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Post by Jim on Mar 26, 2019 20:30:24 GMT
Off to the NSW Scale day at the club this weekend which is always a great event. While there I hope to pick up the castings for the next project, the Bolton Beam Engine, with a 14" diameter fly wheel it's not an exactly small engine. It should keep me busy and out of everyone's way for a while.
Jim.
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JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,909
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Post by JonL on Mar 26, 2019 21:29:33 GMT
...much GWR green with envy at his buying Trevor Shortland's own Large Prairie !! I'm a sucker for a GWR Prairie. I've got one in 00 gauge which I have to settle for for now!
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Post by delaplume on Mar 27, 2019 10:45:29 GMT
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Post by David on Mar 27, 2019 11:00:37 GMT
That's good Jim, I'll see you Saturday! I'll take the B class down with me to show it and Eric Hicks will probably have his there too.
I did some work to the Tormach that I'd been putting off since I installed it. I bought the RapidTurn lathe head with it and that requires you to disconnect the motor wires and put them into a junction box and put a new cable to the motor that can plug into the junction box. Then when you want to run the lathe you disconnect the mill motor and connect the lathe one instead.
I had put it off because it looked quite difficult. Not complicated, just physically difficult to do. The instructions were very clear as most of the Tormach stuff is. You have to do most of the job up high enough to work on and around the motor and there is one motor holding down screw in a very inaccessible location that you have to get out because you need to turn the motor 90deg so you can access it's wiring box. Luckily I found some 8mm brass hex I could use as a 350mm long hex key but it was still pretty tricky getting that one in and out.
The most sublimely fiendish part of the job was having the screws in the junction box be non-magnetic so you had to hold the wire terminal in place with one hand because no way was it going to sit there on its own, place the screw over its hole as best you could without being able to hold the junction box upright, then get the screwdriver onto it without disturbing anything and hope you can get it started. Four times. That took longer than anything else.
Then when I gave it a test the spindle didn't turn... which was a bit of a heart sinking moment until I remembered I thought the safety switch for the motor access door looked too far back when I installed it on the new bracket with the junction box and so it was.
It took about 2.5 hours all up. It ocurred to me after I'd finished I should have brought the head right down near the table before switching the machine off! That may have helped a bit.
I'm not optimistic about the life of the wires though, the way they had to be bent to get them into place in the motor wiring box and the junction box.
Still, it's done! I'm relieved to have it out of the way.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2019 12:46:02 GMT
Not so much 'what I have done' as in 'what I'm currently doing' today.. My mill motor has been playing up for a while and giving off that tell-tale burning smell that it was getting close to failing, well, it chose this morning to do just that. Clearly, 10 thou cuts with the 3" face cutter were just too much for the poor old thing, there was a bang and all power lost to both workshops which included the Koi carp pond. Thinking that the small fuse in the back of the mill had blown and wanting to get the pond filters back on asap I popped next door to the other workshop where the RCD is mounted and threw the main switch back on. This greeted me with another bang and flash from the consumer unit which then threw the main switch again plus the breaker to the other workshop and the breaker the exterior power in the house, it was at this point that I realised that I should have unplugged the mill.I don't do things by halves do I....lol Clearly the fuse in the mill hadn't blown which was kind of good as it confirmed the motor to be most likely at fault and not the electronics themselves. I then unplugged the mill and the power was returned, checked the fuse and yes it was ok, so motor it was. Luckily, I have a spare as when the electronics blew soon after getting the mill Warco sent me a new electronics box and motor not knowing which had failed. I guess since it was under guarantee, that was the cheapest option, on further investigation, it was the box that had failed and the motor was fine so we had a spare. A spare which has now saved me, I have a picture, the new motor is fitted to its mounting plate and has the gear wheel reattached. I have fed the wiring through into the box but can't connect it yet as I need to pack grease around the gears before assembly, hopefully, my son can drop some off to me tonight, so no milling for today...oh well, plenty of other things to do... I guess that I should take a look at finding somewhere to look at the motor and see if it can be restored. Normal service will resume soon... Pete
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Post by delaplume on Mar 27, 2019 13:04:23 GMT
nice one Pete........good, old E--lec-----trickery, eh ??
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Post by David on Mar 27, 2019 20:42:47 GMT
You were really lucky to have that spare available, although if the electronics gave out once and then the motor it sounds like a repeating performance.
I see you had the brains to bring the head down to the table, unlike someone else I could name!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2019 21:00:57 GMT
That I was David, to be fair the machine does get asked to perform tasks above it's pay grade sometimes...I can't recall when I bought it but it must be 10 years or so now. The good news is it's all back together again and working much better. The motor will run on a much lower speed now and I finally got around to cleaning the RPM reader which had stopped working some time ago.
Not wanting to put too much strain on the new motor I'll only take 5 thou cuts, this will take some time.
Pete
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barlowworks
Statesman
Now finished my other projects, Britannia here I come
Posts: 874
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Post by barlowworks on Mar 27, 2019 23:30:23 GMT
Hi Pete
How did you clean the rpm reader. My Warco reader has started acting up lately, this may be the fix I am looking for.
