Member postings for Ajohnw

When I did the bathroom I was so annoyed about both of the rolls of stick on fibre glass tape not sticking I didn't use it. It was feather edge board and no signs of cracking. I used Wickes pre mixed jointing compound. It was easy to use and could take plenty of pressure to flatten it. The plasterer who skimmed it over was very impressed. It was all dead flat. I'll probably use it again. It's even worked ok on the hand cut taper edges. One of the reviews on Wickes site notes that it seems to be the perfect mix which isn't the easiest thing to do especially DIY.

Looking at screwfix the reviews reckon their tape will stick so I do intend to try it again. I even tried high pressure with a wall paper seam roller on the other stuff, everything I could think of.

I went looking for Wickes patching plaster but they don't offer it any more. They do offer a slow drying finishing plaster that I suspect is the same thing. It was pretty easy to feather out and could also fill deep holes in 2 layers. I've used it up to about 1" total. As the end of the wall it is only a few inches wide I intend to finish that off with this and also blend in the sides but I could use the jointer if it looks suitable. Suspect it might be too stiff. I think I can mix the plaster correctly. It needs to be just right to get a smooth finish easily as it takes some time to dry. A little wetter than my initial tries.

I watched an insurance plasterer do some work once. The theory worked out. He used brown stuff. Plastered a section of ceiling and then fetched some water from his van. Sprayed a bit on and it then started to harden so he could apply some pressure to get it smooth and flat. I offered him water out of the tap but he said no it must be clean water and we carry it around with us. Having tried I can't help wondering how he did it. Perhaps there was some lime in the water in the van or he used a mix that didn't have enough water in it to fully cure. Maybe there is some secret ingredient. As long as it can be flattened quickly it looks easy this way.

I know some one who skimmed with artex. Easy he said. If it isn't right just wet it and correct the problem and keep doing that until it's all perfect. Should be ok for walls that are only ever painted but no thanks in my case.

John

-

The best bet is to find out what is causing the taper. If there is signs of the same cut setting cutting again it might just be slightly loose headstock bearings but bars also bend so the diagnosis has to be done carefully. It can be worth running the same cut several times to see if the taper changes as setting headstock bearings isn't that easy to do.

If your reaming the tailstock alignment is more important. If I have doubts about that and it's not being used to correct for bed twist I know what I do but would hesitate to suggest it on small chinese lathes. it's pretty simple really and assumes that the 3 jaw is in good condition and runs pretty true which means it's a decent make and correctly mounted on it's back plate etc. Hold a morse reamer in that, extend the tailstock quill by a couple of inches and then simply push it "gently" and slowly along the bed onto the morse reamer so that it takes a light cut and centres the morse socket. What you don't do is use the tailstock feed or clamp the tailstock. If you rotate the morse reamer or anything else round by hand just as the jaws close slowly on it what ever it is will run as true as the chuck does. The tailstock needs to be heavy enough to "hold itself down" The more reamer will be cutting on one side to start of with. Should be ok on any lathe say a Myford 7 or heavier.

Light lathes ? Maybe press down hard by hand as well.

I am assuming the bed etc is nice and clean and if messed up don't blame me - it just needs some care and thought. The weight of the tailstock is what is helping the reamer cut on one side initially.

This is one of the reasons I don't strain beds.

John

-

Thanks Jason. I'll try that. The main question will be screwfix or toolstation. On of the screwfix reviews suggests using jointing compound on it. I need to get some anyway - premix as that I feel has to right and it doesn't cost much more than the bags.

I'v driven a dozen drywall screws now and am pleased with the drill I'm using. 100's to go, The lithium batteries went duff on my last one and stupid prices. I bought a Bosch GSB 18V-L1 plus some extra batteries to go in the drawer as they were on offer. On low speed it's great for driving them in and the clutch seems to be constant so far. It's easy to slow down and watch the last bit anyway, Last time I did some I used my mains ELU come B&D. 3/8" with a 1/2 inch chuck fitted. It's way more powerful but a bit of handful for the screws. The drill was the only one B&D had them do when they took ELU over. Irritating. They made much better tools.

The trumpet head drywall screws are going in nice and neatly. Pity I had to buy a 1000 of them but that's life. There supposed to a bit in the box somewhere.

John

-

Just stuck the first piece on and am wondering how long it takes to dry?

