wefalck

Coming soon

The amount of pressure needed obviously depends on the hardness of the material to be knurled. I found that the brass I am using is very easy to knurl. I also knurl brass dry ! Just at the end, to wash out swarf, I gave it a blast of WD40. Knurling is actually a kind of milling operation, meaning the material is not displaced but more or less cut. Some of the material though squeezes to the sides of the knurled rim and needs to be cleaned up with a light cut on the lathe or free-hand with a file. I seem to have been lucky that the hardening of the knurl seems to have worked fine. There is a risk that with my primitve arrangements for this it may crack. I pre-heated it with the hot-air soldering gun and then continued with a blow-torch until it was heated to a cherry-red. The PROXXON-torch I used was a bit on the weak side, a bigger one would have been better. On the other hand, one should avoid to overheat, because this burns the carbon in the steel. Heating on a bit of charcoal can counteract this.

Have to start noting down all those little ideas ...

Thanks, gentlemen. I like to have beautiful things around me - this includes my machines and tools ***************************** Managed to squeeze a couple of hours in the workshop in between business travels and entertaining friends, who stayed with us for a week ... The rotating spindles, such as the main spindle and grinding spindles on watchmakers lathes have a knurled sleeve in brass that is meant to prevent dirt from entering the bearings. The one for the grinding spindle used as dividing head was missing. Using an original one as example, a replacement was fashioned from a piece of round brass. After facing a short length of brass it was drilled 5 mm and taken onto a respective arbor for turning the outside to size. A rim was left standing that was given a round knurl. Back on the 3-jaw-chuck, the inside was bored to a tight fit to the body of the milling spindle. The front part was given a concave bevel with a form-tool. The various steps in machining a new dust-sleeve Original dust-sleeve (right) and fabricated copy (left) Sleeves in place - an original one on top, the newly made one below To be continued ...

It is also a question of the scale at which you are working. The larger the scale and the closer you are with the rigging material to the 'real' thing the less likely you will need to secure belayings etc. Where on the prototype they would have slapped tar over it, I would use black/brown paint. On small-scale models, where synthetic material would be the only practical material, you will need to secure knots and belayings because the material does not provide enough friction to hold (as pointed out by Chuck). In such cases I use a drop of light solvent-based varnish - if the need arises, the thread can be softened again by applying a drop of solvent and lines can be tightened or loosend.

Probably the best modern source on seamanship, including furling sails, that reviews practices spanning roughly the 17th to the end of the 19th century is: HARLAND, J. (1985): Seamanship in the Age of Sail.- 320 p., London (Conway Maritime Press). I think every sailship-modeller should have this book handy ! There are also various contemporary works that are available as reprints or as e-books for (free) download. For the 19th century this would be e.g. BRADY, W.W. (1852): The Kedge Anchor; or Young Sailor’s Assistant. Appertaining to the Practical Evolutions of Modern Seamanship, Rigging, Knotting, Splicing, Blocks, Purchases, Running-Rigging, and Other Miscellaneus Matters Applicable to Ships of War and Others.- 400 p., New York (Published by the Author). LEVER, D. (1819): The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor.- 124 p., London (Nachdruck 1963 bei E.W. Sweetman & Co., New York). NARES, G.S. (1862): Seamanship.- 232 p., (reprint 1979 by Gresham Books).

To add: the notches have to high enough to allow the pins to be lifted out of the sockets on the stern-post ...

