What Did You Do Today 2021

Having rung at three different churches(village, town and cathedral) on Remembrance Sunday, I think Bazyle would be surprised at just how many people attend them compared to how small the normal congregations are.

I for one did not attend any service not that I did not want to pay my respects but at the time I was on Margate sea front watching the RNLI lifeboat crew scattering my dear old mums ashes. She did a lot of fund raising for them. The first photo speaks for itself and the second is the way the crew behaved by standing silent for 1 minute they were very respectful. After this they went to the parade in the square, unfortunately I had to drive home so missed most of any parades but did catch some on the TV when I did get home.

I did not take the photos as I was remembering the good times

Edited By Derek Lane on 19/11/2021 10:46:58

All gave some.

Some gave all.

Some remember.

Just finished making my first pair of mating gears. !0t pinion, 75 tooth wheel, "cycloidal" tooth form. Profiles out of the end of a steel bar (pinion) and brass plate (wheel) with a 1mm end mill. G-code generated using "Cycloidal Gear Builder" for the dxf and CamBam to add the crossings-out and holding tabs. Module is 1.271mm to give a shaft spacing of 54mm. Next pair will be 80t wheel, 10 tooth pinion, module 1.2mm to give the same shaft spacing.

Having spent ages shimming up the cross head slide bars on my latest loco, I've just realised that I haven't drilled the holes in the frames for the exhaust pipes. They are drilled 4mm, but need to be 12mm. Now need to take the cylinders off again.

Must remember p*ss poor planning results in p*ss poor performance . It will give me something to do.

Hi, finished alterations to my CD storage that I made brackets for shelves instead of flimsy plastic slotted things, the shelves are made from 18 x119 planed smooth timber away from B&Q and after the corners were rounded off slightly, they were covered with ginger coloured felt baize, which I think complements the finish of the wooden carcase, but the bottom section has removable 2mm thick black mats made from matting which is made from recycled rubber which I got from Aldi's some while ago. Shown in the photo partially populated in no particular order, before I fix it in position.

Regards Nick.

After getting help from forum members on threading I just finished making a backstop for my Harrison lathe, I will put it to use tomorrow making12 bits for my loco.

Very nice finish on those parts - The drawing looks a bit professional as well !

Thanks. The parts get a rub down with a fine garyflex block and the drawings came from a website called Dr Al's Miscellany.

Finally got the VFD conversion of my old BV-20 lathe together. Took much longer than expected mainly due to problems fitting the slightly larger motor - this did not fit on the original, rather ropey mounting on the lathe, so had to be fitted externally on the sturdy bench using a slide plate for adjustment. This required all manner of jiggery-pokery including moving the whole lathe about 2" to one side, butchering the covers to accomodate the new pulley / belt position.
Also added a rev counter, not essential, but, as I was doing all this other work why not! ( Had quite a bit of a wobbly with this until I discovered the in-joke that the manufactureres don't tell you about that stops it working! )
Anyway, it all seems to have come right in the end and I'm very pleased so far.
As we seem to be up to our ears in snow at the moment, looks like I'll get plenty of workshop time now rather than being dragged out shopping - oh what a shame.

Regards Mike

Building an engine involves making large numbers of disparate parts, which suddenly come together in one assembly. The basic motion work for my engines is now assembled. Turning the flywheel results in the crosshead and piston rods sliding back and forth:

Close up of the motion work:

All the components fitted together, and worked smoothly, with no adjustment needed. The slidebars and cylinders slope backwards by about a degree, relative to the boiler, as per the full size engines.

The far engine has a sheet metal chimney, made according to the plans. It has been pointed out that it is too skinny, and doesn't look right. Burrell fitted cast iron chimneys to some of their engines. The engine at the front has a prototype "cast" chimney, which looks a lot better. The "cast" chimney was modelled in CAD based on pictures of the fullsize engines. It was then 3D printed in two halves, stuck together and sprayed black. Since making the "cast" prototype the top has been changed, based on a picture of a Burrell pattern for the cast chimney and a convincing fluid flow explanation of why the top looks as it does. i will be going with the "cast" chimney as it looks much better, and is nearer to prototype.