Mixed it like rather thick whipped cream, no slump if I pushed it to the side of the bowl at about 2" deep. Didn't need much for this piece. Put a good heaped table spoon on every 4" or so then had the bright idea of using g clamps to press it onto the timber it runs along - came out more or less true to the other piece and needed minimal pressure to correct. The strips is only about 10" wide and the 12mm plaster board more than stiff enough to compress the adhesive.

It stuck to the back of the board well and much easier to do than dot the wall. I had hoped to use it as a jointing compound but feel it's way to soft to work flat easily.

This boarding will have 2 exposed corners so will have to be protected with corner beading and skimmed. I had wonderer about adding a rad to the edge of the board but suppose it should be done properly as it might get chipped. One dodge I have heard of which does work but wont in this case is to edge it to copper tube as plaster sticks to it infuriatingly well if it has to be got off. Some plasterers use it to save having to duplicate old radiused cornered plaster which can be very tricky.

John

-

Edited By Ajohnw on 22/11/2016 16:52:58

We have had tubes last for 5 years or more but all of them that are regularly used are self starters - no separate starter. 5 years is an understatement as I have fitted 3 in total during the 28 years we have been here but I get the impression that the newer ones don't last as long but that could depend on make. The 2 most used are now fitted with narrow dia more efficient tubes and electronic ballasts. One of those has been going for a couple of years.

We've recently fitted some led lamps to replace cfl's. It's been interesting. In the lounge I went for a bit under 5000k which I know will be fine despite what many people reckon. We bought some more recently with the max efficiency rating. My son bought them actually. 2,700k. They are way brighter than the cfl's we had fitted. phillips made them. I had been having problems with 2 D lights in a bathroom. Current surges making one just flicker when it was colder. They are both self starters. I noticed that Toolstation sell some 4w and 6000K plus so fitted both of those. Instructions state ballast ok but short out any starter. The interesting aspect is that these don't have the top A rating. I've long suspected that they include all of this blue that we can barely detect to get the colour temperature up and going on the light output from these I think I'm correct. I wonder if they account for this in the ratings. 6000k and white tiles etc don't look like a good idea to me either.

When the wall came down we had 5000k photo proofing tube lighting at one end and 3000k warm white at the other end, It was pretty obvious. Now the new wall is up it's fine and our eyes auto adjust if we look at the space for a door in the 5000k area, White is still white. The 3000k tube blends well with daylight coming through a window too. It faces north.

John

-

A D bit - the type that does look like a D on the end will give a hole only slightly worse than a reamer. Instead of +0.0005 it's something like 0.0015" or better over size. Don't remove any more material than you would with a reamer.

It would probably be easier to use a 6mm slot drill to drill the hole and the same to bore it out then a D bit to finish but you may need to lap the bore anyway.

D bits are pretty easy to make. It was once done with a file but they can be milled. Take the flat very very slightly below centre rather than above. It's important not to have the flat above centre so depending on size we are talking 0.0001's not thou's at this size. When filed a toolmaker would deliberately add a bit of rock to the filing action which ensures that the edges are a touch below centre. Those days are long since gone though so I suspect people will mill them. Make sure it has a decent finish, harden it and allow the temper on the very tip to go to very pale straw. A cheapo plumbers torch could be used up to say 1/2 dia or so. Bigger may need something more powerful. Polish after hardening and the heat well way from the tip and watch the colours run up to the tip. As soon as it shows slight signs of pale straw plunge it into cold water.

Most models can be changed. I'd be wondering if the bore could be increased to allow the use of an 8mm reamer but you can probably buy a 7.5mm one from drill services. Also a 5/16" reamer wouldn't be much oversized. I/64 less even closer.

John

Edited By Ajohnw on 22/11/2016 11:39:13

one more thing. I suspect I haven't had any end butted joints problems in the bathroom as I used a surform to put a bit of a chamfer on the edges - gets rid of the paper so the compound actually gets to the plaster. I did have a coarse surform blade but it's gone. While watching a video of a metal suspended ceiling being install I noticed that they ran something along the edges of the board before fixing them in place. Turns out to be a drywall rasp so I bought one. They trim the board a lot quicker than a fine surform but make a bit of mess of the edge of the paper. I think that can be trimmed up separately.

