This is a prototype of a Royal Engineers themed etched copper clad board in a photo frame with flashing LED back lights.


WARNING: ********** FLASHING LIGHTS **********

I can't load the video here so click on the link below to watch on youtube.

Etched copper clad board with flashing LED back lights.  

http://youtu.be/uYMo02yTZpY

This was the first time I attempted to etch a brass plate from a (real) photo. I first converted the photo to "pencil drawing" in an Android app on my mobile phone and then cleaned it up in photoshop. 

I think it turned out pretty good and I am quite happy with the end result.

Some more of my creations.

I have now stopped using the "toner transfer" method and am using Negative Dry Film Photoresist instead, gives much better and cleaner results.

This is my latest creation, a brass clock with RE cap badge.

House number plate for a fellow Sapper brother. 

 This one was made for another fellow Sapper brother.

And a wooden plaque, something different than brass or copper etching.

Copper clad board etching.

This is something I have wanted to try for a long time but could never get right.

I have now "mastered" transferring toner from a lazer printer on to copper to produce these military insignias.

The line artwork for the RE Badge was done for me by a friend, Jamie Munro-Naan, thank you Jamie, really appreciate it. 

Some more badges that I made.

31 AES Desktop Wallpaper.

My key ring.

Corps Of Royal Engineers Desktop Wallpaper.

Once A Sapper Always A Veteran. 

"I did my time", a little poem I wrote for the "older" generation of soldiers.

I DID MY TIME.

I did my time, took the shilling,

When I was able and willing.

I did as told, finished the job,

Became a sapper, not a yob.

Many great friends I made, shot a rifle,

Marched around the square, on the double.

I blew up things, drove a tank,

My ambition fulfilled, not blank.

I did all that and much more,

Even in snow and downpour.

My time passed, no longer able,

Sit in the kitchen, at the table.

Drinking tea, eating toast,

For the grandchildren, playing host.

I did my time, took the shilling,

When I was able and willing. 

By Tanky Turk

Royal Engineers Cap Badge mold and casting.

 RE cap badge casting.

RE cap badge two part mold

Casting.

This was supposed to be a copper cold cast but didn't work out as I wanted it. Most of the copper powder sat at the bottom of the mixing cup and not enough went in to the mold, hence dull colour.

Left is the badge after cleaning and right after polishing with brown shoe polish, turned out pretty good.

Succes I think. 

 

Making Hellim (Hallumi) is another one of my hobbies. Took a while to find the "right milk" to make it. Well, it's not actually the right milk but the only one available here in the UK that is suitable for cheese making because it is full milk and is unhomogenised.

The milk I use is Pasturised Unhomonegised Jersey Milk in 0.75L bottles and can be bought from Tesco's or Sainsburys (probably other places too???). I mix this milk 50/50 with Goats milk to give it that Hellim (goat cheese) taste, not as good as making it out of fresh goats milk but as far as I am concerned, it's the next best thing.

 
The Hellim turns out pretty good can be eating fresh, grilled or fried. It can also be boiled as in Tarana soup.

Instruction on how to make it:  Coming shortly.

Army history photo collage.

4 years Army history photo collage.

I lost some of my photos during the move back to the UK so decided to make a collage of the ones I still had. 4 years history on one A4 sheet, still better than nothing I suppose.

More self made Army stuff.

The shields below are all made out of thin (0.01mm) copper foil. I then make silicone rubber molds out of them and then cast bronze cold resin castings.

Embossed copper foil. 

26 Armoured Engineer Squadron embossed copper.

Clock from the one above this one.

31 Armoured Engineer Squadron embossed copper. 

2 Armoured Engineer Squadron embossed copper (not yet finished). 

Molds:

31 Armoured Engineer Squadron

26 Armoured Engineer Squadron

More molds will be added. 

Bronze cold castings. 

Both were burnished with brown shoe polish. 

More Army Pics

My first FTX exercise in Germany 1972

First attempt at using t-shirt iron-on paper.

My very first working flash clock.

AVRE and Wolfgang in Saltou exercise (forged with photoshop)

Add caption

My desktop background image made using photoshop.

Some of 31 AES boys in front of Cpt. Bridges car.

FTX 1972 cleaning bridge.

Royal Engineers

Served with the Royal Engineers from 1970 - 1974, after training got posted to 31 Workshop Regiment in Longmarsten near Stratford-Upon Avon and from there to 31 Armoured Engineer Squadron in Osnabruck Germany.

The "badges" and "flags" are not the original squadron designs, they are my own designs for own use.

Hung up router for the time being.

As we are moving to another house in a few weeks I've taken my CNC to pieces and "hung up" my router for the time being. When we have settled in to our new home, space permitting, I will build a bigger and better one, hopefully. When  I do, I will do a new write up of how I build it from scratch to finish including photos. The old one did work quite good with a few modifications but eventually the screws  used to hold it all together started to loosen and the whole thing became a bit wobbly.

