Member postings for Danny M2Z

So what ISO standard applies to left handed screwdrivers?

I am not joking, one can buy one here Cromwell Tools

* Danny M *

I saw a TV advertisment today for the local TAFE (Technical And Further Education) establishment in my nearby town of Wodonga.

As the place has some nice machinery I have been considering whether to sign up for a course.

Imagine my dismay when the ad showed a young person operating a running lathe without any eye protection or even a chuck guard.

So I attempted to contact the TAFE via their website ("Contact Us" to register my dismay and my message was rejected by their server.

This is the message that I attempted to send, I kept it for when I visit the place personally.

I noticed your TV advertisment today (#9 Go) showing a young person operating a lathe without eye protection. Not only is this a bad practice it is also contrary to OH&S regulations and a terrible example to present to the public.

Whomever supervised this advertisment requires either re-training or replacement.

Please edit or delete the advertisment in question.

* Danny *

All the required boxes were ticked re: contact details etc so it appears that a trip into town is on the agenda.

I wonder how many layers of red tape and petty bureaucracy I have to jump through to get the message through?

* Danny M *

Here are a few before and after photos taken from my verandah. The trout was from a few years ago. - After, still from the same location but just taken a few days ago.

This forum is not the place to talk politics, it's about Model Engineering. There are probably a lot of places online for people so inclined to discuss the whys and wherefores of what is happening.

My immediate problem is how to help the victims.

Managed to score/beg a heap of board games and packs of cards (from local business's that I shop at) which went down very well at the local evacuation center, As I learned in the Australian Army, people get bored just sitting around doing nothing.

There is a bit of a lull at the moment so warnings are being downgraded a little but things are set to get a bit warmer later this week.

TV showed a map of the fires in Vic and overlaid it with a map of Belgium which fitted in easily.

Still rather live here than in Belgium though (I have been there). Terrible beer!

* Danny M *

XD 351 and the rest of the respondents. Thanks for your support and well wishes.

Getting used to the vagaries of nature in this part of the world so not a real hassle on a personal basis but I feel for the people have lost everything, including their lives. The stock and wildlife losses are horrendous.

Here is a linky to the local Vic warning map Vic emergency warnings

At least I know that my smoke detectors work. They normally only activate if I am brazing in the workshop. Now they activate if a door is left open

Was talking to my neighbour and we both decided that our fishing gear should be evacuated - Never caught a smoked trout before.

Off to the Bonegilla evacuation centre to see if they need a hand. 43°C at the moment so getting warm.

As Ned Kelly said (just before the trapdoor opened) - "Such is life"

* Danny M *

Today I got my fire plan ready. All important docos and stuff packed and ready to go.

Visited neighbours and we decided on a course of action. Luckily we are next to the lake so smoke is the biggest worry. House and workshop are replaceable, so we got pumps and hoses tested and selected cotton clothing and decent boots and gloves laid out.. Surrounding grass/stubble mowed to the bare earth. gutters cleaned and generators tested.

Tomorrow is forecast 46°C/115°F and windy so it's going to be a bad day for this part of Australia.

I included a map, X marks our little town.

* Danny M *

The virus collection was archived from when I worked as an IT specialist.

They were used to test the accuracy and speed of various anti-viral products and dis-assembled to gain an understanding of their logic.

Part of one report that I wrote emphasised that the delivery mechanism (getting it into a victim's system) was the weak link and isolation coupled with education was recommended, including a total ban of people bringing media onto the sites.

Interestingly enough, NONE of the commercial a/v products had a 100% success rate and many gave false positives.

About 120 CD's read and backed up so far, some well over 20 years old with only a few CRC errors on one or two. The new box shall never be allowed online or even networked.

* Danny M *

As mentioned in the Win 10 thread, I just built a new (old) Win XP PC, partly for the fun of it but mainly to archive a few hundred CD's and floppy discs to an SSD drive for posterity but also to de-clutter a book rack.

Some of this data is important to me such as my first ever email (1996) - trivial to most people and also my first pcb design from 1979.

An old collection of computer virii (about 174,600) with their disassembly notes and fingerprints might be of value to historians one day. The original 'marijuana/paki' virus still lives on a 5,25 floppy from 1989.

So my problem is: How does one archive such data to last such that future generations might access what we were up to in our time?

Floppy disc's and CD's are already obsolete, SSD's are maybe headed the same way and as for the 'cloud', this just means storing one's data on somebody else's computer (not really comfortable with that)!

Too much info to chisel into stone, still have the old DOS 3 boxes to interrogate and then my 1983 Z-80 which still manages to boot up and talk through it's serial port.

So what's the best way to archive all this data so that it it might be readable to future generations?

