What have you been doing today?

[Steamchick]

Hi Lloyd: I have a simple mantra. "Just do it".
When I looked around at 3 blokes watching a boiler come up to pressure for the safety to operate, (1 in charge, 2 watching as it was their turn to take charge next), with 2 Club boiler inspectors and an experienced steam loco engineer watching and smiling - all silent for the first time in years - I realised that "just doing it" really works! And it felt like "the Club" should be after a few troubled years.
I'm sure it is not an uncommon experience, but it felt good. - When the safety valve lifted, the conversation started again... You'd have thought the baby had arrived!
A tip I learned in industry, while training hundreds of lads from the production line, is to introduce a deliberate gaff so the clever ones will spot it and show you to have erred. But often the "deliberate mistake" comes naturally to me. The best learning for them is the way you correct the matter. A joke about it sticks the point in their heads. And they remind you of it years later...
K2

 

[paulrayner]

Tha gits owd wi'art gittin mornin' 'baht it. Bit o' mornin' gaets it off'r ya chist Ar reckons... Nowt lark a bit o' mornin' when tha feels owd...
Old English (Northern version?) still exists... then? (Wish I could de it). (Apologies to Yorkshire and Lancashire folk for my inadvertent corruption. I was taught "Queen's English by my Sunderland "Posh" Grandmother...!).
http://www.apoembymanchester.co.uk/gradely-folk-by-grant-somerville/
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/national-mackem-day-17-phrases-17877406
Keep us entertained with more "proper Yorkshire".
K2

ah bart this un then- "tin tin tin" no prizes

 

[tractor162003]

I had carpal tunnel surgery on right wrists, about 30 years all is still good.

 

[Steamchick]

RaulR: I noticed the website software "does na spake like tha' does".
It has changed the grammar, removing apostrophes, so becoming meaningless. (Compared to the original "t' in" in the prompt email - I'll see if that works...).
Of course, it is American software.. so changing the meaning of all the words in the English language is normal. If I were writing in pencil, I may need to use a rubber to make corrections to my spelling mistakes... but now the phone and computer often change the messages and use completely the wrong words when the correct one has been written. (Like my English teacher).

Tractor, Your carpal tunnel work has lasted better than all the cables doing the same job on my 1979 Guzzi... - That's what I call "technology" ... but I suppose Nature has had millenia to get the job right? Bowden cables invented in 1890s... Carpel tunnels go back before dinosaurs I guess? Neither like a sharp bend... as I found when I had Carpal tunnel syndrome from early use of a computer mouse... "Ouch!" - Missed a year of motorcycling while that recovered (couldn't grip the twist-grip or front brake).
K2

 

[Steamchick]

PaulR:
OK. No prize, but is it " It (is) in (the) tea-tin tin " ..? - Can't be right can it.. That would be " t' in t' t-tin tin " ..?
Defeated.
K2

 

[Jonathan Coates]

Well my dog had a big birthday, 15 years young, so she got a steak for lunch and a nice roast beef dinner later. Somebody, mentioning no names, was kind enough to buy her a D bit grinder in very used condition and we have an agreement that if I fix it up I can play with it. I, oops they, couldn't pass it up for 400 GB pounds.
We think that this is probably the dog's last birthday, as 15 is really really old for a Labradoodle and she obviously has trouble lying down and getting back up. She's got very clingy so I try to keep her company and as she won't go in the workshop as she once stood on a hot chip, that's staying in the house.

 

[michael-au]

New toy for the workshop arrived today, fiber laser engraver

Started to cleaning the white paint numbers off and engraving the numbers back on, very happy with the results, next will be the numbers on the mill tool holders

 

[Lloyd-ss]

The possibilities look limitless. Very professional looking.

 

[Steamchick]

JC: Love to see the D-bit grinder... Also the doodlelab? - If she can smile at the camera?
K2

 

[Jonathan Coates]

K2, here are some photos as requested.


This is my antique dog, at 15 years old she's a living fossil.

These two are photos of the lathe tool adapter thing that I made for it. I'm hoping that I can grind something like Rustinox's shear tool for the shaper which will mean that I don't need a surface grinder. Still bits to iron out with the setting of grind radius and stuff as that's fiddly.