John

-

I spent some time umming and arring how to fix the first piece of plaster true and went for my original intention to use hammer fixings but screw rather than drive them in. The board needed to be in contact with the wall at one side and spaced out by 1/4" on the other. Messed one up by countersinking too deep to recess the heads and another because I part hammered it in. The screw wouldn't take to drive it all the way in. A light tap to keep them in place and hold the plaster board back was ok.

The countersinking has torn the paper a bit but I think a razor blade scraper will sort that out but they will be hidden anyway when the units are in place.

All this for a 3x2' piece of board but I've had other things to sort out.

It's allowed me to align the heavy piece of timber to true up the end of what's left of the wall. I currently have one 5" hammer fixing holding that true while some mortar sets. Then it gets another 2. These wont screw in at all and have to be hammered.

I'll try gluing the rest of this side of the wall and as I am well aware of what can happen when plaster is first added to brick - it just falls off unless well wetted I'm going to put the adhesive on the back of the board and then press it home. It's a sort of practice area as ripping the lot off and getting a plasterer in wont cause any problems. If the gluing works out I'll glue the other side.

Next problem will be the trench in the floor. When the floorboards were removed due to rot and the whole lot filled with concreter they left a trench for pipe work. Water and gas. Long before we moved in. They didn't make a very good job of covering it with timber. No problem if it was under the units but it isn't and using the services would mean chiselling groove in the concrete. So as we have gas and water upstairs the best option looks to be to bring that down and disconnect the stuff in the trench and fill with concrete. The main problem then is that as I know my pipe fitting is fine it's very tempting to do the gas myself but I had better find a fitter to install a new cooker point.

All this legislation due to people not doing jobs properly. In the case of gas people who couldn't even be bothered to buy a manometer to check their work. I know this from talking to a plumbers merchant when we had a boiler fitted. The guy didn't have one, didn't see the need so I bought one to check his work. They cost peanuts in the scheme of things.

John

-

Edited By Ajohnw on 22/11/2016 10:30:51

Interesting stuff and worth remembering - dexion on steroids.

The problem with the wooden bench is bracing the legs against side to side movement of the bench. A shelf or two with a fairly deep support all screwed in place can fix that in the same way as I did on the one I posted a shot of.

Just sheeting in the side wont achieve the same thing unless it's extremely stiff.

Yes I under hung the top shelf. Most have been feeling perverse. More likely couldn't get at the screws when I made it.

John

-

Edited By Ajohnw on 22/11/2016 09:28:55

I'm impressed Martin. I went for the slightly different model. Led display and knob to set the temperature. Nice positive feel to the switches even the C -> F change over push button. It's not light weight either so looks to have a decent transformer in it - rating includes 240v too. The iron is decent size and weight and it's interesting to see that they seem to have insulated the heater and tips with ceramics. I'd have thought that would be a bit like having more watts. The mains lead is rubber coated which seems a bit manic. It's been on for 1/2 hr and the case is no warmer than I would expect which again suggests a decent transformer. Not a 60C temperature rise commercial thing. It must be a lot lot lower than that. There isn't any through flow ventilation,

2 Moans. I would have preferred green 7 seg displays and a drawer to keep spare tips in would have been very nice.

Took me a few mins to realise how to put the iron holder on the right. It comes set up for having it on the left as per the photo.

The lead to the iron is a bit stiffer than those Weller use for their normal irons but it is covered in silicone rubber. As the temp sensor is in the element it has to be a bit heavier so as expected really.

Big plus. Comes in a decent cardboard box that could be used to keep it in when not in use.

It would have been cheaper to repair the metal fatigue in the lead to the weller iron though. It works but if that lead finishes up in the wrong position it cuts out.

Oh by the way - the other thing that cropped up again only goes up to 250C. Probably intended for stitching certain plastics.

John

-

Edited By Ajohnw on 21/11/2016 20:34:05

The bottom of this page might interest you.

**LINK**

The value ones are ok for 300kg and the dearer ones 400kg. If you want more stiffness you could sheet in 3 of the sides. They are strong units.

John

-

I like the sofa too Nick. As I said if the boost is off it shows what you will get.

Sadly I don't have any sofa's like that around.

