Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

Friday evening ..... came down about 5pm ......





then just after midnight the temp. noticeably leapt up and it all vanished
.... must've risen by 10 deg.s in a matter of half an hour ?


got these set out Saturday, between barrowing piles of garden crap and burning it for Pam ....





Mr Hermes arrived Saturday evening about 7.30 ...... with these








fifty quid each ... had to be had ... third of new price ... not a mark on the one and t'other's done maybe a couple of holes at best .... can never have enough tools


Set up the 70 mil.s yesterday ..... between yet more barrow fulls of prunings for burning ..








was gonna have a day on 'em all today .... bad night last night though ... didn't surface 'til mid morning - pissed ... and was reminded it's Monday ... so that was another two hours shot, when we got me 'plugged in' ...... was hoping to get to run the genny up after lunch 'praps but Pam had other plans !! .... tomorrow's another day


lovely sky last night ......








and was pretty crisp, 'bout half six, this morning ... -6C .... not long before I eventually got to sleep !!


last night was even 'whiter' than Friday ...





and still pretty white this morning





another stunningly different sky tonight








supposed to be a blue sky day tomorrow

[v8druid]

DPD have a new service ...... next ****ing month delivery ..... dunno WTF this has been ... been reimbursed by seller and assumed I'd never see it so got another from elsewhere ?? (phone battery)

[v8druid]

Tuesday however was a different story .... least it was 'til I had to go 'grand-dad-ing' about half two ... to watch Clara's second swimming lesson ... after my presence was 'requested', as she left for nursery, in the morning!!


kicked off the day with some 70 mil.s .... genny ran up fine and we were in business ...





although I'd set this out already, it was nice to check me measurements with the DRO on the Ajax ..





Spot on would adequately describe it


the broach presented a lovely 70.1 mil hole ... which was perfect for the pins, as a nice slide fit










then it was time to give the 80 mil.s a try











these were a tad more 'interesting to hang on to ... didn't want to trust them to a machine vise ... can never guarantee parallel in the bar stock and DID NOT want anything hopping about with 150 quidsworth of new broach buried elbow deep .... miss my old off cut stocks from work when it comes to packing summat ... wish I'd kept more


.....Anyway, got it set up and .......


pressed the go button on't genny ....... and ****ing sod all ... done it to me again !! earths off re-cleaned, although they looked perfect ... nothing ... going through the motions, but still sod all


fannied about checking all sorts and was contemplating 'jumping' the low current solenoid, to kick the starter's solenoid in, when i noticed a diode straddling the live terminal and earth on it??? Curious?? ... had it off, crimped up the spade a tad .. pressed the go button and we were in biz .. again??


one 80.15 mil hole later ......



........and a sweet as fit on a well greased pin ... jeez they'm heavy lil' sods .. and on to the next ...










it's fast approaching half two and I had to give up for the day .... would've liked to have stuck this in the band saw and sized them up, before shutting the genny off, but .....
it'll start in the morning ... it better had anyway


just to give you an inkling ......








can you see where this is going???


hopefully ... a lot more to come, tomorrow ...... forecast is dry
Bit more machining and it'll be MIG time

[v8druid]

well she started first flick Wednesday morning ... and no grief all day


first up to bat was the Startrite .....








get a truer cut elevating it off the bed and kinder to the blade .. not running in a looong curf


Ajax was next up .... playing drilling machine this morning ...





I don't bother clamping anything under 16 mil. .... much quicker ...


Out with the M16 taps ...





pin retainers tapped in both plates and on to splitting me spreader tubes ... 88.9 CHS with a 5mm wall just ain't quite big enough inside ... 4mm wall would've been, but didn't have any/couldn't get any ..... so







and re-set the carrier, ready to set up the pins parallel with each other ... in every plane





and stitched the one on ... followed by some very careful measuring ... in every plane to get t'other one dead on













before adding a few tacks to that one too ....... then the light and the bloody cold beat me ....
been raw here today, for standing about, fiddling, with a N Easterly to take your ears off


All ready for the morning ..... hoik the SEC out the trailer and get it over to the bench for a trial ... this is gonna be a 'Drema to handle it jobbie ... the 80 mm pins on their own are a handful .. two o' them and two 70,s plus all the ironmongery is waaaaaay too much for one pair of hands ... plus I'll need 'em to align everything
if it fits it'll get braced up in position, then off for a weld up and get some bosses made up for the 70,s
the spreader tubes for the 80,s'll get crammed full of grease ... don't want them getting stuck ............... and I can see how it looks on't Miller


then it'll be a case of lose all the sharp edges and corners ............ after Clara has been delivered to nursery .. there all day tomorrow and it's 'sposed to be dry yet again

