KeithAug

It is a bit difficult to understand how we all survived.

19 hours ago, BANYAN said:

It can be done, but it takes a LOT of patience

Maybe it works better in the northern hemisphere where it was made😁😁  bath drain effect 😁

I can think of a number of pros and cons for welding vs soft soldering. Why are you preferring welding?

39 minutes ago, mbp521 said:

pulling kids chemistry sets off the shelves

Yes Brian, our generation seemed to have lots of risky toy opportunities. My chemistry set even had a bunsen burner which I used for a bit of glass blowing. The kids today don't know what they are missing.

On the theme of safety I hear they have pulled Humbrol enamel paints because of safety concerns. My understanding they are reformulating them prior to relaunch. In my experience "reformulating" is a euphemism for making stuff worse at doing its job. All of us who have used Humbrol paints since childhood should be considering legal action.

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

I gather then you were a couple of steps up in the flow-sheet from me.

You could argue that I was facilitating your employment😀. 

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

Sellafield or Dounray?

Eberhard

I left Rolls Royce in 1978 and joined BNFL based at Risley but working mostly on Sellafield projects. Initially I worked on Magnox reprocessing projects before moving on to take over the flowsheet design for the Thorp plutonium purification plant. I then moved on to waste treatment and was responsible for the design of the low active effluent treatment plant. After that it was solvent treatment as mentioned previously. Then Three Mile Island and Chernobyl happened and everything changed. I left BNFL in 1988 and moved to brewing where I damaged a lot more peoples lives than I ever did with nuclear energy.

2 hours ago, wefalck said:

And one piece of advice (from a sort of chemist): never mix two chemicals, neither liquids nor solids, unless you really know, what you are doing.

Yes I agree. I was once in charge of a team looking into options for treating waste solvent from a nuclear reprocessing facility. The waste solvent (tributylphosphate in odourless kerosene) was stored on site and we needed some way of treating it. One of the chemists came up with the idea of reacting the solvent with hydrogen peroxide and for a while this became the front runner of the options. It never inspired me as a great option as it seemed too much like rocket fuel to me. Anyway it was eventually dropped as an idea.

44 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

I Googled what would melt/remove nylon and there are chemicals that will work but they are dangerous to work with.

Keith, yep I did that but thought I’d prefer a low risk hobby.

36 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

Acetone in a plastic container and had the bottom immediately eaten away

Keith, yes it all depends on the type of plastic. Have you ever ever tried mixing hydrazine with peroxide - it makes wonderful rocket fuel and has even been known to dissolve pilots😬

Not long ago I shipped a pair of collet chucks (1kg) from the Uk to Australia using the Royal Mail. The shipment went via air mail and cost £19 which I thought was pretty decent, it didn’t take long either. Everything was above board with all the correct customs declarations etc.
It seems to me that some shipping costs are reasonable while others seem exorbitant. If I judge the total cost (price plus shipping) to be unreasonable I just don’t buy.

In the instance of the 2 collects I actually bought them in the Uk for another msw member and he paid me for them and for the shipping via PayPal. This may be an option for some of you struggling with unreasonable shipping costs.

On 8/5/2022 at 8:49 PM, Keith Black said:

Acetone should remove the wire's plastic coating. 

Hi Keith, I am using Beadalon wire and the spec says the wire is nylon coated.
 

I cut 3 different diameters of beading wire and placed them in sealed container of 99.8% acetone and left overnight. In the morning the nylon was pristine, showing no degradation. I then looked up the compatibility of nylon with acetone and found the compatibility to be “excellent” ( I.e acetone does not dissolve nylon ). Acetone does however dissolve a range of plastics.

As an aside the acetone I have was bought in a plastic bottle - so clearly some plastics are acetone resistant. 
 

When you commented “It works” I am guessing you did a bit of experimenting?

Dan, Tom, Keith, Hakan, thank you for your continuing interest and comments.

2 hours ago, shipmodel said:

Can you set up a link directly to this build log in your signature,

Dan - thank you for the comments - I think I have sorted out the link but let me know if it doesn't work.

Very impressive rope planning Pat. Is your rope walk a home design or a commercial unit?

