointed me.

..depression & suicide.. ..the future of AI..?

Modified Ohlsson and Rice .23

Over the last few weeks I've been using a 1940's O&R 23 sparkie to gain machining experience.

I've turned up a new prop driver (complete with inset magnet) to trigger an electronic ignition unit.

I've milled up some transverse bars to act as beam mounts.

There's a turned aluminium fuel tank to replace the leaking, plastic original.

At the back, I've fabbed up a simple sort of variable carb - connected to a throttle servo.

Hanging off the side is a milled exhaust stub that leads to an expansion chamber (complete with internal baffles)

Yup, it runs. Yup, it flies my Murg vintage model - just. Power is marginal, but that's not the point. It works.

Tim

Re previous.....

Searched and searched for the lost injector delivery-cone. No joy. All I gained were a well-swept patio, and a lot of upset woodlice.

In desperation I wondered if I'd inadvertently swept it up from the workshop floor and put it in the refuse bag, so went to retrieve that from the wheelie bin. Oh.... There's been a collection since.

Later found I was right all along. The steam cone was so loose it's barely even a light push fit; and yes, it dropped out but luckily not into infinity. So both cones were rattling good fits.

I am not sure from whom I bought the thing, or I'd ring tomorrow to see if I can buy a new cone. I have an unused horizontal injector but that means making new pipes and a rather messy installation where a vertical one would be more appropriate and tidier.

At least the poor little woodlice seemed to find new homes quite quickly.

Consoled myself by making some 5/16" and 3/8" union nipples to suit a length of 5mm o.d. pipe I happen to have. Err, aren't they all meant to be of 60º included angle? Measuring the commercial ones gave angles of 60º and 40º, as accurately as I could measure them.

A filing jig for jewellery work (I seem to be beset by jewlers).

There's a 45° and 90° jaw, the tongues are to align rectilinear wire, and the v notches hold hex, D and round wire, along with tubes.

The jaws are hardened so a file skates off them, so you can work right down to it without damaging it (although ideally will avoid doing so deliberately to preserve the file).

Got a tiny bit more done on it Friday evening:

If you look closely at the left hand side you can see where I slipped with the file whilst deburring the edges, which is aesthetically rather upsetting, but otherwise the fit is exactly as desired with about 0.01mm clearance between the tongue and the corresponding slot.

If you look closely at the angled face above you will see that I cocked up my measurements when band-sawing the blank apart, so the 6mm reamed hole doesn't quite reach through that part, which I will need to fix before I'm done.

Also got started with the 45° faces, using an angle block for setup and generous helpings of force to secure it, followed by lighter cuts than normal.

Set up like that I could only take about a 0.75mm DOC, whereas with the 90° face I was able to take a 5mm DOC roughing pass, with 1mm to clean up, all done with a 10mm Carbide 4-flute End-mill running @ 1440rpm (45m/min surface speed).

The 6mm slot was done in a 3 passes with 2mm DOC and a 6mm HSS-CO endmill @ 800 rpm (15m/min), and came out around 0.05mm oversized (which I had already tested and was accounting for to help give me the 0.01mm clearance for the fit). I am going to have to be *much* more gentle making its angled counterpart.

Either way, very happy with the mill's performance... Great MRR in a tough material with acceptable surface finish (what you can see, can't actually be felt, so should lap out quickly once the parts are hardened), ideal for my impatient temperament!

Saturday was fully committed to gardening, finally getting the roses I've been growing from cuttings taken from my late grandparents collection when we sold the house planted in the bed outside my kitchen window, and taking out a few overgrown shrubs in preparation for felling some small trees.

The previous owners of my house didn't really care for the rather narrow garden which had been (somewhat inadvisably) planted with a vast number of vigorous shrubs and trees. After 3 years trying to take a conservative approach, the conclusion unfortunately most of them are now irretrievably oversized for the available space and need to come out, which will leave two adolescent cherry trees, a mature birch, and a "Strawberry Fruit Tree".

Sunday was a walk round Spurn Head with a mate, the birds weren't particularly active, but the hairy caterpillars were in full swing, and we made up for the lack of bird activity by sitting at the point in glorious sunshine as high tide came in for a spot of ship-watching, marvelling at the Humber Pilots hopping back and forth between vessels whilst I tried to predict which Port the various vessels were destined for based on the cargo and if the Pilots guided them from their boat or actually boarded, whilst my mate looked them up online to judge how well I was doing (I did pretty well, but have also had a reasonable history of working with the various ports on the Humber, Trent and Ouse).

I also impulse-bought a chainsaw from a farmer whilst driving over to Spurn, because he had a sign up at the gate, and when I enquired the price was right. It's Sachs-Dolmar in great condition and running nicely, but for the need of a new chain...

Which will help with future gardening plans, but is mostly wanted for milling some big birch logs I've had seasoning for the last 4 years, it's over a decade since I last used an "Alaskan mill", so I might need to get one of my forester or arborist pals to give me a refresher before I jump straight in with that...

Even assuming my chainsaw trousers still fit, I have no desire to test their effectiveness!

Edited By Jelly on 05/06/2023 11:46:32

It's been on my to do list for 50 odd years now (and a couple of lathes) and that was to fit a dedicated earth from the workshop distribution box to the lathe. The existing earth comes from the same box, via a socket, emergency STOP switch, No Volt contactor box, FWD / Off / REV switch, and then to the motor. Its been a long time since I have had the tops off some of the switches and I can't remember where the first earthing point occurs.

