Stay in your places! No-one leaves Madmodder until....

[andyf]

... the 16mm collet I got out of my collet rack two hours ago, knowing it would soon be needed, has been returned.  If I find it sitting on my headstock within the next half hour, no more will be said.

Apologies in advance if the culprit is the one-legged house guest whom I've never met, but seems to live in my house and helps himself to the occasional sock from my washing machine.

Andy

 

[Artie]

and do you know the worst bit? Its sitting right there in front of you.........

[lordedmond]

I am certain I know were it is


its in the last place you look for it 

[Brass_Machine]

Did you find it?? Who took it?

Eric

[John Stevenson]

Sorry.
I put it in the post tomorrow................................


John S.

[Lew_Merrick_PE]

Andy,

Back in the 70's I did a valve job on my aunt's car.  I was just torquing down the head when a (formally licensed) Master heavy-duty mechanic buddy stopped by.  We backed the beastie out of the garage and finished up connecting things.  Another buddy who was an NHRA track mechanic showed up as we were refilling the fluids.  My neighbor's 10 year old son wandered by to watch.

We were set to go and started cranking.  RRR, rrr, RRR, rrr, nothing.  "Oh, <bleep> I must have installed the cam 180° out!"  20 minutes of flashing wrenches to check that everything was good in that department.  RRR, rrr, RRR, nothing.  We tried this, we tried that, nothing.

My neighbor's kid picks up the rotor that was sitting in the wheel well cover and asks, "Doesn't this go somewhere?"

[Stilldrillin]

Andy.
There's a 16mm collet in my mill, at the moment....... Could that be it? 

Started using it this morning. Hope to re start, tomorrow morning. If it's all right with you?

Will send it home, after the job's done..... Ok? 

David D

[shipto]

The problem is these metal coloured tools are camo'd against the metal you put them on, they should colour them all pink

[andyf]

I still can't find the bloody thing.  It was only wanted to grip a 16mm diameter on something I didn't want to mark while working on the other end, and to save me the bother of truing it up in the 4-jaw.

I had to use the 4-jaw with a bit of aluminium food container for padding, in the expectation that the errant collet would show up as soon as it was no longer needed, but it's still hiding.

So, if those promised by John S and David are ER25's, I'll keep an eye out for them in the post 

Andy

Anywaystiing it

[Stilldrillin]

Andy.
So sorry your runaway is still playing games. 

But! On the bright side, you've saved me postage costs. 

The one I'm using is R8......... 



Hope the little tinker shows up, soon.

David D

[John Stevenson]

Sorry, mines ER11.

[PekkaNF]

Sorry, mines ER11.

And OD16mm.....sort of paradox collet - I see. Couple of times that would have been handy with taper turning when things gets a little tight.
Pekka

[andyf]

OK, the search parties can stand down, with my thanks for their assistance.

It was in the kitchen cupboard, next to the tea caddy. I must have made a cup while contemplating my next move, and set the collet down while moving the marmalade out of the way to get at the tea.

Next time the olive oil goes missing, I must remember to check over the workshop first, rather than the kitchen. Actually, that's not as silly as it might seem; I have once or twice used olive oil as a lubricant when tapping.

Andy

[lordedmond]

told you it would be in the last place you looked 


Stuart

[Stilldrillin]

Kitchen cupboard??   

Awww..... Andy! Why didn't you look in there, first? 

                                          

David D

[Kludge]

Next time the olive oil goes missing, I must remember to check over the workshop first, rather than the kitchen. Actually, that's not as silly as it might seem; I have once or twice used olive oil as a lubricant when tapping.

And watchmakers will tell you there's no better quench oil then olive oil.  It's also a decent lamp oil and has other wonderful qualities.  The ancients had it right about how useful it is.

[John Hill]

I spent a frustrating hour or so trying to get the newly balanced drive shaft fitted under a little roadster I had built. 

Finally I called the firm that had balanced the shaft and asked.."I know this is a maybe silly question but is there any chance this is not actually my drive shaft?"  There was a slight pause and he commented "I think I know where the missing spacer is for our balancing machine."

[AdeV]

OK, the search parties can stand down, with my thanks for their assistance.

It was in the kitchen cupboard, next to the tea caddy. I must have made a cup while contemplating my next move, and set the collet down while moving the marmalade out of the way to get at the tea.

Next time the olive oil goes missing, I must remember to check over the workshop first, rather than the kitchen. Actually, that's not as silly as it might seem; I have once or twice used olive oil as a lubricant when tapping.

IIRC, your shop is actually inside your house isn't it? Which would make it quite easy for things to end up in other rooms. For a collet to make its way from my workshop to the kitchen would involve a short car journey, several locked doors and a big gate....

On the other hand, stuff goes missing _within_ my workshop all the bloddy time... I keep buying allen keys and screwdrivers to replace the missing ones, blow me whenever I have a tidy up dozens of the damn things surface from all over the place. Doesn't take them long to vanish again mind.

[andyf]

The lathe is in a bedroom (never used as such for last 38 years), Ade, because the garage (ditto) was full of junk when it arrived. But the garage had been tidied up to some extent when the mill arrived, so I put it in there along with a bandsaw and other small machines. This gives me a bit of exercise trotting up and down the stairs to fetch things from one machine to the other.

As I write, the bench grinder is temporarily on the kitchen table for a little tool fettling, and the little Perris lathe is on a table in another bedroom, for want of anywhere else to put it. That too gravitates to the kitchen table on the rare occasions when I use it.

Even when my wife was alive, I could get away with this sort of thing; her father was a respected engineer , so she understood.

Andy

 

[jamoni]

I'm fairly sure it's right next to the bushing I set down in the middle of my workbench this afternoon. Which is to say, lost forever until you replace it at great expense, at which point you will step on it. Probably barefoot.

[awemawson]

The lathe is in a bedroom (never used as such for last 38 years), Ade, because the garage (ditto) was full of junk when it arrived. But the garage had been tidied up to some extent when the mill arrived, so I put it in there along with a bandsaw and other small machines. This gives me a bit of exercise trotting up and down the stairs to fetch things from one machine to the other.

As I write, the bench grinder is temporarily on the kitchen table for a little tool fettling, and the little Perris lathe is on a table in another bedroom, for want of anywhere else to put it. That too gravitates to the kitchen table on the rare occasions when I use it.

Even when my wife was alive, I could get away with this sort of thing; her father was a respected engineer , so she understood.

Andy

It's the swarf in the carpet that's the problem 

[BillTodd]

Will everyone check their cupboards for my 4" wire cutters, please.

Bill

[PekkaNF]

Found one with orange soft handles "Bacho" next to kitchen by baking oven, where I cooked chrismass diner and tried to temper some iron as well. Could it be? After all some modern tools travel more than I do.

Pekka

[Jo]

It's the swarf in the carpet that's the problem

Sorry I don't agree, it is that friendly swarf that thinks that it is allowed to join you in bed that is the real problem 

Jo

[BillTodd]

OK confess...

which one of you put them on the shelf above the bench ?

[terrywerm]

You know, I'm feeling so much better now.  I typically misplace an item and go nuts trying to find it, but it is nice to know that it happens to others too, not just me. One of my most famous such episodes dealt with a 13mm wrench that went missing while I was working on my wife's car. I hunted high and low for it. I cussed and swore. I ranted and raved. I generally made an ass of myself. Then my teenage son says "Dad, what is that in your back pocket?"

 

The world stopped turning....  seriously!!!   Well, it felt like it anyway.   Talk about a humbling experience!