What I’m Up To And General Update Of The Model Engineering In Thailand Website And What I’m Up To
Victoria Steam Engine
I have been slowly building the Stuart Turner Victoria mill engine for many months.
Progress is slow because:-
- I don’t have all the small tools I need. This will be improved when I get my imported tools (see below).
- Because I don’t have these tools I get diverted into making them. Like the Makita 2107F cut-off bandsaw frame to name just one example.
- Other things interfere. Can’t say much about this but I’m always busy with other things.
Assembly Of The Part-Built Stuart Turner Victoria
I decided to give myself a boost and instead of making more of the small parts for the Victoria instead I decided to assemble the parts I had already made. These are the baseplate, the flywheel, main shaft, cylinder and main bearings.
I thought that if these are assembled it woud look like I’m making progress rather than looking at just a growing pile of parts.
The Stuart Turner baseplate itself needs another baseplate under it which is not supplied as part of the kit. It should be made from wood but to cut corners and to ensure accurate alignment of the main shaft bearings, I’m using a piece of steel channel. (I may change to wood later)
I need to add some bolting-down lugs to the steel channel and to fill in the ends with steel plate.
So I made up the bar material blanks for the lugs, a laborious process of cutting from black steel and milling to size, and I made a few spare blanks to practice… arc welding.
My intention was to weld the lugs to the steel channel base.
Yesterday I purchased an Electric Arc Welder primarily for the purpose of welding up the frame for the Makita 2107F bandsaw frames.
So I decided to practice my arc welding skills using scrap steel typical of those I will use to build the Makita 2107F bandsaw frames and also the lugs for the Victoria bedplate.
The SESE MMA 200 Amp DC Inverter Arc Welder
This cost me 5,500 Baht at Ying Jaleaum and included the cables, electrode holder and welding mask.
I don’t know if that is a good price or not compared to U.K. It sounds reasonable to me but the most important this is not the price it is will it do the job?
The Results Of My Arc Welding Practice
Before I get into this subject let just mention two issues I immediately had with the SESE MMA 200 Amp DC Inverter Arc Welder:-
The Polarity Of The Cables
The instructions cleary said negative to the electrode and positive to the work.
The outlets and the connections on the machine are colour coded as are the cables:-
Negative:- Red
Positive:- Black
I would have expected it to be the other way round so I connected red to red and black to black.
Results on trial not very good.
On investigation, the red is connected to the work clamp. i.e. the opposite of what it should be.
I swapped the cables over and it worked better. Not good, but better.
Welding Glass Colour
There is probably a technical name for this but I found it very dark indeed. In fact all I could see was the arc and that was just a green coloured light.
I couldn’t see the work at all.
Results Of Practice Arc Welding Using The SESE MMA 200 Amp DC Inverter Arc Welder
Lousy.
I have done miles of arc welding in my past including welding widening rims and roll cages on racing cars that got past the scrutineers so I cant be that bad a welder.
But the results from today’s practice session were atrocious.
I have some photos but I’ll make a page devoted to Arc Welding Using The SESE MMA 200 Amp DC Inverter Arc Welder and post them there.
Needless to say I won’t be welding the lugs to the Victoria steam engine base and I won’t be welding the Makita 2107F bandsaw frames until I have this sorted out.
My next action it to go back to Ying Jaleaum ad get a lighter welding glass. Then more practice.
Updates On The Website
New Pages added:-
Importing Tools From UK
Some Examples Of Tools And Equipment I Imported (/Am Importing) From The U.K.
RDG Tools Order
An Order For Tools From RDG Tools In The UK Shipped Directly To My House In Thailand
Pages Updated:-
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