I learned a lot using the old one and have realized where I made design mistakes that could easily be modified and made much better. On my next one I intent to use nuts and bolts to join the woodwork together which will make it more sturdy and should last a lot longer. One of the things that really bugged me was the "wobble" in the moving X-table. I've already experimented using four sliders on the old CNC using two under the "bed" and two on the sides seems to have eliminated most of the wobble. But because I had to do it in a hurry before I took it apart, I didn't line up the sliders perfectly so the "bed" did not move as smoothly as it needed and put a lot of strain the stepper motor couplers braking two in the process. I intend to experiment more using 4 sliders as soon as we have settled in in our new home. Using more expensive sliders that don't wobble as much as the cheaper version should give me better results.

It may take a while till I build me a new CNC but I will build another one, even if it's only a small one for PCB making.

TB6560 driver board and LinuxCNC settings.

The screen shots below are the settings I use for my 3 Axis TB6560 stepper driver board (blue PCB).

Please note that there are different types of these TB6560 boards with different pinout settings so the settings below might not work with your board.

I just gave the machine a name (TB6560-mill) and changed from inches to millimetres,  I left the rest at default settings.

I have as yet not done the "Test Base Period Jitter", I probably will one day but as I have not had any problems till now I'll probably just leave it as it is. 

Parallel Port "Step" and "Direction" settings for the X, Y and Z axis.  I'm not using an "E-Stop" switch but if you are, you need to set it up here. 

Only showing the X-Axis above but Y axis is also set as above.
 

The Z-Axis "Maximum Velocity" set to "10" (slower than the X and Y axis), the rest of the setting are same as the X and Y-Axis. 
The above setting are for M12 threaded rods with a 1.75mm pitch which I used for all axis, if you use different size rods you will need enter the pitch value to match your own "lead screws".

I have the driver board setup to run at 1/2 (half) steps so the "Driver Microstepping" is set to "2" . Change this setting to match the settings on your board (ie: 8 for 1/8 or 16 for 1/16).

The "Maximum Velocity" and Maximum Acceleration" values depends on your stepper motors and power supply so change these values until your stepper run without missing steps. Start with a low value and test the motor by clicking on "Test this axis". If  the motor does not miss steps then increase the values and test again. However, if it does miss steps then you obviously need to decrease the value. 

When you finish setting up the "stepconf" a folder and one file will be saved to your desktop. The folder and file name will be whatever name you have given your machine (in my case I just used the name "TB6560" so my file is named "Launch TB6560". Next step is to edit the ""name of the machine.hal" file which you can find in the folder LinuxCNC created on your desktop.

Look for the following lines below and delete them all, they are all in one paragraph so will be easy to find.

Note: Pin numbers will be different to those given in the example below.

net xstep => parport.0.pin-02-out
setp parport.0.pin-02-out-reset 1
net xdir => parport.0.pin-03-out
net ystep => parport.0.pin-04-out
setp parport.0.pin-04-out-reset 1
net ydir => parport.0.pin-05-out
net zstep => parport.0.pin-06-out
setp parport.0.pin-06-out-reset 1
net zdir => parport.0.pin-07-out
net astep => parport.0.pin-08-out
setp parport.0.pin-08-out-reset 1
net adir => parport.0.pin-09-out
net xenable => parport.0.pin-17-out

Now copy and paste the lines below and save. I don't think it matters where you paste them in the file but I paste them at the same place where I deleted the above lines. 

# X-Axis pins
net xstep => parport.0.pin-01-out
net xdir => parport.0.pin-07-out

# Y-Axis Pins
net ydir => parport.0.pin-03-out
net ystep => parport.0.pin-08-out

# Z-Axis Pins
net zdir => parport.0.pin-04-out
net zstep => parport.0.pin-05-out

# X, Y, Z Enable pins
net xenable => parport.0.pin-14-out
net yenable => parport.0.pin-02-out
net zenable => parport.0.pin-06-out

setp parport.0.pin-01-out-reset 1
setp parport.0.pin-05-out-reset 1
setp parport.0.pin-08-out-reset 1

LinuxCNC should now be working.

If anyone has any questions please leave a comment and I'll try and help as best as I can. 

Good luck.

Woodworking.

Some of my recent woodworking projects.

Bathroom cabinet. 

Planter for the wife's garden. Notice I said the "wife's garden", I'm just a guest who is only allowed to  do the woodworking side of things and not allowed to help her weed cause I pull out the flowers instead of the weeds. Not my fault I wasn't born with green fingers. LOL

Coffee table I made for son number 1 a few weeks ago when he moved into his first flat.

Some of the things I made with the CNC.

All the pieces are engraved using a tool made out of a piece of broken 6.35mm drill bit, not perfect but shows that the cnc is working. Next step is to  make a bigger and better one, after we move to a new place.

Grandson number 1. Used oak to make this one, turned out pretty good except that the grain is a little too strong which spoils the pic a little.

Grandson number 2. My very first try, MDF not good for this.

The dragon was engraved on to a piece of plexiglass then the groves were filled with acrylic paint for dragon mad son number 2.

The wife would probably kill me if she knew I posted the "birthday card" I made for her. 

The lion above (Yogi) was the emblem for 31 Armoured Engineer Squadron I served with back in  the early - mid 70's. The top one was engraved on to a piece of pine and the bottom one on to a piece of plexiglass and hand painted using acrylic paint. I am not really happy with the plexiglass version and am looking into ways/technics of making more professional looking ones.