* Danny M *

I just managed to rebuild a nice P4 2.7 GHz machine using a few spare 120Gb hard discs that have been stored for over 10 years.

Using the original Windows XP CD's and activation codes the Microsoft employee (phone Asia for dumb help) told me to upgrade to win 10 as support for Win XP is discontinued,..... Not much help there, even though I paid for the software! I don't want support, I just want to run the software that I paid good money for! Maybe a refund would be nice?

As I am running dedicated engine diagnostic software that does not work with Win 10 and it works very well with Win XP (even uses serial port) then then I was forced to go online and find a hack for this problem.

Apparently I am not alone, just search for 'activating windows xp'

* Danny M *

This is what I use for finishing some fly heads. Many grades available for various uses. LOON UV cure resin

For cheaper stuff search for surfboard repair UV cure.

* Danny M *

Thank you Neil.

Fondest regards from down-under.

* Danny M *

Our local telco just upgraded their network to 5G so my friend is receiving a new Samsung for her Xmas prezzy. Not cheap though!

5G comes to Albury/Wodonga

* Danny M *

So why do the M.E's get all the amplifier jobs?

Here is my latest, a Marshall Valvestate 2000 that blew the output FET's when it was placed in front of a flexible plastic screen that got sucked into the twin fans at the rear (at least that's what my detective work deduced).

The replacement 100W FET amplifiers arrived promptly from the USA but the owner was required to sign a declaration that the parts were for repair only and not to be re-exported to a 3rd country???

As the owner is a good mate who does gigs for extra income I took on the job but no more amplifiers please, I want to play with my lathe.

In deference to Marshall, at least they had the decency to place the circuit diagrams online (well somebody did) and there is a forum dedicated to these amplifiers.

* Danny M *

Edited By Danny M2Z on 04/12/2019 04:46:56

Posted by john fletcher 1 on 03/12/2019 17:24:04:

While playing with my new digital torque wrench I realised that trying to measure the undo torque of a previously installed bolt was a waste of time in many cases as the bolt suddenly lets go with an audible crack.

I am sure that I am not the first person to have noticed that bolts that have been installed (usually during manufacture) are reluctant to let go and when they do it is often with a 'crack'.

Inspection usually reveals no trace of thread sealant but I did notice that often the bolt is steel and the body is an aluminium alloy such as an engine cylinder head.

So why do we have to crack a bolt ?

* Danny M *

Brass cartridge cases work harden in the neck area after firing expands them and neck resizing with a precision die squeezes them back enough to grip a new projectile. A lot depends on the chamber dimensions.

If this problem is not addressed the useful life of the case is reduced and split necks are usually the end result.

Annealing the necks with a propane torch with the case standing in a tray of water reaching almost to the shoulder means that the heat does not affect the lower part of the case (base and pressure ring) which are left hard by the manufacturer for safety reasons. Tipping the cases into the water stops the process.

Commercial manufacturers and some serious competitors often use induction heating btw. such as this Induction cartridge case annealer although since I found that the temperature of molten lead is ideal for neck annealing cartridge brass a tray of sand heated to when lead melts is less messy and ideal for bulk reloading.

At the end of the day - Brass does work harden, annealing works to alleviate the problem and also, radius your bends.

* Danny M *

Sorry, my linky was a bit lacking in detail. Here is a better one with more info FAT Wrench Reviews

I purchased the digital version as it is more accurate and easier to use than the analogue one.

* Danny M *

Today I had a play with my new toy Digital Torque Wrench which although purposed for fine tuning my target shooting rifles I noticed that it might be useful for the head bolts on my model aircraft engines.It was!

* Danny M *

Yesterday my laptop (Win 10 HE) informed me that my ISP data limit had been reached well before the planned date

Being a bit conservative with my downloads it has become apparent that background Windows updates have chewed away many many Gigabytes of my data allowance that I have paid for.

I have not consented to or given permission to Microsoft to use my account for their updates but it appears that the decision to mess with my computer and use my data allowance is no longer under my control, just at the whim of Microsoft.

What was most galling was that the 'update' actually removed the programs that I purchased the HP laptop for; tracking and controlling ROV;s.

* Danny M *

Chas. Alcohol fuels contain less energy per litre than petroleum fuels so when maximum flight duration/range are involved petrol makes sense. Petrol Vs Alcohol Fuels

Alcohol fuels can liberate more energy in an engine with a suitable compression ratio though, hence why drag racers use alcohol and nitromethane as fuel ingredients.

* Danny *

Here is a linky to some more information Mercury marine engines and ethanol

I was tempted to search for the above as I remember seeing a new outboard motor with the annotation on the carton 'Warranty void if ethanol fuel used' . This was about 10 years ago.

* Danny M *