wefalck
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Everything posted by wefalck
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Tools, tools and more tools....
wefalck replied to CPDDET's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
This statement seems to apply to many other 'modellers' supply houses around the world. They have discovered over the last few years tools from other trades, as mentioned above, and that manufacturers often dump 'seconds' that do not fulfill the quality standards of brands on the market. You can find these e.g. von ebay without the mark-up of the modelling houses. To be fair, such supply houses also market sometimes products that are made specifically for them and that you would not find anywhere else. -
"... those who can't tie knots tie lots." - that was a good one, have to remember it !
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Some loose ends - there most be hundreds As to the clove-hitch vs. lashed eyes: I used two half-turns for the ends of rat-lines so that they returns on themselves. Kind of simulates the eye without an end sticking out as for the clove-hitch. This arrangement can be adjusted easily also for length. Not sure you did this for the lower shrouds, but I am putting a piece of card-board behind the shrouds on which the shrouds and the rat-lines are drawn. This allows me to correct for any distortion and misalignment immediately.
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Yes, #2 and 4# represent what I meant by doubling. Adding more turns around the bar will not necessarily add more safety, but it depends really on the specific geometrical situation and the amount of pull on the rope. The seaman will do instinctively the right thing, e.g. if one turn slips, he would add one more, etc. It is difficult to decide this on a theoretical basis. In general, 'less is more', meaning that one would use the least amount of turns and knots possible. Any additional turns and knots makes it more difficult to cast loose a rope in an emergency. It is a sign of poor understanding of seamanship to add unnecessary amount of knots (as many landlubbers have a tendency to do)
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You don't need to go around three times before the clove hitch. The first turn of the clove hitch is enough as a break. When talking about doubling, this didn't mean going around twice, but taking the rope in double, i.e. you fold the rope back on itself for a certain length and then go around the bar and tie the knot.
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Perhaps to add to what Jud just said and my earlier comments: a sailor (not sure about cowboys for lack of first-hand knowledge) would never hold a rope under strain just like that, he would always take a turn around some convenient rail, bollard, clamp or whatever to use the friction of the rope to break its force (I think cowboys actually have the saddle-knob for that). By crossing the loose end over that turn you can also use the friction between the two parts of the rope, which is very effective - in fact, this would be the beginning of tying a clove hitch. By doing so you have very good control over the rope. Otherwise, a gust may jerk the rope from your hands, or if you fail to let loose, it may jerk you overboard.
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I would stack the four of them onto a thin piece of plywood for working on. When starting the 'crossing-out', as the watchmakers call the process of making the spokes, I would drill appropriately sized holes in the respective corners. This gives you the directions for sawing out the rest using a jeweller's piercing saw. As material I would use hard brass, not soft copper. Alternatively, styrene would allow you to easily add the reenforcement ribs by glueing, rather than soldering.
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What is 'wicking' - 'soaking' ?
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Tools, tools and more tools....
wefalck replied to CPDDET's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
If I can avoid it, I don't buy new tools. Either they are ridiculously expensive or not the same quality as pre-1960s ones. This applies to both, hand- and machine-tools. Just bought a couple of pin-vices, they were relatively cheap and the best ones I have seen on the Internet, but their finish still isn't as good as that of the ones I fished out of junk-boxes on flea-markets (unfortunately, I don't get to flea-markets very often anymore and flea-markets aren't what they used to be). And: as I don't have the time to hone my skills with hand-tools, I have to hone my machine-tools A confirmed tool-junkie.- 62 replies
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Using a moulding scraper tool?
wefalck replied to alde's topic in Modeling tools and Workshop Equipment
For very fine profiles I use a piece of razor-blade held in a pin-vice: The radius of the above profile is 0.2 mm, giving a 0.4 mm half-round profile. When using scrapers for this purpose, it is important that the stock is as close to the finished dimensions as possible. You really only want to take the edges of the material. It may be necessary to use a couple of differently shaped scrapers in sequence to arrive at the final profile. The scraper will have to be held almost vertical to the intended profile. Any angle will distort the profile, it will become shallower and semi-circles will become oval. This is one of the reasons why only minute amounts of materials can be taken off at each pass. It may be obvious, but one needs to pay attention to the wood-grain. If it runs at a slight angle to your stock, you can only scrape with the grain and not against it. If you try the latter, the surface will be ragged, as the scraper digs in. -
I am not an expert on 17th century and earlier ships, but belaying running rigging on bare bars etc. was common practice, I believe. We have to be very cautious to apply in retrospect ideas of good seamanship that were developed in the 19th and 20th century. Having said that, my preferred knot under such circumstance would be the clove hitch, if the free end is not too long. It also possible to make the clove hitch with a bight of rope taken double in order to avoid fiddling a long end all the way through. In any case, the rope should go at least twice around the bar etc. so that the friction can take up a lot of the strain and does not pull any knot too tight for loosening. In this case one can also loosen any knot while the friction keeps the rope safely under tension.
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My paper- or silkspan-sailmaking technique is presented here: https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/68-zuiderzee-botter-by-wefalck-finished-artitec-resin/&tab=comments#comment-47886 Note: When using silkspan for larger scales, say 1:60 and above, I first stabilised the silkspan with light coat of acrylic varnish. This allows me to cut the individual panels. With paper this first step is not needed.
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Yep, they seem to be nice guys. As I have been just elected chairman of the German association (https://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/profil2/), I am in the process of establishing links with THE ROPE.
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Met some Japanese modellers of the association THE ROPE (www.theropetokyo.org) a couple of weeks ago in Rochefort (France). They also brought some Japanese boats (models) with them. These guys may be a good contact, say for pictures of museum models etc. Such incidents, as you described above, make me always weary of taking models out of the house ...
