What Did You Do Today (2017)

It's been a four C weekend.

CAD:

CAM:

CNC:

And the final bevel gears:

The fourth C? That's from the well known modelling equation:

CAD + CAM + CNC = Cheating!

Actually there's a fifth C, I've got a cold. At least I can let the CNC mill get on with it while I sit in the armchair, in the warm. Another plus is that I didn't break the 1mm ballnose cutter.

Andrew

.

O.K. Neil

First, a correction: The objective on that 'scope is 45x not 40x

Second, some excuses:

1. The slide is a squash mount, so the structure is rather flattened
2. I'm not much of a sketch-artist
3. My first Cataract operation is Wednesday morning !!

Now ... The Stereo microscope simply doesn't have the resolution to see much detail, but shows five spinnerettes in the spinner. The Leitz binocular does a pretty good job:

With the 10x objective: It appears that the spinnerettes are roughly globular [the wrinkled surface is probably because they have 'deflated'] and I suspect that they might move like the air vents on a Mk.1 Cortina. They are sparsely covered with hairs, and I think the 'spindles' are modified hairs.

With the 45x objective: Some detail of the spindles can be seen ... but we're limited on resolution, and it is only having seen the SEM images that I can tell that their apparently long hairs must actually be a short bristles which have some silk 'extending' them.

So ... One strand of Spider Silk is five sub-strands, each of [guess] sixty sub-sub-strands, all fused together at the point of departure from the spinner. ... All this from a 'printhead' about 1.8mm across.

.

If anyone knows more ... please add.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: This photo seems to validate my stereo-microscope view:

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-cross-orbweaver-european-garden-spider-cross-spider-araneus-diadematus-76064475.html

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 22/01/2017 22:14:50

Busy weekend for me too. Yesterday connecting up the water and waste connections for the new utility room, toilet and workshop sink and installing the cupboard and worktop in the utility room. As you might expect, I will need to find an unusually tight soil pipe bend due to the positioning of the socket outside (seems to be traditional), so that job is on hold. Today preparing to power up the first radiator in the workshop and fitting the roller shutter door.

I thought it best to paint the walls before fitting the rad and door, then fitted the hanger brackets before I realised I'd run out of 10mm pipe fittings. Job on hold until tomorrow evening. Still, plenty other stuff to get on with. But the sooner I get some heat in the workshop, the sooner it will dry out and become habitable.

Then onto the roller door. Quite simple in the face of it - bolt the runners either side of the opening onto the wall and the side plates above that, then lift the roller into place. Then "simply" drop the shutter ("curtain" over the roller into the guides. Hmm, rather heavy for me to manage that, most of the sprogs are away at uni and my wife is hacking the hedge back. It's damn near impossible to grab a hold of the leading edge of the thing from underneath and the further you lift it the heavier it gets. I'd wrapped some bubble wrap around the roller to protect the curtain from damage but that turned out to be somewhat premature.

I'll resume later in the week once I have a cunning plan, probably involving some webbing to draw it over the roller in a vaguely controlled fashion and / or drape the curtain over a pair of tall step ladders.

It will take "some time" to finish this project off so I will obviously get the workshop functioning before the myriad tasks involved are all complete.

Murray

It is far easier with two people, there was no way I was going to get mine in place on my own but then again it is 3 metres wide.

.

Permit me to add a sixth and seventh

Congratulations and Commiserations

MichaelG.

Excellent, I'm glad I asked

I had problems trying to think of a present for a friend whom I haven't seen since prior to Christmas, Its tricky when you don't know what to get people. So I cut a piece of 1/8 brass out and made him a nameplate, so that way he can stick it on something he does like! I got a bottle of port as well, not only because it's my favourite tipple, but it's a very seasonal drink. I cut it on the mill with a 60 degree carbide tool, ground half way back on it's face. It cuts lettering very well. I shaded it with a permanent marker to help the lettering stand out and polished it with a cloth after some wet/dry paper was rubbed over it.

I'm sure he will never see this but he has been a good friend to me and helped me much through a difficult time. Thanks again,

MW

Edited By Michael-w on 23/01/2017 17:32:35

Mended a washing machine.

