Tabla de contenidos para No 94 January-February 2021 en The Shed

For many years, I felt the end of the year and the beginning of the next really was something to truly celebrate. Let’s get rid of this boring old year we have now and get a new one going; next year will be so much better than this one was the belief. Of course, the feeling that the grass is always greener was the misconception of youth. The fact was that when you got to the end of the first week in January, you suddenly realised that nothing had miraculously altered in the slightest. We all have good and bad years but now that I have a lot of years on my score sheet, I’ve learned that time is not only precious but generally nothing much changes overnight — unless…

Gilbert wasn’t completely surprised at the recent loss of the live cattle export ship Gulf Livestock 1 in Typhoon Maysak off the coast of Japan with the loss of almost all of the ship’s company, including New Zealand and Australian crew members and all of the 6000 dairy cows. He says that some combinations of ship and weather are very dangerous. The dredges he has mainly worked on aren’t designed for, and don’t often make, long ocean passages. When they do, they wait for a forecast of an extended period of mild weather. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. One time he was second engineer on a cutter dredge that was caught in a severe storm in the Indian Ocean. When the bad weather hit, the plan was to attempt…

If wheels are more of your thing than wings, then 2021 is the year to go to Wanaka over Easter. Allan Dippie, local tractor and Caterpillar collector, historic touring car racer, and now Wheels at Wanaka managing director, has claimed the alternate spot, in between the biennial Warbirds over Wanaka event, to host Wheels at Wanaka. The first massively successful wheeled machinery event was held in 2019 and it’s likely that the event currently being planned for Easter 2021 will be even bigger. It was conceived to mark the 60th anniversary of the West Otago Vintage Club but really took off when Upper Clutha contractors Kevin Capel, Robert Duncan, and Allan got involved. As the organisers understand it, the event’s formula is unique. It was partly driven by Central Otago’s…

Edge-lit acrylic signs have been around for years. These days, most consist of a base containing the light source with a slot in the top. The bottom edge of the etched or engraved acrylic is inserted into the slot. Light then travels through the acrylic and refracts when it encounters the etched or engraved areas. This type of sign is most effective when placed against a dark background or in a darkened room. Imagine if all the external edges were lit and the acrylic was permanently mounted against a black background. RGB LED strips are readily available and can be purchased with controllers that vary the colour, brightness, and cross-fade effects. With the LED strip around the entire circumference of the acrylic and against a black painted background, the display is…

In a previous article in The Shed — September/October 2019, Issue 86 — I described the basic clavichord design and the historic construction of this one. (photo 1) It was limited at the time of the construction by ‘learning as you go’ — there was no Internet, and getting within a metre of old clavichords was forbidden! The chief disadvantage had been trying to adapt keys from an old piano “which would make a good start”. It didn’t. It made much more work and complication, rather than saving it. The end result was quite good musically but, rather than spend much effort making a case for it, I thought it would be more worthwhile to put all I had learned to good use, so I gave the clavichord to my…

Have you ever tried a beer and thought, How can I make this? Or maybe you had a favourite brew in past years that you can no longer buy. Could you reproduce or clone this brew today? To clone your favourite beer, or make something similar or even better, is the dream of many brewers. Sometimes we can find a recipe that someone else has created, but if you need to create your own recipe or if you want to check someone else’s then there are some easy little tricks to help you. Online recipes A simple search on Google might locate you a recipe. If you type in the name of the commercial beer you want to make and add the word ‘clone’ or ‘recipe’ after the name you…

A tool which keeps its sharpness — its edge — is much preferred by the sheddie to a tool which quickly becomes dull. The characteristic of tools which keep their edge is hardness. For more than 3000 years the material usually used in much of the world for cutting tools, such as knives, chisels, saws, taps, files, and so on, has been steel — iron with a pinch of carbon — but not just because it is hard. Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin, which preceded steel as the common metal for toolmaking and weapons, is nearly as hard as steel but is also far more expensive and heavier. It is theorised that the Bronze Age in prehistory came to an end not because of the superior hardness of…

THE ROAM Looking for an e-bike that’s equally at home around town and on the trails, without breaking the bank on features you don’t really need? The Roam is your bike. Proven on trails like the Pureora Timber Trail and Alps to Ocean, yet often seen at neighbourhood cafes. THE TOWN’N TRAIL Equally at home on both paved surfaces and offroad trails. The Town’nTrail e-bike has punctureresistant tyres, a thumb throttle that delivers full power whenever you need it without pedaling, and a sprung memory-foam saddle that’s kind on your bum. SUBSCRIBE TO ONE YEAR $69 SAVE $20 TWO YEARS $129 SAVE $50 The winner of a handmade kitchen knife by master knifemaker, Brent Sandow from The Shed Issue 92, is Andrew Jackson of Whangamata. DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE FROM $29…

