# Done battling with puters and buckets.



## jj-smith (Nov 4, 2014)

Hello folks,

It's been a short bit since I joined HMEM, and I now have done battle with the last laptop I have...(the one that didn't end up being used for a target.) and got it running, sort of.

On top of the war on puters, I had to kick, bite, scratch and fight to get my identity back from photobucket as I had forgotten my password and also had changed ISP's.

The problem lay in the fact that I tried to go through the channels that be to get my password and username back..., except that the old email is non-existent, the password was lost in a smoked brain cell and the backup email addy was not compatible with the program that runs PB, so..., no way to clean things up easy.

I tried one more time a day later to enter PB to set everything straight, and by that time I was allowed to enter into the program without signing in??...but....but :wall:

Ok..., away I went and slugged through some more catch 22's but eventually got it all working.;D Life is good!

So..., I have arrived at the crossroads of photobucketing and rustiness, to try to upload some pics just for practice (they changed all the looks while I was busy) and to satisfy the bored in search of new pics to feed on. (good luck!)

Here goes for some machine shots (of machines I have revived because the new stuff isn't going to happen, but that's another story.)

Tryout one..., the tiny but fair enough Chinese lathe.






Well..., that didn't go. 
Regroup, plan B.

Back in a bit. J.

Plan B, attempt 2, 3 and 4.

The mill and 2nd lathe showed up also, but I am definitely going to have to sit and learn how to harness and manipulate the photobucket gremlins in order to get the pics just the way I want them.

In all respects; the job was done but I do have a few choice words for the photobucket system, and I just remembered that it depends on the site as to how the uploads are accomplished. I may be wrong on that but I remember one site where I could click on the upload pic button, then click on the pic in browsing and voila! done deal!..., not so here, (I mean no harm, just saying!)

In any case ..., Here we are;

Introduced, read and photo'ed up. Now to get to know some of you and get some of the rust off the bones and fingers and make an engine!

I'll be back! J.


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## bmac2 (Nov 6, 2014)

J. hello from out in blue eyed Arab country.wEc1 
I do believe that some days the Amish are right and computers are the devils work. 
Want to try a Windows 8 laptop?:redface2:
I know a lot of the guys here use photobucket but I gave up on it shortly after I first signed up. The server was down more often than it was up. In the shot of the mill Im seeing logs, lamps, chinking, and copper. If you have stove in there somewhere, how about a sterling fan?


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## jj-smith (Nov 8, 2014)

Yep Bob, I do have a wood stove but the only sterling I have is a wheel..., for coffee cups, palm of the hand or just out in  the sun on a rock.

Windows eight is on a laptop out there in the river somewhere, in the company of a few phones.

Back to normal...happy to be working on the "poppin" licker.
Next is the twin I'm working my brain around to draw up, and a few other needy projects to clean up and allow me to get centered on machining again.

Headed your way as I speak, in a big truck aiming for Ft.McMurray.
Regards, J.


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## bmac2 (Nov 8, 2014)

Ive never had any success with Sterling engines. But there are like sirens and mermaids that keep calling me to disaster.
Damn, cant imagine highway 63 in a _small_ truck.  My company car is a Ford Focus and that gets scary when I get something going the other way the size of a small apartment building. Got your long johns? Ft Mac looks like its feeling the effects of that storm front off Alaska.


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## Herbiev (Nov 9, 2014)

And I thought +16 C was cold.


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## jj-smith (Nov 10, 2014)

Bob..., I may have had you pass me today lol,

Ran up 63 indeed but the weather wasn't bad at all, and buddy just came back from Anchorage via Dawson and Ft Nelson and he was happy to say that his trip was just minor squalls and a few whiteouts.
We can tell you stories!

Anyway, I'm up here now and then dispatch says "wait till tomorrow to deliver" and your reload is the same place but Wednesday!

Motel it is then..., the little mouse in the truck I've been feeding to catch him will have to be hungry for a day. Probably catch him the day I get back in the truck (they're easy!)
He's number three sofar this year, the other two live in Lake point Utah now lol.

Hi Herb, 
Yes it can get cold up here, I have a friend in Santa Barbara who moves South when it gets much below +60 there.
I get at least two weeks of -30-45f at my own place in Jan or Feb every year, but you get used to it ( not that I like it at all!) It is what it is and now that I'm whittling my fun down to in-door size hobbying, I don't give a hoot about it, I have to keep windows and doors open to let some of the heat out most of the time so I'm good to go.

I'm reading quite a bit in the forum and must say that there is lots of good info,  and lots of old knowledge that's coming back to me but I probably will never be a true machinist like some of the guys here I read up on.
I am happy to have this means of learning, I'm all excited to get home every trip to get into the nitty gritty, and sooner or later I'll have a few engines under my belt and can maybe take on a bit more intricate work or learn to model after old styles and artistry on some of them.

Regards, J.


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## jj-smith (Nov 16, 2014)

WELL..., the mouse left me , the weather stayed good with lots of sun and also lots of wind, sometimes cold enough to want to quit but I didn't.

