Or, squint your eyes nearly closed, or nake a tiny peephole between two fingers.

Well doing this sure got my wife to look at me with a confused and defeated expression on her face. Her I am trying all your suggestions and I can only imagine just how I look from her point of view... :)

She says it must be that " Manication " thing again...:o

James

:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(

Attachment 9056

Kobus, is this another eye test? It doesn't look like a model that was ever of interest to us MM builders.

Sorry I am to shaken to talk much, but this WAS a Gecko 202..could not afford the 203's back then.

Oh, the 202 . . . . that was simply a 201 with an internal capacitor. We also used a few, but I wouldn't loose any tears over it.

What happened to the Gecko? Maybe you could repair it?

Ah, you were announcing that one of your own Gecko's had died . . . . I thought you announced that a model was being discontinued.

Yeah, the Gecko's do die. (We are up to about the 5th mortality already). The company will repair once (if repairable) and ship back for free, but you need to ship to them at own expense.

One day we will put all our dead Gecko's in a box and send them back together.

PS. the G203's also die.

Kobus will send you the the package later with a tracking number sorting out the workshop quickly.

Thanks Hennie.

Heath, I notice old BBB starting to cut badly on Saturday afternoon. Circles were not round..a lot of SHUDDER on the edges of the cut. I thought of loose pinions, but then I checked the movements by jogging up and down and noticed the X-Axis shuddering.....This meant one thing to me...only one stepper driving.

After a short faultfinding session I pinpoint it to the Gecko. This is the nice thing if you have build it yourself...you can fix it yourself.

Kobus, some older geckos had connector problems. See if you can get a new set of connectors to plug over the gecko's pins. (Unless you have already opened the gecko and see burn marks inside)

I have read about connector problems before, but I have connected that faulty Gecko onto the other X-axis connectors and vise versa. I am sure it is not the connector.
Had a look at PC-board, but no burn marks. LED is on. Still to check the opto-isolator chip on the socket...this is where the control signals come into the board.

Investigation at work under the Electronic microscope revealed this on the PC board. Sometime in the past it got wet. The rust grew and grew I suppose.
Not a Gecko problem...manmade problem.

Attachment 9081

That looks repairable. How about calling Greg at CNCDirect and asking his advice?

POOL Table
 

Finished another Hall Table (top from MINGERhout ..Mtumi) and varnished the Blackwood made previsouly with 2K car lacquer. This NARROW one fits perfectly in a normal house hall.

Attachment 9171

Attachment 9172

Looks wonderful as always Kobus.

Well done.

Jayson.

Nice work!
Can not really see from the pix, I always wonder how those 2K varnish will look like on wood. Do you have to apply any base coat before the 2K's?

It is common to use catalyst (2k) lacquer for wood in factories. However automotive and wood lacquer are two totally different products and should be used for the appropriate application as they have different properties.

The advantage of using catalyst lacquer is that subsequent coats do not dissolve the previous coats, so it is quicker and easier to fill the grain. A more environmentally friendly water based lacquer is also available but I don't have any experience in using it.

DIY poly urethane or enamel paint takes at least 24 hours to dry, so a paint job can take several days to apply multiple coats.

Using oil offers no protection against moisture. In addition it attracts dust and gives off on clothes. It is also (nearly) impossible to apply lacquer on an oiled surface later.

If you use sanding sealer, it "sinks" every time you apply a subsequent coat as it dissolves the previous coats so it requires more coats and more elbow grease. Sanding sealer does not protect the wood against moisture or UV.

Sand the raw wood with 60 grit cabinet paper, then fill all the small imperfections with stopping and then sand with 220 grit free-coat paper (the white one). Be careful not to use an orbital sander on raw wood, as it leaves little "worms" on the wood. This is caused by the heat of the sanding process that melts the resin in the wood and then sticking the goo and grit to the sanding paper. A belt sander (always with the grain) finished by a light sand by hand provides the best results.

You cannot prepare the surface too much!

If staining is required, it should be done at this stage. Stain livens up the wood and gives a nicer appearance. Spirit (methanol) stain gives better results than water based stains. Stain is just colour, it offers no protection whatsoever.

