Much better now!

I managed to get VirtualMec 2.0.2 to work much better with a lot of help from the VirtualMec Team - Thank you! and completed several small drawings including the roundabout. The whole idea, as far as I am concerned, is to design using VirtualMec and then build what has been designed.

In reality I found that building the models highlighted a few things that needed modifying. things that are easy in the virtual world sometimes don't work in reality. Bending in VirtualMec does not take into account that Meccano has holes in it and cannot be bent so easily in the real world. This is not a criticism, just an observation. The roundabout I showed being designed, in a previous post, has now been finished and Sue built the model to prove the plan.

Steam toy roundabout

It has been designed to be driven by a steam engine or hand operated. It is only a very simple model (intended for sale as a kit of parts for our steam customers over on RalphsShop.com ) The finished drawing has a few modifications incorporated after Sue finished the real model to account for the design changes deemed necessary during construction.

The finished drawing

VirtualMec is a very useful tool, I wish we had embraced it years ago. The learning curve is very easy to negotiate and a few hours work will have you up and running with a good level of competence. I have been using it for a couple of weeks or so now, and it is getting easer all the time.

Ralph.

VirtualMec - Problems?

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned the VirtualMec software and my first impressions were good ones. I bought the programme now because it has been expanded by the inclusion of  a lot of new parts - there are still a lot missing but it is a start and I thought, by buying a licence, I would encourage and, in a small way, help to propagate more development. Keen to get going, I built (if that is the right word) a little hand cart using parts that cover the best part of 100 years. The spoked wheels date from the beginning of the last century while the triangular plates, that support the handle shafts, are bang up-to-date current parts and new in the VirtualMec parts list. Good fun to build and took no time at all to pick up the basics.

First little mode was fine...

I started to use the software to design some very simple and small models for some little steam driven kits we are developing for our e-shop The first simple model was easy. A double steam hammer of a few parts, nothing complicated, no bent parts just straightforward bolt-together standard parts.

Double steam hammer kit

With the drawing complete, I can now list the parts and make up the kits. Not wanting to add just one kit, I decided to design a simple roundabout. This model is complicated by the use of  bent parts, a more demanding use of VirtualMec. With a bit of help, from other users, I soon managed to get the hang of using the software - it is pretty basic stuff once you get to know its little foibles. However it seems that it has a far more disagreeable trait...

As my demands on the software increased - not by very much, we are still talking only a handful of parts here - it would suddenly announce, in one of those irritating windows7 semitransparent boxes, that it had stopped. It will then restart. experience has now encouraged me to save the file frequently but it is still a major pain in the... well you know where. 

The roundabout under construction - it was at this point it all started to go wrong

 

I am now a bit disillusioned with VirtualMec. I will battle on and see how it all turns out... I will let you know how I get on. I hope these issues can be rectified. Earlier 'selection' problems were solved by installing a new graphics card. I happened to have one laying around (as you do!) but is would not have been the end of the world if I had to buy one as they are only £25-30 and they improve the specification of the computer for other video hungry software and websites, of which there seems to be more and more about these days. 

I am confident that these problems are software related this time. Others are having similar problems, over a wide range of computers,  indicating to me that this is not a hardware problem. I don't think it is down to my inexperience with the programme, although in some ways I wish it was, as somebody could tell me not to do this or to do that. Unfortunately I think the problem is deeper than that. I am convinced there is a bug in the software somewhere - but hay, what do I know. Let's hope the news is better next time I post something about VirtualMec.

Ralph. 

Smaller and smaller...

Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Not so long ago we were messing with the huge Watson Loom that now dominates the Meccano room. Last week we were building small red and green models from the smaller sets (see previous posts). Over the past few days I have been getting to grips with VirtualMec and while I was looking through the member's Gallery, I found a rather strange little cat sans head! On further investigation I discovered a picture of the complete model (with head) and an explanation for the strange drawing. It seems that although the VirtualMec team have added a lot of new parts, there are still lots more parts missing from its inventory. This seems to be the biggest complaint, regarding the software, at the moment. I don't know enough about it to know if the owners of VirtualMec are just not bothered about adding additional parts or if the process is far more complicated than it appears - I strongly suspect the latter is true...Whatever the reason, there is still plenty of new parts included in the new version and more than enough to keep me happy.

