Finishing Stages of the Individual Work

Sound Script

I had placed plenty of thought for the content of the script and it had taken many takes before I gave the final piece to the group. The target audience was aimed for all members of a family therefore I did not want to go into the mechanics because many children would not know what or care about the mechanics of a crankshaft. The soundtrack consisted of an introduction, middle and end under the principles of What, How, and Why.

I must say that I was shocked to realise that it sections out as it was a short piece. I had not realised it had been cut until the week prior to the presentation so at this stage I really was becoming disheartened and confidence was diminishing fast. The sound file will be included with my files.

The other source of frustration was the sound I had spent many hours finding noises which related to the mines and emailed them to the group and yet none were used but aliens had landed in the piece instead.

This was brought up in my view of the assembled piece but I was over ruled on my dislike of the accompanying sound. I felt that the sound needed to be more in keeping with the subject and that period of time for the sound piece to contribute to the model.

Meeting On the Day of the Presentation

I was not looking forward to this, but I had worked on my part of the presentation the day before trying to get it word perfect because I did not want to let anyone down.

The agreement was to meet in Room C26 at 11-00 so that we could do the last dummy run and then load the presentation onto the computer at 12-00 in readiness for the presentation.

This did not happen I was running around the library trying to find other members for over half an hour and eventually found them in one of the computer rooms upstairs. The dummy run needless to say never happened and apparently the model had broken apart or something so they had redone something to do with the video/animation I did not get to know what had been changed.

Therefore my dread and anxiety had been heightened and to be honest I had died inside. I was a spare part seen but not heard.

Presentation

The model for the simplistic view of its mechanics had lost its definition and I felt that the content of my spiel was irrelevant and incomprehensive because I was trying to describe sections that had turned into a mass of white blur.

There was no point in me mentioning how it worked when nobody could see what I was talking about therefore it could be heard that I was becoming disengaged and I had to force myself to continue. This was not a pleasurable experience.

The rest of the team spoke very well with confidence and conviction.

The overall model build was reasonable; the difficulties experienced in the animation could have been eased if all members had been involved with the process.

The machine was out of sync and certain elements of the animation were not moving when they should have been. It was a brave attempt but it was incorrect.

I feel that time is not an issue when producing anything within reason because in the workplace tight deadlines are the norm and often in my last place of work I would be programming through the night at my place of work and still have to work the next day especially when new software was running in parallel.

I feel that light is not an issue because if you were demonstrating in a clients workplace you would not know their lighting arrangements and this would be something to address in the creative stages.

We were reminded about how we should render but it had fallen on deaf ears.

All in all I liked the mixture of personalities within the group, but never felt that I had been accepted.

Reflection

I thoroughly enjoyed the modelling but did not enjoy group work as it does not reflect for me a true workplace experience. My modelling is improving but I do have a long way to go.

I can see the point of groups and why it is part of the learning process but some of the students even at this stage have not grown to share, communicate or accept the tasks and work necessary for a team to work as one.

Steve Smiths - email account of the Environment at Bedwas

Hi

You are really pushing my memory cells this time.

Bedwas coke works was located next to the Bedwas colliery. Upon Nationalisation in 1947, the coke oven site remained as a private company and traded under the name of British Benzole and Coal Distillation Ltd if my memory serves me. It was one of two plants, the other I think was Randolph in Barnsley.
The Bedwas plant specialised in the manufacture of Foundry coke, that is special coke suitable for the production of iron castings and the coke was made from selected coals to give a large coke of nominally 4 inch and larger cubes. Bedwas coal was ideal hence why the site was build there in the first place. Interestingly the work force belonged to the NUM cokemans' area, the same branch of the NUM as our guys at Caerphilly Tar Plant. Towards the end it was purchased by the Coalite coke and chemical works at Bolsover in Derbyshire.

In the early 1950's there was a large NCB rebuilding program where several older coke works were shut, and two new ones were built and the other extended.

Prior to the Second World War tar distillation was also centralised at a new green field works at Caerphilly and smaller tar works closed at many of the coke works including Bedwas.

So the Bedwas site was quite old by NCB standards and little investment carried out especially from the 1950's. The only significant change I can remember is when natural gas arrived and all the coke works had to find new markets for their coke oven gas. Nantgarw, Cwm and Coedely combined and built a new gas pipeline to serve the East Glamorgan hospital, the Treforest Trading Estate power station and a light bulb factory. On the other hand Bedwas coke works and Caerphilly tar plant got together and a pipeline was built to supply Caerphilly with gas right up to the end.

