Mike Y

Very interesting mod!
 
Have you considered decoupling the screen from the rest of the measurement device? Since you have pretty much disassembled it anyway, and I assume the screen is just attached with some connector and can be soldered with a longer wires, creating a convenient "DRO panel" on the front of the mill.
Though it might be just integrated to the rest of the circuit entirely...
 
Is it actually possible to crank the Y axis wheel with the caliper being that close, or is it designed for a left handed user? From the pictures it looks to be right in the way. Pardon if I am just overthinking it   

Found my rhythm and finally produced first parts!
Admittedly got carried away with the shape of these mast posts, they are supposed to be much more boxy-looking and utilitarian. I was inspired by a few other models with very elegant posts For the same aesthetic reasons iron bolts are omitted and edges are aligned with the run of the planking.
I really love the look of curvy pear parts, big fat black dots would spoil it a bit. And after all these parts would be hidden deep in the hold.
It is more labor intense without a disk sander, so shaping and beveling involved a lot of chiseling. Though it is a pleasure with a nice and honed chisel.

The most pleasuring moment was chamfering these edges with some relaxing background music Super happy, the joy is back!
 
Finished with my new go-to finish Osmo Polyx 3062. Contemplating leaving smaller parts unfinished later during the build, but these are right next to the dark shiny pear frames, would be too much of a contrast. 
Before and after the finishing, side by side:

 
In the hull (dry fitted). Quite ashamed with the quality of planking at the bow, who left all these giant gaps? 🫣 Did not look that bad on photos from 2021...
No big deal, it only means I should be more careful next time. Also spotted an obvious misplacement of the top breast hook notch, it was the same guys fault. I was too young back then  


 

Found my rhythm and finally produced first parts!
Admittedly got carried away with the shape of these mast posts, they are supposed to be much more boxy-looking and utilitarian. I was inspired by a few other models with very elegant posts For the same aesthetic reasons iron bolts are omitted and edges are aligned with the run of the planking.
I really love the look of curvy pear parts, big fat black dots would spoil it a bit. And after all these parts would be hidden deep in the hold.
It is more labor intense without a disk sander, so shaping and beveling involved a lot of chiseling. Though it is a pleasure with a nice and honed chisel.

The most pleasuring moment was chamfering these edges with some relaxing background music Super happy, the joy is back!
 
Finished with my new go-to finish Osmo Polyx 3062. Contemplating leaving smaller parts unfinished later during the build, but these are right next to the dark shiny pear frames, would be too much of a contrast. 
Before and after the finishing, side by side:

 
In the hull (dry fitted). Quite ashamed with the quality of planking at the bow, who left all these giant gaps? 🫣 Did not look that bad on photos from 2021...
No big deal, it only means I should be more careful next time. Also spotted an obvious misplacement of the top breast hook notch, it was the same guys fault. I was too young back then  


 

Thanks Pat & Carl!
 
Milled the rest of the flooring. Dry-fit confirmed that I have enough wood (phew!), but just enough - no room for whoopsies:

 
There are some synergies between our hobbies, knitting weights are handy

 
First planks are in! Now it is quite mechanical, planning to install one pair every evening:

The display case progresses. Sloooowly (live gets in a way, in a good way). Only get 1-2hrs of hobby per week, assuming no trips.
Everything is milled up, and miters are cut using miter jig on a table saw and fine tuned with a disk sander + miniature block plane.
First series of strips buckled up significantly, because of a moisture in the glue. But I quickly realised that I do not really need to spread a glue over the entire plank - few spots is enough for it to be in place.
So I apply the glue in lines:

And brush some water on tope of the plank before putting a weight on it - that helps to neutralise moisture on both sides of the plank, or even force it to bow in another direction. 
After that, plexiglass plates + Books help to clamp it down:

 
That process worked well, all planks are now flat and there is no buckling.
 
