Day Trippin'

Went on a couple day trips a while back and thought I'd share some pictures.

Vallorbe, Switzerland

Vallorbe, Switzerland

Vallorbe, Switzerland

Vallorbe, Switzerland

Bex, Switzerland

Bex, Switzerland

Bex, Switzerland

Bex, Switzerland

Montreux, Switzerland

Finished projects

Here are some pictures of the projects I finished last week. The first is the polishing tool I mentioned before and the second is a couple staking blocks. Thanks Rob for mentioning about the plastic one in that forum. I whipped that one up in a couple hours. Just to let you guys know, these tools are not cheap to buy from tool making companies. The plastic staking block I made is bigger than the one you can buy from Bergeon and that one is $60. So I'm glad we are able to make some of these tools rather than buying them.

I have also started a somewhat new section in the course. It is still turning but now it is turning between centers. The reason for this is to create a lot more accuracy in small and important work like balance staffs and pivot gauges. It also makes it so you can remove the piece you are working on to measure and still be able to trust the centering after. This method seemed quite intimidating at first since you have to turn the piece by hand and use the graver with the other. It requires a lot of coordination but it isn't as bad as I thought. Here is a video of what I'm talking about:

I says pardon??

Some great comments made in the sports world:

Basketball:

- "He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn't like it. In fact you can see it all over their faces."

- "Any time Detroit scores more than 100 points and holds the other team below 100 points, they almost always win."

Soccer:

- "Julian Dicks is everywhere. It's like they've got eleven Dicks on the field."

- "He had an eternity to play that ball... but he took too long over it."

Tennis:

- "These ball boys are marvelous. You don't even notice them. There's a left handed one over there. I noticed him earlier."

Weightlifting:

- "This is Gregoriava from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning during her warm-up and it was amazing."

Boxing:

- "Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them serious."

- "He's a guy that gets up at 6 o'clock in the morning regardless of what time it is."

Softball:

- "If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again."

Game, set, match

Most of you who know me well (hell even if you don't know me that well) know that I have grown a serious love for the sport of tennis. Well this love has increased even more. I got to attend an ATP tennis tournament last weekend in Basel. It's only a 500 level tournament so it didn't have all of the top players but it did however have the number 1, Mr. Roger Federer.

I had bought a ticket for the final back in April so it was a long wait. I took the train to Basel on Saturday and decided to go and check out the stadium. As far as I knew the tickets were sold out, but after checking things out for a bit, I realized they still had some tickets. Of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Federer play twice in one weekend and got a ticket. Before I went in I was walking around by the players entrance and who pulls up and gets out of the car.... Mirka Federer! I thought it was pretty cool anyways.

The semi-finals was Federer vs. Chiudinelli. Chiudinelli is also from Switzerland so it was a good match to watch. Here are some pics:

Federer ended up winning 7-6(7), 6-3. Novak Djokovich won the other semi-final (he's ranked #3 in the world and the second seeded player in the tournament).

Here are some pictures from the final. Unfortunately Federer didn't win the final (he won the the last 3 years), but there was some great tennis played. One game lasted almost 25 minutes long!! (normally about 2-5 minutes). It was absolutely awesome to see live tennis. I will definately be getting tickets to the tournament next year and hopefully a couple other tournaments in Europe.

Djokovich played a great game

Both of these guys have unreal serves. Watching them serve 200 km/h to exactly where they want is awesome.

See you next year Basel!!

Handle this!

Just some photos of the handle for the polishing tripod. Designed everything myself. I had to design it so that the blue wouldn't get scratched off with the turning piece. I did this by making it a bit smaller so the cylinder rides on the outside only.

Enjoy!

Comments are always welcome!

Update

Hey there. Here's an update on the project I've been working on the last 2+ weeks.

This is what it supposed to look like in the end. Obviously it will look much better than this but this is just a reference to get ideas from. We also have a book of the last groups projects to look at to get ideas from as well. It is a polishing tripod. It's what I have been using to polish the screws for the other projects and also for the screws for the one I'm making. The pictures are missing part of the handle that is used to turn the operating screw.

This is the base piece and was cut and filed by hand.

I had to make a holder to screw into the holes on the edge so I had a guide to file a nice round corner.

This is the sliding piece that goes in the middle. It is held by 2 screws.

Here is a few pictures from making the knobs for the height adjusters. This was all my own design and ideas based on the above example.

This is actually two pieces that are screwed together using the brass holder. I did this purely for a visual aesthetic so that if you screw the bottom holder up to the top one, the slots line up (this stuff is really hard to explain without showing in a video).

This is what the milling attachment for the lathe looks like.

And here is the piece after all 9 slots have been milled out. This splits into 2 pieces.

Here's a collection of some of the pieces for the tripod. Everything is kept in benzine so it won't oxidize. I also keep some parts in isopropanol alcohol. usually the polished parts.