SHED MATTERS 2

[Big Kev]

The butcher's block is about inch and a quarter.

[Stanley]

I think I've hit on a solution.....



I've never been satisfied with the base board on the big compound because it is too small and have asked Mick the shed to make me a new one. This is 8" x 11" and Keruing so it is good hard wood. I shall remove it and take a view!

[Stanley]

First job was the robbery. I have put the engine on a pad of cloth to protect the worktop.



Good job it's a dry morning. The Metabo chop saw came out of the outside shed for an airing. Lovely tool.



Shortly afterwards I had three useful looking pieces. The big square is interesting, Newton gave it to me together with a big pair of dividers. They were both made by a relation of his who emigrated to the US in the late 19th century. Lovely quality and accurate. I had a good clean up of the saw and the yard, sawdust gets everywhere!



All well so far. It looks as though I have my stock. Time for a bit of thinking.



Mick is going to laugh at me here..... I forgot about the grain in the wood and never examined it closely enough. There was a flaw and it split but that's not the biggest fault, I have the grain going crosswise when it should have been long ways! A bit of head scratching ensued....



I had a think and I can get the first base out of this piece with the grain going the correct way. This will do but I get the feeling it's too thick.



I have always had the lower example in mind and you will see that there are more elements to consider. I shall have a think but I have a feeling I'm going to revert to the top, land based carriage, which is more simple and will take less room up when finished. And no, if I do I will not be taking the recoil rope ring off! I need to have a bit of a think.....

[Stanley]

The Design Committee has deliberated and the decision is to forget the naval mounting and make it a land carriage. It will take up less room on the shelf!



So, into the drawing office and make some decisions on how to do it and the sizes. Once that was decided on I had to find the stock. I dived into the treasure chests and after a bit of a furtle came up with what I needed. One small point arose, I had to open out the drillings in the trunnion mounting blocks from 3/16" to 13/64" to give clearance for the 2BA bolts that I shall make out of 3/16" rod.



Time was going on and instead of diving into turning and fitting I decided to sand the carriage bed and varnish it. It's a satin finish varnish and will get slightly distressed as I am fitting the wheels so it will be sealed and looking the part. One thing to note, I bought that orbital sander about twenty years ago when my expensive Metabo sander burned its motor out. I got the cheapest one I could find and gave it some welly, it's as good now as the day I bought it!



I screwed an eye into the underside and used it to to hold the bed while I varnished it and hung it on a temporary sky hook. Then I knocked off and left it to dry in a dust free atmosphere. A morning of small but essential things. I have all my ducks in a row and know where I am going!

[Big Kev]

It's looking good.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

I didn't do a pic of the first job of the day, making the two axles for the carriage wheels. While I was doing that and measuring them something else came to my mind. Can you remember me trying to improve my old Mitutoyo digital calliper which had lost repeatability? It's a good calliper and I decided to try to cure it. I tried a tip I got from watching Adam Booth, lightly stoning the surface of the jaws and that improved them no end but not perfectly. I have lived with that. The other night I was watching Brian Bloc (Bbloc on Youtube) who had hit the same problem with a digital calliper and he diagnosed it as the moving jaw rocking on its rail. He adjusted it using the two tiny screws on the top of the jaw mount that adjust the friction of the jaw on the rail. It cured his problem. I was measuring the length of the axles which is fairly critical and and did Brian's trick on both my digital and dial callipers. I cured both of them in that they are zeroing correctly and repeatably. So simple and so effective! I recommend that tip to all of you.



Then I got stuck into making six studs I need.



I decided not to use the tail stock die holder but go the old fashioned route. Repetitious and boring but it worked out OK. By the way old fashioned Trefolex is still my favourite lubricant for thread cutting. Lovely stuff and so economical.



Knocking off time. We have the studs and the axle. Tomorrow is wheels and mountings.

[Stanley]

I haven't much time this morning, I have to be at the doctors before 9AM and vote as well. The job is making the undercarriage on which the wheels will be mounted. First I faced the ends and then started marking them for drilling. I have marked them both so I don't get them mixed up.



Then under the pillar drill and some careful drilling. When I had drilled 13/64" clearance for the bolts I marked for the axles and drilled them 3/16"



Knocking off time. The axles are in their bearings and the bolt holes drilled. Quite splendid except for one thing. I've drilled the bolt holes for clearance instead of tapping size for 2BA! No fool like an old fool. I shall take a view when I see if my studs are long enough. I may have to counterbore the bottom of the bars to accommodate the nuts. We'll see.....

[Stanley]

Not sure whether I'll get in the shed today.... but the Design Committee have come up with an elegant fix for the wrong sized holes..... It will look better as well.

[Stanley]

I had less than an hour in the shed. I started by bluing the bars up and marking for the cuts I need to make..... Then into the VM with a nice sharp cutter. Once I had cut the first ledge out I left the cutter locked on that depth and carefully cut the other sections out in one cut.



Here's the idea. Not a lot of room but I don't need to get a spanner on these nuts, I can tighten them from the top.



Here we are with the result at closing time.... You'll notice the disaster, I broke my coarse hone. I have been using these for about twenty years and they never wear out! I went straight on line and ordered a set of diamond files.....

[Stanley]

My first job was nothing to do with the carronade. I stuck the handle of my coarse hone together with super glue, if it survives, all well and good.

Then I got on with the morning's business. It wasn't as easy as it looks but I'll spare you all the details and just post the pics!





