Member postings for An Other

Hi, Martin,

It sounds as if both our countries have the same problem. Our local council installed large 'wheelie' bins in wire-fenced compounds around the local villages, in an attempt to solve the 'non-rubbish collection' problem. First thing that happened was the wire fencing around the compounds was stolen!

Next most of the plastic wheelie bins disappeared - turned out they were stolen by locals to put rubbish in! No action was ever taken, and no missing bins replaced.

Then the few remaining wheelie bins gradually disappeared under mountains of rubbish. It turned out the council had never arranged any method of emptying them!

This led to complaints from people living near the compounds (who were probably the major users of them), so the councils solution was to remove the bins completely and dismantle the compounds - but they simply left the piles of rubbish where they lay - ain't diversity wonderful?

Interesting thread. It does seem there are many different policies about how to deal with plastic, but it seems to me that the sheer scale of the problem is an issue. I appreciate that action has to start somewhere, so any local or national action has to be a step forward, but I would think there needs to be international pressure.

I live in eastern europe (about 10 years now), and it is clear there is a major attitude difference here: rubbish can be and is dumped anywhere - there is no education or information about the damage this causes. Although countries like the UK may be taking steps to curtail single-use plastic, such as PET bottles, the manufacturers are increasing their use of them in other countries. Drinkable water is a luxury here, so literally tons of bottled water is sold every day - all in PET bottles. Companies churn out cola, sticky 'fruit' drinks, in fact anything which will go into a bottle, goes into a PET bottle - and its no exaggeration to say most of these end up thrown to the side of the road here. (Rubbish collection is also almost unknown).

We have about 5 acres of land in a remote, rural part of the country, close to a small village of about 800 people. The only 'industry' around here is illegally cutting oak and ash in the State Forest, for shipping to Austria and Hungary. When we bought the land; we spent about a week collecting and removing plastic rubbish left on the land by these wood thieves. About 75% was old PET bottles. We eventually collected 5 full loads in a 1-ton trailer. (I don't have space to tell the story of the trouble it took to get rid of them).

Another point I would like to make: has anyone ever looked at the production of childrens toys? - almost all plastic these days. Not a bad thing that Toys'R Us went bust.

OK - rant over - just wanted to make a point about the scale of the problem

Re the 'Fallacy of Composition' post from Dave (SoD) earlier. I used to like watching the Discovery/Nat Geo series on Air Crashes, or whatever title it went under, until one day I was sat watching it with the missus. (OK, we all like different things!), when the missus said 'why are the pilots of these aeroplanes all highly experienced'?

After that as we watched each episode, we both began waiting until the commentator said something like 'and Captain Bloggs had 23 years experience of flying this type of aircraft'. - it always happened. Then we noticed the plane was a Boeing 737 in a large proportion of the cases, and somehow it always seemed to belong to one of two particular American airlines.

The only logical conclusion we could make is if you must fly, don't use that airline, don't go if its a 737, and ensure the pilot is a rank beginner!

Once we realised this, watching the program became a no-no.

There was no sign of any 'putty' or any other adhesive or material in either lens of the glasses I renovated. Judging by the condition of the glasses they had never been renovated previously.

Hi, Dave,

When I renovated my OGs, i managed to drop the eyepiece lens when I unscrewed the rim, and it was a right b****r to find it again! Your suggestion of Canadian Balsam just about mirrors what I did.

If yours are like mine, the actual 'eyehole' is somewhat smaller than the lens, so in effect it is sitting on quite a wide seat. I simply cleaned up the seat, positioned the rim so it was horizontal, and sat the lens in place. I then used a sharp pointed toothpick to place a couple of tiny blobs of Evostik (impact adhesive) at the edge of the lens, so it was secured inside the eyepiece 'cylinder'. When the glue was dry, I screwed in the retaining cylinder (the bit you have had problems with), and it worked fine.

I used this as opposed to something like shellac because I didn't want the glue to spread around the lens, and fix it permanently, or get onto the lens itself. Very small drops (hence the toothpick) are easy to remove.

Incidentally, the rim of my lenses were not smooth - they have quite a rough finish, with small chips around the edges - they don't matter because they are masked by the eyepiece rim.

The lens doesn't seem to require any 'alignment' as such. There doesn't appear to be any way to adjust it anyway, and there certainly wasn't multiple lenses or packing pieces - these were sold as a relatively cheap pair of opera glasses - simply clean the seat, bung the lens in and screw down the locking tube. It didn't make any visible difference then or now which way around it went - it looked like a symmetrical concave lens.

Edited By An Other on 07/03/2018 15:01:31

Follow-up to my last post - looking at Daves photos of the eyepiece, it does appear to be made up from several pieces, if only because the lens appears to have slid to one side.

My glasses look identical to the ones in the photo, but the eyepiece rim is definitely solid, and the outer brass tube goes right down inside it to the lens seat, so there is no possibility, even if it was bent, for the lens to move as shown in the photo, so possibly it is an earlier or later model.