My new cat - grey like Smokie was...

I decided to have a go at building the little fellow as he looked like he would make a good companion for the small M&S, Christmas special, robot of a few years ago. His real head is made from a 'Suspension Outer Bracket’ (P/N A419) with a couple of those 'rubberised' bolts for eyes. I think he looks really good with his new-found robot friend. Those of you who remember out little fellow, may be suprised to know the he passed away a year ago now. The place is so quiet without him.

Fly - smallest model?

Even smaller

Now, just to get down to the smallest model I think its possible to 'build', I have made the Fly. I believe this model was first built in the 30s and featured in an early French manual. It was also built by by Jean-Francois Pabion of France and entered in the Spanner II Christmas challenge of 2010. The rules for that particular challenge limited the builder to a set number of parts excluding nuts, bolts, washers and spring clips. For this reason, Jean-Francois, claimed that tis was a zero-part model! That aside, I would say it is the smallest model because I think that to be a model it must have at least two parts. My single part entry to a SELMEC challenge a year or so ago was Meccano ball ball bearing representing a shot-put. But it has not been put together, so, in my book it is a representation not a model. Whatever you call it, I still think it is amusing to build these quick micro-models.

Nano Helicopter

Meccano did produce some Micro-models of their own. they were sold under the Nano series name and were nicely made and at a sensible price point of £2.99. It is a shame that Meccano did not continue to produce the Nano kits. The little Robot, in the picture above, was the seventh model in the series and was only available from M&S. A year or so earlier, Meccano had released six other models. My personal favourite was a little helicopter. Several new parts made their first appearance in these kits, not least of all the ½ x ½ inch narrow bracket and the 3-hole, 1 inch, narrow strip.

As soon as we saw them we thought it would be nice to incorporate them into a small model and it was that thought that set us on our way to building a whole series of miniature fairground models. The first of which was a miniature roundabout incorporating the first six Nano models. Full details of how we built the Nano Roundabout can be found HERE.

Ralph.   

Now you too can be a Geek!

It has been around for a while now, but recently the people at VirtualMec (the virtual Meccano building software) have introduced a whole range of the new parts to their inventory, making it far more appealing to me and other less 'traditional' builders who, like me, embrace the modern parts.

Not only is it useful for designing models and mechanisms, before you physically start building, it is really handy for illustrating a point in an e-mail, blog or forum post. I have only been a VirtualMec user for a few days and a couple of hours of working through the tutorial and most of the basics can be understood... 10 minutes if you are under 20 years of age.

You can, of course, realise all those dreams of building models with parts you don't actually own (yet!) In fact, you don't have to own any Meccano you can just build in cyberspace and become a Meccano Geek instead!

Gear wheel replacement for part No.168

My first real usage was only a few hours after buying the software. I was asked how to gear-drive a Meccano ball thrust race (Part 168). The answer is to replace the sprocket plate with a 3½ inch gear wheel. In the past I would have gone off and found the parts, set up a quick photograph and tried to show the assembly - not that easy. Because VirtualMec has no 'weight' the assembly will just hang in space at any orientation making what is being illustrated crystal clear.

You can play with VirtuMec for free using the Demo programme and there are then three levels of licence limited by part-count. For more information visit the VirtuMec website HERE 

I have only just started plying with VirtuMec, so far the learning experience has been almost painless. There is a bit of a way to go yet but I will keep you posted on progress.

Ralph.

Small manual models - great fun!

After man-handling the Weston loom around I decided to build a bespoke table to stand it on. So, on one of the rare dry days we have had this year, I spread a tarpaulin on the lawn and set up the saw horses. A couple of hours later the loom had its own stand and now sits behind the door in the Meccano room awaiting our attention.