[v8druid]

Well as you see above the SEC got a lift out of where it was sat in Ollie's old trailer, for a trip to me bench


Took Clara to nursery for 9 and got back for some brekky and drag me 'working rags' on .... Pam says "you're not seriously going out there again today?" was seriously brass monkeys again this morning with a small hooley howling, but it had to be done .. woolly hat today though ... my ears suffered yesterday


sat the SEC down by me bench and relocated the 80 mm pins, ready for action





picked this up off the bench first, to check it'd fit ... was pretty certain it'd go on ... but yer never know ... 'til you try when you're building on a tight tolerance





dropped it back on the bench .... and slung it for a trial fit .....




Alignment doesn't get any better than this ...





pins went in sweet as ......





gonna need a slight chamfer mod on the one 70 mm when I fit the bosses .. but only slight ...





then it was back on the bench for a full weld up consolidation ... once i'd got the brace in place and stitched into spot .. and got the G clamp out the way ..





'fore it got the hot stick ...... was way too breezy today for me MIG .... didn't bother with any pix of the weld up process ... you've all seen me welding before .. suffice to say it got well vee-ed out and burnt in

70 mili. pins secured and it got lifted back into the SEC ..... re-pinned with the 80s and got airborne ...








might put the adapter back on t'other way round (as originally planned) when it comes off again for bossing up and some shiny tish .... difficult to tell which is optimum with a 'floppy leg' ATM...


Parked it on't bench, in readiness for getting de-oiled, possibly tomorrow


gotsta get all (as much as poss.) of the mineral oil out of the ram and plumbing, ready to get 'converted to Plantohyd bio. and minimize polluting the 'Drema's tank full of bio. ......... before dashing off down for Clara .... Pam's not 'well' ATM ... barking like a dog, so is sensibly staying in the warm, indoors !








'Sposed to rain tomorrow, so may have t' wait ....


Little un'll be here again at 7.45, so after I've taken her to nursery, I may well set up the Ajax with Rob65 's chuck I had off him and have a session boring out a load of bosses ...
got a good dozen or more ready for opening up to 70.2 mil. for this and a few other att.s that've been awaiting their bosses for some time ....


Clara's only half day tomorrow though .. see how it goes


One thing for sure .... SEC's gonna be a beast you'd not want to upset .... and it might develop a taste for Ford Rangers .. would shake 'em like a terrier with a rat

[v8druid]

Lie in this morning .. just getting up at 7.15 and Vicki phones to say Clara'd been up most the night, not well, so .. day off.
Sadly it has absolutely pi**ed down here since the early hours, so not done a lot either
looked like it might clear later, so Ajax time after a bite of lunch !




well it did stop and I ran the genny up .... after setting up for a 'boring' afternoon ....
got 13 done, which I had cut previously ...
would've cut some more, but it was dark by the time I'd gotten through the pile I already had ...
job for tomorrow 'praps ..... left the Ajax set up in case
... then found a set of four I'd done ages ago, which i could've stuck on the adapter yesterday
(a).. if I'd known they were there
and
(b).. hadn't had to dash off to collect the little 'un at 15.00 ...
day shot after half an hour in the park next to the school











the CDS is not the 'roundest' of sections ... internally anyway ...... they'll do though

49 rpm and .016 feed rate, on the quill, but didn't have to take a great deal out so circa 15 thou cut to get to the desired 70.2mm and only 20mm depth ....
could probably get away with doubling the spindle speed, but the faster you spin it the more centrifugal influence you get, on the vertical tool (and possible chatter) so kept the tool as short as possible ..... not so a horizontally mounted cutter though and no flex in the cutter shaft


these machined out pretty well, on one pass, but slow at that speed .. they'll certainly do for what I want them for

[v8druid]

Pam's dropped into Crimbo mode .... I just love searching the attic for all the accouterments :help: .... 'specially as it was dry and the yellow thing was out to play this morning .... so .. some time later .. I eventually escaped to me box.


had a bit of a head count on boss requirements for what was missing and what I have planned / on the cards and set up the Startrite ...