That said, it would certainly be possible to make a replacement from the solid, but cutting the threads would be a challenge. The outer brass tube is threaded internally and externally, and it is very fine thread. Possibly you could make up a rim first from the solid, then carefully cut and turn away your broken rim to recover the original brass tube, and solder that into the new rim.

Hi, Dave (SoD) - I have an identical pair of these opera glasses, and can confirm that the eyepiece is held in place by a thin metal tube screwed in. The serrated edge you can see is the top of it. The tube is very thin. I was fortunate, and was able to unscrew mine with my fingers. I think Farmboys/Richard2 ideas are excellent - to use either a piece of wood or leather pressed against the serrations to try and move it. I think using pliers of any kind would be a bad mistake - the tube is very thin and fragile. As a guide to how much you have to 'extract', the inner tube is 13mm long, and the upper 8 mms are threaded. Take care putting it back, its very easy to cross-thread it.

When I first renovated mine, all the tubes which slide or rotate inside others were full of dust, and therefore difficult to turn - only after I finished did I realise that perhaps if I had used some oil to make things easier, this would have ended up as a sticky paste with the dust, and made matter worse - just a thought!

I just took a closer look at the eyepiece of my glasses. I think the eyepiece rim is turned from solid - its certainly heavy enough. The brass tube which protrudes from it (visible in your last photo) fits inside it down to the seat for the lens, and is threaded internally its whole length - it appears to be soldered or press-fitted inside the eyepiece rim. The lens fits inside this brass tube, and is not bedded into anything - it simply sits on the rim inside the eyepiece, and the inner tube (with the serrated top) is screwed down to hold it in place. There is (was) nothing to 'soften' this clamping, such as putty or a leather weather etc, so I guess you must be careful not to screw the inner tube down too tight and crack the lens - as I said, mine were only finger tight - bit stiff to get moving, but then came out easily.

Edited By An Other on 04/03/2018 18:38:42

I get spares for my grass tractor from a company in Germany, and they always send me a bag of Gummi-bears - they help keep my teeth in when I have to drive the tractor

**LINK**

Hi, Andrew,

I stripped my lathe, and I have made a drawing. Some of my measurements differ slightly from those given by Redsettter. However, in general, nothing appears to 'drop-dead' critical. The holes which need to be cut can be sized from the items which fit into the holes - the belt tensioner, slow-speed clutch etc.

The plate shape is also not critical. The plate itself is quite crudely cut. The top edge and rear edge have been cut smoothly, but the lower edge looks as it has come directly from a flamecutter!

The curved part which overhangs the motor at the rear is only needed to support the lower of the two cover hinges. In fact, if you modify the machine for a VFD and three-phase motor, you could dispense with this plate and everything that is mounted on it completely. (You don't need the toothed belt, clutch, and belt tensioners with the VFD system).

I know you said you were not going the VFD route, but I did a write up with photographs of how I modded my machine, with a Moeller VFD, which was going to be sent to ME, but I had second thoughts after some of the comments I read. You can have that if you are interested. In my opinion, it turned a second rate machine into a first class job - I wouldn't be without it. (also never broken a drive belt in the 10 years since I did it)!

If you can PM me with an e-mail address, I can send you the file electronically. I can probably post it as a picture in the gallery, but I think an electronic file would be better, then you can view it in larger scale, or print it if necessary - let me know what would be best for you.

OK, Andrew - I'll try to get round tooit ASAP

Hello, Andrew,

Did you ever get the info (bracket plate dimensions) you initially requested. If not, and you don't mind waiting a while (5-10) days, I will be dismantling my 9x20 for some other work, and will measure the plate. I also have a '9x20 Rebuild Manual' originally made freely available through the Yahoo group, which may be some help to you.

My biggest annoyance is the life of the batteries for battery-powered stuff. I've had expensive and cheap battery powered drills over the years, but have invariably had battery problems. I use them often, but I wouldn't say they get 'heavy-duty' use, in the sense of being overloaded. I charge them as required, and I have even had one make which boasted that it discharged the batteries fully before charging them, to prevent the 'memory' effect. It doesn't matter what type of battery I have had, I have found they have all lasted for maybe 1 or 2 years, then they will not hold sufficient charge to make them useful.

At first, I searched for somewhere to get new batteries (goes against the grain to dump an otherwise serviceable drill), but found the cost of new batteries was often as much as 80% of the cost of a new drill, when it was possible to get them. So now I have a mains powered drill for most work, and I buy the cheapest battery drill I can find which will do the job, then throw it away and buy a new one when it begins to fail.

While on the subject, I wanted an electric chainsaw for the winter logs, and knew it would have to work hard, so I bought a Makita - about 200% of the cost of the next cheapest in the shop. After one season, I found out that the chain adjustment would not work, so stripped it to take a look - it was a flimsy threaded rod, running directly in the plastic housing. Heat transferred from the chain had softened the plastic, allowing the whole thing to move. Now I'm trying to work out how to make some kind of modification. Cost isn't always a good indicator. As Larry P says "You win some, you lose some"

Edit for senior moment.

