What i've done today

[JonL]

Work? Never heard of it. Would be delighted to show you our kit.

[uuu]

OT.

What I've done today... is to moan about Christmas lights. Who thought that having an automatic 6-hour timer on lights was a good idea? I suppose I could have two sets everywhere with one timed to come on when the others go off.

Wilf

[runner42]

The handling frame mark 10 is completed, functional but not pretty. The previous idea to enable the frame to be steerable has been scrapped and I have settled for four 254 mm dia pneumatic wheels on fixed axles with one centralised castor wheel that can be raised and lowered to provide steering.

handling frame by Brian Leach, on Flickr

The thread I have utilised to raise and lower the castor is too fine some coarser thread is needed to make the transition quicker, but as far as available dies I have then this is the biggest diameter.

Brian

handling frame1 by Brian Leach, on Flickr

[suctionhose]

My Dad had a two wheeled wheel barrow style transporter. Two solid wheels at one end and two pipe handles at the other. It was pretty handy actually. Very stable and easy to steer.

[steamer5]

Took a pile of brass / bronze to the metal recycler today…. Made sure anything I could use was squirreled away!

Now have a pile of beer money for the up coming festive season!

Cheers Kerrin

[chrisb]

Yesterday I had a trip down to Machinery House in Auckland to pick up a blasting cabinet and parts washer. On the way back I swung by the Manukau Live Steamers who were having a Christmas get together.
Today saw the new toys assembled and I will be ready to start cleaning up parts of my Wren ready for repainting.

[steamer5]

Hi Chris,
Nothing like new toys!! Inquiring minds... what blast cabinet did you get? I just did yet another mod on my bench top unit.... seems to have improved it some more. Out of the box these units are a pain to operate

Cheers Kerrin

[chrisb]

Hi Kerrin, I got the SB275 free standing one that has an extractor unit on the back

[mugbuilder]

Dec 1, 2023 9:51:25 GMT suctionhose said:

My Dad had a two wheeled wheel barrow style transporter. Two solid wheels at one end and two pipe handles at the other. It was pretty handy actually. Very stable and easy to steer.

I had one like that as well Ross, It was great for uneven ground.

[steamer5]

The dog door alarm was just set off by the courier delivering a Camden purchase.

The fire burns much better by JJG Koopmans

They had it on Black Friday special…. the freight wasn’t!
Now have 490 pages of “light” reading…..

Cheers Kerrin

[chrisb]

Funny you should mention that book Kerrin, I had been musing a multi jet blast nozzle for my Wren when I put it back together.

[dhamblin]

It's a very good book, which goes into a detailed history of the theory and practical work done on steam locomotive draughting design. Used the section at the back to design the new petticoat pipe on Britannia, with ratios in the "sweet spot", although I've yet to open out the blast pipe orifice to complete the work. It does sound quite loud as a result, which at least matches the theory!

Regards,

Dan

[David]

I've been making a wheel quartering jig because I don't know how to do keyways accurately, but had to put that on hold for a bit to do a job for my father in law's latest - putting the curve in the bottom of the dome cover. Luckily it's a US design so no flare.

Still a tricky job to hold and cut.

The dome has a waist between a raised ring at the top and the larger diameter at the bottom, and the ring is not the same size as the bottom so I had to find a way to hold it by the waist. I would have preferred soft 'jaws' from wood or something but was too lazy to do that.

Then I found none of the many boring bars that came with the boring head were suitable for cutting from the side hole in a clockwise direction so had to cut CCW, with the predictable result that the boring head unscrewed itself from the arbor. Some Loctite left to set over dinner and very light cuts got me through to the end, but with 0.2mm cuts and taking about 8mm in total off, it took quite a while.

Next step would have been to make a boring bar, and I am glad I didn't have to!

Back onto the quartering jig now. First thing I did was break a centre drill because I forgot the milling machine was set to run in reverse!

[nonort]

Would it have been possible to work from the bottom upwards by turning the tool over and revolving it clockwise. Sorry its easy to comment after the fact. Absolutely no criticism meant. All the best.

[David]

That's a good idea! But the bottom of the dome was too close to the vise casting to go that way. I had to stop feeding down as soon as I heard the cut stop, and I would have been reluctant to move it up because the widest part of the dome would have been too high up the jaws, or over them.

Hopefully I will remember that in future.

[steamer5]

Hi David,
Had a similar experience with the boring head coming loose! Not a fun experience, luckily no part was damaged with not thinking this thru! Oh or the mill!
To prevent a similar moment I jumped on eBay, found a guy selling both a right & left hand 12 mm boring bar plus inserts for not a lot…. Must add a set screw to make double sure the head doesn’t come loose!
The other advantage to changing to boring bars is they cut way better than the style you have, mine never really cut well, I did watch a video on YouTube that said that as received they aren’t ground correctly & went on to show how to fix them.
Merry Christmas

Cheers Kerrin

[JonL]

I made a start on the Stuart Score engine my wife bought me today. I want to see how far my machining has come since the 10H I made when I first got my lathe. First thing; having a mill makes everything easier...

[lesstoneuk]

I hope everyone has recovered from the seasonal jollifications. We still have some chicken and pork left, not much thank goodness. Trifle is nearly gone and there's two mince pies left.
Anyway, the Sentinal is getting faux rivets. I'm using the rivets you fasten signs to machinery, easy to fix in place. These used to be very common on workshop machinery before the fad of gluing the signs on with a glue that softens on the first hot day of the year. All it is is drill the hole, hammer home..... Sorted.
On the model aircraft front, there's a Beaufighter Mk1, a Wyvern S6 and a trio of wasp, scout and Lynx helicopters in the paint shop. The Wyvern gets its decals today then another coat of varnish before fitting the undercart and prop blades.... Not looking forward to that.
If I don't see you before... Have a great New Years celebration and I hope 2024 is a happy and prosperous one for you.

[JonL]

Dec 28, 2023 3:52:13 GMT lesstoneuk said:

I hope everyone has recovered from the seasonal jollifications. We still have some chicken and pork left, not much thank goodness. Trifle is nearly gone and there's two mince pies left.
Anyway, the Sentinal is getting faux rivets. I'm using the rivets you fasten signs to machinery, easy to fix in place. These used to be very common on workshop machinery before the fad of gluing the signs on with a glue that softens on the first hot day of the year. All it is is drill the hole, hammer home..... Sorted.
On the model aircraft front, there's a Beaufighter Mk1, a Wyvern S6 and a trio of wasp, scout and Lynx helicopters in the paint shop. The Wyvern gets its decals today then another coat of varnish before fitting the undercart and prop blades.... Not looking forward to that.
If I don't see you before... Have a great New Years celebration and I hope 2024 is a happy and prosperous one for you.

If you want any close up Scout detail shots let me know. Ours is very original but doesn't have the flot gear fitted as its a pain in the arse day to day.

I've been carrying on with my Stuart Score. It's interesting to see how my attitude has changed over the short time I've been doing this. I just want to get things accurate, hang the pace.

[stewartcottle]

hi all yes at larst i think i am in the right place.

wel lets start at the top.....

my name is stewart cottle

son of ken cottle.

and i am looking for Jim Vass . i have some news for him and any one who new dad .

The Update IS : dad past away in may 2023 and i am in the prosess of shuting down the workshop.

i need to know if dad had been doing some work for Jim .

we have phoned him but had no luke.if any one can help me plz e-mail me at [e-mail]

thank's for your help.

my best regards stewart .... Happy New Year All