Member postings for Samsaranda

For those still addicted to 60/40 lead solder, I always find it easy to use, then it is still available on Banggood and probably will be for as long as any of us will need it.

Dave W

JC 54,

I seem to have a similar problem with gunsmiths, wife was non too pleased when I went for 1,000 cartridges and returned with cartridges and another secondhand shotgun. It was worth all the aggravation as the shotgun is an old Winchester in really good condition, keeps me out her hair on Sundays.

Dave W

Joe

Anyone who has worked producing items in an engineering company will be well aware that overall control nowadays is in the hands of accountants, there is no choice when a range of costs are presented for an item where they all execute the same function, the cheapest item is the one that purchasing will be instructed to acquire. In the case of a budget priced lathe or mill then costs are paramount in the equation as profit margins are very slim.

Dave W ( Thankfully now retired Engineering Quality Assurance Manager )

John Paton 1,

I sincerely support your off topic submission, a few years ago our veterinary surgeon had a hedgehog that they had nursed back to health from a serious injury and they were looking for a suitable garden in which it could be released. I volunteered our garden which is very wildlife friendly, hedgehog was bought home and a shelter made for it in accordance with the plans on the St Tiggywinkles internet site. I placed the shelter under a large bush and the hedgehog took up residence, it was summer and we fed the hedgehog daily with dog food and hedgehog specific dried food. When winter came and it was time for hibernation we placed fresh hay outside the entrance of the hedgehog house every day and the hedgehog took it inside and made a snug area to hibernate. Come the late spring we were most surprised to find that the hedgehog was obviously female and had produced a litter of five hoglets, she was quite tame and was proud to show off her offspring to us. Sadly as the years passed we lost her and now to our knowledge we have no resident hedgehogs, sadly a situation that appears to be all too common as hedgehogs become a scarce feature of our wildlife.

Dave W

John MC, thanks for the correction, memory not as good as it used to be, I remember it was a formula 1 team but confused with which one, I remember the other teams all complained of unfair advantage so FIA banned it to keep the peace.

Dave W

I seem to remember that Renault formula 1 cars were fitted with some form of inertia/harmonic damper to their chassis, a few years ago but it was outlawed by the FIA because it gave them an advantage over every other team because none of them had thought about the idea themselves.

Dave W

Certainly look like Ariel cylinders, I remember reboring my Ariel Leader, back in the sixties, because it was rattling, that was a waste of time it was rattling just as bad after 1,000 miles. Wish I had the bike now, I used to commute long distances every weekend when I was in the Air Force, it had brilliant roadholding for a bike of that era and never let me down, not that much to go wrong with a two stroke.

Dave W

Does anyone know the composition of Carr’s Solder Paint, how much lead does it contain, if any .

Dave W

I thought under the WEEE regulations that suppliers of electronic items were obliged to accept the item that was defunct and recycle it at no cost to the customer, perhaps I have misunderstood the parameters involved, anyway in this case of no relevance as Douglas has a supply of useful goodies from the redundant unit.

Dave W

I would like to update this subject that I raised earlier in the year, firstly many thanks for all the input that was made; the route taken was suggested by my grandsons friend, who is a plasterer, his recommendation was to strip back all the plaster on the chimney breast, back to bare brick which was found to be sound, then it was rendered with a lime render mix and subsequently finished with standard gypsum plaster. We have started having log fires again and so far there is no signs of the plaster cracking, after previous replasters it started cracking as soon as any heat was generated, so it is looking good so far. The reason given for using the lime render as undercoat was that it is resistant to thermal cracking and was always used traditionally around chimneys and fireplaces and historically all brickwork used to use lime mortar and old properties are testament to its ability to survive long term. I think part of the original problem was that the bond between the brickwork and plaster was breaking down and allowing small movements which caused the plaster to crack, going back to bare brick was the sensible course of action, now its finished I am no longer under pressure from the “complaints” department so hoping for a quieter life, although there is always something else waiting to go wrong.

Dave W

Nice one PGK, you make me jealous,

Dave W

PGK, do I read you right, you get electricity for free, how come? The rest of us have to pay for ours.

Dave W

Always used kerosene, aviation grade, for cleaning any engineering items when in the Air Force as plentiful supply, bearings were always cleaned with non leaded gasoline. I would be wary of using WD 40 as it is deemed to be hygroscopic, which means that it absorbs moisture, not good for avoiding rust.

Dave W

Muzzer, your comment about “Chinesium Crap” is a bit harsh as nowadays it is almost impossible to buy equipment that is either not a Chinese product or contains some of its basic elements that have been produced in the orient. Can you name any fluorescent light units that do not contain anything produced in the Far East?

Dave W

Worth looking at, really impressive engineering.

Dave W

Ian, what part of the country do you reside in? It would seem that your planning and building control departments are over zealous to extreme. I live in East Sussex and our building control has apparently been privatised with a company located in Tunbridge Wells being the contractor concerned, I might add that I live some distance from them just outside Eastbourne, fortunately do not need any services from them and if your experience is anything to go by I hope I don’t. It is hardly surprising that people tend to steer clear of official certification, it is counter productive for a safer environment.

Dave W

PGK, your comment relating to the patients ECG and proximity to the underground illustrates how large the field of influence can be with high voltage cables and equipment, perhaps we should try laying our high tower horizontal instead of standing up to see if it helps, bit difficult to ensure a correct trajectory for the clays though, seriously perhaps a change of orientation of the receiving aerial could help in solving the problem.

Dave W

Stuart Smith S, thanks for your input, presume it is feasible that the problem is equipment related but it’s random occurrence has led us to suspect outside influence, difficult to quantify but the general feeling amongst our group is that the equipment is performing correctly, our thoughts are focussed to the proximity of the power lines, particularly after researching on the net how large a field high voltage power lines generate. You become only to aware of the current flowing through the lines on damp misty days when you can hear the lines crackling and humming.

Dave W

Stuart, our A range is the one next to the power lines, the B range is well away from the cables and performs faultlessly. We had no problem with the old traps before the Laporte ones as they had cables connecting the control to the tower so no radio to be inferred with, but what a pain having to drag the cable around from stand to stand, not easy when the farmer allowed the grass to get long and tall for animal feed, can’t envisage going back to that.

Dave W

Dave, we are fairly well away from any potential radio transmissions being located on marshland at the Pevensey Levels in East Sussex, however close by is the Southern Rail Eastbourne to Hastings railway line and nowadays railway infrastructure is bristling with transmission aerials so maybe a potential problem there. I like your theory about Ian SC’s dad’s Singer sewing machine, appeals to my black sense of humour, so we can always blame New Zealand, bit different to blaming the French for all our problems. 😇

Dave W