SJSoane

Mark, it is looking very nice indeed! Mark

Thanks, Mark, Grant, Ed, druxey and David. I still can't quite believe it took so many hours to get here. They look so simple in the drawings.... Mark

Hi everyone, At last, the woodwork is done on the carriages. I am showing all 28, fully assembled and together for the first time. I still have to glue the quoins to the beds, but I realized that I will need to do that individually to ensure that all muzzles are neatly aligned for height. I have to think about a helpful jig. I now have to start all of the metalwork, following my prototype in the last two photos. In the second photo, I am showing how I used my beam measuring tool to set a distance for cutting wooden pins to a constant length. I had to pin the axles and the transom to the carriage sides, and this helped enormously to cut out a large number to the right length as opposed to measuring each one. Getting closer, still a long way to go. Mark

Karl, I look forward to this! Mark

Gaetan, I love that last photo, with parts lying on the deck ready for installation once the builders comes back from their break! Mark

Hi iMack, I tried quoting your question, but it failed to show up in my post. So here we go again. Yes, I used the 1:1 RTV rubber from MicroMark, although Ed Tosti has suggested using the 10:1 for greater durability. I may try that on my next deck of cannon. I followed closely the advice on casting cannon in David Antscherl's Fully Framed Model volume 2, including building a plaster cast around the RTV mould. I failed to follow this advice the first time, and the entire thing failed. Lesson learned. I could not use an open flame propane torch to melt the propane because of restrictions in my workspace; so I found the Lee bottom pouring furnace which worked quite well. I found the pewter online, and if you are interested I will look up the website. Mark

Hi Greg, Funny you should say that. I just disassembled the duplicator this morning, and then spent a long time setting up the lathe again! Mark

Karl, It really is a masterpiece. Besides the exceptional craftsmanship, the overall effect of how you presented it becomes a work of art. Mark

druxey, you are right. I wonder if I would have taken on building a 74 all those many years ago, if I had fully thought through just how many guns need to be constructed. As I was patiently making 28 parts of something the other day, I began thinking about the gun carriage craftsmen in Chatham who might have made the same parts over and over for their entire lives. Now that would drive someone to drink, meade I presume! Mark

Thank you iMack, for your comments. I started the cannon in December, and I probably get to work on the project about 10 hours a week. So I am maybe 160 hours into the 28 cannon, and I still have a great deal of work to do. I had no idea at all when I started that this would be so time consuming. They look so simple! One of these days, I will put together an account of how many separate fabricating, machining and assembly steps there are for all of the pieces in one cannon. I should note that the cannon involved learning brand new skills for me, with all of the delays and mistakes that entails. I had never cast metal, or silver soldered, or formed rings and eyebolts. Nor had I used the duplicator. It has been fun to learn new skills, but then tedious at times applying those to 28 cannon. For example, 28 cannon equals 112 wheels, 56 axles with 112 separately turned ends, 56 sides, 28 transoms; 196 eybolts, 112 tie rod washers, 56 rings, 28 tie rods, 112 wheel pins, 168 bolt heads, 56 stool parts, 28 quoins and 28 turned handles. And I haven't even thought yet about the hardware fastening the cannon to the carriages. And then I have an additional 28 cannon to think about when I get to the upper deck, and 18 more for the quarterdeck and forecastle. By then, I should be really fast at this.... Mark

Ed, These are very complex forms bending in three dimensions, and you make it all flow so smoothy. Beautiful work. Mark

