Outstanding!

[TopRamen]

I've been lurking around here lately to get a read on the enthusiasm, and it looks like Model rocketry is here to stay!
I have not had much time for it, but it applies to every single thing I do in other disciplines, and enhances the end result exponentially.
This has to be the best forum ever! I can always apply knowledge from here to everything else.

I feel genuinely bad about being absent around here, as soi many of you guys and gas have been really supportive with info and materials.

I'm putting myself in a position to be able to repay the entire community, and it may take a couple of years, but you can bet I have my head on straight and know that Rocket Tech is where it is at!
This video inspires me!
It's some guy with a goofy accent, but he is where I want to be some day in terms of understanding Physics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIUAdINXZmQ

 

[Steve Shannon]

Chris at Clickspring. He's the creator of some of my favorite machining videos. I like Stefan Gotteswinter also. If you haven't seen him, check his YouTube channel out.

 

[o1d_dude]

Glad to hear from you, Top.

Keep on keeping on.

 

[ecarson]

I watched those Antikythera project videos with great fascination.

Arthur C. Clarke had a program many years ago, called "Mysterious World". One episode had segments on
lost technologies. Of particular note, he lamented that if the thinking and skills behind the Antikythera mechanism
had been allowed to flourish throughout world culture, we would have probably by-passed the dark ages, and would have
already colonized every planet around every star visible to the naked eye by now.

edit: Found the episode on youtube. The lamentation is at the very end of the program.

[video=youtube;rcSvxYBDoV8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcSvxYBDoV8&list=PL-yUD-FK9S6mIyW2VSvGY0w7NJtriAcaP&index=6[/video]

 

[cavecentral]

Good to see you are doing well! You had lots of interesting projects going on repairs, tool rehabbing, etc.. The Watering Hole misses you.

 

[Rob702Martinez]

Good to see you, was just thinking the other day where'd ya go.

 

[aerostadt]

Top, good to have you stop by. I saw your post last week that you have new shop equipment.

 

[TopRamen]

Good to see you, was just thinking the other day where'd ya go.

I've used some of your milled composites to fix some of my machines, and although the technology is "New School", you can always sand, bondo and paint over it, so it has garnered some interest in the old wood and metal working communities as a viable alternative to welding or brazing certain pot metal and even cast iron items.
I've told them where I got the materials, but they want a thread about how wto use them, and I'm still developing methods, so I have told them that when I have time I will get some examples set up for an actual "How To Add Composite Fibers To Epoxies To Repair Vintage Machinery" Thread. I'll make sure they know where to get said milled fibers, and have already dropped your name a couple of times.
A few guys PM'd me asking about the stuff, and I told them all about it. They just don't want to openly admit that they used these things on rare and old vintage machines, so they will use them discretely at first, and say they just had the item brazed or welded, rather than talk about how they used JB Weld, a few drips of acetone and some milled carbon and fiberglass, followed but a few veneers of 1oz. glass cloth laid biased and then filled with primer and Bondo putty before paint. That's fine by me as long as they are using the stuff.
With old machines we frequently have hairline fractures on things like belt guards or other non load bearing parts, but since thos parts were either castings of iron or monkey metal, you can't really do a proper repair to them with out a lot of work and skill, and in the case of old cast iron things, sometimes even the best welder will just have to do a "Good enough" brazing job, and grinding that away to match the original contours would defeat any repaired strength, and it would only crack again, so you are stuck with something that will hold, but will never be able to look right.
With proper surface prep, epoxy rivets and composite epoxies in conjunction with cloths, a repair equal, near equal or in some cases greater than equal to the original item can be made,
and the joinery will be the last of your concerns as far as what may break next.

Yes, sanding these things down is a %^&*(, and in some cases you realize that you composite mend far exceeds the original durability and hardness of the thing you are repairing.

 

[TopRamen]

Top, good to have you stop by. I saw your post last week that you have new shop equipment.

Thanks! It is nice to be welcomed back.
Yes, my home repairs lead me to equipment, and now I'm building a shop separate from my home, and when all of that construction is done I can use all of the machines and gained skills to start building rockets again, but on a scale much greater than I ever imagined I could previously.(Not for Cert Purposes or "Levels", but just because I can and don't really require anyone's approval). Not that there's anything wrong with national organizations, but I just don't like "Clubs" of any sort.
Three disc sanders, dial indicators and micrometers, lathes, band saws, table saws, jointers...

I'll have something useful to add to threads about "Beveling Fins".

You don't even want to know what I've been doing with polyurethane expanding foam, but I will show all when my home and shop are set proper and square.
I can now make jigs to make other jigs, that are still yet used to make the jig that actually does the thing.

Rest assured, everything I do, I have a way to apply it to rocketry or to the betterment of quality old American made machinery.