A day of drilling (by alaric)

Last Thursday, I had my safety induction for using the laser cutter at Bristol Hackspace, and as my test piece I laser-cut a name tag for Jean. She likes that sort of thing.

However, she requested that it have a hole in the corner, so she can attach it to her school bag. So today we went down to the workshop and I helped her to drill it out.

But I had more drilling to do. A friend asked me on Facebook how she could drill holes through pebbles. It just so happens that Sarah owns a set of diamond core drills, so I borrowed them and had a go, so that I could offer some advice.

I set the bit up in the column drill:

The challenge was in how to hold the stone still while it was being drilled. Irregular shapes are tricky to hold. First off, I tried a simple clamp:

The drilling has to happen under water, to help cool it and to wash away the dust that the stone turns into. I put some scraps of cardboard underneath so that I drilled into that once I was through the stone, rather than the bottom of my box, which would lead to it leaking all over my cluttered workbench:

As soon as the drill cut in, dust whooshed out into the water and made it impenetrably murky, so after a short drilling session, I took the stone out of the water to see what was happening:

It looked good so I tried again, but this time the stone pivoted in the clamp. I tried to clamp it back again but it wouldn't go back at the same angle and kept shifting, so I tried a new approach - gluing it to a piece of wood that was large enough to not be able to rotate inside the box, so I just needed to hold the box steady while drilling:

That worked quite well, but the vibration shook the stone loose after a while, and I had trouble with the wood wanting to float and the stone wanting to sink causing it to flip over in the water. so I glued it more thoroughly (making sure glue came over the side of the stone so it was held in place rather than just stuck in place), and glued a bit of scrap metal to the bottom to stop it floating over:

That worked; now the stone was steady, it was easy to press on all the way. I had to drill a millimetre then back out (with the drill still spinning) to clear the dust out into the water, then press on again. Progress was slow but steady, taking a few seconds to do each millimetre:

Once I felt it go through the bottom of the stone, I had no trouble in peeling the rubbery hot-melt glue back with my fingernails to free the stone. Job done:

So, to conclude:

• Use a column drill.
• Use a diamond core bit.
• Hold the stone steadily in something that conforms to its shape. An ideal technique might be to use something like Plasticene to firmly secure it to the bottom of the box before pouring the water in.
• Drill slowly, backing off to clean the bit every millimetre or so.

When I came back, Sarah was asleep on the sofa:

Aww!

Broken Mugs and Birthdays (by sarah)

So today is my 32nd meaning that I am the same age my mother was when she had me and that 16 was half a life time ago!

I've just had two school friends over for a couple of days and as always we talked of school, the bullies, the crushes, the arguments and so forth. Was school really half a life time ago? Was school only half a life time ago?

So much stuff has happened in that sixteen years and yet... and yet I feel pretty much exactly the same bar health issues which started around then anyway.

But in same ways I have changed - on seeing The Hobbit I can tell you how as well. I am Bilbo Baggins, I had a stronge adventurous streak in me when I was younger, I did climbing and archery and hiked through mud and went of to do a geology degree, had a stunt bike and never admitted that things phased me or scared me. I went off to London for Uni on my own even though the prospect was petrifying! On many different levels.

I liked doing stuff all the time, choir, gardening, caving, taking my friends on long rambling walks and designing dresses. But now everything feels more sedate and constrained. And the nearer I got to 30 the more ok that sort of life seemed. But then the last year as I was plunged into the world of festivals I began to hunger for it all but after the chaos of the last few years and the struggle to sort our lives out I found I didn't want things too busy and craved the stability of home. I also began to see just how lucky I was - after all the struggles and trials we have our home and it is a brilliant home and it is ours and even before that I had Al and the girls and my family and friends. Ok so health is missing but I suppose you can't have everything. I am in the middle of a mild flare up at the moment - I call it mild - it has persisted for a while and would be termed a set back by physios but really it is not. I know that if I am careful I can continue to be productive through it and look after my kids though the house may get messier.

It wont last more than a few weeks if I rest and then I will be up and at em in time for festival season starting.

One of the things that has led me to thinking about if I have changed though is that a) people tell me I haven't changed and b) the people who used to moan at me that I acted too grown up now moan that I am too immature and too me they have grown boring.

And too be honest I fear that boredom, that conventualism more than I fear the chaos. But I am scared of new things, and so this year y 32nd is about pushing my personal boundaries to stop me stagnating, to stop everything including the new skills I aquire from just becoming gears within the machine of existence.

During the Olymipics I felt a great sense of what I can achieve pour into me once more and though I know that my health is always going to put a spanner in the works, those leaks and breakages to the flow can be worked around. I thought on all I have achieved already and all that I feel is within my grasp and I sat and drew pictures - I filled a note book with them and have many more that wish to be drawn.

They are called The Inspira Pictures. This one is called Face Your Fears and is apt for my plans 🙂

Also I broke my Pocket Dragon birthday wishes mug which made me really sad but at the same time the search to replace it has shown me there are quiet a few designs out there still. The pocket dragon stuff isn't made anymore which is a real shame and I was really looking forward to using it over the weekend - for which I have gaming and film watching planned. I get quiet grumpy about m mugs and things which again has led me to the Hobbitness - the buttons also all popped off my coat :/ And I have hairy toes if I do not pluck, I am also rather... erm... short and if I thought I could get away with it would love to have second breakfast but alas the waist line is bad enough as it is!

This film was not The Hobbit as such - it was a mix and match across the books and alot more dramatic than the book with depths added that just weren't there. It is however a brilliant prequal to Lord of The Rings and made in that style. The Dwarfs however were alot more 'man' like than expected coughs with two cuties to boot! Though Oaken Shield really didn't need to look like a stocky Aragorn did he?

