Stuff you have made today

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Mower Rebuild.

The 2 members were on a roll. The end was in sight. Out came the paint.



The paint debate.
On the outside we found 3 shades of green, 2 shades of red. So traditionally lawn mowers are Red and Green. But in the degreasing stage They found blue and brown. This was a Pie n chips discussion, what do they paint it in?



They found out that rattle cans do not make the best way to paint. This was done by hand, in 4 stages.



Not gold leaf, as I hinted. But by hand in a red. I did hint gold leaf would be easier, look better and be shinny.
But They wanted to try. "How hard can it be?" "What can go wrong?"

This and the other side was repainted 3 times.
I enjoyed my coffee as the bad words were issued.



Done.
They found out that rattle can paint:
Does not dry as quick as they hoped.
Over spray goes far and wide. (TYA has to tidy up, a LOT. But I did get some Beer.)

This bit was the only time I did the work.
They watched, but I was not happy with them trying to do the turning.
Yes I was being a nanny and fussing.
But, my play pen, my rules.



LHS turned down to almost the finished size. Now I am working back and rounding out.



Ready for them to make the handle and shape the wood to fit.



Rebuilt.
LHS you can see the welded repair.
They found out why it is good to take notes and pictures.
You can't build up one side and slot the other side on. 6 hands are not enough.
Plus the cylinder will fit both ways.
No you can't assemble it, then try to wiggle in the lower blade.
No you can't assemble the 6 gears and spin the wheels with out the side covers on.
Grease gets everywhere. Everywhere.
Modern grease guns and tubes are better than the ones from the 1970's



This is when I was sniggering.
This is when they found out there are some bits missing.
They had the hint on the strip down.




This is it.
A simple bit of broken metal.



All done, as far as they could get.

They have to make the handle.
Obtain and age replacement bolts and nuts. I may need to Go north with doughnuts and see if I can rummage for old imperial C sunk bolts and nuts.

If not we will be trying to age new ones.

Oh the important bits missing?

The metal work, axil and 3 rollers for the rear.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Oh.
It was not all plane sailing.



LHS item was found on the tidy up.
Took them 47 minutes to locate it's brother, held in place by old grease.
Lesson was learnt. Tidy up slowly and bits will not get lost.


The RHS.
A random screw.
It fits no were in the machine. I did not see it removed. It is not one I recognise from my work. I made sure the work areas were clean(ish)

Hmmmm.

 

[bigegg]

Now you just have to find some poor sod to try pushing it.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Now you just have to find some poor sod to try pushing it.

I have that covered.
They want to.

 

[bigegg]

I have that covered.
They want to.

Why!!?!

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Why!!?!

That's is a question I can not answer.

 

[Maker]

I tried Schlieren imaging with a shaving mirror, it sort of worked, not very well though. A video shows it better than any pictures I got.

The setup;

A led and a camera sit at (roughly) the focal point of a parabolic mirror and something hot goes right in front of the mirror. Variations in the density (Or specifically the refractive index) cause the light to bend more or less, resulting in light and dark areas in the image. There should also be a knife edge in front of the camera lens but I was surprised to find it worked without it and as much as I tried, I couldn't get it to do anything. The led should be as small as possible so I borrowed an indicator from a relay, it's a tiny SMD package, 0802 or something, it's not very bright so the light from the candle overexposed the image, blowtorching a tig electrode as in the video worked better. I initially tried an orange 5mm LED, much brighter so the candle worked better but the contrast was much lower, presumably because it's not a point source.

Switched lenses too, the orange one was a 135mm lens who's minimum focus is longer than the focal length if the mirror, I thought that could be the source of some problems, the green used a 50mm lens which focuses closer but it turns out the focus of the lens doesn't make a huge difference. Oh and I cleaned the mirror, there's fingerprints in the orange image.

I'll need a much better reflector if I have another go, the shaving mirror is very astigmatic and, not very parabolic and it's not a first surface mirror. Ideally I'd have two mirrors, using only one the camera sees whatever is in front of the mirror and its reflection. I might look into making a mirror, I know telescope guys make their own, I want to say Fizzy mentioned making one once?

 

[fizzy]

I tried Schlieren imaging with a shaving mirror, it sort of worked, not very well though. A video shows it better than any pictures I got.

The setup;
View attachment 247073 View attachment 247074
A led and a camera sit at (roughly) the focal point of a parabolic mirror and something hot goes right in front of the mirror. Variations in the density (Or specifically the refractive index) cause the light to bend more or less, resulting in light and dark areas in the image. There should also be a knife edge in front of the camera lens but I was surprised to find it worked without it and as much as I tried, I couldn't get it to do anything. The led should be as small as possible so I borrowed an indicator from a relay, it's a tiny SMD package, 0802 or something, it's not very bright so the light from the candle overexposed the image, blowtorching a tig electrode as in the video worked better. I initially tried an orange 5mm LED, much brighter so the candle worked better but the contrast was much lower, presumably because it's not a point source.
View attachment 247076 View attachment 247075
Switched lenses too, the orange one was a 135mm lens who's minimum focus is longer than the focal length if the mirror, I thought that could be the source of some problems, the green used a 50mm lens which focuses closer but it turns out the focus of the lens doesn't make a huge difference. Oh and I cleaned the mirror, there's fingerprints in the orange image.

