Member postings for Steve Neighbour

100% antique saw-setting tool

video on how to use it - **LINK**

I changed from Talk Talk to Sky about a year ago, mainly because I was fed up with poor bandwidth and non existant customer service from TT

The actual change over went smoothly enough, and the service from Sky was certainly faster and more relieable, but could I get TT to realise I wasn't their customer anymore, firstly they took another payment (so I was now paying TT AND Sky) when I did eventually get through to ask them to a, stop, and b to refund the payment taken in error, the word 'refund' didn't seem to register with them.

I immediately contacted our bank and made sure the direct debit was stopped and told the bank what had happened and that they had taken (and the bank had paid) another payment in error, the bank agreed and they arranged the refund . . .I actually have never heard if the bank managed to get a refund from TT ?

I have had similar very poor customer service from a very well known mobile phone operator (who's name begins with a V !!)

It would seem to me that these companies are so big that customers no longer seem to actually matter anymore !!

get burnt !!!

Edited By Steve Neighbour on 07/04/2019 18:46:46

Edited By Steve Neighbour on 07/04/2019 18:47:16

It is most certainly not a joking matter . . . but maybe . . just maybe the message will get out to those who are considering carrying out such a despicable act in killing a beautiful wild animal for no more than a few hundred dollars (I actually doubt the poachers get anything like that amount) that they are in grave danger of being killed themselves, not just by the volunteer game wardens but also by a twist of fate from the animals defending themselves.

My wife and I were privileged to travel to South Africa last year and went on a trip to see the Elephants at a reserve (one the size of Wales !!) it was amazing, and we saw literally 100's of beautiful Elephants having fun in as near a natural environment as is possible, but . . . . . we were horrified and saddened to learn from our guide that they have to cut off the tusks as soon as they grow and keep them trimmed to stop the poachers from killing the animals (and that's in a game reserve)

So, although it is always sad when a human loses their life, I make no apology for thinking that if you play with fire, every now and then someone will get burnt !!!

Edited By Steve Neighbour on 07/04/2019 16:05:13

when requesting my cuppa, should I 'order' a nice juicy steak ?

(I'm told they are good for soothing the enevatible black eye)

Definitely, it has 'Ford' embossed inside the fuel filler 'flap' !!

I used to own a Landrover Discovery '3' it had a 2.7 litre V6 engine made by Ford, the gear box was German, and most of the electrical stuff was made in Slovakia or Poland - but . . . it was marketed as a British thoroughbred vehicle !

And the 'van' story - Fiat make the Ducato (familiar to most motor home users) which is also sold as the Peugeot Boxer and Citroen Relay - only the badges are different !

So, going back to dishwasher tablets they are probably all made in a factory in China, next door to the one that makes all the mini lathes for all I know !!

To try and shed some light (no pun intended) on the electricity voltage discussion, the UK electricity voltage was 'harmonised' in 2003 at 230 volts (415 / 3 phase) but the UK regulated supply can run at +10% / -6% (of 230V)

Therefore the 'actual' measured supply in a domestic property could be anywhere between 216 and 253, so quite a wide range in reality !

The only real downside if your own supply was on the lower end of the scale would be a very small reduction in a lathe motor performance, but I doubt you would actually notice this when using the lathe (or mill)

My late father was an absolute stippler for doing 'anything' properly - which is why my wife says I procrastinate for ages before doing what to her appears to be a simple job - well, I have to consider all the 1000 & 1 things that could 'go wrong' !!

I like an earlier post didn't have a very happy childhood, Father was very strict and discipline was always delivered via a leather belt or ruler . . thankfully a trait I didn't copy when raising my kids !

I suppose the one person who I owe much to was my Grandfather, he had a workshop and a very ancient 3 speed lathe, which with an abundance of patience taught me the basic principles of machining, I honed these fledgling skills further by completing an 'indentured engineering apprenticeship' (what ever happened to those ?)

Now that I too approach retirement, I'm busy building my dream 'man cave' and will soon install a nice lathe of my own (my wife suggested that I should also put a phone in it, so she can call me when she is off to bed) !!

Would she be offended if I got one with an answering machine I wonder ?

Edited By Steve Neighbour on 30/03/2019 18:02:45

Edited By Steve Neighbour on 30/03/2019 18:03:26

If a 'RAT' tidied up the spanners then surely it must be a RAT-ch-ET . . . . (I'll get my coat then !!)

Hmm . . . I've been looking for a while and the seem to average over £1k as fizzy mentions !

Hope the seller doesn't leave it outside when it rains !!

Hmm . . . I've been looking for a while and the seem to average over £1k as fizzy mentions !

Hope the seller doesn't leave it outside when it rains !!

I too am rapidly approaching that magic age - I have already converted one pension into a 'draw-down' account, and used some of the money to purchase 2 properties with my 'investment' in each being around 40-50% the return or yield can be very tax efficient and you can apportion in different %'s between you and your spouse as required to use all or your tax free allowances (and its way better than ISA's and other traditional saving methods.

I like the max out the credit card and floosie idea that 'SOD' proposed - will I need to make sure my epitaph has a 'sponsored by visa and mastercard' footnote

(better go, the wife wants to know what I'm typing )

Thank you very much to all you decent chaps who took time out to reply, your well thought through responses exceeded my all expectations !

I have much thinking to do now, and one that would seem a must is that I will visit a show later this year, possibly the Midlands one, to have a good look at what others are doing and drool over the shiny new machines, in particular thanks to the general consensus I'm now looking at 'new' lathes, and notice that on the back on MEW there is a nice advert for a DB10 super from Chester Hobby Store - are these any good, it does seem a good offer at not silly price ?

I think another sensible step will be to wander down to the ME club in Cheltenham (their site is only 20 mins away) and say 'Hi' . . .

So . . much to think about, much to do, and hopefully lots of new friends to make

Steve

I've been reading many articles on the site, and have decided to join, so 'Hello' everyone.

I'm on the wind down towards retirement, and had been thinking of 'what will I do' by way of a hobby ?

When I was a young lad my Grandfather worked as a machinist on a very old vintage 3 speed leather belt driven lathe making the first set (male and female) die sets for tablet production for a well known pharmaceutical company and in his spare time and post his retirement we spent many happy hours with me learning most of the basic lathe machining skills (as much as you could on his lathe)

So almost 50 years on from those early sown seeds and having always had a passion for steam road vehicles I now intend to take up model engineering with a lean toward steam traction and lorry modelling when I retire.

Before anyone points out that this might be a bit ambitious I ought to add that I served an engineering apprenticeship at the start of my own career which gave me a very good foundation in machining, welding/brazing, heat treating and all the hand tool skills for metalworking although I am not currently working in a hands on environment.

I have a single brick built garage (which I know is not the best for a workshop) but am now busily insulating it by applying a heat barrier to the inside walls, and the up/over door. The walls will have a ply inner liner and insulation to the roof, with heating as necessary and then I'll be looking out for a nice lathe, my budget won't stretch to a new one, so am looking for a pre owned one, my thoughts are leaning towards a Myford, ML7 (or super 7) ??

So I have some questions which I would like to ask the learned members:-

Firstly - are there any good clubs in my area that I can join, I would add that I'm not really interested in rail, but have 'played' with aircraft and helicopters in the past, although have no intention of returning to RC models.

To start with I'm thinking of only getting a lathe, spending some refreshing my skills and then learn to carryout milling on it - maybe as funds allow buy a milling machine, but I'm really not sure ?