SHED MATTERS. MARINE ENGINES.

[Stanley]

I stood there buffing plates for a couple of hours and had just got to the stage where I was wondering how much of my life I was going to devote to this when the overload on the starter box for the lathe cut out. I have it set at a very protective level. I felt the front mandrel bearing and it was quite warm despite having been oiled that morning. It's a big bronze bearing and obviously very closely fitted and the slight increase in temperature had been enough to load it because of expansion. Mind you, it had been running at far higher than design speed for over two hours. So I jacked in for the day. Two plates left to do and then, despite the odd grinding mark, I shall call them polished and get on with repainting the black background. I checked the bearing ten minutes later and it was normal temperature and running free. There is so much metal round it that it soon cooled down.

[Stanley]

Had an hour in the shed but far too cold for me old knees! When I first started I noted a clicking sound that was alien so I stopped and investigated. The three screws holding the backplate on the chuck were loose so I took the chuck off and re-tightened them. I got going again but realised that I wasn't doing any good, the dressing on the wheel was transferring to the plates and all I was doing was buffing the deposit on the plate. I stopped and retired to the warm in the kitchen for a rethink. I think I've overloaded the wheel with compound and so I've decided to try to clean it off and carry on using a very fine lapping paste instead of the jewellers rouge. I might try a slower speed as well. There is evidently much I do not know about buffing!

[Bodger]

Stanley, a neat idea for drill feed, not sure about the consequences if you were tall !
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/an ... ss-255119/

[Stanley]

Bodge, looks practical but I've never seen anything like it before. The old hand drill feeds I have seen have all been ratchet based.

Still mulling over the buffing wheel....

[Stanley]

The rocking chair and Dorothy Hartley are proving more attractive than a cold shed.... Sorry lads!

[Bodger]

An interesting boring machine built for car con rods, if you have a look theres some great photo links on the lh/s
http://theoldmotor.com/?p=62427

[Stanley]

High class machining Bodge. We tend to forget all the ingenuity that went into specialised machine tools, I have a catalogue from the mid 19thC and it has many machines in it built to do just one job, usually as a production aid to making textile machines. I remember being at the Anson Museum at Poynton once with Newton and they had a lathe I couldn't christen. Newt took one look and knew what it was straight away because Johnny had made some for the War Department. It was a shell-turning lathe, it automatically shaped the nose of the shell.
As for the nameplates... I have been feeling guilty about not getting on with them but standing in a cold shed is so bad for my knees. Guilt will win shortly......

[Pluggy]

I have been feeling guilty about not getting on with them but standing in a cold shed is so bad for my knees. Guilt will win shortly......

You're officially excused going into the shed until May. I'd ignore the guilt.

[Bodger]

Stanley , if thas got 15mins, see a bit of British eng. could be next shed project ? "Study in steel" 1935
http://theoldmotor.com/

[Stanley]

Pluggy, thanks for the chitty! Unfortunately two of the plates are on a deadline. Will do them when I've finished the current writing spree!
Bodge, I wouldn't have liked doing a U-turn in that!

[Bodger]

Stanley, a slip up, this, i hope was the 15 mins video i was trying to link for your next project
http://theoldmotor.com/?paged=2

[Stanley]

Missed that, will watch it later. Running late this morning, too much time spent deleting spammers!

[Stanley]

Time flies! A combination of bad knees and cold weather has kept me out of the shed since November but I can feel the shed hormones stirring.....

[micktoon]

Stanley, spring is on the way ,its time you were back in that shed
After a long break from the lathe I have finally got back to it ( Again lol ) just carried on where I left off with the mounting of the electric boxes.

This it the alloy backing plate and the top shelf mounted in location.



The front plate is getting drilled and counter sunk and the rear frame tapped to suit, I am mounting a red 3 phase socket to the rear of the panel so the motor can be plugged in, this way if I want to test 3 phase motors I can just wire a plug to them and use the lathes inverter to test things or even wire something else 3 phase up and use the lathe controls.



This is the alloy box for the emergency off switch that I am fitting to the front of the machine its knee height, easy to knock power off .....just in case I ever need it. As you can see the box is not square which made marking off the corner that needed cut out more hassle, I hacksawed and drilled the section out and cleaned up with files.



I have removed a section that was stopping the box fitting flat and it just needs bolted on now.



In final position with switch fitted.



This is the backplate and shelf all bolted up and the inverter and switch box fitted , the speed legend plate is bolted under the switch box as it was ackward to see mounted on top of the head stock as standard.



This is the box lid drilled with the layout of the switches , there will be main power on/off , a power on indicator light, start and stop push buttons, a forward/reverse switch , a speed control rotary knob , a suds switch and lamp switch.



This is all just test fitting and the plan is tho then paint things before final fitting and installing wiring, I already know of distractions coming up but am just going to keep at the lathe till its done now so more updates to follow SOON !

Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

Nice work..... Stop reminding me about the Shed! Mind you, you're right and I feel the urge building up...... All is well in there, apart from the cold, no rust as I have been very careful not to let damp warm air get in there from the kitchen.

[micktoon]

I have got more done to the lathe today, it does not look like much on photos but there has been lots of thinking of what will fit where and where cables have to go etc . Then lots of drilling holes for cable glands and also mounting things so tapping half them and just bolting others. The main rear alloy plate is some horrible gummy type alloy and just clogs drills and hole saws up so I have had to use WD40 on them which is last thing I wanted with painting being one of the next stages but no way around it really and the lathe still needed a good de -grease anyway.

This is the switch panel box with most of the holes drilled , the reason for drilling the larger holes in the box is the threaded part of the cable glands are not long enough to pass right through the backing plate and the box so I needed space for the securing nut on the back of the glands.
The way I am doing it I will be able to paint the bracket , backing plate and box then re assemble and wire everything up off the lathe then just mount the whole lot pre wired and plug in the motor , lamp , suds pump and just have the flex to the knee height emergency switch to connect, this way it can all be done, then put out the way until the rest of the lathe is done, also in the future if any component fails it should be able to be unplugged and took off with out opening the switch panel up.



This is the rear of the panel , the motor will plug into the red socket on the back here, I will also have flexes with plugs on them for the coolant pump and the lo - volt lamp.



The finished switch panel will look something like this , there is room to make labels above each switch on the panel, the two big switches at the bottom will be for the coolant and the lamp , they are much heavy duty than needed but were cheap. Then there is stop , start , below these are forward/ reverse and speed control as well as the main isolator and power on light.



Next job is to get all these bits ready for primer ........... then paint them grey.
Cheers Mick.

Glad you have kept rust at bay Stanley , I think I spoke too soon about spring as the winter is back now .... maybe a week or two before you get back in the shed might be a good idea after all lol !

[Stanley]

The lathe looks good Mick and as usual a professional job. Not even thinking about the shed, it will happen suddenly in a few weeks!

[micktoon]

Hi All , I have got involved in a project trying to sort out a Drag racing kart for a mate of mine..............its a Honda 900cc fireblade bike engine with turbo fitted running on carbs with electric gear shifter. Its been standing for three years so needs a good sort out and some TLC.

Here are a couple of links to it running at Santa Pod drag strip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-6iw8kvFTg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-u_eX2bGFw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txI8joEoo9c

This is how it looks now, bit of a sad state from sitting around for so long, the engine ran for a short while, chucked it and wont start again, its new petrol. The wiring is not the best and been done by someone else so I have been stripping the harness back to see wht goes where as the first step.









Its had a genral clean off , just so its ok to work on and see what is what really at this stage. A few bits have been taken off to gain access to the wiring, its already looking better but still a long way to go yet.







So I have managed to find some wiring instructions for the ingition and gear shirter on the net and am just tracing back wiring and will re do half of it as I am not happy with the way its been done and go from there .................. should sound nice with that exhaust

Cheers Mick.

P.S , hope your not too snowed in Stanley .............we have no snow in Newcastle but my mate at Burnley says its bad around your way, looks that way on the news too ................ god knows when you will get in that shed this year ! This has got to be the last of the winter ? Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

It'll start to improve towards the end of this week Mick. Never failed yet! Looks like a mean little machine but it would be no good on our roads at the moment! Is it as dangerous as it looks? Need a Death Wish to drive it? (Insurance will be dear.....)

[Pluggy]

200 hp, through that little chain ?. That'll make a nice mess if it lets go, probably decapitate the driver......

Stanley would have a shaft a foot thick for that kind of power.

Going on 3 times the power of my car and about a 10th of the weight.

[PanBiker]

Even less weight when it was in the bike! I have just over 100BHP in my V4 Honda Pan European but a shaft drive to provide the grunt. Mine will do just a tad over 150 but never been there!

[Bodger]

Heres a shed project for any mechanical minded individual,
http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/automa ... umentation

[Stanley]

How bonkers/brilliant do you have to be to embark on making something like that? Shed begins to press in on me, I have a job that has to be done by mid April..... Thermals on?

[micktoon]

Hi Stanley , I don't know about how bonkers do you have to be to build something like that , but I do know you have to be totally bloody bonkers to get involved in revamping something like that, its one of them jobs where NOTHING seems to be going right ....... I really do wish I had never seen it , all the wiring has been redone now , new switches and starter soleniod etc and its running again and the electric gear shifter is working....... its getting there but fighting me every step of the way !.

Glad to hear you are getting the urge to get back in the shed too , the lighter nights help and today the sun has even came out so fingers crossed it will be spring soon

Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

Weather should start to change next weekend. It will be sudden! It's been a long winter.