Next strake was made of willow, 4cm wide. It was carefully straightened with a plane and straightedge before passing it through table saw:

 
The idea was good, until I screwed up. I was trying to carefully align the grain pattern, so the sapwood strip will be on the outside... 
Except one plank where I made a mistake:

 
With very little material to spare, I will reuse this plank for the central part of the floor.
So the left plank was made out of two cutoff pieces. Not ideal, but not super bad:

 
Nothing is sanded or finished, so pardon for some glue lines. 
 

Found my rhythm and finally produced first parts!
Admittedly got carried away with the shape of these mast posts, they are supposed to be much more boxy-looking and utilitarian. I was inspired by a few other models with very elegant posts For the same aesthetic reasons iron bolts are omitted and edges are aligned with the run of the planking.
I really love the look of curvy pear parts, big fat black dots would spoil it a bit. And after all these parts would be hidden deep in the hold.
It is more labor intense without a disk sander, so shaping and beveling involved a lot of chiseling. Though it is a pleasure with a nice and honed chisel.

The most pleasuring moment was chamfering these edges with some relaxing background music Super happy, the joy is back!
 
Finished with my new go-to finish Osmo Polyx 3062. Contemplating leaving smaller parts unfinished later during the build, but these are right next to the dark shiny pear frames, would be too much of a contrast. 
Before and after the finishing, side by side:

 
In the hull (dry fitted). Quite ashamed with the quality of planking at the bow, who left all these giant gaps? 🫣 Did not look that bad on photos from 2021...
No big deal, it only means I should be more careful next time. Also spotted an obvious misplacement of the top breast hook notch, it was the same guys fault. I was too young back then  


 

Hi Lawrence,
 
Yes, the decorations and windows are good quality, two bottom sheets on this photo:

 
Though you need to be really careful when building a transom area to make sure that windows will fit, there is no room for error. I  was not so accurate in this area, so my windows would be made to fit instead...
Also, note the grain direction. I would try to make those out of multiple pieces - more realistic and less chance to snap off a flimsy piece that has a grain running across its width. Though it is boxwood, so it might survive. But trying to clean off the char while trying not to break it - is a big challenge, probably more difficult than just cutting the piece from scratch (the plans have all the necessary patterns).
So there is no clear answer, just imagine yourself making those from scratch or using laser cut pieces. What would you prefer?

Found my rhythm and finally produced first parts!
Admittedly got carried away with the shape of these mast posts, they are supposed to be much more boxy-looking and utilitarian. I was inspired by a few other models with very elegant posts For the same aesthetic reasons iron bolts are omitted and edges are aligned with the run of the planking.
I really love the look of curvy pear parts, big fat black dots would spoil it a bit. And after all these parts would be hidden deep in the hold.
It is more labor intense without a disk sander, so shaping and beveling involved a lot of chiseling. Though it is a pleasure with a nice and honed chisel.

The most pleasuring moment was chamfering these edges with some relaxing background music Super happy, the joy is back!
 
Finished with my new go-to finish Osmo Polyx 3062. Contemplating leaving smaller parts unfinished later during the build, but these are right next to the dark shiny pear frames, would be too much of a contrast. 
Before and after the finishing, side by side:

 
In the hull (dry fitted). Quite ashamed with the quality of planking at the bow, who left all these giant gaps? 🫣 Did not look that bad on photos from 2021...
No big deal, it only means I should be more careful next time. Also spotted an obvious misplacement of the top breast hook notch, it was the same guys fault. I was too young back then  


 

Found my rhythm and finally produced first parts!
Admittedly got carried away with the shape of these mast posts, they are supposed to be much more boxy-looking and utilitarian. I was inspired by a few other models with very elegant posts For the same aesthetic reasons iron bolts are omitted and edges are aligned with the run of the planking.
I really love the look of curvy pear parts, big fat black dots would spoil it a bit. And after all these parts would be hidden deep in the hold.
It is more labor intense without a disk sander, so shaping and beveling involved a lot of chiseling. Though it is a pleasure with a nice and honed chisel.

The most pleasuring moment was chamfering these edges with some relaxing background music Super happy, the joy is back!
 
