What Did You Do Today 2020

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We are currently watching a wonderful series on BBC iPlayer

First shown in March 2019, and narrated by Barry Humphries

“ Australia: Earth’s Magical Kingdom “

I hope you guys still have that amazing continent next year !!

MichaelG.

I eventually removed the cross travel gib on my Centec 2B, cleaned up the feed screw nut which had a single damaged thread, turned it through 180 degrees and replaced the cross slide. All slides easily now, but I will fit a limit stop to prevent the table over-travelling.

I found the wiper had been replaced at some time and did not fit too well - I will address that particular item at my leisure but want the machine operational ASAP.

Lifted the table, with power feed, back into position (supposedly a two man job, per Dave SOD, but easy enough for me🙂 and now just need to adjust gibs, put the power feed back in operation and refit the dro’s. Then lift off the (heavy) vertical head (32kg) and change to horizontal milling mode.

I was going to hang the table and power feed on a load cell but no sky hook available, without a load more hassle, so I don’t know exactly how heavy it was - but certainly not light!

We can eliminate the 35 billion tons of carbon dioxide very easily Dave - all we have to do is stop breathing !
Carbon monoxide is a different matter !

When a greenie or climate change activist comes forth and gives us some real solutions to the problem i will be first in line to thank them !

All i can say is I wouldn’t want to be a person that went to one of the towns that have been reduced to a pile of ashes and try to tell anyone that if we can address climate change this wouldn’t have happened , I don’t think one would get out alive !

The PM found that out a few days ago !

Danny , I’m praying for rain for you mate !

I doubt i will make it out to the workshop today for any length of time as it is going to be a hot one -  33c at 10.45am and predicted to hit 45c! I might set up a data logging thermometer to see how hot it gets in my workshop and if we don’t have any wind I wouldn’t be surprised if it got well into the 50s if we get into the 40s outside .

Edited By XD 351 on 03/01/2020 23:53:31

XD 351 and the rest of the respondents. Thanks for your support and well wishes.

Getting used to the vagaries of nature in this part of the world so not a real hassle on a personal basis but I feel for the people have lost everything, including their lives. The stock and wildlife losses are horrendous.

Here is a linky to the local Vic warning map Vic emergency warnings

At least I know that my smoke detectors work. They normally only activate if I am brazing in the workshop. Now they activate if a door is left open

Was talking to my neighbour and we both decided that our fishing gear should be evacuated - Never caught a smoked trout before.

Off to the Bonegilla evacuation centre to see if they need a hand. 43°C at the moment so getting warm.

As Ned Kelly said (just before the trapdoor opened) - "Such is life"

* Danny M *

I recently saw an article that said that it was a good time for the greenies to go and chain themselves to a tree.

Paul

Good god. We should never moan about the UK. That is horrific. Stay safe.

Good to hear you are going to somewhere safe Danny !

Still worried about Jim though .

It hit 49 deg here at Penrith which is close to where i live .

Fantastic to hear you are helping out in any way you can , best i can do is to donate some cash to the various bodies that are there to help .

dunno about what you reckon but it seems to me tha Gladys has a bigger set than scomo !

Best of luck to you and your neighbours Danny.

It's been bad enough seeing things unfold from here in the UK, it must be traumatic for everyone in Aus.

Neil

Good grief, 5000 posts. That's an awful lot of sitting bulls. And a lot of time spent sitting at the computer instead of in the workshop.

I've finally got my steel bar to make a former for the traction engine chimneys:

Bar is 500mm long and 100mm diameter. The fixed steady just fits, by a whisker! First job is to drill a centre and then make the flat pattern from sheet steel; blank was guillotined yesterday.

Andrew

My thoughts exactly S-O-D !!

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Thanks again for testing these, John

Mine arrived today, and they appear very good value

MichaelG.

Knocked up a lifting beam over the last few days from 100 x 50 x 4mm wall pallet racking beams I scrounged before I retired. They had been scrapped because the loading figures couldn't be verified despite having all sorts of heavy castings on them for years. I got it all erected and working this afternoon just in time for a chap to come and collect the Myford so a light load to see how it performs. The trolly on the beam uses roller bearings for wheels and runs along the beam nicely. The real test will be when Warco bring my new GH1322 as that going where the Myford was after I've insulated the wall.

Finally got round to upgrading the lighting in the shop. All 8 4ft fittings now have 22w daylight led tubes, much better than the old standard tubes.

Sound good! Did you bypass the ballast Ian?

