A bit of fun…

I’ve decide to add some fencing to the engine stand to give some perspective.  Great Grandfathers engine does this quite effectively,  so simple to follow the theme.

First off,  I cut four lengths of 1/4 square bar to 50mm length.    Then mounting one in the lathe started to think about how to shape a ball end to the post.   After a bit of messing about with a file,  I remembered a UseNet post from Workshop Master Stevenson.    The method is to take a piece of gauge plate and drill a hole in it the diameter of the ball you want.  Countersink until you get a sharp edge then saw through the hole.   Grind to appropriate profile,  harden, temper, grind a bit more and there you go:

I didn’t have any gauge plate 😦  so I used a piece of EN3B flat.  As you can see,  it works a treat.   The profile isn’t right yet as the form tool (which is what this is) is flat topped,  which isn’t right,  I don’t think,  so  abit more fiddling with the grinder and this should be great.   At least it saves buying or making a ball turner.   Thanks JS.

Here you can see how I’ve used my biggest countersink to create a cutting edge in the diameter of the hole.  It’s not profiled correctly yet,  but did produce a decent result first off.   The underside is all a bit scaly from the heat treatment.

Someone will post to let me know that you can buy fence posts from the model shop.   If I had done that,  I wouldn’t have learned how to make a form tool – and that’s why I make most of my own stuff.   I could have bought the bevel gears too,  or gone the whole hog and bought a ready to run engine from Stuart but I would have been a lot poorer in cash, knowledge and skills if I’d done so!