Yesterday, I fitted a dedicated earth between the headstock and the distribution box - happy once again!

Bob

I took two dustbins full of weeds and grass cuttings to the recycling yard, along with a garden bin and small bag filled with the same stuff. Only 6 sq mtrs to go, then all the weeding is done. I then mowed a friends lawn. Got home and installed(?) a log from the side of the pond to below the water line to help creatures that fall in, get out again. Cleaned out the small solar fountain and filled the pond with water from a nearly empty water butt. I then made myself some dinner! A good day, but I really wish it would rain for a few hours to fill the water butts.

Jelly -

Thank you for explaining it!

Lee -

Yes, my water-butts and the two frog-ponds are becoming a bit low. I topped up the larger one a bit yesterday. I think a lot of the problem with it is too much vegetation, especially the irises, locking up water in themselves or transpiring it away. I'd built this pond in a place that becomes shaded around noon, to limit full sun exposure.#

This afternoon I saw a squirrel come over the neighbour's wall, run across my garden and disappear over the opposite wall. That's the first time I've seen one here, some distance from significant woodland.

Me -

Crossed two of our suppliers' palms with plastic. Made another inch or so of dreadfully slow progress on the steam-wagon.

A good two hours though was taken with a phone call and remote access from Microsoft's technical department trying to sort out problems with my PC. I hoped to restore the filing-system I'd developed but One Drive has grabbed it, won't let go and you can't turn OneDrive off. My two external hard-drives still won't work on this computer - I've gained enough access to one to find it apparently unformatted / initialised. At least I've regained access for up-dating my sat-nag.

Bob

I am not an electrician but if my memory serves me right there can be problems with Parallel earths just like you have created, there can be a build up of different potentials on the two earths. During my service in the Air Force I was aware of at least one tradesman who was killed by the potential that built up between two parallel earths, if my memory is right it was to do with ground power sets and aircraft supplies. Perhaps those who are more enlightened in respect of electronics could comment on this. Dave W

Edited By Samsaranda on 07/06/2023 09:44:03

I spent an evening printing off some useful charts and then laminating them to hang in the workshop, as I was fed up of having to go to the computer for some of them to find out certain measurements, as well as having them handy. I do own other reference material like a zeus book and the like.

At least this should help keep them clean from finger prints

So having them attached to a wall will make life easier, when I find a good location not hidden behind machines.

Surely a mains voltage system uses Earth Electrical Bonding and Automatic Disconnection of Supply. A critical feature of any installation is that ALL metalwork is electrically bonded and thus it is all at the same potential. Writing this has given me a horrible thought, my little Atlas lathe is plugged in via a three pin plug. Have I separately bonded it to the metalwork of the ISO container? If I have not, I certainly will in order to avoid precisely the problem that Samsaranda describes.

The danger is that a damaged electrical flex, say, could make a machine become live and then we grasp it firmly and good night. If it is permanently bonded to earth potential then the fuse, MCB or RCD will trip and all will be well.

John

Hi, after ordering a 12 to 90 Live Bull Nose Centre from Arceurotrade yesterday morning, it arrived this morning, and was put to work this afternoon.

More good service from them.

Regards Nick.

It rained last night, Monday, enough to half fill each water butt and give all my lovely veg a good watering. I emptied a two gallon bucket of rainwater collected from the greenhouse roof into the pond. It should please the newt, if it's still there. I then used water from one of the butts to top the pond up to within 50mm of spilling. I went online to a local auction house and placed bids on 5 pewter tankards, to melt down! 20 small stacking trays and a hydraulic scissor jack. I had to take a friend out to the venue he sings at. Got back by 11.20 Tues eve. All three items sold to someone else. I was outbid! The scissor jack would have come in handy jacking up the Austin Seven I'm working on. I'm putting the car up on 2 large "skates" that go under each axle. The skates have very heavy duty castors, 4 on each skate. I should now be able to move the car by myself. Backards, fore'ads and side to side-ards. I am doing this to replace the hydraulic brake cylinders that are fitted to each car. When jacking the rear of the car up I whiffed the smell of very stale petrol. The car hasn't been used for at least six years. I will have drain the petrol tank and flush the system. I would like to get the car on the road this year!

I missed the earlier posts on earthing a lathe.
Generally there is no problem connecting the bodywork of a machine tool directly to the electrical protective ground"earth" circuit in addition to the connectionthrough the power feed.
What should not be done, without qualified advice, is to connect it to a separate "earth". That means a handy water pipe or other buried bit of metal. This is because for some mains supplies a neutral fault outide your property could result in all the load current from your house and other properties flowing through that earth connection. This can result in a fire and shock risk. Note that as long as the motor frame and any exposed metalwork that has mains components mounted on them or cables running through them are properly earthed there is no requirement to earth the body of the machine.

The connection and earthing of a ISO container or similar to a mains supply is a different matter. It needs a competent (not just someone who has a part P certificate) electrician to assess the individual installation ON SITE. This is bescause they have to determine the type and charateristics of the supply and how the container is situated.
This cannot be done without a physical inspection. Anyone giving advice without seeing the site is at best misguided.

Robert.