Author Topic: 'nother Aussie  (Read 3910 times)

Offline ///

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'nother Aussie
« on: January 25, 2015, 09:03:51 AM »
Hi Guys,

It's the Australia Day long weekend here in Australia and I've got most of my chores out of the way, I've just got the young fella down for a nap (9 months old and a real handfull!) so I now have some time (fingers crossed) to post an introduction of sorts, rather than my typical hastily typed single line posts.

I'm not a particularly noteworthy person but some of you may recognise me from 'the other forum' where I go by the exact same unpronounceable moniker.
For some time now I had silently bemoaned the apparent downward spiral of 'the other forum', so, when I came to hear of the existence of MEM and had a peek inside, I realised all you cool people had migrated over here!

Below is the introduction I made to 'the other forum', which I accept is cheating but with the chance of the little fella waking up at any moment, recycling with suitable amendments, corrections and additions, gets a lot said in a short amount of time.

Anyway, my name is Simon and I live in Perth, Western Australia.
I currently work for a company that designs and builds Fire Protection Systems for the oil & gas industry.
Occasional CAD work lets me play with Autodesk Inventor 3D modeling software but my main role at the moment is documentation.
I just finished a ~1700 page PDF document containing Material Certificates and Hazardous area certificates etc etc, of which the Client requested four hard copies... had to print and collate ~7000 pages!
I am now the engineer responsible for EEHA (Electrical Equipment in Hazardous Area's) which deals with electrical (mainly instrumentation) in explosive atmospheres.
I still do a lot of CAD work but it is now all 2D (terminal arrangement drawings etc.) the 3D stuff is purely a home hobby now. My documentation duties have not changed (damn it!)


My interest is mainly in IC engines, but I have had the occasional urge to build a beam engine with coal fired boiler. Will get around to that someday.
'someday' still has not come

I suspect I am like many members of this forum, in that I was fascinated by model aircraft, cars and boats when I was a kid, which ofcourse lead to an interest in Glow and CI engines and then onto dreams of owning a workshop full of machines to make my own Glow or 'Diesel'.
A magazine I used to buy when I was a dreamer kid was 'Airborne' magazine which often had adverts for the Taig lathe, I used to stare at those adverts and dream for years. Another advert I used to see was for the Conley V8... now that really got me dreaming!
The magazine also had(still does?) a columnist named Brian Winch. He wrote a monthly article called 'The Airborne Engine-ear' (and another for RCM&E) in which he occasionally wrote about his own workshop and constructing engines, all with a very witty sense of humour. He often mentioned a magazine called 'Strictly IC' which I longed for... but being just a young kid with next to no money, and a magazine published on the other side of the planet... a subscription remained a dream.
I now have about half the SIC back issues, and will be purchasing the remaining issues as cash flow permits.
I still haven't bought the last half of SiC, but I have splashed out on the entire set of MEB magazine, still reading those.

I'm slowly piecing my workshop together, it is modest at the moment and contains a Sieg C3 lathe (7x14),
Updated as of last week to a C4 lathe (8.5x16). I've had the little C3 for 12 years now and it has done a lot of odd-jobs for myself and others in that time. She may get converted to CNC. One day.
an X2 mill, I dream of upgrading to an Rf45 clone, but seriously lack the space
a large vertical bandsaw, horizontal bandsaw, and a half completed gantry style CNC router that uses parts salvaged from a large old Servo driven pen plotter.
I still need to sort out the Z axis and build a spindle which will be driven by a high speed brushless motor. I will probably have ER8 collets or something similar for the spindle, but would like to somehow set it up with an auto tool changer. Also need to shell out for some Gecko servo drives.
I ended up getting the Gecko Servo drives and a Taig headstock with ER spindle and everything else needed for this project, but now I have a family I just don't seem to have the space anymore! The project has been shelved.

I recently (~3 years ago) purchased a set of plans for Steve's 'Little Demon' V8, however I hadn't considered that the plans were in imperial units(silly me) so not sure what to do now. I can use imperial no problems, do it all the time, but machining in imperial.... particularly with metric machines... ewww.
I am considering re-modeling the plans in metric using Inventor 3D, and then going from there. Still on the to-do list!, Tho I now no longer have the work copy of Inventor CAD, I have bought a personal copy of Alibre Design, now known as Geomagic (worst name ever, sounds toy-ish)
To get an idea of how difficult that would be, I am testing my mettle by re-modeling the plans for David Kerzel's hit'n'miss engine in 3D, in metric. This is 90% done, I'm almost ready to make chips

Thanks to everyone here for such a great forum, it's good to see so many people openly helping others and sharing their knowledge and failures for us newbies to learn from. Two thumbs up!

A short post is a good post right? Sorry! I promise this will be the very last looooong-winded post you see from me... ever!
And I kept that promise at 'the other forum', I will extend that same promise here too, with the exception of any build threads that I (may) start.

