Shed Matters 3

[Stanley]

You might have noticed that I am not very enthusiastic about the wood I found for the carriages. I went on a further extended search this morning and found this piece of Mahogany which will cut into four pieces and I only need three. That will wait for daylight when I can get the chop saw out.



I also have a problem in that I hadn't found enough material to make the undercarriage of the gun carriages, let alone the right size. Again, a detailed search in every nook and cranny, a lot of it bent down or on my knees which is hard! I have enough but it will all need machining to size.



Came the dawn and I got the chop saw out on the bench in the back yard and made the cuts that I could. I couldn't do the splitting cut the throat of the saw is too small so that had to be done by hand. And yes, I know it should have been the rip saw but the cross cut saw wasted less material.



Knocking off time. (my knees are protesting against all the kneeling and being out in the yard in the frost!) I have four mahogany blanks which will make nice bases for the gun carriage when I have cleaned them up a bit. By the way, this mahogany was bought by Johnny Pickles to make the bench I use today in about 1930. Lovely timber....

[Stanley]

Only one pic this morning. Lovely timber it might be but when you go to level the surface with a coarse disc on the angle grinder it doesn't half make a lot of fine dust. I didn't realise how much until I had finished and it was horrendous. I had to get the vacuum cleaner out and it took me half an hour to get rid of most of the dust. It was terrible. So at knocking off time I have got three bases that are clean but need some more work doing on them. I can promise it will not be with the angle grinder!!

[Stanley]

I had enough of wood dust yesterday, it was terrible. I need to do more work on the wooden bases but I shall wait until I can do it outside. This morning I am concentrating on the metal bars for the undercarriages.





First job was to cut all the varied bits of steel to the correct length and turn the end of each of them square.



As you can see I'm short of the right material and to get the last piece I had to reduce this bar by half. All this meant a lot of hand sawing and standing there turning the carriage handle on my El Cheapo mill. I suppose it's good exercise....



Here's where I ended up at closing time. I shall number these bars so they match their own carriage because they are all slightly different. Then clean them up and address the wooden bases.

[Stanley]

Today is a short morning so I was in the shed before 6AM so that I could get a full hour before doing my early doors shop at 7AM. The job is to take my misshapes and produce 3 sets of matched rails for the undercarriages of the gun carriages. that's milling 24 sides by hand so get stuck in Stanley.



After doing the first pair I had a break and did a full job on my cutter, gullet, back off and sharpen. Never time wasted and only 10 minutes lost.



By knocking off time at 7AM I had all 24 cuts done and the bars numbered so they can be kept in matched pairs and mated with their carriages. First job tomorrow is break all the edges and make them look pretty!

[Stanley]

Today I started by breaking all the edges on the undercarriage elements. Not looking for a mirror finish, these are chassis members.



Time to address my bete noir! I need to get the wooden bases somewhere near flat. So out with a smoothing plane and into a bit of carpentry. I kept it as short as possible, I am not set up for woodworking.



Knocking off time. I can live with the bases and now need to fit the undercarriage and wheels. I shall pop back in and give the bases a coat of linseed oil then they will be ready tomorrow.

[Stanley]

No great mystery about this mornings two hours in the shed. We are getting the undercarriages ready for fitting. First thing was to identify them all as right and left, offer up the carronades and mark the position of the threaded holes that will be the fastenings. Than it was a matter of drilling 18 holes and threading twelve of them. Then find the fastenings. Note the Trefolex, as I said before I think this tin will see me out! (I think it's still the best threading compound and is good if you are drilling or reaming difficult metals. Unlike most products, it's soap based.)



Here we are at closing time, all holes drilled, the ones for the trunnion mounts threaded 2BA and all the hardware found for fastening them down. Now we have to think about axles, the holes for them need to be drilled before the guns are mounted.

[Stanley]

Today I start to marry the carronades to their carriages. Notice I have found the 3/16" silver steel for the axles. What I have to do is drill the bases for the 2BA bolts and fit them. Before they are fitted we need to drill the carriage members for the axles.



Drilling the carriage members for the axles.



I'd forgotten how complicated marrying the carronades to their carriages and bases was!



After an hour and a half I have one gun mounted but this time included working out the method and getting my act together. I shall be faster with the next two......

[BobH]

Those are looking good Stanley. Work in Rochdale stopped this afternoon when the lathe made a terrible rattling noise. The problem is the primary drive belt to the intermediate shaft. It is a toothed ‘synchro’ belt which has stretched and was slipping on the motor pulley, no adjustment provided. A quick phone call to Chester Machine Tools revealed none in stock though Mark has promised to get me a delivery date. The good old Google search revealed that the same belt is used on a Sieg lathe as sold by Arc Euro Trade who do have the spares in stock so I have ordered 2off. Meanwhile I can use the direct drive from the motor to the main shaft though this gives a minimum speed of 600rpm. Luckily I only have small parts to make for the 10H so work can continue. I have had the lathe only 17 years. I am generally very pleased with it but this is the second time that I have been let down on spare belts. The synchro belt is a rare beast, a very odd size M1.5 by 124 teeth.

[Stanley]

Don't mention belts Bob! That means one will give up on you....
The guns, yes they look OK I think, be better with wheels on!

[Stanley]

I was wrong yesterday when I said that now I was into it I could polish both the remaining carronades off today. No way! This one was even worse to fit than the other and the eagle eyed will note that I haven't drilled for the axles. The main problem is getting all the holes lined up whilst preserving the line of the guns themselves. Making the wheels is going to be a doddle!!

