Stuff you have made today

[Dcal]

Today I got a bit closer to getting the Ford rubber wheeled digger back together.
Ii was a wet night but I put the cover for the levers back on.
I took it off because there was a bit of rot at the bottom that I discovered when I was investigating the foot pedal for the dipper arm extension.
Thought it was the valve, but it was just the pedal.



Made a new pin and straightened the pedal while I was at it.
I recon someone must have used a crow bar to get the jib extension back in at some time.



Of course once you get in, you see other problems so thought I'd fix the cover.





The steel is 1.2mm so easier than usual for this sort of thing.



I wasn't too fussy with this or bother filling it so just a couple of coats of Jotun 90 epoxy as a primer filler.
Let it dry for a day and a quick sand.



Then some matt grey 2K I got mixed.



The top cover wasn’t painted but the colour looks closer in real life.
I think the flash shows a bigger difference. (well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it)

The floor also got the Jotun treatment and some 2k with a brush which goes on really well.
I need to thank @arther dailey for that tip.

 

[selectedgrub]

An Iris and pupil

 

[Dcal]

Today I made a guard for the cheap grinder I'm turning into a surface preperation tool.













Tried it out and it works a treat.

 

[Kram]

I cut about 3 meters of steel sheet for better storage and then I had a first proper go at tig. Tried, because after 30 seconds I got rain. So I cut up 8 meters of tubing for tomorrows project.

Then I decided to do something about welding and not being able to see. couple holes and mounted a decent head torch. Now I'd cleaned the lenses recently, about the time I made my lathe bench.. in 2015 . I guess I should do that too. I have replacements somewhere cant find them.

 

[nickk]

Made ,and today installed,this 1950’s (expo ‘58),inspired balustrade,obviously not to building regs.The rods are 10mm,so the holes were reamed to allow angular passage,minor dimensional irregularities ensured the rods didn’t move! None of the rods were welded into any of the intermediate flat bars.

 

[Barking Mat]

View attachment 255160 View attachment 255161 View attachment 255162 View attachment 255163 Made ,and today installed,this 1950’s (expo ‘58),inspired balustrade,obviously not to building regs.The rods are 10mm,so the holes were reamed to allow angular passage,minor dimensional irregularities ensured the rods didn’t move! None of the rods were welded into any of the intermediate flat bars.

Very nice. Pink paint arghhh! (On the walls)...

 

[nickk]

More of the same,can’t seem to upload more than 4?

 

[Dcal]

Today I made the final piece to make my surface preparation tool work.
There is a bit of 10mm hardened bar that makes the tines of the wire brushes "flick" and strike the material being prepped at 90 degrees during use, so you don't polish the steel.
They are £20 which seem a bit excessive.

I made one out of stainless and ran it for a few seconds and it was obvious it would wear out very quickly.

Instead of just buying one, I thought I'd have a go at making a hardened one.
I started looking for 10mm 12.9 bolts and the like.
I have some silver steel the right size and a 10mm drill shank but both would have needed to be hardened after being drilled and tapped and I don't have the kit or skills to do that.
I did find some 10mm carbide tool steel that was certainly hard enough.



But how to mount it on the tool?
No way I could drill and tap it.
I decided to braze a washer and a 10mm bolt to it. I could then turn down the bolt and thread to the required M6.

I tigged it with sifcupron 17 tig rods I got cheap from Zoro.

Seemed to braze all right but was probably far too hot. When I tried to turn the bolt down, it became obvious some of the carbide had melted into the braze and was glass hard in places.
Also the braze didn't take to the carbide and just broke away when I was trying to turn it. (probably my overheating it again)
Tried a couple of times and got the same result.
So decided to try standard braze and flux with OA and that worked fine first time.

I made a dowel for the tail stock to keep the die straight, ran a M6 thread and installed it on the tool.

So what was it all for?

You can get a nice rough surface ready for paint in a few seconds.

Also takes off mill scale just as quickly.

Downsides?
The brushes are expensive (I paid £115 for 10 but the full price would have been over £300!)
The brushes don't last long and need to be sharpened by running them in reverse on a grinder.
The tool is also big and heavy compared to a proper one but my £30 grinder is twice the rated power, variable speed and more than fit to run the brushes.

I can also still turn it back into a burnishing sander if I want to polish a bit of stainless.

I’m thinking of making a spindle so I can use it as a standard variable speed polisher, but that is maybe just silly.
Vacuum extraction is certainly on the cards though.

It was a lot of work but I learnt a bit, enjoyed the process and have a tool I will use.

 

[lchris21]

looks great...how did you line up the holes? Flat on bench, then by eye? The drill to suit? The angles must have been fun

 

[nickk]

@lchris21 ,yes,then reamed 27/64” whole job went easier than imagined,and everyone’ pleased.Ca ching.

 

[lchris21]

@lchris21 ,yes,then reamed 27/64” whole job went easier than imagined,and everyone’ pleased.Ca ching.