Now regarding the pump, 26900 was sited on a plinth within a bunded tank farm containing the coal tar storage tanks. Most sites in South Wales are built on sloping ground with the front above ground level and the back cut into the hill side. The tanks were 30 feet by 9 feet diameter and I believe there were several in the tank farm at least 4 although only one was in regular use at the end. The floor of the tank farm was mainly below ground level, but the tanks elevated by several feet so that the pump suction pipe was always full of tar. The plinth was about 3 feet above floor level and 26900 was placed on the plinth. This plinth was reached by a metal walk way from the out side of the bund. The delivery pipe then run up and over the wall to end in a vertical delivery pipe originally for loading straight into rail tanks for transfer to Caerphilly. In the mid 1960's and the Beeching era, the direct line from Bedwas to Caerphilly was shut, along with the loco and carriage works at Caerphilly so the only rail route was the long way round, that is from Bedwas to Newport, then Cardiff then back up the valleys to Caerphilly via Radyr. About 30 miles at least compared to 3 miles by road - no contest! The track was concreted over and used by road vehicles from that time to closure. About 3 loads per week, say 55 tonnes of coal tar/week

The pump was regarded as too small for loading purposes and often it took over 2 hours to load 18 tonnes; not a popular trip for the drivers. The pump was out in the open although there were a few asbestos sheets on a steel frame over the top to keep the rain off. I gather in very cold weather it took ages to get the steam through to the pump and to warm it up to start the tar flowing! So I'm afraid the facilities were basic to say the least, all manually controlled. At least at Caerphilly the pumps were inside a brick building.

The pump was rescued by myself in 1987 for the sum of £10. It was in a filthy state and well worn, but as it was my first rotative steam pump that I acquired and the first to be restored I still have a soft spot for it. I can distinctly remember this day as the works had been shut for over 3 months by now and the bund was full of water to a depth of about 3 feet, so the only way I could dismantle the pump was to find an empty oil drum, carefully sink it on its end adjacent to the plinth, and then by tying string to my spanners (incase I dropped them into the dirty water) I stood on the drum to undo all the fixing bolts and I still got wet feet!

I apologise if I go on a bit but it's nice for someone to actually ask about these details. The 1950's to 1970's were a fascinating period in our industrial history and 'easy to take' photography was simply not available in those days.

Please do not hesitate to ask if you require any further info.

Meanwhile over the week end I have taken more photos. Please delete them if you do not need them. The Pickering Governor at the Museum is the larger version, too big for 26900. The attached photos are of an unrestored governor, sizes 3/4 inch which would have been used on this size of pump.

Photos are 3/4 inch Pickering Governor Nos. 3076 to 3083

Pump chassis another one waiting to be cleaned but one can see how the two cylinders, crank shaft and bearings drop into place. Nos 3085 to 3088

Various photos of another similar pump that I have just finished restoring, photos 3089 to 94 without the flywheel and 3095 to 3101 with the flywheel


Again sorry if I've rambled on a bit

Regards Steve

Individual Work for the Museum of Power Project

Comments on the Initial Presentation

A meeting had been arranged and well attended in readiness for the presentation but in hindsight it became apparent that the team at this point lacked cohesion. This was magnified by each member who formed the team.

The delivery of content by the team had not been discussed in a clean cut way and this showed in the presentation.

The content was fair but it was poor in the way it was delivered.

The team need to communicate more not necessarily in meetings but by email or telephone we lack communication skills. Each member of the team have super personalities and have a passion for getting the job done and show great expertise in various ways but emails are sent and not given any reply. A question sent is not answered or attachments are not attached but mentioned in the email and I find this frustrating.


SWOT DIAGRAM

Initial Stages for the Group Project

The first part of this journey once the groups had been allocated was to visit the “Museum of Power” while it was still open so I could get an initial preview, because experience has taught me that one visit is rarely enough when you are still learning the trade.

My sense of direction is appalling so I allowed myself plenty of time to find my destination and yes I did get lost and it took me an hour and a half to find!

On entry into the complex I was taken by the surrounding fauna and flora it was stunning and I would have quite happily set up a tent and lived there for evermore.

After entering a quaint doorway I came across a gentleman called Bernard and after a brief conversation learnt that he worked in the building keeping a watchful eye over the machines and visitors. He was polite, courteous and extremely helpful permitting me to enter the cage so that I could take better images to the point that he showed me where to turn off the machines if I should desire to do so.

I was there for over 4 hours because at that stage I felt it was necessary to provide the group with as many pictures as possible so that an informed collective agreement could be reached.

Meeting (reference the group blog)

Kevin and I showed our images to the group and after some deliberation the group decided to go with the “Joseph Evans Reliable Steam Pump Nos 26900” and that I could do the “Governor”.

