shiloh

Hey All,
 
So one thing that I managed to accomplish while being out of pocket and away from the shipyard for so long was to tackle a problem with my workbench that had always bugged me.
 
The bench I had picked up was this one from harbor freight
 

 
It is a great bench if you are not familiar with it and probably one of the best purchases I have made.  The trouble I had with it was the drawers.  They don't open up quite all the way.  This leaves a very shallow access to the drawer and with small tools or fiddly bits it was too easy for things to get hung up in the back.  My hands just didn't like trying to dig around back there so it limited my use of the drawers.
 
This is a pic of the drawer as it comes
 

 
However, after looking over the bench and consulting with my father who I had gotten the same bench for and had the same issue, he came up with an idea that was far to simple in it's concept we both couldn't believe we hadn't thought of it before.
 
Replace the runners.
 
So we purchased some runners from amazon,  these runners to be precise
10 Pack Promark Full Extension Drawer Slide 14" 100lb Load Rating 
And when we replaced the stock runners with the above sliders...walla!!
 

 
We had full extension drawers.
 
They handle a nice load on the drawer, slide in and out quite smoothly and make the drawer 100% useful.  Now, there were some minor (very minor) modifications that had to be made to the drawers due to the depth difference of the runners, but a quick shave on the drawers and we were in business.
 
Here is a side by side for ya
 

 
 
Granted, not a huge discovery but I thought it neat enough and useful enough to share with ya all, maybe someone else can make use of it.
 
 
Enjoy!!

Fantastic job (as always), JS !!
(And, yeah, I do think your rebuilt traveller looks much better)

I have always wondered about making my own milling bits to the shape I want. This is my first attempt to do that.
 
I took an old 1/4 inch router bit, mounted it in my rotary table and used the old 'Monkey-Ward's' (Dremmel like) motor with a grinding stone (cut-off wheel or shaped disk). Safety glasses!!
I then moved the mill to the area on the bit that I wanted to remove. Here I get confused all the time because of the 'image' problem.
Meaning that what you remove is not what the final routed shape looks like. How do I describe this?
I had to do this on both sides of the bit by turning the rotary table 180 degrees. I also had to be careful of the angle the grinding wheel makes with the leading edge of the bit (clearance for the cutting edge).
 
 
My first tries were very gentle and nothing too exciting, but I proved to myself that this works. It is safe as long as I take small bites for the grinding process. Note this is not like holding the dremmel tool with bit to do this by hand. I never liked that idea.
 
I have made scrapers out of saw blades, but even then mounted the old piece in the lathe toolpost and the grinder in the chuck.
 
I tried the minute grooved router bit on a piece of boxwood and the results are below. 

Now I am ready to try a much larger shape.
BTW Don't try this on a bit that has a carbide insert. All it does is grind the grinder!

not talking about hardining the bits only tempering.
Tempering colors   Pieces of through-tempered steel flatbar. The first one, on the left, is normalized steel. The second is quenched, untempered martensite. The remaining pieces have been tempered in an oven to their corresponding temperature, for an hour each. "Tempering standards" like these are sometimes used by blacksmiths for comparison, ensuring that the work is tempered to the proper color. If steel has been freshly ground, sanded, or polished, it will form an oxide layer on its surface when heated. As the temperature of the steel is increased, the thickness of the iron oxide will also increase. Although iron oxide is not normally transparent, such thin layers do allow light to pass through, reflecting off both the upper and lower surfaces of the layer. This causes a phenomenon called thin-film interference, which produces colors on the surface. As the thickness of this layer increases with temperature, it causes the colors to change from a very light yellow, to brown, then purple, then blue. These colors appear at very precise temperatures, and provide the blacksmith with a very accurate gauge for measuring the temperature. The various colors, their corresponding temperatures, and some of their uses are:
Faint-yellow – 176 °C (349 °F) – engravers, razors, scrapers Light-straw – 205 °C (401 °F) – rock drills, reamers, metal-cutting saws Dark-straw – 226 °C (439 °F) – scribers, planer blades Brown – 260 °C (500 °F) – taps, dies, drill bits, hammers, cold chisels Purple – 282 °C (540 °F) – surgical tools, punches, stone carving tools Dark blue – 310 °C (590 °F) – screwdrivers, wrenches Light blue – 337 °C (639 °F) – springs, wood-cutting saws Grey-blue – 371 °C (700 °F) and higher – structural steel Beyond the grey-blue color, the iron oxide loses its transparency, and the temperature can no longer be judged in this way. The layer will also increase in thickness as time passes, which is another reason overheating and immediate cooling is used. Steel in a tempering oven, held at 205 °C (401 °F) for a long time, will begin to turn brown, purple or blue, even though the temperature did not exceed that needed to produce a light-straw color. Oxidizing or carburizing heat sources may also affect the final result. The iron oxide layer, unlike rust, also protects the steel from corrosion through passivation.[12]
jud