Finished with my new go-to finish Osmo Polyx 3062. Contemplating leaving smaller parts unfinished later during the build, but these are right next to the dark shiny pear frames, would be too much of a contrast. 
Before and after the finishing, side by side:

 
In the hull (dry fitted). Quite ashamed with the quality of planking at the bow, who left all these giant gaps? 🫣 Did not look that bad on photos from 2021...
No big deal, it only means I should be more careful next time. Also spotted an obvious misplacement of the top breast hook notch, it was the same guys fault. I was too young back then  


 

Found my rhythm and finally produced first parts!
Admittedly got carried away with the shape of these mast posts, they are supposed to be much more boxy-looking and utilitarian. I was inspired by a few other models with very elegant posts For the same aesthetic reasons iron bolts are omitted and edges are aligned with the run of the planking.
I really love the look of curvy pear parts, big fat black dots would spoil it a bit. And after all these parts would be hidden deep in the hold.
It is more labor intense without a disk sander, so shaping and beveling involved a lot of chiseling. Though it is a pleasure with a nice and honed chisel.

The most pleasuring moment was chamfering these edges with some relaxing background music Super happy, the joy is back!
 
Finished with my new go-to finish Osmo Polyx 3062. Contemplating leaving smaller parts unfinished later during the build, but these are right next to the dark shiny pear frames, would be too much of a contrast. 
Before and after the finishing, side by side:

 
In the hull (dry fitted). Quite ashamed with the quality of planking at the bow, who left all these giant gaps? 🫣 Did not look that bad on photos from 2021...
No big deal, it only means I should be more careful next time. Also spotted an obvious misplacement of the top breast hook notch, it was the same guys fault. I was too young back then  


 

Found my rhythm and finally produced first parts!
Admittedly got carried away with the shape of these mast posts, they are supposed to be much more boxy-looking and utilitarian. I was inspired by a few other models with very elegant posts For the same aesthetic reasons iron bolts are omitted and edges are aligned with the run of the planking.
I really love the look of curvy pear parts, big fat black dots would spoil it a bit. And after all these parts would be hidden deep in the hold.
It is more labor intense without a disk sander, so shaping and beveling involved a lot of chiseling. Though it is a pleasure with a nice and honed chisel.

The most pleasuring moment was chamfering these edges with some relaxing background music Super happy, the joy is back!
 
Finished with my new go-to finish Osmo Polyx 3062. Contemplating leaving smaller parts unfinished later during the build, but these are right next to the dark shiny pear frames, would be too much of a contrast. 
Before and after the finishing, side by side:

 
In the hull (dry fitted). Quite ashamed with the quality of planking at the bow, who left all these giant gaps? 🫣 Did not look that bad on photos from 2021...
No big deal, it only means I should be more careful next time. Also spotted an obvious misplacement of the top breast hook notch, it was the same guys fault. I was too young back then  


 

hello
I hope to arrive in time with the help.
A few years ago my wife gave me the DB250 lathe that I complemented with the three jaw chuck and the drill chuck.
The lathe has allowed work with masts and other tasks.
Years ago I built a chess set with vaporized beech wood with 30 x 100 millimeter pieces (I've been looking for a working prototype but it's lost in the infinity of my small warehouse).
I have also made cannons like the one in the photo in aluminum, this is the first one made, I have been able to make them smaller and have even made one 120 mm long for an artillery post that I gave away and of course wooden cannons that are conveniently painted almost perfect.
I consider it to be a good purchase and the result is worth the expense.
 
Regards
 
Belco

Has anyone ever used this Mantua 'lathe' ?
 

 
It has the pass through feature.  Looks simple and cheap..

The main deck completed to the midline and the bowsprit step is temporarily installed

Dick

Hello,
 
The next thing is to make a hole at the right of the cast aluminium block where the dowel pin will be inserted. I made a quite complex setup to drill that 3 mm hole as correct as possible. First job was the fixation of the xy-table to my work surface and checking its squareness (see the next picture).
 