Sue has been digging around in our stock of old tatty Meccano and building Manual models. The first of which is No.4 set model, Racing Car. It is amazing how good old Meccano looks with a bit of a clean up. All the parts were washed in warm soapy water, then carefully dried and polished prior to assembly. The only exceptions were the tinplate wheels which were cleaned with WD40 to avoid the risk of trapping water between the hub and the tyre. It was an interesting challenge and made me wonder how many of today's kids would have the skills to build it.

Sue's car - looking good!

Not to be left out of the fun I decided to apply the same technique to a small No.3 set model Crane to try out some cord we will be selling on RalphsShop All good fun and if you want to read more we have been talking about the models on the Rust Bucket forum. 

Follow the links below to see more pictures and details

http://www.nzmeccano.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=879
http://www.nzmeccano.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=873
http://www.nzmeccano.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=881

My little crane

We have piles of Meccano but I can get just as much pleasure from building these small models as I do when completing one of our big projects. Build some more of these small models or get on with the loom? Hmmm we'll see...

Ralph.

The loom...

Ready to unload

You may remember that last year we able to acquire the huge loom built by the late Dennis Weston, back in the late '90s. It is so big that as it stands it will not pass through a standard doorway in any orientation. In fact, as it stands, it will not fit in Sue’s Volvo estate!

The loom has not been run in more than a dozen years so the first thing to do was to turn it over manually, identifying tight points and remedying any timing issues. After several attempts of trying to understand how it should work we finally got it to turn over and fire the huge shuttle at the correct time.

The original motor and drive band

Now it is time to decide exactly what we are going to do with it! Over the past few months we have considered all sorts of options including a complete rebuild. Until now the favourite option was to build a clone of the frame and rebuild all the working parts from the original into that. The idea being we could get each mechanism to work independently of the rest and re-assemble the entire loom in a new frame. Although this method seemed to make sense from a practical point of view, it would mean that the finished loom would be largely a copy of the original.

Trial motor - works fine!

Today we had another session of loom restoration and cured the last of the timing issues. The final problem to address was how to power it. The motor fitted to the loom is an ex-sewing machine, mains voltage motor. The drive band has seen better days and was slipping. We could find another belt but we decided to replace the huge Singer motor with a modern, low voltage motor. First attempts are encouraging. A single 12V DC motor drives the whole mechanism with ease even though there is still some stiffness in places probably due to a build up of fluff, solidified grease and oil. 

The huge shuttle

The loom now runs, throws the huge shuttle through the warp without catching, selects the heald frames correctly and maintains tension in the warp threads. The trouble is I have just noticed that woven cloth is being pulled back onto the tensioning roller. A bit of undoing of grub screws released the tension and the cloth was pulled back allowing the warp to go slack. Now all we have to do is to rewind the thread back onto spools – all 120 of ‘em!

The shuttle on its way

Once we have sorted all that out, it will be a case of smoothing out all the stiff bits and load the shuttle with the weft so that we can start weaving…

Ralph.

Another road trip...

It all started with one of those conversations:

    Me,"Wanna go to Pontefract Sue?" 

    Sue, "Isn't that a cake?"

    Me, "No, It's a place"

    Sue, "I think it is a cake - or a biscuit, isn't it?"

    Me, "No its a place! Don't change the subject, do you want to come or not?"

    Sue, "What for?"

    Me, "I just bought a motorbike."

    Sue, "WHAT?!"

And so it went on for a bit until I managed to explain it was made of Meccano and it needed collecting from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, not a big problem if you happen to live in Wakefield, 8 miles down the road, but we live in London 192 miles down the road! This small fact was not lost on Sue. The next morning, the good old recycled Swedish fridge was heading north with a couple of Meccano nuts off to collect the motorbike! We were off on another one of our rescue missions...

...By the way, Pontefract Cakes are not cakes or biscuits, they are sweets, sort of boiled sweets that are made from liquorish (Yuck!). I think they're akin to Marmite, you either love 'em or hate 'em!

