Posts

Posted on

Exactly by Simon Winchester

Some engineering bedtime reading

For a recent birthday my wife bought me the above book. She had no idea if it was something that would appeal to me but figured that my engineering brain might enjoy it.

It is subtitled ‘How precision engineers created the modern world’ and I have to admit that I have been unable to put it down. It is an easy read but a thoroughly absorbing read that begins with navy cannons and ends with modern day chip processes having visited people like Rolls-Royce, Frank Whittle, Henry Ford etc.

If you love engineering I would recommend it as a read and should emphasise that I have no affiliation with Simon Winchester.

Links to similar or related post are listed below : –

Posted on

Replacement Cowells Chuck Key (Part 2)

Sintered Tool Steel Experiment

Some while ago I posted about my experiment in reproducing a Cowells ME lathe chuck key as it seemed there were a few owners with broken teeth on their keys.

Since then I have received a number of requests for replacement keys which I have tactfully declined.  They are not the easiest of things to reproduce and a potential for broken tooling.

I use PCBWay for my production PCBs and I recently noticed that they can produce sintered 3D objects from a STL file.   They offer various materials for this process.  Out of curiosity I sent the STL file for the chuck key to them and ordered 5 pieces in sintered tool steel.  Twenty days later I received 5 chuck keys.   They look good and they match my dimensions and more to the point they work in the chuck.  I have no experience on how strong sintered tool steel might be but this video from My Tech Fun is quite impressive.

My Tech Fun

The downside of course is that they were not cheap (~£50 each, heavily thumped by courier costs) but if you have a Cowells and the frustration of a chuck key with a broken tooth maybe this is a reasonable price to pay.  Let me know quickly if you are interested in buying one otherwise I will put them on EBay.

Links to similar or related post are listed below : –

Posted on

Fusion 360 Keyboard Shortcuts

Fusion 360 Shortcuts Lookup table and keyboard overlay

In an idle moment I have updated my collection of spreadsheets to include the Fusion 360 shortcuts listing. The workbook tab also includes an edited version of the Fusion keyboard overlay.

You can download this and other eclectic tabs as part of my Engineering Spreadsheets workbook.

My-Engineering-Spreadsheets-0723Download

Links to similar or related post are listed below : –

Posted on

3D Printed Brass Threaded Insert Soldering Iron Stand

A simple solution for holding a soldering iron when inserting brass threaded inserts into 3D printed items

NOTE – This is a revised posting with a modified write up.

When faced with adding threaded holes into 3D models I am faced with three choices.

The easy option is to model the threads in Fusion 360.   This is fine for a ‘fit and forget’ single fastening but for repeated screw insertion and removal the modelled thread will begin to wear.

My preferred solution is to use embedded nuts in the plastic or leave an open hex cavity to fit a nut into after printing.   Some jobs do not have enough space to use the embedded nut technique so brass inserts are the next choice. Brass threaded inserts come in a number of sizes and geometries and are available from Amazon and other sources.  The inserts are melted into the printed medium with a soldering iron or other such heat source.

Having had mixed success with a handheld iron I pondered for a while with Fusion 360 whether I could make a jig to improve insertion repeatability.   This led to some internet searching and finding a couple of solutions.   The first one was via Clough42.   He showed a heavily engineered solution supplied by Naomi Wu.

Naomi’s product was impressive but seemed to be way over the top.   Next up was a site by Valera Perinski.   His site is remarkable and oozes all manner of 3D printed objects, one of which was just what I was looking for – a simple insert punch.  

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-stand-press-2-in-1-80752

Valera’s design, while simple, looked elegantly functional. I downloaded the STLs.  Valera offers these free of charge with a comment that he would appreciate any contributions. A contribution was duly made. Thank you Valera !

My modified version of Valera’s design is shown above and is described in the attached ZIP file along with the my versions of the 3D print STLs.

insert punch v4Download

Links to similar or related post are listed below : –

Posted on

Water Softener goes AWOL

Lesson to be learned – protect your overflow pipes

We’ve had a few weeks in France and were worried to hear from our UK house sitters that our TapWorks water softener’s sump had filled with water and was leaking salty water from the kitchen cabinet onto the floor.

My immediate instructions were to isolate the softener using the bypass valves and turn the supply off.

On arrival home I drained the sump and tried a regeneration routine. This revealed water leaking from the pressure vessel. This clearly was the source of the excess water in the sump. What was not obvious was why the sump had filled when there was an overflow pipe to an external drain.

The overflow pipe would have been far more effective without the nest of insect life that had chosen the pipe as their new home.

Moral to the story is to make sure all external overflow pipes have a gauze mesh protecting them from new residents.

That aside the pressure vessel was acting like a mini volcano slowly weeping out the balls of the softener medium. Given it was installed in 2008 it has given a good run for its money.

Links to similar or related post are listed below : –

Proudly powered by WordPress
Verified by ExactMetrics