slight problem with having it plugged in to the genny ... t'other outlet's a 32 Amper, so had to spend a bit of time creating an adapter to run anything else on a 16A plug ... like the Ajax or the belt grinder ....





so a two into one got stuck together and was able to hover between the saw and the miller simultaneously speeded up the extra 15 boss's production no end, especially as they'll both quit at predetermined points with the stops set Genny ran faultlessly again, with no issues, first flick ... hopefully that terminal I gave some attention to WAS the issue all along


got 'em all bored, then gave 'em all a good fettling on the belt grinder .....










before having a major tidy up ... swarf everywhere ... not good for cat's paws or getting stuck in yer boots
everything away and tidied up just in time for tea at six


tomorrow's looking good on the forecast, so we might get the SEC de-oiled and plumbed for a trial, before dropping the adapter back off it for some of these bosses and some corner trimming/fettling .... 'fore Mogman gets on my case for sharp corners

[v8druid]

'Twas a wild night here, last might .. God knows what the West coast of Paddyland was like .... had a horrendous forecast, according to the box.. bad enough here!!
Pam on a mission this morning .. headed for town .. in Crimbo mode ... 'least I wasn't involved, other than the list I got left for this morning's adventures.
Bloody twinkly lights !! Clara does love 'em though .. Four inches of water back in the fish pond .... as I said was some wild night and sort a few other bits an' bobs ........ and I was sorted ...


Time for some oil extraction ....





tha's one side of the cylinder closed up tight as ...
plumbing off to the port and drained, blown out and refitted ...
not a lot in it thankfully ... then on to t'other ...





not much in here either ... pipes blown through and the ports .... couldn't have been a lot left anywhere ...


sorted some FF males and got 'em screwed on to the pipe ends, then quietly fed it some Plantohyd .... this is 61.5" full open ..





surprised the ports're only 3/8" on it ... half would've been a better bet IMHDO ... but it gets there .


glad I added the extra inch to the one pair of legs on the adapter ... would've been too close for comfort without it ... if not too tight





hose lengths were fine, fully crowded and open, but closed and extended out was a different matter .... another 12" needed .... so found meself some 18", half inchers ... which annoyingly were BSP/metric, but luckily had some suitable 1/2"BSP/metric adapters and it all went together nicely ...





with plenty of tolerance to thread 'em through me 'carrier' rings ....





gonna have to watch they do not get snagged on those protruding pins though ... couple more rings might be on the cards to be sure
Will have to have a look another day .... Pam back and wanting to do me treatment, as we'd left it this morning, in deference to her 'mission'.


so left the SEC on and dropped the 'Drema out on her parking block, found another for the SEC ....











...... and scuttled off indoors, after a major square up, for some more plumbing ..... of a different kind .... in me arm !!


.......But not before doing this one for you lot ...

shuts with a hell of a 'CLACK' ... You'd deffo not want to have anything you value in there ... and that's on 180 bar, on me rotate line
need to acquire a check valve for the closure port .... from my experiences with me Cranab, these things tend to 'let go' quietly without a check in the circuit, at the port.


Interestingly when I ran her up this afternoon, everything on the dash worked perfectly ..
the odd temperamental switch (which're always annoying) performed faultlessly ....
but more annoyingly, the auto throttle settings seem to have got their head in a knot ...
will have to put the tacho on it and see what's what .....
idle is well low and the first 'S' throttle setting (1400rpm) is too ....
hence the low(er then usual) throttle setting in the vid ......
curiously the 'L' setting (1800rpm) sounded about right to my ear ...
Summat's either gone out of adjustment .. or summat stuck, isn't any more ??

[v8druid]

new toys arrived this morning ...





got a bit of a job on over Crimbo ...





fitting this lot, which arrived this afternoon !! Will keep me out the house(ful) !!


MOT advisory last year ...
boots on front swivels perished ...
joints're fine, but to change the boots you have to split the swivels off the axle ...
so if I'm doing that I might as well change the whole joint ..
job done ... all four of 'em to be precise.
discs and hubs have to come off too, so new discs and pads while i'm at it ...
drag link and track rod arrive tomorrow hopefully ...
one advisory on a track rod end ... the crimped one !!
so might as well do 'em all .. they'm all over 20 years old


Startrite's been doing a bit this afternoon ...








Little idea I had the other evening







might be a bit of a clue .... Rory ... you're out of the game ... as we discussed it earlier today


got the big lump drilled out ready to tap tomorrow, when i can clamp it to the bench .. bit dark tonight .... and the smaller bits set up in the Ajax .. well one of 'em anyway


last job of the day ..... try and melt me burning drum .....





was some bit hot and glowing well !!