OK, the thread is already a few weeks old, but I just wanted to chip in. Below is a picture from a dhow-building place in Nungwi on Zanzibar in 2012, where these boats are built using the traditional methods: Source: http://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/tanzania/tanzania.html The scorching shows that an open flame was used to soften the garboard plank, which then was held in shape and place until set using various clamps and levers. Steam-bending was and is a common process in furniture-making. The most famous of all probably is the German firm Thonet, that had before the war their main production facilties in what is now the Czech Republic. They made incredible complex pieces using massive cast-iron pattern to hold the steamed wood in shape until set. On the hot-air soldering station: I got mine several years ago and use it on all sorts of heating tasks between 100°C and 400°C(not F !). No problems with the equipment so far. I rarely read product reviews for such things as I feel quite capable to deal with issues. One problem is that people pay KIA and expect to get Mercedes. There is a reason why things are cheap and not only economy of scale, so I am prepared to rectify (some) issues as a trade off for a lower purchase price (that not necessarily guarantees quality these days). A lot of the Chines-made equipment has to be considered to be in an 'advanced stage of production' and you can finish it to your requirements. With this attitude you safe yourself a lot of aggravation. If the air-gun comes on, when the main switch is off, this is, of course, a concern. However, by looking at the wiring, it is easy to tell, wether the main switch is really the last element before the wires leave the box. If not this would need to be rectified. Otherwise, I have all my equipment plugged into extensions that can be switched off and that are so, when I am not in the workshop. Or, I unplug pieces of equipment out of principle.

In many/most cases the easiest way is to follow (within limits) the prototype way. These guys knew what they were doing. There is a small problem on the above example: the hinges on the rudder are too far out, the axis of the rudder should be just somewhat inside the front (leading) edge. The notches in the rudder are there to allow the shipping/unshipping of the rudder.

Thanks, gentlemen ! The last three weeks I was barely home for two or three days in a row, just too much business travels - good for the business, but not so good for the private life, including hobbies. I still managed to squeeze-in a couple of hours in the workshop. This is needed from time to time to relax ************************** As indicated at the beginning, the machine will be provided with a fifth axis for rotary milling and dividing operations. Some years ago, I fashioned a geared dividing head from an old Lorch, Schmidt & Co. grinding spindle. This mounts onto the cross-slide of a 6 mm lathe, such as the one used in the milling machine. Geared dividing head constructed some years ago These grinding spindles were meant to be bolted down onto the cross-slide using the latern for the turning bits. While this reduced the number of bits and pieces to be provided for the lathe and to be taken care of, it seems to be a rather strange economy. In the present circumstances this method of bolting is also not very satisfactory, as the angle of the spindle, as well its position in the T-slot have to be adjusted at the same time. Too many degrees of freedom. Elements of the holding-down bolt Therefore, a mounting bolt was fashioned from a normal M6 screw with a hexagonal head. These fit perfectly into the T-slots, but their heads have to turned thinner. Over the bolt a sleeve with an internal M6 thread screws down, thus keeping the bolt in place. Geared dividing head in place Now, the dividing head can be rotated around the bolt without movement up and down in the T-slot. The dividing head is clamped with an standard M6 cap-nut (a nice polished stainless steel one though) and a large washer. The latter also is a commercial stamped product that was cleaned up on the lathe and given a nice polish for aesthetics sake. Geared dividing head in place To be continued ...

Well, that seems to be common problem with restorations: once you take things apart and a closer look, you find all sorts of hidden problems and incompetent repairs ... glad that I am not doing such work and certainly not for money

I know some guys who constantly turn pieces upside down and over, while the paint is drying to avoid the runny 'noses'. This is because too light coates of paint can appear grainy. The paint layer has to be deep enough so that it stretches smoothly due to the surface tension, but not so deep that is runs. Can be quite tricky and the turning over method seems to keep the layer of paint evenly thin. Didn't try it out myself, but know several people who use it successfully.

I thought the funnels were made of wood (hence my earlier suggestion for sanding). Brass makes life a lot easier ...

Yes and no. There could be some wood-filler underneath that would go with the acetone/paint-stripper, then requiring a big puttying and sanding job. I would try to remove all metal-work and then sand to a smooth finish. You then can spray-paint directly on the remaining paint. If you intend to use a solvent-based paint, you should also test for compatibility before spray-painting on the old paint.

No, had no need (yet), but I think it would be good for such things as well. As the lowest temperature is 100°C it could be also used (judisciously) for heating plastics for bending. I also use it for loosening they stuck lids of paint tins, for heat-shrinking etc.