But Bilbo's sentiment at the end that he has a home, a lovely home and they don't and that is why he is helping them just reinforced my desire to help. Before Christmas I embarked on a mad cap scheme of trying to illustrate a book in like two weeks but with Christmas prep and the fact that not many people sponsored me I didn't make it but I am going to be working on this through the year now and hope to run some other events as well such as Creativi-Tea which I blog about later. I just can not take the thought of thousands of kids being homeless or in temp. accomidation so you will be hearing more and more about this!

So for now I am off to spend my birthday writing and drawing and baking cakes in prep for the weekend but here is the sponsor button just incase :).

Exercise and A Diet That’s Wise (by sarah)

Today whilst out for a walk we decided to pop into a Lidel and there we found a 7 quid exercise bar - we have been after one of these since we lived in the flat in Essex but it had some how never happened. So we fitted it - the above picture shows it took both of us! And yes Jean took the photo 🙂

We then all had a go on it - you are not seeing the photo of me trying as well - Alaric said it made me look bloated :/ I can not lift myself at all but just trying I think will help things. Also today is not a good day as anemia stuff if acting up and I've had a bit of set back with muscle spasms so am a bit weak at the moment.

On the other hand I am doing the Kinnect Adventures game each day - I earn a cloth badge a day and that is enough to get me very breathless and sweaty - this is great. The problem I've had before is that by the time I get anywhere to exercise I am shattered but this is I can just turn on and go!

The other restriction to one game (plus the warm up it makes you do) is that the pelvis still can't take prolonged amounts of strain. I am not seeing an improvement yet but then we are only five days in!

Food wise I am grumpy - as I was before Christmas - ever since they started giving me hormones in various ways to stop the bleeding I have been hungry. I mean hungry all the time. And I thought that it was because I was eating the wrong types of food etc... but no I am still hungry all the time. The only time I have ever experienced anything like it is during pregnancy and I suppose that is the problem the hormones are mimicking pregnancy.

Still the damn thing is coming out at the end of the month though god knows what will happen to the bleeding then but I really do not want one back in - it was fine whilst I thought that it had just slipped but to have it stuck... Anyway I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I am making sure I drink the 7 glasses of water a day having herbal tea etc... I also picked up some dried cherries and things today to have as a sweet snack as I'm down to only savoury seeds and things.

I made a lovely chick pea thing yesterday as part of my whole foods thing - not raw this time but whole food is good as it makes the body work to digest - of course raw does this more so but I hate cold food that's not salad or fruit or sweet things!

It does seem stupid though that I am having to use martial arts training to not scoff my face off. It probably wouldn't be such an issue if I was properlly mobile but I am not!

Oh well all I can do is try my best.

Child Benifit 0.o (by sarah)

Thankyou government for giving me a mini mental break down tonight - the issue is not that our Child Benefit is being taken away, as we no longer need it for food (which we have in the past) but more the complete lack of notice and the only reason we knew was a random thing on the radio sending me into a panic.

So now I have completely mis-budgeted for the year, feel like a complete waste of space, had a worse panic attack that I would be done for fraud as I have no idea what my this and that numbers are and there is now not time to find out.

Another issue is that I now can't afford the child care (that is already arranged) that I need to launch me back into the work space. Poor Jean overheard things and came down to ask if she would still be able to do Ju Jistu and the answer is I don't know.

Alaric has had to calm me down and help me with the form and site as it was the classic dyslexic's nightmare. Now I am sitting here with my decaf coffee, sense of nonentitlement and pain from yet another balls up nhs palava - a cardboard box has been destroyed whilst a string of bad words such as 'I hate F..... Politicians and cr.. how are x, y and z going to manage - they need it for their rent'

I have never before declared that I hate a section of society and this makes me feel bad and worse. 2013 was going well but to be honest tonight I feel like I've just had the rug pulled out from underneath me.

Resolutions, Goals and Hopes (by sarah)

2012 has seen a large number of first for me, from soldering, to poetry slams, to making my own cake toppers to us having our own house, I have gotten off of the crutches and walking sticks and faced a few medical hurdles. We have been to many amazing events and met some great people, had the ability to look back on the past few years and see just how surportive and lovely our friends have been.

2013 I hope doesn't compare to be honest! The year has been fun but intense and I just want to take things a little slower to enjoy them! I am hoping to sort some novels out to send off to publishers and get back to the writing and crafting which was starting to become impossible with the number of other things we were doing!

I also hope to become part of the Art Evolved (dinosaur drawing group), Friday Flash (flash fiction writers) and the Scifi Chatters once more as I've sort of slipped off the radar since having Mary which is almost 2 yrs ago now!

This leads me on to goals:

1) Get stuff published by publishers ( I got a few flash fictions published last year but that was it)

2) Publish and sort previously stuff myself

3) Sell stuff on Etsy et al

4) Make more Art

5) Sort my blogs and websites out!

Resolutions:

1) become healthier - this means exercise and no cake testing! I've found that the medical stuff last year kept setting me back but I still managed to get going with the belly dancing and walking - and now with the X-box Connect I can do stuff on my own as fun games as well 🙂 Food wise I am cutting out sugar and caffine and pizza is restricted to half term outings unless homemade from scratch - holidays and parties don't count you see! I want to chomp on more whole raw foods to help keep the diabetes at bay. So more cooking of the savoury (low salt and fat).

2) To be more organised! Yes I know I am me but I've got to at least try!

3) To learn a new skill once a season and learn/try something new everyday

Ontop of these we are going to be spending large chunks of time on the house and finishing off old projects 🙂 And just being a family and having friends round etc... I am looking forward to getting the garden in shape and hopefully passing my driving test.

The guitar must be practiced daily 🙂

Happy New Year Everybody!