Druidfab Variable Angle Rotator (VA-r) .. a bit of a project

[V8Druid]

Holy Wow. I suppose there is a lesson there for all of us. Anyone can have their life changed in a blink. Selling up your life's work with no choice and bad health must be a right kick in the balls. Thanks for the update. Do you now feel lucky or unlucky?

well the view is better than the inside of a box. Every day is a bonus, I didn't think I'd get in 2010 ...
Medics saved my life back then and have every admiration for their people that actually 'do stuff' ...
they, along with Pam, continue to keep me as well as I can expect to be ...
the body is 13 years older now and just won't do what I want it to anymore ..
If i get to see Clara's 21st then that'll be a great innings
so yeh I am lucky to be here ..
everything else is incidental really, although it'd've been nice to have had a couple more years in work, to get done what I'd wanted for here, (we had two lots of very nice neighbours back then) and now't would've been an issue

and you're right - the lesson is never take your health for granted ...
had never been seeeriously ill in my life - pretty fireproof - until then ...
went from being fine 6 pm Sunday to on life support 6 am Monday ...

all you rough, tough blokes ..
if it/you don't feel right, seek help - immediately

 

[V8Druid]

well the view is better than the inside of a box. Every day is a bonus, I didn't think I'd get in 2010 ...
Medics saved my life back then and have every admiration for their people that actually 'do stuff' ...
they, along with Pam, continue to keep me as well as I can expect to be ...
the body is 13 years older now and just won't do what I want it to anymore ..
If i get to see Clara's 21st then that'll be a great innings
so yeh I am lucky to be here ..
everything else is incidental really, although it'd've been nice to have had a couple more years in work, to get done what I'd wanted for here, (we had two lots of very nice neighbours back then) and now't would've been an issue

and you're right - the lesson is never take your health for granted ...
had never been seeeriously ill in my life - pretty fireproof - until then ...
went from being fine 6 pm Sunday to on life support 6 am Monday ...

all you rough, tough blokes ..
if it/you don't feel right, seek help - immediately

the other thing I should have said is ....
get your affairs in order ...
make a will, no matter how old you are, if you have possessions of value and want them to go somewhere specific do it NOW!!
don't faff with a DIY-er ..
sort what you want, as you want it, then
get a solicitor to deal with it and make sure you get a digital copy, so if you need to, you can amend it; it's easy and can do it yourself -- just needs two witness signatures on a new draft, along with yours ..
having not long bought this place and with my biz interests I did it within a week of being here - up-dated it, that is
leaving your nearest and dearest, intestate, is not something you would want to put them through.

other thing I'd recommend is a spread sheet of assets ...
so the missus, or whoever has some idea of what your possessions are worth and not get shafted.
don't forget to update it as necessary/as you recall things -- mine's always a work in progress and constantly being added to - as I remember what's not on there

 

[Routy56]

the other thing I should have said is ....
get your affairs in order ...
make a will, no matter how old you are, if you have possessions of value and want them to go somewhere specific do it NOW!!
don't faff with a DIY-er ..
sort what you want, as you want it, then
get a solicitor to deal with it and make sure you get a digital copy, so if you need to, you can amend it; it's easy and can do it yourself -- just needs two witness signatures on a new draft, along with yours ..
having not long bought this place and with my biz interests I did it within a week of being here - up-dated it, that is
leaving your nearest and dearest, intestate, is not something you would want to put them through.

other thing I'd recommend is a spread sheet of assets ...
so the missus, or whoever has some idea of what your possessions are worth and not get shafted.
don't forget to update it as necessary/as you recall things -- mine's always a work in progress and constantly being added to - as I remember what's not on there

Excellent advice Gra
And have been following your story with interest.
None of us know what is round the corner - live for today
More recently, I was the EXECUTOR of the Estate of my Mother-in-law (and her late husband)
They had made updates WILLS back in 2010 and the Witnesses were two of my neighbours over tea and cakes round here.
The Probate Service took ages to grant me a Grant of Probate Certificate.
So all assets were frozen. Fortunately I had the means to pay for all the immediate stuff.
The Probate Service when I started last November '22 was giving an 8 week delay, then a 16 weeks delay.
THEN, they asked to speak to the original neighbours who witnessed the WILL
Now these witnesses were now in their 80s and are getting very forgetful.
But they DID remember and gave all the right answers.
So my advice is keep yer WILL up to date AND make sure that there is a chance of the Witnesses being around to confirm
And I love yer advice about assets Gra. - Sharon wouldn't have clue what my machines are worth etc.
So, I'll start on a Spreadsheet and create an "In the Event of My Death Folder" - all the immediate stuff to deal with etc
So let's end this post on a positive note, Sharon and me go on lot's of holidays, so here's a nice photo from the Cruise we was on to Spain and Madeira

