Something different as its quiet.

[Paul Sheridan]

May be of interest to some of you, seeing as its very quiet on here.

Just been putting things in the loft for Christmas and came across some of my prized treasure from my wreck diving escapades.   From the Kronprinz Wilhelm, one of the German Battleships that were scuttled in Scapa Flow.

When I first got it off one of the boiler room bulk heads, the gauge was complete with the glass and needles, but some how during the way back out of the hull they were lost....... shame.

  

[Dave Adams]

just to join in.....

I cut gem stones the top one is a 120ct citrine its a little "fisheye" (the centre of the stone is clear) and i later recut it to about 100ct but no longer fisheye...

the tray underneath ..... top left is Moldavite one of a few gem stones to not originate from earth, its a Tektite, the solidified remains of an asteroid impact. 

then (left to right) a pale amethyst a red Garnet with some peridot, next some more amethysts, rock crystal, and then some aquamarine. the rest are mostly quartz's (Cairngorm (brown colour) and pale citrines and rock crystals.....the pink ones are rose quartz, not common in a clear form to cut gem stones from it)

I also have some rubies and sapphires (none finished at the moment) but some 100ct or so of uncut rough gems.

i really like Sapphires, my wife is less fussy about them.

[James Doulton]

That is about as far away from kit cars as I can imagine. How do you 'cut' them? I have some idea that it is with a chisel and hammer, based on a TV programme years ago about a diamond cutter. That 120ct one is very impressive. Moldavite is interesting but not very decorative.

[Dave Adams]

this is a very similar machine to mine (i also made my own that should be a little more versatile and easier to use, my prototype machine is infinitely adjustable in 3 dimensions and also has a "coarse" quick adjustment.)Basically the head holds a stone glued on to it with a type of sealing wax. that can be rotated by regular angles (by a gear wheel and trigger arrangement) usually in multiples of 8.......  i prefer the odd numbered gem cuts and have designed a few, one of which has been used as a competition cut by a club. (5 fold round brilliant) the head then allows the stone to be presented to a grinding disc (Lap) at a series of fixed angles, each facet on a row is cut in turn at the same angle. then the head is adjusted to a new angle and the next series of facets cut. it can take about 3 - 4 hours for a beginner to cut a standard round brilliant of 57 facets on a 10mm gem stone. 

the reason for designing my own machine is the lack of suitable machines here in the UK, either second hand or new. they can be bought but new ones are about £1500 and you will need several hundred pounds in consumables on top of that.

Moldavite is essentially a volcanic green glass of a very similar colour to green beer bottle glass......and as practical as a gem. (i.e. NOT!) its cut for its rarity.

[Steve Kerswell]

now I know who to bring the swag to Dave :-)

[Dave Adams]

comparing corundum (Ruby) to diamond is like comparing a brass hack saw blade to a hardened steel hack saw blade. diamond is SO fast to cut with....it is staggering how quickly it grinds stone away......even Ruby or Sapphire........by the way they are the same stone......only Rubies are red all other colours are Sapphires (Including the pink Rubies they advertise these days.....they are pink sapphires not pink rubies.)

[James Doulton]

Is it my computer or have there really been no posts on here today at all?

[Adrian Southgate]

Nope, mines the same James.

[Paul Sheridan]

Cast your mind back 10 years,  at that time all three Dutton sites ( DOC board, Mr G's and Ning ) were used regularly and had a fair bit of traffic.  The main DOC site (old one) was used but a lot less frequently.     Gradually, over a few years the majority of people migrated here to Ning purely because for what ever reason it had become the central hub and you knew you could talk to some one.

The same thing has happened again, but this time there is an added bonus, the power of social media has given us a far wider audience and much better tools to contact people of the same inkling.  

Up until a few months ago, I had never been on Facebook, and was utterly against it, When Brian started the Dutton owners facebook page, I didnt give it a second thought.  But as my car had just hit the road, I was having problems in finding others to go out with, at the Knebworth show, my hunt to find a group of folk led me to a very nice couple, John and Jayne Chisnall who said they were involved in a kit car site on facebook and that is where I would find my answers.

So I bit the bullet and joined, and was astounded at just what I had been missing, I am now in contact with a vast range of like minded people to do with kit cars, I know more people who own Duttons than I ever did, along with owners of all sorts of other kits.

Things have a natural way of moving forward, and as much as I hate to admit it, this should be embraced and not feared.  

[Steve Kerswell]

I belong to several forums, not all car related, and this comes up a lot. Yes it seems Facache is killing the forums. I whole heartily agree with Paul. I have allowed myself a trial time on faceache to see what is, as a technical site its crap, just like this site, difficult to find threads etc. However for fun and the occasional wind up, its fun. I have been in contact with people I thought were way gone, and they thought the same as me. But as to the death of other forums, maybe it need a clean up, clean out, modernisation etc. DOC site is like a western gunslinger film, dust bowl, tumbleweed etc. I still like MR G's for reference, always have, find it the easiest to seek out history etc. 2 major surf sites have closed and gone facebook only. I believe certain Locost, Haynes sites are thinking the same.

[Big Vern]

The club and associated forums are going down hill in the same way that actual attendance at club events went down hill years ago. It has a lot to do with the people in the club. Maybe 'facebook' people feel they are less involved with the club and more a community to support the cars. Either way it still involves people and people are random. Don't use face-ache and never will - its just a data harvesting machine.

[James Doulton]

That is brilliant ... and pretty accurate!

[Steve Kerswell]

Top marks Graham, you get a gold star :-))