Stuff you have made today

[Moose McAlpine]

Couldn't find a leak and neither could the garage with CO tester.
So disapearing coolant must have been from a leaky thermostate houding. Lucky me.

Did they pressure test the cooling system?

Negative CO test rules out headgasket failure as being cause of coolant loss, so that's good to hear.

With some faults you end up needing to do 2-3 different tests to pinpoint the cause and even that can be difficult or inconclusive.

 

[Johnny Crossan]

Rotted diff casing for drive axle from a bus, this is the new section welded in place

 

[Chillitt]

Thanks, She'll be pleased to hear it. The octopus gets lots of comments when I'm climbing, I imagine this one will get even more.

Long time ago I made a Garfield into a chalk bag. He would hang upside down, with a rope tied to his feet as a belt...

 

[mrsbruce]

Long time ago I made a Garfield into a chalk bag. He would hang upside down, with a rope tied to his feet as a belt...

That has just created a certain image in my head about where the chalk comes out.

I shall never look at Garfield in the same way again.

 

[Chillitt]

That has just created a certain image in my head about where the chalk comes out.

I shall never look at Garfield in the same way again.

Thats exactly right.

 

[optima21]

not me, me and knurling don’t get along, every time I try and do it it just comes out rough. That could be in part due to the J&S knurling tool or because I’ve never worked out the correct dia.

Ive given up with knurling these days and mill splined ends, I think they look better in the small sizes I use too, but when I'd found a size of bar that worked so I go a decent knurl, I used to stamp the diameter on the knurling tool.

 

[selectedgrub]

made some sanding sticks for sanding down the models Im making, using lollipops sticks and wooden coffer stirrers as the backing.

Have you thought of using fingernail emery boards?

 

[Dr.Al]

not me, me and knurling don’t get along, every time I try and do it it just comes out rough. That could be in part due to the J&S knurling tool or because I’ve never worked out the correct dia.

I don't know how much the diameter matters in practice. I always do cut to the right diameter and it always works well, so I'm sticking with it. It's a long time since I've tried cutting without bothering about the diameter and I know I had mixed results when I did, but that could have been down to other factors. It takes a few seconds to measure the diameter, bung the number into the knurl calculator, then take a skim pass to get the diameter right. Even if it's questionable whether it helps or not, the effort is so minimal that I can't see a reason not to do it.

I worked out the knurl pitch by running the knurl wheel in a straight line along a piece of paper and measuring the distance for about 150 lines. I then divided the distance by the number of lines and wrote the resulting pitch on the side of the tool, so I don't have to remember it. I then use the calculator on my website to get the diameter right. It always seems to work well for me, as long as I flood the knurl with oil. That part is really important (you can get away with compressed air if you're lucky, but a stream of oil works better) - it gets the little chips away from the knurls and stops them getting jammed up and wrecking the finish.

My knurling tool isn't anything fancy, just one of the arceurotrade ones with some ebay knurling wheels (a coarser pitch than the arceurotrade supplied ones). The knurls were advertised as 1.2 mm pitch (one pair) and 2 mm pitch (the other pair). The ones I'm using are 1.429 mm pitch (based on measuring 150 lines rolled onto on a piece of paper), so who knows which of the two pairs they are!

 

[Hood]

Knurls just magically jump to the correct knurl for me, never bothered what diameter it was, just always worked even with the ultra cheap and crappy knurling tools I have use.

 

[Maker]

Knurls just magically jump to the correct knurl for me, never bothered what diameter it was, just always worked even with the ultra cheap and crappy knurling tools I have use.

Me too, I'm tempted to try knurling a taper to prove there's no magic number.

 

[optima21]

Have you thought of using fingernail emery boards?

yeah but I didnt have any of them, they would need cutting down and I already had the parts to make my version

 

[zx9]

Me too, I'm tempted to try knurling a taper to prove there's no magic number.

The pressure on the knurling tool would change as you moved along the taper which would change the appearance anyway, probably able to show that the knurls coincided or not though.

Edit: Turn the taper with an off set tail stock, that would sort out the pressure change with a push knurl but not a scissor knurl.

 

[doubleboost]

Weld fixtures

 

[James1979]

So I ‘re purposed’ a ‘vintage’ tractor seat into a stool type effort for the welding bench. Needs paint.

I’ve had a office chair till now but they always melt! Thought a cast one may last longer. Swing arm was to solve the problem of wherever the wheeled ones are, they’re in the way!

oh it’s from an Albion thresher / binder for those that care

 

[Dr.Al]

I've had a mouth ulcer and headache for all of 2021 so far, which isn't a good start. Couldn't face going out to the workshop with my head throbbing, so the better half & I finished this off instead:

 

[Germanmachinist]

Made some weldart today

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Bit of fun today, just pottering.
No power tools, for one good reason.

So I fired the music up and put the coffee on.

With help from the members here I got these Spring loaded hinges.



So off with the old broken hinge.


The new one was cold riveted on. The rivet was made from a 3.3mm welding rod.

The hinge set up had to be re-configured, as the new one did not have the closing strength of the old.



YIPES.
The blades are extremely sharp.


This small bundle of fire side tools was acquired the other day.



The finish was a mix of rust, age and the passage of time.



The steel cleaned up very well with the use of scouring pads and Kettle de-scalar.
Here you see me warming them up to take the wax/oil mix.



Yes, glue kettle is being used to hold wax/oil and a hint of dye.




They have came up well.


This Foot pump was got my be.
But it was seized.



The hose was leaking and the modern gauge did not work when tested.

Striped it all down.
The pump washers were soaked in cooking oil and warmed up. It brought them back to a usable condition.
The hose was replaced.
The gauge was opened up and finding nowt wrong it was put back together.
It worked.



Reassembled and tested.

There was something about the way age had made it look.
I liked this on this item. So it was just cleaned.
The paint was T cut and waxed.
The body was given 4 layers of thin wax and this sealed the finish.

 

[Jan-DIY]

Today tested main PCB.
Got it running.
But did also some repairs in my neighborhood.
Now I will do some work on several EWM inverter.
Don’t like to hang on TV.

 

[My Old Landy]

I made a bit of swarf on the S&B after finally fixing the motor mount adjuster (can you work out what it will be?)

 

[Hood]

.. (can you work out what it will be?)..

No
But will have some wild guesses.
Brass with taper on end so maybe a lamp stem or candle stick.