I like it.......might do something similar......got the olde worlde wooden spindles...........last time I painted them took nearly 4 days ....................I vowed never again........biomass plant for them next

 

[highseas]

About 1/3 of a current job for a dog breeder, 4 puppy pen doors and a security door at the end.

The smaller doors are 2 part and due to the builder who made the internal walls nothing plumb square or even! So 2 of the door jams are too small and have had to be re done, theirs a 8x12 external run and 2 window grills too this job

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I got this Mamod SP4 over the weekend.



One major part was missing, the dealer and I are in discussions about that. But it is looking good, foe me.

As you can see the chimney is missing.
It fired up and ran with out major leaks.

But the boiler was loose and the metal work was very dirty.



In steam, but what is that brown fluid?
No idea.
But the running showed the boiler was very loose.




New OE Mamod Rivets. Not cheep. But worth it. The base was cleaned and waxed with some turtle wax.



The whistle was removed, cleaned and new seals, the future holds a new spring for it. But it can wait.

With some elbow grease the brass and copper came up well. The steel I had to use some metal restore fluid.




Same shop I got the OE rivets had a replacement chimney is stock.



All done, it was steamed tonight and it has a classic sound to it.

 

[pcwizme]

I got this Mamod SP4 over the weekend.


All done, it was steamed tonight and it has a classic sound to it.

Love mamods, got a couple down stairs. Really should clean them up and have a steam up, got a few tools as well, the polisher and mini power hammer for instance

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Just to update post #11699 today my car was in the Dealers for the Safety Recall.

This followed me home from Inverness today

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Amazing service, although I've criticised the BMW dealership in Inverness before [four years ago].

I wasn't really expecting my car to need the Safety Recall, but apparently it did - and, being me, it needed not only the shorter cable which runs from the battery in the boot to a junction box under the car, but also the other one which runs the whole length of the car to the starter and all the electronics up there.

So, I have this to possibly the middle or end of next week. BMW HQ are picking up the costs, including Insurance [IF this needed done, I expected any Courtesy car to be covered on my Insurance, who would probably have charged an admin of £25/40ish - "No Sir, BMW will cover all the costs". And all this on a 17 year old car with 138,000 miles on her !!

Happy days,

 

[brewdexta]

Over the last couple of days the neighbour and I moved these big lumps of iron from the barn into the workshop above so I can start to restore them. I bought them last year and didn't want them to spend another year rusting. They are Wadkin PK table saws.

My neighbour doing the hard work, he wants me to buy an electric winch, I keep looking at second hand 1 tonne electric chain winches, but never quite press the button.

Its a tight fit, about an inch all round.

First one up, time for a brew.

Both up.

first off, clean them up a bit and see what we have got, the plan is to renovate both, keep one and sell one. My first challenge is to decide which one to keep as that one will get a mechanical check before being powered up and replace my current table saw, a Wadkin AGS12 that I'll sell. I'll then renovate the one I'll sell then double back and finish the other. I need the space and lack time otherwise I would restore them in parallel. I will probably keep the one on the right, not much in it apart from it has the posh blade guard, the other is a simple home made affair.

This is the left hand one partially cleaned, I had gone into the barn periodically and sprayed them with WD40, Gibbs and other gunk to keep the rust at bay.

and the second with the posh guard, with a bit of a droop, I soon fixed that with a bit of heat, the end of the guard bar was bent.

Looks better now

Its aluminium with a bit of brass, until the mid 1940s they were all brass, I may make one to replace the other if I get the time and inclination, probably out of bronze to match some other castings I've had replaced. They look stunning when properly finished. This one has seen better days.

@Shox Dr do you know anybody who likes home brew that is a dab hand at aluminium TIG by any chance

The reason I may keep the right hand one is purely it has a brake fitted, I will move it onto the wall next to the machine as they are fuggly but useful. I've been comparing the two, although only a year apart in manufacture, 1957 and 1958, there are quite a few differences in terms of repairs, features and originality.Given I'm going to renovate both and find/make/repair missing/broken bits then it doesn't matter too much. But the right hand one, the earliest, is the one most suitable for using straight away, it was working up until I bought it and has had recent maintenance.

Cheers
Andy

 

[lchris21]

fantastic looking mancave there @brewdexta ...yacht in the Caribbean, flat in Monaco............. think Id rather have your place

 

[brewdexta]

fantastic looking mancave there @brewdexta ...yacht in the Caribbean, flat in Monaco............. think Id rather have your place

Thanks, I like it

I think I need to start a thread on restoring these two, I've only just got into it and I'm scratching my head at a weird thread. I need the combined brain of the forum

 

[optima21]

its that time again when I need to change the liquid in my central heating again (not sure if it should be called water/coolant etc) but one of the vent screw heads has been butchered over the years and needed a locking wrench to get it off again.

so now I have a square headed bolt with a ptfe washer, to replace the 40 year old one......next year I'll cut a groove in the thread, but I's already started to fill the system again, I thought that can wait till next year

 

[Shox Dr]

@brewdexta. Beer Yes, welding not for sometime, I can just about work a knife and fork at the moment.

Hopefully it will all come back