 

[Lloyd-ss]

A little medical humor

Monday, I had a small cancerous lesion removed from the skin at the corner of my eye right next to the bridge of my nose. It was done in the office, and it wasn't the bad kind of cancer. They used a Mohs process to make sure they got everything. Then I had to wait an hour or 2 for the plastic surgeon to do the repair to the area. I was in the office for about 5 hours total, most of it waiting. But there is a funny part to it. I had 2 left-over Ativan anti-anxiety pills that I took just before the procedure started. Because it was just local anesthetic, I knew I would have been sweating bullets with them working right at my eye without the Ativan. While waiting the 2 hours for the plastic surgeon I found some snacks in the office, went downstairs on the elevator, wandered around outside like a dementia patient, but managed to find my way back upstairs, found a chair in the corner, ate another snack and waited like a good boy. I guess I sat in the wrong place because 2 nurses came looking for me, saying "Here he is, we found him." During the plastic surgery part, they gave me about a dozen tiny injections in the area where they had to cut and stretch the skin. I was super chill and commented that they were using the shotgun approach for the anesthetic. A little laughter. I was talkative (that is not the usual me) and remember most of what I said, and at least they didn't have tell me to stop talking. The plastic surgeon commented while sewing me up that they should give EVERYBODY Ativan. I guess it made her job a lot easier to not have me flinching and whining, LOL. They had already called my wife to come pick me up and she was parked out front. They shooed me out the door and I was all happy and on my way. Who knew having skin surgery could be such a fun adventure.

After I got home, I did not touch any machinery. Instead, I stared at the computer screen but couldn't see anything because of the bandage at my eye.
But it didn't matter
Lloyd.

 

[Lloyd-ss]

K2, here are some photos as requested.

View attachment 156338
This is my antique dog, at 15 years old she's a living fossil.

Shhh. Don't say that out loud. Tell her she doesn't look a day over 9.

 

[Steamchick]

My mother was a living fossil at 102... so in dog years she was overdue for dead. She finally faded last year. Sadly all good things come to pass. Enjoy your lovely dog while you can. You may have a few years yet, or she may simply decide not to wake up one day.
But she looks lovely.
K2

 

[somniosus]

As a vet I have to say that is a lovely , healthy looking 15 year old dog with nice white sclera, good looking teeth and overall looking like theres a few more squirrels to chase. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Lloyd-ss]

Its a beautiful time of year. I stepped out onto the back deck with with a big cup of coffee and was greeted by these two, newly opened, dark purple poppies. That makes it all worth it. There are several more in some of the other gardens that all opened last night. How does Mother Nature do that?
Lloyd

 

[SmithDoor]

Today look a plexiglass rod I just received. Planning first trying making game pieces and later a engine. I have used a lot of UHMW
This first time for turning plexiglass.
Before start I have install a new toilet flush valve

Any comments on plexiglass?

 

[Lloyd-ss]

Today look a plexiglass rod I just received. Planning first trying making game pieces and later a engine. I have used a lot of UHMW
This first time for turning plexiglass.
Before start I have install a new toilet flush valve

Any comments on plexiglass?

It polishes nicely with a little compound and a cotton buff. Be careful not to burn it.

It will bond invisibly to itself by having a tight, clean joint and using a straight solvent to do the bonding. I think I used MEK and a hypodermic needle, but check to see what the correct solvent is. When the joint is done right, you won't be able to see it.

When practicing and figuring out your tool geometry, it can be difficult to detect micro-cracks that sometimes won't show up until later. An easy way to make the micro-cracks visible is to put a tiny bit of very light weight oil on the acrylic. Any little cracks that are there should pop right out and become quite noticeable.

Until you get the geometry and technique figured out, it can be frustrating trying to get a perfect piece that only needs a minimum amount of polishing.

I hope something there is helpful for you.

 

[SmithDoor]

It polishes nicely with a little compound and a cotton buff. Be careful not to burn it.

It will bond invisibly to itself by having a tight, clean joint and using a straight solvent to do the bonding. I think I used MEK and a hypodermic needle, but check to see what the correct solvent is. When the joint is done right, you won't be able to see it.

When practicing and figuring out your tool geometry, it can be difficult to detect micro-cracks that sometimes won't show up until later. An easy way to make the micro-cracks visible is to put a tiny bit of very light weight oil on the acrylic. Any little cracks that are there should pop right out and become quite noticeable.

Until you get the geometry and technique figured out, it can be frustrating trying to get a perfect piece that only needs a minimum amount of polishing.

I hope something there is helpful for you.

Thank you
Dave

 

[Lloyd-ss]

Another morning walk with a cup of coffee. The weather is delightful right now.
Squirrels, chipmunks, bugs, and drought. Those are in the number 2 spot of landscaping pests, But the number ONE spot, by a long shot, is deer. After a bunch of years you learn that "deer resistant" is only a suggestion, and given the right opportunity and needs, deer will eat just about anything.

But here is a beautiful deciduous flowering shrub that is resistant to everything, including deer. It is a real delight with its huge red blossoms and dark green leaves. Zero maintenance except for removing the suckers from the base that sprout up throughout the season. It is truly a stunning go-to, focal point shrub, if you have the room.

A few years ago I pruned off a bunch of suckers and used them as stakes in the garden. I was shocked that late that summer one of the stakes had rooted and actually had a BLOOM, through no effort of mine. A few years later, I transplanted it, and here it is 5 years after I cut it off the parent plant. You get some nice surprises from gardening.


Here is the parent Carolina Allspice (about 10 feet wide)



Here is the volunteer 5 years after I stuck a pruned sucker haphazardly in the ground (about 4 feet wide)