MilliBee with a haircut?

[Paul H (admin)]

The new sliding saw made quick work of an old scaffold plank (3.9m long by 210mm wide).

I cut a bridge of 2.1m (7ft) that will easily clear the trailer mudguards. Then two uprights of 600mm were cut leaving a piece 590mm long. Ah I thought, just right for triangular supports....but how on earth do I decide where to cut the wood in half at 45 degrees.

Simples really. Just mark the centre point and align the saws built in laser which previews the cut line:



With a limit of 220mm sliding cut it didn't go the whole distance at 45 degrees. Just flip over and align the laser with the previous cut line:



The quick results were two of the these supports 600mm high and 210mm wide:



Extra fore/aft support would be good. The easy option is to bolt a 2ft length of fence post at the bottom. Or cut another plank up....

-Paul

[Nesting Ray.]

You could borrow my Meccano hammerhead crane if  wish Paul. This is another crazy project that l have made since retiring. Brings back my 50s childhood memories along with Hornby dublo and dinky toys haaa.. It could be put to good use instead of like the hoover, gathering dust.

[Paul H (admin)]

Ray,

That looks just perfect for the job.

I often regret selling my Mecanno and Lego - happy days in the 60s, Concord, Apollo 11 live on school TV, just 6 records for our gramophone. The most popular in our house was "I wanna hold your hand", sold to everyone who had a record player allegedly.

I recently spoke to a Lego engineer who visited us at work (they use our CAD/CAM software). He said every engineer he meets played with Lego as a kid.

many thanks,
Paul

[inwe]

Nice one Ray I remember those days with great affection. Meccano and o and oo gauge railways. Now all I get to play with are 4" and 6" steam engines.

Richard

[alopenboat]

On 2 Jan 2015 at 8:57, Paul (admin) [via UK HBBR Forum] wrote:

>
>
> Ray,
>
> That looks just perfect for the job.
>
> I often regret selling my Mecanno and Lego - happy days in the 60s,
> Concord, Apollo 11 live on school TV, just 6 records for our
> gramophone. The most popular in our house was "I wanna hold your
> hand", sold to everyone who had a record player allegedly.
>
> I recently spoke to a Lego engineer who visited us at work (they use
> our CAD/CAM software). He said every engineer he meets played with
> Lego as a kid.
>

When Alec Issigonis retired (you remember him, designed cars, the
Mini, 1100 etc) they presented him with the biggest Mecanno set I
have ever seen. The box was about the size of a large office desk
with dozens of 2 inch deep drawers.

He was very keen on stuff like Mecanno as a design tool. Wasn't so
keen on Lego though, not enough like the real world.

--
Sail when you can, row when you must, motor
when you have to be at work in the morning.

Alastair Law
Yeovil, England.
<http://www.little.jim.freeuk.com>

[momist]

That is spectacular!  I used to love Meccano myself, but never had enough to build that big.  

BTW, gathering dust is what the hoover is for!  

Ian

[Paul H (admin)]

Regarding "hoovers" I've still got my mum and dads Hoover Junior which is as old as me (55), and it still works fine.

It's built like tank with a cast aluminium top, metal bottom and not a single scrap of breakable, useless, non-recyclable plastic anywhere.

 

How long does a Dyson last?

Paul

Sent from Samsung Mobile

[Nesting Ray.]

I have just sold my hoover,       well it was only gathering dust. (Joke).  I had no Meccano at all 2 years back, then l came up with the idea to build what l had only remembered as the front cover of all those Meccano books. I bought all mine on eBay. All had to be sanded to bare metal, primed and painted due to years of rust and neglect.

[Timmo]

My parents still have that Hoover Junior, and they use it.

LIfe of a Dyson... well I do have some experience there. We tried one of the early ones in my wife's day nursery and it lasted about a year being used about two hours every weekday. It just fell apart as the number of broken, unrepairable and irreplaceable plastic bits grew. Also, while the cyclone idea means no bags they still use filters that get clogged and need regular cleaning to maintain suction. Have a fleet of Henry's now. Very basic, adequately efficient and last forever if you replace the brushes in the electric moter every couple of years and put a new sweeper head on it occasionally. Every part is available as a spare at reasonable cost.

My father had a massive Meccano set in a wooden two tiered box. I played with it constantly as a boy. Much to my regret when they 'downsized' homes it was sold off for peanuts to a house clearance guy. Have no idea why it wasn't offered round the family first but will never make an issue of it, their age and increasing frailty are generating enough issues to deal with.

Only downside of Meccano was the length of time it took to develop the necessary callouses on finger and thumb to protect them from the sharp corners of the little square nuts.

My son grew up with K'nex and Lego Technic. I confess to having my own collection of Lego Technic vehicles displayed around the place. Used to be a regular Christmas present... would keep me out of everyone's hair for an hour or three on Christmas Day. 

Tim

On 3 Jan 2015, at 11:52, Paul (admin) [via UK HBBR Forum] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Regarding "hoovers" I've still got my mum and dads Hoover Junior which is as old as me (55), and it still works fine.

It's built like tank with a cast aluminium top, metal bottom and not a single scrap of breakable, useless, non-recyclable plastic anywhere.

 

How long does a Dyson last?

Paul

Sent from Samsung Mobile

---

If you reply to this email, your message will be added to the discussion below:

http://uk-hbbr-forum.967333.n3.nabble.com/MilliBee-with-a-haircut-tp3727803p4028233.html

To start a new topic under General Discussion, email [hidden email]
To unsubscribe from UK HBBR Forum, click here.
NAML

[Chris Waite]

How long does a Dyson last?