 
Then a rather unusual setup for my drill press where the base was turned to the back and using a counterweight to stabilize the drill press.
 

 
That went well and the dowel pin fits with very little play.
 

 
As a last adaption for the Y-readout, I soldered some wires to the metal battery clips in order to power the readout from a power supply. That should avoid battery replacements in the future.
 

 
The X-DRO was made following the same principles but the ruler will be fixed to the mill table with a support instead of a pin. The next picture shows the readout already prepared with wiring, the ruler and both supports. You may notice that I cut away some plastic at the battery location to bring the readout as close as possible to the X-table side.
 

 
Then the supports need to be fixed. The ruler support is attached to the mill table.
 

 

 

 
With the threaded hole for the readout support I had bad luck.
 

 
The M3 tap broke off but there was just enough of it sticking out so that I could remove it with a good forceps.
 

 
The next picture shows the parts of the X-DRO ready for glueing to the mounted supports.
 

 
Then with some metal epoxy glue all parts are glued, compressed and left for 24 hours to allow the epoxy to cure to its final strength.
 

 
As a last addition I soldered the wiring to a small step down converter that will supply the 3V DC for both readouts.
 

 
At the back is now a connector that mates with an old 12V DC supply of a laptop. Here is the finished KT 70 with its added DRO.
 

 
Next time I will try to report on some test regarding the precision of this setup.
 
Best regards,
 
Kris

Hey Roel!  My mast hinges are a "hidden hinge" method I learned from one of @John Fox III's build logs (his are a work of art while just mine manage to get the job done!). 
 
The masts are 2 piece.  I cut a narrow slot in the top end of the bottom half of the mast.  For the top half of the mast, I carve out a narrow tab the fits snugly in the slot.  I angle the base of the slot and the end of the tab to form a "stop" to keep the top half from folding the wrong way.
 
Then I'll put the 2 halves together and use a 78 drill bit to put a hole thru both.  Finally, I insert a piece of .015" music wire for the actual hinge and put a dot of CA glue on each end of the wire to secure it.  I believe Mr. Fox uses wood for the hinge rather than wire.
 
Here's a couple of pics from my Treasure Fleet build that should give you a better look.  If memory serves, Mr. Fox had a sequence of detailed pictures of his hidden hinge construction in his build log but I cannot remember which log I saw it in.
 
     
 

Found my rhythm and finally produced first parts!
Admittedly got carried away with the shape of these mast posts, they are supposed to be much more boxy-looking and utilitarian. I was inspired by a few other models with very elegant posts For the same aesthetic reasons iron bolts are omitted and edges are aligned with the run of the planking.
I really love the look of curvy pear parts, big fat black dots would spoil it a bit. And after all these parts would be hidden deep in the hold.
It is more labor intense without a disk sander, so shaping and beveling involved a lot of chiseling. Though it is a pleasure with a nice and honed chisel.

The most pleasuring moment was chamfering these edges with some relaxing background music Super happy, the joy is back!
 
Finished with my new go-to finish Osmo Polyx 3062. Contemplating leaving smaller parts unfinished later during the build, but these are right next to the dark shiny pear frames, would be too much of a contrast. 
Before and after the finishing, side by side:

 
In the hull (dry fitted). Quite ashamed with the quality of planking at the bow, who left all these giant gaps? 🫣 Did not look that bad on photos from 2021...
No big deal, it only means I should be more careful next time. Also spotted an obvious misplacement of the top breast hook notch, it was the same guys fault. I was too young back then  


 

Found my rhythm and finally produced first parts!
Admittedly got carried away with the shape of these mast posts, they are supposed to be much more boxy-looking and utilitarian. I was inspired by a few other models with very elegant posts For the same aesthetic reasons iron bolts are omitted and edges are aligned with the run of the planking.
I really love the look of curvy pear parts, big fat black dots would spoil it a bit. And after all these parts would be hidden deep in the hold.
It is more labor intense without a disk sander, so shaping and beveling involved a lot of chiseling. Though it is a pleasure with a nice and honed chisel.