Stunning Rob, Im sure your museum colleagues will be in raptures.

I did a bit more work over the last couple of days.

I finished off a number of medium sized single, double and triple blocks. The 3 sizes I have rationalised on are 5mm, 6mm and 7mm high.

Depending on the use / location of the blocks they have various attachment fittings.

I also needed to make more of the strop brackets for the main and foremast gaff bridles (5 in total). This time however I was a bit more economical making 3 parts from each fabricated ring.

I then moved on from the main boom to work on the main and fore gaffs.

Two single blocks were attached to the main gaff saddle. These will take the main boom topping lifts (one on each side of the mainsail).

Then a double block was attached to the gaff to take the gaff hoist halyard.

I then attached the 3 bridles to the main gaff. (I did this before yesterdays debate on simulating the leather protecting sheath). Depending on the outcome of experiments I may have to revisit this.

Two blocks are attached to the end of the gaff to take the sheets for the topsail.

I also attached the twin bridles to the fore mast gaff.

I then attached the blocks for the for topsail sheets as per the main gaff.

13 hours ago, mikegr said:

stands vertical to the deck and as it goes to stern it also twists somehow, so I need a flexible material.

That is what I have used it for. Strips of about 1/2 inch wide twist very easily..

2 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Acetone should remove the wire's plastic coating. 

Interesting. I’ll check.

8 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

way to remove and burning it off would be nasty.

Mark - it burns off quite nicely. You set fire to one end and then it burns almost like a fuse. It does create a molten blob so the trick is to blow out the flame and then quickly draw the wire between the thumb and fore finger to remove the blob. Then you utter an expletive and remember next time to wear your gloves. The problem is the burning discolours the wire strands in a way that isn't easily rectified. Really you need the wire to retain its shiny stainless steel look.

On 7/25/2022 at 4:21 PM, mikegr said:

Balsa over 1mm would be more stable and still easy to work but too thick while thinner would be very optically ideal but easy to break unless fortified with some material like gel coat.

If I am understanding correctly why not use 1/32" birch ply, glued in place with PVA glue. I have used this in the past for bulwark strengthening webs and it worked fine. I would steer away from balsa as it isn't very durable. Sorry if I have misunderstood.

19 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Is that Splodge?

Well remembered Keith, indeed it is, although she hasn't been called Splodge for a while now. At nursery school they all use her given name of Eve but in the family she answers to Bean. I think "Bean" will stick with her forever. 

Her mum brought her to the workshop to show her Germania. I pointed out the picture of Maisie (the Dalmatian) in the porthole and I removed the deck house to show her the picture of Bean. She then rushed back to the lounge and reappeared with Nanny to show her the pictures. It was after this that she decided to stay and do her work.

18 hours ago, Bedford said:

have you considered just painting them in a suitable colour?

Steve I will do a test piece. My guess is that acrylics will flake and enamels will form beads. The wire is covered with clear plastic (which looks and feels a bit like nylon) and i am dubious about the adhesion.

18 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Keith, can you get heat shrink of this small a diameter (and right colour)? 

Pat - Yes you can get small bore heat shrink. The wire is .020" diameter and the problem is that small bore heat shrink seems to have a reasonable wall thickness. It more than doubles the diameter of the strops and this makes them look unnaturally heavy.

Thank you Eberhard for the apron explanation.

Thank you all for the nice Bean comments - unfortunately she is not for sale.

2 minutes ago, mbp521 said:

Tickles them pink and warms my heart.

Wonderful Brian, I hadn’t thought of sanding practice.

I obviously missed the “training productivity” aspect of her visit, thanks to all of you for pointing it out.

15 hours ago, rwiederrich said:

Shwuuuuuh…..I can’t believe I’m almost done with Glory of the Seas.   Just a few more tasks.  

So what is next Rob?

Nice work Pat. That turned out well.

I have always found these French ships to be a bit of a designer dogs breakfast. While not a fan of the aesthetics I do find them really fascinating. Hence I am enjoying your excellent build.

I see the big advantage of the printer approach -------- you are allowed to make it on the lounge carpet. My dusty wood approach would never make it to the lounge during construction.

Beautiful ships boats Valeriy. I loved the novel build approach.