Indholdsfortegnelse for September-October 2018 i The Shed

What’s happening online at theshedmag.co.nz? Each week we upload new content on The Shed website joining the hundreds of articles and videos already on the site for readers to discover and enjoy. The past two month’s new uploads include: • tackling stainless: a guide to welding stainless steel • a video of master birdhouse builder Steven Price from Issue No. 79 • making a leather knife sheath • a video of Whanganui glass artist, Carmen Simmonds from Issue No. 79. These are just some of the new uploads to our website these past two months. Visit theshedmag.co.nz to enjoy even more. The Shed is now on Instagram Search theshedmag…

Max uses macrocarpa a lot in his building work — it’s a wood that he’s very familiar with. For the bus, macrocarpa timber was used for the framing, sides, and roof. The mac bearers on the bus are shaped to be the same as the original and the frame was bolted and screwed together. The woodwork was then sealed and painted black in keeping with the original buses. “Mac is an easy wood to work with,” he says. “We use it a lot making furniture and boats. Oiled properly, it’s very underrated for handling the weather. It stands the sun and rain OK and doesn’t need treating. “The more I use it, the more I like it, and it’s very easy on tools.” Max seals the versatile mac timber with…

You can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of Kiwi women who have become blacksmiths in their 60s. Judy Waterston of Livingstone, inland North Otago, is one of them. As a child Judy spent hours in her engineer-father’s workshop sorting nuts and bolts, tidying away his tools, sweeping up, and watching him make things. She says her love of tools and machinery came from her dad. The blacksmithing seed was sown in 1972 when Judy first saw Nicol’s Blacksmith Shop in Duntroon, some 40km from Oamaru up State Highway 83. The building was being devoured by periwinkle planted 100 years before to act as a fire retardant. Most of the windows were smashed and it was draped in cobwebs. It took her 20 years to escape…

Win’s award-winning Burrell Special Scenic showman’s road locomotive has featured in Australian and English model-engineering magazines and been compared to the 1921 Lord Lascelles, regarded as one of finest on the UK rally circuit. The four-inch (103mm) model of the early 20th-century English traction engine is about eight feet long, or one-third fullsize, and took Win around 5000 hours over six years to build. “I got a set of drawings out from the UK but there were quite a few mistakes in them which was frustrating,” he says. He also realized that it was going to be a mammoth task involving making 86 wooden patterns before construction even began. He started off with the wheels, fitting spokes to the centre castings before attaching rolled rims to the strakes and sending…

I purchased a more powerful electric soldering iron and subsequently also had to invest in a gas-powered one to be able to solder the heavy lugs on to the high-voltage cables. This drove the overall cost of making the burner higher. However, both will undoubtedly be used in other projects as well, so it is inappropriate to add the cost of these items to this particular project alone. The most expensive parts I had to buy were the double-pole double-throw switch and the pilot light, which together set me back around A$50. The 2m of high-voltage cable cost around A$10 and the microwave cost A$8 from my local tip shop. The two jumper-lead alligator clips added another A$25 to the total cost and the bell-press switches A$40. The box and…

Most productivity methods give you tools to tackle specific tasks or projects in an organized way. ‘Kaizen’, which roughly translates to ‘good change’, is a Japanese productivity philosophy that helps you organize everything you do. It is a way of thinking and organizing everything — from the way you work to the way your team works together. In productivity circles, the term is used to mean ‘constant, continuous improvement’, and it’s a mindset you can apply anywhere, to any task or job. Put simply, every aspect of an organization should, at all times, strive to do what it does better. The philosophy first appeared shortly after World War II, when several Japanese businesses embraced the idea that doing things the way they have always been done is a bad idea,…

The park’s 1845 Bach steam engine is believed to be the oldest surviving steam portable of its type in the world. Pre-dating traction engines, it came from Birmingham, England to Hokitika, where it was used for processing coffee beans. The boiler is butt-joined and fixed with pixie-head pointed rivets. As there are no injectors, the connecting rod is split in half so that the feed-water pump can be concentric with the main cylinder pump, running off an extension of the piston rod. Mort wants to build a replica of the engine and roasting mill using original drawings sourced from the internet.…