Then both these items would be connected together prior to the animation.

Decisions made at the Presentation

On the presentation day Daniel and I decided to forget the Governor and concentrate on the selected pump due to the time constraints. During the questions and answers session Joe Bowman agreed that to try and create the “Governor” would be unwise.

That day I was told by Daniel that I would do the front of the machine and he the back of the machine so with the casement we would slice it horizontally. Everything was set but a fair amount of research needed to be done to get a sense of the type of environment where the machine would have been operated .

Reallocation of Work

This did upset me I know I am not the best model maker in the world, but I had never felt confident with the software until I had worked on the face. The face was not good but the outcome encouraged me to have a go and explore more avenues.

In the workplace people are given extra bits or various areas are taken away but that is usually down to resource management or changes in the specification and normally you are informed of the process. I had done the casement so I will display it later. It is not a work of art but it is an improvement on past creations with 3D Max.

Research Techniques

I allocated myself two weeks to complete the research as now I had only the two arms and wheels to do at the front of the engine. The more information I could retrieve for the group the better and hopefully it would provide for a realistic setting as Tom is a whiz with his textures and scene creation.

Objectives

• Gain general information about the model
• To try an find either patents or perhaps engineering reports on the model
• Contact the email offered at the museum on their descriptive cards by machines
• Contact Joseph Evans & Sons (engineering) in Wolverhampton
• Make contact with the miners forum on the Bedwas Navigation Centre
• Re-visit the “Museum of Power” to create more images of the selected model both working and stationary

Research

Internet

History of the Bedwas site between start up and 1980

Initial Plan of Bedwas Colliery in 1913

Search for references connected to the Bedwas Colliery

http://www.bedwascolliery.co.uk/Welcome.html - Bedwas Navigation Colliery
http://www.bedwascolliery.co.uk/Bryngwyn.html
http://www.bedwascolliery.co.uk/Trethomas%20Plant.html - British Benzole Plant

The new plant opened in 1929 next to Bedwas colliery with 35 coke ovens. Apart from producing coke, the plant supplied Newport with nearly all its total need for gas - 7 million cubic feet per week.

The Plant cost less than £300,000 to build in 1929 and achieved its record annual profit of just over this sum in 1977. The record output for coke was 214,000 tons in 1937.

To overcome its high ash content, the Plant actually imported coal from Risca and Windsor Collieries to blend with the Bedwas supplies

During its existence, the tall brick chimney and the huge clouds of steam generated every 30 minutes dominated the Bedwas and Trethomas district.

Other links to the Bedwas

http://www.bedwascolliery.co.uk/Links%20page.html - Helped to get the feel of the working environment.
http://freespace.virgin.net/david.harris9/index.htm - another way to bedwas navigation page

Images from the Bedwas Colliery

Research the Model

Find information about this model of steam pump was particularly difficult but I managed to find an early patent from “Google Patents” there were other patents in the Europe patent office where they would mention the patent and the inventor as having submitted details about the model but none was recorded after they were submitted and can only assume they had been lost or that they did not go through the whole patency procedure.

The patent I did get hold of was classed as “an improvement to the Joseph Evans Steam Pump” submitted by Joseph Evans himself.

The other patent was sent to me by Steve Smith the gentleman who owns the model we are modelling. He rescued the model from the Bedwas Colliery. This will be placed at the back of the submitted piece.

British Benzole Plant produced many patents such as “Fly Wheels” and “Hoisting Equipment” and a host of many other devices to do with the industry and chemicals such as Tar and Oil.

I do wonder if Joseph Evans worked for the British Benzole Plant prior to owning his own business because there are patents connected with this firm and Joseph Evans on other patents

Early Patent from the 1800's

Improved Steam Pump

Another Patent Early 1940

Final Part of the Research

Lastly I needed to return to the “Museum of Power” to get closer shots of the engine so far I have made three visits this will be my fourth.

Now the museum is closed so I will have to book an appointment to see if I can get the job right this time.
I also need to take a closer look at the mechanism ready for the animation so we as a group can get the timing right and keep everything in synchronisation.

This visit was the most fruitful as there was an engineer present servicing the engines and he was a minefield of information.

The manager was a lovely woman, who was very obliging and allowed me free access to everything, it was much better. It was like me owning my own toy shop with one member access only me – lovely.

Once again tons of images were taken and finally I have the icing on the cake

• Photographs – rear, front, top and side views – (Taken 2nd visit)
• The videos for automation (taken 3rd visit)
• Close up shots for each members section of engine (Taken 4th visit)


Steve Smith

A very genuine and helpful source of information who provided pictures, sketches of the environment and literal information. These will be placed at the in the back of my blog hand in.

