What Did You Do Today 2021

..all our teeth chattering today.. ..must get a bigger angle plate and some better thermals..

Recently completed Harold Hall's Grinding rest and figured I would make better use out of it if I had a centre height gauge to accurately reposition the tool in the lathe (I'm using a tangential holder).

I chose to make the gauge from Hemingway - as it looks good and I fancied a low stress kit build where you have all the instructions, plans and materials in a box. I'm sure buying a kit for something that can be made out of the scrap bin will give some people palpitations - but it wasn't hugely expensive and was an enjoyable build.

I spent the afternoon un-making...

Been too cold over the past week for anything in the workshop so I've pottered about indoors.

I spent this afternoon dismantling my A0 drawing-board, to gain space in what I call the 'middle room' (at the back of my house) for the EW Lathe on its trolley. At the moment it's tucked under the kitchen work-top as far as its own countershaft and the plumbing allow, but the 'South Wing' holding the cramped kitchen and bathroom are like an ice-box in cold weather!

I tried to sell the drawing-board but had no luck. It's been in all of my three own homes, and I must have been a lot stronger to have moved it upstairs in my previous abode! So I took the plunge and basically scrapped it today.

I have though given myself the option of cutting the board itself shorter and mounting it on a smaller, simpler stand but still with the draughting-head "works", so I can still use it to A3 or a bit larger.

It does not owe me anything. I have done a lot of drawing on it, having bought it for a princely £35, as I recall; but have progressed with TurboCAD to use that more generally, though to no better or more advanced standard than I can achieve by manual drawing. (Only orthographic - I avoid 3D.) I think I used it last in projecting a cross-section from the geology map to try to determine the nature of a caving project I help - pandemics permitting.

The dismantling became a bit fraught when the whole caboodle gracefully toppled forwards until it, adjacent steam-lorry bunker assembly, dining-table and two chairs formed a cosy huddle listing heavily to starboard, throwing loose items in all directions; and never mind me tangled up in it.

Hmmm... I wonder if the friction-brake discs that clamped the board to angle and height would suit a machine-tool clutch.... [Little voice from the two incomplete T&C grinders and un-restored drill--grinder, here with me in the front room - " Stop it Nigel - finish us, the Myford gear-box, Denbigh mill and Hindley steam-lorry first! " ]

Finally made a U2 to ER20 collett holder for my Alexander tool grinder. Going to 4 facet my drills tomorrow.

I bought an ML7-R forty one years ago and started converting it to a Super 7 last year by replacing the cross-slide and top-slide with S7 parts. Finally fitted a clutch today, so it's now an S7 in everything except the serial number. I considered fitting a gearbox but dismissed the idea because it would limit the adaptability of the lathe to cut worms etc. and using the change-wheels gives a vastly greater selection of threads and pitches.

That's fantastic, what steel did you use?

Been more of an internet day workshop a bit too cold.

Was watching PEEMS zoom club workshop meeting yesterday and had an interesting natter with two fellow speed enthusiasts.

Did learn some more about Doble steam cars and an enthusiast that is reasonably local has two and wrote a book about there restoration I will see if still available.

As a round the bend model and full size speed record nut on my motorcycle and car speed attempt forum club it was virtual 2020 trophy night.

Bloody virus.

Was very happy an old shield I had received in my younger days I had donated to them was awarded to a worthy recipient.

A fellow steam enthusiast with steam being used as thrust a hell of an engineer he used to watch me and fellow speed enthusiasts when 12 years old.at Elvington. .

Pete

I have sent you a message.

Made myself a small soldering corner. bricks 11£, angle frame 14£. So I can move it as a whole and do not put lose bricks together every time. The steel profiles are brazed together

Made a little 4th axis tailstock for my Sieg KX1, mainly out of aluminium with brass thumb screws (you may recognise the top one from my video posted in the CNC page the other day).

The height adjustment is via two 5 degree ramps,which gives about 20 thou adjustment, but I still needed a 6 thou shim because I mis-measured the centre height! Doh!

It works quite well too, just need to find a job for it now!

IanJ

Completed a plate for holding the Myford chucks on my BCA jig-borer. The threaded part is an adaptor from RDG Tools.

