Tachinid flies are far from my favourite insects but I like these images.
Unfortunately despite twenty hours, sorry, minutes research I can't identify it.
It's been a grand few days and the wild raspberries are starting to ripen, it looks like an abundant crop, the brambles are looking as if they will also carry a bumper crop and I found a small clump of gooseberries. The latter are not quite ripe yet but I'll check regularly as they seem favourite Starling fodder; I'll try and get there first....Little buggers can gobble the lot in an hour. I am investigating making Raspberry Ripple ice cream. I don't have a freezer so will use dry ice. It's frozen carbon dioxide.
A few years ago I got some free from a supermarket for shrink fitting a big end journal into crank shaft webs. The big end pin was massive to middling at about three inches diameter varying dramatically where it had been chaveled by the con rod and the only way to resurrect the crankshaft other than metal spraying and posh expensive grinding was to chop the old one out with the ever faithful angle grinder and machine a new one to be popped in. The chopping out took a couple of hours each side but setting the job up took a week. Two fixtures on an old Dean Smith and Grace lathe. One to pre-drill and rough bore the webs then another to clamp them to the cross slide whilst a boring bar was mounted between centres. The job lasted ages as then what remained of the old big end white metal had to be melted out. The big end made good. A TIG welder lots of pre-heat and a quick bore job did that. White metal, Babbit I seem to recall it's called, cast back in round a sand core cured with CO2, forget what the sand additive was but it was impressive. Came out rock hard, I guess Viagra. Then we bored and scraped to be a dippty doo fit. I did it all but the scraping and the core bit. I am very slow to special needs when it comes to coring and scraping, more like scrapping is my fitting. In workshops of yor there were some wonderful expressions reserved for apprentices and crap craftsmen. Two to ponder on.
"Eee lad, I could swallow swarf and shit a better job."
"Good enough is near enough but near enough is useless."
Should I win the lottery....not likely as I don't do the tax on the poor Pinchalot......I'd like a vintage machine shop. A Hardinge tool room lathe would be first on my list and a big Dean Smith and Grace not far behind. Millers, well Bridgeport would do but I have used an old Milwaukee it was a dream of a vertical milling machine. All the bits of course add up. Tools, tool grinders, vices, cut off saws a surface table and measuring tackle all consume vast amounts of cash. Welders are cheapish.
Have fun whilst I dream.
It's been a grand few days and the wild raspberries are starting to ripen, it looks like an abundant crop, the brambles are looking as if they will also carry a bumper crop and I found a small clump of gooseberries. The latter are not quite ripe yet but I'll check regularly as they seem favourite Starling fodder; I'll try and get there first....Little buggers can gobble the lot in an hour. I am investigating making Raspberry Ripple ice cream. I don't have a freezer so will use dry ice. It's frozen carbon dioxide.
A few years ago I got some free from a supermarket for shrink fitting a big end journal into crank shaft webs. The big end pin was massive to middling at about three inches diameter varying dramatically where it had been chaveled by the con rod and the only way to resurrect the crankshaft other than metal spraying and posh expensive grinding was to chop the old one out with the ever faithful angle grinder and machine a new one to be popped in. The chopping out took a couple of hours each side but setting the job up took a week. Two fixtures on an old Dean Smith and Grace lathe. One to pre-drill and rough bore the webs then another to clamp them to the cross slide whilst a boring bar was mounted between centres. The job lasted ages as then what remained of the old big end white metal had to be melted out. The big end made good. A TIG welder lots of pre-heat and a quick bore job did that. White metal, Babbit I seem to recall it's called, cast back in round a sand core cured with CO2, forget what the sand additive was but it was impressive. Came out rock hard, I guess Viagra. Then we bored and scraped to be a dippty doo fit. I did it all but the scraping and the core bit. I am very slow to special needs when it comes to coring and scraping, more like scrapping is my fitting. In workshops of yor there were some wonderful expressions reserved for apprentices and crap craftsmen. Two to ponder on.
"Eee lad, I could swallow swarf and shit a better job."
"Good enough is near enough but near enough is useless."
Should I win the lottery....not likely as I don't do the tax on the poor Pinchalot......I'd like a vintage machine shop. A Hardinge tool room lathe would be first on my list and a big Dean Smith and Grace not far behind. Millers, well Bridgeport would do but I have used an old Milwaukee it was a dream of a vertical milling machine. All the bits of course add up. Tools, tool grinders, vices, cut off saws a surface table and measuring tackle all consume vast amounts of cash. Welders are cheapish.
Have fun whilst I dream.
I didn't appreciate how beautiful and how complicated flies are until I began to photograph them. When I saw the hair on their bodies and the stained glass segmentation of their wings I was bowled over. Really enjoy looking at the fly here. (Though understand barely a word in your section about the big end.)
ReplyDeleteLucy, some more than others but all flies are worth a look.
DeleteNot keen on the fly either Adrian, but the images are great!
ReplyDeleteKeep dreaming! - - Richard
Richard I will.
Deletemaar oh wat zijn ze wel geweldig mooi.
ReplyDeleteBas Ze denken dat ze zijn.
DeleteNo flies on you when it comes to a challenge Adrian!...sound like the job was a good'un in the end?...[;o)
ReplyDeleteTrevor, I love machining but have never acquired the skills for fitting.
DeleteMy dad was a turret lathe and milling machine operator in an aircraft factory. I, on the other hand, know the difference in a claw and ball peen hammer, a regular and Phillips screwdriver, and that's about it. Allen wrench, crosscut saw, hacksaw -- I can identify those. Using them all is another matter.
ReplyDeleteBob, glad your re-fit worked well. Knowing what stuff is is half the battle. I have always been fascinated by turret lathe tooling but have never used one.
DeleteKeep dreaming Adrian although you lost me there but the images are excellent. Have a lovely weekend
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret.
DeleteI understand more about the engineering side of your discourse than I would have done about tachinids. Although they can be beautiful they can also be a nuisance. Mind you as they don't, as a rule so far as I am aware, prey on humans I prefer them to horse flies one of which has caused me considerable discomfort after a spell in the garden this morning.
ReplyDeleteGraham, Thachinids eat pollen as far as I know. Cleggs are horrible vicious things. Just in from a shift preparing the combine to start work Friday, weather permitting. We put it away last year ready to go this year but it is amazing how she disintegrates herself whilst sitting in the shed. One chain elevator was almost useless and then I found the drum belt tensioner pulley had a rattly bearing. Not nice working outside in drizzle.
Delete