Member postings for Samsaranda

JasonB,

making the statement that” People make and modify firearms in their workshops “ may well be misconstrued by the politicians who would like to curtail our workshop activities, they are particularly sensitive about firearms in general, if they think that we make them in our workshops we could probably expect draconian restrictions in future.

Dave W

Have regularly ordered Isopropanol from EBay and Amazon, gets delivered by Post Office, no problems. Try sending a parcel from our local Post Office and it’s the third degree on what’s in the parcel, has it got any batteries etc. I think a litre of Isopropanol is far more of a hazard than a AAA battery, but there again what do I know?

Dave W

Shame ABRAFILES are no longer made they were so useful, unfortunately I no longer have any left.

Dave W

A few years ago before the security situation became so touchy I was visiting the Houses of Parliament and before you could go up to the public gallery in the Commons you were required by the policeman on duty to turn out the contents of your pockets, in order to make sure you weren’t carrying any weapons. Well thinking no more about it I emptied my pockets and out clattered a penknife, I must add that this particular penknife was a fine specimen with horn side pieces and I was proud of it having bought it at the Devon County Show when I was 13 and had carried it ever since. The policeman looked at it and I thought “I am going to lose this penknife after all this time” but he eyed me up and down and obviously risk assessed me and his words were “put it back in your pocket, I haven’t seen it”; I am sure that the reaction would be much different today.

Dave W

Back in the 70’s, during my time in the Air Force, our transport squadron was detached to India and Bangladesh under the UN to ferry refugees, all the lads who wore specs had new glasses made while they were in Calcutta as they were phenomally cheaper than in the UK, methinks the situation is much the same now.

Dave W

The only stabbing at school that I can recall was to myself, I had been annoying a girl in my class and she stabbed me in the arm with a compass, it had the desired effect I stopped annoying her and it was painful at the time, and yes every boy had a penknife they were only used for sharpening pencils etcetera, the boys weren’t into stabbing only the girls!!!

Dave W

My lathe is at a comfortable working height but my mill could do with raising to save stooping but I would need an extension in the roof above to accommodate it so I will just stick with it.

Dave W

SOD, point taken but it somewhat devalues the hard work put in by those of us who achieved ranks through our own merit, but only to be expected I suppose from a system that is still lodged in feudal times.

Dave W

Ian, you are so right, I was wondering why Prince Harry was wearing an Air Force uniform, has he suddenly transferred to the Royal Air Force?

Dave W

Is this just half a topic or have I missed something, it doesn’t make any sense.

Dave W

Mike, you put it in a nutshell, why do we tolerate these inappropriate laws that come as knee jerk reactions, Obviously designed to enhance the public standing of those who dream them up!!!

Dave W

As ex Air Force, I left in 1986, seeing how the service has been drastically cutback over the recent years I was surprised that they managed to get 100 aircraft serviceable to fly in yesterday’s fly past, that notwithstanding they did an excellent job. Surprising in spite of drastic cutbacks there was a large number of high ranking officers uniforms visible on the tv coverage.

Dave W

Andrew, mounted my lathe on a bench that also gave me crosslide about 4 inches above my elbow, no more back ache from bending over the lathe, also have my two work benches at similar height, so much easier to work with, would recommend anybody to try it.

Dave W

In respect of annoying your neighbours with interference on their radios and televisions I remember back in the 80’s one of my daughters was seriously into CB radio and would be on it all hours of the day and night. One of our neighbours three doors down came round bitterly complaining that she was ruining their tv viewing with her transmissions. I had ensured that her equipment was compliant with the current standards so not to cause interference but the neighbours got really nasty and insisted that her equipment was defective, I said well there is only one way to resolve your complaint and that is make a complaint to the GPO Telecoms, who at that time were the regulators for transmission interference. They duly complained and the GPO man came round and thoroughly tested my daughters equipment, it was fully complaint so he visited the neighbours and tested their aerial arrangement and found that it was faulty and was picking up on the CB transmission and converting to interference, don’t ask me the technical details I don’t understand radio transmissions, I am ok with electrons while they are rattling around wires but I am lost with radio. So it would appear there are many ways that emissions can interact with other equipment.

Dave W

Aerosol cans can be very dangerous if subjected to heat in an incerator or bonfire, they go off like hand grenades, don’t ask how I know.

Dave W

Neil, All fish are safe from any future entombment then!

Dave W

Bazyle, realise the dark months will give very little output but would only be a concern if I was intending to go totally off grid, would love to be able to do that but definitely not feasible in UK with our climate.

Dave W

Most good paint suppliers will supply a ready made etch that works on galvanised, I know our local painting suppliers do, doubt whether you will get anything that’s any good in the DIY supermarkets, need a specialist paint supplier.

Dave W

Lionel,

You seem to be well set up if you have central heating in your workshop so easy enough to fit the heat exchanger in circuit, my workshop has to rely on an oil filled electric radiator for heating during the cold months but the workshop has plenty of celotex insulation, about 100 mm in most areas, so no problem keeping steady temperature.

Tom,

I need to investigate what current costs would be for solar PV , I could get probably 4kw from my south east facing roof, would have to do the sums to see if its viable, and then present the case to the financial controller.

Dave W

NDIY, l was thinking of solar PV connected to house system in order to get a return on units generated, although l understand that income is very minimal from units sent to the grid, the solar PV would reduce total units used from the grid throughout the year and therefore reduce annual electric costs offsetting the extra use from my pond systems. Wife says it’s uneconomical use of capital because I won’t live long enough to break even on the investment, does she know something that I don’t and isn’t telling me?

Dave W