Altair 1931 by KeithAug - FINISHED - Scale 1:32 - schooner

[KeithAug]

And so to phase 2 of the vent cowl experiment - the machined option.

 

The cowl "bell" is .400" outside diameter (OD) by .300" long.

 

I turned down brass rod to the .400" OD and cross drilled a hole half way through the bar to take the tube which would form the inner shaft of the cowl.

 

I then ground profile tools from HSS tool blanks. The external profile was drawn out on paper which was then glued to the tool blank to form the grinding guide. I decided to form the inner profile in two stages - firstly creating the internal spherical end by pre drilling to a depth of .250" with  a 3/16 twist drill and the plunging a .320" diameter round ended milling cutter, again to a depth of .250". The inner profile tool was thus made simpler as it only required shaping to form the mouth of the cowl.

 

I had to take care with the bore depth to avoid the external profile running into it. I took it carefully applying the check twice cut once rule. 

 

The external profile cut was taken slowly with the lathe turning at a moderate speed and using cutting fluid. 

I then used concentric tubes to form the shaft. The inner tube penetrating through the hole in the "bell" and the outer tube butting up to the external profile. I though this would give me the best chance of getting a good neat joint. The assembly was then soldered using a small ammount of solder paste and a propane torch. 

 

I then cropped the tube to length and remounted the assembly in the lathe to polish the inside of the cowl.

 

Finally I cut the cowl from the bar with razor saw, filed the stub smooth and polished.

 

Having tried the 2 options I am going ahead with the second option. It was quicker and gave a more accurate representation of the cowl shape.

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hi Keith,

Nice to see the special toolmaking for the job in hand. The final piece looks authentic, nicely executed.

Richard.

 

[Jim Lad]

Yet more beautiful metal work, Keith!

 

John

[KeithAug]

John / Richard - Thank you.

 

Today was a little frustrating but out of the frustration came a plan. When I next remodel the workshop I have decided to lay the floor to falls. I think a compound slope of 45 degrees would be about right, with the low point in one corner. Set in the corner will be a sump lined with a closely fitting bucket. I realise that this will present a few problems with the legs of workbench and chair, and of course i'd have to invest in some extra long levelling screws for the lathe and mill. These minor problems however pale into insignificance when considering the benefits of such an arrangement. The time saved in looking for dropped components and tools would be immeasurable!!!!!!!!

[Julie Mo]

Keith, I don't know where the time went but I have a lot of catching up to do!

 

As always. you do not disappoint!  I love the cams you used for holding the mast.  Thanks so much for sharing and doing so in such great detail.

[Julie Mo]

Your metal work puts this build into the Stratosphere, Keith!  Words cannot properly convey my awe. 

[dvm27]

Let me know how that works out for you, Keith. Then I'll do the same. Of course playing pool will be a bit more difficult but it's a small price to pay when all those little bastard escapees end up in the bucket!

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Sounds like a solid plan, Some platforms shoes aligned parallel to the floor may also be helpful, but the added height may make picking up parts more challenging.

Cheers Richard.

[KeithAug]

Julie, thank you for visiting and for your kind words.

 

Greg - the pan is to install the pool table parallel with the floor. Every shot will be a winner if only I can get the balls to stay in place while a take the first shot. 

 

Richard - like the haggis I plan to grow one leg longer than the other - but also like the haggis I will have to remember never to turn round.

 

Also thank you to all of you who have visited and left their "likes".

 

The subject of yesterdays frustration were these flanges. They are only .070" thick and .375" diameter. They have rolling superpowers - I needed 4 but had to make 6. The other 2 are probably still rolling. They sit at the base of the cowl vents.

 

The deck was drilled through the flanges and the vents were glued with 5 minute epoxy - to give me time to align them. The height was set with a split aluminium tube cut specifically of the job - you can see it in position on the port hand cowl.

 

 

 The alignment needed some assistance while the glue set - see the prop (courtesy of Starbucks) on the front port cowl.

To celebrate the current stage of progress I put the deck lights etc, in place and took a few shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hello Keith,

Wow, Just looks beautiful and you are quite right to celebrate such an achievement, She is stunning.

Richard.

 

[Bedford]

Glad I'm not the jealous type or I couldn't enjoy this build, it's nothing short of spectacular!

