Member postings for Farmboy

Agreed. Currency is just a promise to pay the value shown. If you don't trust the governor of the Bank of England, don't use Sterling.

Maybe simple bartering is the best way forward

Having the 'benefit' of slow and erratic broadband I am very conscious of the bandwidth-hungry nature of many web sites. It is still possible to build very simple sites using html, php and mysql.

Although I'm no expert I have created a very basic family history* site which I hope will display properly on any device. So many people browse the web on their smartphones and tablets these days.

*The underlying layout would work for any simple site, such as model engineering projects.

Edited By Farmboy on 06/11/2017 10:08:06

A currency is only valuable if you can exchange it for something you need. So far I have never come across a supplier of things I need who accepts bitcoins.

Maybe one day they will become the international currency we all use, or maybe the bubble will 'pop'. My modest savings are not sufficient to risk finding out for myself.

Trial and error on a scrap piece worked for me. If you use a collet as a gauge it is a good idea to insert a drill bit of the appropriate size to prevent the splits closing and distorting.

As an outsider who never met or corresponded with John I hesitated to contribute to this thread. But remembering the amazing number of times over the years that his name has cropped up alongside articles or forum posts that have taught me something new or how to do something better, I just had to express my appreciation and respect.

To judge from past and present remarks of those who knew him he was clearly someone who made the world a better place. Deepest sympathy to all who were close to him.

Mike.

Interesting article here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/how_toxic_is_your_car_exhaust

Worth scrolling to the end of a rather long page to see the conclusion.

I experimented with an ultra-sonic rodent device in a milking parlour some years ago (several tons of cattle feed in the loft overhead). It was interesting to watch the cows' reaction when I switched it on, those waiting at the door to enter took a step back and seemed 'puzzled'. Their desire for the feed overcame their anxiety in most cases, but I switched it off during milking because it unsettled them. It was the type that sweeps the ultrasonic range and I could just hear/sense it, presumably at the lowest frequency.

There was no significant decrease in the rodent population during the few months I tried it. Poison seems the only reliable control and we use the local authority pest control service, paid for as we are a business but worth every penny. Some authorities still provide a free service for private houses so might be worth asking.

"efficiency and expense are unlikely to be significant considerations" . . .

Have you ever tried extracting money from a farmer? If 200KVA is really needed he could be parting with £20k at least for a motor & diesel generator setup, judging by what's available at online auction sites.

"... spends a lot of time doing nothing while the machine works away by itself"

Probably true, but leaving it alone for a while can prove expensive. A 200HP machine can do a lot of damage when something goes wrong!

PS My crusher and hammermill were both driven by flat belt from a 40HP Field Marshall tractor . . . not at the same time

Edited By Farmboy on 21/09/2017 00:11:41

Continuing with the pointless speculation it is possible the machine is currently driven by a 200+HP tractor but only actually using a fraction of that power. We've all done it.

Doesn't seem a great idea to have to two stages of power-sapping conversion between engine and machine, unless the generator will be running several other things too.

In that part of the country I would guess they're crushing grain, probably on a daily basis, to feed livestock.

The simplest and cheapest way to get a large diesel is often to buy an oldish tractor. The engines usually go on for ever if they've been reasonably well maintained because they generally work as they were intended to, under load for long periods at proper working temperature. You often see pensioned off tractors driving stationary machines like mills, pumps, etc. And in an emergency you can always swap in a different tractor to keep things running . . . livestock don't appreciate 'downtime', they like their meals on time . . .

I can personally vouch for udder cream after 40 years of milking cows. Never had chapped hands in my working life despite working in a cold draughty milking parlour with wet hands and arms for 2 hours, twice a day.

I can also remember my dad making a very good job of cleaning greasy hands with butter and salt when they were black after servicing the tractor, no nasty detergents or solvents involved.

Mike.

Edited By Farmboy on 02/08/2017 10:38:54

I repainted a set of powder coated kitchen chair frames. I degreased, rubbed down with wet & dry paper to take the shine off, and used melamine cupboard paint as I thought that might adhere better to the coating. It did appear to work, but after a few months the paint started rubbing/peeling off.

There may be a paint/primer for the job but melamine paint is not it . . . but it is excellent on melamine and vinyl covered doors. Not a very helpful post but it might save some wasted time.

Mike.

Nobody seems to have mentioned the interesting combination of the shower of metal sparks with the heaps of very fine sawdust these saws produce . . . could save on workshop heating costs

From my observations, most young people have absolutely no idea, or interest in, how or why a computer, or anything else, works. Generally they seem to be slaves to the machines, barely able to do anything without them.

It's us oldies who are always opening the box to see how it works and if we can improve it. With mixed results in my case

Once the machines become sufficiently intelligent there'll be no need for people . . .

I certainly agree it is essential to get everything cleaned and adjusted to minimise play, but I have also found it sometimes helps if you apply pressure with the free hand on the top of the slide to help counteract any tendency for it to move as you turn the handle.

Obviously you can then ony use one hand for turning, but it worked better for me on my Unimat SL which was really too small to comfortably work two-handed anyway.

Mike.

"It tried it's hardest to update but I just didn't let it do it."

How did you manage that? One of my biggest 'issues' with 10 since the last major upgrade is the way it automatically downloads updates regardless of what I'm doing. Wouldn't be a problem with fibre broadband but we still get barely 3Mb on a good day, so I usually go and make a cuppa once it starts downloading updates. At least the updating and rebooting can be held off once it's downloaded though.

Win 10 indexing is tied up with Cortana now, but I've disabled that - as far as possible, along with just about every other 'app' or 'feature'. I basically use the underlying system to run mostly third-party software.

Mike.

Neil,

The New Folder creation is instant on my Windows 10 PC, with no delays. The only thing I can think of is perhaps your problem is connected with the indexing service. I seem to remember that slowing things down on Windows 7, but haven't even checked to see if it is active on my current system.

Mike.

Updated my laptop last night. Not many changes to my settings, but I did have to disable or uninstall a few things I don't want. Then it crashed on restarting and had to do another reboot. Haven't worked out what happened there but I'll check the system log later.

On the whole I've been happy with Windows 10 over the past year although I turn off almost all its 'features' and use third party software that I'm used to.

Well, I've read the whole 10 pages of this thread and I'm still not sure how the Bank of Scotland figures in all this

but I'm looking forward to the comparative tests of all the other collet systems available . . .

No need to rub salt in the wounds. It's bad enough having a workshop I rarely get time to play in.

My ethernet connection is purely for cctv purposes, the last thing I want is to browse the web when I'm in there.

Mind you, the only time I've seen intruders in the yard they were running away from the camera , having just exited the bull's pen!