Hi everyone, Here are some images of cutting the quoin handle with the Vanda-Lay duplicator. As you can see in the last photo, a template holder clamps onto the tailstock, and the cutting head and follower is bolted onto the Sherline Y table. You have to unbolt the brass nut on the X axis lead screw, so the bed can move freely without using the handwheel. The idea is to slide the table in the X direction with your right hand, and push in the follower with your left hand, trying to trace the template as smoothly as possible. After a few tries, I got very reliable duplicates every time. Now, I did learn that I had to loosen the gib on the X axis, so the table would move very smoothly. I also used silicon grease on the ways, and graphite powder for the follower and cutter. Things really do need to move smoothly without any binding. Also, the cutter does need to be aligned precisely at or just below the centerline of the lathe. It took a little fiddling to get the cutter at the right height and at the right distance in. I fed a long strip of wood through the lathe, and simply moved it forward each time once I had cut off the previous handle. The masking tape at the end keeps the wood from bouncing around when the lathe is turned on. I have had this duplicator for years, but I had never used it until now; I believe there is an updated version from Vanda Lay. I can confirm that it works very well, once everything is tuned. The other photos show using a razor saw to cut off the handles when the lathe is turned off; these would fly for sure if using a cut-off tool. And one more photo shows the jig for drilling the handle hole in the ends of the quoins. Mark

Gaetan, this is a very fine slab of wood in the last photo. Is that the same wood that you are using for the ship? Mark

druxey, knever a knegative thought....

Beautiful work, Danny. Mark

Thanks, druxey, jim, michael, grant, and all who liked. Grant, I will try to take some photos this weekend on the duplicator. I don't have it working quite as well as I would like, and will tweak a little to see if I can improve it. Mark, i am trying very hard to make everything myself--purely for the vanity of telling people who visit, "...yes, I made that...". We'll see how long I can keep that up. I have purchased a range of sizes of the outstanding Syren rope, and I am still pondering whether I will use this or end up making my own. I am a number of months away from making that decision. At the very least, it shows me the very high standard to which I will have to aspire! Mark

Hi everyone, Progress is very slow on these cannon. Yesterday and today, I made the stools, and then the first quoin with a small handle. I am showing using the Vanda-Lay duplicator on my Sherline lathe. You can barely see the template for the handle directly below the chucked wood blank. Only 27 more handles to go... Mark

Hi everyone, I managed to stain and assemble the carriages for the entire port battery. Starting to look like a busy gundeck. Much iron work and casting still to do... Mark

Beautiful work, Siggi. Those wine glasses are amazing. How did you turn them? Mark

Michael, the further you go, the more confused I am about the mechanics of the engine, and the more impressed I am by your machining skills! Mark

Thanks, Siggi and druxey. This has been a steep learning curve, working with metal casting. Part of the challenge is that I have been unable to use an open flame propane torch in my shop to heat the metal. So I had to dig into the bullet casting hobby sites to learn about electric melters. The Lee melter is not terribly expensive, and appears to work well. Mark

Hi everyone, A long time away from the shop; pesky real work gets in the way... I am zeroing in on these cannon. I think my sludge problem was from using an electric melting pot with a cast iron ladle; somehow the cast iron polluted the pewter. So I switched to a Lee bottom pour melting pot, and it works very well. No sludge, no dross to skim off the top. I have also learned to leave the pour in the mould for maybe 5 minutes. Pulling it earlier leaves small pockets in the cast where the metal pulls away from the mould before it is fully solidified. the photo of the cast cannon also shows that I changed my gunhead to look something more like the 18th century engravings showing gun casting. I don't know if it makes any difference, but it saves the amount of pewter I pour. I built a little collar to clamp the cannon in the lathe for cleaning up the muzzle and drilling the bore. I am showing how I clamp the extension of the bore from the cast into a small Jacobs chuck, to ensure the muzzle is centered in the lathe. And a few shots of the red carriages starting to line up. The jig shows the tedious masking on the carriage parts to ensure a clean glue surface. Mark

Hi Michael, I just had a chance to look in after a prolonged bout of work. Looks great! Mark

Siggi, I can't help with the cannon location, but I can say that those cannon look great! I now have great respect for the amount of work that goes into an accurately detailed cannon and carriage. They look great against the light deck and the red bulwarks. Mark

Astonishing, Michael. I would never have believed this to be possible. Your comment about the 1/4" drilling a tiny bit oversize raises a question for me. I have noted that many of my little drills are a smidgen under their stated nominal size. Is this to account for runout, wander, etc., so the final hole size is as expected? Mark