Alas I have become the go to guy for all manner of domestic repairs since friends and relatives found out that I cut metal for fun. So much so I'm thinking of doing a MEW article on unblocking toilets so the rest of you can acquire one of my more popular Model Engineering skills.

Dave

I had a go at making the Universal Screw Mod Fixture in latest issue of MEW 251.

This is my rendition of John Ashtons design which I desperately needed for reducing diameters & lengths of small screws for an 00 gauge rolling road I am about to make. ... Thanks John for your article; not only is the fixture usefull for small screw holding but I found that it helps when holding bushes which need to be cut to precise lengths.. I hope John doesn't mind my alterations .. I didn't have any hex bar so I just used some round stock and put a knurl on it..

see photo's of screw fitted ready for trimming to size and how I use it to hold a nylon bush also for trimming to size.

Gears look good Andrew and looks like the program ran with out any C**kups

Do you have teh second pair still to do or did you get both sets out of the way?

Valve gear next?

J

These will be the tightest you can get, most decent plumbers merchants should have them but not the DIY sheds. Don't pay that price for them though!

Edited By JasonB on 23/01/2017 19:19:24

Today I managed, in between nursing She Who Must Be Obeyed and other domestics, to get into the shed and work on my first engine. I finished the flywheel bearing support and gave it my own version of the engine turning treatment. I used a primer pocket brush and although the pattern is quite deep it is a much better finish (I think) than the attempt to polish out the deep scratches I had made on the aluminium. Inspired by me seeing, as a kid, the film Spirit of St. Louis. The engine was inspired by Brian Rupnow's plans so I have decided to call my engine 'Spirit of Brian.' Tomorrow I am hoping to make the eccentric hub if I can figure out the (best??) way to do it.

As if spider faeces aren't scatalogical enough.

Neil

All four gears are done; I ran the last one this morning, while working. All four here, plus the aluminium test gear:

The CAM program ran flawlessly, and I didn't break the cutter. Just as well as it was £12. Of course I had a spare, which is why it survived. If I only had one it would have gone ping first thing on Saturday morning.

I can't claim a c*ck up free weekend. I fouled up two blanks due to a defective lathe operator. Bored one hole too large before reaming, and read the wrong (shorter) dimension off the drawing for overall length on the other. If I hadn't fouled up I'd have finished yesterday. But I didn't think the neighbours would appreciate the CNC mill running at midnight.

I need to redesign the valve gear before starting on making it. I'm sorely tempted to machine the cylinder blocks as, apart from the valve ports, they're pretty much modelled in CAD. And all the key features seem to line up with the rest of the engine, as expected.

However, I need to be strict and do tedious things like get the wheels and front end finished. It'll stop me tripping over piles of parts on the kitchen floor, and it might even look like I've got a traction engine once it is on wheels. Be easier to move too when I want to revamp the kitchen.

Andrew

Yes, that looks almost workable. I found a very similar solvent bend from FloPlast (SS168) but nobody seems to keep them on the shelf - appears to be a minority sport for people who have screwed up. The other constraint is the diameter of the hole through the wall (~110mm) which precludes push fit versions unless I fancy chiselling out the hole to a depth of several inches.

Then I found this at Toolstation. Would allow me to disassemble it without resorting to a saw. Not giveaway cheap but I've got a life to live and a long list of jobs to get through. If it doesn't look up to the job I'll see if I can find a stockist with one of yours...

Talking of which, I'm looking at floor paint for workshop use. In an ideal world I'd cough up for some epoxy 2-part paint but it's around £60 for 5L, plus £50 for 5L of sealer beforehand with coverage claimed at 8m2 per litre. For 75m2 of floor space that's quite a lot, around £220 just for the liquids. On the other hand, something like this would work out around £60 (plus some PVA wash possibly).

Does anyone have experience of floor paint to share, good or bad?

Murray

When I wanted one a couple of months ago the usual plumbers merchants I get tehm from said they were having a job getting tehm but I managed to pick two up from city plumbing no problem., different maker.

Did my garage in Dulux trade floor paint 20yrs ago and that gets used for woodwork and I'm in there 50% of the year, not work even in teh areas where I tend to stand. That was onto a new screed. I have used Watco 2 part paints and repair epoxies for work, good but costly.

Excellent Bob,