KeithAug
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ancre La Salamandre by tadheus - 1:24
KeithAug replied to tadheus's topic in - Build logs for subjects built 1751 - 1800
Pawel, Was the original this well built? Somehow I doubt it. -
Hollo Bedford. Re crutch: I have rationalised the non conformance away by convincing myself that the original crunch was damaged and had to be replaced by a strapped for cash owner. John. Not so much beyond the curve, more likely "round the bend" - which over here is a euphemism for going mad! Mark. Thank you.
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Thank you Mark. I'm surprised you have been so forgiving at my departure from absolute authensticity. Particularly as you ripped up the deck just to improve the randomness. Now that's what I call perfectionisim.
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I had a go at the main boom crutch. On Altair this is a "A" frame - a rather crude affair which has the appearance of being made out of galvanised scaffolding poles. It is quite out of keeping with the other brass deck fittings. I couldn't bring myself to make a crutch that matched the original so I made something a little more in keeping. If I get a flood of derision from the purists among us I'll consider painting it grey. The top bracket has a circular cut out in which the boom rests. I machined this out of bar on the mill. The web was formed by end milling using a rotary table. The bracket was separated from the bar and then the legs were soldered on. Cleaning up and polishing followed. As a bit of a distraction I made and mounted the stern light. I then made and attached the feet. The crutch lays flat on the deck and pivots up to the vertical when in use. But of course not in the position shown in the photo. Not sure I want to paint this!
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Richard, Kees, John, Greg. Thank you for your supportive comments. Also thank you to all the other visitors who hit the like button. Greg, The slitting saw is 80mm x 0.8mm x 108T. Bought cheap through Amazon - I have bought a number over the years and all have been fine. I finished off the fairleads. The rollers were a bit of a fiddle. Drop them on the bench and they disappear. My eyes are not what they were!!!!! Polishing is quite a satisfying pastime. I also made the fuel / water fillers. Progress is slow but time flies by.
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I spent today making a start on the fairleads. The forward fairleads are fairly standard while the rear fairleads have 3 rollers each. The fairleads are .875" long x .120" wide by .160" high. I made them from bar which was first machined to .875" wide by .160" thick using a fly cutter. The profile of the fairleads were first formed from a series of holes drilled along the length of the bar and then connected by a .080 diameter end mill. The fairleads were then cut from the bar using a slitting saw. Just to be a bit confusing the dimensions were worked out in millimetres. The corners were then cut off to give the finished shape (the top has still to be cut) Mounting holes and holes for the rollers were then drilled.
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Hello Bob, What is nice about this era is that the little ships are so elegant. They actually look like ships unlike the vessels of today. I think she will make a lovely model.
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Pat, Per, Bedford, John. Glad you liked it and thank you for the positive feedback. A couple of final shots now with the wheel attached to the finished shaft / pedestal. It looks a deal more delicate at its real size. The photos make it look much larger than it is.
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Good start Per. I am a little surprised at the small number of frames that form the hull. This can make planking difficult but you seem to be overcoming the problem well. Your clinker planking looks very good. I look forward to seeing how you get along.
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So to finish:- The wheel hub on Altair is made of brass. I made my hub from the barrel of a redundant dart - turned down to 1/4 inch and drilled with 8 radial holes. The spokes were coloured with wood dye and then assembled to join the hub and rim. The assembly was glued with CA. The shaft (not yet finished) was turned from 1/4 inch brass rod. The wheel is teporarily attached to the pedestal. I still need to varnish the wheel. The wheel is really quite fragile so I think I will have to store it away and only attach it as a final operation at the end of the build - still many months away.
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Hello Nils She looks better every visit. Great job. But what next???
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- kaiser wilhelm der grosse
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Hello Mark - by the end of today it will be clear how it turned out. I hope I don't disappoint. Michael - I find part of the fun is pressing the "saved for a rainy day" stuff into service. Pawel - You made me laugh. Thanks to all of you who continue to take an interest. So here goes with todays first update. The spokes were made by the well documented NRG method. I wanted the jig to be robust so I machined up a dowel into which the spoke profile former was mounted (made from brass tube). I took the opportunity to mark out the axial positions for the spoke contours on the mill (pencil mounted in chuck). The lathe is a bit big for making .080 inch diameter spokes so I needed to improvise a bit. Some time ago I made a miniature drill / tapping press from a broken tripod. The tapping shaft was requisitioned. I made the 8 spokes and removed the set up from the lathe. I later broke 3 which had to be remade. I must learn from my experiences and make more than I need. The spokes started life as cocktail sticks. I tested the assembly as I went. All going well so far. More later - dinner calls.
