wefalck

Peewee, it all depends, what you want to do with the lathe, i.e. what size of parts, repeatability of mounting, and whether you need screw-cutting facility. My personal preference are watchmaking lathes for their precision and versatility of workholding (if you have the full range of spindle tooling). However, screw-cutting attachments are rare and expensive - I have one . The UK is not so much into ebay, compared to some other countries, so you may have to source one through model engineering or watchmaking Web-sites. There are also new ones available from China. I cannot say anything about their quality, but it is certainly lower than that of the antique ones. On the other hand, they come with an integrated power-unit. If you go for a Chinese one, I would go for the bare machine without collets and chucks, as their chucks have a metric 7 mm thread. The traditional thread is 6.82 mm x 40 tpi and you can get lots of second-hand spindle tooling. If you opt for an antique one, go for the larger so-called WW-type, as this is more rigid, unless you want to work on some really small parts, when a so-called D-bed lathe would be good enough. The D-bed type seems to be more frequent on the European market, while the WW-type is more frequent in the USA. Cowells makes excellent stuff (I only have a vertical slide by them), but it comes at a price, even when second-hand. The so-call ME lathe is particularly sought after. Taig and Sherline lathes are made from aluminium. I don't really know how durable their ways etc. are, but there is a lot of information on them on the Web. Sherline makes some good chucks and I have several of them, but I don't have any experience with their lathes as such. In both cases, Taig or Sherline, I would opt for the so-called WW-spindle or adaptors to take watchmakers chucks and collets due to the versatility of that spindle tooling. You can find quite a bit of information on watchmaking lathes on my own Web-site below.

What do you mean by 'tan bark' sails actually ? Do you mean canvas sails that have been 'tanned' in a broth of tree bark and the smeared with a mixture of tallow and ochre ? Or do you mean sails made from tree bark as used on some idigeneous Pacific boats of old ?

I don't recall Harland talking about single masted vessels. There certainly is a description of how it was done in ships with 2+ masts. For single masted vessel I could think of two variants and believe they have been used some time in history. Whether this would be correct for the period you are interested in, I cannot say: - either the boom or the gaff could be used as a crane; it was probably the boom, as you would need some firm pivotal point (though you could arrange this with the throat halliard and the downhaul for the gaff); the boom would be raised using the topping lift and controlled by the sheets; one would need to rig a tackle for the boat to hook onto; the boat would have a … (forgot the English term at the moment) rigged between an eyebolt in the stem and the stern into which the tackle would be hooked. - similar to above, but in addition one would use the fising tackle for the anchor; the fisihing tackle is hooked into a lanyard that has an eye that goes over the mast usually between the stay and the shrouds; the fishing tackle would be hooked into the fore ringbolt of the boat, while the boom tackle would be hooked into the stern eyebolt; however, I think this method would only work, if you can also rig a tackle or line from arm of a yard; otherwise, it would be difficult to swing the boat clear of the ship. The first method was used at least in the later decades of the 19th century on trading smacks, when they did not have yards anymore. They had a heavy pulley to be hooked onto the boom for loading and unloading purposes, which would be also used for the boat - however, due to the hard work involved in getting the boat out and in, it was usually towed.

Thanks, gentlemen, once more for the praise ************************************* With all the machining completed, the various castings were cleaned up for their cosmetic appearance and lightly sanded to provide a better key for the new paint. The areas not be painted were masked with tape and and any openings stuffed with toilet paper. Parts masked for painting The castings were given a light coat with a filling primer, while the fabricated parts were just given a coat in an ordinary primer. Parts primed for painting After some light sanding and thorough de-dusting the parts were spray-painted in my favourite colour for machines, in RAL 6007 'Bottle Green'. I find the combination of bright steel, polished brass details, and the dark green aesthetically very pleasing. Painted parts after demasking On the images above there are two parts visible that have not been discussed yet: a round cap that will close-off the electrical installations of the motor and a clamp to fix the machine at the workbench. The round cap actually is a bakelite cover for some electrical home installations and which had almost the right internal diameter. I just needed to enlarge it on the lathe by a few tenth of milimetres. The clamp belonged to an obsolote electrical drill. The reciprocal movement of the filing machine will necessitate some form of fixation, or it is likely to jump around a bit. In addition, the high centre of gravity of the machine would make working with it like this rather unstable. To be continued ...