Then I apply a liberal coat of lacquer, let it dry properly, sand it with an orbital sander with 220 grit to create a nice, level surface. Build up the coats (usually 3 or 4) to get a nice, even finish. If you discover any small imperfection, use a drop of catalyst lacquer to fill it up. This method is cheaper than applying coat after coat to try and fill th elittle hole. It is advisable to sand the second last coat with 360 or even 1000 W/D with water to create a nice finish, specially if it is a quality piece of furniture.

Use a high pressure spray gun. You can use a low pressure gun or a brush, but the finish will not be as good as the high pressure gun atomises the lacquer into small droplets and gives a nice fan. Over spray 50% to ensure all areas are properly covered.

I buy Turbobright from Technipaint in Denver. It is available in clear or tinted (for MDF) in matt, satin or gloss. Thin with lacquer thinners (also available from Technipaint) The stuff is water resistant. Satin is the most forgiving finish as matt is very "dead" and gloss shows every little mark and finger print.

For maintaining the surface, beware of spray polishes. They contain silicone which causes fish eyes if you try to restore the item later on. A waxed based (Cobra) polish works best and a little elbow grease (available at your local bike shop) is sufficient.

Make sure you follow the instructions and use a respirator in an adequately ventilated area.

Wow so much info, my head is still spinning. I have oiled the piece with boiled Lynseed oil a while ago to bring the colour out. I then gave it a light sanding 3 weeks later and applied the 2k (mix 2:1) with my cheap little 24litre Makro (shop) compressor and R 240.00 spray gun. The guy that sold me the 2k also had his ideas that the 2k will not stick to the oiled surface, but so far it looks like it is holding on well.
I gave it a couple of shots, let it dry overnight and then used one of those 3M pads and the garden hose to wipe it down. This removed all the little upstanding pieces. I dried it and gave it the final coat of 2k. It is as smooth as a babies bum.

Kobus is becoming quite the expert in making nice stuff. He will have to start teaching the rest of us soon.
Excellent job Kobus.

Kobus, that is a nice table. Is it me or is tile flooring really popular is SA? You guys really seem to have tile everywhere. Halls, living room, poolside,......

Hi Marius, glad to see you are still around.. What have you cut lately ? Show some pic's.

Making nice things is only possible if you have nice REAL wood to work with. This Mtumi is now the first piece I used...have been lying in my workshop for more than 3 years. Up to now I was afraid to use it in case I stuff it up. From now on I will use it more as confidence builds up and I know what I want to make.

Heath, tiles over here is very popular in houses I suppose.....Good for summer but VERY cold in winter. All the floors in the house is tiled apart from the bedrooms that have carpet.

I like my POOL table...must make some of those long sticks to play the balls with...

We put in floor heating under our tile floor here for the winter. They stay nice and toasty on the feet. All our heating in our house in in floor. Very nice. You need good heating in Canada. I think I could last through one of your winters quite nicely..... :)

Ugly table ...Said the wife
 

Today way a nice holiday at home. Made some 100mm Sq turned leggs with 8 flutes...one left-hand direction and one right-hand direction. Thought I would be BRAVE and do something else....The BOSS said outright....it's UGLY :o

Well with some stain and varnish it might become something.

Attachment 9191

I'll bring you some stain and lacquer on Saturday.

Kobus make another one looking the same get some glass 1000 x 700 as a top and use some of Jan`s stain and see what the wife has to say then.

Kobus, you do some excellent work. Those tables are beautiful. Wish I had an indexer now.

Kobus,
We had to close shop and are busy moving at the moment so no time to cut until I have built a new shop.
I am picking fruit from the same tree as you at the moment.

The first never is the best.

Like when courting a woman, you need more attempts until she falls in love :)

On reflection, when I think of examples of various turned columns, those with uniform diameters all seem pretty "masculine"; those with tapers or bulges become more "balanced" or in some cases "feminine". Maybe that has something to do with the reaction? That piece does sort of scream "courthouse" or "Men's Den/Library". "Solid" "Stout" "Powerful" "Squat" etc.

Quite a contrast with the "Svelte" tapered legs on the table above.

They are pretty cool, though.