Visit www.menzshed.nz or email: secretary@menzshed.nz MENZSHED KAITAIA INC John Richardson 09 408 0042 cadfael@xtra.co.nz KERIKERI MEN’S SHED Wade Rowsell 09 407 8263 kkmensshed@outlook.co.nz WHANGAREI COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED Jeff Griggs 09 435 1759 chairman@mensshed.co.nz DARGAVILLE MENZ SHED Paul Witten 09 974 7685 or 0274 593098 pdub351@gmail.com MENZSHED WAIPU INC Kit Singleton 09 432 0436 kitsingleton5@gmail.com HIBISCUS MENS SHED TRUST Stuart Johnston 09 424 7854 or 027 4923357 hibiscusshed@outlook.com MEN’S SHED NORTH SHORE Larry Klassen 09 442 2145 or 021 311036 admin@mensshednorthshore.org.nz DEVONPORT CLAY STORE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP Tom Murray 09 445 8786 tomandlily@xtra.co.nz MASSEY COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED Andrew Wilson 027 516 6415 masseyshednz@gmail.com MENS SHED AUCKLAND EAST Pete Montgomery 027 496 6901 mensshedaucklandeast@gmail.com AUCKLAND CENTRAL COMMUNITY SHED Ken Buckley 027 3036 636 aucklandcentralshed@gmail.com HOWICK COMMUNITY MENZSHED INC Andrew Harvey 021 808 815…

In any workshop, dust is a health hazard and an annoyance, but when your workshop has direct access to the house it also becomes a matrimonial issue. My workshop takes up two bays of a three-bay attached garage so it is very important to keep everything clean so workshop debris does not end up being carried inside. To keep dust under control I have fitted each of my woodworking machines with its own mini cyclone and vacuum system (Image 1). This means that when I need to move machines about to create work space the dust collection continues to work. Cyclones are very effective at removing large and small particles of dust. The cyclones that I have made easily collect sawdust from the saws as well as fine dust from…

Letter of the MONTH Drill sharpening I was most interested in Andy Wilson’s request for information about drill sharpening (The Shed Issue No. 74). Pictured is the drill-sharpening jig [that] I use. It is the Eclipse 39, a Britishmade device whose inventor won the Invention of the Year competition for it in 1970. I have seen it described as “the best-value bit of kit ever”. The abrasive material is sandpaper glued to a flat surface. I use the plate-glass top from a damaged set of bathroom scales and sprayon adhesive. The drill bit is accurately positioned in the jig and pushed over the sheet of abrasive. After a few passages across the surface the drill bit is repositioned and the other facet of the cutting surface is sharpened. The process…

A pair of original Model T kerosene lamps were found and fitted, and the bus still has the original 6V electrical system it came with. New canvas sides were made up. Mark is a sailor and he obtained a roll of canvas and had the know-how to sew them up. Max is a marine surveyor and boat builder. He and his wife Rachael run Laver Marine Ltd, based on the main street of Piopio. The company makes small, high-quality boats to order, and furniture. One may well ask what a boatbuilding business is doing in a small landlocked town a long way from the sea. That question was answered in the last issue of The Shed, No. 79, when we featured Laver Marine’s specialty boat building and its unique range…

Nicol’s Blacksmith Shop is the only easily accessible and authentic village blacksmith in New Zealand. It is located in the middle of Duntroon township on State Highway 83, some 40km north-west of Oamaru. The building was facing demolition until four local farmers — John Hore, Burns Pollock, Bill Simpson, and Jim Harvey — bought it in 1975. As children these four men had spent many after-school hours with Nicol Muirden at the smithy and pumped the bellows for him. They wanted to preserve the history of the village. Ownership of the building was transferred to Nicol’s Blacksmith Historic Trust in 2006. New Zealand Historic Places Trust’s 2009 classification of the building as Category 1 recognizes that it is as a place of national significance, emphasizing its authenticity and importance in…

Win’s workshop shelves are packed with wooden patterns, from the tiniest fittings to the huge base for his Pennsylvania A5S tender. Pattern making is the starting point for building metal models and the success of the finished engine depends on its accuracy. Customwood is used in preference to wood as it is more stable. “You can get sets of castings sent out from the UK but it’s a horrendous price,” says Win, who instead gets hold of the drawings and works it out from there. “It’s like making a huge 3D jigsaw,” he says. It’s not a simple matter of replicating the final form, as both shrinkage and the negative spaces have to be taken into account. “The metal shrinks when it solidifies so the casting ends up a bit…