Edited By An Other on 13/02/2018 17:32:27

Remember these arguments from years ago in 'wireless World'. Fascinating reading all the arguments for both sides. SoDs comments about chimneys as speaker enclosures, etc made for big laughs - especially when you found out the protagonists were building these things in rooms with huge windows, wooden floors, vibrating doors and rattling ornaments.

It never has seemed much sense to me to insist on extreme linearity, frequency response to N Megahertz etc, when the normal listening environment for much of the music, when performed live, was in the presence of a noisy audience - and nowadays I much prefer a 'live' recorded performance, because to me it seems to add something to what is otherwise a flat, featureless performance - but thats my opinion.

SoDs comments about the price of valve equipment nowadays is a good one - I have even seen gold-plated chassis (chasses?) offered - I wouldn't dare take it out of the safe! - but then you can receive Radio Moscow with it! - a good example of the brilliant (?) linearity of these gas-powered devices.

I just fitted a longer bar into my 'T' type wrenches. (I know, but its me doing it for myself!)

I also think it is much easier to get the tap perpendicular to the hole with the 'T' type (if I can't do the job in the lathe) - It is easier (for me) to see if the extended stem of the wrench is perpendicular to the face of the work. When I use the bar type wrench, it feels a little odd because the tap always feels slightly 'off-centre', and I have difficulty making sure the tap is perpendicular to the work. I can see if the bar is horizontal in one plane, but in the other plane (at 90 degrees) I all too often end up with a slight tilt, so the tap starts slightly out of vertical.

However, I suspect this is another case of the 'favourite screwdriver syndrome' - probably most people just use the tool they are most comfortable with (mike Poole) or which type comes to hand first

I can see what Tony is getting at, but I'm with MickB1 on this - I have loads of 'long-term' projects simply awaiting (in most cases) a better idea I don't need them analysing, I just want more time, more ideas and perhaps a bit more money - but it is still only a hobby, and no-one else but me cares about my projects.

There are plenty of projects on the lines of HS2, the UK nuclear failure, etc which could use some close examination. Having been an innocent victim of HM Robbers and Crooks, I would like some of the IT projects undertaken by our 'Government' to be put under a spotlight - as far as I know, no Government IT update or project in recent years has come near success - the NHS also springs to mind.

Sorry - don't mean to hijack the thread, but this might matter to some of you-

I have a similar but older version of this bandsaw. It has given me some good service, despite its 'crudity' in some areas. Last week I took the top off the gear drive (the box just in front of the motor in the photos above,), and had an unpleasant surprise - there is a simple worm/pinion setup here, to gear down the motor speed and turn it through 90 degrees to rotate the blade wheel. Although there was plenty of grease in the box, I also found lots of small metal 'splinters' (sorry, its the only way I could describe them) - when I cleaned away the grease, I found out they came from the gears - the worm thread was worn to a knife edge, and the pinion had virtually lost its teeth. It was still driving - but only just.

I have no idea why this happened. There was no other foreign material in the gearbox, the bearings all seem OK, and there was plenty of (original) grease in the box. I can't tell if the gear meshing was originally OK, because it is so badly worn. Admittedly the machine has had plenty of work, but not particularly heavy, nor was it making any unusual noises. May be worth checking your machines before it happens to you.

I haven't been able to locate spare gears, so now I'm making new ones myself.

FF58 Quantum on LinuxMint 18.3 is fine for me. When I open the site, this menubar is momentarily 'anywhere' on the page, then almost immediately jumps to its correct place. It always has done that for me, using FF/LinuxMint. I put it down to something in my overall installation - maybe you have a similar issue, but I don't have any other ideas, I'm afraid. Maybe try removing then re-installing FF Quantum?

just did a search on 'naerok ssb 4mk Lathe' and this came up - **LINK**. You might find it there, but seems a bit pricey.

FYI - the VFD I fitted was a Moeller DV51 - I bought it new in Germany as I was living there at the time. I can't remember exactly what it cost (sorry - old age!), but it certainly wouldn't have been more than about 500 euros (2 euro to the pound then) because I simply couldn't afford it.

It is still in good order, and has far more functions than I would ever use. It has a small plug-in panel with an LED display and allowing manual (push-button) control for setting functions. The instruction manual is enormous - I don't think I ever read the whole thing. I just set it up so the motor soft-starts, and I can select 'jogging', forward, reverse and speed simply with a couple of button presses. I used to think about connecting it to my computer, so I could control the lathe from the computer. The idea was to connect the DROs mentioned in my earlier post to the computer, and program some sort of 'pseudo-CNC' system, along with the electronic leadscrew, but like many things it never got done - made tons of notes and drawings, but it lost out because I had to built a house (not that my wife bullies me, you understand...!)