not talking about hardining the bits only tempering.
Tempering colors   Pieces of through-tempered steel flatbar. The first one, on the left, is normalized steel. The second is quenched, untempered martensite. The remaining pieces have been tempered in an oven to their corresponding temperature, for an hour each. "Tempering standards" like these are sometimes used by blacksmiths for comparison, ensuring that the work is tempered to the proper color. If steel has been freshly ground, sanded, or polished, it will form an oxide layer on its surface when heated. As the temperature of the steel is increased, the thickness of the iron oxide will also increase. Although iron oxide is not normally transparent, such thin layers do allow light to pass through, reflecting off both the upper and lower surfaces of the layer. This causes a phenomenon called thin-film interference, which produces colors on the surface. As the thickness of this layer increases with temperature, it causes the colors to change from a very light yellow, to brown, then purple, then blue. These colors appear at very precise temperatures, and provide the blacksmith with a very accurate gauge for measuring the temperature. The various colors, their corresponding temperatures, and some of their uses are:
Faint-yellow – 176 °C (349 °F) – engravers, razors, scrapers Light-straw – 205 °C (401 °F) – rock drills, reamers, metal-cutting saws Dark-straw – 226 °C (439 °F) – scribers, planer blades Brown – 260 °C (500 °F) – taps, dies, drill bits, hammers, cold chisels Purple – 282 °C (540 °F) – surgical tools, punches, stone carving tools Dark blue – 310 °C (590 °F) – screwdrivers, wrenches Light blue – 337 °C (639 °F) – springs, wood-cutting saws Grey-blue – 371 °C (700 °F) and higher – structural steel Beyond the grey-blue color, the iron oxide loses its transparency, and the temperature can no longer be judged in this way. The layer will also increase in thickness as time passes, which is another reason overheating and immediate cooling is used. Steel in a tempering oven, held at 205 °C (401 °F) for a long time, will begin to turn brown, purple or blue, even though the temperature did not exceed that needed to produce a light-straw color. Oxidizing or carburizing heat sources may also affect the final result. The iron oxide layer, unlike rust, also protects the steel from corrosion through passivation.[12]
jud

not talking about hardining the bits only tempering.
Tempering colors   Pieces of through-tempered steel flatbar. The first one, on the left, is normalized steel. The second is quenched, untempered martensite. The remaining pieces have been tempered in an oven to their corresponding temperature, for an hour each. "Tempering standards" like these are sometimes used by blacksmiths for comparison, ensuring that the work is tempered to the proper color. If steel has been freshly ground, sanded, or polished, it will form an oxide layer on its surface when heated. As the temperature of the steel is increased, the thickness of the iron oxide will also increase. Although iron oxide is not normally transparent, such thin layers do allow light to pass through, reflecting off both the upper and lower surfaces of the layer. This causes a phenomenon called thin-film interference, which produces colors on the surface. As the thickness of this layer increases with temperature, it causes the colors to change from a very light yellow, to brown, then purple, then blue. These colors appear at very precise temperatures, and provide the blacksmith with a very accurate gauge for measuring the temperature. The various colors, their corresponding temperatures, and some of their uses are:
Faint-yellow – 176 °C (349 °F) – engravers, razors, scrapers Light-straw – 205 °C (401 °F) – rock drills, reamers, metal-cutting saws Dark-straw – 226 °C (439 °F) – scribers, planer blades Brown – 260 °C (500 °F) – taps, dies, drill bits, hammers, cold chisels Purple – 282 °C (540 °F) – surgical tools, punches, stone carving tools Dark blue – 310 °C (590 °F) – screwdrivers, wrenches Light blue – 337 °C (639 °F) – springs, wood-cutting saws Grey-blue – 371 °C (700 °F) and higher – structural steel Beyond the grey-blue color, the iron oxide loses its transparency, and the temperature can no longer be judged in this way. The layer will also increase in thickness as time passes, which is another reason overheating and immediate cooling is used. Steel in a tempering oven, held at 205 °C (401 °F) for a long time, will begin to turn brown, purple or blue, even though the temperature did not exceed that needed to produce a light-straw color. Oxidizing or carburizing heat sources may also affect the final result. The iron oxide layer, unlike rust, also protects the steel from corrosion through passivation.[12]
jud