In the previous issue, we had a familiarization tour of the metalworking lathe. We identified the main elements, considered what to look for when buying a lathe, and looked at safety aspects. In this issue, the second in this series, we look closely at turning and facing, the two core uses of a lathe, and speeds and feeds. Turning and facing Turning refers to the process of producing a round surface and, by feeding the tool along the bed of the lathe — parallel to the axis of the spindle — a cylindrical object. Facing refers to the process of producing a flat surface by feeding the tool at right angles to the spindle axis. It is used to make a flat true end to a cylindrical object or a…

As stated in the first article of this series, all the projects I present should be easy to make and easy to implement in a generic home setting with as few modifications as possible. Therefore, this is also what we will try to do with this issue’s project: a digital peephole. I have already published an article in The Shed Issue No. 81, showing the basis of how to build a magic mirror. A magic mirror is essentially a half-reflective mirror with a black sheet on the back and a rectangular square showing a display, also with a black background. That project is also included in the new Best of The Shed 2, in shops now or very soon. Now it is time to recall the project for a useful…

Gilbert Bailey was sent to China for the commissioning and sea trials of Timaru’s new diesel-powered tug, the 24m Hinewai. While talking about fossil-fuelled vessels, he points out that Ports of Auckland has ordered the world’s first battery-powered tug and that the Port of Antwerp is getting a ‘hydro tug’. The Belgian vessel will have a diesel-type internal-combustion engine that runs on a mixture of hydrogen gas and liquid diesel. Gilbert explains that the hydrogen gas is mixed with the air the engine takes in. The gas mixture heats up on the engine’s compression stroke and, just before the top of the piston’s travel, a very small amount of diesel is injected into the cylinder. The diesel burns in the hot, compressed gases and initiates the burning of the hydrogen,…

SPLIT DECISIONS Great article on building a log splitter in your July/August 2020 mag [Issue No. 91]. I’ve spent many an hour on a similar splitter with few problems. From my experience there won’t be any temperature problems with the oil. Strange things can happen with splitters, and on my splitter the hoses and operating handle were a bit too close to the action. I’d suggest that anybody building one should keep these well clear of where the wood might go. As well, I think it is important to have a safety interlock valve to ensure the operator’s left hand is clear when the ram is operating. Regards, Bob McLellan Letter of the MONTH LETTER OF THE MONTH PRIZE Every issue, our Letter of the Month winner will receive a copy…

It was a sparkling day in the Wharepapa countryside, with views for miles around the hilltop site of the Kowhai Forge. The Kowhai Forge is a blacksmithing school located in the tumultuous landscape between Kihikihi and Arapuni in south Waikato, where the ancient art of Vulcan himself can be seen on every side. The school is run by Arja and Rob Pinkney and provides tuition in the old, and disappearing, skills of the traditional blacksmith. Originally from the Hokianga, Rob was apprenticed as a farrier and general smith under master tutor Malcolm Telfar and started work in the equine industry around Matamata. He was then invited to Japan, also to work in the horse industry, and spent 14 years smithing on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido where, despite Japan’s…

It would appear that electric winches and four-wheel drives are fated to be together. Serious enthusiasts of the off-road lifestyle are likely to make a winch their very next purchase after the obligatory bull bar. Even the ‘Toorak tractors’, Australia’s colloquialism for those four-wheel drives that seldom venture outside the affluent suburbs of our fair cities, are fitted with them to give them that ‘macho look’. Pros and cons of an electric winch There are several shortcomings with fitting an electric winch permanently to your vehicle. One is that almost every four-wheel drive spends a large proportion of its life without doing anything that calls for a winch, hence its owner is spending extra money unnecessarily lugging around a heavy device — not to mention the extra wear and tear…

Increasingly, as time has gone on, I’ve tried to demonstrate that a satisfying lifestyle can be had without jeopardising our grandchildren’s options. It has meant going off-grid philosophically as well as electrically. I’ve come to see money as a bet that there will be something to buy in the future and I see too many such bets being laid. The antidote is easy: buy what you think you will need in the future, now. I value blades and bits, good tools, hose fittings, alkathene pipe, chain-bar oil, stocks of assorted bolts, and stacks of useful extrusions more than I do the digits in our bank’s computer. Indeed, I call having that stuff ‘money in the bank’. Simple, maintainable, maintenance-free Our first approach hereabouts was to stay minimalist, on the basis…

Peter explains that getting the proportions right is the primary consideration in designing and making a dolls’ house. “It’s important to make the rooms large enough to offer a good view of the back wall and the space in front of it. If the room is too narrow it’s difficult to see to the back, let alone position the furniture and decorate. “When I’m making furniture for the three main houses, I use a 1/12 th scale, which is the same as Queen Mary’s Doll’s House. Detailed proportions are crucial for the furniture. Without the correct proportions and size, these pieces can appear very chunky: the thickness of a tabletop, the thickness of table and chair legs, the size of any wood inlays, the scale of any room ornaments, and…