Dumpster Saw Update: It works!

Yesterday the new brushes for my saw were delivered.

I opened one of the boxes to have a look, and compare with the originals. The new ones are very similar, the carbon block is the same size (but longer obviously). The metal end cap is similar, but made from slightly thinner gauge steel

Here are a couple of photos:

The old brush, and the new brush!

You can clearly see the only difference is the lighter gauge metal used in the contact end. They still fitted in and worked like new!

I had a chance this morning to put the new brushes in, and was delighted when the saw whirred to life. What else was there to do other than make something? so I grabbed some wood, and attempted to make a very crappy (and very shallow) mitred box. Mitres are always tricky to get right in my experience, as a degree or two out, and you end up with some gaps. I ended up with some gaps in this one.

The saw, and the first item I made with it! Yea!

2012 Canberra Model Train Expo

On this weekend was the 2012 Canberra Model Train Expo. Held at the University of Canberra high school in Kaleen, there are lots of model trains.

Here are some photos from the event:

Unfortunately the photos are a bit sucky, and I don’t have any info on each layout. These were only a small sample of what was on offer.

Its still on tomorrow for those who are into model trains, and are in Canberra.

 

Cheers.

HO Pizza Layout

Long before I took the step into model railways, I was inspired by Carl Arendt’s Small Layout Scrapbook, which is full of many model train layouts of small size. Unfortunately, last year Carl passed away, but his site lives on. Some other model train enthusiasts have taken on the operation of the site. Posts aren’t as regular now, but at least they can keep his site up to inspire others with the large back catalogue.

The Small Layout Scrapbook has many layouts ranging from small to absolutely tiny. I think I took the most interest in the pizza layouts. A pizza layout is basically a small loop of track, which often resembles a the shape and size of a Pizza.

The track loop done, with the only engine I have that will fit on it!

Without a lot of room for a massive layout inside, I was inspired to try my hand at my own pizza layout. I figure it is a good size to get a feel for landscaping and building scenery, without too much lost if it falls in a pile.

So, first step was to take a piece of flexi track and bend it in a complete loop. It seemed like it would be a quick and easy task, but it took me the best part of a night to get it to the point pictured above. The track is OK, if you run the train in one direction, and derails if you drive it the other way. Hopefully a little tweaking will have the track running reliably in both directions.

The next step will be to work out what I’m putting on the landscape, and start working on that. Stay tuned for future updates.

Dumpster Diving

What does $0 get you these days?

It got me a mostly working ryobi compound miter saw.

What does $4 on ebay get you? new brushes for the mostly working compound saw, which will hopefully yeald a completely working saw!

Here is a picture of the saw. A pretty good find if you ask me!

While walking past a dumpster at a construction site, I saw the miter saw sitting in with the other building rubble. I came back later and grabbed the saw, and after seeing it was complete, I gave it a quick test. the saw spun up to life, so I loaded it up and took it home.

Getting it home, I clamped it to a bench in the shed, and dug out some scrap bits of timber to test it with. Pulling the trigger, the saw whirred to life, and cut through the wood nicely. I noticed that the the motor was arcing alot internally, and was acting a bit odd, pulsing and such. I figured it was the brushes on the motor, so I unplugged the saw and pulled out the brushes.
Upon pulling the brushes, it was clear they were worn out. No problem, they shouldn’t be hard to replace. I called the local authorised repairer, who contacted ryobi to see if they were available. They called me back a few minutes later and it turns out new brushes aren’t available. I thought thats kinda silly. Even if its a few years old, I would have thought there would be a stock of the consumables. I guess they want you to buy a new one instead of fixing the old one.

I had a few sets of brushes from cheap chineese angle grinders (which is nice, even though i don’t really expect a $25 grinder to outlast its brushes) but, not supprisingly, they are much smaller. They are for motors more than half the power of this 1800 watt saw.

Next stop, the internet. Ebay is a marvel for things like this.
I was expecting to have to find a larger set of brushes and file them down to size, but upon browsing thru a few results I came across the perfect fit. in this case, 16.5×6.xmm brushes. No fileing needed. SCORE. and all for the price of about $4 au.

Now its time to sit back and wait for the brushes to arrive.

Happy Valentines day My love

I would like to say Happy Valentines Day to my beautiful wife Diana.

I love you so much sweetie, and I hope you are having a wonderful day. I can’t wait you see you this evening.

I love you. xoxoxoxox

Pictured above is a heart ornament I hand made recently for her.

No plasma cutters or other fun tools here, it was all grinders, drills and hand files. I didn’t document the making of the heart, but to make the letters, I basically scribed out the letters, then center punched a row of points down the middle, before drilling out the center punching, and joining the holes with hand files. An old chainsaw file I have really came in handy here, for filing out the drill holes.

The middle heart, and the stand is welded to the big heart, and the whole lot is clear coated to stop it from rusting.

Etsy store

I’ve made the first step in my experiment in producing decorative pieces for gifts and for sale. I’ve set up a store on etsy.

The painted butterfly, ready for Etsy.

You can see it here

Etsy seemed like a good place to start, as its like a Saturday market. There is no way I was going anywhere near ebay, which from my experience has lost touch with the individual sellers. being forced into paypal is another good reason. Paypal is handy as a buyer, but sucks so much from a sellers prospective. I want to keep the fees down, so I can sell items at a more reasonable price!