The motorbike in question is a modern dealer display model, first seen at the 2010 London Toy Fair. These models I believe, were built by outside organisations. The model does not promote any particular set and was intended to just fly the flag in general. I have no idea how many of these models were made and I have not seen one on display anywhere other than at the London Toy Fair. 

Modern display model - just got it home

The display is going to need a bit of cleaning and some rebuilding to rectify some misalignment, probably caused by some minor crushing at some time in its life, but there is nothing too serious wrong with it that an hour or so on the bench will not rectify. I will have to bring it up to UK electrical safety specifications, as it stands, it would not pass a PAT (Portable Appliance Test). It just goes to show how the rules and regulations for electrical safety seem to be largely ignored. The addition of a simple earth wire and new flex will enable the display to be tested as a Class I appliance and hopefully pass!I will post some decent pictures when I have sorted it our and given it a good clean.

Ralph.  

NELMC Meeting and AGM

This time last year, North London Meccano Club (NELMC) was in big trouble. With membership falling off and a complete lack of interest when it came to thinking about electing officers.  What a difference a year can make.  A lot of work behind the scenes has resulted in a vibrant new atmosphere with a good attendance. Indeed it was, to use the modern vernacular, rammed!
 

A busy scene at Hainault last Saturday for the AGM

At one point I thought we would run out of space, and when it came to the AGM we had plenty of volunteers stepping up to take up the places on the committee.  The day was about getting the enthusiasm going again and thanks to a good crowd I really feel it is heading in the right direction. We have launched a new style quarterly Rag called The Flyer that seems to be a hit with the members and we are in the process of revamping the website to bring it into the 21st century.

Oh good! Its tea time! No? I thought it was a tea trolley...

Lots of interesting models to be seen, including everything from a Robotic Development Platform (Under Construction) built by our new Chair, Allen Berman to Roger Little's huge railway display and most things between. Tony Brown brought the proceedings down to his level by displaying the odd ugly crane built using X-Series parts, but we have to forgive him for that - he lives out in the sticks.

Little loco from Roger

It was really good day. If you live in striking distance of Hainault why not pay us a visit and if you like what you see you can join the Club and that will entitle you to a subscription to The Flyer Our new 12 page, full colour newsletter that is totally compatible with all electronic media. It is supplied in .pdf  format and can also be printed out to A4. For more details about the club visit: http://londonmeccanoclub.org.uk/  and click on the North East London Meccano Club tab at the top of the page. 

I am now really looking forward to the next meeting on 13th April 2013. If you would like to come along and see what its all about you will be most welcome. 

Ralph. 

Great day out at Lyne...

...A new venue for the RMG's meetings!

Plenty of parking at the new venue

The new venue for the Runnymede Meccano Guild's (RMG) meetings is a great success - and the food is good as always! The new venue is only a short drive from the previous meeting place and the improvement is staggering. More space, easy access and plenty of parking. Getting there by public transport my be a bit more tricky but it didn't seem to put many people off. With an attendance of around 80 the day was roaring success. Even with far more table space than previously available it was all occupied. 

Easy access - Great!

Details of all RMG's forthcoming meetings and events can be found by visiting their new website. You will also be able to join the Guild and now you can pay by using the PayPal checkout - You don't have to have a PayPal account either! Membership of the Guild includes subscription to the sixty page, full colour, magazine, which is published three times a year. Details can be found HERE. At the time of writing, UK subscription is only £20 - even if you can't attend the meetings it is worth the money for the magazine alone! 

Now, where does that bit go?

Indeed, the guild has lots of international members who subscribe for the magazine alone. More details and pictures of the new venue can also be found on the all new RMG website at: http://runnymedemeccanoguild.org.uk/

Inside, the place was full with an extreamly vibrant atmosphere as models started to stream in accompanied by their builders milling about looking for their allocated spaces while taking in the splender of their new surroundings. No handbags-at-dawn arrangements were made and the meeting settled down to the usual hum of motors and murmurings and that irritating, poor quality, nasally sound that emanates from electronic media being played on a continuous loop. (Sorry, I can't help being a grumpy old so-and-so!) Time for a wander and leave Tim to his videos!
The usual culprits were in attendance and the dynamic-duo were at it again chewing the cud for England, while the Dealer of Dunmow looked on!   