John

-

My Oly viewfinders on most of them can see better in the dark than I can Nick - as I found out taking shots in caves in Turkey. There is a setting on the EM's and maybe some of the Pens called live view boost. It provides a constant level of lighting in the viewfinder. The real plus though is the ability to see white and black level clipping directly and with the boost off get a decent idea of the light levels that will show in the actual shot. I still have a dslr but using it is like a trip back to the dark ages - in many respects. 3 lenses and a camera don't weigh much more than the dslr with a 150mm macro lens on it. Only problem with Olympus is that they are hell bent on the pro users and the north american market. If it isn't heavy it isn't any good and also it causing them to produce some rather expensive lenses. I recently bought an inferior Panasonic lens due to that - price and weight of the Oly one. Fact though the cheaper plastic lenses they do are perfectly capable of making use of the format and the pixel count. Panasonic in most cases too but still more than adequate for real use for most people. They did try one duff lens initially but it wasn't well received so got updated.

The point I was making Michael is that the performance of the viewfinders vary - rather a lot actually.

The test shot I posted came from drycreek. A google for drycreek monitor will bring up a number but to be honest if some one wants to be serious about it buy a colorimeter. The ColorMonkey ones are pretty good and if really serious get one that measures ambient light levels too. A piece of software called DispCalGui makes a much much better job of calibration than the software that comes with them.

John

-

Edited By Ajohnw on 21/11/2016 13:21:11

The problems with electronic viewfinders are a bit dependent on the camera Miichael. You shouldn't assume that they all show a noticeable lag. They don't. Initial E-PL1 didn't show any grainyness however it did show a lot of noise in dimmer living room conditions. Also had problems focusing at time. The E-P3 I bought later same sensor pixel count etc didn't have the problem. A Nikon V2 shows noise but will focus. Silly Nikon really because a number of Nikon fanatics bought from that range and were rather disappointed. The lenses are rather good - pity about the camera. Worse still the V2 was the middle priced one so they put a sensor in it with more pixels - it had more noise than the cheapest one. The sensor dynamic range is not too good either.

The biggest problem with decent electronic view finders is manual focusing. 1.4mp isn't enough to ensure that the image on an 18mp sensor is sharply in focus so various magnified view arrangements need to be used. For most applications this doesn't really matter and anyway the optical focusing screens in DSLR's aren't as good as the old film camera ones used to be but they do still have an advantage in this respect.

Some people are viewing 3x10bit colour on their pc screens already rather than sRGB 3x8bit. People can check to see if their cameras are capable of taking photo's with 10bit colour. It will have a setting for Adobe RGB. To have that it looks like the analogue to digital converter used to read the values of the sensor needs to be a 12bit one. not sure on that point but they usually have that or more but the number also influences the dynamic range a camera can have so it might just be a case that aRGB is only offered on better cameras. Compacts often have or did have 10bit a to d's. I suspect my sony dsc t?'s had more which is why I could brighten up shadowy areas significantly.

I look at 10bit colour every time I buy a monitor. Last time PC's couldn't provide the bandwidth that it needs into the size of monitor I use. A 27" but wish it was 30. The other thing was the monitors. The even rather expensive but affordable ones use 8+2 bit colour channels. They flash different colours to obtain the ones needed above what sRGB offers. Personal thing. It reminds me of the early days of PC colour but it's probably a lot better.

Photo's have other odd aspects when displayed on a PC screen. People who post shots on photo forums usually quickly find that they need to calibrate their monitor. As the manufacturers put them out extremely bright to give unrealistic dynamic ranges this always involve lowering the brightness. The colours also need tuning up but some are better than others. The net effect is that who ever took the shot has no idea how they will look to a lot of viewers. Take this for instance. I can just about detect all of the split squares other than the very brightest darkest ones.

John

-

They are called compact system cameras JA. Very similar to a DSLR in many way but no mirror. The sensor is used to provide an image into an electronic viewfinder. They are getting pretty popular with a lot of people.

They are available with several different sensor sizes. The Nikon 1 range uses the smallest. Then comes micro 4/3 and then there are some that use APS sized sensors as do many of the DSLR's. As far as I am aware no one does a full frame one yet as they do with the far more expensive DSLR's at the top of the price range.

Some models are more dslr like in terms of features than others. Some are largely aimed at the point and shoot market. Some will serve both that and more advanced use and then there are models in between. My E-M1 for instance will do everything an advanced dslr can do and some things a dslr can not do.

