My apologies for a belated reply everyone.
Thanks Ronald - no giant; just a regular 6' on the dot
Jo, SIGH... You lucky girl. Two of the things... I have spent many an hour behind the controls of a pantograph carving out labeling plates for electrical switchgear as an electronics engineering apprentice in the early 90's. The only thing I ever did on that pantograph except for making labels was to carve out a mate of mine's name in a pocket knife I gave him for his 21'st birthday. I tested on my own identical pocket knife first; fortunately:
As you can see, I got the initial depth of cut wrong - the "A" is much too deep, but fortunately after the tests I could get my mate's spot-on. Excuse the ravages of time on the knife; my dad gave it to me on my 17th birthday, and it's in constant everyday use - I never go anywhere without it. My mate's is still in absolute mint condition though - he refuses to use it
. It's still in it's original box!
Hmmm... I'd like to come on a shop visit sometime. It might still happen; I had everything planned out to get to the Harrogate show this year with about two weeks to spend in the UK. A very sudden and unexpected job change put paid to that, and next year is most likely out as well. I have my sights set on 2014 for a UK visit though
Why 3D - well, more like pseudo 3D, but it can be a great help in adding detail to bits of engine. And carving out spokes on Gauge 0 train wheels. Not to mention engraving numbers on feed-screw hand-wheels for machines. Many possibilities, but then, I'm slightly mad
Thanks Tel, and thank you - I have the plans for that one mate
. I'll see where/how things go
Carl:
Someday I'd like to make an engine worthy of a nameplate.
You have done. Everybody's engines are worth it. Especially the first ones - they tell a story and show one's progress; it's not often one can take a couple of "things" and line them up and visibly see the results of one's own improvement.
You'll just have to come on a visit to collect your example
- Oh, and that Arnold guy is nobody special; he's just a bloke having a bit of fun.
The stepper thingie is still a very real possibility... I have a LOT of stepper and DC servo motors lying around from old dot matrix printers. The electronics bit don't phase me at all; it's nothing complicated to cobble together. And with EMC2 it's very easy to get things going with very little (if any) programming involved. I had an old PC going with Ubuntu and EMC2 on it - unfortunately the PC's motherboard conked out
. I actually enjoy "real-time" programming for hardware interfacing; it's a nice challenge. Although today's operating systems take the fun out of it; in the good old DOS days one could peek and poke (or INP and OUTP) at will. In fact, an old but serviceable dot matrix printer could make a great start to a crude engraving machine with a bit of "mechanical re-arranging" - and good old-fashioned ASCII control codes to drive it
Don, thanks for the offer
- I'd like to sort this out myself though. Postage services to/from Namibia isn't always what it's supposed to be, though it is improving.
Jim, thank you my friend! I have considered etching - in fact, I've made many a PCB using etching around 18 years ago. This is still a very real (and actually quite easy) option. I'm not too fond of using chemicals; safe disposal is always a problem. And the fact that the photoresist spray that I can get has a relatively short shelf life doesn't help. Hmmm... Caustic Soda (developer) and Ferric Chloride (etching)... How bad are they for the environment. And how well would FeCl work on brass... Some investigation needed. Getting positives/negatives for this process is not difficult at all - laser printer transparency sheet is available enough, and for UV exposure about 5 minutes in direct Namibian sunlight does the job in the summer (about 8 minutes in winter)
There is another very easy option for etching - just draw/write up the design on a bit of brass plate with a permanent marker. Etch. The only problem with this for me is that my own hand-writing makes Doctors look like professional calligraphers
And another option... Print it with darkest/maximum toner settings on smooth shiny paper and transfer to clean brass plate with the old clothes iron - I tried this quickly yesterday evening - on non-flat Scotch-Brited shim stock. Ordinary printer/photocopy paper didn't produce much in terms of results, but using the shiny cover of a weekly magazine did add a bit of promise. The ink from the magazine paper did have an affect though, and for some reason the last bit of "engine" didn't stick....
Some experimenting required
Thanks Jonesie. Paint is optional - really. It's a personal choice; if you're happy with the way your engine looks, there's no reason to paint it.
Hmm... Thanks for the reality check Marv
. I don't know the Rapidograph templates (too young or in the wrong area on the globe), but I do know engraving can be tedious. And that grand plans can fail. In fact, more often than not.
Geoff, thank you - yes; this turned out to be nicely Elmer-sized.
Thanks Nick
Kind regards, Arnold