Just to enlarge the subject a bit: gloves and power-tools are No-No. Never wear gloves when working with either hand-held power-tools or stationary machinery. The gloves can easily get caught in tools or chucks and the torque even small machines can exert is devastating. They can rip off fingers. Personally, I rarely wear gloves for any work, as I just don't have the 'feel' with them. Being short-sighted, of course, I always wore glasses and feel naked without them. Past 45, when eye accomodation became a problem, I started to wear protective glasses, either plain or magnifying ones. Unfortunately, I don't have children (and consequently grandchildren) of my own, so I have no practical experience in teaching them. I remember, however, that my father forbid me to use his wood chisels. At that time, I rather thought in order not to damage them, rather than not to damage myself - as I always was building something, I 'lent' them from his unlocked tool-cupboard until I was given my own tools at about age 8. P.S. after having come across another 'thread': yes, I do wear leather gloves when cutting glass ...

Thanks ! Yes, I found it rather strange that the commercial die-filers only have one big hole. ************************************ The final piece of machining is finishing off the table blank produced earlier. A recess for the inserts had to be made. Normally, this would be a job for the lathe faceplate, but even with the rising blocks the centre height of my WW Lorch-lathe would have not been sufficient. Round-milling the recess for the table inserts Therefore, I screwed the table blank with spacers onto rotary table of the milling machine, which had been carefully centered before. The marked-out blank was in turn centered on the table. This set-up allowed to round-mill the recess to a depth, where the inserts are flush with the surface of the table. Table insert in place In the same set-up the clerance slot for the files was milled out to allow the inclination of the table to 45° in both directions. Using an insert as template, the mounting holes for them were drilled in the same set-up. This allowed to screw-down the inserts in their place and to mill the clearance-slots in them in situ, thus avoiding alignment errors. Table inserts slotted in situ Again, in the same set-up the holes for the table-bearing barrel were countersunk, which had not been done before, because the table surface was kept protected by its plastic film. Countersinking table mounting holes To be continued ...

Before retirement, Ivan was a real shipbuilder, working at the yard that maintains the Lake Constance fleet. He occassionally still works on restoration projects.

An here it is … getting closer to the end now: As the filing-machine is designed to work on very small parts, a near-zero clearance around the files is needed. Given the different sizes of files available, the solution is changeable table inserts for the table. Drilling and countersinking blanks for the table inserts The blanks for these inserts were cut as squares from 2 mm sheet-aluminium. A 2 mm-hole was drilled through the middle of the squares, which then were mounted as a package on a suitable lathe arbor to be turned round. Square collet-holder The same arbor was transfered to a square collet-holder. The collet-holder in turn was held in a vice on the horizontal milling machine. This set-up allow to drill and countersink the two mounting holes symmetrically for two M2 screws. Table inserts to be finished To be continued ...

For securing knots I always use a varnish (mainly Zapon varnish) that can be re-dissolved, if the need arises. You may find that something needs to tightned up or corrected - a drop of solvent allows you to untie knots. Given the small amounts needed and a steady hand with a fine brush, it doesn't matter to much, whether the varnish is matte or gloss, but remember that matte varnishes contain fillers that make them appear matte.

Being a German native speaker, I could help out too ... Saw Ivan's post on the bench a while ago, but did not realise then that it related to his model of the 'Fairy Tale Boat' of King Ludwig II of Bavaria (http://www.historische-schiffsmodelle.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=28&Itemid=50) on which he has been working for the last few years. Last year, I had the opportunity to visit 'his' museum in Kressbronn at Lake Constance and to admire his workmanship ...

The gold leave is probably the highest light you can get, considering its reflectance. Highlighting with silver would change its chromatic appearance, as the highlight would look whiter. For deepening shadows I would use washes of burnt umbra. The plastic modelling community appears to be quite united over the view that 'Alclad' metallic paints are among the best on the market. Personally, I have not tried them out yet myself.

Thanks ! ************************ The next item to be tackled was the overarm. There are three ways in principle to guide the files or saws: 1) the file/saw is tensioned in a frame and this frame is moved up and down as can be seen in most antique machines pictured above; the advantage of a precise movement and a constant tension of the file/saw comes at the expense of a bigger moving mass so that the machine has to fixed securely to a table; if the frame is not designed in a way that it can be removed, the use of stub files and work in internal cut-outs is rather inconvenient, 2) the frame is fixed and a guiding piston moves in a sliding bearing in an over-arm; the file/saw is tensioned by a coil-spring which implies that the tension changes over the movement; the advantages are that the over-arm can be easily swung out of the way, when stub files etc. are to be used, or the file/saw has to be threaded into a cut-out; also the moving masses are smaller, 3) the over-arm is actually a leaf-spring, as is the case for many older fret-saws; this design is unsuitable for a filing machine, as the movement is not precisely linear, but has a slight swing, which is actually desirable in a fret-saw. The old jig-saw used only permitted a design according to point (2). Boring the overarm for the upright Boring the overarm for the upper piston bearing The overarm was fashioned from a square piece of aluminium. The holes for the self-lubricating piston-bearing and the upright were drilled and bored out to exact dimensions. In order to give it the appearance of a cast part, a relief was milled into the sides of the arm. The ends were rounded on a filing disc mounted on an arbor in the lathe (such filing discs seem to extremely rare today, but I was able to acquire one some years ago) Shaping the overarm to give it a ‘cast’ appearance Rounding-off the ends of the overam using a filing disc on the lathe The arm was then slotted for the tightening bolt that allows to set the height above the table. This bolt was found in the scrap-box of old watchmakers lathe parts, but had the unusual thread of 7/32” x 24 tpi. Luckily, I had acquired some years ago a lot of odd taps that contained a matching one. Slotting the overarm for the tightening bolt The finished overarm (with tightening bolt in place) To be continued ...

