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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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 Posted -
25/11/2004
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14:20
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I've always been fascinated by the things people do in their spare time when they can do exactly what they want to do. Men and sheds are a particularly fertile field. Women tend to do their thing in the comfort of the house.
I was delighted to see Andy's picture of the clock movement he has made.
It struck me that we could perhaps start a new topic devoted to spare time skill. So Andy starts it off and my contribution is this:
It's a small steam engine made from scratch and is based on the Stuart 5A but a longer stroke. One of these will drive a 14 foot boat with steam at 250psi. By the way, we don't like to call them models, it's exactly the same construction and materials as a full size engine, just smaller. So come on out there, let's hear about what you make in your spare time. I reckon we could be in for some surprises!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 05/12/2004 : 13:20
Oh no there isn't! Part of my extensive powers is the ability to put submitted pics on the site so they will always be attended to first thing in the morning. So there! I shall look for a pic which clearly shows the construction of a chimney.
Now, to workshop matters. I'm sure that all of you will realise the 'unfinished job' syndrome that sometimes rumbles on for years, the cardigan you started to kit but never finished, the last but of paining in the bathroom where you ran out of paint. I have one of these in the workshop:-
It was a partially completed Stuart engine that came in a job lot of stuff out of a workshop sale. I have, over the years, done a bit of work on it but never finished it because some of the original build was not good. I have decided that it gets finished no matter what my opinion of the previous work on it. So I am putting the pic up here so you can keep reminding me about it!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk  |
andydiamond
Hairy Horologist
424 Posts
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Posted - 05/12/2004 : 18:50
Thats funny Stanley, the old Fortean Synchronicity has kicked in again,'cos I also have a box of Stuart Turner bits that should by now really be a working engine . . . . .I wonder if the Universal Flux causes people to buy expensive sets of castings, make a start, bugger a few bits up then give the whole lot away with the comment along the lines of "you have a lathe, here is a box of bits which just need finishing, I do not have the time myself,oh by the way the flywheel/cylinder/piston/base is no good 'cos I made it too small/broke it/stripped all the threads . . .but you will be able to sort it out dead easy"!!
Speaking of dead easy,I still have no idea of how to post the pics into the topic - - -must be as Ofal 3 said, me being a Natural Born Barrowforder and all.
Except most of Stanley's pics are not showing up now . . . .
Can we have a step by step 1. 2. 3. type guide for the complete Klutz please?
Andy.(I know you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realise that what you heard is not exactly what I meant....)
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2004 : 07:51
Andy, I don't count castings waiting for attention as unfinished projects. I have three sets of castings for the Stuart 5A, two sets for a compound marine engine and a set for George Thomas's dividing head and an almost finished Pillar tool. These are all there for when the mood takes me. The gem is an incomplete set of castings for the Stuart steam hammer which came in the same job lot as the unfinished engine. I don't think they make this one any more and so when I make it I shall have a museum piece.
I remember once being in the foundry at Keighley picking up some bronze castings for some parts I was making for the Ellenroad engine when I saw a pattern laid on the desk. It was for a rope drive flywheel and just right for a model of Bancroft engine. I asked them if they had cast the parts and they hadn't so I got two cast for myself. I shall never make a model of Bancroft, too big a project, but I keep having a hankering to machine the flywheel and mount it on a shaft between pillar bearings. Trouble is I'd then make the cranks, the eccentrics, the rods......
I know that anyone who hasn't been bitten by the workshop bug will have difficulty in undertanding all this. All I can say is that the joy to me is simply the process of actually making something out of a lump of metal. Anyone who knits, sews, cooks etc. must recognise this. The only difference with me is that the tolls tend to bbe expensive and a byproduct is always lots of muck! Try spending half a day turning cast iton.....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 07/12/2004 : 10:00
Stuart Engine. First piece of dispacement activity hit me yesterday. I decided the Harrison lathe should be cleaned. Actually I was looking for a piece of three sixteenths bright bar for a cross-head pin and thought there might be some buried under the muck in the swarf tray. There was.....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
andydiamond
Hairy Horologist
424 Posts
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Posted - 07/12/2004 : 12:28
Now that does look nice and clean Stanley, - - -
Time now to get it mucky again?
