What did you do today? (2014)

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Clive,

Sacrilege putting a chicken/fowl/turkey carcass in the Tweeny.

Ours end up in the back garden, and the birds make quick work of picking it absolutely clean.

Leftovers disappear in short time, especially in winter with the Seagulls on food pathe Gulls on patrol. Throw some food out and they swoop down to gobble it up as soon as you are out of sight.

Cannot remember the last time I put food scraps in the bin.

Geoff – Blackbirds and Starlings always ready and waiting.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

The hunt was out yesterday. If you had uploaded the fox earlier I could have put him out for some excercise.

I put bones out by the rabbit hole. I know rabbits are veggy but the idea is that the fox learns to associate the rabbit area with food.
Waste chompers should be illegal as they discourage composting., well maybe in tower blocks it's ok.

Looking at the pile of bits I got at MEX and thinking £35 doesn't get much metal these days.

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Your'e right Bazyle £35 doesn't but much metal these days. I've just come back from the local branch of a well known rip off DIY suppliers who has a bright orange logo and I can confirm £200 doesn't buy much timber these days either.

As a retirement gift I was given a £200 voucher to spend, this was very well timed on behalf of my colleagues because I am in process of completely re- positioning everything in the workshop and making a new fitted workbench/cupboard unit to house my Mini lathe, Tool & Cutter grinder, Offhand Grinder linisher and my bench drill. I bought a new electric screwdriver and the rest of the timber came to £197. That should get me almost finished apart from there top which I intend to make from 7/8" ply with a 1/16" steel sheet topping. When finished I will post a few pictures.

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

I have used freezer spray on PCBs but it was not for cooling overheated components, a quick squirt in the right area would cause a failure due to contraction of the metal, perfect for locating cracks on the PCB tracks, dry soldered joints and faulty bonds in ICs and transistors. A little bit of preliminary diagnostic work was necessary to know where to squirt. All this would be familiar to the ancient millwright, he charged for knowing where to hit (and possibly how hard to hit it).

Dave

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

In North Vancouver it was illegal to put bins out until the morning of collection due to bear activity, so in the summer you'd need to keep 2 weeks worth of leftovers in the bin in the garage (= workshop!). Not something that would encourage workshop time. The Insinkerator was a handy appliance. I once got a large turkey carcass down it before it tripped the thermal cutout but they are almost bullet proof.

It wasn't all scaremongering either – the week before we moved out, the neighbours left their garage door open by mistake and their wheelie bin got emptied out all over the garage floor by one. Raccoons, coyotes or even cougars wouldn't have been able to do that. They quite often came down the street and ended up in houses, swimming pools etc. They rarely attack people, which is lucky as you can't outrun them or simply climb a tree.

The foxes in central Cambridge seem to be completely tame. I was sitting in a queue of traffic on Madingley Road a few years back when a fox walked along the pavement down the row of waiting cars, as cool as a cucumber. I could have reached out and touched it if I'd been in the passenger seat. Reynard!

Murray

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I would not advise touching a Fox, and if bitten you will get a serious infection on the bite site. A friend went to help a woman who had found a Fox in a snare and was trying to release it and he got bitten and so did the woman. The chaps arm came up like a rugby ball, the woman I dont know what happened. The chap was sick for weeks.

Bluntly, as they are vermin, clout it with a shovel and bury it, particularly urban Foxes as they become very tame.

One day they will take a baby, even now they will enter a house looking for shelter and food. There is a spate of Fox poisoning going on using meat laced with anti freeze but it is also getting cats. People are also using anti freeze in pond features so they dont freeze up and the cats etc drink from them.

Clive

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Cleared out under the sink and started to remove the Tweeny, its heavy and sitting down I had to lift it out. I dismantled the base where all the electric bits are and could see nothing burnt, the air tube operates the on/off switch OK as i can hear it clicking when operated. There is a big 50 micro farad can capacitor in there and its the motor start capacitor. The motor will run both ways as it will reverse direction if an object jams it up.

The faults shows as it will not start or it vibrates. Then after 2 or 3 tries will run. Any thoughts on this?

I now assume its that capacitor that is the trouble and hopefully I can get a new one from the makers. I have emailed and should get a reply in the morning.

Clive,

+PS. I can get a new one for £350

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Additional:- I can get a new Tweeny Mayfair for £350,

Clive

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Clive what's the voltage on the 50uf capacitor, it's probably just an ordinary start cap. Don't think it would cost more than a few pounds.

Ian S C

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> +PS. I can get a new one for £350

I hope that's one of the gold-and-ivory 50-farad caps for car hifi victims.

Neil

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Clive

CPC have 50uF capacitors for motors here .

Cheers

Martin

PS

Does it have a centrifugal switch to switch the start capacitor in and out of circuit and if so is this working properly?

Edited By Martin W on 15/12/2014 14:29:48

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

It does not appear to have a centrifugal switch? I am in touch with Tweeny as they have replied asking for the serial Number of the unit. Hopefully they will reply quickly.