Owend, my literature (and consequently knowledge) on Thames barges is rather limited. The only book in my library is this little one: COOPER, F.S. (1967): A Handbook of Sailing Barges. Evolution and Details of Hull and Rigging.- 111 p., London (Adlard Coles Ltd.). Cooper says that the floor planks were rabbeted and pulled together during construction with a chain and a tightening screw. After putting in the floor timbers and errecting the frames the side planking was put on, which also was rabbeted. Top and bottom of the sides finished in a plank twice the thickness of the other planking, the outer wale and the chine plank respectively. The side planking was around 3" thick, with the wale/chine having a cross-section of 6" by 12" to 18". To the chine plank a keelson of 13" by 6" was bolted. My literature list came also up with these books: FREESTON, E.C., KENT, B. (19??): Modelling Thames Sailing Barges.- 96 p., London (Conway Maritime Press). LEATHER, J. (197?): Barges.- 235 p., London (Granada Publishing). MARCH, E.J. (195?): Spritsail Barges of Thames and Medway.- but as the incomplete bibliographic references suggest, I don't have them in my library. I think there are many more publications on these craft, as quite a few are still around.

Actually, I may have been wrong concerning the run of the cloths in the mainsail. The photo by capnharv2 above shows the cloths running perpendicular to the after leech. There may be a difference between sports boats and working boats in that respect. I am not so knowledgeable in pleasure boats.

One should know the type of boat first. Square topsails rigged on a very short flying yard have been in use on commercial ships until about the last quarter of the 19th century. It then became replaced by the three-sided variant. On sport boats four-sided topsails on a longer, almost vertical yard were used into around the 1920s. So, one really needs to know the type of ship/boat in order to comment on the way of rigging. BTW, the run of sail cloths on the mainsail is rather unusual in being horizontal. They would normally be parallel to the mast or to the after edge.

The machine-files come in various shapes and sizes, therefore, various holders to hold them securly and parallel to the axis of movement had to be designed. I opted for sockets into which bushings for the various file sizes will fit. Additional bushing were made to hold fine jewelers saws, so that the machine can also be used as fret-saw. Cross-drilling the file-holder during construction The holders to attach onto the driving piston and the guiding piston in the overam were turned from steel. The holders were tapped M3 for two set-screws on opposite sides that will act directly on the files. Cross-drilling bushings for various files The bushings were turned from aluminium with a selection of internal diameters to fit the available files. They were then cross-drilled to allow the set-screws in the holders to pass through. In fact, the holder on the driving piston has two sets of set-screws set 90° apart in order to allow the orientation of triangular and rectangular files as needed. The collection of bushings The guiding piston had a 8 mm x 1 mm thread cut on the watchmakers lathe, as I had a suitable tap for this M8 (fine) thread. Two thumb-nuts with this thread were machined from aluminium (to keep the mass of the guiding piston low). They will give a coil-spring around the piston the necessary intial tension. It is necessary to keep the very thin (1 mm diameter) files under tension in order to prevent them from buckling during the up-stroke. Lower and upper file-holder together with guiding piston To be continued ...

I like this idea of using small ball-bearings as hold-downs and may adapt it to one of my machines

Indeed many bench lathes, including those for modellers, such as the Unimat, had saw-tables as an option. For added precision the saw-arbors we countersunk at the end, so that they could be supported by the tailstock. However, when sawing a lot of wood, I would be cautious with all the sawdust around that it doesn't get into the spindle bearings. Also sawdust and oil makes mixtures that stick to leadscrews and can lead to excessive wear, particular when metal chips are mixed in as well.