So far so good, but then I had to mount the carronade and make sure it was central.





At closing time we had got there. All we need now is some wheels!



As I was getting out of the shed the post came. Here are the diamond files I ordered from RDG yesterday. They are small but I think they'll do the job. Not a bad price, about a tenner.

[Stanley]

Busy morning, this is a good day for washing bedding.







Today is wheels. The first thing was to have a weigh up and do a fag packet drawing. I already had the stock of course so I popped it in the lathe and got going, nice to be doing a bit of straight turning. I shall make 4 and finish them afterwards. I had to revise the drawing and make them a bit less chunky.



That looks about right.....



I started on the next three but it was time to knock off. No rush, I'm not on piece work.

[Stanley]

I got down to the bread and butter turning and made my wheels. Then I finished them, made them pretty and did my first fit up, got the length of my axles and cut and finished them to fit.



Then I fitted them with Loctite 638 and left them to cure. Notice that I had found I had made one wheel too many! I got into the swing and this had dropped in the chip tray.



I put stuff away and cleaned Mrs Harrison up.



Then I vacuumed the shed and changed the bag on the old vac I use for the shed floor. That's it for this morning.... I may be AWOL tomorrow, it's article writing time again!

[Stanley]

I declared it finished last night when the Loctite had set. It's a 16th scale model of a 68lb land based carronade. The half inch bore equates to 8" in the full size and that was a 68lb CI cannon ball. It has occurred to me that it's probably technically illegal as given a bit of black powder and a 1/2" ball bearing it could be fired and I wouldn't like to be in front of it! I shall risk it. No shed today lads, everything is nice and clean in the shed so I can write articles for the BET with a clear conscience!

[plaques]

Four wheels on fixed axles must have been difficult to maneuver especially considering the weight of these things. I would have thought a central pivot on the rear axle which could be locked down once in place would be easier tho handle.

[Big Kev]

I declared it finished last night when the Loctite had set. It's a 16th scale model of a 68lb land based carronade. The half inch bore equates to 8" in the full size and that was a 68lb CI cannon ball. It has occurred to me that it's probably technically illegal as given a bit of black powder and a 1/2" ball bearing it could be fired and I wouldn't like to be in front of it! I shall risk it. No shed today lads, everything is nice and clean in the shed so I can write articles for the BET with a clear conscience!

Cracking job, I like that

[Stanley]

That's really good of you Kev. I enjoyed it and might make a Long Tom for an encore!

[Big Kev]

[Stanley]

I've written four articles and might be back in there today........
Later, a bit of a hold up as I had to go shopping and do a bit of cooking!

[Bodger]

Heres a different project Stanley
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/an ... ad-350213/

[Stanley]

I don't think so Bodge.... I'm trying to avoid making things with small fiddle parts! I'm researching where to go next.....

[Bodger]

You could put this on the kitchen table and watch it work whilst having your stew , not the dollar bill for size comparison
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/an ... er-350244/

[Stanley]

Naaa, if I had the time, the space and the money I'd want a 36" stroke one like Adam Booth! You should go to his site and have a look at the way he has brought it back to life, a credit to him!



I haven't settled on what to make yet, I am hovering between a Long Tom and a mortar. But I knew I wanted to be in the shed and went in. I remembered something that has been in my mind for a while. Johnny's Big lathe has two large 3 jaw chucks one of which is a Cushman, a very good make and in as new condition apart from some surface pitting due to damp storage. It looks to me to be brand new. Problem is it only has the outside jaws but still useful. Cushman's are still in business so on the off chance I have asked if they can supply replacement internal jaws. Worth a try!

The first job was to take it to pieces and weigh up what I had to do to make it fit Mrs Harrison.....



I could make an entirely new back plate but I have this catch plate that I have never used in all the time I've had it and with a bit of fiddling it can be made to fit. The one thing that will have to be done to the chuck body is open up the clearance in the bore to just over 2.25" to accept the end of the nose as it will protrude a bit. Question is. how to hold the body. I could have done it in the big 4 jaw but there is another way I fancied trying. It doesn't have to be dead accurate, it's only clearance.



First thing to do was chuck some scrap up. Just for practice I dialled it in even though it's a bad finish.



Then I turned it down to a good finish. I know now that this is running dead on.



Then I fitted the Cushman by tightening the jaws and popped the chuck on. I checked it with the dial gauge....I was quite surprised to find it was less than a thou out of true which is more than good enough.



Here I am at knocking off time with the boring bar fitted. I need to take just over 1/4" out of it and it will not damage it to do that. I know what I'm doing tomorrow....

[Stanley]

Everything was in place so straight into boring....



No problems at all, remarkable when you think how heavy it is and how far it's stuck out, not a bit of chatter. Says a lot for the headstock! Notice that I had my board across the bed just in case there was a disaster! I don't want any dings in my bed!



Then set up for turning most of the existing register off and putting a new one on. Have you spotted the criminal mistake?



I got going and then suddenly it dawned on me that this was a senior moment.... It should be mounted direct on the spindle nose to make sure the fit is concentric. A quick retreat was indicated!



That's better.... Now for a bit of serious measuring!



I got serious about the measuring and realised something about my 6" Moore and Wright calliper that I have never hit before, it won't measure a full 6"! So I got the bigger Starrett calliper out which Mick gave me. By knocking off time I had my measurements and had set up for turning the register. But that will happen tomorrow.

[Bodger]

Stanley, buy thissen a some cement and make your own lathe !.
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/an ... he-303791/