Ralph.

Unusual 'modern' sets are hard to find...

A lot of modern sets are only available for short periods. In recent years some of the sets specially commissioned by the big retailer such as Marks & Spencer are particularly hard to find and when they do appear on the market they tend to sell for premium prices. The Harrier and Stephenson's Rocket spring to mind. There are plenty of others but it is the not so common that I have been looking for as they often include hard to get parts. Shortage of supply usually means the price will climb but persistence can pay off - eventually.

Two types of part B006

It all started when I was experimenting with some tracked vehicles a year or so ago after discovering, from a post on the Spanner II list, that the 19-tooth plastic pinions will fit inside a strange looking part that I first came across in a job-lot of modern parts Sue and I bought a few years back. A similar part can be found in the Crazy Inventors Rattle Trap and Time machine. The part in question is described as a 'sprocket for crawler tracks' part No. B006 in Oscar Felgueiras's New Parts Listings. The green part comes from the Rattle trap or the Time Machine, Crazy inventor series. There is only one in each set, making it hard to get hold of any amount of them as both sets are very sought after these days.

Future Master Drilling Machine

The grey part looks a bit more promising as the Drilling machine from the Future Masters series has six of them. The trouble is trying to get hold of this set is proving difficult to say the least! None of the future master sets seem to appear for sale on the second hand market very often and I have never seen this particular set for sale anywhere in recent years. It was only that a fellow enthusiast, George Roy, happened to have a spare set (that he let me have for a very reasonable price) that I managed to get my hand on one - Thanks George! So if you see a set kinking around grab it - you may not see another!

The tracks being driven using the drive sprockets

Apart from the set I bought from George, I have managed to find a few of these drive sprockets over the years and, to my surprise, they drive the rubber tracks very smoothly. My first attempt at building a working model was a simple single motor vehicle shown here. The drive is via tri-axles and plastic tri-axle,19t pinions, part No. A326.

As a next stage, I built a steerable chassis using two motors. This time the drive was via bossed yellow plastic 19t pinions with brass bosses. The yellow plastic ring of teeth fitted to the brass boss often split rendering the pinion useless. This gave this part a bad reputation and a lot of the remaining brass push-fit bosses were turned down as collars. I have always saved mine as they were, using them as stops on my drifts or other odd jobs.

The steerable chassis

This was not because I was being cleaver - I don't own a lathe (yet!). In this model, they proved their worth by providing a matching free-wheeling hub. One end of each axle uses one of my many split, plastic pinion fitted into a drive sprocket, while the other end is secured using the brass boss only, from a split pinion. This arrangement is repeated in reverse at the other end of the chassis making it possible to drive each track independently - worked great! I have yet to build a model that uses this idea but I am sure I will one day.

A Find...

The search for unusual modern parts was made much harder, in the UK, when Meccano UK hit a rough patch at the end of the '90s and sold off their entire stock to raise funds. I presume this also meant for a period they were not buying new stock. The current sets, of the time, have since become scarce as collectors start to take an interest in an area that was not so popular previously. For the builder, this means there are some parts that are very thin on the ground and it is a case of buying the sets as they become available, which is not that often.

It is all still out there - somewhere

This week, purely buy fluke during an internet search, I was directed to Germany's eBay site where I was delighted to find an unused, still wrapped, Master Connection set 0030. As I investigated further it became clear that this was for a current auction and not, as is so often the case, an expired one. The listing was a buy-it-now and the price was reasonable - Click! A few days later and the set was sitting on our Meccano room table awaiting attention. It just goes to show that these sets are still around, we just have to look a little further afield.

Ralph.