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Progress to date:- I drilled the 8 radial holes on the brass rimmed version using the rotary table mounted vertically in the mill. The centre drill was used to spot through as far as the brass tube. Before drilling through with a .075 inch diameter twist drill I inserted a plug to prevent splintering. I also drilled holes in the back up wooden rimmed version. Still not confident on how the brass rimmed version will turn out. I remounted the rotary table horizontally and thinned down the wooden hoops using a .160 inch diameter end mill. That how far I have got at present. Tomorrow I will have a go at the spokes.
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Beautifully done Michael. I guess your hourly rate for this job is now measured in pennies!
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- albertic
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Continuing with the wheel experiment. Rather than trying to attach the brass rim strip to either side of the rim I decided to "clad" the inner and outer diameters of a brass tube with wood. The result looks identical to that intended and has the advantage of creating a very strong rim which is beneficial for further machining. Unfortunately I didn't have brass rod or tube of the diameter needed. However a bit of searching through the DIY plumbing box produced a connector that could be machined to size. I machined a groove to ease later parting off of the rim. I needed to lay up a further couple of hoops to clad the bore and outside of the brass ring. The hoops were then machined out as per the last post. At this stage I left the hoops over thick (.080 inch). This is twice the finished thickness. I was a bit worried that making thinner hoops would lead to their collapse. In hindsight I could have gone thiner, witnessed by one hoop which was produced as a by product and maintained its integrity with a wall thickness of only .017 inch. The rim here looks very heavy because the wooden hoops are twice the desired thickness. Here is the very thin hoop. The final part of this stage was to attach the hoops to the brass tube with CA glue prior to a bit of light wet and dry sanding of the face. Both rims are ready to have the 8 radial holes drilled to take the spokes.
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I started the wheel experiments. I decided to build 2 versions and see how they turned out. Altair's wheel has a solid brass band set into the front and rear face of the rim. Its quite a nice feature and I am wondering whether I can reproduce it without the wheel looking too heavy. The second version is a back up, without the brass band. This is a somewhat simpler and more streamlined design. The diameter at the rim is just under 1 inch and this introduces some challenges. Anyway to make a start:- Making the rim by turning a dowel to the outside diameter and then boring out the inside didn't appeal as I considered the grain direction would make hoop too fragile. I felt the grain needed to follow round the rim and this meant fabricating the rim from a number of section. This in turn could have introduced joint weaknesses but these were overcome by making the rim out of 2 layers with the 2nd layer rotated to stagger the joints. The photos probably explain this better. The assembly is glued on to a MDF backing to facilitate later machining. I gave cutting the rim hoop a bit of thought. The obvious solution was the lathe but I was concerned that the forces be too great and the hoop would break during machining. I felt milling would be a less harsh process and this proved to be the case. The middle sized hoop is the one I need for the simple version of the wheel. The large and small hoops are a bonus of the process. The hoop was then mounted on a spigot ready for drilling radial holes to take the spokes prior to final shaping. Ill cover progress on the more complicated wheel in my next post.
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Dear John Thank you for the good advice. It arrived while my better half was out. It is now in a corner of the workshop unpacked but in full view. My wife paid a visit this morning to inspect boat construction progress. She had been to an auction yesterday and in passing looked at a Bassett Lowke pond yacht. She was comparing quality and pronounced my attempt was better. The distraction was enough and she departed without recognising the new asset. Her visits to the workshop are infrequent, one benefit of having no heating. I don't expect another visit for several months by which time a layer of dust may well help disguise the addition. All I have to do now is intercept the bank statement. Alternatively I could just own up. We have only been married 42 years so I am still learning. I bow to your additional 6 years of experience, such expertise is of significant value to NRG. Have you considered starting a marital help line thread? I am now off to cook the evening meal - curry with all the trimmings. Perhaps I could tell her over a papadum!
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Michael/Mark/Greg Thank you for your comments. I spent yesterday experimenting with wheel making (the rim). Not quite got it cracked yet but I may post details of the experiments later. I find I learn more when I experiment but it does slow progress. Also thank you all of you who have hit the like button.
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Hello George I'm very encouraged to hear that handcrafts remain of interest in the modern world of virtual reality. Good luck with the build.
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Thank you Per. Today I celebrated the completion of decorating by doing a little turning. Altair has a very nice brass wheel pedestal which the plans do not do justice to - the plan is on the left and my drawing on the right is created from photographs using the basic dimensions from the plan. The pedestal is turned from 0.5" bar. The first operation was to drill the .075" hole to take the hub of the wheel. The turning was complicated by the need to create the sweeping curve at the lower end. I couldn't be bothered to mount the ball turning tool so I formed the curve by rotating the saddle and cross slide wheels in unison. A bit tricky but it worked ok. The pedestal height is 0.85". Now I need to face up to making the wheel. I may take a while!!!!
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Hello Michael I thought lot 939 might be of passing interest. http://www.bellmans.co.uk/sales/sussex-antiques-sales/mar2017/?page=10
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- albertic
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Hello Phil Looking forward to the build log. Keith
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