 

[KeithAug]

The bulwark capping rail has a number of features which I wanted to reproduce. the first of these are:

 

Protective step plates at the top of the gangway steps:-

Protective plates below the stowage position of the anchors:-

In both instances the plate is copper with attached wear resisting brass strips.

 

I drew a card pattern from the rail and used this to shape .015" copper sheet. The width was equal to the rail width plus the thickness to allow for the rolled over edge. 

 

The rail of course follows a gentle curve and so I made a former from oak on which I could shape the plates.

 

The copper was heated to cherry red to soften it. it was then held in a vice, over the former, and the edge was pushed over using a rounded bar (in the photo)

 

The formed plates were then polished and placed in position prior to gluing.

I simulated the brass strips by using some etched sheet left over from  previous build.

And for now that is it as "THE SHIPYARD IS CLOSED"..............................Gone Sailing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,

Yet she sailed softly too:

Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze—

On me alone it blew.

……………………….S.T.C.

 

 

[druxey]

Just stumbled on to this log: beautiful fittings work, Keith!

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hello Keith,

Great detail work, Have fun sailing.

All the best.

Richard

[KeithAug]

Bedford, thank you - Glad you are not jealous, it would be out of character for an Aussie.

 

Richard - thanks for the sailing good wishes. Hoping for decent weather.

 

Druxey - glad you found the build - still a long way to go so hope you find time to visit again.

 

Thanks also to all other visitors, hope you all found someting of interest.

 

Now off to pack.

[herask]

jesus!! my good man, this is from outer world! c'mon, make a mistake! chip off some edge which isn't going to be visible anyway. I dare you. just one, for the audience, so we know you're a human... ;-))

[KeithAug]

Herask - thank you, i'll see what i can do about mistakes. I'll photograph a few for the next post.

 

I arrived back from sailing yesterday. I'd been thinking about the rail protective plates and decided I could do better.

 

Today I drilled the plates and soldered on wire strips instead of the glued on etchings. I was happier with the result as it looked more like the original.

 

I also collected a few interesting shots from the holiday.......................

 

We came across a replica of a Bristol Pilot Cutter. I have a few more shots for anyone interested.

 

Up a creek we found a few laid up ships one of which was Triton an experimental trimaran warship.

 

We sailed under Brunel's Tamar Rail Bridge, completed in 1859 and still impressive (although a little spoiled by the modern suspension bridge behind it).

 

We also paid a visit to the Eddystone Light - the site of the worlds oldest offshore lighthouse. The current light dates form 1882. The stump is the base of the previous light which was completed in 1759. It was disassembled and re-elected some 12 miles away on Plymouth Hoe a few hundred yards from the Mayflower Steps. 4 lighthouses have been built on the site - the first one dating from 1689.

 

 

[KeithAug]

Altair has demountable stanchions with a single wire rail which run from amidships to just before the stern.

 

At scale size the stanchions are .600" long. I made them from .062" brass rod with a machined waist of .048".

14 of the stanchions have a single hole at the end while 6 have double holes - the second hole taking the 45 degree bracing strut.

 

The first operation was machining the .032' diameter cross hole in the plain brass rod. The mill was set up to drill the hole with the rare earth magnet end stop set to reproduce the axial position. The wood inset has a .040" x .040" notch cut along its length to provide horizontal location while providing the clamping surface.

.062" brass rod is too flexible to turn without support so I made a support out of .375 steel bar - drilled with a .062" hole and then milled to half its thickness. This forms a slot support which fits in the tailstock chuck.

Each stanchion took about 15 minutes to make.

Mistakes for Herask:-

 

I drilled 2 holes in the wrong place - plugged with dowel - I think I will make a rope mat to cover them as they are in front of a deck hatch. I also cut one deck plank a little short.

 

Also best bot to use the wood stain above the finished deck - I think it will sand out.

 

 

 

[michael mott]

On 7/15/2017 at 10:12 AM, KeithAug said:

Today I drilled the plates and soldered on wire strips instead of the glued on etchings. I was happier with the result as it looked more like the original.

Hello Keith,

I am doing a quick catch up and will be only visiting a little for the next three months we sold our place and are moving house to the City, I shall consider the sloped floor in the new shop.

