You Call That An Awning?!?!?! This Is An Awning!!!

While we here at MBI like to think we're pretty good at building things, sometimes, we just have to concede defeat, and realise that we will never be able to build an awning as truley spectacular as this guy's. 

We spotted this a few years ago at the Dorset Steam Fair, and its about time we payed homage to the masterful structural skills this guy possesses!

The Carpenter. 

Show us ya' NOB!

This is a KOolis little-bit-o-work,...
The knob to control the tension on the dampener I've made for the Hawkes snare drum. Made from a bit of bought in turned, pine drawer handle (From a large quantity we'd purchased to make pipe stoppers with,) and an old BA nut.

I simply marked out the center, drilled it, then marked out a housing for the nut and chiseled it out, (and it being into the end grain of a bit of pine) I thought this was quite skillfully done! The nut was then pressed into a tight fit with a little epoxy resin to help it on its way.

The end result plus a good few coats of shellac, proved very pleasing, and when fitted to the drum could easily fool someone into thinking its an original feature.

False antiquing lesson 101!
If it needs to look old, leave some dirt and grubby marks in place under your varnish, shellac or laquer. For that authentic restored look, who need to know its brand new? Our little secret...

The Carpenter.

Steam Cannon

You know when a project gets a little out of hand...well, if you don't, we do! This is one of them. I first saw the idea for this on the fantastic TV series, Mythbusters, where they tried to prove Hero was able to produce  a steam cannon in the ancient world. In the end, it was shown to probably not be possible with technology available at the time.

However, that didn't stop me from wanting to have a go at modelling it in a small scale. I started off with various bits of copper pipe, and a couple of bits of Mahogany rescued from the fire! I started making a quick action ball valve, but then found the one seen in the photo at a car-boot sale, so used that instead. The columns for the barrel support came from a brass candle holder that was in the brass bits box. I figured square nuts would look best on something of this age, so made all the nuts out of some brass square stock - I think they look rather smart.

Various detailing parts have been made, such as a ram rod and a set of bollards on which to tie the lifting string when in use. The current addition being worked on is an inclinometer which will be used to measure the angle of inclination of the barrel. I quite fancy making up a set of firing tables after experimentation with firing, with the tables giving the required degree of inclination and firing pressure needed to land the projectile on a particular spot. Apologies for the dust - I have little time for cleaning!

The Engineer.

Splitting headache!! (Life lessons No. 2)

Time for another Life Lesson kids!

When taking the time to do a job properly, dont rush the end to get it out of the way...

I ended up making a second bearing block for a drum dampener after rushing, and using undersized pilot holes. As we can all see, (and duly laugh at my foolishness) I consequently split the block in two.

Ultimately this ends up taking twice as much time, so remember kids, do as I say not as I do, and take your time. MBI motto; If a jobs worth doing its worth overdoing.

The (Royally pissed off at his own haste) Carpenter

y0U AiNt g0t tH3 bAl1S M8t...

If theres one thing everybody needs, its a ball measuring device....

A device for measuring the diameter of spheres to a reasonable degree of accuracy, not much more to say really, I made this one for a school physics experiment, and its shown here with a charming man  inside for lack of a sphere in the local vicinity. (Note how I cunningly avoided saying 'lack of balls'!)

2 bits of acrylic, some steel rod, a broken rule, and 2 minutes on a pillar drill, and you can have your very own!

The Carpenter. 

See No Boredom Fear No Boredom!

Its a trusted Manbench Industries motto that "Shit happens, get on with it" so after suffering a major eye injury and losing most of the sight in one eye a few years ago, I made sure productivity was still maintained in some way....

Being somewhat limited for a few months by doctors orders of what head movements were allowed, projects were forced in the most part to being kit built models, still they kept me sane through a pretty crappy time and come the end I was actually pretty pleased with the result, here is some of what I produced during that time.

The Carpenter.

Waterwheel Display

A trip back a few years now, this was built as my GCSE Product Design project. At the start of my GCSEs I chose to do Art as one of my options for some reason that I've yet to be able to understand, anyway, it didn't take me long to come to the conclusion that I'd rather have another set of lessons in a proper workshop (I was already doing Systems and Control) as opposed to drawing fruit!

Anyway, this was my product for the final project, the brief I was given was something about an interactive exhibit for a science museum, so I built this set of water wheels. It shows clearly the operation of the overshot, undershot and breastshot water wheels. The clear tank sides were all laser cut - my first use of CAD/CAM in anything I had made, but the rest of the acrylic components were all cut by hand, with the edges the finished to smooth by hand - not fun. The pump used is a windscreen wiper pump and sits in a tank under the wheels, pumping water through a series of pipework to the different wheels. Unfortunately, I under-estimated the capacity of the pump and didn't put a big enough drain hole to return water to the feed tank, so eventually, the wheel chambers get flooded and stop the working of the wheels! One day...

The Engineer.

Cylinder Boring...in a field...

At last years (2012) Great Dorset Steam Fair, this, most interesting display was seen. A railway preservation society (can't remember who) were demonstrating the re-boring of the cylinder on one of their locomotives (can't remember the locomotive either, but I think it was a 9F.) It was quite an impressive operation to be seen and showed some of the huge amount of work required to keep our industrial heritage in working order to the general public.

It was terribly boring. (And the "Pun of the Year" award goes to that!)

The Engineer.

"Engine-uity" (And the "Worst Pun of the Year Award" goes to that)

This is one we both love here at MBI, actually made by my granddad for filling the diesel tank on the van he keeps his fairground organ in.

Its a clever combination of household funnel, plumbing fittings, and that essential, invaluable material, string. The funnel can then be suspended from the curtain side clips and the tank filled easily from jerry cans!

Simples.

The Carpenter.

HMS Incomprehensible Part II

Here is a further photo of HMS Incomprehensible, this time showing inside the engine room. As the project was built in the condensed time available to construct an A-Level project, I decided to use a Cheddar Models Pintail engine from my steam launch. I constructed the boiler based on the Cheddar models Pintail design but with an increase in the overall length. To get the two propellers to contra-rotate, I made a gearbox using Meccano gears, sprockets and chains and an Aluminium frame. The double chimney pipework is something I am rather pleased with - this was made from copper pipe fittings. I never really got around to finishing the engine room as planned - the fittings on the boiler were never finished, and as can be seen, little paintwork was ever done. One day...

The Engineer.