The plates is a thick disc of come-in-handy steel (quite tough - it turned easily enough but had a very tough skin, and I used slightly over-size holes for tapping).

A reamed and recessed hole takes a headed pin to locate in the machine table's plain half-inch central hole. A shallow recess nests the nose-piece, whose small spigot on the back further locates in a reamed hole in the table pin.

Four slightly enlarged holes for T-nut screws in the plate's rim, with M6 tapped holes spaced between them for additional work-holding. I added an inner ring of M5 , same purpose, revealed by lifting the nose-piece off.

The nose-piece as bought is drilled for just two M4 screws, which seems a bit weak. So I assembled everything on the BCA, and drilled 2 more.

For facing the back of the disc, and finishing the edge, I drilled and tapped the hold-down holes temporarily M6 for fastening to the face-plate; opening and slightly slotting them to 1/4" dia later. (Gives the option of M6 or 1/4" T-bolts). The back has a concentric relief a few thou deep for better holding down to the BCA table.

My Myford VMC is for the bulk of the milling. The BCA will be used more for things like small polygons and pitch-circles of holes. However, even the small 3-jaw chuck I have really reduces the headroom when mounted on the machine.

Handy machines, jig-borers. You can use them for making circular adaptors for mounting things on jig-borers...

Been having issues with my 'diesel' loco, the 25cc brushcutter motor has been hard to start and sometimes dies with no warning. Checked the usual suspects (spark and fuel) and could find nothing amiss. Eventually traced it to a cracked solder joint in the inlet pipe (carby has been mounted on an extended inlet pipe to clear the loco body). So, spent the day designing a new one and started cutting metal to make it.

I have made a similar mini hearth...

George.

I was inspired by the article in MEW issue 301 to make a lantern chuck for shortening screws and bolts, etc., to replace the motley selection of bushes that I use at the moment. Noting the lack of a drawing ( but promised by the editor for the next issue ) and being an impatient so-and-so, I set about making my own CAD model and thereafter, the 2D drawings for the workshop, basing the dimensions on those in the article by Bernard Towers.

I also made a two-part video of the construction process for my youtube channel. God, they don't 'arf go on!

Here's the finished item, not that dissimilar to Bernard's version in the magazine.

John

What did I do today, well not model engineering but engineering of a kind. Wife has been complaining lately that her IPhone wouldn’t hold its charge and therefore the battery was suspect, I thought the easiest way out, bearing in mind the phone is over 3 years old, was to obtain a replacement battery and fit it myself, couldn’t be that difficult could it? I managed to find the right replacement on Amazon which with Prime would be here within 24 hours, it arrived here at lunchtime. I thought nice little job, wouldn’t take me long, little did I know. The replacement has the advantage of having 34% more capacity than the original that was fitted. When I unpacked the battery it came complete with all the tools necessary for the job and spare screws and a new screen protector as well. It wasn’t until I came to dismantle it that I realised how small and challenging the screws would be, they are Philips #000, and that is small especially when the screws are shorter in length than the diameter across the counter sinks. My eyesight is not what it used to be, especially with varifocals, so I really did struggle. It was not helped when reassembling I realised that 2 screws had gone walkabout, despite having lined the bench with tissue paper, I did find them when I trawled the bench with a magnet, I wouldn’t have found them without it. Removing the battery from the casing wasn’t easy as it is held in place with two adhesive strips, I resorted to the wife’s hairdryer to heat up the casing and the adhesive eventually let go. Eventually I managed to get it all back together again and much to my wife’s surprise the phone works again, just have to see how the battery performs. Replacing a phone battery is not something I would rush to do again, I found it a very stressful and frustrating 3 hours, I was so relieved when the last screw went in and the phone switched on ok, was pleased that the whole exercise only cost £21.99. Dave W

Hi Frances

The phone in question is an IPhone SE and I was surprised at how readily available a replacement battery was. I was amazed at the inclusion in the kit of two screwdrivers, tweezers and various plastic tools for levering things apart. Having endured the frustration of doing the replacement myself I console myself that I must have saved a fair amount over paying for Apple to have done the job. Dave W

I'd probably still be using my first portable 'phone - a Nokia I think - if damp on a very wet holiday hadn't destroyed the liquid-crystal display. I'd had it only about 12 years, and had replaced the battery a year or so before its demise.

it was not one of those near-brick-size things but the next type on. Still slightly bulky, but lighter and easier to use than the so-called "smart"-'phone.

