Anchor Tenants

There seems to be a social-media contest for messiest workbench. Many modellers get chest-puffing macho affirmation by claiming that they can still produce amazing work even when the bottles of paint and boxes of partially finished kits are threatening to obliterate the remaining 6 square inches of usable work surface in a cataclysmic avalanche. I […]

Mars Accuracy

I’ve noticed that the prints on my own 3D printer are snug compared to the same parts printed by Shapeways. Indeed, the sand dome and the ash pan wanted a little scraping where they connect with other parts. So, I made a 2 cm test cube to see what I could learn about the accuracy. […]

Happy Father’s Day to Me!

For years I told people I would rather use Shapeways than get my own 3D printer. The technology was changing too rapidly, and I didn’t want the resin in my home. However, the newer resin printers are producing such excellent results, and the cost of shipping from Shapeways is getting so userous, that I finally […]

Better tapered boiler courses

So far, 622’s boiler remains a pair of nicely formed cylindrical sections, joined by a skanky tapered section that is more putty than substance. All that sanding gave me loads of time to think, and to lament the fact that OnShape’s Sheet Metal Model feature doesn’t extend to cones. As I was shaping, and wondering […]

Paint and glue cupboard

For some reason, paint and glue does not want to sit in a drawer. It wants to migrate to the workbench and stay there. Maybe that’s because I can’t see the sides to identify the bottle when I pull open the drawer. Regardless of the reason, I had a little collection of fluxes, glues and […]

Potion from Embro, Ontario

I think I have finally found my replacement for Mek Pak. I became addicted to that styrene cement whilst living in Henley on Thames (Nine miles from Reading for ardent CBC fans). “Addicted” in the sense of strong preference as opposed to plastic-bag-solvent-abuse-self-harm. Unfortunately, my stockpile has run out or evaporated, and I’ve been chasing […]

Drawer organizer

I’ve been on a drawer organization binge since Christmas Eve. That’s when the bottom fell out of the tray in the kitchen junk drawer amid a cloud of unseasonal language. I emptied the whole drawer, evaluated and binned the true junk (including about 1/2 inch of tooth picks, which lined the bottom of the drawer) […]

I’ll make one instead!

“All I need is a nut driver…”The Grinch looked around.But, since nut drivers are scarce, there was none to be found.Did that stop the old Grinch…?No! The Grinch simply said,“If I can’t find a nut driver, I’ll make one instead!”So he filed some hex rod. Then he took some scrap sheetAnd he soldered it into […]

Polymorph experiments

Okay, so I’m still in the hobby. All I have to do is figure out how to transfer the exact quartering angle from the front wheels to the back. The trick is that there is almost no datum – no way to get a good handle on the centre of the axle. It – the […]

How big are those holes anyway?

Before I go easing out the holes in the connecting rods, wouldn’t it be nice to know which one is the tightest, and ease that one first? To my eye, the fit of each crankpin is indistinguishable. So, in an attempt to get scientific about the question, I’ve created some pin gauges. Now after a […]