From a 'New' Member in Swakopmund, Namibia

[joenoci]

Hello to everyone.
I have recently joined this forum and have not introduced myself yet, although I have posted some questions already. I would hove done an intro sooner, but it took forever to try and untangle the mysterious and complex pitfalls towards being able to post images on this forum- However, it seems that I have finally cracked it - please don't ask me what I did to make it work - I have no idea at all! I read many peoples posts on the subject which only scared me of posting!, Anyway, here it is!

I am sort of semi retired, and living in Swakopmund, Namibia, about 50meters from the edge of the Atlantic. That is already a problem for rust, so all machines are oiled after use, and covered in large sheets, and then plastic! Also a lot of fine silica dust and Mica, so that also has to be kept from the machines.

I originate from South Africa, Johannesburg, from a long career in aeronautics and pursue far to many hobbies here in Swakop ; Ham Radio, metalwork, woodwork, very active in wildlife conservation here,  and design and build small UAV's with night vision Infra Red cameras for use in anti Poaching activities.

I like building tools and tooling to make tools - sort of incestuous, but great fun.
Also do a lot of wood work and have a nice shop for that too, but not for this post!
And a composite shop, doing carbon fibre/fibreglass work on small UAV's...
Here are some pics of what I have and what I get up to.
Have fun....

Regards
Joe

Some pics of the Shop:





And some of the various machines:

A largish Mill-


An Emco FB2 with DRO


Another Emco FB2 but with a British Head:


A Shop made Tool and Cutter grinder:


And Various pics of a pair of toolpost grinders in the making - using Radio Control world brushless motors.


Smaller High speed unit - 16000RPM Max - for internal wheels - collet chuck still to be cut:


Larger unit, ER16 collets, max RPM 8000 RPM for external wheels.


With Motor enclosures on, drawbar shown, etc:




And just for fun, the small carbon fibre UAV I designed and build (called SurVoyeur)- in active use here in Nature conservation.


Thats It!
Have fun.
Joe

[Jo]

 

So Joe, what are you going to use all those desirable machine tools to build?

Jo

[Dave Otto]

Hi Joe

Beautiful machines and your work is also very nice!

Welcome to the group.

Dave

[spuddevans]

Hi Joe and welcome to the forum.

Nice workshop/machines, I look forward to seeing what you are making.

Tim ( Mi0TME )

[b.lindsey]

Welcome Joe...you certainly have a well fitted out shop...all it needs is some various projects laying around and a bit of swarf here and there

Bill

[DaveH]

Hi Joe, You have just doubled the number of members from Namibia. 
Not me although I'm closer than most.
Arnold [arnoldb]  from  Windhoek
 
DaveH

[vcutajar]

Hi Joe and welcome to MEM.  That is a fine looking workshop you have there.  What's your callsign Joe?

Vince

[Marinus]

Welcome to MEM Joe  
Great job on the tools you have made.
Can we maybe get some specs on that UAV?

[Kim]

Hi Joe,
Welcome to the forum!
You have a very well stocked shop there! Looking forward to seeing the things you've made (or will be making!)
Kim

[joenoci]

Thanks to everyone for the kind welcome to the Clan!
As to what I am going to build - that's complicated! I must admit I have presently no hankering to build an engine, so one might wonder why join this fraternity...Just seems to be a lot of knowledgeable and good folk here, so who knows..

I have collected these machines over the last 30 odd years ( and odd they were..) and used them a lot in making things for all the 'other' hobbies - I do a lot in RF and Antenna design, so lots done on the lathe and mill for that too. I suppose the most I do is making tooling to make tooling..The CNC router was made thus, and heavily used in making Printed Circuit boards for my electronic stuff, as well as for making molds and parts for the UAV projects. And so it goes...It does occupy the mind, that is for sure!

Anyway, here are a few more pics - made them much smaller to hopefully save space and time...

vcutajar, here just for you - an HF all band Direct Conversion Transceiver I designed and built - took 2 years..
My call sign is V51NC, also ZS6JGN.




And the electronics workshop:



And some bits made for the CNC engraver/Router..
Some parts in Carbon fibre - the vertical gantry sides, and the X axis:




And some of the many parts made for the machine:


The Z Axis assembly:


The complete machine closer:


Marinus, The UAV is a 5kg electric flyer, fitted with a day and night (infr-red) stabilised gimballed camera, steerable from the ground station. It is fitted with a full autopilot, and flies a pregenerated flightplane with a map on the ground station. You have video on the ground station, so see what the cameras see. You can designate points of interest and the camera will lock on the image point, and the aircraft will circle the point, keeping it in view. The plane flies for 60 to 70 minutes, fully automatic, auto takeoff and autoland - just push the button and go! The cameras are purchased, as are motors, servos, etc, but the rest, gimbal, airframe, autopilot, groundstation, ground tracking antenna for video, and all software is 'homemade'..


Enough Now - need to get to the workshop!

Regards
Joe

[vcutajar]

Joe

That is a fine homebrew transceiver you have made there.  If you had not said so, I would have thought it was a commercial unit.

Alas, all my station has been packed up for some years but I still keep my license valid (9H1IP) just in case I get the itch again.

Vince

[arnoldb]

Thanks for the intro Joe 

Well, from PMs I knew you had a lot of machines, but seeing the photos brought that into perspective - right now I'm as green with envy as most of your machines are!

Kind regards, Arnold