What did you do Today 2018

Finished the refurbishment of a free Vintage Manual Bench Drill. Heavy duty version. Only felt the need to replace the Drive shaft and the Chuck mounting -

Looking forward to using it (more pics in album).

Made a flycutter this morning:

I just need to add a keyway and make a cover plate for the toolbit and then I can flycut the chimney bases, perch brackets and ultimately the cylinder blocks for my traction engines. The outer diameter of the flycutter is exactly 8" and is concentric with the centre hole, which should help with the tool setting.

Andrew

Nice one Andrew... looking at the pic shouldn't the HSS tool tip be below the holders bottom plane, or am I reading wrong, is it for machining large dia.bores, ( cylinder blocks ) ? ...

George.

George -should have gone to Specsavers

Not today, but yesterday. Went to B&Q to buy a 4x2 sheet of 15mm plywood. Took every sheet off the rack, and they were all warped. Went for Plan B, MDF, and they were all warped, too. While there looked at some lengths of timber for another job, and most were not straight. Is it me that's unlucky, or is this a common experience with this company?

Have had the same problem with Homebase. More a 'pile' then high and sell them cheap that 'stack' as in arranged in the correct manner. My Homebase has all timber inside in a dry, heated environment which would not help the issue and as all staff are multi 'skilled' they may have little affinity and/or knowledge of correct procedures.

Jim

Unfortunately the likes of B&Q source the cheapest possible wood which is usually rushed through the drying process and then poorly stored.

I only use their timber in an out of hours emergency as I am yet to find any thing straight on their shelves.

I find the local tmber yard far superior and usually cheaper.....

Thanks, guys - I am certainly not alone. I must explore other local timber sources. Our local Homebase had to close - far too few customers.

Mike- have you got a Highland Industrial near you (or whatever they are called) ? About the best around for general purpose and agricultural use timber.

Thanks, Gordon. I know where they are, but I never knew they sold timber. I'll call in next time I am in Elgin, which I think will be Friday.

My experience of B&Q (who stock about 40,000 items in 300 stores) ranges from 'hurrah' to disappointing. It's a DIY warehouse taking a 4% profit off a volume operation, not a traditional family shop. If you don't expect too much of the staff (themselves ranging from excellent to dazed, confused and bad-tempered) and have a good look at what you're buying, you should be OK. Most important they've not been difficult on the odd occasions I've taken duff stuff back.

If what they have isn't acceptable go elsewhere. I'm lucky - my local B&Q shares an estate with Screwfix, Homebase, and Wickes: sometimes I visit all four before buying anything.

Wood is a natural product. Quality has been dropping for nearly 300 years because previous generations chopped down most of the good stuff and rarely bothered to replant it. One reason you may be unlucky in store is that customers tend to take the best timber from the rack first. What's left behind is the dross; I doubt the store-man throws it away, instead he tops the rack up with a random selection of new wood. It's quite likely that the rack will eventually be full of seconds at which point a computer will alert the manager that it's not selling. Forget all notions that a timber expert is lovingly managing the MDF and might slip you a nice bit of walnut. (I know a proper timber merchant who is like that; good stuff but it's expensive, often eye-wateringly so.)

Sorry to indulge my hobby-horse again, but brand-names get my goat. They can't be taken at face-value. Rather it's best to assess how the supplier is performing today rather than blindly trust a name no matter how well established. Who are B&Q? Like Screwfix, Brico Depot, Comet, SuperDrug, Wegert, MVC and other enterprises they are a subsidiary of Kingfisher, previously known as Paternoster, originally FW Woolworth. It's a corporate asset. At the moment I'd say most B&Q  products are mid-range / cheap acceptable rather than 'top quality'. They're good for some things and not for others. Inconsistently. They don't make anything themselves. A change of board-room policy could take B&Q up-market or down-market or sell them on. Next year Brexit might turn them into a world force or it might destroy them. No-one knows!

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 28/03/2018 11:00:46

Once again Dave (SOD) has hit the nail on the head!

He summarised exactly what B&Q and others stand for. I use these outlets mainly as a last resort and rarely feel that I have got value for money. What they do have though in their favour is the long opening hours so can you out of hole when wholesalers and other shops are shut.

Ian P

If you want straight bits for things like benches etc. Buy studding. Some stores should be doing better but wood is not like metal and does wriggle about with moisture content. Store tend to stack wood on end in racks instead of flat 'in stick' with lathes between pieces so free air circulates. You do have to be selective as to what you want out of any piece of wood. Timber can be straightened by spraying with water and clamping for a few days but it's a faff unless it's a special piece. Generally I buy sawn timber oversize and machine down to what I want.

regards Martin

Today I re-read an article about an early far-eastern lathe and am still astounded that such a device could have been constructed under such severe conditions **LINK**

I find that articles such as this are quite inspirational and a lesson to us all as to what can be achieved with limited resources and a lot of determination.

* Danny M *

Hmm. I bought a load of 2"x4" studding for the kitchen ceiling recently and some of it was as bent as a nine bob bit. Trouble is, that's pretty normal so wouldn't have much joy trying to get it replaced. Possibly would have been slightly better if I'd gone for C24 rather than C16 (ie fewer knots) but even better if you can go and pick out the straighter lengths yourself. Of course, for the kitchen there was a lot of it so I had to have it delivered blind from the builders merchant.

Funnily enough, the few sheets of ply, MDF and blockboard I've bought from B&Q have been fairly flat. Possibly due to the way / place it's been stored at our local store.

Murray

I can agree with most of the comments about B & Q wood and ply. Bear in mind that the store is heated to suit customer comfort and the wood and ply is subjected to 24/7 dehydration.

Visit a dedicated wood merchant for decent wood, most of the yardmen are decent lads and will select and cut for you, you cannot run everything like our hobby on a shoestring.

Clive

When I needed a piece of plywood to make a replacement instrument panel for interior use on a yacht, I looked at both "marine" and WBP ply in various stores, but then found that Wickes sell 4 foot by 2 foot sheets of hardwood ply which proved to be quite suitable.

Norman

Flycutter was probably the wrong description. Think of it as a one tooth cutter for use on a horizontal mill. It will be used for machining the curved mounting surfaces on the afore mentioned castings. The diameters needed are 8.6" and 9.5". The HP and LP bores in the cylinder blocks will be machined conventionally with a boring head.

Andrew

Methinks it still qualifies as a flycuttter, ie single tooth, just more of a boring flycutter than a facing flycutter. Nice job, whatever it is!