SUPER TOUGH SMARTPHONE The Cat S41 Smartphone, an Android 32GB 4G LTE, is military rated to MIL-STD-810G standards, making it extremely reliable in dust, humidity, salt, solar radiation, and thermal shock. The handset has been drop tested on concrete up to 1.8m and the IP68-certified construction makes it waterproof to an amazing depth of two metres and can be submerged for up to 60 minutes. The mid-sized five-inch IPS touchscreen features full HD 1080p resolution with 441ppi pixel density. The phones are in stock now — priced at $800. Visit catshop.co.nz and search ‘Cat S41 Smartphone’ for more info. FOR WORK AND PLAY Stay warm on the job or wherever you are, and wear the Cat logo with pride with the Cat hooded sweatshirt. The comfortable 80 per cent cotton…

When submitting this article on the Lichtenberg wood burner to The Shed, the editor kindly pointed out that incorporating a fail-safe cut-out switch would be a good idea given the high voltages involved. As you can see, I have installed one of these for this burner but then it set me thinking — why not make a stand-alone dead man’s switch? Such a device could be used in conjunction with a variety of workshop tools, making their operation safer and more user-friendly. After all, routers, power, and cut-off saws, as well as angle grinders, can all inflict very nasty injuries in a fraction of a second. I can still remember nearly breaking my wrist many years ago when a heavy electric hand drill, fitted with a one-inch drill bit, decided…

Which will it be: a bit of Pete and Dud or an encore from the Forces’ Sweetheart, now 101? Alternatively, we could combine both and bring you a hits of the wits and hits of the Blitz medley. Yes! Let’s do that. All together now, 1, 2, 3 … Now is the time to say goodbye Now is the time to yield a sigh (yield it, yield it) Now is the time to wend our waaaayeeeeee … [Your turn, Vera] … But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day. Indeed we will. As we should. It just won’t be here, that’s all. It’s time for other people to use Back o’ The Shed for other purposes. This dash is done. Except it wasn’t a dash. More a marathon, if…

Brian Tegg said that while the replica bus is now completed as a result of generous local funding, the Piopio College Trust is about to embark on the final stage of the project. “This is the building of a display garage in the main street of Piopio to house the bus and outline — in pictures, print, and video commentary — its historical significance and reconstruction history. “The discounted support of Totalspan, provider of over 400 rural bus shelters for students throughout New Zealand, in conjunction with Allied Concrete and New Zealand Steel, has brought this project almost to a close. “An extra $3K will enable a higher quality of presentation. Donations to the trust’s account (03 0449 0107019 01) would be much appreciated,” he said.…

Farm life, even on a pocket-handkerchief farm like mine, means that you will need to move stock from time to time. I run a few cattle beasts and a few goats. I plan to get a few sheep soon, too. The issue with stock is moving them. Moving the cattle is a different story but for the smaller stock I could carry them either on the tray of my ute or my trailer if either had a stock cage. I decided that building a cage could be an easily achievable project and so it has proved. It has value even if you don’t have stock — it certainly increases the options for your trailer. It is a lot easier collecting firewood with a cage, even transporting rubbish or green waste.…

One problem with working alone in the shed and having a liking for large pieces of Victorian cast iron is the difficulty of safely moving or lifting them. They can be moved with load skates and pipes as rollers, but how do you lift the weight onto the rollers? Trying to push down on a crowbar while arranging pipe rollers under a machine is inviting trouble. A toe jack allows you to lift and hold the weight in the air as you arrange the rollers and put in safety blocks. It is not intended for great weights or high lifts due to stability, but it allows you to lift the weight. Scoping the project This toe jack was made out of leftovers in the shed and used the basic principle…

I recently became intrigued by Lichtenberg wood burners and their ability to make intricate burn patterns in wood — reminiscent of fine Chinese/Japanese paintings of trees, as well as fractal-like images. Turning to Google as the fount of all modern knowledge I quickly discovered that it is relatively straightforward to build a Lichtenberg burner, if not exactly a safe thing to do, unless you are very careful about how you build it. You need to make sure to incorporate the sort of safety features I will detail in this article. The heart of the machine is a transformer liberated from an old microwave oven. It can generate the necessary 2000–3000V required to start the burning process. The secret, of course, when playing with electricity lies in being ultra cautious Sourcing…

Westland High School can’t provide practical experience in engineering as it no longer has a metalwork teacher, so the students come to the park to get their NCEA credits. “It’s a bit like a pre-apprenticeship. They get to use our machines and learn a bit of geometry and trigonometry along the way,” says Mort, who has done a lot of apprentice training as well as being involved with the Boys’ Brigade for more than 30 years. “They love it up here and often come up in free periods too.” Thirty students are coming to do a variety of activities over 13 weeks at the end of the year. As well as helping in the workshops, they will be involved with DOC’s wetland project. The park also runs courses for REAP…

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