I'll need a much better reflector if I have another go, the shaving mirror is very astigmatic and, not very parabolic and it's not a first surface mirror. Ideally I'd have two mirrors, using only one the camera sees whatever is in front of the mirror and its reflection. I might look into making a mirror, I know telescope guys make their own, I want to say Fizzy mentioned making one once?

Indeed so many moons ago.
Will post more when I wake up. Cream crackered tonight.

 

[Geoffm]

View attachment 241710
And the Cambridge roller needs repairs. They have brittle cast iron wheels which break when you tow it over rocks down the farm race, especially if staff think the tractor only goes flat out. I bought replacement wheels from the foundry in Timaru and at around $NZ150 each delivered (around 75 pounds) they are expensive to replace. It currently has at least 3 if not 4 broken wheels which have been ignored for years but it has made it to the top of the list.
The plan is to fit some road wheels, lowered by a hydraulic ram to lift the roller wheels off the ground. Made out of what was around, except the trailer wheels and ram and hoses, I hope it will fix that problem.
No close ups of the welding as it is proper farmer welding :-). As well as replacing the wheels, I will see if I can fit an IBU plastic water tank on top whcih I can then fill and add 1T of extra weight for dealing with dry ground.

Well it took a while, as the fertilizer spreader jumped the queue, and it is winter here so a bit wet, but the Cambridge roller is finished.
3 wheels were broken, and 1 I found after it was back together had a crack, but I wasn't going to pull it apart again to weld it.
I ended up doing the hydraulic ram mounts several times to get the geometry right. Maybe I should have mocked it up better first... I also had to brace the axle since it started to bend and wasn't farmerproof enough. The first time it didn't lift high enough, especially covered in mud.

 

[Geoffm]

Another project that shows that when a man says he will do something, there is no need to nag him every year. The small fertiliser spreader of our ex sharemilker has been sitting in the machinery paddock of a couple of years waiting for me to fix it. After a bit of a nudge, it got to the top of the list. It is a NZ made one and the drive system is a bit Heath Robinson. There is a friction drive roller between the 2 wheels, and that operates the spinner through a dog clutch. When it wears or tyre pressure isn't right, it slips. I had done the bearings and that roller once before, but it got used, got borrowed, then it came back where apparently "it just locked up" and wore a big flat in the roller. Pulling it apart, which involved heat, a hammer and an angle grinder to cut the bearing apart in pieces since it was rusted together showed the outer bearing was full of mud. I don't know if it had been greased and had popped the seal, and never seen grease since, but it was shot. Fertilizer had finished it off as it rusts everything if people don't wash it down after use. Everything had to be heated, beaten or cut off to get it apart.
The genuine replacement roller was around $66 each x 2 on the shaft, which is what I put on last time. The nautically minded might think they look awfully like boat trailer rollers, and it was worth lashing out $13 each to try. The centre hole is larger than for the boat trailer roller at 40mm, and 2 of these rollers are held together with a flange at each end, that is keyed to the driveshaft.
I had some 5 inch pipe I have had in the workshop for probably 30 years, which came from cleaning out my uncle's workshop. The roller was a slightly sloppy fit, so a slice of pipe with a slot closed up held it nicely in the lathe, bored out the centre, made a dummy axle from a piece of pipe and used the flange as a pattern to drill the bolt holes. Worked a piece of cake.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Last few repairs then it's all shaping and finishing up

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Nice drive while it's drying for some glazing bead then it's off to the glaziers for a new unit

 

[Morris]

Not so much made as modified.
I'm rebuilding the 2.0 dohc engine for wifey's ford Pop and because of the width of the engine (well, the manifold) at the front it was either modify it or cut the bonnet. Cutting the bonnet is a no-no so...
The back was opened up, weld added to the outside to allow the internal shape to be modified to match the original shape of the front. A flange was made and added to allow an adaptor to be fitted which will take the throttle body. The T/B will be turned through 90 degrees.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Today I made some lines on some scrap steel, getting to try out the new Parweld lid settings. I'll stick up the pics tomorrow.

I'm impressed with the clarity of the Trucolour lens...thanks @Migmac for the recommendation.

 

[Tupers]

I’ve decided to make my own “silencer” for the Suzuki so I made a hammer form so I can make nice radiused end caps for it.
I needed a few attempts to get the overhang right but I think one more go and I should be there

 

[nickk]

Watch this space this is going thru the workshop now,and a copper roof.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

View attachment 247280 Watch this space this is going thru the workshop now,and a copper roof.

Looks interesting. Will keep my eyes open for it

 

[AndersK]

I needed a few attempts to get the overhang right but I think one more go and I should be there

That's looking great. Stainless without heating? Ain't easiest thing to hammer form

Got any transfer punches? They are great to scribe am offset line on non straight parts. Doesn't matter if you rotate while scribing, offset will be the same.
I made some rings to get more offset than my largest punch when needed

 

[AndersK]

Collected parts from hot galv this morning.
Never plan to go straight to powder coated, always some touch up work needed. Like cleaning holes and removing a few extra mm of material

They did remove some of it though

 

[Paulbarrett]

Made an adjustable post baseplate for my brother exterion. had some stainless plate lying about so came up with this.
mad it turns out ended up bang on plumb.

plate in concrete had a couple of threaded rods welded on with a hole to take the top plate bolt and nut adjust up and down and to float the oak pillar