not talking about hardining the bits only tempering.
Tempering colors   Pieces of through-tempered steel flatbar. The first one, on the left, is normalized steel. The second is quenched, untempered martensite. The remaining pieces have been tempered in an oven to their corresponding temperature, for an hour each. "Tempering standards" like these are sometimes used by blacksmiths for comparison, ensuring that the work is tempered to the proper color. If steel has been freshly ground, sanded, or polished, it will form an oxide layer on its surface when heated. As the temperature of the steel is increased, the thickness of the iron oxide will also increase. Although iron oxide is not normally transparent, such thin layers do allow light to pass through, reflecting off both the upper and lower surfaces of the layer. This causes a phenomenon called thin-film interference, which produces colors on the surface. As the thickness of this layer increases with temperature, it causes the colors to change from a very light yellow, to brown, then purple, then blue. These colors appear at very precise temperatures, and provide the blacksmith with a very accurate gauge for measuring the temperature. The various colors, their corresponding temperatures, and some of their uses are:
Faint-yellow – 176 °C (349 °F) – engravers, razors, scrapers Light-straw – 205 °C (401 °F) – rock drills, reamers, metal-cutting saws Dark-straw – 226 °C (439 °F) – scribers, planer blades Brown – 260 °C (500 °F) – taps, dies, drill bits, hammers, cold chisels Purple – 282 °C (540 °F) – surgical tools, punches, stone carving tools Dark blue – 310 °C (590 °F) – screwdrivers, wrenches Light blue – 337 °C (639 °F) – springs, wood-cutting saws Grey-blue – 371 °C (700 °F) and higher – structural steel Beyond the grey-blue color, the iron oxide loses its transparency, and the temperature can no longer be judged in this way. The layer will also increase in thickness as time passes, which is another reason overheating and immediate cooling is used. Steel in a tempering oven, held at 205 °C (401 °F) for a long time, will begin to turn brown, purple or blue, even though the temperature did not exceed that needed to produce a light-straw color. Oxidizing or carburizing heat sources may also affect the final result. The iron oxide layer, unlike rust, also protects the steel from corrosion through passivation.[12]
jud

not talking about hardining the bits only tempering.
Tempering colors   Pieces of through-tempered steel flatbar. The first one, on the left, is normalized steel. The second is quenched, untempered martensite. The remaining pieces have been tempered in an oven to their corresponding temperature, for an hour each. "Tempering standards" like these are sometimes used by blacksmiths for comparison, ensuring that the work is tempered to the proper color. If steel has been freshly ground, sanded, or polished, it will form an oxide layer on its surface when heated. As the temperature of the steel is increased, the thickness of the iron oxide will also increase. Although iron oxide is not normally transparent, such thin layers do allow light to pass through, reflecting off both the upper and lower surfaces of the layer. This causes a phenomenon called thin-film interference, which produces colors on the surface. As the thickness of this layer increases with temperature, it causes the colors to change from a very light yellow, to brown, then purple, then blue. These colors appear at very precise temperatures, and provide the blacksmith with a very accurate gauge for measuring the temperature. The various colors, their corresponding temperatures, and some of their uses are:
Faint-yellow – 176 °C (349 °F) – engravers, razors, scrapers Light-straw – 205 °C (401 °F) – rock drills, reamers, metal-cutting saws Dark-straw – 226 °C (439 °F) – scribers, planer blades Brown – 260 °C (500 °F) – taps, dies, drill bits, hammers, cold chisels Purple – 282 °C (540 °F) – surgical tools, punches, stone carving tools Dark blue – 310 °C (590 °F) – screwdrivers, wrenches Light blue – 337 °C (639 °F) – springs, wood-cutting saws Grey-blue – 371 °C (700 °F) and higher – structural steel Beyond the grey-blue color, the iron oxide loses its transparency, and the temperature can no longer be judged in this way. The layer will also increase in thickness as time passes, which is another reason overheating and immediate cooling is used. Steel in a tempering oven, held at 205 °C (401 °F) for a long time, will begin to turn brown, purple or blue, even though the temperature did not exceed that needed to produce a light-straw color. Oxidizing or carburizing heat sources may also affect the final result. The iron oxide layer, unlike rust, also protects the steel from corrosion through passivation.[12]
jud

While talking to a machinist several years ago, he mentioned that the Chinese tools seemed to be to hard, especially drill bits. He still uses them, but the new ones go into the kitchen oven at about 400° for 3 or 4 hours, apparently that tempers the bits so they don't break and they stay hard enough to cut.
I need to check the temperature and time for tempering of tool steel.  Check my numbers before using them.
jud

Excellent progress, Jeff.  Looking good.  There is a learning curve, isn't there.      What I've learned is that the learning curve continues... well... forever.