Mike
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2019 23:39:12 GMT
Hi Mike, once you have the motor cover off you'll probably see a lot of muck around the reader, it's a black 'U' shape that a disk with holes runs through. Mine was covered in an oil/grease mix plus some metal particles. Once thoroughly cleaned it could read the signal again, can't say if it's as accurate (if it ever was?) but at least it's not reading '0' anymore... You can just see the disk on the shaft in my picture, you can also see the reader on the side of the motor mount facing in towards where the shaft will be. regards Pete
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Mar 28, 2019 9:37:46 GMT
We are completing on my son's house today. After a balls aching 3 month period where we seemed to be getting nowhere, in fact we were in reverse, things speeded up when the solicitors actually spoke on the phone. For goodness sake, how do these people justify the hourly rates for causing delay writing to each other? On top of this our solicitor claimed to know nothing about my son's Help to Buy ISA, which would give us 500 quid from the government. After many calls this is sorted, TFFT! My boy works part-time in Lidl, we can't afford to lose a sum of money like that.
Anyway, we were due to pick up the keys from the Estate Agent in the middle of Aberdare today. Oh no, just dropped my boy at school to find the centre of town cordoned off, a fire had broken out in the building next to the estate agent. The police won't let anyone near the place.
My plans for today, ripping out the crap ready for the builder to attack it next week are in tatters. Not that I would dream of doing it but it is a "kick the cat" sort of day.
Pete.
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Post by simplyloco on Mar 28, 2019 10:40:10 GMT
I am so pleased with my airbrush painting booth. I used it for the first time yesterday: lots of room to manoeuvre and I couldn't smell any paint fumes either! There's also room on the bench to use it now... John 20190327_212201[1] by inkaboat, on Flickr
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2019 11:17:35 GMT
I have the same both John, mind you, it's not nice and clean like yours... Pete
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Post by silverfox on Mar 28, 2019 13:11:40 GMT
Now i always thought Verdi was a Lambretta man (spoken not written gag)
And back just back from the hosp having had the follow up endoscopy..And it wasn't any easier! Everything clear though.so it was worth it
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timb
Statesman
Posts: 512
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Post by timb on Mar 28, 2019 13:49:16 GMT
We are completing on my son's house today. After a balls aching 3 month period where we seemed to be getting nowhere, in fact we were in reverse, things speeded up when the solicitors actually spoke on the phone. For goodness sake, how do these people justify the hourly rates for causing delay writing to each other? On top of this our solicitor claimed to know nothing about my son's Help to Buy ISA, which would give us 500 quid from the government. After many calls this is sorted, TFFT! My boy works part-time in Lidl, we can't afford to lose a sum of money like that. Anyway, we were due to pick up the keys from the Estate Agent in the middle of Aberdare today. Oh no, just dropped my boy at school to find the centre of town cordoned off, a fire had broken out in the building next to the estate agent. The police won't let anyone near the place. My plans for today, ripping out the crap ready for the builder to attack it next week are in tatters. Not that I would dream of doing it but it is a "kick the cat" sort of day. Pete. Hey Pete, life is like that sometimes, but as you know its not how you are knocked down, its how you get up that counts. Hope the sun is out where you are and you can haave a cuppa and let the sun warm your bones!!
Hope things improve!
Tim
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Mar 28, 2019 17:04:12 GMT
We are completing on my son's house today. After a balls aching 3 month period where we seemed to be getting nowhere, in fact we were in reverse, things speeded up when the solicitors actually spoke on the phone. For goodness sake, how do these people justify the hourly rates for causing delay writing to each other? On top of this our solicitor claimed to know nothing about my son's Help to Buy ISA, which would give us 500 quid from the government. After many calls this is sorted, TFFT! My boy works part-time in Lidl, we can't afford to lose a sum of money like that. Anyway, we were due to pick up the keys from the Estate Agent in the middle of Aberdare today. Oh no, just dropped my boy at school to find the centre of town cordoned off, a fire had broken out in the building next to the estate agent. The police won't let anyone near the place. My plans for today, ripping out the crap ready for the builder to attack it next week are in tatters. Not that I would dream of doing it but it is a "kick the cat" sort of day. Pete. Hey Pete, life is like that sometimes, but as you know its not how you are knocked down, its how you get up that counts. Hope the sun is out where you are and you can haave a cuppa and let the sun warm your bones!! Hope things improve!
Tim
Yep. 100% agree! We got the keys this afternoon and I made a start sorting a big pile of rubbish. Feeling much more positive now. Pete.
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JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,909
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Post by JonL on Mar 28, 2019 17:24:31 GMT
Today was my last day at my old job, well strictly speaking tomorrow is but I booked leave at the last minute, so now I've got a three day weekend before I start my new one. Another chapter.
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timb
Statesman
Posts: 512
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Post by timb on Mar 28, 2019 17:48:39 GMT
Today was my last day at my old job, well strictly speaking tomorrow is but I booked leave at the last minute, so now I've got a three day weekend before I start my new one. Another chapter. New Beginings, excellent, they say a change is as good as a rest and you are having a rest too!
Hope all is good in your new job!
Tim
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timb
Statesman
Posts: 512
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Post by timb on Mar 28, 2019 19:23:43 GMT
Today I tried to bend up a bracket from 1/8 brass using a new technique .......... and still buggered it up!
Try try again.....
Tim
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2019 19:41:35 GMT
Today I tried to bend up a bracket from 1/8 brass using a new technique .......... and still buggered it up! Try try again..... Tim Hi Tim Have you tried annealing it first? Thin brass, say 1mm usually bends without needing heat unless the fold is on an edge. For thicker section, I ususally anneal it first.. Regards Pete
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