What did you do today? (2014)

New Years Day - steamed a live steam locomotive in -18c weather.

Uploading to Youtube at the moment - will post a link later, probably tomorrow, if the upload goes ok.

We do this steaming every New Years Day, some years it's warmer, but I think this is about the coldest day we've done this so far.

John.

http://cnc-for-model-engineers.blogspot.com

Edited By JasonB on 02/01/2014 07:32:43

Today I spent time in the workshop machining some bodies for cylinder drain cocks for my 71/4" Collett.

The best Christmas I ever had was a couple of years ago ~~~ I'd borrowed my eldest son's classic Mini Cooper on Christmas eve to0 go to wok and on the way home broke it ~~~ had to be recovered by the RAC. Spent most of Christmas removing large lumps from the engine and fixing it ~~~ Ace!

-18 is pretty cold. I've been there once but managed to keep warm because I had to dig the car out of the snow to drive home from the Alps.

I see from your blog that you are having a go at my ER25 for the Worden. There were a couple of issues with the translation of some dimensions from drawing to magazine. The originals are in my album here .

I have the self same diamond wheel from ARC waiting for an arbour!

cheers,

Rod

Edit: Album link works - Ta, Jason (though slightly different in Firefox)

Edited By Roderick Jenkins on 02/01/2014 11:20:08

Happy new year Gentlemen,

I took one of my Lister engines one hundred miles yesterday for an open day crank up at the Twyford Waterworks to find I was the only one daft enough to attend, lashed it down all day but got to look at the stripped boilers that are being brought back to working order to power the large Triple expansion pump engine in the next room. **LINK**

Martin P

Uploaded vid of my first 'Simple Oscillating Engine' to Photobucket but the vid came out on its side in my album, tried for ages to rotate... can rotate images but it seems that videos can't be rotated...? anyone else have this problem ? so have loaded into my You tube album if any one wants to have a look... excuse shaking at end of vid, was trying to stop camera videoing

**LINK**

George

If you are using your phone to take the video make sure you hold it sideways eg the same landscape format as you want the video.

J

Re: Steaming in the New Year, Canada style;

Here (should be) the link:

Edited By John Alexander Stewart on 02/01/2014 13:49:23

Edited By John Alexander Stewart on 02/01/2014 13:50:21

Jason

Thanks for the tip, never thought of that,

G.

Today I finished a 28T worm gear for the HBM 290F lathe so I can use the thread indicator for M12 x 1.75mm pitch.

This photo show the setup for milling the worm gear,

Edited By Thor on 02/01/2014 14:56:57

Hi Rod - Yes, am building it to your design. Should say built it - it was completed last year (ha ha - about 2 days ago now)
.

I do find in mine that the ER-25 nut fouls the table, but in use for sharpening ends of end mills, that is not an issue.

Is it just the nut I purchased, or are they all going to do that?

On one ER-16 chuck I made, I managed to find a "mini-ER nut" that had smaller (and, finer) threads, so the nut size was quite reduced.

Thank you for your clear, concise design; I work in metric so having the metric dimensions on the plans certainly helped. The only change I made was that I used M4 rather than 2BA, but other than that, it is to your plans.

BTW, in my workshop I have 6 ER collet holders from ER-16 to ER-40, on various bits of machinery. 4 of them home made - I think I'm sold on ER collets...

John.

Happy New year to all.

My days have been filled with auto body work on my 1930 Model A Ford. 83 year old metal can get gnarled up over the years!! It is all now ready to go to the painters for some Guards Red.(A Porsche Colour)Then comes assembly onto the finished chassis, some wiring, then driving....Then back to model engines, along with a change of houses in the next few months.

I will not have a separate garage at my new address, but there is a large basement. I am thinking of selling my Hercus and the mill-drill and getting a couple of newer/smaller footprint machines. I was considering a Lathe/mill combo, but I have my reservations about them.

Any comments or suggestions?

temporary fitted steppers to my x2 mill that will do till I get ballscrews sorted ,

Google's Picassa will rotate videos for viewing but not save them in the new format.

I think the (excellent but tricky to get the best out of) Pazera free video converter will allow you to rotate videos.b It also converts GP3 phone videos and quicktime ones to a windows friendly format.

Neil

I finished the turning on my traction engine flywheels this evening. Here's the rim being roughed out:

Note the 'orrible overhang of top slide and boring bar to reach the far side without clobbering the fixings and fittings on the faceplate. However, with a DOC of 50 thou and a feedrate of 8 thou/rev at 40rpm there was not a hint of chatter. Here are flywheels in their final resting place:

They just need the keyways cut in the bores. I have several other keyways to cut, plus the internal splines on the crankshaft gears, so at some point I'll swing the ram on the Bridgeport and have a session with the slotting head.

Regards,

Andrew

Finished setting up and testing a quick change tooling system for my NMTB30 milling machine. I've created a little photo story in another post on the ME/MEW forum: **LINK**

Quite pleased that it seems to work!

Merry

Happy New Year to all on the forum

Just finished a couple of batches of hone shoes for my Delapena barrel hone, pic shows the tools made to produce them as well -- now for some kip!

Crimbo present to self finally arrived today. "SpaceNavigator" 3D "mouse" from 3DConnexion. Cost $100 (60 quid) and allows pan, tilt, zoom etc from one control in 3D CAD. Very nice. You lift, turn and push the knob gently, trying not to induce too many inputs simultaneously(!) Sounds simple enough....

The biggest challenge will be getting my abused, aging and atrophied brain to handle all the degrees of control at once. Something new to swear at, then!

Merry

Went to B&Q & Wickes again today. Kitchen nearly done so bathroom rears its ugly head. I should get a season ticket

I saw some 'sugro' - has anyone got experience of using this? It's a silicon rubber that works like epoxy putty and comes in a pack of five mixable colours.

Neil