 

Back to my quoting your comment. I needed to make some rounded strips for a project and stretched some wire of the right diameter then sanded one side flat with some wet and dry cut it to lengths and then soldered them they worked out very well. sorry I don't have a pic at hand.

 

The overall work you are doing on this build is spectacular.

 

Michael

[jdbondy]

Sorry if you have already addressed this earlier in the log. But can you tell me more about the cutting tool you are using on the lathe? That looks really small.

 

 

[KeithAug]

Michael

 

Thank you for the feedback. I'll try your flattened wire trick.

 

JD

 

I find normal lathe tools too large for the more detailed work so I grind small tools out of broken centre drills or small diameter HSS blanks. I use 2 diameters - .1875" and .225". I have drilled out a section of square bar to hold them - one tool on each end, held in place by a cap bolt. I need to get round to making more holders.

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up after a few days away.  She continues to impress.

 

John

[Julie Mo]

Keith, every time I see your work I am speechless.  Just amazing! 

 

Thank you for sharing those sailing pictures.  The engineering on the Brunel bridge is really interesting.  Never seen anything like it.  And catching the raising of the main on the Bristol Cutter was very cool!  

[KeithAug]

John / Julie - Thank you.

 

The next task was to get on with mounting the guard rail stanchions. The trick was to get them all truly vertical - and hence parallel. Each stanchion sits above one of the bulwark ribs so axial positioning was relatively straightforward. I stuck a strip of masking tape along each rail and marked out the stanchion line on this.

With the positions marked it was time for drilling. My home made drill press has the advantage that the pillar can be rotated round thus allowing holes to be drilled which are outside the surface of the base plate, making the accurate drilling of stanchion location holes a simple task.

I needed to make sure the drill didn't penetrate too far at the stern - drilling trough the hull would have been very annoying. I find putting a sleeve on the drill works very well as a depth control.

All drilling had to be done with the hull sitting true along the waterline and level across the beam.

At 6 positions the stanchions are reinforce with bracing struts - to take the tensile loading of the wire guard rail. All stanchions have feet, made by the same technique as used for the deck eye feet. The stanchions are currently in place awaiting gluing.

[Julie Mo]

Love the detailed photos, Keith!  I've learned so much!

 

When the time comes that you start posting videos on YouTube, I will be your first subscriber.  How we'd love to see your skills in action.   If I am being obnoxious, just tell me to shut up.

[KeithAug]

And so another post prior to yet another enforced break. At the end of the week my son gets married to his long term girlfriend. I did wonder whether it would ever happen as he is imfamous for some of his quotes e.g:

 

When he and his soon to be wife were out together with friends he was asked:-

"Paul why don't you jet get on and propose to her?".

Quick as a flash he respond with:-

"I'm 95% sure that she is the one for me, but that means their is a 1 in 20 chance that someone better will turn up".

 

Fortunately no one better turned up.

 

Back to the build and once again thank you Julie for your comment and thanks to all those who have visited.

 

I finished the guard rail. It took a bit of time to make the attachment features - they were all very small. The guard wire was .020 clear plastic coated stainless steel wire. For £2 I have enough to last several lifetimes. I attached one end of the wire and held the other end taught with an elastic band while the CA glue dried. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hello Keith,

The build just exudes quality of the highest standard, she is looking resplendent.

The bespoke lathe tools are something that interests me as something similar will likely be required by myself at some time, only having a few carbide tools at present, luckily I gave away my bench grinder some years ago much to my chargrin ha ha.

Good to see you back at work and hope you had a nice break, are there anymore nautical tales to come?. I found yours a fascinating read.

Regards Richard.

[Jim Lad]

Just beautiful, Keith.  Your patience and attention to small detail is really paying off in the brilliant results you are achieving.

 

John

[Julie Mo]

We need a "Love this" button.   

 

Keith, you son reminds me of a guy I grew up with.  He and his girlfriend had been living together for years and one day I asked him if they were ever going to tie the knot.  He replied, "What if someone better comes along?"  I responded, "How are you going to start dating another woman while living with Karen?"  He put his hand to his chin in a thoughtful pose and said, "I hadn't given that part much thought."   About a month later they announced they were getting married.

[Mirabell61]

Hi Keith,

 

I very much like your wonderful brass fittings for the deck, also very stylish together with the mahagony stained deckhousings, looks like an exponate at the boats fair  

 

Nils