Joseph Evans and Sons (Wolverhampton) Engineers

http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/Engineering/Evans/evans01.htm

I had the opportunity to speak to Mr Evans (owner) who was a very informative and helpful person. He spoke non-stop for about 2 hours and spoke without hesitation so I was not able to jot down everything but I did get the necessary sections.

He was very excited that we were modelling one of the earlier machines and went into great detail about the benefits of Sketch up Pro before asking me what software would be used to create the model.

He then explained about the importance of lining up the model prior to animation otherwise he stated that it would not work.

He even offered to come and visit me at the museum, but I refrained from the offer because Wolverhampton is quite a distance away and did not want to be a burden to him as I am sure his work schedule would be heavy running his business.

A Collection of some Close Up Images from My Last Visit

Creating the Model

The Casement

This was a great shape for me to learn about Boolean so for this model that was going to be my challenge.

I started with a box with lots of segments, used “editable poly”. Another box was created to go inside the previous box and then I used “Compound Boolean” and then Boolean subtract and lastly I picked the ‘B’ operand.

Initially I found that I was doing it the wrong way round and on completion I was left with the second box but it worked out alright in the end.

Then I create a box for the base of the case and used the “editable poly” modifier and used the Boolean operation ‘Union” and lastly the ‘B operand ‘. Throughout the creation of the casement I used the compound Boolean. I also modelled the shape by moving the vertices.

For the screws base I used a spline shape and then the extrude function and for the top of the screw I used the ‘Helix’ and then the extrude modifier.

The “pump eccentric” was created using circles, editable poly and then shaped by moving the vertices.

I can honestly say I am beginning to enjoy Max whereas before it was painful. I only wish we had done the face in the second year.

The most difficult part moving around the model, I am just getting into the mode of using all the viewports rather than just keeping to front or left viewport.

Front-End of the Pump

4th Time in Starting the Model

Stage 1_2

This area had been incorrect on previous versions, where I had managed to get the centre of the wheel crooked. This happened because I had the image to close to the model but this time it looks even and straight.

Stage 3 - Creating and Building Accessories for the Middle Wheel

These extra bits were done in the earlier versions and for once I had saved them. These were connected to the centre piece using the Boolean operation.

The boxes at the top were easy as were the nuts because Max provides those shapes. The difficult area for this section was the ledge at the side. Instead of selecting the polygons from the wheel and pulling them up I in my infinite wisdom had used the ledge selected the vertices and moved them down, but I got there in the end and it looked reasonable. The short arm wheel box ledge is more realistic than the long tool wheel.

Stage 4_5 - Adding the centre wheel and Applying the Pump Eccentric

The pump eccentrics should have been easy because of their shape, but I managed to get into difficulty with the lid. The original idea was to have the lid animated, but I could not see how to open the lid once the hinge was attached.

Once attached at the hinge It would not open so I unattached them to make it easier for the animation (which later was not to be done). The base of some of the buckets had become distorted and lacked depth and I really don’t know where this happened.

Stage 6_7 – Applying the Accessories to the Other Wheel

This section was much easier finally I had learnt from the long arm wheel experience.

Stage 8_9 - The Other Wheel and its Add-Ons

Building the extras on the other wheel became easier as I went along. I brought the wheels closer together so I could line up the top accessories of the wheel.

Stage 9 - Short Arm

The short wheel arm was not to be a copy of the long arm they did differ slightly at the end. The hardest parts were the end sections of the arms. The short arm was created using three boxes and put together using the compound Boolean. The short arm was not attached at the wheel because I did not have the case to line it up against and I realised the importance of trying to get all components in line from my discussion with Joseph Evans & Sons descendent.

Stage 11- Short Arm Development

Once again the tube is not attached at the moment it is just in place. The three components in the left view were created using the doughnut shapes. Personally I feel that this was the most proficient section of the whole modelling experience.

Final Piece

The only piece missing is the tube (piston rod) which runs from the cylinder and is connected to the short arm section. I have many spare parts in my creation which I have frozen out.

The last tube cannot be done because I do not know the dimensions of the other case and it will be easier to attach when all the components for the model are collectively brought together.

Complimentary Sections of the Build Process









I really enjoyed modelling this shape and have gained plenty of experience along the way. I need to be more logical in my thought process when before I dive into manipulation of shapes.

Prior to this course I have never actually looked at an object and noticed the patterns of a creation and it is this area I feel causes me problems but this is improving as the course progresses.