Recent posts

#1

Tactile / Re: Great Central Railway No.5...

Last post by James Harrison - September 08, 2024, 07:26:59 PM

Loco newsletter time;

- The AGM is booked for 19/10/24 at Quorn Station on the Great Central Railway.  Members of the general public welcome to the venue in the morning and afternoon to view parts of the loco, but the AGM itself is for supporters only.  Hope to see one or two of you there?

- The pattern for the driving wheels has been completed and an order has been placed for casting them.  Donations/ sponsorship is actively being sought for these components, if anybody wants to know how they can contribute I'll be happy to advise via private message.

- Work is progressing on constructing the bogie assembly and the intention is to have the part-finished item on display at the AGM.  The bogie has been the main thrust of the construction work.

- The cylinder block is being prepared to be split - as of the end of August the splitting operation was close at hand.  The nuts have been gas axed off the bolts and the studs have been persuaded to unlock.  Once the cylinder block is separated into its two halves, it's going to be put on a borer so that the corrosion in the valve chest can be removed. 

- The next step the Group want to take is the construction of the driving wheelsets.  This comprises the trailing axle, which is a 'normal' straight axle, and the crank axle.  To do this we need the axles themselves, the wheel castings and the steel tyres. 

- Whilst fundraising has improved last year, we still need to be ramping it up three to five-fold to get the loco running in a reasonable time frame (three-fold would see it finished in 7 years, five-fold in 4). 


 

#2

Tactile / Re: Victorian Boombox Mark IV

Last post by SeVeNeVeS - September 08, 2024, 11:15:46 AM

I think you are the only "maker" left here, you enjoy doing it and I for one enjoy seeing it.

I would contribute but the total lack of interest and replies from both members and some Mods nowadays makes it not worthwhile to take the time and effort.

Please do keep the updates coming.

#3

Tactile / Re: Victorian Boombox Mark IV

Last post by J. Wilhelm - September 08, 2024, 01:45:50 AM

Amazing stuff, far too technical and beyond the likes of me, I can wire a plug 

Looking great me old mate!

Thanks mate. I'm having loads of fun building this, and wondering why this isn't "a thing" nowadays.

WARNING: Old Timer Rant ahead!

Off-Topic: ShowHide

At this point it's basically just assembling an early 2000s style PC.  I did a lot of running around just to find out I could only use a basic PC hardware setup with Windows or Linux, but that's Google's Android failure. I only wish that I didn't have to deal with the HDMI interface between the PC stick and the screen, because I derived exactly zero advantage from it. It's necessary because of how the PC stick is made.

Intel and Microsoft (+ Ubuntu Linux) should capitalize on this issue and start making smartphones again and more importantly they should market full-size touchscreen flat panel home theatre PCs with all the bells and whistles, and why not? -old style boomboxes. Sony Vaio Boombox? 60 inch MS Surface "Glass Desk"? Why not??

On the flat panel smart TV's, I can't fathom why MS never envisioned that.

Why not get together with Sony to make a high end wall HTPC? Apple came close to doing it that with some Mac computers, but they were never anything more than vertical all-in-one computers.

Android TV/Google TV is a really crappy OS for smart TVs, made much worse by the Google policy of not supporting large format touchscreen, or any kind of external drive, save flash disks (and they'll probably ban those too, soon enough).

You need a mouse to use some apps on a smart TV or an Android Stick like Roku

Mouse? Mouse?!? What year is this?

They want to force you to buy a tablet or smartphone to get the touchscreen. You'll need to buy a new one every couple of years, of course.

When it comes to hi-fi, smartphones can only get you so far because they're always too small, unless you connect them to something else via Bluetooth. Even then the battery life is an issue. The phone will overheat, and Bluetooth limits your sound quality. There's no Hi Def.  Sony just pumped out a hand held Hi Def device, I believe. That tells you something.

Google doesn't want the high end market, I guess, but I bet Sony, Samsung and infinite number of Japanese and Korean companies could make money out of restarting the mass consumer hi fi market with PC formats, if they just rework whatever licensing issues they have with media conglomerates.

#4

Tactile / Re: Victorian Boombox Mark IV

Last post by SeVeNeVeS - September 05, 2024, 12:29:49 PM

Amazing stuff, far too technical and beyond the likes of me, I can wire a plug 

Looking great me old mate!

#5

Aural-Ocular / Re: Steampunk Clock Toilets (a...

Last post by SeVeNeVeS - September 05, 2024, 10:01:52 AM

Far too nice to "dirty" at least you could tell how regular you are 

#6

Aural-Ocular / Steampunk Clock Toilets (ai ge...

Last post by Augos - September 05, 2024, 05:41:06 AM

#7

Aural-Ocular / Re: Fish-Shaped Steampunk Subm...

Last post by Augos - September 05, 2024, 04:37:04 AM

I quite like those. Please do share more.

Thanks, will do!

#8

Aural-Ocular / Re: Fish-Shaped Steampunk Subm...

Last post by Augos - September 05, 2024, 04:34:54 AM

Love it!

AI, photoshop or another graphic medium?

Thanks   Ai (aitubo)

#9

Aural-Ocular / Re: Fish-Shaped Steampunk Subm...

Last post by von Corax - September 04, 2024, 06:40:32 PM

I quite like those. Please do share more.

#10

Off Topic / Re: GAAAAAHHHHHH Mk.VI: The Re...

Last post by rovingjack - September 04, 2024, 08:55:08 AM

with background in stonemasonry... iron pyrite or fool's gold...

Any suggestions?

well it's kinda crunchy in that way that ceramic magnets are, no ductility really, and it tends to form crystal clusters. The crystals were used in Marcasite jewellery, especially popular in Victorian times. the broken ends have dull grey color and a lot of rubbing or tumbling will produce a blackish pyrite dust. like most fine powders this could be blown through a strong flame to make a spectacular puff of flame. and when burnt smells of burnt matches (the gas it makes is technically toxic but you'd have to burn a lot of it to make somebody sick).
by some minor chemistry you can very easily turn it into inks, wood stain, and textile dye/mordants. Most of this chemistry was known before 500ce.
ferrus sulfate, made from pyrite, if I remember correctly can be used to color certain stone and cements a yellow color. which might be where a mason learned a bit about it to begin with.
an alchemist could use it to make sulfuric acid which has a billion and one uses and is one of the cornerstones of chemistry.