Trevor Reeves - Artisan

Sunday, 28 February 2016

For the Love of Hats and the loss of hair! Millinery another Artisan trade.

Yes I'm an old balding grey haired Bloke!

I don't understand the male vanity for a healthy head of hair
I won't do the comb over.
No head rugs or toupees for me.
Hair replacement.....too late for that.
Shave off all the scragglybits once every 2 week and be done with it.

Its all summed up beautifully in:
Bald Headed Men by Christine Lavin & SIX Bitchin' Babes

However, I do love my hats!

I bought my first olive green 'Akubra' feather weight at the age of 11 at the primary schools annual fete in 1971 for the princely sum of $00.50 c AU.
I loved that hat...way too big, so it got packed with cardboard within the internal band till I grew into it. A 59cm perfect fit.

The leather bands now rotted.
When the first holes started appearing, I stupidly patched them up on the sewing machine using darning stitch, so, more holes appeared!
It went into retirement a few years back.
But still takes pride of place next to my reading lamp.

Pride of place.

The bands all rotted:

Along the line somewhere I acquired another 2 'Akubra's ' another featherweight in black and a broader brimmed 'Rage' (a model that I haven't seen since the 90's)

The featherweight is starting to show its age also with the appearance of a hole at the front of the crown where it gets taken off & on

A few eyelets were added for ventilation and a leather cord to hold it on my head in healthy kite flying winds.

Another hole agggh!

The broad brimmed 'Rage' I kept for best with the addition of a woven ribbon and the usual band to keep it from blowing away....this time platted using #120 dacron with *ebonite balls on the end of the straps to keep them from fraying.

*ebonite is a hard rubber made with sulpher and is used for making fountain pen bodies and pipe tips.

In 2011. I was encouraged to purchase my first 'Tilley' in Canada as that what all the kite flying fraternity were wearing.

Khaki was the colour of choice agggh!

Mine got thrown in the black dye pot as soon as I arrived home.

I must say a practical hat, with its secret compartment for stashing a few spare dollars, euros or other currencies in.

See all the stated benefits of this practical hat at:

Tilley Endruables

As you might have gathered I do like my hats....and I do like to wear them

I made my first hats at a young age.

Using old worn out jeans.

I re-purposed them in to caps....I'm sure everyone in the family got one for Christmas that year.

I still make lots of denim caps when old jeans have seen better days.

Here's one of my favourite cap I wear in the workshop.

Its more of a beret really.

In the quest for the perfect hat I decided to make my own fur felt hats.

Here's the first hat block size 24"1/2"

A steam iron and some potential boomerangs shape the brim.

The fedora a classic shape....trying to look like Indiana Jones

A pork Pie in a long nape fur for my God son.....

A multi purpose cap....can be worn as a beret or a peaked hat

A wide brimmed Pork Pie. the band is platted from #120 black and white dacron.

The Bowler or Derby originally the hat of the working class and now a sign of the middle class.

My current favourite hat

What a great gift, than to give your 2 oldest friends than a hat.

Monday, 23 February 2015

"Pfaffofile" - Story of a Pfaff 260

Introduction

The sewing machine was one of the first industrial machines to make it into the home. With its mechanical cams and levers it is able to produce a range of amazing stitched. By comparison the modern machine is controlled by stepper motors and computer chips and as we all know if something goes wrong they are costly to fix. I am one of the many people discovering the joys of old mechanical machines that were made to last the owner lifetime and beyond. With a little oil and cleaning maintenance these mechanical marvels will last a lifetime and be passed on to ones children

see:Tim Hunkin's story of the machine

The pfaff is a mechanical marvel made at a time when appliances were made to last. There are many folk out there who spend their time keeping these machines in good working order. They are known as Pfaffofiles If you are interested the Old Pfaff Forum can be found. you must register as a member, but the collective knowledge is unequaled

My Pfaff 260

My Pfaff 260 was purchased a few years ago as a back up to a Pfaff 1222e. It came from the original owner, that was given to them as a wedding present and in that time it was virtually never used maybe the occasional pants cuff altered or the hemming of a curtain. The were no marks or scratches. a good buy at $30.00 AU The quality of the stitch for applique is unsurpassed. and only my Necchi Supernova comes close. It I have any complaint about the machine it was that for the type of sewing I do needle up/down is important as is knee lift of the presser foot. The 1222e dose not have these functions and I have an industrial machine for this type of work, however the industrial machine has had a hard life and is difficult to keep in adjustment, so the decision was taken to install the Pfaff 260 into the industrial table. This would be a bonus as the attachment for needle up/down could be done by a simple coupling on the hand wheel of the machine. With all the fittings for a knee lift in place my over active brain started to see the possibilities of a knee lift attachment.

Material required.

1m x 5mm silver steel rod also known as drill rod
4mm grub screws
15mm free cutting stainless steel shaft for bearing housings and thrust washers
1/16 mild steel plate
5mm id x 11mm od x 6mm wide sealed bearing for the lift arm
5mm rod end bearings

I have an extensive workshop so machining parts is no problem. I have tried to keep the attachment as simple as possible.