Andy.
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Another
Traycle Mine Overseer
6250 Posts
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Posted - 07/12/2004 : 15:45
Bright comment from WM3 or Gadgett Gigglebrains!!!
" I'm a self made man who worships his creator"  |
andydiamond
Hairy Horologist
424 Posts
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Posted - 07/12/2004 : 17:21
It's Gadgett Liverbrains to you sonny . . . .
Gadgett.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 07/12/2004 : 17:48
I've been playing out again... The crosshead is made and fitted after a fashion and the flywheel is round now. I'm throwing it together as the original build wasn't good but when it's painted up it will make a good paperweight!
You're right Andy, a clean lathe cries out for muck doesn't it. No cutting oil just dry turning so the vacuum cleaner keeps everything tidy. Newton always used to laugh at me using the vacuum cleaner as I went along but I find it's easier to do good work if you can see the chuck!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 10/12/2004 : 17:26
Engine update. Andy at least will recognise this one! I hit a bit of a problem.... I've cleaned the con rod up and needed to bore it. Perennial question in these matters is how do I hold it in the lathe? No problem, I have a two jaw Cushman chuck that is perfect for the job. Only thing is that when I got it down off the shelf I realised I had sold the lathe that it fits! So, before I can bore my con rod I have to make a new backplate for the chuck so it will fit Mrs Harrison. Not wasted time, no point having a chuck that won't fit the lathe.
The big lump on the left is a CI blank for the back, I got a couple of spare ones cast a few years ago. I can really make some muck now. By the way the nose is two inch Whitworth so you need a fair lump to make the back.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 13/12/2004 : 06:56
The lady opposite was throwing out a good piece of wool Axminster so we now have a new carpet in the shop. Jack approves.
The plan for the chuckback changed when I found a nice gunmetal casting in the treasure chest. We're ready for boring and threading and then I shall reverse it, screw it directly onto the nose of the lathe spindle and turn the face that connects the chuck. That way it will be dead accurate.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
andydiamond
Hairy Horologist
424 Posts
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Posted - 13/12/2004 : 07:56
Axminster? - - -There will be an admission charge next .....
andy.
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Another
Traycle Mine Overseer
6250 Posts
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Posted - 13/12/2004 : 07:59
Gadgett, isn't Gigglebrains more apt and at least it separates you from WM2!!
" I'm a self made man who worships his creator" |
Ringo
Site Administrator
3793 Posts
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Posted - 13/12/2004 : 10:36
Radiators and carpets in a workshop, is this a sign that you are getting soft?
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 13/12/2004 : 13:11
I've always used carpet in the workshop, easy on the feet and good cushion if you drop anything delicate. Newton Pickles used to laugh at the carpet but envied me my radiator. Nothing ever goes rusty in this shop. Condensation due to changes in temperature are the bane of unheated workshops, things rust in no time at all. So, I might admit to being soft but I'll also claim to be sensible.
No entrance charge for you Andy if you ever get your pass signed for a visit.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
andydiamond
Hairy Horologist
424 Posts
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Posted - 14/12/2004 : 19:11
carpet in the workshop . . ."wipe your feet when you come out !!"
Thanks for the invite Stanley,will attempt the trip over the hill in t'Christmas 'Oliday, by appointment of course.
I've got a new Satnav, and the Landrover is armoured lightly so the arrows should bounce off o.k. as I come down the Kyber Pass (Manchester Rd.)
Onlic should be able to sign my pass for me as an ex- barlicker, the former Visa requirement won't apply as we are all in Lancashire now . . . .
(I know that was unworthy but The Voices made me put it in!)
Andy.
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Shed culture
