Workshopshed

9 lamps from London

2012-05-29T15:11:00.000+01:00

A selection of cast iron and ornamental lamps from around the centre of London

Pall Mall

Institute of Directors

Large Globe lamp, Canada House, Trafalgar Square

Brass Lamp, Imperial Pub, Leicester Square

China Town

Shaftsbury Hotel

White Horse Pub, Soho

Duke of Wellington Pub, Soho

Fortnum and Mason

Chelsea flower sculpture show

2012-05-21T12:14:00.000+01:00

On this morning's breakfast news I spotted a fabulous metal sculpture as a backdrop to the weather forecasts.

On further investigation I found out it was the M&G Garden at the Royal Chelsea Flower Show, designed by Andy Sturgeon.

I thought it looked a little familar, so I checked Andy's blog and saw that he'd also created one of the easter eggs for the easter egg hunt last month.

Although his egg was steel, the garden sculpture is made from hammered copper.

The focal point of ‘The M&G Garden’ will be the large copper sculpture made from approx 3,800 copper washers. Reminiscent of a piece of arts and crafts jewellery the sculpture is designed to convey energy and movement as it weaves through the garden and water pool. Watch the video below to find out more and see some prototype versions of the final sculpture.

More pictures and details

M&G Chelsea Website
Telegraph
RHS Chelsea

Shed of the year 2012

2012-05-09T12:00:00.000+01:00

The latest announcement from Shed of the year 2012 sponsored by Cuprinol

SHED FAQ:

Win £1000 Entry open now - add your shed here
Entry will close May 20th 2012 : Public voting May 21st 2012
Shed Week 2012 - Starts on the 2nd July 2012, the Shed of the year will be announced during that week.
Shed judges for 2012 are Sarah Beeny , Neil Gaiman, Alex from shedworking, Shed of the year 2011 Winner Jon Earl and Uncle Wilco from Readersheds.co.uk

A day at the forge

2012-05-06T01:10:00.000+01:00

Thanks to my relatives I had the chance to spend the day as a blacksmith.

Up at Standalone Farm next to Letchworth Garden City, Jo Fry runs a one day blacksmith course.

After a chat and a safety brief we got started on a test piece, a toasting fork. This is an ideal piece for beginners like myself, the metal is not too thick that it is hard to work but not too thin that it easily burns or cools to quickly. The old saying "strike whilst the iron is hot" is very true but Jo added an equally useful one which was before you take your iron out of the fire work out what you are going to be doing with it. I found that a practice before heating the metal worked very well.

The first skill to learn was drawing down to make a tapered end to the bar, this was followed by forming the loop and wrapping the end in a spiral.

The next couple of operations formed the twists, a good tip here was selective cooling to control which parts were twisted. Finally, the prongs were formed by splitting then drawing down the two ends. As this was finished before lunch, I moved onto a little piece of jewellery. A variation of a tribalistic piece that I'd seen on another blacksmith's website. As well as some practice in drawing down, this provided a new challenge in the form of a scroll which took a couple of attempts to get right.

Once the scroll was cut from the bar it had to been handled in the tongs which added to the difficulty.

After lunch, I made a coping saw by heating and bending a bar, some of the bending was done in the bending forks and some on the bick (or horn) of the anvil. I added a scroll just for practice.

In amongst the tools was a rams head on a bar. When Jo asked what I'd like to do next I said I quite fancied the ram but was not sure if I'd be upto the job.

Jo perswaded me to take on this challenge and after a lot of hammering I finally chiseled my way through the bar to and then thinned them out to form the horns.

To simplify the bending Jo used the oxy-acetylene torch to locally heat the metal so that it only bent where we wanted it to. Then after some more time in the forge and more hammering to flatten out the bar a face was formed and more details were added on with punch and chisel.

A cutoff saw was used to cut the bar to size as time was getting on, my arms were getting weak and the metal was 16mm thick. The process for forming the horns was repeated on the opposite end to form a bottle opener, Jo got out the angle grinder to ensure that the flipping part of the bottle opener was sharp enough to get under the bottle caps. Finally the horns were twisted into shape.

Jo polished everything up and we had time for a cuppa before leaving time.