[Stanley]

I must be getting old. Why didn't I think of this early in the week. Milling works just as well for hard dry wood as it does for metal and the mess is easily managed.



It took an hour to fit the undercarriage after the wood milling. Lots more to it than you'd think.



Then I had to measure, mark and drill for the axles. Again more to it than you'd think, it involved a machinist's jack at the back to control the gun and its carriage.



Knocking off time, the axles fit all three carriages. Now I have to make six wheels and fit them. That'll be nice job....

[Stanley]

Bit of a change to my usual daily routine. Susan and Mick are bringing fish and chips and I decided to finish Mick's carronade so that he could have a pressie. (Susan and Margaret haven't been forgotten!) The first job was to make some wheels....



Then it was a question of measuring the axles, cutting them and fitting the wheels. In case you're wondering, Gorilla instant set glue.



Here it is. One carronade finished.

[Stanley]

The Chinese postal system has worked, my carbide inserts arrived yesterday. I have a quick change holder that has a threading insert in it and I am more likely to need this tool so I am swapping it in.



There are all sorts of ways of checking if you are on centre, even more important with Carbide tools, but this is the best. Take a cut and assess it. Tip. always err on the low side by a fraction. It works better than being high.



Here's knocking off time, this is Margaret's corner, she now has two engines and a carronade. Susan's tomorrow.....

[Stanley]

Guess what the task is today. That's right, this gun carriage needs 4 wheels and two axles.



I needed another piece of stock so I cut this scrap to the right size Notice that I seem to have cracked the trick of getting good finishes with negative rake tools. Feed rates, speed and having the cutter a fraction below centre height.



Then it was a matter of parting four wheels off with a good hole for the axle and edges broken. Parting off used to be a matter fraught with danger but now I part off on auto-feed.... Times change! This was the first of four cuts and I took ten minutes to clear the swarf off and sweep the floor, it was getting overwhelming!



Knocking off time, Four wheels ready for fitting. No rush and I want me breakfast!

[Stanley]

Only one pic needed this morning. Susan's Carronade is ready for her.



Putting Susan's wheels on didn't take long so I got up to mischief. The first thing I did was have a good clean up and tidy on the bench, clean my surface plates and oil them and put a clean tablecloth on. Then I went into a far corner and investigated something I noted a couple of days ago. As I've mentioned before I am running short of light rod and had seen some in the corner hidden behind some other stock. I got it out and found I had 4ft of 3/8" and 6ft of 1/4" bronze rod! At today's prices that's almost £80 worth.... I still need 3/16" steel but no great rush.
Nice morning, now I have to think about what comes next!

[Stanley]

Still pondering about what next.....



But this morning I went in and swapped my chucks, Time to give the Taylor chuck an airing because the pieces of 'scrap' that I'm cleaning up for stock might even have started life in this chuck because they are all ex Johnny Pickles stock. I'm also using the carbide cutter I couldn't get to work before.





I made a lot of mess and produced some useful bits of stock. an hour and a half of honest endeavour and not time wasted. I shall have a think about what next!
One thing that struck me was that it's quite possible a hundred years ago the last time these parts were cut was on a treadle lathe with carbon steel tools. Times change!

[chinatyke]

If you're stuck for a project why don't you think of something to make on Johnny's old lathe in the front room that I seem to remember had dividing thingies on it?

[Stanley]

Even though I have two ornamental lathes China and some of the accessories you need I always refused to get any deeper into it than simple dividing. It can be fiendishly complicated and would be too much in my ninth decade!
(Think of three dimensional chess!)
I shall do some deciding today..... Must have a project on the go!
Later.... I've ordered a £50 kit from Stuarts and it might surprise you. It's the cheapest beginner's kit they make and is for a single cylinder 'wobbler' engine. (The cylinder oscillates and does away with the need for a crosshead.) I've always wanted to make one of these but never fully understood the principle so I'm going to make this starter engine as an educational exercise. Once I have made this I have a yen to build a twin oscillator in brass like Newton made. I've never seen an engine run as fast! I shall be thinking about what comes next after this.

[Stanley]

This is the little engine....

[BobH]

I built one of those a few years back, you’ll enjoy it Stanley. My daughters gave me the casting set for one of those ‘milestone’ birthdays. It makes a nice little engine and certainly runs at a good pace. The wobbling cylinder magnifies the impression of speed. Like many good ideas it is simple but effective, though the efficiency suffers. That is not a worry with the models we make. I’ll get it down off the shelf and post a photo.

[plaques]

I like the idea. The cylinder motion must produce massive out of balance forces so that it probably does a little jig as it bounces across the mantel piece. Should be very entertaining.

[Stanley]

Totally different for me Bob and you're right, I'll enjoy it.....

[Stanley]

Just seen your post Ken, they are very stable actually. You'd be surprised...

[BobH]

So here are the pictures of my Stuart wobbler:

91559A98-FB7A-4119-A905-08C005B7DAE6.jpeg

EA9CA80F-3D4C-4B58-A9C0-C3D0DFE1D28C.jpeg

A2848421-CE63-42AE-A235-3D963B7DC3ED.jpeg

The critical part in making this is the positioning of the ports in the cylinder and stand but then when you see the parts you will understand their relationship.

[Stanley]

Am I doing something wrong? They are all upside down when I click to enlarge....