Keep waking up Gra - your are creating one of your legacies here on PlantTalk with your blogs

 

[Canal Navvy]

I'm definitely agreeing with the list of assets ..... we aren't always totally clear with our nearest and dearest about what our toys really cost.
I wonder how hard it is to keep an up to date valuation that they can't view until we've shuffled orf

Or have become worth since we acquired them

 

[V8Druid]

so ..... after that 'aside' !! ...
back to where ever I'd got to ... seems I spent a bit of time on making my B20 adaptor, looking at the pix, 'fore picking up on the VA-r again ..
first off here was some securing holes for the through pins, drilled and tapped

then it was some time spent on beefing up with some flanges and additional triangular gussets to keep everything square and solid .....

followed by the start of my now infamous colour scheme

loosely assembled,

before getting loaded up for a trip to the boys at Fast Fluids in Raglan, for some hose sorting ......

and back on the bench for more head scratching

 

[Stroppymonkey]

Excellent advice Gra
And have been following your story with interest.
None of us know what is round the corner - live for today
More recently, I was the EXECUTOR of the Estate of my Mother-in-law (and her late husband)
They had made updates WILLS back in 2010 and the Witnesses were two of my neighbours over tea and cakes round here.
The Probate Service took ages to grant me a Grant of Probate Certificate.
So all assets were frozen. Fortunately I had the means to pay for all the immediate stuff.
The Probate Service when I started last November '22 was giving an 8 week delay, then a 16 weeks delay.
THEN, they asked to speak to the original neighbours who witnessed the WILL
Now these witnesses were now in their 80s and are getting very forgetful.
But they DID remember and gave all the right answers.
So my advice is keep yer WILL up to date AND make sure that there is a chance of the Witnesses being around to confirm
And I love yer advice about assets Gra. - Sharon wouldn't have clue what my machines are worth etc.
So, I'll start on a Spreadsheet and create an "In the Event of My Death Folder" - all the immediate stuff to deal with etc
So let's end this post on a positive note, Sharon and me go on lot's of holidays, so here's a nice photo from the Cruise we was on to Spain and Madeira
View attachment 54628

Keep waking up Gra - your are creating one of your legacies here on PlantTalk with your blogs

The trick is to not show the wife the list of assets and their cost/value until you've died. If my wife knew the full extent of my tool addiction I'd be in trouble. Best wait till I'm gone.

 

[Furniss]

Yep ...Ive done the assets list and will, also dont hoarde tons of stuff and mess that she may have to deal with in a moment of great sadness .......or not

 

[V8Druid]

I'm definitely agreeing with the list of assets ..... we aren't always totally clear with our nearest and dearest about what our toys really cost.
I wonder how hard it is to keep an up to date valuation that they can't view until we've shuffled orf

Or have become worth since we acquired them

LOL ..... I don't even try ..... can't drive excel so dictate it to Pam who can ...
get the odd raised eyebrow, but she's known me long enough to know I won't pay through the nose for anything ..
it'll have either been a bargain or what it was worth
If I stole it / had a bargain, I will always tell her to also put down what it's worth ..
so if you want to keep actual cost on the 'low down' ...
declare a value to sell (and anything you like for a cost )

 

[Smiffy]

I'm definitely agreeing with the list of assets ..... we aren't always totally clear with our nearest and dearest about what our toys really cost.
I wonder how hard it is to keep an up to date valuation that they can't view until we've shuffled orf

Or have become worth since we acquired them

My dad has dymo labels on various things with a note of what they are, there value and if there is a museum club or collector that would be interested in it. His wife would never go near Worksop so won't find out what things are worth.

 

[Furniss]

LOL ..... I don't even try ..... can't drive excel so dictate it to Pam who can ...
get the odd raised eyebrow, but she's known me long enough to know I won't pay through the nose for anything ..
it'll have either been a bargain or what it was worth
If I stole it / had a bargain, I will always tell her to also put down what it's worth ..
so if you want to keep actual cost on the 'low down' ...
declare a value to sell (and anything you like for a cost )

Might not be great if she just decides to just get money back for a quick sale !

 

[Routy56]

The trick is to not show the wife the list of assets and their cost/value until you've died. If my wife knew the full extent of my tool addiction I'd be in trouble. Best wait till I'm gone.