Bently and Skinner - Jewellers Workshop

2012-05-03T15:10:00.003+01:00

Bently and Skinner moved into 55 Piccadilly back in 2010 and have an on site workshop where they repair jewellery and resize rings. They have kindly placed this in a room with a window facing the street so you the tools used and work in progress.

Danish Bikes

2012-04-27T23:22:00.001+01:00

As you might have gathered from my last post, I've been over in Denmark this week. On my short trip to Copenhagen I've seen hundreds if not thousands of bikes around the city. Many people use bikes for transporting anything from their shopping to their kids. I took some photos of some interesting looking ones, unfortunately did not get a shot of a low loader cargo bike that I saw.

Technically this last one is a scooter not a bike but it's still a great way to get around the airport

Danish Garden Sculptures

2012-04-23T20:55:00.000+01:00

Some interesting sculptures at Amaliehaven by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro with lovely weathered metals and abstract shapes.

Robot Interview

2012-04-20T13:45:00.000+01:00

I'm a big fan of sculptures made from found objects such as the kinetic scuptures of Gina Kamentsky or the cars and dogs of Josh Welton. My latest such find is CyberCraft Robots, it's best to introduce them by their mission statement.

“All around you are objects that appear to be the ordinary detritus of daily life. Yet a small percentage of these objects are actually bits of unassembled Robot! Our mission at CyberCraft Robots is to covertly collect these seemingly mundane items, and reassemble them into the marvelous Robots they were intended to be.”

Interested to know more, I got in contact with Sarah Thee Campagna the “Primary Robot Creator”

Workshopshed: Sarah, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed, can you start by telling us about the space where you assemble the robots?

Sarah Thee Campagna: Though I cannot disclose its origins, the Orbiting Laboratory currently enjoys a semi-synchronous orbit around the third planet of the Sol system, Milky Way galaxy. Our planetside base is located in St Petersburg, Florida, USA. Out of respect for the Earthlings we serve, the interior of the Laboratory very much resembles a converted, attached, 2-car garage.

The walls have industrial strength shelving on which are placed heavy bins of sorted Secret Robot Parts. I use two work benches, one at 33 inches high and one at 38 inches. This helps reduce fatigue because I can work in a variety of positions.

The taller one is kept empty except for the current piece, while the other is half covered my beloved drill press, a double grinding wheel and a couple of vices.

Also helpful in reducing fatigue, the whole work area is covered with interlocking foam mats.

Workshopshed: Do the parts all get tidied away in boxes and racks or is your area more creative chaos?

Sarah Thee Campagna: Most everything STARTS OUT tied away. I forage for parts almost every Friday. While I’m in the middle of a piece, boxes of “new” parts tend to accumulate - because I’d rather make art than clean house. When I’m ready to start the next piece I sort the new finds – mostly by shape and size – clean up the benches, and begin something new.

A few times I’ve been so pressed to produce work, for a special show or something, that I’ve skipped the “clean-up between” step. It does not take long to find myself with only two square feet to stand in and surrounded by tripping hazards galore.

Workshopshed: How do you know which robots parts go together?

Sarah Thee Campagna: The Robots tell me! I usually start with one found object that I find interesting. This will usually be either the head or body of the piece. Then I let the piece start telling me what it needs next.

My style of work dictates that each piece must appear to have been INTENDED for the Robot. There is no haphazard sticking together of parts that don’t fit. Often something is “almost right”, and I’ll dig around looking “exactly right”. If “exactly” is just not available I’ll do some work to change the shape of the “almost” until it’s perfect.

Scale is also important in picking the next part. I go by what feels right to my eye, but I often use my own biometrics as a reference. I’ve measured my hip-to-knee and knee-to-foot lengths so often you would think I would have them memorized.

Workshopshed: I hear you don’t use welding or adhesives in your processes, how to the parts attach?

Sarah Thee Campagna: I’ve recently learned that the hipster term for what I do is “cold connections”. ‘Till now I’ve used the word “fasteners”. I use screws, threaded rod, nuts, rivets, and so forth. I often need to drill holes in parts where there were none before. I love blind rivet nuts. These allow me to put a threaded sleeve into a thin wall.

