Member postings for Samsaranda

Keyway depths appear different, if the ER32 was same depth I doubt there would be a problem. Dave W

Look identical to the Fireflys depicted in Wikipedia. Dave W

I have set many hundreds of pop rivets, having spent 22 years in the Air Force as an Aircraft Technician, my recommendation would be a pneumatic riveter as first choice but you state it needs to be mechanical so I would go for Lazy Tongs. As an aside I recently had a job that required a small number of pop rivets to be used, I opted for economy and obtained a cheap hand riveter, that was a serious error, it fell to pieces after only 6 rivets, if you are using Monel rivets you will need a fair bit of force to set them so lazy tongs will be substantial and your best bet. Dave W

The addition of Fairy liquid in mortar used in bricklaying aids the workability of the mortar, haven’t heard of it being added to concrete mixes though, I think that it is frowned upon by authorities because apparently degrades the final strength of the mortar, apparently affects the chemical process. Dave W

A very good example of make do and mend was the buses that operated in Malta in the post war years, I was posted to Malta in the mid seventies and the buses in Malta were unique, they were so old, you could sit inside and watch the road going by underneath the floorboards which had many gaps. The Maltese were very adept at reworking or making spares to keep these ancient buses going, the buses were still going in the nineties but after that were replaced with new Far Eastern versions because on joining the EU Malta was told it was allowed to join on condition that its transport infrastructure was modernised, when that happened Malta lost a part of its unique character. Dave W

In respect of fraud from public funds, recently had the roof on our conservatory replaced, when the company came to survey the job I asked how long would the waiting list be, his reply was we are snowed under with work since the start of COVID and we would have to wait 6 to 8 weeks even though it was only a one day job. He said that since the government were making loans freely available to businesses during the pandemic, business owners were obtaining loans, supposedly for their business and then using the money to fund new conservatories hence the conservatory businesses were booming. As a taxpayer I find that a gross misuse of public funds, no wonder the pandemic is on course to bankrupt our public finances.

On a different theme I remember the story of a gentleman who was blatantly evading income tax and the tax inspectors were extremely frustrated that they couldn’t catch him out, eventually they found which supermarket that he used for his shopping and applied to the supermarket for the records of his loyalty card. When they checked they found that his spending in the supermarket amounted to more than the sum of his declared income so they took him to court and his loyalty card records were used to convict him. We leave a footprint everywhere and the government will leave no stone unturned to catch fraudsters. Dave W

Did these draconian powers come into being because of our membership of the EU where all member states were required to have parallel systems in place ? Dave W

Michael

Many thanks for your reply, I thought that hydrogen was liquid at normal air pressure but I wasn’t 100% sure. Dave W

Liquid oxygen is liquid at normal air pressure after having been extracted by fractional distillation albeit at its mind numbing minus temperature, if kept at its relevant temperature it remains liquid at normal air pressure. Is liquid hydrogen still liquid when kept at the relevant temperature and normal air pressure, I.e. 1 atmosphere. Storage would not be such a problem if this is so and the hydrogen could be stored in the same way as liquid oxygen in insulated storage vessels. Liquid oxygen has its problems when being handled, we used to be ultra careful when handling it. Dave W

I made a top bar type beehive out of genuine Marine ply, it was a mahogany colour on the outside. I applied a mixture of linseed oil and beeswax as preservative for the outer surfaces. I made the mixture by using pure linseed oil (not boiled) warmed enough to absorb a small amount of beeswax, paint it on while still warm and allow 24 hours to dry and apply another coat, warmed up as well. When dry the surface will be coated with a thin layer of wax and it withstands the weather very well and protects the wood. This mixture is non toxic to wildlife and of course contains no dangerous chemicals, ideal for beehives, nest boxes etc. Dave W

Is that a Manson-Guise Engine, a variation of a hot air engine with some improvements? Dave W

Hi Pete

thanks for the clarification, explains why my impression of the Porsche marque was a bit jaded, 924 not a true blue Porsche! Dave W

Was commenting on the Porsche as a marque and not being dazzled by its “mystique”, are 924s not from the same stable! Dave W

I am afraid that the “mystique “ of Porsche cars is lost on me, my son in law owned a 924 and one day I got a phone call from him, he had broken his arm which was in plaster, could I meet him and drive the Porsche home and keep it my garage. I was distinctly unimpressed with the drive home, I found the car very uncomfortable and the ride harsh, maybe I missed something or the car was a bad example, I grant it was at the bargain end of Porsches but it didn’t meet my expectations. If you really want to frighten yourselves then a number of circuits on a real racetrack in an Atom does it for me. Dave W

Cant beat the good old fashioned lead based paints! I can already hear the health & safety lobby complaining in the background, yes I know you can’t use lead based paints nowadays but that doesn’t change the fact they were incredibly better than today’s offering of low VOC water based rubbish. Dave W

I cringe when I read of those who use washing up liquid for hand washing or even shampooing their hair, I have in later life developed contact dermatitis on my hands which is triggered whenever they are exposed to washing up liquid, diluted or concentrated, it leaves my skin very raw. I now have on prescription special liquid soap for my hands and have to treat with various creams, I urge anyone using washing up liquid in this way not to do it, it can trigger painful dermatitis at anytime, I spent my working life in engineering and oils and greases do not cause me problems just washing up detergent, there is a bonus though, excused washing up. Dave W

Without the Dinosaurs this site probably wouldn’t exist, proud to be among them. 🦕. Dave W

No problems viewing with my IPad. Dave W

Tv and radio reception can both be problematic, I live near the coast in East Sussex and the most powerful transmitter to tune to is the Heathfield transmitter, ideal because it’s on a hill. One of my neighbours has a ginormous Birch tree in his garden, which unfortunately is in direct line of sight between my house and the Heathfield transmitter, reception from that transmitter is ok in winter but once the tree is in leaf reception descends to unwatchable on our tv. Solution is retune the house aerial to another transmitter, well there is one at Hastings but the power output is so feeble because the French bleat on about interference their side of the channel so the transmitter gives only a very poor signal. Solution in the end was to go for Sky for tv, wasn’t happy doing that but at least the tv is watchable but at a price.

Going back to the old pirate radio days, in 1967 we used to listen to Radio Caroline when we were on guard on the airfield at RAF Sharjah, now part of the UAE. It could only be picked up for about an hour before dawn as the temperature changes in the atmosphere facilitated the signal skipping. Dave W

A few years ago I mailed a couple of castings to myself, in the UK, from Australia, had been there on holiday and the castings would have put my baggage seriously overweight. Don’t ask why I bought castings in Australia, the wife gave me enough grief over it. The castings arrived at the Gatwick freight handling centre and couldn’t be released until I had paid the admin fees and VAT on the items, I was not best pleased having to pay VAT on my own possessions. In respect of the problems and charges being levied on parcel traffic to and from the Continent, it seems to reflect the situation that has happened with parcel traffic to and from the USA for many years, although I think that the French have chosen to be particularly vindictive in their approach. but that is the French, they will never be any different towards the UK, It has always struck me as strange that if we order anything from China then for these items the British Postal Authorities mostly allow them in without any charges required. Is there some sort of agreement with China that if they fill out the customs declaration on parcels and say they item is only worth 5 dollars, irrespective of its true cost, then it is automatically allowed in. I think we will al have to accept that trading with the EU countries should be the choice of last resort. Dave W. 🤔