Thanks, enjoyed the turret tour.
jud

Thanks, enjoyed the turret tour.
jud

I am heading back from vacation in a few days and have decided to give the clear foredeck a try with the beam structure under it. However, this choice is not without it's challenges. I have not figured out the beam structure plan yet and will defer to other modelers and ship plans that have gone before me. I especially am concerned with getting the knees into position midst the already positioned port door cables (easier to change) and the guns (which are already in place and can not be moved without some serious demolition.) I am certain the port door cables will have to be revised in this section but the position they are in currently is not accurate anyway and I have been unhappy with their placement for quite a while. At least this will give me an incentive to change some of them. I think I have worked out a way to attach a block and cable to the UNDER deck for these port cables.
 
If the clear deck does not work than I will try a cut-away foredeck which other modelers have already proven does work. 

I just thought I'd follow up since I figured out how to mount the holder for the wood turning tool rest to an A2Z holder.
 
First, I milled a slot in the bottom of the A2Z holder the thickness of the Sherline part. Then I drilled and tapped two 10-32 holes so I could mount the Sherline part to the A2Z holder (it needs to be switched from one side to the other depending if you want the holder parallel to the stock you're turning or perpendicular for end turning).
 

 
The tool rest slides down into the Sherline part, which is resting on the cross slide table. Here, you can see the Sherline part attached to the right side of the A2Z part for turning parallel to the stock:
 

 
To face turn, you have to unscrew the Sherline part, move it to the left side of the A2Z holder, then mount the A2Z holder on the back side of the tool post.
 

 
If you need to face turn a very small object, you might be able to simply rotate the tool post 90 degrees and move it to the back of the cross slide with the wood tool rest set up for side turning but the tool post would mostly be in the way of your turning tool. Still, unscrewing the Sherline part only takes a couple seconds, so it's no big deal.
 
I have found that I really like using a metal cutting tool bit to round off wood stock but then want to switch over to a wood turning tool for shaping, so this QCTP makes that very easy. I've also found that wood turning tools can be used on brass, so it's nice to be able to turn the brass to the desired diameter then switch to a wood tool to do curves.
 
I think I'm going to be very happy with this setup.
 
Cheers -
John

A simple method, the only trick is to have the swing points high enough so the angles stay below 30° or so, get above that and the forces go way up quick. Have used a similar method to pull the rear end out of a 10 yard dump truck without help. Raised the dump box and blocked it, then hung two come-a-longs, first one lifted until the gearing was clear, then the other was used to swing it over like the sketch shows with the boat, went back and forth tightening one until the forces went way up on that side and then let the other out to complete the swing. Re rigged the rear come-a-long outboard to get gear cage over and down to the pickup, where I could slide it.. Slow but got the job done without help. For a while I was doing a lot of hopping around, would have put Bugs to shame.
jud

Frank, Mark,
 
Today I found the answer to my 3M post.
 
It came about when I was trying to describe the backing paper for the new paper. In my initial post I thought the backing looked like it was dried glue. Well I know you can re activate glue with heat, so I cut a piece of sand paper slightly larger than the block placed it on top and put a hot clothes iron it for a few minutes. Whatever the new backing is, it melted onto the block and seemed to be fairly permenant.
 
I bought this paper at Home Depot and will continue to do so now that I found a way to make sanding blocks. Check this stuff out, it's not expensive and seems to be a real improvement over traditional garnet sandpaper.
 