I’m not a big fan of tapping. Maybe I’m just not skilled enough at it yet to make the tight connections I like.

I will confess to using tread locking adhesives after parts are as tight as I can make them. This just lets me sleep better at night. I wish they weren’t so messy and colored though. If any of your readers know of a brand other than the usual one used in the US, I’ll send my Robots down to buy some.

Workshopshed: What tools do you use?

Sarah Thee Campagna: My number 1, most loved tool is my drill press. It’s a 10 inch, bench mounted, 5-speed. It is always set to slow for drilling metal. I have a drill press vice on the table.

My next most used tools are my dremels. (I just got the new 12v cordless for my birthday!!!) Most of the time I have a grinding stone on one tool, and a metal cutting wheel on the other. Now that I have 3 of these tools, it will be interesting to see which attachment comes to live on the ugly step sister.

I use an angle grinder with various wheels. I have a small compressor that runs my pneumatic riveter. The bench grinder, and a couple of vices round-out the tools that are out all the time.

Of course I employ the usual hand tools, plus a special tool for rivet nuts.

Workshopshed: What’s your favorite tool?

Sarah Thee Campagna: Other than my picaridin bug spray, my favorite tool is my Drill Press. My work would not be possible without each of these.

Workshopshed: Is Ford ’51 still your favourite robot?

Sarah Thee Campagna: Ford ’51 is still my favourite Robot, but I have a new favourite piece. I recently built my first Raygun. I *really* love it, and it turns out there is a whole audience of Raygun fans who care nothing for Robots or Spaceships.

Workshopshed: What robots parts do you currently have on the bench?

Sarah Thee Campagna: At this moment I’m working on a piece for a show called “Cast Away”. Artists are invited to interpret that theme in any way they like. So I am making a fisherman Robot from a cast-off, antique fishing reel. On the bench now are the reel, and my first try at his legs. There’s also a weird little something-another out of which I may fashion the Robot’s fishing reel. And… a zillion fasteners and hand tools.

Workshopshed: Where can people see the robots?

Sarah Thee Campagna: Internet folks can see them at CyberCraftRobots.com, I also tweet, tumble, stumble, pin, and post on Facebook and Flickr.

In person, one can always see a piece or two in the retail space at the Museum of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg, Florida. When I have an upcoming show, I write something about it on the front page of my website, in addition to shamelessly self-promoting on the above listed social media.

On May 25-27, 2012, I’ll be showing in Orlando, Florida. I’ll be at the Orlando Maker Faire on Saturday, and OASIS 25 (a Science Fiction convention) on Friday and Sunday.

Workshopshed: Many thanks for being interviewed and I hope the trip to Orlando goes well.

Invention of the day - Welded rivet

2012-04-18T12:00:00.000+01:00

I've been following Patrick Andrews Invention of the day for some time now and it's inspired me to share the following thought with you.

My thought this morning was based on what I saw the other weekend when welding a frame, the 8mm bar heated up quite a lot glowing red before I'd finished welding it. So I wondered if it had actually changed in length during the process.

This idea is for a welded rivet. It could be used to join materials that can't be welded or where it is not desirable to weld them. The rivet consists of a pin and a plate that fits over the end. To join the fastener, the welder would direct their torch into the hole in the plate this would cause the pin to heat and hence elongate. The welder would then proceed to weld the pin to the plate in a similar manner to how a plug weld is formed. As the weld cools the pin would contract and hence tighten the joint.

Sketch of the welded rivet

Section A-A

I've not actually tried this so I don't know if it would work but I thought I'd get my idea down and share it with you all. If anyone tries this out I'd be interested to hear if it works.

Doing it yourself?

2012-04-13T00:00:00.000+01:00

Are you handy with a hammer or perfect with a paintbrush?
Do you know your nuts from your bolts?
Have your home improvements gone way beyond fixing the odd drawer?

These are the questions that TV company Love Productions are asking to find Britain's Handiest Men and Women. They also want to know about your most challenging projects and your DIY disasters.