"I am sorry I have had to write you such a long letter, but I did not have time to write you a short one"--Blaise Pascal
« Last Edit: January 25, 2015, 09:19:08 AM by /// »
Simon

"The reality is that without cheap imported machines, I would be spending my time doing something less creative and less enjoyable" - Captain Jerry

Offline Jo

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2015, 09:15:29 AM »
 :hi: Simon,

So what have you been making yourself on your machine tools over all of these years  :naughty:

Jo
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline vcutajar

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #2 on: January 25, 2015, 09:17:26 AM »
Hi Simon and welcome to the forum.  Nice to see you here also.

Vince

Offline ///

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2015, 09:40:26 AM »
Thanks guys, apologies for the rather 'busy' look of the OP, I have been editing spelling errors etc and trying to tidy it up, but it still looks like a dog's breakfast. Bah! Will leave it as is.

Quote from: Jo
So what have you been making yourself on your machine tools over all of these years
You know, I have been asking myself the exact same question for years!!
I seem to end up mainly making stuff for other people :( Much of that has been for cars (many of my friends are rally drivers), and small things for the guys at work that aren't worth sending out to an engineering shop.
Tho I have managed to get some things done for myself.
I had made a good start on an own-design working model Turbine engine, tho that project stalled when I had to machine a compressor housing with a profile that exactly matches that of the compressor wheel. I tried but failed. This is something that really needs to be done on CNC.
I have made a grain mill and various fittings for my homebrew equipment (tho the gear now collects dust, it takes a full day to do a brew, just don't have the time anymore)
Pyrotechnics and Rocket tooling(shhh, you didn't hear that from me. I envy those of you where fireworks are legal!!). These are boxed up somewhere, but I've been getting the itch again lately, might have to dig them out.
Lots of various adaptors and little bits and pieces for my Astrophotography hobby (adaptors for camera to telescope, etc)
And ofcourse there's the tools you have to make to make the thing you're making ;)
The best of these I made was a cool little thing that attaches to a router and allows me to route out holes, very accurately, in 0.25mm increments. Need a hole routed out in wood at 54.75mm? easy peasy. I'm rather proud of that gadget :D I use it for recessing drivers into MDF when building speaker cabinets.
As I said, lots of little odd-jobs. I've probably forgotten a stack of stuff.
I'm dying to get an I.C. engine done, the Kerzel will get there eventually.
If I ever win the lotto I'll have a whole lot of me-time on my hands!! (yeah, keep dreaming)
Simon

"The reality is that without cheap imported machines, I would be spending my time doing something less creative and less enjoyable" - Captain Jerry

Offline metalmad

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2015, 10:04:15 AM »
Hi simon
Yup I remember you from the other place, How ya Been?
The Kerzel is a lovely little Engine, you will have fun with that :cheers:
Pete
A little bit every day, sometimes the same little bit

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2015, 01:26:51 PM »
Hi Simon and thanks for the introduction. Sorry I missed your name under your avatar but I will remember it now :) Time is an issue for many of us. I look forward to retirement now in a few years. Will look forward to seeing what you get up to whne time does permit.

Bill

Offline Don1966

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2015, 03:38:57 PM »
Hi Simon and welcome to the. Forum!

Don

Online Roger B

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2015, 03:52:53 PM »
Welcome to the Forum  :ThumbsUp:  :ThumbsUp:
Best regards

Roger

Offline smfr

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2015, 04:58:58 PM »
Welcome, Simon (from another Simon)!

Offline fumopuc

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2015, 06:46:04 PM »
Hi Simon, welcome to MEM and thanks for the introduction.
Kind Regards
Achim

Offline Kim

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #10 on: January 25, 2015, 07:18:40 PM »
Hey Simon,
The fact that you can find any time for hobbies with a 9 month old is pretty amazing!
Welcome!
Kim

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #11 on: January 28, 2015, 03:24:01 AM »
Thanks for the welcome Pete, Bill, Don, Roger, Simon, Achim and Kim.
I spent a few hours this weekend cleaning the protective grease off the new lathe and giving it a detailed inspection. Found a rather big problem, waiting to hear back from the supplier about a replacement part.

Roger, with a Jolly-Jumper set up in the workshop doorway, hyper little Jack was happily bouncing away watching me work :D
Simon

"The reality is that without cheap imported machines, I would be spending my time doing something less creative and less enjoyable" - Captain Jerry

Offline Brendon M

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #12 on: January 28, 2015, 07:48:28 AM »
I apologise if this is not the right time and place to ask, but what caused "the other forum" to fail?
(This signature intentionally left blank)

Offline Jo

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Re: 'nother Aussie
« Reply #13 on: January 28, 2015, 07:55:53 AM »
I apologise if this is not the right time and place to ask, but what caused "the other forum" to fail?

It is still going, it went commercial ... I for one didn't like having adverts like offering to arrange my funeral all over the place  :ShakeHead:

Jo
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

 

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