Member postings for Adrian R2

If anyone with a UK electricity bill wants to invest in renewable power without the hassle of modifying their house or dealing with future maintanenance then consider the community ownership scheme from Ripple Energy.

Financially I have no idea whether it will work out - relies on too many long term assumptions - but I'm hopeful as generation infrastructure tends to work better at scale.

(off topic) First pic made me laugh I'm afraid, having read many posts asking for advice as to how to shift lathes, milling machines etc - you obviously had that part of setting up well thought out!

Well if it's speed you want then make a note for World Human Power Speed Championships, Sept 10-17 in Battle Mountain, Nevada. Outright record is a shade over 89mph, state of the art now being enclosed carbon fibre monocoques and steering by camera, yikes.

Info below (from 2022, I guess they will get round to refreshing it before this year's event), there is also a Facebook page.

**LINK**

p.s. and to get back to the subject of building recumbents, there are some interesting videos on Youtube of Russell Bridge designing and building his machine "seventy seven" - he had previously piloted Burrow's soup dragon.

Edited By Adrian R2 on 15/08/2023 14:19:11

Professional cycle racing is a highly regulated sport, there are many technical innovations that are banned including I believe some types of sock.

If you are interested in pedal/crank racing on more than two wheels, seek out the BHPC (British Human Power Club) or equivalent where recumbents, trikes and quads are the norm.

Edited By Adrian R2 on 14/08/2023 09:19:08

Is this to use or to admire? If for use you might want to look at DC or even brushless motors - more compact, more efficient, variable speed so no need for countershaft or belt changing. I have been considering this for mine, I tried out a recycled cordless drill motor which worked OK but I didn't like the aesthetics of it.

See also this recent discussion:

**LINK**

I think Brian has it - inlet manifold shape and battery box location match this:

https://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/ford/zodiac/1957/681350

I suspect you'll have to ask some of the local youth (probably now middle aged or older) how it came to be there, appears to be fire damaged and then well weathered.

I don't know about Voyager in particular but spacecraft typically have multiple failsafes and backups; one example of which would be that if it doesn't receive any commands for a period of time then an automatic reset is triggered to the last known good configuration to guard against this kind of operator error.

As has been rightly pointed out this does depend on the craft having sufficient power and control to recover, but the operations teams I've encountered are highly skilled at working out what a partially defunct and beyond end of life machine is capable of - similar to some here I suspect!

See also the ISEE-3 reboot project, where a team reconstructed obsolete communications hardware and re-established contact with a mission that had ended some 15 years earlier.

Clutch on my car was still fine at 275,000 miles (ok, mostly motorway journeys, but still...) until the internal slave cylinder leaked and contaminated it. There was plenty of friction material left so I now think that modern clutches should last the lifetime of the vehicle if well treated.

In fact if I owned a car clutch plate manufacturer I'd be pursuing diversification of the business, global demand for them must be heading for a decline before too long.

If you have them already then yes it will probably work, if you are buying for the purpose then have a read up on the various types of mobility scooter battery available as these are designed for traction use.

Note: I don't have a loco but I have used them for kids ride on toys (think Toylander) and they worked well; this was with a reclaimed controller with current discharge and low voltage safeties - matching controller to battery and motor is important for good service and longevity.

On the original question I have two cars:

- Daily driver* diesel hatchback, oil + filter changed every 20K using dipstick suction device and whatever budget oil has the right spec numbers on the container, sump plug hasn't been out since paying excessive charges at a dealer at 40K, now over 320K and looks like rust or regulations will get it before engine dies.

- Occasional use petrol sportscar, does <500/year, was filled with premium fully synthetic oil ~10 years ago and is still using that. Filter has been changed a couple of times in the interim.

*edit, more like weekly driver these days.

Edited By Adrian R2 on 18/07/2023 09:06:12

@Andrew, thank you for the recommendations, I don't use it enough to justify buying new but a good used one of those would certainly be an improvement.

@SteviewGTR & Pete appear to be on the right lines wrt to wheel mounting, I'll look at this again when the new wheel turns up.

Thanks for the concern but you are worrying too much, I shall proceed with the utmost caution.

This is the 250W Wickes version but I've had it too long to go back and complain now. It runs OK with no stones and acceptably with only the coarse one mounted but the fine one starts the bench rattling, hence wondering about a retrofit solution. To save any further excitement I will order another wheel and see if it's any better.

This chap seems to have got something to work:

http://www.nwnative.us/Grant/shop%20articles/sharpTable/balancing/

@Andrew, I haven't spent any money so far but yes it would be nice to have better kit but that probably means a big chunk of 3 phase iron and an inverter to run it. All the reviews I found of replacement wheels had someone complaining theirs was out of balance from new.

@Noel, indeed. The bearing I chose has a contact area on the wheel which is very close to that of the dished washer so stresses are I think OK, if it needs a bigger bearing then a spacer could be made to suit. That said I did turn it on using an extension lead from across the room rather than standing right next to it.

I have the usual cheapo DIY 6" bench grinder, and obviously it is a nasty thing which shakes the whole bench when in use as the wheels have never been dressed or balanced as I don't have the kit and its too much bother.

The Americans have things that they put on the wheels of their trucks (Centramatic is one brand) which have weights in a tube and claim to dynamically balance a wheel on the vehicle even for things like trailers which tend to sit idle long enough that their tyres go out of round.

So last night I took an old trailer wheen bearing outer race that I happend to have around (approx 2" dia), put half a dozen small ball bearings in it and clamped it to the side of the grinding wheel by reversing the dished washer.

It didn't cure the vibration instantly but it did seem to lessen it a bit. Was this my imagination? Do these things even work? Should I persist with experimentation? Any idea how big a bearing and how much weight would be needed?

Edited By Adrian R2 on 10/07/2023 09:06:22

The Owl meter in that madmodder thread looks very similar to an old Efergy unit that I have and no longer use.

I discovered it misread inductive loads badly and claimed my kitchen hob was using 200W on standby,

Could a similar thing be happening with the ballasts/chokes in the tube fittings?

The "now" function on my (dreaded) smart meter appears much more reliable.

i bought my dad a Greenworks mower in 2019 with 2 x 2.5Ah 40v batteries. It's still working fine, much easier to start than the previous petrol one and much quieter for my mum and the neighbours (who now also have one). Largish garden with lots of bumpy uneven stuff around old trees. He's retired so tends to mow a battery worth at a time on nice days rather than having to finish everything to a schedule. No mow May helps as well, for that he just keeps a few routes clear and lets the rest grow.

Indeed, marvellous work, and a running engine deserves a video if you can manage it in due course.

Hot air gun may soften it, then gently scrape or wire brush? Best done in a well ventilated area.