More information and application form

Welding Experiment

2012-04-11T07:01:00.002+01:00

Whilst I was out in the workshop welding up a frame, I thought I'd try an experiment. My idea was to use a security marker pen, the type that only shows up under UV light. I drew a couple of lines on a scrap of steel and checked they appeared with the provided torch, the lines were visible but not particular bright.

I then proceeded to run the welding torch along the bar. The idea was that the lines should glow brightly in the UV light generated by the arc of the TIG torch.

No, nothing showed up at all.

I don't know if this is due to a poor quality pen or if the idea will not work for some scientific reason.

If you've tried this or have some pens and want to give it a go, then let me know of your results.

Welding project

2012-04-09T20:10:00.000+01:00

Back in February I drew up a metal frame in CAD, that I promised to fabricate for a friends shed. I cut up the metal last month and the other weekend tack welded it together. I also got to try out some next clamps that I'd not used before.

Today I had a couple of spare hours to finish off the welding. Why so long you ask, partly because I'm learning and partly because I'm using TIG welding.

The material is 3mm x 30mm steel, I was using a 1.6mm red tungsten (2% Thoriated) with a number 5 cup, I was using DCEN with approx 70A although could have probably done with a few more amps as the puddle was a bit small.

Here's some pictures of the process:

Using the corner clamp

Tack welded frame

Experiments with clamping the tab (for the window lock to be attached to), firstly with a Stronghand magtab and then with some small corner magnets. I chose the latter as it allowed me to tack both ends of the piece in one go.

One of the corners, outside and inside.

The tab welded, that rust coloration was poor torch control on my part, the arc wandered off line and hence out of the protection of the argon gas flow.

Welding of the middle round bar proved challenging but I found I could rest the cup on the work and the arc was just in the right place. Luckily the frame spacing was large enough to give good access to this bar.

The finished frame

4 Metal Easter Eggs

2012-04-05T14:18:00.002+01:00

The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt is having a Grand Finalle in Covent garden and you can see all of the eggs that were previously scatter around the city. Here's some of my favourite metal eggs, some which are still available in their auction.

Camera Eggscura aka 'The Geocentric Model' by Ben Ashton

View through the Camera Eggscura

'Anima Mundi - 'Awakening the soul of the world'' by Jill Berelowitz

'Conundrum' by Maurice Harron - Made hundreds of pieces of 316 stainless steel plate welded together in 2 pieces each edged with a bronze strip, and has a hinge so that it can open.

'ovum ferrugu' by Fredrikson Stallard in CorTen steel

'It is but it isn’t' by Andrew Sturgeon

April Fools

2012-04-02T12:00:00.000+01:00

Just incase anyone did not twig, yesterday's post about Leonardo's Ipad was an April Fools joke, the fact the control mechanism was very like an Etch-a-sketch should have given it away. The touring exhibition Leonardo Da Vinci's Workshop will be visiting Toyko this year after a successful year in the US.

Also the twitter comment about coal powered commuter trains to due to the prices of oil was also a spoof but the technology behind the idea is quite real with the picture coming from "The Ultimate Steam Page"

There weren't too many other good engineering jokes yesterday (please comment if you found any) but this one from the Austrailian Ikea was quite nice

Thanks to iFixit for spotting that one.

Leonardo da Vinci - Ipad

2012-04-01T07:34:00.003+01:00

Internal workings

Engineers and historians at the Museo Leonardiano di Vinci in Florence have built a 3D model of one of Leonardo's sketches and concluded that it is a hand held sketch pad that records sketches without the need for a pencil or paintbrush.

Leonardo's ingenious design uses tiny spinning gyroscopes to store information, each spinning in a different direction to hold one "pezzo" of the drawing.

The image was input into the pad using a pair of wheels that control the motion of the drawing line in different directions.

It is believe that the image was reset by simply shaking the pad to reset the internal gyroscopes. Unfortunately like many of Leonardo's designs it was simply ahead of it's time as the quality of bearings during his lifetime would have meant that his mechanical picture store would have quickly faded away.

However the museum now believes that it would be possible to build the device using carbon fibre ballbearings and are looking for backers to fund the project.