[Stock]

Pix no work herr Druid..........................................

[ianoz]

Pix no work herr Druid..........................................

.
The photobucket ransome not paid maybe

[v8druid]

.
The photobucket ransome not paid maybe

they took their standing payment on 5th Nov., as usual ......
I can't get into 'Bucket at all ATM .. server must be down

[v8druid]

Pix no work herr Druid..........................................

have had words with them Stock ..... and the site is down ... has been for quite a while .. it'd better come back

[v8druid]

it actually wasn't raining for an hour yesterday morning .... so dropped the SEC off the dipper .... wanted to leave it sat open, with the ram closed .. this was about the easiest way to get at the couplings, once off ...





could stand on the grab and get at them easily ... must remember for getting it back on


wanted to whip the 'dapter off, get it bossed up, plus a mod. to it and the corners trimmed off .... 'fore i get Mogman on my case for leaving sharp corners





got it on the bench and the bloody heavens opened .. AGAIN !! and that was the end of out-door activity for the day
so... turned me attention to the 'little idea' I had the other night and the bits I chopped for it last ...





broach produces a sweet hole, fair play





set out a few other bits, for when I can get outside to deal with 'em





got back down the house to find a delivery waiting for me ... wasn't 'sposed to be here 'til today and the box had me foxed for a minute ... until I realised it was me track rod and drag link - hadn't ordered a ladder





... so all bits present and accounted for, ready for a dry day or two .... depending on how it comes apart


today has been worse than yesterday ..... pissed down .. 'tl it got dark and's been on / off since
got a few more bits set out, for lopping up and tapped yon plate,





between ferrying Clara back and fore to the village and nursery. Tomorrow's forecast looks a bit more promising ... but .... grand dadding duties first thing in the morning and noon, so can't see me getting a lot done .. in fact .. sod all .. just remembered Pam and some of her mates're out to a crimbo lunch and I've got the little un for the afternoon !!! .... wonder if she'd like to learn to weld


so much for the forecast .... still / no wind at all, foggy as **** and pissing down .... no chance of much this morning


came back down the drive, after dropping Clara, earlier and see water pissing out the breather on the water tanks ..... overflow blocked ...
comes out in the stream below the tanks ...
went back up, with 'Excalibur' in search of the pipe end, which's been buried by all the crap brought down stream .....


got bloody drowned finding it in the stream bed ..pulled the length out the bed completely ..... whipped it up onto the bank and away it went problem solved ......
rain's eased off, now I'm drowned ..... dry jeans required !!


left an empty coffee mug on top of the genny Wednesday evening (forgot it) ..... just brought it in, having noticed it, when I was up there ..... it was FULL of rain water ... as in over'kinflowing !!! ..... that is some rainfall in 36 hrs !!!!!

[v8druid]

been tasked with producing a 'Busy Board' for Shem to keep him amused ....... WTF is one o' they I hear you say ? ... my reaction too


so having been edumacated in their nuances, via a Google crash course ...
and supplied with dimensional parameters as to where it's likely to end up in Plymouth --- an 8' x 4' sheet wasn't required -- thank **** !! ...
would've taken some filling, I set about said task ...





several coats of paint later and we were ready to add a few trinkets


bench has been littered with all sorts .. some stuff from stock and some newly acquired items ..





not finished yet, but getting there ...... hopefully it'll meet approval ...







Been bloody cold standing about f ann y ing with this though and didn't quite know WTF to start with it initially ... bit 'abstract' for my 'engineering mind'


Hopefully a couple more hours tomorrow'll see it wrapped up ....... assuming i get any sleep tonight ....
very little un with a nasty cold and coughing fit to bust,
two year old who sleeps in fits and starts, when he feels inclined
and four year old Clara,
all in residence tonight


ear plugs and defenders to hit the sack with i think ..... LOL


a 'Clara sleepover' with cousin Shem was Granny's idea .. she can deal with the inevitable consequences


got left 'holding the baby' earlier, for half an hour, when the rest of 'em went out in the pitch black, with torches for the kids, on an 'owl hunt' ...
of which there are plenty to listen to 'round here ....
little one is not well at all ...
and I made damned sure they took phones with them .... in case ...
way above my pay grade, skill set or experience !!!