What i've done today

[jma1009]

one of the most popular threads on another ME site is 'what i've done today'!

so thought this might be an interesting 'new' thread on our site, if members agree!

on the other site this covers what members have done in their workshops not necessarily related to a particular 'build' or ME 'project' but other stuff we get up to.

it has also covered other pastimes such as bee keeping and astronomy!

anyway, as an opening shot, and as a respite from major house redecoration and improvements, i spent the weekend and the last few evenings sorting out a fireplace for a friend in Cardiff - he had been quoted an astronomical price to repair his solid fuel fireplace where the backplate had burnt through. i ordered a different backplate much cheaper than the quote plus of superior design and which fitted the existing cast iron surround so achieving a considerable saving, fitted same, and made various alterations to the fireplace surround (which also had to be removed as part of the above). one of these was to remove an ill fitting cast iron 'hood', make up new special copper rivets for same turned in the lathe, and also mill off a lip on the hood which prevented it being attached flat to the fireplace surround. this was a most interesting job for my Dore Westbury mill and had to be done in stages as the travel of the table was only a fraction of the length of the hood. very nice cast iron to machine despite it being very thin!

i also worked out a much better way to secure the fireplace surround to the rather grand Edwardian slate surround. this required adding angle to the top of the cast iron fireplace surround fixed with 4BA screws into an iron or steel plate fitted into the slate surround. previously the cast iron fireplace was fixed with adhesive which had failed (bad draughting as on some miniature locos!)

anyway i finished the job this evening.

cost of parts, cement, fireclay, special sealant, sundries etc about £271 as opposed to a quote of well over £1,000!

the workshop is now clear to restart work on Stepney, after ive done the kitchen at home!

cheers,
julian

[drjohn]

Smoking more and drinking even more - great to be dying, you don't have to worry about things!

[jasonb]

Today I found someone had pinched my Idea for a thread

J

[Roger]

Hi Julian,
I doubt if many people have a mill with enough travel to do that in one go!
Occasionally I have to machine some fixing holes and pockets into the edge of 25mm thick resin bonded paper sheets that are about 1000mm x 600mm and they are mighty heavy. It used to be a nightmare to lift the sheet onto the mill and clamp it down, you need three hands to do that really.

The solution was to make an extension to the table that's attached using the 'T' slots on the front of the table that were used for the end stops for the power feed when it was a manual mill. Like other modifications, it's come in very handy when any large sheets need to be supported while they are being bolted to the table. Looking at your setup, I imagine it's the sort of thing that would have come in very handy for your job.

[mutley]

I started to clean the engine after last weekends fun and games. Still more to do though.

[robinw]

I finally conquered making the part that I kept having problems with making.

[pault]

I did a bit of shopping and not much else. Off to work tomorrow and the joys of circumnavigating operation stack.

[Jim Scott]

What I did today.....

....was to finish setting up this Armillary - given as a Ruby Wedding present last year - on a rocky pedestal in my back garden border. I was under some pressure from the distaff side to do this within 12 months of the event and I'm there with three weeks in hand...!

Having re-engineered the 'angle of dangle' to my latitude 55 N, and checking exactly which way true north is by means of a compass, I attached the base of the armillary to the levelled slate sub base by screws. In theory this is all that needs to be done but confirmation of the alignment will be checked at 12 noon (GMT) on a suitable sunny day.

To read a reasonably correct time from an armillary or sundial, two further fiddle factors have to be considered. First, the location west or east from the centre meridian of your time zone, +/- 4 minutes per degree respectively. I'm 1.45 W of the Greenwich Meridian so 6 minutes to be added to the time shown by the shadow. Second, the 'Equation of Time' which provides another +/- figure depending upon the time of the year and compensating for the Earth's oval orbit around the sun. Today it would appear to be plus another 6 minutes making 12 min to add with of course an extra hour for 'Summer Time'. I hope I have got all this right!

 The sun shone for some of the afternoon today and early indications are encouraging. I've been told that its possible to judge the time to within +/- 10 minutes, I will be very impressed if I can get anywhere near this.

Jim S

[61962]

Like a lot of you, not much model engineering going on. No exception here - spent another day laying bricks for repositioned garden walls to make space for a further extension of the house. Weekend off to look forward to though, TSMEE's open weekend.

Eddie

[gwr7800]

A long overdue tidy up, sort out of my workshop, looks nice! Except I can't find anything now! Cheers Chris

[ettingtonliam]

So far I appear to have made some scrap. Next few hours to see if I can recover the situation.

[jem]

I have been overhauling hydraulic rams for my front loader for the tractor, this involved cutting the seal grooves a bit deeper for metric seals, a job I found easy with my new lathe with Dro, I wouldn't have liked to tackle it with the myford and no dro.

jem

[springcrocus]

Took two chattering women over to Ventnor Botanical Garden in exchange for an hours peace and quiet in my workshop later. Currently savouring the reward.

Steve

[ejparrott]

Building a crane in the new club workshop

[jma1009]

apologies to jasonb for not acknowledging his excellent idea for a thread earlier.

jason is an expert at woodwork, so might be interested that i replaced a broken chipboard kitchen drawer today with a solid wood new drawer with dovetail joints i made. should last me out!

cheers,
julian

[Jim]

Spent the day fiddling with cardboard patterns for the Britannia's spectacle plates. It looked such a simple task too but a week later still not happy. 

Jim

[Donald G]

Spending today trying to get the linkage and operating arms made for the regulator. Bit of a game to get the right angular movement at the regulator end and to get adequate movement for the regulator arm.
Finish the day with the weekly putting away of all tools, cleaning benches and floor.

[ejparrott]

Had an abysmal steaming with the Scot...reasons unknown at this time.

[GWR 101]

Just spent a pleasant 5 hours on station duty at the Society Garden Party, a bit damp for the first hour but well compensated for by the smiles on the passengers faces, particularly the kids (including the bigger ones).

[Jim Scott]

Jul 10, 2015 22:42:36 GMT 61962 said:

Weekend off to look forward to though, TSMEE's open weekend.

Eddie

The weather for this event was warm, dry and sunny both yesterday and today with members and visitors making the most of this on the ground level and raised tracks.

This afternoon I looked after Eddie's 3 1/2"G A4 Sir Nigel Gresley for a couple of laps, only to return it an hour later when I had used all the coal...

Cheers and thanks

Jim S

ps A rare photo of me looking happy...!                                                                  Photo: Malcolm Phillips