Michael, I originally bought it with the idea of 'contactless' soft-soldering, i.e. that one does not need to touch delicate items set-up for soldering, but now use it for all sorts of heating purposes. I even use it a full power to heat up bigger items for hard-soldering and hardening before going at them with my gas soldering-torch. Saves on gas and allows more even heating.

Michael, I fished it out of Chinese waters from the well-known bay. Not sure, who the manufacturer are. Here is an identical example: These hot-air soldering stations are used for what is called SMD (Surface Mount Device) soldering of circuit boards. You can get them for around 60 USD/EUR and they have temperature range of 100°C to 450°C. Apart from soldering, of course, I use mine e.g. for blueing and tempering small steel parts and for producing oxidation colours on other metals, such as brass and copper.

I have a hot-air soldering gun that I use for this purpose. One can set the desired temperature, which prevents the material from beaing overheated.

Actually, I have a little plastic one as well. The 'hooks' each are small mitre boxes. The latter I found not precise enough to be very useful, but use it otherwise occassionally for carving or operations where I cannot clamp the work piece. At the time I used to clamp the fret-saw table to my play-/work-table (which wasn't a particularly valuable one - my father made it for me during my early school years from a sort kitchen top with four legs screwed under, but one couldn't pin anything into it and wouldn't want to mess it up with paint). If there is no such option, I would perhaps put a couple of those brass dowels with a thread in them into the 'bench hook' and then fasten the fret-saw table in them with a couple of screws. Such brass dowels could also be used to fix other items, such as lamps or a vice, to the board and would allow to detach them for stowage.

When, as a teenager, I started more serious modelling, I was given by my parents what was according to them an old baking- or pasta-making board. Essentially it was a pine board which had the end-grain covered with strips of the same wood. At both ends a sort of rim was screwed to it - on one side up and on the other side down; the latter sort of hooked the board against the table on which it was used. This board remained in use until I moved into my own appartment and constructed the work-bench I am still using today. The board was about 60 cm wide and 50 cm deep. If would make it today again, I would probably use some beech, rather than pine.

Only discovered this most interesting thread today ... Did you actually resolve your wire-rope problem for the funnel-stays ? There are also tinned copper-wires on the market. Wouldn't know about a source in CND, but here is one in the UK to show what I mean: http://wires.co.uk/acatalog/cu_tinned.html. In this way you don't need to think about painting it in a silver colour. Very much much like your soldering stand. You knocked this up in no time. Would take me days at least. I also have one of those useless stands with a loupe on. Everyone seems to have, so I had to have one too and almost never use it. One thought: wouldn't the large clamps not be a rather effective heat sink, making soldering difficult ? At least aluminium is probably better than some other metals. BTW, you may be interested in the Web-Site on the restauration of the ship-yard model of the last austro-hungarian passenger-steamer KAISER FRANZ JOSEPH I (1912), which was undertaken by a friend of mine: http://kaiserfranzjoseph.de/. The site is in German, but has a lot of interesting pictures on it. A similar project is the restoration of the model of the pre-WWI tanker BRITISH EARL: http://forum.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1136 (but it may be that one can see this only as member).

Yes, the Preiser sculpting and anatomy is my benchmark. I have used them for one-off conversions. I cannot stand those garden dwarf-like 'wargaming' figurines - I gather the reason for their stocky built is to provide for more rugged handling during the game, but they are not good for scale models.

It may the way how the figurine was photographed and that it is sort bend on the knees, but the legs appear to be rather short compared to the upper body. Also, the area around the right elbow seems a bit thin compared to the lower arm ...

Actually, I think neither of it. Binnacles seem to have been either varnished wood, or they were painted. The well-known and more modern pillar-type binnacles seem to have been mostly varnished, while the older cup-board-like ones seem to have been mostly painted.

Not bad at all. If I may make a suggestion: I would not produce them with a base, but rather have some sprues or something sticking out of their feet - this would allow to drill appropriate holes into decks etc. for fixing them. It might be also an idea to offer them at one of the 3D-printing service providers for scaleable printouts - thinking of smaller scales.