Back in the shed

[savarin]

Havnt done much to report for the last 6 months as I became pretty crook mid August and stopped work on the giant bino.
Since then its been an uphill struggle to do anything and at the moment still suffering with partial deafness, screwed digestive system (probably from all the antibiotics) and ultra loud tinnitus its difficult to think of anything.
So, I'm making a concerted effort to actually do something constructive to get the brain active again.
Our youngest moved back up here from Melbourne and bought a house.
I have no idea how it passed inspection as in the lounge there is a low wall only 700mm high with a vertical drop the other side into the stairwell.
We have decided to add some sort of barrier on top of this wall for safety but so as not to make the room look smaller its not going right up to the ceiling.
This is what we came up with.
You cannot view this attachment.
The vertical poles are hollow with steel rods passing through the top of the wall into its internal frame and bolted together.
First job was to make some kind of boring jig to keep the auger straight.
First I milled a slot in some plate
You cannot view this attachment.
Then used a countersink to change the slot to a "V"
You cannot view this attachment.
so it would sit flat on the lathe bed.
You cannot view this attachment.
Added a plate underneath so it can be clamped to the bed like the tail stock.
You cannot view this attachment.
I set the main body between centres and set it over the base plate so as to obtain the height required for the supports
You cannot view this attachment.

[savarin]

Covering all exposed surfaces of the lathe I tacked the unit together without letting it get hot enough to heat the lathe bed.
You cannot view this attachment.
A quick coat of black paint to hide the welds and start boring.You cannot view this attachment.
Or so I thought, the auger got half was then exited through the side of the dowel.
After some experimenting with different types of drills I found this one was the dogs nuts.
You cannot view this attachment.
Lathe on med speed, electric drill flat out, drill a little then withdraw to help remove chips and so on till half way, reverse the dowel and start again till it meets in the middle.
You cannot view this attachment.
And you can see through.
only 18 more to do, then cast and turn the top brass finials then start the full construction

[chips and more]

You sure do get your moneys worth out of that little lathe!

[savarin]

Its taking approx 8 mins per 400mm dowel.
Pretty quick but the air temp is 104f and thankfully the humidity is only 60%.
Still very uncomfortable

[TerryWerm]

Great to see you being active, Charles. I suffer with tinnitus as well but luckily, mine is rather mild. It gets covered by background noise most of the time and does not bother me unless it is very quiet in the room. I cannot fathom what it is like to have it constantly with no relief.

I hope that things improve for you!

[savarin]

Thanks Terry, its a total downer that drowns out all sounds. Before this illness I could mask it with music but not any longer.
This is how I feel 

[TerryWerm]

I had a brief bout with flu before Christmas. During that time and for a few weeks afterward the ringing was more pronounced. Luckily it has settled down some, but I still need music, TV, or other background noise most of the time to mask it. I cannot imagine having to endure it the way you are.

[savarin]

I would be lying if I said it wasnt getting me down. Its very depressing and virtually impossible to sleep sufficiently.

[TerryWerm]

I can understand that. Some nights I have to introduce white noise at night to mask the ringing. Either a fan running in the bedroom or an FM radio not tuned to a station, playing static all night long. I consider myself fortunate however, as I probably only have to do that one night out of five on average.

[34_40]

I would be lying if I said it wasnt getting me down. Its very depressing and virtually impossible to sleep sufficiently.

Sorry to hear of your tinnitus problem(s), I share that issue as well. Mine is more like static on a radio and rhythmical with my heart beat(s).  If I have a good night I can awake and it isn't noticeable in the AM,  but after any sounds,  like TV or Radio or the car..  it starts again and if I want to listen to TV or Radio I have to turn up the volume.. which in turn raises the tinnitus in my ears so I can't hear the TV or Radio and it becomes a vicious cycle which I don't think about because you find yourself turning the volume up absentmindedly ..  over the past couple years I realized what was happening so I just keep the volumes low knowing that I won't win the battle.  Even right now as I am typing this I can count my heart beats by the whoosh whoosh sound of each stroke of the heart pumping out.   On another (better) note, quite a unique job with the lathe and those dowels.  I will admit I don't think I'd come up with that approach!  

[savarin]

https://www.tinnitus.asn.au/breakthrough-in-tinnitus
maybe this will do something eventually.

[TerryWerm]

That is an interesting article. I do hope that it gains some traction in the near future!