Clive

[JohnFParticipant @johnf59703]

Hi Clive, I had a similar situation some time back with a motor on a compressor and the makers wanted a very high price , eventually I got one from Transwave Power Capciters who are the inverter drive people. Very helpful and it cost only a few pounds. No connection with them other than a customer.

John

Edited By JohnF on 15/12/2014 15:24:57

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I made my Dad's day. he called me today, and after sharing Warspite stories, he told me that he'd contacted the Vincent Owner's Cub trying to find out information about his series B Vincent HRD, sold when I was a nipper in the sixties They could only confirm that it hasn't been exported, but amazed him by finding out the reg no. of his A-series HRD and telling him it's still currently registered.

He bought the machine off a few blokes down on Barry Docks – they were cursing and failing to start it – apparently it kept bending valve push rods. He had an inkling of the problem. An offer of £15 saw it in the back of his Morris Minor. As he suspected, new valve seats had been fitted, but not cut back.

Sadly, my mum insisted it went with several other bikes, including a pair of Velocettes and a Rapide =:-0

So I just did a Google for the bike and found an article from a 1958 issue of the Vincent Owner's club newsletter, 'Founders Frolics'. The chap interviewed for his reminiscences had bought my Dad's 1936 A-series in 1945 in Derby. He part-exchanged it for a B-series in 1947 and commented "I wonder where they are now?". Well at the time my Dad had it, and its now 78 years old, a few years younger than my Dad.

Naturally Dad was overjoyed to find out a bit more of his bike's history.

If anyone knows the whereabouts of the A-series Vincent HRD, registration GWA273, I'd dearly love to know!

Neil

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

I'll ask a local chap, I know he sells a lot of Vincent parts, he races a Grey Flash replica in the Belgium TT (and wins, quite a lot I gather!)

[HowiParticipant @howi]

Completed my motorised Rotary Table, RT from Amadeal ( after a little kerfuffle over specs).

Nice table though, quite compact compared to some and very smooth manual operation, worm gear runs in oil bath.

Metal bits and Nema 23 stepper motor from eBay.

Controller bits from designer/eBay and was very easy to build and worked first time.

Controller is very well written up on a CNC forum and via designers web page.

some photos:-

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Just suffered some voluntary finger spasms when surfing the Cutwel website a few minutes ago. Order was dispatched within 10 minutes of said spasms. They promise free next day delivery before mid day for orders placed before 6pm. I'll be able to fiddle with these in my armchair tomorrow. Fast service!

Murray

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Thanks Russ,

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Shopping trip to Lidl, for assorted festive tuck …

also bought some thin 'Cutting Discs" for Metal at £7 for two boxes of twelve.

Parkside brand [Ref. PWSZ 125 B2]

125mm dia. x 1.2mm thick, and 22.23mm bore [or so they claim]

MichaelG.

.

Note: I haven't tried them yet, so don't take this as a recommendation.

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

Not really today as there is a lot to do but made a start on fitting out the workshop/garage.

When can you have too many sockets, so far aim is a dozen doubles but I may add some more, 8 doubles along the wall where bench and milling machines will go.

Need to add some storage so in the process of making up some racking at main door end 7ft x 2ft x 7ft high, bet it does not all fit or at least overflows inside 6 months ho hum

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Muzzer. Good luck with the cut well stuff if you bought cutting tips. We stopped using them at work as they shatter and chip really easy.

Cheap can be expensive as we say😜

Bri

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

A visit to the Aladin's cave that is Chronos wharehouse in Dunstable. I've not been to them in person since they were in St'Albans in a wooden shed.

[Clive FarrarParticipant @clivefarrar90441]

today if finished , by boring, the two top hat bushes that are going to repair the father in laws henderson up and over double door.

Whoever it was did the forum deal on phosphor bronze bar thank you SIR I only had to skim 2mm off the diameter to get the OD and only 30mm of stock length used to produce the two.

Now just got to weld the pivot pins in without damaging the bushes.

The originals were rivet peened over but i had to grind the lip off with a mini drill to get them out.

I guess repeated tack and cool is the way to go ??

Regards Clive

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Mmmm, the deeper I delve the worse it gets, the Start capacitor is not the culprit on the Tweeny. I am now at the stage of checking the armature itself and find that it is very stiff to turn and I can see muck inside the gap between the armature and the field coils. I am now considering taking it completely to pieces which will mean new bearings and anything else I find. More later. Its very heavy to lift out and in doing so I ricked my back as I had to sit down at the unit to get it out. I am really considering getting a new one.

Clive

[Brian StillParticipant @brianstill44962]

Hi Clive

I have repaired a couple of these in the distant past. I think you will find that the seals have allowed water etc. to reach the bearings. Not a pleasant job I recall. After repairing a couple of these I would always recommend a new unit to customers, although if you have the time and patience to do it yourself it would be most rewarding.

Brian

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