alde

It sure has been a long time since I have been able to join you all in your builds or work on my project. I hope everybody is well. I have had some family issues but things are settling in a bit now. I may not get back to my boat right away but hope to look in on what's going on and maybe ask a few questions. I will need to re-learn some stuff and get back into the swing of things.

You are doing a fantastic job for a first ship model. Your time building RC Airplanes has paid off. How much time do you have into your build so far? It looks like you started your build log when you were pretty far along.

Keep that stress down my friend. Your health and family come before anything else. I have found that between walking, eating right and working on my hobbies when I can is the best medicine. 

By the way the stern of the Constitution looks great. 

Al D.

Rear mounted?  I didn't know there was such a thing.   Alde, which way is the rotation of the chuck?  I believe on the Sherline it should be such that it rotates the material into the top of the tool.  From your picture, it should be clockwise.  If the cutter were on the other side, it would be counter-clock wise.   Is it possible that the tool holder/slide has been somehow installed backwards?

Yes, the standard tool holders that go on the operator side are about 1/4" shorter so they cut from the top. The rear mount is designed to cut from the bottom and the cut off tool is put upside down.

OK, I figured it out. You have a rear mounted cut off tool holder (post) instead of the standard one (front mounted, rightside up).

Also, it looks that your lathe came with a cross slide taken from their mill. You have to exchange it into a thinner one - dedicated to their lathe.

Sorry for the confusion.

Thomas

Yes, it's the rear mount tool holder. I got it because I thought it might be better if I make several parts like cannon barrels. I have the thinner table on the way and it should solve the problem.

Thanks again for all the help. I will post back when I get the new part and have it up and running. Then I have the fun of learning how to use it.

Al D.

I have a Sherline lathe model 4410 and the thickness of my crossslide is .62.

Hope this helps...

Thank you. This is just the information I was looking for. Yours is a full 0.25" thinner. I must have the wrong part on my lathe. I sure hope the part I get from Sherline works. 

Thanks again for all the help.

A full quarter inch?????   The did something weird.  Are there any part numbers on the slide?  If so, you might contact Sherline and see what they think.

Mark, I had the slide off and could not find a part number. I went ahead and ordered the slide that should be correct for my lathe directly from Sherline. It was $35 but it will be well worth it if it works right.

Usually you would align the tip of the tool  ( cutting edge ) to the centreline of the job in the chuck, your parting tool is way to high in the toolpost.It will never work as a parting tool as it is.

 

Norman

Yes, and after looking at it and comparing it to pictures of other Sherline lathes and a drawing with dimensions I found on the company site it looks like my cross slide it too thick by 0.25". It was bought used. I am thinking somebody switched the slide with one from a mill or something.

It's been a while since I have been at the work bench or the computer but I have made a bit of progress on the Launch. I have started the rigging and got a new toy. I got this serving machine from one of sponsors, Domanoff's Workshop. I know there is very little rigging on this boat to justify a serving machine but what a great tool it is. Very well made and works like a champ.

I hope to get the rigging done in the next few days and move on to the other details.

Al D. 

I just got what I thought was a good deal on a used Sherline 4000 Lathe. It runs great and seems nice and tight but there is one problem. The distance from the top of the cross slide to the center of the chuck should be .94". Mine measures .69". 

I noticed there was something wrong when I could not get a tool close to the center of the work and I could not chuck up a 1.5" diameter aluminum rod over the cross slide. My cross slide is .88" thick.

Can somebody please measure the thickness of their Sherline lathe cross slide for me? Here is a picture of mine with a brand new rear mount cut off tool that goes over a piece mounted in the chuck.

Thanks for any help, Al

Ooch, sorry to hear about your cut. Those can hurt. OK, I'll be the first to say it. I hope you didn't bleed all over your Constitution.  

Thanks Frank! It looks like it's going to be raining for the next couple of days so I should be able to post some updates. 

Don't let a little rain stop you from doing some fishing. Here in the Pacific Northwest if we let the rain stop us we would never do any fishing. The fish are wet anyway.

Just back from the port, whereupon I didst avail the company of a (not so) wholesome wench - I prefer 'em that way, DG ...

