www.mikes-models.com blog

I pushed on with the furnace project this morning with the aim of designing and producing the method of securing the burner to the furnace body.  I decided to make a clamp out of aluminium and bolt this to two pieces of steel angle iron which in turn would be welded to the furnace frame.

After measuring up I marked out the piece of aluminium and went over to the milling machine.  The first task was to mill out the gap required to let the burners delivery tube. Then the main diameter hole was finished to size by using a milling cutter (after removing as much material as possible using the slot drill). After those two tasks were completed the overall size of the bracket was brought to finished size by milling.

There were 6 holes to drill, 4 for mounting the clamp to the angle iron and 2 tapped 6mm for grub screws which holds the burner head in position (please see photo's) before going to the scrap box to find some angle iron to which the clamp is bolted.

One adjustment had to be made however to get the burner in the right place by means of milling a step on the furnace face side of the clamp. After that its was a quick clean up before starting on the two angle iron brackets. These were brought to shape by measuring against the now nearly finished aluminium bracket. Once they were finished the holes were transferred from the aluminium to the angle iron by steel punches, the first time I used them and was impressed with the results. The set of punches were bought cheaply on eBay and I must say they really made easy work of marking the holes in the correct places.

Once the mounting holes were drilled and tapped into the angle iron the clamp was bolted to them and the bolts trimmed to length by means of the Proxxon and the Dremel cut off discs which performed well. Running out of puff I decided to position the assembly in place and when it all seemed secure thought "why not!" and decided to fire up the burner albeit briefly (I want to bring the temperature up in the furnace gently and for a prolonged period when the lid has cured a little) to see if the burner I am using would work.

After trying to get an old set of matches to work the burner lit and I am confident it will deliver the goods. This may be wishful thinking when its running for a long time but I am still hopeful.

All that remains now is to trim the grub screws that hold the head in place and get the welder out to weld the angle iron brackets in their final resting place and weld the lid hinge in place before making a steel stand to sit the crucible on but it has had a flame in it! Can't wait for the first melt!

Follow its progress on my main website and here are a few explanation photo's......

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In addition to making pens I have had a go at a wine stopper yesterday. Great for the sealing of opened wine bottles. Have a look at my main website for more information about turning pens,pencils, roller balls and other items. I enjoy it so much I need to find owners or else I can't make any more! So if you want a pen or wine stopper email me and I will give you a choice of pen type and either wood or acrylic for the body. I have some lovely new timbers.....

This is the latest item.....

Wine stopper -makes a lovely present. Want one? Then please email me

I managed to get into the workshop this morning so carried on with the pair of flywheels for the two Seal engines. The need to ensure they do not 'wobble' when running is important so I decided to follow the advice of Edgar T Westbury in his article published during 1947 (!) in the Model Engineer magazine and make a mandrel to run between centres.

I decided to turn the mandrel out of  BMS (mild steel) and set the taper by adjusting the top slide over to give the 10 deg inclusive angle. After getting the bar to run true in the 4 jaw chuck, the bar was turned down to just under the 0.25" diameter required to match the end of the crankshafts. The thread I used was 1/4" x 40 tpi (model engineer thread) so I checked the Drills Taps and Dies reference book in the Home Workshop series (no.12) by Tubail Cain where he recommends a 5% to 10% reduction in size to allow for the Die to cut correctly.

Once the mandrel was made a elongated nut was mad to hold the flywheel against the taper. Once the nut was threaded I drilled out around 1" in length away from the nut. It was then back to the 4 jaw chuck to centre the mandrel, and fit the flywheel.

I was pleased and disappointed at the same time when I ran the lathe because the flywheel ran true! Pleased because of the work done and disappointed because of the work done in turning the mandrel! On reflection I decided that it was still the right thing to have done and really confirmed the trueness of the flywheel.

So that completed all the turning machine jobs and whilst this one is scrap I at least now know the best procedures to produce the flywheel. So the next time I will ready to go full steam ahead and get the two flywheels made.

My purchase of a Clarke bandsaw has meant my Warco bandsaw has to go. It has been a great servant to me and is still working fine. If it wasn't for the fact I wanted a vertical cutting ability I should not have replaced it.

Included in the sale are a couple of new blades so its all ready to go. If you are interested then please email me. It will need to be picked up from Brixham in Devon. Below are some photo's of the bandsaw. I have fixed the price realistically at £50 so first come, first served.

I managed to get out into the workshop a couple of days ago and carried on with the manufacture of the two brass flywheels I am making for the pair of Seal engines. My session started well enough until I misread the dimensions and removed too much metal from the face! I decided however to carry on with making the flywheel so I could iron out any other problems and also make the tool for the flywheel starting cord. The pictures below show the progress and tool profile.

It is a big advantage to grind your own tools and the profile soon ground. I used the plan to get the correct profile. I took the cuts very carefully and got to depth but the next time I shall use the parting tool to remove more material and then turn to the profiled HSS tool. This should make the process even easier.

I will now have to prepare another blank. Fortunately I still have enough material but will have to be careful.

During the last cut of the last brass bar I was cutting for the first use of the bandsaw the blade broke at the weld! I was fortunate enough to have bought a bi-metal blade on eBay so I could carry on.

Phoning Machine Mart proved to be a less stressful experience that I expected. After being put through to 'some one in technical' I spoke to to their engineer who explained that whilst it was the blade, they needed to see if the machine caused it or whether it was a faulty blade.

My description was quickly accepted and the engineer said they would replace the blade even though it was classed as a 'consumable'. So that was good news. I went onto say I was pleased with the saw but the stand was rubbish! He said that a friend of his had bought the same model and held the same views as myself, he built a new stand for it. That convinced me that I should go the same route so as soon as some good weather comes, I will take my Mk Jaguar out of its comfy home and fabricate a stand in the resultant space.

20 minutes after finishing my call to Machine Mart I had a return call where I was told that the man responsible for retail blades would not open a pack of five for just one blade so they decided to send me a pack instead! Common sense but its nice I didn't have to fight for them. So well done Machine Mart and that's a gold star.........until the next time.......well done

Its early days yet since I have just received the Dremel Speedclic cut off system today. However initial observations are favourable. It is an 'expensive' system on the face of it so I will need to see its overall durability, the efficiency of the cutting disc as well as how long they will last before coming up with a final rating.

I purchased my set with a pack of spare discs from Axminster tools and on inspection the quality of materials is very good, but no less than you should expect for its price. The true cost of Dremels cut off disc system will depend upon both the durability of the click mandrel as well as the life of the cutter so some time will need to pass.

On opening the package the mandrel seems strong enough and of course I tried to fit one disc without reading the brief illustrated instruction sheet that accompanied the package. It soon became obvious that you don't put the disc on and press it down whilst turning in one direction so I am ashamed to say I had a look at the destruction's. You simply pull down on the top mandrel collar and place the disc inside before giving it a twist (making sure the Dremel painted side is facing away from the mandrel and tool), then release the collar and your done.

I always run any new disc up to speed for a short time, no matter what its size. More than likely this is not needed but its something drummed into me at an earlier age. When trying the disc on a 3mm bolt it proved both quick and accurate. I like the large size of the disc but on some small work it may prove to big. My answer will be to run one or two disc down to a small size then replace with new and keeping these smaller diameters for other occasions.

One major advantage obvious even this early on is the changing methodology. No more loosing very small screws!

On the face of it the expense is worth it, but I reserve judgement until I know how long the disc will last.

Dremel Instructions and Speedclic