There are way more penalties in small sensor cameras such as the very wide range zoom bridge cameras than Neil mentioned. All sorts in fact in several areas not just noise.

Ian might like to go take a look at some of the better CSC camera. They weigh a hell of a lot less than many dslr's. I can if i choose to walk around with one lens on the camera that zooms for 14-150mm or 28 to 300mm as it would be stated on a compact or a bridge camera but I am well aware that there are optical penalties for having a zoom range that large which would limit what I could shoot with it. I couldn't do what I did with the last photo I posted for instance. More or less double the focal length by cropping pictures out of the shot near it's max zoom range. That shot was hand held as well. On the Olympus cameras the image stability is built into the camera. Panasonic do it in the lens itself which tends to make them a bit bulkier and heavier. Not much though.

Maybe I had better add that though the Nikon 1 range is extremely light serious use people might be wise to avoid it. It doesn't really take advantage of what CSC cameras can offer and they don't contain a terribly good sensor. They probably do match a decent compact and the lenses can be changed but that's about it really. I don't think that the current models even offer a veiwfinder other than as an add on which is probably expensive.

John

-

Edited By Ajohnw on 21/11/2016 00:01:47

Interesting point. They can take pretty good pictures, often excellent. That range always has. I suspect that the zoom range is still well under a typical bridge camera but that in part is why they can do what they do. Sony may do something similar.

John

-

Another bird pushing the Olympus 300mm zoom lens about as far as it can go. It's a crop from a full resolution shot with a size reduction of about 2/3 more for a decent screen viewing size than anything else.

Just add that M 4/3 state the actual focal length of the lenses so in compact tems 300mm would be 600mm.

John

-

Edited By Ajohnw on 20/11/2016 11:48:22

Here's a link to an album of shots taken with my first M 4/3 camera the E-PL1 using the 14-42mm kit lens that comes with them. Not a camera I would recommend but it convinced me.

**LINK**

And here's an E-M1 plus plastic to 300mm lens shot of a bird. Best to iopen it in another tab.

John

-

Edited By Ajohnw on 20/11/2016 11:29:38

I mentioned this review site in the bridge camera thread. This is a review of the updated FS35.

**LINK**

I mentioned what I have used in the past for point and shoot. This is one of that range.

**LINK**

I've had 3 of them in total and have used them on walks and for social photography. I've never owned an extreme zoom bridge camera with effective focal lengths going up to 1000mm etc so pass on those.

The review site will mention all of the problems that compacts and bridge cameras have but some are better than others and a careful read will give some indication. Sad that it's started using more extreme advertising but it's possible to down load shots taken with the cameras even raw files for those that are interested in that area.

I'm a pixel peeper and feel that cameras should be able to show the images they take at full resolution which means that the image size is considerably bigger than the few mega pixels on a PC screen or even on a small print. I became fed up of carrying a dslr and several lenses about so tried micro 4/3. Much lighter but Olympus keep introducing faster heavier and more expensive lenses for their cameras. However there is nothing really wrong with any of their kit lenses which are all pretty light and easy to carry round in a shoulder bag. I use one from Troop as they are waterproof.

The other thing I found was that ageing eyes was causing problems with cameras that are set up with the rear screen. Some use bigger icons than others which helps but there is still the bright sunlight problem. Some cameras have electronic viewfinders and display all of the information in that. The amount of info varies but take my EM-5 it shows all of it and the camera can be set up as needed via the viewfinder. It also shows directly which area of the image is over or under exposed. Many of the M 4/3 cameras will do all of this. Nikon bought out the 1 range using an even smaller sensor. Good example of them being cowboys at times. They could do all of these things via the viewfinder but don't which has a pretty dramatic effect on the usability of the camera. I find that many shots need exposure compensation and it has to be guessed. I suspect these would have been fairly popular cameras if they had included the right facilities but the dynamic range and noise levels on the sensor aren't that good either. Some compacts might do better.

So I finish up with an E-P3, an EM-5 and an EM-1. I keep the E-M5 as a spare 'cause I wouldn't get much for it if I sold it. The original model is an excellent camera. The new bulkier E-M1 wont ever tempt me so can't see myself ever buying another model. If it breaks I might be forced to buy Panasonic.

John

-

It reckons that the max temperature is 250C. Odd that but the technical data sheet states the same. Maybe a mistaken purchase that they want to get rid of.

John

-