So with somewhere to sell my wares, now I need some wares to sell. So far, I have listed one butterfly. I’m in the process of making a couple more of them, with a slightly different design. I have one in the painting process, and another two about half way through the construction process.

After I finish off these butterflys and get them on etsy, I’ll see how they go, and also see what new ideas I can come up with.

Oh, and I haven’t forgotten about the trains. Progress will happen soon on the tree layout. I thought this Etsy blog was more time relevant this week. Stay tuned for more trains, and other projects!

Metal art

My second attempt at making a butterfly

With my hobby of welding, I’ve been thinking of having a go at making some crafty art style pieces. My thinking is by making little bits and pieces, it not only gives me something constructive to build and refine my skills on, if I’m making things of good enough quality, they can become gifts, and maybe I could even sell a few pieces, and make back material costs at least, and maybe

While doing some research online, at places like etsy, and a bit on the Welding Web forum,  I’ve discovered, there is a wide range talent, from those with little or no talent, to those with a lot of skill, and professionalism.

I don’t understand how people can try to sell rubbish, for what can border on obscene prices. Do these items actually sell? I am puzzled. Some of the stuff I am seeing is downright ridiculous. junk sloppily welded together, and sold. But does it sell? I wonder. I would love to know.

Etsy found Object spider. At even $26, I think its a little much

There are of course, people out there with talent. The guys on Welding Web seem to be pretty skilled, but then again, its a forum full of pro welders, and if you posted some of the junk I’ve come across, you’d be ridiculed / laughed out of the building. Some of the work some of the members produce is art, even the straight fabrication some guys produce. That is art.

Regarding my own work, as I’m fairly limited in what I have to work with tool wise. I don’t have things like plasma cutters, mig welders or an Oxy Actelyne set. I’m hoping maybe if I’m somewhat successful with the tools I have, I might be able to accumulate enough spare change to expand my tools and skills. That would be an ultimate goal I guess, a self-sustaining hobby!

HO model train layout

I have begun work on my very first permanent model train layout! This display is going to be a multi purpose layout. It is an evolution of the simple 2 loop layout I had running under the christmas tree. I’m planning for this to become a regular addition under the christmas tree. I also want the display to be usable throughout the year as a permanent display, as well as a test track for rolling stock and new and/or modified engines.

Beginning as 2 1200x600mm sheets of MDF and some 1200mm sticks of timber, I went to quite a bit of effort to construct the interlocking frame. The base board is made in two halfs. I plan on the display being able to separate for storage and moving.

One thing I discovered, is as the glue dried, it actually put a bow in the frames. I guess I should have clamped the sheets to the bench as they dried. I guess I’ll try that next time. The bow wasn’t too bad, and both sides seemed to bend similarly, so I was still good to continue.

With the glue dried, now its time to begin setting things out how I want them. the only thing is, I’m still working out how I want them to be.

The obvious one is two loops, around the middle. I guess its going to vaguely going to resemble that, no matter what I do, but I want to try to add something extra to the layout.

Things I’m thinking are:

• A hill in the middle, split in a cross shape, to allow the legs of the christmas tree to slot into place, and locating some small houses around the mountain area
• Build up the base, so the inner loop is higher than the outer loop. its further up the mountain
• turnouts? Sidings? It would be nice to put some in, but at $30 or more per set of points, I don’t think I’ll be able to put too many of those in. It would be nice to put some in so its possible to join the layout to an epic loop of track like I did for this christmas just gone. There are other methods of achieving this though, I may just leave enough room around the edges to lay an extra track thru the layout.
• A tunnel in the back corner

That’s where I’m at so far. I still have much thinking to do, but I’m hoping to make progress on it soon. I’ll keep everyone updated.

2012 an outlook

Happy new year and all that.

In the coming year, I hope to build this blog into a better site.
I hope to get more organised, Post more regularly and add more content.

Content specifics are always hard to pin down, as the blog doesn’t dictate what I do, it’s just a way of me documenting what I do, and I don’t really have a plan of what I’m doing for the year.

Hopefully I’ll get to make some videos of blog related stuff. I’m studying media arts at uni, so it would be nice to use what I learn to make videos.

Trains

With my new-found hobby of HO model trains, I plan on building at least one small layout this year. Currently, my plans are to make it with 2 loops of track in a circle. A larger “Pizza” layout if you will. The goal will be to have it under the Christmas tree next year. that gives me a whole year to get it done.

RC Car

And then there is my nitro car. Its been a while since its been run. The store I got it from has recently gone out of business, so I will need to find a new source of parts when things break. I want to get it out and give it a run. I’ll have to find somewhere to bust it out here at the new house.

Welding

Welding. This year, I’ll hopefully be making some things with the welder. I’ve started making a model  car out of metal. no real scale. If I get it finished, I’ll let you all know.

Cricut

The cricut post seems to be very popular, so I might break out some more cricut stuff too. I’ve made a few cutouts which people might like to see and use. I might post them up at some point

And there is anything else I get up to during the year.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Christmas!!!!

Not a lot in today’s post, Just wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a great day, and those travelling arrive at their destination safe!