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Good idea, but you need a space at least 1 m deep, considering the common lenght of stock. In the next incarnation of my workshop I may place something like this behind cupboards next to the door, to be accessed from the narrow side. Or, store the stuff in a wide, but narrow cupboard with such drawers ...
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If you don't have the space for horizontal storage, you can also tie the thin strips together with a piece of string or a rubber band - together they will not bend. I made myself a narrow open rack with shallow shelves and some vertical battens along the length to keep the stuff in. That allows me to store the stuff according to material, while being able to retrieve shorter pieces that have been pushed in by accident. Another option would be to make the tubes, as in Mark's picture, detachable so that you can shake them in order to get small pieces out. For some years I kept narrow (ca. 5 cm diameter) paper tubes loose in a box upright - the narrow tubes prevented the bending and I could take them out to rattle them for retrieving short pieces. Apart from lack of floor-space it was difficult to handle those tubes, in which I kept my steel and brass stock, hence the other solution.
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Cargo tie downs
wefalck replied to Osmosis's topic in Discussion for a Ship's Deck Furniture, Guns, boats and other Fittings
I don't know what ship the SAN FRANCISCO was, neither what era. Assuming that it is a 19th cargo sailing ship, I think normally cargo in the hold would not be tied down, but rather 'wedged in'. This means that smaller items of cargo and lumber would be put in such way between the larger items that nothing can move. Apart from preventing items from moving this also maximises the cargo volume use. In the old days ships sometimes had to wait for considerable time to complete their loads. This not only for economical reasons, but to increase safety - a half-loaded ship with the risk of a shifting load can be in great danger in bad weather. It was the art of the loading masters in the harbours and of the first mate to stow the cargo in a safe way. -
OK, if I understand you correctly, what you are looking for is an arbor to fit the PROXXON 3-jaw-chuck to another lathe ? The problem is that the 16 mm x 1 mm is not a standard metric fine thread and most small lathes would have either a 12 x 1 or a 14 x1 thread on the spindle nose. To what kind of lathe do you want to fit this PROXXON 3-jaw-chuck ? There are various 3- and 4-jaw-chucks of the same body diameter (45 mm I believe) with either 12x1 or 14x1 thread on the market of Indian or Chinese make. You can find them on ebay etc. from about 20€ (aluminium body and jaws) or 50€ (steel body and jaws) upward. They also sell straight 10 mm arbors for them with the respective male spindle thread.
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I would not think so, you can check on the PROXXON Web-site: (https://www.proxxon.com/en/micromot/27020.php. The spindle has a 16 mm x1 mm thread, while the chuck probably has same thread as their hand-held equipment - not sure, but it may be 3/8"-24
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I think there is a misconception here. The three-jaw-chuck screws onto the spindle of the lathe, while the the drill-chuck goes into the tailstock, replacing the fixed centre. The drill-chuck has nothing to do on the spindle. It would be even dangerous to use a drill chuck in the spindle, as drill-chucks are not designed for side-pressure.
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For this approach you have to be sure that the bulkheads are running correctly into the keel-plank for the envisaged plank thickness. In the original question, this was exactly the problem. The outside, i.e. lower, rabbet-line is defined by the plan, while the inside line depends on the angle with which the frame/bulkhead runs into the keel. I agree, that this line is best worked out on the model itself.
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Syren Rope Rocket
wefalck replied to DelF's topic in Rope Making/Ropewalks's Commercial sources for ropewalk machines
You are probably right about the internal friction that determines inter alia, if and how a rope will stretch. I don't have really experience with natural fibres, as the really small-scale ropes I made are all made from fly-tying yarns, but think that twisting the strands to nearly the break-point will result in a tighter rope with a shallower angle of the twist, more internal friction and, hence, less tendency to stretch. Ropes from natural fibres will always change their length a bit as a fuction of ambient humity, as the fibres may swell, resulting actually in a slight shortening of the rope. I gather this is one of the reasons why people wax the ropes, to prevent humidity uptake to some extent.- 42 replies
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Ropewalk
wefalck replied to Worldway's topic in Rope Making/Ropewalks's Rope Materials and parts resources
Pat, don't frighten the poor guy off You are absolutely right, Pat, that there are so many different factors that come to bear - the best strategy is to give it a try and keep practicing, perhaps at the beginning with some cheap yarns to get a feeling for what is happening. Getting good material will be the main bottle-neck, but when you read the various contributions on the this forum, you will probably find suggestions for sources that are accessible in your respective country. Another important point is to not be afraid and tighten up the strands to near the breaking point, only then you will get a good tight rope. Unravelling or not when cut depends also on the material used, natural fibres have a higher internal friction and tend to stay together, while man-made fibres gives smoother ropes, but because of their smoothness also have a tendency to spring opoen. -
I would give the cardboard tubes a good coat of sanding filler to present the edges from fraying. Also looks neater.
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Ad 1: I think it would be lot easier to cut the rabbet before any bulkheads fitted. The reason is that the angle typically is shallower as you can get with with tools, as the bulkheads would allow (depends on the technique though). Conversely, you will need to fit the stem and stern posts, as the rabbet usually continues along the posts and the keel, so should have the same depth all around. Ad 2: If the bulkhead finishes before the bearding line, you may have to cut away from the wood of the keel in order to continue with a smooth profile up to the depth of the rabbet. Conversely, if the bulkhead reach below the bearding line, then something is wrong with the bulkheads. It could be that they are notched too deeply or the profile in the lower part is wrong. If you have a plan, check against it.
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