Thank you … at my pace it will still take a while ... ***************************** The original drive-shaft was made from a steel of rather poor machineability. It was impossible to achieve a satisfactory surface finish on it with the watchmaker's lathe. As I intended to change the original design slightly anyway, a new drive-shaft was turned from a piece of 32 mm round steel. This shaft was bored out for the 6 mm diameter gear-box output shaft to which it will be attached with a set-screw. Original drive-shaft and crank New drive shaft/crank, cross-head, bearing block, and piston The whole crank mechanism was also replaced, as it was badly worn due to steel-on-steel sliding friction without any lubrication. Originally a round pin was sliding in the cross-head slot. The new design provides for more positive guidance. A proper cross-head bearing block was machined from brass and will slide in a new cross-head. Assembled new drive shaft/crank, cross-head, bearing block, and piston The new crank was bored for the cross-head pin at different distances from the axis, which allows to set the stroke of the machine at 10 mm, 15 mm, and 20 mm. However, it will be necessary to almost dismantle the whole driving mechanism to change the stroke, as the set-screws for the cross-head pin would not be very accessible. The maximum stroke of 20 mm may not be possible with the current file-holder design due to sufficient clearance under the table, when it is inclined. Practical experience will show, whether a 15 mm stroke is satisfactory. New drive mechanism (provisionally) in place To be continued ...

As can be seen on the photograph showing the disassembled jigsaw, the piston for the saw-blade was guided by two self-aligning bearings. These bearings essentially were two cast-iron spheres set into slots and that were bored for the steel piston of 9.5 mm diameter (3/8”). Self-aligning bearings in the original jig-saw Lubrication relied on the self-lubrication of the graphite in the cast iron and the system had already considerable play in consequence. Therefore, the spheres were bored out to accept 10 mm self-lubricating bushings for 8 mm rods. These came from China through a well-known Internet service and are presumably normally used in computer printers and the like. Self-lubriacting bushings were chosen, because oiling would have been difficult under operating conditions. The new piston was fashioned from 8 mm polished and calibrated silver steel. Bored out bearings with new self-lubricating bushings in place To be continued ...

I would tend to agree with you concerning level of detail and scale - but: unfortunately, unlike in a photographic image, the viewing distance is not fixed. Though in general, one may view a model from, say, half a metre or a metre distance, one may also put the nose over it. If I were to design a model, for instance, as a film prop and it would only be seen from a certain distance, I would indeed put the level of detail on it that is needed to give the 'right' impression. For a show-case model the situation is rather different. Here you need to create the 'right' impression for various viewing distances. For certain details it may be safer to err on the small side ...

I would suspect that Downton-pumps were fitted. These come in many varieties, here is an example from the preserved 1840s Portuguese Frigate: In later years they were also made with cast-iron bodies. I don't have British drawings, I believe, but I think some French and German ones. I would have to check in my library.

De gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum ...

I would like to add to my above post that one has to try to avoid being merely 'additive', which is why the first image in the previous post looks rather cluttered. Details have to blend into the overall image. On the other hand, the two images above do not compare very well with respective to what they were meant to show, because they portray two different subjects from two different periods. The first image seems to show an urban setting from the 1930s, while second image seems to show a more rural modern setting. Since the 1950s you can generally observe a de-cluttering of our (i.e. Western World) land- and townscapes. Simpler lines on everything, plain concrete walls, etc. So there is less 'detail'. The same applies to modern ships compared to e.g. the old sailing ships. Modern ships are mainly welded, while older iron- and steel-ships would have been rivetted, which immediately makes them look more detailed (even when countersunk rivetts were used). So, if you want a realistic appearance as they may have looked at their time, you may to include a lot of clutter and details (as in the first image above). Conversely, if you want to point out the aesthetics of hull lines or of the sail-plan, you may want not to include such detail.

Dealing with the restoration of antique watchmaking machinery, I came across some pretty odd threads, but they seem to have been somehow standardised, as they re-occur in various machines. Modern engineering handbooks are largely useless to identify such threads. Finally, I got hold of a 657 page book from 1924 that only deals with threads. The multitude of threads that were used in different industries before Whitworth and SI (DIN/ISO norms) is quite amazing. The book also has a section on watch industry threads. It appears that each major factory has (had) its own standards ! However, in the Swiss watch industry the so-called Thury-thread seems to have become prevalent. Here is a Web-site with some information on it and dimensions: http://sizes.com/tools/thread_thury.htm. Chances are that these screwcutting plates that are being sold by watchmakers supply houses (and on eBay) have Thury threads. Proper taps and dies (as opposed to the plates) are made down to 0.2 mm diameter, I believe. I have some down to 0.3 mm, but would use them only on my watchmakers lathe, to ensure absolute concentricity and no side forces in order reduce the risk of breaking them. A die cost about 15 EUR in the late 1990s, when I bought them. Taps are cheaper.