I found a mail-order instrument-battery company, in this country too, and the repair was easy, though. I was surprised to find the battery was a set of AAA-size cells in shrink-sleeving.

+++

Now then... What Did I Do Today?

A short little turning task for the Worden T&C Grinder, then another exploration of the Drummond shaper to find its elusive serial number. I've been advised to look where I'd not expected - on the slideways - so will do tomorrow. Oh today - it's already gone mid-night.

'

Then used the BCA jig-borer for the first time in anger after spending several days making it a mounting for Myford chucks.

I needed to put two spanner flats on a special nut, in mild-steel, 1" dia. Easy you might say, on a jig-borer... mill down one facet, rotate the lot 180º, mill the other facet, rotate and trim to finish as necessary. All lovely and symmetrical.

No - I was distressed by a very large eccentricity I could not track down. My first thought was my mistake in swapping from the chuck in the lathe to one on the BCA, but even when I used the same chuck on both machines for a second nut I still had that huge run-out. I had to cut the facets individually, losing part of the rotary-table advantage.

I did not throw the first nut away. When I measured it, I found it is actually useable, and will keep it as a spare. It is the cutter-locating part of the T&C Grinder's slitting-saw attachment.

'

Oh what a battle though! I started just before my Inside Science tea-break finished (5pm), but by the time I could prepare to come indoors for tea, poor Brunnhilde was in her magic sleep up there on the mountain. Loge was setting the barrier ring of fire round her, while I was de-burring the nuts.

'

So far I have not detected sufficient error in the mounting for 0.04" - forty thou! - run-out of the work-piece.

Is the chuck leaning over, rotating the work on the surface of an imaginary cone? I fear this will not be easy to locate, let alone cure.

It's a still fairly new, 4-inch 4-jaw self-centring TOS chuck with a remarkably deep body considering the spindle thread is outside, on a back-plate. I do wonder what these big heavy chucks do to a small lathe like my Myford 7. It would be more appropriate on the Harrison L5, whose own spindle nose is not much larger than the Myford's. However, before blaming the chuck I will test the adaptor assembly more thoroughly. A massive chuck screwed to a small adaptor held in a shallow recess by just M4 screws is not conducive to stability.

Not today but yesterday, I went an bought a replacement rechargeable hand torch, a fairly big one, to replace the same one that is now about 18months old and would not hold a charge and glowed only but dimly.

Me being a hoarder, I took the old torch out to my shed to see what fancy new-fangled battery it had and to then see if I could buy a replacement anywhere.

Stripped it out and found to me surprise that it had a little 4v, 2cell lead-acid battery, not one of the fancy new types I was expecting. And I found I could lift the little cover off, revealing the two little rubber caps over the cells, these came off and there was access to the cells. They seemed dry, not that you could see inside the hooles are so small. I have some little hyperdermic syringe bought in Italy a few years ago, but then couldn't find the battery top up water. But I did have a fulll tank of condensate from the dehymidifyer handy, so a little of that water was added to each cell and then the battery left on charge all night.

So tonight I tested it and its back working just like a real one again. So now I have two!

Chris

Finally received my Warco GH Universal a couple of weeks ago, but other than opening the box and a test run it remained on the pallet for a week. This week stripped off the motor and head, then found I needed a 12mm key to get the column off. I stripped it down so I could lift it onto a bench as the garage has limited height and didn’t want to buy a lifting device unless I really needed to and hire costs are nearly the same as buying. Any way, got a hex key set and then yesterday and today managed to get it all back together on the bench. The head is by far the heaviest part, probably about 100kg, but with a bit of Egyptian ingenuity managed to get it up to height without damaging it or me. Now to spend a couple of hours tomorrow trimming it all in. At least now when I can get a base it will be a simple case of sliding it from the bench onto the base. Next job is a DRO and maybe powered head lift.