Member postings for Stuart Smith 5

Is this the manual you are looking for:

**LINK**

The new rules are on the gov.uk website:

**LINK**

So not speculation.

I can’t see any mention of a fee to register though.

Before DPD had their tracking system, I would have rated them as poor. Now the tracking system puts them ahead of the others.

The only downside for me is that the nearest depot is at least 20 miles away, so the option to pick up from there is not very convenient!

Stuart

I find that most suppliers (certainly smaller ones) send out orders within 24 hrs. The differences seem to be in the chosen delivery method/ company. I find that Royal Mail deliveries generally arrive quickly, but courier companies seem to vary from excellent to rubbish. But considering the volumes they deal with I suppose this is inevitable.

The thing that shows the good suppliers is how they sort out problems. If an order doesn’t arrive when expected, some make you wait until the timescale of the delivery company for admitting that they have ‘lost’ the item. Others send a replacement immediately.

Stuart

This will only affect items bought direct from a foreign seller. If you buy through an ‘online market place’ such as eBay, they will be responsible.

If you buy from a uk supplier, they will be responsible for vat as now.

It will also remove the cost and problems with courier ‘handling charges’ for direct imports. See recent thread **LINK**

Surely this can only be good for uk businesses when trying to compete with cheap imports.

I have had a Rage saw for a while. The same blade cuts wood and metal, but I have used it almost exclusively for wood. It is noisy on metal and creates a shower of sparks . I have recently used it with a diamond blade to cut some block paving blocks which worked well.

I bought an Aldi ‘portable’ bandsaw earlier this year and have found it good. The vice is not particularly good and the cut on mine is not quite square, but overall I am happy with it. It is available at the moment online only at £160.

I would recommend a bandsaw over a Rage saw if you only want to cut metal.

Stuart

Edited By Stuart Smith 5 on 18/10/2020 21:13:26

Hello John

I would suggest you don’t buy the one from Machine Mart. It is very expensive in comparison to other mini lathes from other suppliers and not as good a spec.

Arceurotrade, Warco, Amadeal, Chester and others all advertise on this site and sell mini lathes. You will find the detailed specs vary but worth a look. I bought mine from Amadeal a couple of years ago and have been happy with it, although I intend upgrading to a bigger lathe.

Stuart

Bob

It may be interesting, but it seems to me to be scaremongering and contains inaccuracies.

I think this site gives a more accurate and factual view:

**LINK**

The suppliers are obliged by the government ( via Ofgem, the regulator) as part of their licence conditions to ‘take all reasonable steps’ to fit smart meters to all customers by the end of 2020.

You are not compelled to have one installed.

See this from the Ofgem website:

**LINK**

Some of the correspondence from suppliers suggests you must have one, but that is not the case. On the other hand, they are permitted to oblige you to have one to get the best tariff. I have had an email from my supplier, Eon which says I should phone them if I don’t want one. I won’t be doing that.

Stuart

There are a lot of misunderstandings about smart meters.

I suspect that a lot of people think the ‘In home display’ is the smart meter, when the actual gas or electricity meter is the ‘smart meter’.

I don’t know why the TV adverts are allowed since they suggest that the smart meter will save you money, when the only way you will save money is if you change your own behaviour by reacting to the information on the display.

The possible savings and advantages are with the suppliers and possibly network operators, though some of the suggested benefits will not happen because of security concerns and the use of data for individual properties.

One of the possible benefits would be to allow network operators to remotely switch on and off certain appliances to manage the electricity network if or when we all have electric cars and electric heating.

I have found this website which seems to have a lot of impartial (I think) information:

**LINK**

Stuart

Edited By Stuart Smith 5 on 13/10/2020 19:42:45

Edited By Stuart Smith 5 on 13/10/2020 19:43:08

You could use a cone drill bit.

This set is from Screwfix:

**LINK**

Seems to work ok on thin sheet.

Stuart

This website allows you to check if there are problems:

**LINK**

Looks like a high number of people reported problems earlier this evening.

I am on Sky but haven’t noticed any problems today ( in Lancashire).

Stuart

Bill

Oldiron beat me to it. If you watch his video, you can see that he created his own worktop by his own efforts from an early age. No luck involved! Just hard work and a determination ( plus his parents encouragement and allowing him to make a workshop in their back yard).

Stuart

Duncan

Just reading this again, I see that you are reading the analogue voltage to determine the status. Is this just an instantaneous reading? If the problem is caused by transients, you could do multiple readings to in effect filter out transients using software. Of course, you might already be doing this!

Stuart

Iain

Have you considered an Android tablet using Bluetooth to communicate with the Arduino?

An app on the tablet could have the user interface and send the preset settings to be stored on the Arduino, so that it would not need to continually communicate.

I have built Arduino interfaces for the DRO for my lathe and mill to use with the TouchDRO app and these use a small HC05 Bluetooth module connected to the Arduino, so it should be possible.

Stuart

You could rent a loader such as this:

**LINK**

I rented a larger version (an Avant 528) to move about 12 tonnes of gravel a few weeks ago and found it easy to use.

Or you could rent one with an operator!

Stuart

Paul

I have machined mild steel, aluminium and brass but not yet stainless steel. I don’t think you will have any problems doing what you want to do with any of the mills you are looking at. Though I am only a beginner and have only used it to make a small stationary engine and various tools for the workshop so far.

Stuart

Paul

I don’t know if you have spotted it, but Nigel has a SX2.7 not the SX2 you are looking at. The mechanism on the SX2.7 to raise and lower the head and quill is similar to the WM16, but on the SX2 it only has one handle which raises and lowers the whole head. There is also a fine feed for the quill on all three models.

Stuart

Paul

I have a WM16 that I bought secondhand. I have no experience of other mills but I am happy with mine.

It is the same as the one advertised. The 2 speed ranges are selected by a high/low knob engaging the appropriate gears, so no belt to change ranges.

The MT2 spindle has an ejector mechanism, so no need to hit the end to release the chuck.

The head can be raised and lowered by a knob at the top right hand side of the column, unlike the SX2.

Stuart

Clive

Your experience prompted me to look online and I found this website on direct debits.

**LINK**d

It has some useful information.

Stuart

Roger

It is relatively easy to split into 3 parts that can be lifted by 2 people.

I bought my WM 16 secondhand and took the head and the table off to move it. This just left the base and column together. It was in a 1st floor workshop at the previous owners house and we carried the 3 parts downstairs and into my car without any problem. Same to reassemble at my house.

Stuart