I was a good boy and did what I was supposed to do and merrily made it home again yesterday only to be begged to go out and do a NC load for Wednesday! Sigh...,:rant:

Now that I have a definite plan on how to hobby less stressful and more singular (well...almost there but not yet) it seems that all the little generic demons and gremlins are ganging up on me and are preventing me from turning, milling and drilling!

I did get some work done on the standard for the POPPIN, but not as much as I would have liked to.
I also started one of the flywheels in a moment of relative peace, but again I was interrupted with urgency to finish up with the firewood and had to race to get all of that home.
I now have one cord left to pile and bring in after when I get time (hah!)

Today is my only day off and I now have to get up at 0400 to get myself fed and ready to travel south for 3 hours to pick up some more machine tools and also some more mat'l, so I can most likely work on POPPIN without having to lack for anything. WHEN I GET TIME!

I have to come back North, but have to race to get to the yard, not home, to hook my trailer and go to load it so I can finally get going south to NC.

Who's complaining? work equals money and money equals power to play.., when you get time!

Anyway..., after this trip I am simply going to take three or four days off so I can relax and make chips.

The R8 ER32 holder and collet set will be fun to use, and the new angle vise I bought 2 weeks ago already has done wonderfully well in doing the standard machining job squaring up and making it ready for milling out.

I also bought a simple RT for some experimenting and I want to get a separate dividing head with index plates for some gear ideas I have for the twin I'm hoping to make right after the POPPIN. I'll be able to use both tables on various machines and I just can't wait to get my hands dirty!
See why I am anxious to be home for a bit?

Anyway..., I will document and photograph what I'm doing and when I get underway a bit further, and in its proper time, I will start a thread on "POPPIN my way!" as I'm sure I will give it the odd "personal touch" as I plug along learning.

Today is a (lots of) snow day and things are disappearing fast in my yard, so I better get at the wood while I can still find it!
I may have to pick up my stuff while out in the big truck if this keeps up, it's a better idea but then I have to lug all that stuff across the border into the US and explain myself to the border guards..., toss up I guess .

Cheers all and happy chippin,
Regards, John.


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## jj-smith (Nov 16, 2014)

I was distracted by a friend who kindly dropped by unexpected, and it was nice of him to come and check up on me as we hadn't spoken for a few weeks.

One thing led to another and we discussed booze, drank booze and talked machining and tools, he has a machine shop and is a busy man making shafts and repair work and the like for some of the mills around here, and he will give me some pointers on gear cutting, or at least try to help with what he can remember of it. He left happy and I have a buzz on too from some good spirits I made a while ago.

Needless to say I was not going to run machines with the distraction of wobbly eyes (legs too), and ruin my day getting hurt 

Oh well...in better shape now again but I spent some time tidying up on the making of a drill and tap block so I can have those sorted and handy, all marked and orderly placed for easy picking. Got some new small drills and a tap or two that I had ordered in a while back just for the making of POPPIN (Mary is her name!)

I took my new RT and had a good look at it, it's a MIC one but the right size for the mill and I will see what I can do to make a fixture so I can use it on the lathe too.
I thought I had a milling fixture for the Atlas, but danged if I can find THAT!

I'll include a pic of the RT just for practice and there is a 4 jaw chuck too which I bought from the same outfit (Busy Bee) where I bought the RT, both were reduced to wholesale at probably a good 30% off, so happy with that, now I have two chucks. I'll figure out what kind of helpful fixture to make from the extra one I'm sure.!

I guess the weather has gone wild here so I decided I won't get up early to go South now, I'll do it in the big truck when I leave for the US. tomorrow, and pick up my parts and mat'l on the way.
That will give me a few more hours to relax in the morning to get motivated to go do the job and have that done with.

Now to read up on replacing the mill gears from the cheap plastic gears to a belt drive, that shouldn't be too hard as I probably will never use high range anyway, so it should most likely be a "V" type belt.
There should probably be kits out there that will do the job.

I also want to build an X,Y driven system (not CNC tho) just to eliminate the tiring hand feed jobs that make me hurt in the back (PITA?) no pun intended.

I'm getting pretty drowsy right now and am going to take advantage of that in a bit after some browsing through the forums, and hit the sack.

Good night all, and good morning to you other cousins,

May the chips fall in your favour.

Regards, J.

Hmmm..., Can't seem to place it in the text where I want it, comments? Thx, J.


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## jj-smith (Nov 16, 2014)

Oh..,

Talking about Hwy 63 in Alberta and some of the loads you come across, and my own tire load to go home with.

Here are two pics of that.
The wide load is a frame that houses piping and will most likely be part of a pumping station, and it is big, but bigger stuff gets transported just the same, some of it takes a whole two lane highway. It is a slow job that can take a week or more to go from A to B depending on where from to where to, some of the loads that we do route all over Canada and the US to escape the low overpasses and narrow lanes and can take to weeks or more.., not my cup of tea.

My own load is a load of tires for re-treading, and again sometimes some of them are 12 feet wide and weigh more than a full size pickup truck.

Cheers all, J.


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