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April
2005
President’s Message
Greetings, club members. Spring might make it soon. As much as I like
being in the shop, I need to get out into the sunlight. And yet, if I
don't spend more time in the shop, I won't have anything to show at NAMES,
which will soon be upon us. This year, the goal is a fully automatic CNC
punch. I just used a product I like called "Precision Brand Tool
Black". It gives a black oxide-like finish that is a very competent
and easy to
apply. Just soak or brush on the degreaser for 15 minutes, rinse, then
dip or brush on the blackener. It’s a blue liquid, but as soon at it
hits a ferrous metal, the metal turns black. Rinse and dry and you have a
very professional looking finish. You can even touch up scratches and
scrapes on things that originally had a real oxide treatment.
All for now. Think Spring, think NAMES!!!
Sincerely, John C. Osborne.
Minutes
from Meeting
March
9, 2005
-Meeting opened at
7:35pm
with Vice President Emil O’Cafarelli presiding and with
18.5 Members and 2 Guests present.
To give authority to the Chair for this March meeting, St. Patty,
Emil’s adopted birthright , legitimacy, occupation, and Party standing
were quickly acknowledged and dispensed with.
He was so happy about all that, he asked the other new leprechauns
to introduce themselves.
-Mark Nowakowski joined us about 3 months ago but this was his
first meeting, so tonight he was treated as a new Member.
Mark is retired from the State of
Michigan
,
and lives in Huntington Woods. He
has a lathe, mill, and drill press, and his interest is in HO model
railroading. Welcome to the
MDMC and the meetings Mark.
-James (Jim) Howard as a first time visitor, is a retired
Chrysler engineer, and his present main interests are wood-working and
blacksmithing, but he is interested in a variety of mechanical things too.
Hope to see Jim out again.
-Motion to Accept Minutes as Published. Carried
-Happy Birthday to John O’s Lovely Lady as he calls her.
The cake was just great!!
-At someone’s request, Herb Cook led a short discourse about
the North American Model Engineering Show (NAMES) and in
particular the Metropolitan Detroit Metalworking Club’s (MDMC’s)
involvement, or lack there-of, in NAMES 2005.
=NAMES will not be issuing NAMES Memberships any longer, as it was
deemed to be too much hassle for them. (Editors Note:
NAMES is not an open membership “club” like MDMC, but rather a
group of select persons only as Directors having a voice and vote,
although some of the NAMES Directors are Members of MDMC also. The general
membership in NAMES that is being phased out is more of an
associate membership, entitling those members admission to the annual show
and a quarterly newsletter.)
=As noted previously, NAMES 2005 will be held at the
Southgate
Civic
Center
(east side of Dix-Toledo just north of
Eureka
Rd.
) on
Saturday and Sunday April 23 & 24.
=There
will be no Machining Demonstration Area for 2005, as the NAMES Directors
feel that in 2004 it was not properly staffed by MDMC, it is valuable
floor space, and NAMES spent a lot of time setting up the booth.
(Editors Note: this subject appears to be a “done
and/or dead deal” as of now, but I personally
know from having been very involved since it’s inception, that the
booth set-up, not the initial material and construction, but the
set-up itself, has been done exclusively by the MDMC Members or the
“dual members” who were already assisting at NAMES, after the rest of
the NAMES show was essentially set up and/or completed.
It never took any time or labor away from any other unfulfilled
need of the NAMES show. Saleable
floor space for sure, but not a labor loss to NAMES.
The materials and time involved in creating the “booth” is now
water under the bridge, and while they looked great and were appreciated,
their existence was not requested by MDMC.
Other than the floor space, I see no reason for NAMES to believe
that the Area is or was a detriment. No
more so than the open or vacant space in the cold “second hall” of the
arena. NAMES could have
decided to place the Machining Demonstration Area on the cold sheet, or
maybe better in the “penalty boxes” of the second arena instead, if
they need the “prime” space for another purpose.)
=Herb
indicated that our MDMC President has said recently that MDMC should not
participate as a Club “this year”, due to the fairly recent
re-organization of MDMC and the short lead-time, and lack of a project.
Maybe again sometime in the future, if the Education Day returns,
(of which MDMC and the Machining Demonstration Area are an essential
part), NAMES will ask us to participate once again.
Maybe MDMC should have been working on castings from show
suppliers?!?
=MDMC is welcome to have an exhibitors table, on a
first-come-first-served basis, as with any other Exhibitor.
No “sales” may be made from the table, but MDMC may converse
and hand out flyers to solicit and accept new Members.
=MDMC Members are still asked, and very welcome, to assist NAMES in
their set-up, and most simple “many hands make light work” help
requirements start at
9AM
Wednesday, April 20
. If you’re a bear for
punishment, then even sooner if you wish, as there will be NAMES members
on-site from Monday on through the tear-down on Sunday evening.
=The paid attendance reported at NAMES 2004 was well below the generally
held belief of that number. As
it wasn’t a “fact” we won’t record it here, but many expressed
surprise.
=Although the NAMES operation
is none of our business, a discussion of the pros and cons of the expected
“move” of NAMES to
Bowling Green
,
Ohio
, for the 2006 show was elicited.
-Business portion of the meeting was short, ends at
7:50pm
.
Somebody was asking about
standard division plates. This
is an excerpt from a newsgroup I follow:
“By the way, John
Stevenson in the
UK
has been offering division plates with the standard
B&S divisions plus 25, 63, and 127. For myself, for a 40:1 reduction
I'd like the standard B&S numbers minus 21, plus 25, 63, 71, 113, and
127. Obviously the 63 can substitute for the 21. And FYI, 71/113 = pi/5 to
a *high* degree of precision!”
Page 2
Custom made HO Loco, quite LARGE
HO guys makes speeding bullet trains…whoops!!! Nope!
Just speedy bullets!!
Page 3
REAL scary looking, but it
isn’t Freddy Krugers! It’s
just a neat log-splitter, made from an old car spring.
And this is the other
wood-burners best friend. A
drill-motor driven flail to knock creosote out of the chimney.
The end links of the chain pieces are very sharp.
And from last month, more of the
rifle sights. Tricky work,
especially work-holding methods.
Nice clay bust.
We have multi-talented
Members.
Geez, I thought I had found
an
old picture of myself!!
Photos can’t do justice to
this super-duper tool-post ID and OD grinder.
All aluminum and surplus parts.
Another of those “why didn’t
I think of that!” gadgets. A
¾” plywood disk about same size as the band-saw wheel(s).
The newly butt welded blade is clamped to it for fileing/grinding.
Small bracket is the thickness guide.
Tap and die stock handles.
Well made.
Mad scientist???… or future
metalworker??
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