 

(Ahem)

Getting back to my Launch, were I to use the same toothpick method employed on the interior for the outer trennelling, I feel this would mess with my distressed planking. Thus, in order to create trennelling on the exterior of this Launch - and also to preserve my sanity - I will soon pull out the syringes I recently purchased and make some attempts at faux-trenails.

 

Although, as I will very shortly be making the long-awaited residential adjustment (just signed the lease), the next update may take a bit of time.

Pics soon ...

I am looking forward to seeing the "faux-trenails" progress but I thought we might see the puffer fish effect.  Good luck with the move. It's always a stressful thing to do. Every time I have moved I said never again.

Floyd,

You might look into the 2 part resin they use for fiberglass. It sands much better than epoxy and can be thinned to a watery consistancy with acetone and brushed on. I did this for an RC tugboat hull then used red Bondo auto body filler to even up any spots. It comes in a tube and sands better than any else I have tried.

Al D.

Oh, the floor looks fabulous. Your distressed look is working very well. 

I haven't posted to my log for quite a while because I have not had much time to do any work on the Launch but I did manage to make the sails and taper the spars. The instructions show both sewn sails and faked lines with a pencil. I opted to go with the simple method and it turned out ok. The lines are a bit darker then I would have liked but I can live with it. I still have to put the reef points on the sails and the cleats on the spars. I also did the edges of the sails with fray stop. I hope to have them rigged over the weekend but we'll see.

The pumps along with everything else look fantastic Bob. It's been a great learning expierience following your log.

Al D.

It amazes me that some people can take on a challenge like the Syren as a beginner and do such fantastic work. You are an inspiration.

Al D.

Hey Ben, yeah, patience.... I've had to exercise it to almost my breaking point lately. There should be massive updates on this build log but life and commitments keep taking time away. I've been getting in blocks of fifteen minutes here and there and am almost finished with getting these bulkheads straightened out.

Fun time can be a rare thing sometimes. Enjoy it while you can.

Al D,

 

To select more than one line, when trimming, erasing, etc hold down the shift key while selecting.  For the curve there is the arc, which is drawn with three points, and there is also the spline that uses many points.  I've been useing the free version of DraftSight for a couple of years now.  I don't know it all but I'm willing to share.  Hope this helps.

 

Bob

Bob,

I don't know why I didn't try the shift key. Maybe because It was midnight after a long day.  I bought the boxed program for less than $40 and it works fantastic. For what I need it's as good as AutoCAD. Now I need to get a big screen for my tired eyes.

For my first project with it I am laying out a Constitution 2 deck battle station section with 2 long guns on the main deck and 1 carronade on the spar deck. It will use the gun kits from Model Expo.

Thank you for your help.

Al

I have been using AutoCAD at work for years but needed something for my modeling at home so I got a copy of Draftsight. I have to say that I love the program. It is very much like AutoCAD and pretty easy for me to figure out.

I am at a loss on one thing though. When I first loaded the program I was able to select several items such as erasing more than 1 object at a time. Now when I select a second object the first one is un-selected. The same goes for trimming. I can't trim a circle tangent between 2 lines. Also when I try to draw a curve it only lets me select 3 points.

I'm pretty sure I messed something up in the settings but for the life of me I can't figure it out.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Al D.

Patrick,

Just to add more information into the pile here are 2 drawings I came accross from the National Archives Online Resources. They are outboard profile and sail plans drawn in 1817 and is a very high resolution images. They clearly shows no gunports. There are also some other interesting details. If nothing else they are cool period drawings of the ship in high resolution.

http://media.nara.gov/social-media/gallery/19-4-43-2011-001.pdf

http://media.nara.gov/cartographic/gallery/RG_19_Dash_108_12_2.PDF

Al D.

Alde,

 

Your launch is looking beautiful! Looking forward to seeing the final model.

 

- Tim

Thanks Tim. I think it will go a long way in building my confidence for my next project.

Just one word for now ... "Tree Nails"

(actually, that's two)

That should keep you busy for a while. Looking forward to the results.

Thank you for taking the time to post so much detail on your build log. I will refer to it when I start my AVS. It will be my second build.