Andrew

Hi Andrew, they are looking good.

Regards Nick.

Great work Andrew .

Frank

How many years does it take to get that far, Andrew.

Today I went to my next door neighbour's 100th birthday party. I have lived next door to her for half my life. If I start now on a traction engine would I have time to finish it?

It's silly really, but today I went to a local indoor market and bought 17 second-hand paperbacks by Dilly Court for a 92 year old friend. She is over the moon! She now has nearly 40 books by the author with 6 more to get for the full set.

Fourteen years so far. However, there are some factors in my defence:

Since I live on my own I have to do all the shopping, cooking, gardening, housework and so on.......

I have another time consuming hobby

Building two engines takes longer than one; I reckon about 50%

The drawings have many errors and omissions, so a lot of time has been spent creating CAD models, and assemblies to check function and fits

I want to make everything myself, including cutting all the gears, making most of the nuts, bolts and studs and forming and welding all the wheels. The main items I haven't made are the boilers and rubber tyres.

I am adding significantly to the design, based on fullsize, such as the singling valve and prototypical regulator lever

In order to make some items, such as injectors, I need to understand the underlying theory in order to create a design I can then make

The list goes on..................!

In essence it's the engineering that really interests me. Making parts is secondary, unless it's a technique I haven't used before.

Andrew

Never heard of Dilly Court and she's famous!

They're not for me: 'As the first Christmas snowflakes fall, Rosalind finds herself pregnant and alone...'

I reckon my mum will love them, and I'm short of ideas for xmas. As she doesn't care for Elmore Leonard Dilly Court will make a nice change. Mum will think I'm thoughtful and sensitive!

Many thanks,

Dave

Mike, like your VFD conversion on your BV20 lathe, I am wanting to go down the same path for my own BV20 lathe and would be grateful for any helpful information that you have.

On a different subject altogether have spent the morning sourcing a replacement battery for my Honda Jazz, it’s been playing dead on a regular basis for about 6 months and been revived by constant recharging. The battery fitted to my Jazz is a nonstandard size, well it would be wouldn’t it, added to that it is a stop/start battery which makes it more expensive than normal batteries. I could only find a replacement from the same maker, that’s Yuasa and Halfords are local agents. Cost £172.99, ouch, but does come with a five year warranty; is a direct replacement for the one I have fitted which coincidentally is 5 1/2 years old! Battery due in Friday, no problem fitting it have got the job down to less than two minutes, plenty of practice over the last six months, not prepared to pay Halfords an extra £25 to fit it. I shall now be able to put away my booster battery pack which I have had to carry with me for starting the car when battery went flat, the booster pack is only small, charges off a USB socket, and starts the car no problem, wouldn’t be without now. Dave W

so today I made the next to last 2 bits of valve gear for my loco. Then went to the drawer where I keep the bits so I wont lose them and found I'd already made them. I keep on saying I should do a parts list before I start and tick the bits off. It would also help in ensuring I've got the material before I start. Friend of mine has sent me 2 bits of PB to make the valves, the Post Office seems to have lost them. He sent 2 more bits, they've lost them as well

I set up my steam-wagon's crankshaft with its 4 eccentric sheaves and straps, one connecting-rod and its cross-head with a proxy piston rod, between simple bench-centres on the milling-machine table.

This to assess real-life sizes, clearances etc to help me further design the engine. The proxy rod is gripped in a collet and the whole thing centred by eye so I can move the mechanism using the quill. Carefully because my milling-machine's quill is very stiff - possibly incurably.

Yes, it is theoretically possible to design an entire engine by drawing first, but it is far easier for me to produce a prelimary layout and a few motion component drawings, make and assemble them, then measure physical lumps of metal and intervening air. Thus to work out how and where all their supporting acts etc. can do their thing without moving bits hitting static bits!

The bench-centres are just two bits of m.s. rod, one end coned, the other drilled and tapped, screwed to angle-plates held by one of the T-slots; and adjusted to parallels for equal height