Prototyping

2012-03-30T23:45:00.000+01:00

For the next step in my little electronics project I was looking at adding in the LCD to the display the output, I've selected an I2C device so that it requires very little wiring and also does not need a lot of I/O pins on the Arduino. The I2C bus also requires minimal components, basically a couple of resistors to pull the bus high. However I'll also need to wire up a few components when I come to hook up my rotary sensor (aka mouse) so it made sense to take the approach of having a simple shield to wire everything together.

The arduino protoshield kit seemed an ideal starting point as it had the headers to wire up the digital inputs and outputs and an area to layout components and a few components to wire up some simple circuits.

There are some really nice design features of the PCB such as mirroring the reset switch and ICSP pinouts as those are blocked by the position of the shield. There is also an area for prototyping with SMD chips as well as a for chips in DIP format.

You can download the schematic and Eagle PCB design files from the Arduino site:

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoProtoShield

Given that the kit came with red, yellow and green LEDs I could not resist making a simple traffic light. So I wired up the three LEDs with the supplied 220ohm resistors and put together the following simple programme. Obviously if you were programming a real traffic light you'd want to put in bigger delays and also look at adding traffic sensors etc. I'd also suggest switching from this simple structure to something like a finite state machine.

/*
Traffic Lights
Three LEDs wired to digital outputs as specified below
*/
const int Green = 8;
const int Amber = 9;
const int Red = 10;
void setup() {
// initialize the digital pin as an output.
pinMode(Green, OUTPUT);
pinMode(Amber, OUTPUT);
pinMode(Red, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(Red, HIGH);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(Amber, HIGH);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(Red, LOW);
digitalWrite(Amber, LOW);
digitalWrite(Green, HIGH);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(Amber, HIGH);
digitalWrite(Green, LOW);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(Amber, LOW);
}

I'll remove these temporary components before connecting up and writing code to interface to the LCD, so hopefully more on this project soon.

Repair Manifesto from 1831

2012-03-30T13:00:00.000+01:00

A comment about Joshua Field (partner of Henry Maudslay) by James Nasmyth from when they both worked at Messrs. Maudslay, Sons and Field of Lambeth.

"One point he often impressed upon me. It was, he said, most important to bear in mind the get-at-ability of parts - that is, when any part of a machine was out of repair, it was requisite to get at it easily without taking the machine to pieces"

This reminds me of some of the comments in the Self Repair Manifesto who demand a right to be able to access and repair items.

From James Nasmyth, Engineer: An Autobiography (Cambridge Library Collection - Technology) also Kindle version

Origins of the factory

2012-03-28T12:43:00.000+01:00

Whilst doing a bit of reading I discovered that the term "Factory" is actually a shortening of an older word "Manufactory" which was in use in the 1800s. The Miriam Webster dictionary states that the first known use of that word was in 1641.

My uncle who is a bit of a linguistic expert added a little more and provided the origins of the word "Manufactory"

"Latin manu meaning by hand and factory coming from factum meaning made"

This is interesting as it's modern usage implies automation rather than hand made.

Additional reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soho_Manufactory

Hobby Welding and Duty Cycle

2012-03-22T12:00:00.000Z

Earlier this month I wrote up a detailed article on duty cycle for Westermans.

For the hobby welder I've really not found it to be an issue. There are a few reason for this. Firstly, I work in smaller sections of steel so only use low current. This means I am well within the rating of my machine. The second reason is that the items I've been making have effectively just been tacked together so no long seams to weld. The last is the nature of the items I've been building, taking the garden obelislks as an example, they required each end of a bar to be welded into place. Between welding each bar there was time taken with moving the frame and fitting the next part into my simple jig. So the welder had plenty of cooling time.

Often the little transformer based arc welders "buzz boxes" that can be bought from discount supermarkets will have very low duty cycles. However, if all you plan to use it for is to weld the hinges back on your gate, then that will be fine.

So as a DIYer or hobby welder you might find youself like me and can live with a lower duty cycle.

Naomi Press - Solo II - Cavendish Square

2012-03-15T16:32:00.001Z

The latest City of Sculpture installation has arrived in Cavendish Square. Naomi Press' Solo II is a 3m tall abstract made from stainless steel and is proving a popular picnic spot with the local office workers.

