An update for update’s sake with the first batch of ship’s boats nearing completion.
I bought a mini vernier caliper by Shinwa. Do I need it? No. Was it cheap? No. But just look at it!
Category: Miscelaneous
A small improvement to the Proxxon PD230/E
I hadn’t used the lathe for some time so it took a whole afternoon until I could reliably produce parts again, if it weren’t for a small offset on my drill fixed in the tailstock of my Proxxon PD230/E. This offset has always been present and trying other drill chucks didn’t solve my problem. I took a few chucks to work and they measured an offset in the Morse Cone I of about 2 to 3 hundreds of a mm, just enough to be troublesome with thin-walled parts I was trying to make (20″ signalling projector). I ordered a ER-11 collet chuck with a MC1 fitting that is supposed to fit in the tailstock, but it doesn’t; the Proxxon PD230/E tailstock has a much shorter run.
The collet chuck is comparatively pricey but I just had to take a bit off. Using drills with a 1/8″ shaft and ditto collet worked quite well. Nearly all my drills have a 2.2mm shaft and a 2.5 mm collet didn’t center them properly, so I ordered a new set of drills (only 30€ for 30 drills running from 0.1mm to 3.0mm in steps of 0.1mm) .
Postscript: I didn’t properly ‘snap’ the collet in the collet nut that may have been the reason the 2.2mm drills had an offset. In the nut there is an eccentricity on an internal flange that will cause the drill to be poorly centered if you just tighten the nut after placing the collet in the chuck. If the collet is first gently pushed past this internal flange (click!) and then placed in the chuck, not only is this problem solved (the problem being a poor user of fine tools), this eccentric flange will also pull the collect from the chuck when untightening the nut. Really clever engineering (post to be updated after checking the 2,5mm collet fit).
So it’s good news that the Proxxon tailstock that cannot be adjusted is well centered when it leaves the factory but a decent chuck apparently is not on the Proxxon menu. So, now the cost of a 20″ signalling projector is €60 each, but who’s counting…. At least on of the two major problems I have the with lathe is solved; the other one is that the top slide for tapering doesn’t have an accurate angle read-out.
Cabinet
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Now, that speaker building project I was talking about earlier was a good exercise for building a presentation cabinet. Damage to models is rare on shows but I get incredibly nervous when people are shaking hands above my model; even a minor hit can mean irreparable damage. Our local IPMS SIG Warships leader builds his own glass cases and blackmailed me to come to a few shows in exchange for a glass cabinet built at cost. Today I made a wooden base for the model using some left-over planks from my bookcase. It should protect the model against shows, transportation, and dust.
The plank was milled to size and I cut a small ledge for the glass case. The glass is 3.0mm thick and has a bit of room to manoeuver (also in case the wood works). Although my cats aren’t an enemy of my hobby—they haven’t caused any damage to my model—today I just couldn’t get the tiny bastard out of the frame; he’d bounce back immediately after being thrown a great distance across the living room.
The model is bolted to the plank by three nuts and bolts. Recall that I started with the WEM resin hull that I fitted with fixing bolts before adding new decks. The glass case is 80 cm wide so that it fits in most book cases (I refuse to admit it is made to fit an Ikea Ivar bookcase) and is 25 cm wide and high. That’s a bit wider than strictly required, but this size will fit my next project too. A seascape will be added once I’ve thoroughly exercised making seascapes.
Yes, I assure you, cat, we are quite safe from your friends here.