Tim from Telford, UK

[Mike Ginn]

Hi Derrick
I had NSEW facing walls on a detached garage with no issues. I did however always check that there was no dew on the wooden up&over door which was on the E wall. If there was it was an indication of warmer outside air and potentially an issue with condensation on cold metals. Under these circumstanced I did not uncover the machines. The photos of the chucks showed that the method worked and BTW I have no rust on the lathe or mill beds. I realize now that the chucks are 50 years old - where did the time go!!!
Mike

 

[Shopgeezer]

My west facing shop has never given me rust problems except for one exceptional humidity event in our normally dry western weather. A finger of air from the gulf coast of the US made it just far enough north to poke at us in western Canada. And just for one night. Of course all the shed windows were open. I walked in to the shop the next day and to my horror every machine and wood working tool was covered in a thin patina of rust. It took weeks of work to get things back to shiny and oiled. This was years ago and I still find the occasional drill or bolt with that thin coat of rust. How on earth do you run a shop in the deep south where humidity is through the roof every day?

 

[awake]

How on earth do you run a shop in the deep south where humidity is through the roof every day?

Here in North Carolina (only medium-deep south, I suppose), I have had surprisingly little trouble with rust. I suspect part of the reason may be that the garage/shop is attached to the house, with part of the living space over the garage. As a result, the garage never gets as cold or as hot as it is outdoors.

Actually the situation that causes the most problem is during high summer, when I am sweating. I haven't had trouble with the machines "sweating," but human sweat drops on iron tools quickly equals rust spots.

 

[kf2qd]

Like the plane. Was into that a few years ago and then life got in the way...

Get the biggest machine you can house. A small machine may seem like a good idea, but it will really limit what you can accomplish. Bigger also means more solid and stable. (and the knobs and switches are easier to get you big mitts on...) Enjoy and have fun.

 

[Tim Hooper]

It's been a little while......

I had my very first encounter with a lathe yesterday evening! As mentioned earlier, I'd signed up for a short course of night school classes at the nearby Shrewsbury College, and yesterday was the day.

Over three hours, I managed to turn a lump of steel into the artifact you see here. Dimensionally, it's questionable. Surface finish is so-so. But, it's taking pride of place in the Hooper lounge, dammit!

Tim

 

[Peter Twissell]

Congratulations on your first turned part.
There will be many more firsts.
Almost every project I undertake involves some technique I have never used before.

 

[Steamchick]

Well done on selecting a sensible training place for getting started. Have you joined a local model engineering club? They probably have facilities where you can practice your skills and get more advice and training in your new hobby.
Must be one close to Telford - the heart of Engineering history.
K2

 

[awake]

Yay! That first part definitely deserves a place of honor in your home. Many more will follow, but that will always be your "first."

 

[Apprentice707]

Welcome to the world of swarf production Tim.

 

[Tim Hooper]

Apologies for the long gap, but there's been definite progress!

I finished the 5-week course at Shrewsbury College; 2 sessions on a lathe, 3 sessions on a mill.

There then followed bit of a hiatus due to health issues for both of us, but we're both back on tip-top form now. In the interim, I've kept an eye on what goes on here, and continued to watch the exploits of my YouTube heroes.

Our original plan of a shared workshop was a abandoned, as soon as I saw the sawdust that was produced by Netty's joinery. The router is the worst offender. Sooo.....I'm getting the use of the conservatory as my workshop (which is where I do my aeromodelling anyway).

Another trip to Chester Hobby Stores revealed that they were awaiting stock on a suitable lathe (due in the end of October), but they did have several mills, so we drove home with the back of the Mondeo full of a Champion V20 mill and stand.

The mill is free-standing at the moment, but I've fitted a rear guard to contain the swarf a little, and I've trammed the spindle and vice successfully.

Chester were also offering 30% of all tooling if ordered online, so more parcels arrived in the following week. Vice, collet chuck, cutters, DGIs, clamps, blocks, etc. Additionally one of my mates is an engineer, and has donated old, but NIB, Imperial cutters and scraps of material to practice on.

There's a Chinese DRO kit on order too.

So, I've embarked on a couple of simple projects to keep my hand in whilst I await the lathe; a simple arm to hold a DGI to a mag mount, a tramming bar.

Next up, I want to make some simple carbs to allow some of my old diesel engines to respond to radio control.

Tim

 

[Bazzer]

Nice workshop, very welcoming.

 

[Gary C]

Great stuff an such a positive attitude!

Small diesels will work with carbs, you just wont get the control that you would get with a glow motor. Are you looking at basic air bleed type carbs or twin needle?

 

[Tim Hooper]

Small diesels will work with carbs, you just wont get the control that you would get with a glow motor. Are you looking at basic air bleed type carbs or twin needle?

Thanks Gary,
I've got several throttled diesels (some even get flown in model aircraft), so I realise their limitations.

I'm attaching a pic of my plan-built Cardinal, which has flown today. It has a 1958 Mills .75 (with marine exhaust stubs), fitted with a carb from an Indian Mills replica. Works surprisingly well!

I'll be keeping things simple, and opting for the airbleed variety.



Tim

 

[Gary C]

I like that simple throttle set up. The marine diesel variant Mills is the first I've seen. I have Mills engines but never knew about the marine application.

 

[Chris Murphy]

I like that simple throttle set up. The marine diesel variant Mills is the first I've seen. I have Mills engines but never knew about the marine application.

I don't think Mills produced much in the way of marine versions-but various other people-Ripmax springs to mind-DID produce marine conversion kits for the Mills aero versions...usually the water cooled head, flywheel and universal joint. The actual Mills throttles were fairly crude devices, with little in the way of low speed mixture compensation-so even a simple adjustable airbleed arrangement would be quite an improvement. note that MP Jet produce both fixed airbleed and and twin needle throttles for their 061 engines....without one seemingly being superior in operation to the other. [I haven't dismantled any of mine but I suspect the 'simple' one may contain a fixed low speed needle inside-to go with the fixed airbleed. Current PAW production (at least in the small to medium sizes-ie below .40 cu ins displacement-seem to manage of on a fixed airbleed arrangement...

ChrisM