The most pleasuring moment was chamfering these edges with some relaxing background music Super happy, the joy is back!
 
Finished with my new go-to finish Osmo Polyx 3062. Contemplating leaving smaller parts unfinished later during the build, but these are right next to the dark shiny pear frames, would be too much of a contrast. 
Before and after the finishing, side by side:

 
In the hull (dry fitted). Quite ashamed with the quality of planking at the bow, who left all these giant gaps? 🫣 Did not look that bad on photos from 2021...
No big deal, it only means I should be more careful next time. Also spotted an obvious misplacement of the top breast hook notch, it was the same guys fault. I was too young back then  


 

Interesting, thank you! Was not aware of the "mesh" type of the sandpaper. And it even goes up to pretty high grits (800 grit for square version and 1000 grit for the round one). Will definitely try!

Interesting, thank you! Was not aware of the "mesh" type of the sandpaper. And it even goes up to pretty high grits (800 grit for square version and 1000 grit for the round one). Will definitely try!

Hello All,
 
I use my Proxxon micro-mill a lot when it comes to precise shaping of wooden parts. The complete setup consists of a MB 200 drill stand, a MICRO compound table KT 70 and a 230V ISB/E drill/grinder.
 

 
One of my frustrations with this setup is keeping track of the position of the end mill relative to the workpiece. How many turns did I already gave in the X or Y direction? Of course each decent mill is equipped with a Digital ReadOut system (DRO).
 

 
But adding such hardware to the KT 70 is not obvious, especially because the KT 70 is a ‘MICRO’ xy-table. I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it, so I parked it in a wish list. But then I saw that digital calipers were sold at 7.99 euro in a supermarket. I couldn't resist and bought 2 calipers guided by ‘it’s now or never’.
 

 
So I will describe here the process of adding these calipers to the KT 70. It is certainly not the only way to do it but it is what worked for me. And maybe it can inspire other members. So lets start.
 

 
The first thing is to dismount the complete caliper. Then the metal parts need some cuts.
 

 

 
I used a small hacksaw but soon experienced that the metal was quite hard and I had to replace the saw-blade twice before finishing the job.
 

 
I was afraid that these cuts would disturb the measurement principle. I quick check gave me piece of mind.
 

 
Then you have to decide where you want to attach the ruler part of the caliper and where the readout unit. After some puzzling, I decided to position the readout units close to the respective hand-wheels. The ruler then needs to be attached to a moving part of the xy-table. For the Y-direction I will use a 3 mm dowel pin glued in a filed grove at the ruler end.
 

 

 
To mount that Y-ruler as low as possible, a small cut had to be made at the right front corner of the xy-table.
 

 
This way the Y-ruler can be positioned horizontal as the check on the next picture illustrates.
 

 
Next the Y-readout needs a support. I found a complex metal (zamac) part that could be used when all excess material was cut away.
 

 

 
It will be fixed in place using the right screw (original screw replaced by a longer one) in the lower cover.
That is enough work for today, have a nice evening and see you back soon.
 
Best regards,
 
Kris

For those who have used traditional sandpaper with a paper backing the improvements in sanding paper took a major advancement when they started producing self cleaning sand paper. There are several brands, I prefer Abranet, made by Myrka. it lasts longer ad self cleans better. It works really well with the soft sanding blocks that have the backing that grips the sand paper. Just cut it to fit. The other characteristic is that it never really wears out it just changes the grit as it ages. After long use 80 grit becomes 120 grit and with more wear becomes 220 grit etc. Try it and you will never go back to traditional sand paper.

Had a pleasant time catching up, so glad you are back building!   Looking very neat!

Looking so clean and crisp! You and Mike (Stuntflyer) definitely share a style and a quality level  
Glad that you are back!

Erik, thank you! Your build is one of my inspirations too  
 
Greg, thanks, that is a clean shot! Though so far it was actually easy to sneak on a good fit, since with wide Hahn spacing and no chocks it is easy to put a part to the edge of the next frame and mark a clear line. But time will tell