Naomi has been working with stainless steel since 1983 but is also an accomplished artist in other materials with recent exhibitions such as the English Heritage Brick series and Citadel Series in terracotta brick and resin.

Her other sculptures can be seen at the Bermondsey Project Space.

Website: naomipress.com
Photos of the installation and welding into place
Naomi Press : Retrospective A feeling of lightness

The Shed Magazine

2012-03-09T12:34:00.000Z

The Shed Magazine is a publication from New Zealand, it's just the kind of thing I like to read and I've previously ordered back editions from their website.

"The Shed magazine is for all those people who have or aspire to have their own workspace. And to those who wish they could spend more time in their sheds. Sheddies come from all walks of life: professionals, tradespeople, students, artists, innovators. They have one thing in common the desire to turn a vision into something tangible. They all like to create. The Shed helps to bring together this diverse community to share techniques, ideas, information and news. The Shed covers engineering, woodworking, woodturning, plastics and everything in between. Its subjects are as diverse as its readership but it is always, challenging and inspired."

In the latest edition:

A test of compound mitre saws
Sealander Terry Roycroft’s floating car
Time for a milling machine?
How to make jandals
Introducing Arduino

Subscriptions and back editions can be ordered from their website and are a good price but due to the P&P being more than the cost of the magazine total for a single edition comes to just under £10. However there is an online edition of the magazine for a much smaller cost and there's also lots of free info on their website.

A little venture with electronics

2012-03-02T22:35:00.000Z

The chaps from Farnell Element14 have kindly sent me an Arduino Uno to have a look at and experiment with.

When the package first arrived, I assumed it was something else as it was no bigger than a pack of cards. However I unwrapped it and yes it was indeed an Arduino Microcontroller.

When you get it open there is a small leaflet explaining what you have bought and the Arduino Uno itself. The packaging points out that the Arduino is made and tested in Italy. And quite rightly too, Arduino is a great Italian success story and counters the current bad press that countries like Italy get in the financial press. The Arduino Uno is just the latest in a range of boards from some rather smart chaps who wanted a board that was cheap and open source for teaching students about microcontrollers and programming. You'll also find a sheet of stickers in the box, which you can put on your project once you've finished it.

What I like about these boards is that they are pretty much ready to go out of the box. The one thing you do need to provide (other than a computer to programme the board) is an A-B USB cable.

You also need to download the software from the Arduino site. And if you are on Windows you will also need to install a driver.

My previous ventures with working with computer control included a GCSE project to build an X-Y plotter controlled from a ZX Spectrum. I initially did not understand that the ports on the back of the Spectrum were directly connected to the main bus. I wired up a switch and when I pressed the memory chips were fried. Once those were replaced, I purchased a proper I/O adapter and got my stepper motors and solenoids wired up just fine. My later ventures were not much more successful, I wanted to build some Knight Rider style lights for a custom PC case so got hold of a PIC and built a PIC programmer. The code worked fine in the simulator but I could just not get it to run on the hardware so that project was abandoned and I just wired the LEDs together instead and had a big flashing bar.

Given these previous projects, I thought it wise to read "10 ways to destroy an Arduino" before getting started. I also watched some of Jeremy Blum's tutorial videos on the Element14 Arduino group. I discovered to my joy that the designers had cleverly wired up an LED to pin 13 on the board so I did not even need to have any additional circuitry to get going.

The are a range of examples provided with the install so I fired up the blink code and had a play with getting it uploaded and tweeking the values to flash the LED in different rhythms.

/*
Blink
Turns on an LED on for one second,
then off for one second, repeatedly.
This example code is in the public domain.
*/
void setup() {
// initialize the digital pin as an output.
// Pin 13 has an LED connected on most Arduino boards:
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(13, HIGH); // set the LED on
delay(1000); // wait for a second
digitalWrite(13, LOW); // set the LED off
delay(1000); // wait for a second
}

Source Code for Blink

Having a microcontroller and not controlling anything would be a bit boring but it's nice to familiarise yourself with the setup without having to get out a soldering iron. The other good thing about the Arduino from a makers perspective is that you can buy or assemble add-on boards or "shields" with features such as display, PWM motor control, data logging, sound, radio or networking. So you don't need to be an electronics wiz to put together sophisticated solutions. Because Arduino is open source there are also people who are adapting the basic board such as the Nanode project. The Makerbot also makes use of Arduino and their latest motherboard is in the form of an Arduino shield.