Best,
John

Looks good, now all you need is a dividing plate or two for that rotory table. Probably already have that planned.
jud

How about a plank sub deck, course sanded and sealed with a flexable sealer. Then deck over using wood planks. That would simplify working with the two curves and provide additional stringth for Standing and Running Rigging anchor points. Another benefit is that would get yout elbow limbered up,  from the sanding.
After reading your last post, it might allow for the use of screws in the subdeck for clamping, removed and sealed well befor being covered.
jud

How about a plank sub deck, course sanded and sealed with a flexable sealer. Then deck over using wood planks. That would simplify working with the two curves and provide additional stringth for Standing and Running Rigging anchor points. Another benefit is that would get yout elbow limbered up,  from the sanding.
After reading your last post, it might allow for the use of screws in the subdeck for clamping, removed and sealed well befor being covered.
jud

Good idea, but I don't know if Sherline makes the dividing plates (and their conversion to the rotary table). Or am I missing something?
 
On hind sight, Little Machine Shop makes a rotary table and offers a couple dividing plates that might come in handy.
But again, how often do you need the kind of accuracy a dividing plate has in our modeling? Hand cranking to a scribed mark is still ok for me .
 
The main question I still have is: to stay 'metric' or be able to convert? 
Of course that has been a major political problem here in the US. It is a bit like using the 'chip' in credit cards (that is finally being used by many merchants and customers here). The US is a bit slow along those lines!!!
 
There are many good stories about that, I am sure.

I found this little gem in the stacks. I'm sure many have read it, but its new to me. Makes me want to cry ...

"306 OPERATIONS ON THE ATLANTIC COAST.

Confederate reports and correspondence relative Jo the destruction and
abandonment of Norfolk navy yard.

[Telegram.]

NORFOLK, April22, 1861.
North left for Charleston to-day; I answer your dispatch. The Penn-
sylcania, Merrimack, Germantown, Raritan, Columbia, and Dolphin are
burned to the waters edge and sunk. The Delaware, Columbus, and
Plymouth are sunk. All can be raised; the Plymouth easily; not
much injured. The Germantown crushed and sunk by the falling of
shears. Her battery, new and complete, uninjured by fire; can be
recovered. The most abominable vandalism at the yard. Destruction
less than might be expected. The two lower ship houses burned, with
the New York, line of battle ship, on the stocks. Also the rigging loft,
sail loft, and gun-carriage depot, with all the pivot gun carriages and
many others. No other buildings burned. The metal work of the car-
riages will be recovered; most of it good. About 4,000 shells thrown
overboard; can be recovered. The Germantowns battery will be up
and ready for service to-morrow. In ordnance building all small arms
broken and thrown overboard will be fished up. The brass howitzers
thrown overboard are up. The Merrimack has 2,200 10-pound cartridges
in her magazine in water-tight tanks. The flag of Virginia floats over
the yard. Only eight guns, 32-pounders, destroyed; about 1,000 or more
from 11-inch to 32-pounders taken, and ready for our cause. Many of
them are ready in batteries. We saved about 130 gun carriages; all
saved at St. Helena [Va.]. Many thousands of shells and shot, from
11-inch to 32-pounders, safe. All the machinery uninjured. Magazine
captured, with 2,000 barrels of powder and vast numbers of shells and
quantities of fixed ammunition. An attempt made to blow up the dry
dock failed. Everything broken that they could break. Private trunks
broken open and officers clothing and that of their wives stolen.
Glorious news! General Gwynn just read me a telegram; it comes
from a reliable source; the New York Regiment, attempting to march
through Maryland, was met half waybetween Marlborough and Annapo-
lis and cut all to pieces.
G. T. SINCLAIR.
S. H. MALLORY,
Secretary of the Navy."

Kind of intresting where that old flat paper plotting is evolving into. Used to watch them run at Trade Shows, then, here came the drum plotters, steps in diagonal lines and all. Think that flat technology has been used to guide torches used to cut steel, probably is what controls the laser cutters of today. Wait and see what comes down the pike, right now the manufactures are pushing comerical use. They will reach a point when they see that they can have a larger market by making a home shop edition, that is when the price will come down and the product quality will be high.
jud

The good news is that if HomeDepot is carrying something like this the product will continue to get better and cheaper.  In a few years it may be possible to buy a decent 3-D printer off the shelf in your local big box store for a reasonable price.  Early days yet on these things.

Acetone is good for cleaning crud but in a confined space will kill you. We lost an electrician when he was behind a fan motor in a corner. Legs were sticking out but wasn’t found till to late. Believe the fumes like gasoline fumes collect on the floor. USS Helena CA 75 1962.
jud

Acetone is good for cleaning crud but in a confined space will kill you. We lost an electrician when he was behind a fan motor in a corner. Legs were sticking out but wasn’t found till to late. Believe the fumes like gasoline fumes collect on the floor. USS Helena CA 75 1962.
jud