Yep like when I cut down our trees when I buy tools I don’t tell her
And another hobby of mine is vintage radios she thinks I only have 12 - nearer 31 and counting
Dare not tell her that I’ve got my eye on a classic Jukebox

 

[V8Druid]

hose routing was a bit of a headache for the tilt rams and Stu (@Left hooker ) came up with a great suggestion, which eventually worked a treat . the only point of movement was where the hoses came up from the manifold to the tees feeding the rams

keeping the tees stationary called for a little craftiness

put the first two holes in the wrong place (which eventually got plugged ) ...

put the marks on the pin ends to orientate the tees in line with the pick up , to weld them

spiral wrapped all the hoses to give 'em that extra bit of protection from damage or abrasion ...

rotate hoses were a little less hassle, other than getting them connected to the manifold

can also see the final loom option there too

motor end was a POP

at this point I thought it was starting to get crowded ... hadn't seen anything yet

clearance on the motor hoses was tight - as I'd anticipated and checked, 'fore going for it, as it was .. but it worked out fine

 

[V8Druid]

having gotten this far -- it'd tilt and rotate, I'd been searching for a rotary coupling that was small enough to fit the available space, in the lower section - and I didn't have a lot .. max diameter had to be 100mm or less from memory ...if I wanted to feed oil through the beast to give me an aux. supply and ultimately a hyd QH ... then one of these came up on fleabay for 100 quid, plus shipping and eventually VAT and handling at this end - was over 50% of the purchase cost .... one of these is over 3k new, so bit of a bargain really ... bought from the States

IIRC it was 90mm OD - perfect ... originally used in CNC machining centres for feeding oil to carousel pallets in the work holding areas of the machines - had spent ages researching WTF they were, when it first came up, spec. wise (and found a significant time later that I actually had a full CD ROM of their interactive catalogue ), before buying it, having decided it'd to the job a treat.
these also arrived around the same time .....

Mog had been creating on his duck and had come up with a great solution for hose routing from the dipper to the att. ... rings to feed his hoses through and keep 'em safe ... great idea and knocked a few out for the Miller

removable if required - undo the lock nut and spin the ring off the pin's nut ...

also stuck two new pins in the dipper end, whilst I was at it ... was mid December and apart from the bloody rain it'd also snowed, so was early Feb, 'fore I got back to the VA-r

and separated it

bottom was still welded to the plate I'd stitched it to to take it for a ride to Raglan

so split it off the plate and flipped it oer to find the original centre marks from when i'd originally built the bar bender

to put a small pilot hole in it - used the mag to get it perfectly upright / square

needed the hole for the circle cutter on the gas axe to put a hole in to suit the Roemheld and while I had a datum on t'other side scribed in some reference lines for 'ron'

and four suitable notches to accommodate the blanking plugs in its head

dropped it back together to suss 'fits'

sadly I had a couple of bits which looked like they'd originally been welded in for a rotary unit that were in the way of the Roemheld ... so it was gonna have to come to bits to sort
top half off and secured

nothings ever easy building something like this from scratch

 

[bobthebuilder]

having gotten this far -- it'd tilt and rotate, I'd been searching for a rotary coupling that was small enough to fit the available space, in the lower section - and I didn't have a lot .. max diameter had to be 100mm or less from memory ...if I wanted to feed oil through the beast to give me an aux. supply and ultimately a hyd QH ... then one of these came up on fleabay for 100 quid, plus shipping and eventually VAT and handling at this end - was over 50% of the purchase cost .... one of these is over 3k new, so bit of a bargain really
View attachment 54657
IIRC it was 90mm OD - perfect ... originally used in CNC machining centres for feeding oil to carousel pallets in the work holding areas of the machines - had spent ages researching WTF they were, when it first came up, spec. wise (and found a significant time later that I actually had a full CD ROM of their interactive catalogue ), before buying it, having decided it'd to the job a treat.
these also arrived around the same time .....
View attachment 54658

Mog had been creating on his duck and had come up with a great solution for hose routing from the dipper to the att. ... rings to feed his hoses through and keep 'em safe ... great idea and knocked a few out for the Miller
View attachment 54659
removable if required - undo the lock nut and spin the ring off the pin's nut ...
View attachment 54660
also stuck two new pins in the dipper end, whilst I was at it ... was mid December and apart from the bloody rain it'd also snowed, so was early Feb, 'fore I got back to the VA-r

and separated it
View attachment 54661
bottom was still welded to the plate I'd stitched it to to take it for a ride to Raglan
View attachment 54662
so split it off the plate and flipped it oer to find the original centre marks from when i'd originally built the bar bender
View attachment 54663