I do have some plans for this board that will require some electronics and a little programming, the idea is hack apart an old computer mouse and mount the sensors so I can read the angle on a simple rotary table. The angle would be displayed on an LCD display. Conveniently, there are plenty examples of code and circuits out on the internet so it should just be a case of putting a few key electronic parts together and some simple coding using existing libraries.

A big thanks to Farnell Element14 for making this project possible.

Stirling Rally 2012

2012-03-01T12:00:00.000Z

The 12th Stirling Air Engine rally will be held this year on March 25th at Kew Bridge Steam Museum. I attended last year's event and can report it was very popular, particularly the cafe.

There was a great selection of machines and engines and everyone was keen to tell you more about their creations. The Stirling Society awarded prizes for skill and innovation, last Year's Prize winners were Roy Darlington and Julian Wood shown below.

Workshop Inventor Interview

2012-02-28T12:00:00.000Z

Workshopshed: Graham Downey is an inventor of tools for the plumbing industry and DIY enthusiasts. He has multiple patents and works with fellow inventor and model engineer Alan Green. Together they design and developed a comprehensive range of tools to ensure your plumbing job gets done efficiently and correctly.

Workshopshed: Graham, thank you for agreeing to be inteviewed, you've quite a wealth of experience behind you, have you always had an interest in plumbing?

Graham Downey: I had an interest in anything mechanical from a very early age, and my first main interest was anything electrical. In fact, when I was in my early teens I was a dab hand at repairing anything of an electrical nature, and in fact became known in the area as the local “Handylad” and made a good few bob from it!

Workshopshed: Where do you invent and make your inventions?

Graham Downey: We also now have workshop / packaging units at Stockport where we combine our work here, or for more advanced stuff, work at Alan’s workshop.

Workshopshed: What kinds of tools do you like use in your workshop?

Graham Downey: Although I don’t use the Lathe much, it is probably my favourite machine, think it may be Alan’s as well.

Workshopshed: Have you modified any of them to enhance or simply operations?

Graham Downey: Modify? Yes I can think of one or two, the first that springs to mind is the handbender, we had to make mods on this to make it do what we wanted it to, i.e. bending 3mm flat bar in 2 x continuous 90 degree bends.

Workshopshed: What kinds of jobs require a trip to the "advanced" workshop?

Graham Downey: Mainly development work, this is very time consuming, as once you have the article in your hand in 3D, you immediately realise that you should have done it another way, this is truly never ending.

We do most (95%) of production stuff here in Stockport.

Workshopshed: There appears to be a lot of thick sheet metal used in your tools, how is that cut and formed into shape?

Graham Downey: Sheet metal? Laser cut, this is a fantastic process as far as I am concerned it has helped us a lot and relatively inexpensive, in fact we not only have to design with function in mind, we also have to do it within the confines of not spending lots of money on tooling, only to find out its of no use, ..Fatal.

Workshopshed: Your plumbing tools are made from a mixture of materials, plastics and metal, which do you prefer working with?

Graham Downey: Think we both prefer working with Metals, but sometimes plastics provide solutions, so yes, we use a combination of both, we also use Rubber extruded components.

Workshopshed: What material is the double ended rad wrench made from? Does it require specialist processes or tools?

Graham Downey: The Double ended RadWrench is made from super strong glass filled Nylon, and is injection moulded. We also have other components made this way.

Workshopshed: And finally, do you have a selection of sinks and radiators all over the workshop to test the tools on?

Graham Downey: One radiator, in workshop, lots of taps, but have carried out numerous tests on radiators & sinks that are actually installed and working, that way you get a better idea of how the tools perform under real working conditions.

Workshopshed: Graham, a big thank you for your time and effort being interviewed and all the best with your latest inventions.

Advanced Building Design Rad Clamps, Rad Wrench and Tap Splitter
Olive Puller