Neal's Day to Day Projects

DIY Air Compressor

SAFTEY WARNING: Obviously don't do this unless you know what you are doing. I had advice from someone who used to manufacturer gas bottles (my dad).

5mm plate welded on to tap into for 1/4" threaded fittings The compressor is supported above the bottle on the original plate from the fridge.

  • The gas bottle is a propane bottle from my local waste recycling centre.
  • The pressure gauge is 0-200 psi (14 bar) from ebay.
  • The push-in connector and 8mm blue tube are from a nice guy at a local factory.
  • The compressor comes from a fridge that was being thrown out.
  • The yellow lead and fittings come from an ebay supplier and there was a small problem with them, they are all 1/4 inch, but the thread is 19 tpi (turns per inch) as opposed to 18 tpi which is BSP. Not ideal but it still works.
The first bottle I tried was galvanized and when I welded it it turned into swiss cheese and leaked from all the welds. Clean off all galvanizing thoroughly before welding. If you are a proper welder you would know this.

Building a Table Saw / Bench Saw Continued....

This shows the bracket holding the motor and shaft and the bracket which allows the blade to pivot up and down. You can just see the silver bolt (that alows the pivot action) to the left of the electric cord. It is upside down in the picture. Think of the floor as the underside of the table. This is the right way up, the two holes at the top of the trianlges (right-top) are were it will be pivoted under the table to allow 45 deg cuts. The bots on the right of the shaft will hold the blade on. This is the position where the blade will be fully extended through the table. Same as previous picture but taken from other end.

Building a Table Saw / Bench Saw

Making the pulley on the drill. The loops are the cut offs and the tools used to make them. Pulley with sprue attached. Foam pulley buried in sand. I used kiln dried sand. I extended the height of the flask to give more pressure, I extended it with cardboard (not the best material to use with molten metal but it worked). I used a can as a reservoir with the sprue in the middle. Pouring aluminium into sand. The flames are the from the foam burning, very smelly! Aluminium pulley with sprue and can still attached soon after pouring. It was quite a rough surface, I till try and improve on this in the future. There were small inclusions (if that is the right word) in the casting as you can see in the bore of the pulley after turning. Cutting the key-slot: I first tried filing it out and had no idea whether I was going straight of not so I turned a piece of aluminium to fit the bore and drilled a 4.5mm hole so that half the hole is in the pulley and half in the insert. This left me with a half-round hole and all it needed was filing square to take the key. Completed key slot I used a fly-cutter to make two flat (well almost) edges on either side of the shaft that will grip the large washer that will fit either side of the blade. Large washer before filing flat-sided hole in the middle. Shaft with larger diameter with flat sides for washer and the smaller section will hold the 16mm id blade. Washer in place. I need to bolt this on and turn it on the lathe to make sure it is true to the shaft as the blade will press up against this to keep it true.

Liam's Draw Handles

Small flask with two pins to line up top and bottom. The sand is fire clay with engine oil mixed in. The star is Zinc. The zinc star polished.

First Melt

The melting setup: On the left is my fan in a box directed into the stainless steel pipe which blows into the side of the furnace. The plastic bag had my scrap zinc in it. <br> The baking tray is to pour ingots. Leather gloves for obvious reasons. Aluminum cans melting down Pouring Zinc into baking tray to make ingots Left: is Zinc, Top Right: is aluminum but it seems to have crystalized, Bottom Right: is aluminum as well. This aluminum seems to have crystalized when I poured it. This was an attempt to sand cast, the white is flour that I tried to used as parting powder, but it didn

Making a Home Foundry Furnace

I have moved Home Foundry to its own page, you can find it on the menu on the left or via this link:
www.soutter.com/neal/foundry.aspx

Buggy Rack

It is still very long and needs to be cut down to size. The clip/bent piece is supposed to hold it on the towbar, but in reality it is not springy enough to be effective. And the fit on the towbar is so tight that I don

Kiting - Calais, France

Catching the ferry from Dover Jamie - sunrise in the English Channel Campsite with Telly Tubby tent. Stuart not able to take the Stella and sun. Dinner / Tea

The Beach (a bit wet at this point, someone got the tides wrong!) Base camp It looks like Staurt and I are flying the two small kites above us. Getting an upwind turn wrong, and having the kite ripped out of my hands! Me making a turn

Watch the cone! Jamie going backwards Me going backward fast! My 4m given to me by Andy Smith and Arno

Live entertainment from Holland! Sunset from the ferry in Calais.



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