What did you do today?

[Arcane]

I can remember us getting the power put into our farm when I was a very young kid but for the life of me I can't remember what we did for refrigeration, if anything!

As an aside, when the crew had finished their work, I remember dad talking to them and I was there also. For whatever reason, they strapped a set of climbers on me (sorta, they came up way past my knees!) and many years later I was wearing a pair daily in my job as a Lineman for the same power company. I think I can honestly saw I've worn climbers longer than anybody!

[DennisCA]

Continuing with the catapult toys, not that much progress but should be done before christmas. Got the dowels turned and bored, once the last glue up dries I can start figuring out the ratchet release mechanism and make the throwing arm.





Also did some welding up of these pieces of flat bar I milled, making the first part of my 2x72 grinder build. A 2nd identical part will also be made.

[Bruno Mueller]

My grandson is getting a planer bench built by his dad for Christmas. I got the order to make four bench hooks for it. The workbench gets several holes with a diameter con 3/4 inch.
The bench hooks I have made of duralumin. The clamping surface is milled at an angle of 2.5 degrees. The head diameter is 30mm and is 16mm high.
The thickness of the bench is 40mm. The pin is 45mm long and has 19mm diameter.



A reserve bench hook I made.

[Bruno Mueller]

Bought a hemingway kit to make their sensitive knurling tool, here's someone elses build I found online, no idea if mine will be as good looking.

It looks good, congratulations.
I also made this part a few years ago.

A detailed construction report can be found here.

http://mueller-bruno.de/knurling-tool-raendelzange.html

[Dan Dubeau]

Pulled these 2 guys out of the lure turner tonight after the clear coats cured. They started life on friday night as a couple chunks of balsa.



Painted this guy the other night too. Too bad the lure was a failure, and is destined for a keychain duty lol. I have to remake the mold for this design (it's a resin casting of one of my favorite designs, the Beno).....I hate doing stuff twice.......


I'm going to put the lure making on hold for a while and finish some other project that have been hovering in the 20-80% zone for far too long. Those were xmas presents so I had to finish them.

[DennisCA]

It looks good, congratulations.
I also made this part a few years ago.

A detailed construction report can be found here.
http://mueller-bruno.de/knurling-tool-raendelzange.html

Thanks for the link, but the picture does not show my knurler. I have not yet received the kit. The picture is somebody elses work.

Now this I did myself last night however. Had some time over to work on the catapults.

[The Metal Butcher]

Did a bunch of problem solving AKA ass saving at work today.

First guy (engineer) comes to me describing this super hard, impossible to solve problem^TM, which I finally worked out that he wanted a groove in a piece of graphite. Ok. Done.

Next one was more challenging. A different engineer needs a 0.040" slot in a bar of graphite to be 0.100" deeper. Ok. Got any endmills? "No we borrowed it." Ok, when do you have to have it? "Today." Ok, fine, I'll shape it. Got any HSS? No? Ah, a razor blade. So I ground a tool out of a razor blade on the worlds worst bench grinder, deburred it with a carbide threading tool (no hone stones), chucked the bar in the lathe and got it slotted. Sheesh. I'm spoiled at home, these guys have zip for tooling.

Last challenge was restarting my metal printer after it quit when the guys tripped the main breakers yesterday. That was a challenge as the machine had lost it all it's coordinates, everything. I think I got it close. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Quite the 4:30 day.

[Cenedd]

Discovered that Christmas is cancelled and lockdown 3 is in effect. Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

[Tundra Twin Track]

I made a File Rack for son-in-law ,used Pferd Handles and most Files are NOS Wiltshire’s from 1986.

[Dan Dubeau]

Replaced the u joints in my truck. Everything actually went smooth for once. Wife even said, this is the first time I've ever seen you work on a vehicle with a smile on your face lol.

[DennisCA]

Dowel jig, Mattias Wandel design. I think a metal one could be made for a bunch of different sizes, this one was quick to throw together:

[DennisCA]

Pretty lousy quality on these photos, but got the throwing arm and "spoon" done. Basically done now, finishing remains. Maybe some kinda feet. I used a wood router bit to make the gouge, I modified it and cut off the bearing that was used to follow along edges. It was broken anyway, a cheap 1/2 router bit set from ebay. I needed a pilot hole though so I used a normal 12mm router to make that, then I plunged the router bit on the mill and moved it a little along the X-axis to make an oval indentation.





I might need some kinda soft "catcher" for the arm so it doesn't break itself when firing.

[Arcane]

Dennis, since that looks like it would hold an egg nicely...egg fight!

[Cenedd]

Well, inspired by Tim Clarke and his case for a level I went in search of something a little lazier to do mine. As these things tend to, in being lazy I probably made more work for myself in the end! I found that a 12" level is about the size of a bottle of wine so I bought a presentation box from Amazon. It's a little lighter than I'd like but actually for what amounts to about $12 including (slooow) shipping, it's pretty good. The hinges weren't screwed on straight so it didn't open particularly well. Good enough for it's intended one-shot purpose, I'm sure but I replaced them with some slightly overkill brass hinges, cut them in and reverse-mounted them (didn't want them to stick out and didn't have enough wall-thickness for a flush hinge) and lapped them in It would have been nicer if I'd got the screws in true but these things are tiny (5mm head and 6mm long)....and I'm an inept wood-worker!



The stuff inside is Kaizen foam. Unlike Tim, I made cut-outs on both sides for the transverse vial. I'm bound to try shoving it in backwards otherwise and the foam's a little less rigid than his oak!



Even found enough space for the pair of 3/8" spanners required to adjust it - I don't have any other use for them so they live with it.
You can see the couple of grooves I cut (badly) to accommodate the mountings for the vial.



The box came unfinished so I've coated it with a number of thin coats of Osmo TopOil to give it some chance of surviving the shop environment! I did try asking Osmo whether it was known to cause/accelerate rust and they rather helpfully informed me that contact with rust shouldn't harm the finish

[Tim Clarke]

Nice job! I'm thinking that I'll try foam for the next case I make.