I've got a computer up and running in the shed now but I have yet to install visual basic on it.

Its going to be used to programme elements of the wonderful machine but its a long way off yet

and I don't know how all that works yet. so long as I keep gathering all the bits around me it will all come together.

Thats the theory anyway.

I really need a milling machine.

In the absence of a milling machine I have to find a way of cutting flat surfaces in the wonderful machine, so I made a fly cutter out of some internal parts from a broken nut gun. The nut gun was going to be a part of the gnome engine but bits of it are ideal for what I want.  So I drilled a hole in it to take the cutter from the lathe but I didn’t have a file to make the round hole square.  That I now have, so the fly cutter is now complete and all I have to make is a clamp to hold work in that can be secured to the cross slide. I’ve tried it out and it works a treat.

This all looks a lot more boring in words than it does in practice but it will all be worthwhile in the end. Bear with me; it’s a long journey.

I really really need to tidy up a bit too.

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For the want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For the want of a horse the king was lost.

For the want of a king the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a nail.

 

Same things happening in the shed but I need a file.

I’ve spent a little time working on a gnome engine.

I decided that I was going to test the feasibility of making a gnome engine out of bits and bobs and started with a crude crankshaft, which looks and works quite well.  The next step was to make a crankcase, which was quite easy followed by the cylinders of which there are seven. The thing actually started to look like it might be an engine but I have a dilemma on my hands.  The engineering is getting more complicated and time consuming so do I carry on with the experiment and end up with a crude engine or do I start from scratch and build the real thing?  Either way I am learning and if I make a big mistake on the prototype it doesn’t matter, but if I don’t it could have been the real thing and lots of time saved.  I am also still held back by lack of machine tools or the knowledge to work without them.

OK decision made.  I’m going to do both at the same time; it’s the only way forward without regrets