New Mars Forums
You are not logged in.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Announcement
Pages: 1
#1 2024-12-29 08:11:49
- Calliban
- Member
- From: Northern England, UK
- Registered: 2019-08-18
- Posts: 3,845
Misc. Home Projects
I have been working on a few hobby projects over Christmas break. Below is a gardening knife I made for my father in law. Just needs a few finishing touches now. I am going to seal it with polyurethane laquer. The blade is 1084 plain carbon steel. I oil quenched it from ~900°C after heating in a wood burning stove. It was then tempered in an oven at 180°C for 3 hours. The blade is so hard that it was quite difficult to sharpen. But unlike previous attempts, it is not brittle. It is a difficult balance with plain carbon steel. I have had a number of failures in the past.
I have also been working on a wind powered, stone tumbling machine. I will post pictures of that when it is fully assembled.
Last edited by Calliban (2024-12-29 08:20:37)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
Offline
Like button can go here
#2 2024-12-29 18:04:16
- tahanson43206
- Moderator
- Registered: 2018-04-27
- Posts: 20,031
Re: Misc. Home Projects
This post is reserved for an index to posts that may be contributed by NewMars members over time.
For Calliban! Impressive opening scene for this new topic!
Post #1: Garden Knife made by Calliban from scratch
Post #2: Index
Post #3: Wind powered stone tumbling machine https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 37#p228937
(th)
Last edited by tahanson43206 (2025-01-07 07:40:45)
Offline
Like button can go here
#3 2025-01-06 23:43:57
- Calliban
- Member
- From: Northern England, UK
- Registered: 2019-08-18
- Posts: 3,845
Re: Misc. Home Projects
The wind powered tumbling machine is almost finished!
The blades are made from a mixture of pine, thin plywood and 0.8mm aluminium sheeting. I used panel pins and epoxy resin to assemble the blades. The nacelle was made from hardwood strips and thin plywood and is glued together with epoxy. The blades are attached to the nacelle using mild steel L-brackets and stainless steel bolts. The blades have a fixed 30° pitch. The nacelle contains a compartment with a bolted lid, which contains the stone tumbling capsule. The nacelle is carried by steel shafts at either end, which are glued into sealed roller bearings. These in turn, are mounted in cradles within the frame.
Since this photograph was taken yesterday morning, I have adjusted the support frame slightly to increase clearance between the frame and blades. Over the next week, I will add cross-bracing to the support frame and paint the whole machine to weatherproof it. I considered adding features that would allow the machine to track the wind. However, the yard I intend to keep it in is very effective at funnelling the wind. So wind tracking is probably not necessary for the intended use.
My initial observations are that the machine is quite heavy. Strong wind is needed to turn it and it won't work in a light breeze. That won't be a problem where I live in the north of England. But in less windy locations a different solution may be needed.
Stone polishing is an application that is well suited to wind energy. The intermittent nature of the wind doesn't matter too much. From a business perspective, I need to polish a certain number of stones per year and can store the rough and finished stones for as long as needed. So energy storage is not necessary. The machine is very simple. It uses direct mechanical power with very few moving parts. No gearing or power transmission is needed, as the tumbling pot is contained within the nacelle. This made it quite easy to build.
My next wind powered project will probably be a wind driven bandsaw. I use a bandsaw to cut the wood for my fire. Using wind power for this application is less convenient. It means that I need to time my sawing for when the wind is strong. But this is the reality of using renewable energy. Energy storage is not practical on a large scale in real life. One must carry out energy consuming activities when nature provides the energy. And work rate is directly proportional to the wind power available at any specific time. Living on renewables therefore means living by the weather. When nature provides the power, you work. When power levels drop, you take time off. Or you complete other tasks that are labour intensive or you maintain equipment. If we could adjust our way of life to the intermittent nature of renewables, then transitioning to renewable energy is realistic.
Last edited by Calliban (2025-01-07 00:40:50)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
Offline
Like button can go here
#4 2025-01-16 09:39:52
- Calliban
- Member
- From: Northern England, UK
- Registered: 2019-08-18
- Posts: 3,845
Re: Misc. Home Projects
I finished a second knife last weekend. This one is for my son. One of his hobbies is gardening. The knife is shaped for use as a pruning tool.
Last edited by Calliban (2025-01-16 09:46:26)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
Offline
Like button can go here
Pages: 1