Modifications to the machine (These need to be reversible or of only minor significance)

Hand wheel the suit M series V-belt
hole in bed of machine drilled & reamed from 6mm to 8mm
An extension to the lift lever of 20mm
slight reshaping of the casting around the lift bar to accommodate centralization of the new lift lever (minimal)

Inspecting the machine

On close inspection there are several holes located to the right places for this attachment and I wonder if there ever was a knee lift attachment for this machine.

Setting up the needle positioning sensor

Note the hand wheel was modified to take a standard M series V-belt the coupling for the position sensor is attached to the lock nut of the flywheel as loosening for winding the bobbins is no longer necessary. The coupling shaft is held in place using 6 x 4mm grub screws, it is important the these two components run concentric to each other to avoid any wobble.

Will it all fit

The proposed bearing housing for the lift shaft was determined by the location of the 3 hole in the back of the machine these normally have plastic plugs or inspection covers

The hole near the lift bar is the access to the needle bar screw The middle hole is a tapped 8mm thread the function of which I am unsure. The one on the left is access to another adjusting screw.

The left and right holes are parallel to the machines bed, perfect for running the lift shaft. This position makes the attachment an easy fit.

Checking the position of the bits......will they fit?

Linear motion is transferred to rotational motion via a short crank

The lift shaft bearing in place with the lift rod.

An additional plate was made to stop any flex.

The finished attachment.

Note the 20mm off set lift shaft emerging from the bed of the machine grub screws hold this in place to facilitate adjustment . This fits on to a crank about 40mm long to transfer up and down movement into rotational movement.

These videos show in better details how it all works

This video demonstrates: How the attachment operates. it is at an early stage in the construction

This video shows:Testing the operation prior to final adjustments

A sewing test sewing tight circles.

Other resources:

My initial review of the Pfaff 260 at: patter review

Thanks to Brian at Brian Sews for his review German Love Affair

Monday, 11 March 2013

"Holding it all together" Fittings & Ferrules for Kites.

Holding it all together.
I make my own fittings 90% of the time.
Most of the bits and pieces I use aren't available of the shelf.
And those that are can not be obtained locally.
In a city like Melbourne with a population of 4 million people you think there would be a speciality kite shop......there's not!
So its either a 2-3 week wait from an OS supplier or make it myself.
This has led to some strange and innovative ways of putting a kite together.

Being a tool room machinist in a past career has helped with making and designing of many of the fittings.

M4 or M5 nylon bolts are often used.

I like to use acetal as it is the easiest of the plastics to machine accurately.

I purchased a myford lathe 20yrs ago....Its paid for itseld 10x over.

These fittings are what I use in a BoF delta kite. It gives gives me adjust-ability of the spreader bar, so the wing drop can be altered for different conditions.This kite has flown without problems for many hours.

Fitting for a Marconi Kite

One of the difficulties of making fittings is getting the hole to the correct diameter. Here an adjustable reamer is used to increase the hole a few thousands of an inch ......the difference between a good and a bad fit.

"Marconi Kite" a Cliff Quinn design

Parts for a spool winder with brake mechanism.

Not a kite fittings but one of my other interests is horology (clock making)

All the wheel, pinions & trundles represent over 300 hrs work.

" Grasshopper Clock" by W.R Smith Ongoing construction by Trevor Reeves
These were started the day my son George was born....13 years ago. One of them is a future 21st Birthday present for him......guess I better get them finished.....as time rolls on.

Sunday, 24 February 2013

Trevor Reeves Artistic Kite Inventory,

An Inventory of the Artistic Kite Creations of Trevor Reeves.

This page will be continually *updated as the inventory of kites grows.....new additions are in BOLD.
Thanks for looking and comeback again.
* updated 11/07/2017
Trev-(R)

An assortment of Trevor's kites at Rosebud Kite Festival 2015.
Showing his ability to fill the sky at a kite festival.

Thin Blue Line
2016-2018
Created for Dieppe 2018
Della Porta with tails

Thin blue line. ... The Thin Blue Line is a phrase used by law enforcement. The phrase refers figuratively to the position of law enforcement in society as a bulwark between order and anomie, or between criminals and the potential victims of crime.

Drought, Flood & Fire
2016-2018
Della Porta with Tails

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!
D. MacKellar

Portraits Pics by Davide Baroni 2018
Friends from Cervia
Dye Sublimation on Polyester
Edo Kite

Portraits Pictures by Davide Baroni
2018
Friends from Cervia
Dye Sublimation on Polyester
Trains of Dela Portas
Ray Bethall Portrait Kite in Private collection

Title: Valley of the Winds Kata Tjuta no2
From Kangaroo Island to The Alice
BoF Delta

Title:Vincent Lingiari
BoF Delta
Sold Private collection Sydney

Lyrics

Gather round people let me tell you're a story
An eight year long story of power and pride
British Lord Vestey and Vincent Lingiarri
Were opposite men on opposite sides

Vestey was fat with money and muscle
Beef was his business, broad was his door
Vincent was lean and spoke very little
He had no bank balance, hard dirt was his floor