Well, the love-affair lasts until you get it home.

Our Dyson DC24 has excellent suction; sadly it also really sucks....

I am always forgetting and trying to pick it up by the main handle - wrong; that just extends and/or separates from the machine, or is that the red button, or some other catch, or latch?  I find it over complicated, fiddly and utterly counter-intuitive, the rotating brush is forever stopping, which requires extraction (good luck) to remove a couple of hairs, or some other minor detritus.  The spring coil hose fights like hell not to extend and due to the wire coil in the hose wall, only does so with irritating rotation, making the head difficult to hold and a herd of other petty, but atrocious design faults.

Dyson surely know how to make an outrageously expensive, user-confuser device....

We now have a Vax instead

Simplz and Super

CW

[Paul H (admin)]

I have suspended the front of MilliBee with some U section metal, wide enough to clear the wheels. Two fence posts are bolted to the transom. So the trailer was smoothly removed, reversed in at 90 degrees to support the bow with a pair of rollers, beefed up with a hydraulic jack underneath.

So now there is a free space from the start of the old bilge cases right back to the transom.

For testing I made a cardboard cut out of the centre-board. I'm not 100% sure it can go in from the top without removing the hatch, but it fitted from the bottom:

The white line is just under 20 in, which is the width of the board. The Blue line is the skeg, still under construction and about 37 in long and 4-5 in deep. The skeg ensures all rollers from the front of the C/B case backwards can lie on a straight line, so she should roll off on a steep enough slip and be winched in steadily:




The CB below is again about 20 in deep along the white line, the blue line is about 46 in long:



So in this position there is maximum support along the length of the case. I'm guessing about 40% extra area with the plate fully down.

The main bulkhead is about 1 foot ahead of the blue/white intersection point.

-Paul

[Paul H (admin)]

Apologies for those on email - I pressed Post too soon. Check the website for another pic and more details.
-Paul

[Chris Waite]

Is this a statement, or a query Paulie?

From this side of your snaps,

It looks good to me....

CW

[Paul H (admin)]

Chris Waite wrote

Is this a statement, or a query Paulie?

From this side of your snaps,

It looks good to me....

CW

Comments are welcome. I reckon there will be enough plate in the water - at least 3ft below the hull when fully down, as per DCA Cliff's recommendation.

Graham we be pleased it won't get stuck on a mud bank.

[Paul H (admin)]

The Victory Roll

There is only one easy way to work on the bottom of a 200kg boat, roll her through 80 degrees:

4:1 Mainsheet block (rated 750kg)

It was a family effort, I attached MilliBee's 4:1 mainsheet block to the house and the other pulley to a starboard mid-ship cleat that is strongly bolted through the inwhale. I pulled on the 4:1 sheet and Dilys (aka The Drug Dealer) helped by lifting the starboard side; once we got to about 30 degrees, probably on the 1st and 2nd chine, it became a lot easier to pull on the sheet. But the transom started to slide towards the house, luckily Liza was home from Oxford Uni so she was roped in to stop the transom sliding. MilliBee finally came to rest on the 2nd chine and outwhale:



There was not much tension in the rope system, But I pulled harder to bring some of the weight onto main bulkhead blocks under the gunnels, taking force off the weaker Chine 2. Here it is, with a 2nd safety rope pulled tight into the clutches, that are bolted to the cabin roof:

Easy access, covered cockpit

It's so easy to work on the new centre-board and patch up the old bilge keels. But her secret is out , clearly I missed the hardener from the last batch of paint in the most difficult, and invisible, area to paint. After the 2009 Thames raid large areas of red paint peeled off:



She rolled close to the house, but access to the new bridge deck and centreboard is much easier than when she was horizontal. And the tarp above makes for a sheltered working area:



I can touch the hull bottom through the bridge deck and the centreboard pivot (12mm stainless) whilst standing, even with my achy back (and a good supply from The Drug Dealer)



So it's downhill to the Thames Raid!

-Paul

PS: Dilys is a Pharmacist

[Port-Na-Storm]

Well done that man. And you didn't drop yours.

[Chris Waite]

'The Death Roll', Paulie?

Couldn't we call it a "Victory Roll"?

After all, this is the preamble to the Wounded Wizard of the West Wigglies

(OK, OK, an electronics whizz from Gloucestershire)

....Returning to the water

Christo the W

[Paul H (admin)]

Chris - I tinkled the ivories and called it "Victory Roll"

Thanks for the positive support. More pics coming this afternoon, cut about 80% of the bits to glue on the hull bottom (and stop her sinking )

cheers
Wounded Wizard of the West Wigglies

[Paul H (admin)]

My good wife Dilys helped with gluing the skeg together, to avoid my achy back bending too much. She has a heart of gold, helping so many people in the local community especially the Girl Guides.

Despite being sunny there was a strong cold wind blowing the ply pieces around in the gusts. So it was a good job there were two of us to hold things down!



Here it is with 9mm side panels outside the 20mm frame. It will be capped with semi rounded Oak 38mm x 20mm reclaimed from a bookcase we bought in America (long story). The 9mm ply is salvaged from Illusion's hull.



Some of the 38 x 20 Oak has been split to cap each side of the new centreboard case; this will result in a straight line from the centreboard to the skeg. So all the keel rollers can be at the same height and she will roll off and on a trailer easily.

-Paul

[Port-Na-Storm]

Paul (admin) wrote

My good wife Dilys helped with gluing the skeg together.

-Paul

Gets wife to help build boat. Genius.

How does be do it?