michael mott

A gem all by itself. excellent work Karl. Michael

Just catching up Bob, The hull is looking very sharp, I am looking forward to the rest of her. Michael

A good looking cutter for sure, I am sure you will do her justice. Michael

Nice! very Nice! actually brilliant!! Michael

Q I like the simplicity of the gearing in the ropewalk that you illustrated, it is the way that my long horizontal walk operates. I will use it to lay up larger cables. The machine has been undergoing a major rework based on my discussion with Alexey. I also watched the video that he posted on U-tube. first I removed the broken tap. Next I pushed out the soldered bushings. Next I bored out the 3/8 holes to 1/2 inch on the new pitch circle, and inserted new bushings re-drilled for 10x32 holes and tapped them for the idler gears, and reassembled the lot. Because of the way that the thread spools are mounted the gears had to be mounted on the back side which looks better as well. Then made the take up spool motor mount from the rest of the small block of ebony that the other mounts were made from. Next the take up spools, and the guide plate which will be from some clear plex and will be circular. Michael

Chuck, thanks for posting your comments on this, it is always great to get the perspective of those who do production work. The need for simplicity is obvious, when one is making the volume that you are. The old adage "practice makes perfect" is evident in your work. Michael

Great to seeyou putting up the frames John. Michael

Alexey, The spool spin freely in the spool holders as well. The central core would come out of the fixed shaft with the sun gear. similar to what Bob did. Michael

Alexey I am proposing to mount either a set of 4 or a set of three moon gears, because the only holes in the solar disc are the 10x32 tapped ones for the mounting of the moon and Idlers in either configuration. Everything spins freely. Michael

Alexey, again thank you for your advice and knowledge. It is great that you are selling your machines,. I have no interest is selling anything I am just enjoying building a machine for myself, and sharing what I do. When you say to take care in the lay of the thread on the spool what do you mean? michael

Alexey, Thank you for your compliment and clarification, this is not a problem at this point I will put the "planet" gears back. I had misunderstood the rational for the idle gears. I have lots of Pinion stock. Michael

Continuing on with a major design change, step one was to eliminate the idler gears as not needed. This entailed using a larger central fixed gear, I found a brass 48DP x72 tooth one in the scrap gear drawer.. This meant that I would need some 36 tooth gears to maintain the 2:1 ratio, so I set up the mill to do that. I used a short length of Dur-aluminum turned to the correct diameter and cut the 36 teeth with the 48DP cutter for 35-54 teeth The 4 jaw chuck was then transferred to the Myford for the final machining I left a 5/8 shoulder and reamed the gears to receive 3/8 x 3/16 bore shouldered bearings. Next the bobbin holders were made from some 21/32 brass tube 1 1/2 inches long. these were filled with some birch dowel so that they could be milled without collapsing. The top ends were then opened up with a small hobby saw. then pushed onto the gears. The hole for the bobbin spindle was drilled at the same time as the side milling, this was now set up with some ball races as a filing jig to round of the ends of the arms After they had been flattened in the vice, by squeezing them over a chunk of 1/2 inch thick aluminum. A 10x32x1/2 inch long stainless cap screw is used as the holding shaft to the solar Disc to use Domanoff's nomenclature, this screw is bored out with a number 33 drill to let the thread pass through. The arms were bent to accommodate a shaft a 1/16 of an inch wider than 2 bobbins for them to spin freely on. this unit was then spun on the vertical shaft to make sure that it will revolve freely. The new solar disk will be 5 inches in diameter, with the 10x32 tapped holes for a 3 or 4 configuration. I am contemplating wrapping some rack around the edge of the disk and using a small pinion to drive it instead of the belt. Michael

Nils , the set of winches looks great. what a superb model you have created. Michael

Ed What a beautiful looking skeleton. Michael

Mark, I think that you would do well to get the largest mill you can afford, Wefalk's comments about the differences in mills and drills is good.The thing that I find the most limiting usually is the size of the table and its travel distances. Q That is a nice little chart Michael

Looks good Tom, its a model not a piano. Michael

Bedford Now that was a neat way to set the tabs I shall remember that one. and use the same principle in the future, so thanks tor this. Michael

A neat solution indeed . Michael

Christi, and Bob and Q Thank you for your kind remarks. Good morning Q yes the mounts are ebony, some of the stuff I have had saved for years. even after 30 years the stuff is still prone to checking a little because it was such a large log when I purchased it. 36 inches long by almost 7 inches by 4 inches as a rough hewn billet. My log of English boxwood 18 inches long by 3 inches in diameter will be used for some new tooling in the not too distant future as well. I have some ideas about multiple bobbins, so I will see where that leads. Michael

Bob, Thanks for this information, i have a full day tomorrow but on Thursday I will set up the take up spool. I will have a look at the freewheeling now that I am using some quilting thread. and I will add a die into the guide bar as well.. Oh and fix the broken tap. Michael

E&T I am enjoying seeing you care and attention to the joinery they do look fine indeed. Michael

Some good news and some not so good news. First the good news I made some springs by winding some spring wire around some 3/16 rod. I used the lathe and clamped the wire next to the rod then ran the lathe in back gear and with the wire slipping through my welding gloved fingers spooled it up onto the rod .After the tension was released the wire wound open to a 5/16 diameter spring. I cut three springs and then parted off some spacer washers to create different tensions on the bobbins. I replaced the bobbin shafts with three longer ones that were 5/8 long. The 4/40 cap screws lock the retaining washers solid to the shaft. the tension is changed with the spacer washers. I have .025 .035 , and .050 spacers. With the .25 spacers the machine worked quite well just pulling the rope away with my fingers at this point. The rope looks a bit like old hemp rope. Now for the Not so good news. Yes about two nano seconds after the thought crossed my mind that I could easily break a tap this way.... that is precisely what happened it was a first tap through silver steel and because I was in a hurry and did the tapping with the rod in the ebony mount so I did not use any lubricant (bad choice) because of the wood below. When my tears have stopped flowing tomorrow, I will use the cut off disc in a Dremel and remove the offending piece and re do it.. Michael

Alex, exquisite carving, thank you for sharing. Michael

Catching up Piet, Very nice. I like the green paint, as well. Michael