to put a small pilot hole in it - used the mag to get it perfectly upright / square
View attachment 54664
needed the hole for the circle cutter on the gas axe to put a hole in to suit the Roemheld and while I had a datum on t'other side scribed in some reference lines for 'ron'
View attachment 54665
and four suitable notches to accommodate the blanking plugs in its head
View attachment 54666 View attachment 54667
dropped it back together to suss 'fits'
View attachment 54668View attachment 54669
sadly I had a couple of bits which looked like they'd originally been welded in for a rotary unit that were in the way of the Roemheld ... so it was gonna have to come to bits to sort
top half off and secured
View attachment 54670
nothings ever o have "easy building something like this from scratch

i wish i was half as good in cutting of steel ,proper job gra,how much longer are we going to have "engineers " who can do this sort of thing on a bench ,in wales ,outside ,with all of it in your head ?
i can build a house with whats in my head without the need for a architect /structual guy etc ,not allowed to,but i can and have .how many of the younger people will be able to do this ? yes the peeps on here are clever buggers ,but we are in the minority and getting less

 

[JerryRtilt]

i wish i was half as good in cutting of steel ,proper job gra,how much longer are we going to have "engineers " who can do this sort of thing on a bench ,in wales ,outside ,with all of it in your head ?
i can build a house with whats in my head without the need for a architect /structual guy etc ,not allowed to,but i can and have .how many of the younger people will be able to do this ? yes the peeps on here are clever buggers ,but we are in the minority and getting less

Don't worry someone will come up with a App for them to use.

 

[V8Druid]

the next bit was ... frustrating but necessary ... light is not with you in February .... there's rather a lot of this next bit

guts out - completely

the offending items

to get my new loom out of harm's way I had to take what it was attached to out

and having done that I did not want to fill it all with metal flakes ...... so ..... 'twas gonna have to come to bits and get cleaned off

after I'd pulled the drive out

interesting set up and I'd guess had been modified at some point in its life ... IMHDO the drive motor had originally been mounted closer to the crown wheel .. this lot did not look 'factory' - guessing the original motor was way smaller

needed to remove the two long tags, plus the piece of 12mm square bar and a piece of the entire mount plate .... this was gonna be fun

 

[V8Druid]

juggling the worm and the crown out was fun

but got them eventually, with some 'puller' assistance

after a clean off it looked like this had been subject to a bit of a 'catsafterme' at some point in its previous life ... teeth had some interesting marks in places .. interesting construction - bronze outer arc brazed to a cast inner pinion next

and everything cleaned off .... guts stashed away indoors to keep clean

as I said at the time - there will always be a time and place for hand tools and the ability to use them - this was one such occasion .. to get the cut to follow the existing line

then it was 'thin disc' time

and a dose of grinding

hence not wanting to leave any greasy bits in place

 

[V8Druid]

must've been cold that morning ... rarely wear gloves .. checking clearance, before getting any further ... like a bit of re-assembly ... that's measured from centre

measured from edge of the crown box, where I'd cut ...

so room for 100mm dia ... needed 45 mil clearance for my 90 dia Rhomheld rotary -- result

next thing was a retaining bracket for the rotary

the deal with the other end of the rotary

bolts were temporary, 'til I got some mushroom SH,s to replace them with ... then it was time to put it all back together
pinion

 

[Mick-the-fitter]

well the view is better than the inside of a box. Every day is a bonus, I didn't think I'd get in 2010 ...
Medics saved my life back then and have every admiration for their people that actually 'do stuff' ...
they, along with Pam, continue to keep me as well as I can expect to be ...
the body is 13 years older now and just won't do what I want it to anymore ..
If i get to see Clara's 21st then that'll be a great innings
so yeh I am lucky to be here ..
everything else is incidental really, although it'd've been nice to have had a couple more years in work, to get done what I'd wanted for here, (we had two lots of very nice neighbours back then) and now't would've been an issue

and you're right - the lesson is never take your health for granted ...
had never been seeeriously ill in my life - pretty fireproof - until then ...
went from being fine 6 pm Sunday to on life support 6 am Monday ...

all you rough, tough blokes ..
if it/you don't feel right, seek help - immediately

So how did you cope with just stopping what you do? I don’t think I could just stop

 

[V8Druid]

So how did you cope with just stopping what you do? I don’t think I could just stop

well initially Mick I was too rough to do much more than sit about and try to recover ..
went from 13.5 stone to under ten in ten days ..
looked like a Biafran for months so didn't really feel up to much. Plus I was back and fore having testing done and then fighting to get treated ....
kept me focused for a while. Also did lots about the place as I started to feel more like I should.
New drainage - JakieB kept me sane - dug, then laid the foundations for and built an 80+m retaining wall in twin skin 9" hollows, down the side of the drive - very slowly - a block was about all I could manage to lift. lots of landscaping, etc.
Also had to start clearing and selling my workshop and equipment - spent a lot of time canvassing dealers I used to do biz with, trying to drum up interest.
Did miss it all though