Henry, yes the ballasts were removed. The lamps just needed the supply connected to one end so it made fitting a bit easier as well. Starter not required either.

Thanks Ian, I must look into this a bit more as my tubes are getting on a bi bit like me!

Not today, but yesterday, I wanted to produce a female thread for a microphone stand.

That sounds straightforward enough, but microphone stands have the obscure thread of 5/8" X 27. At the museum we have hundreds of taps accumulated over the years from toolboxes donated to us. No luck there, I would have to singlepoint it on the lathe.

Of course the lathe did 26 or 28 tpi, and I was unlikely to be able to get the 27 with the limited number of changewheels available. Also, with the 16 size of threading inserts, the hole starting size of 0.588" was looking difficult. I got out a 12mm shank left hand holder and set it up in a four jaw chuck eccentrically and took off metal opposite the insert tip position. With a 1mm iso insert in the holder, I sacrificed part of the carbide with a diamond wheel until the tool would pass into the bore. Roger and I discussed the relative merits of going for 26 or 28 and jointly chose 26. I went for a sloppy fit of about 0.004" over the nominal size and the male part screwed in about 3/8" before starting to bind. The thread does not carry much over a pound of weight so it was a good result. I hope I remember to set forward on the lathe tomorrow before using it, although the chuck lock is fitted.

I think I will look at getting some size 11 inserts, the Chinese holders on ebay are less than £5 each.

Not today, but yesterday, I wanted to produce a female thread for a microphone stand.

That sounds straightforward enough, but microphone stands have the obscure thread of 5/8" X 27. At the museum we have hundreds of taps accumulated over the years from toolboxes donated to us. No luck there, I would have to singlepoint it on the lathe.

Of course the lathe did 26 or 28 tpi, and I was unlikely to be able to get the 27 with the limited number of changewheels available. Also, with the 16 size of threading inserts, the hole starting size of 0.588" was looking difficult. I got out a 12mm shank left hand holder and set it up in a four jaw chuck eccentrically and took off metal opposite the insert tip position. With a 1mm iso insert in the holder, I sacrificed part of the carbide with a diamond wheel until the tool would pass into the bore. Roger and I discussed the relative merits of going for 26 or 28 and jointly chose 26. I went for a sloppy fit of about 0.004" over the nominal size and the male part screwed in about 3/8" before starting to bind. The thread does not carry much over a pound of weight so it was a good result. I hope I remember to set forward on the lathe tomorrow before using it, although the chuck lock is fitted.

I think I will look at getting some size 11 inserts, the Chinese holders on ebay are less than £5 each.

Over the last couple of days I've been machining the taper on the chimney former for my traction engines. Roughing was done at 180rpm, 50 thou DOC and 8 thou/rev, so quite modest for me. The chips were coming off dark blue though. FInish cuts were at 370rpm and 4 thou per rev, DOC as required, but generally 5 to 10 thou. Here's the setup for a finishing cut, about 15 minutes per pass:

The template was marked out and filed, don't need super precision! Note the chimney fixing ring from the traction engine hanging on the tailstock quill to test fit and size. Although it's only a former I couldn't resist trying it in situ:

I've been in discussion with a forum member, via PM, regarding the purchase of such a relatively large lump of steel. I mentioned that I got a rather odd finish, and promised to post a picture. So here it is:

The material purports to be EN1A. The general finish is so-so. It measures 3.3µm Ra, which is ok but not brilliant. Of course that doesn't matter for my application. The really odd thing is the darker bands every ¼" or so. I can't think of anything on the lathe that is repeating at that distance. Although the template is hand crafted I doubt my filing would produce such a regular pattern. That leaves the material. Each dark band is a bit shiny, which I associate with harder material when turning with inserts. I wonder if this is something to do with the extrusion or drawing process? As an aside, when roughing I had some problems with chatter. The chatter distance was short. an 1/8" or less, and at random places. One time next to the tailstock, next time in the middle. And the tool never chattered in the same place twice. Once I'd done a few roughing pases the chatter never re-appeared.

The former has tarnished overnight in the engine assembly area, sorry entrance hall, which seems to indicate EN1A.

Andrew

Andrew, I have had exactly the same problems turning EN1A, thought it might be the Myford but got exactly the same result using the Holbrook. It doesn’t show up on short parts, like you I was turning a taper a couple of 2 Morse tapers actually, the finish was very smooth but banded just like yours. Would love to know what it is or what causes it.