Member postings for mick H

As retrofitting my workshop with insulation and more ambitious heating systems is a no-go I took the advice of some of the posters and bought myself a heated vest. As far as i am concerned, never has money been better spent. We have not hit the worst of winter yet but on the lowest of heat settings it keeps me absolutely "toasty". On the highest of heat settings it is uncomfortably warm. The battery lasts about 3 hours + on the lowest setting and takes about 3 hours to charge at 1.3 amps which is peanuts compared to running a 2-3kWh electric heater. I did invest in a second battery which gives me all day heating capability. I did have reservations about my legs and arms getting cold but this has not been a problem and I assume that this is because the "core" heat is dissipated by the circulatory system to all parts of the body. Thoroughly recommended.

Mick

Hallo Roderick. Yes they are reed pipes I believe. Does that mean that they will not work with steam?

Nigel. Overblowing the pipe does emit a strangulated squeak of sorts just as in your recorder analogy. The strange thing is that I barely have to breath into the pipe to get a fine mellow note but they will not work on compressed air however low the pressure.

Mick

Whilst tootling around in the workshop I came across a pitch pipe-brass chromed tubes, just over an inch long and joined together like pan pipes. They make quite delightful sounds which would sound really good on a loco as a whistle. Whilst they work perfectly when gently blown into they refuse to emit any sound when blown into with compressed air. Does anyone with knowledge of these pipes know what needs to be done to convert them into a steam whistle?

I concur with Chris above. The reduction in the number of stalls was a little disappointing but as far as I could establish the main reason was the cost of a stall and the toll taken by Covid. It was still a good day out for a tenner and we still did not get round to seeing everything. It is on again today if anyone is tempted.

Mick

Thanks for the reassurance gents. The Lincoln Rally is, in my opinion, the finest value for money that you could ever get for a day full of fantastically varied interest and entertainment. See you on Saturday.

Mick

I telephoned a supplier to hopefully place a pre rally order for the upcoming Lincoln Steam Rally but he told me he would not be attending because of his stall being attacked by disorderly Travellers at the last couple of rallies he has attended. He also mentioned Pickering. Any information or experience of this sort of thing?

Mick

Thanks Chris. I will check it.

Mick

Hallo Chris. I feel similarly let down by BT having been a loyal customer for nearly 60 years with never a missed payment. But as is often said, loyalty doesn't pay. Just hoping that a competent engineer can tell me how to get out of this impasse. The helplines do not seem to have anyone with the requisite technical knowledge. eg when the broadband "went down" a couple of weeks ago the helpline wanted to send me a PIN by email. Aaaaargh!

Mick

Thanks pgk. Unfortunately we do not get a decent signal or bandwidth, very rural. We are just on the right side of 80 years and have been forced to depend on broadband for medical/medication purposes not to mention the reliance we have to place on the service to buy anything other than basic foodstuffs. The only mobile we have is a little Nokia thing which my wife keeps in her handbag for emergency purposes. I just can't believe that some lying ********** can get away with plunging us into this situation.

Mick

On 2nd August I went into the EE/BT shop to renew my BT broadband/landline contract which expires on 17th August. Member of staff offers me EE broadband/landline subscription at £10 per month cheaper. Q.Exactly the same product? A "Oh Yes". Q.How come? A. "It's a competition thing." Q.Exactly the same? A."Oh yes, identical." I signed the order, got home and read the order and the package was not the same. Phoned the shop, "ignore the order, it's wrong". Can I have that in writing please? "Oh oh oh, I think i have made a mistake." Please cancel order. "do it yourself". So I did.

I then tried to resurrect my BT subscription to be met with just about every excuse and obfuscation as to why this can't be done. I have a manager from both EE and BT on the case but it would seem that my BT reinstatement is held up by something called an asset transfer cancellation. Both EE and BT say they are blameless but stuck in the middle of this nonsense I fear being cut off from telephone and broadband next week. I keep being told to wait 24 hours when it will be sorted but of course it doesn't happen. I have spoken to Ofcom but any complaint takes weeks to work through.

Any ideas please?

Mick

Although well wrapped up, it felt flipping cold in the workshop this morning. So much so that I abandoned it at 1130. I could have switched on my electric heater.....3x1kw bars.....but we all know why I didn't.....or am I just being silly. It has set me thinking though, that if at the end of April I am forced to beat a retreat, what am I going to do in December, January, February and March? Without getting into the climate change debate there is not much evidence of global warming in this corner of England.

The options are not very attractive. I could Just shut down for those months and possibly bring a bit of work indoors. I could use my current heat source, shut up and just pay the extortionate energy bills. I could even abandon the hobby altogether and sit and go to seed indoors. I am just on the right side of 80 at the moment so maybe this is a nudge in that direction. Perhaps working to a daily or weekly energy budget and abandoning ship when this is reached would be possible but it would be pretty inconvenient in the middle of some work. What about infra red heaters that apparently will warm me but not waste energy on warming the air around me?

Whilst the 2022/23 winter is still some months ahead I am trying to think of solutions but not making much progress. Any thoughts, members of the jury?

Mick

Notwithstanding the erratic postal service, the bottom line is that Tracy Tools offers an outstanding service. I have really missed rootling around their stall at exhibitions since covid forced cancellations.

Mick

I there a belt conversion kit available for a Warco WM14 ? If so I would be very interested in it.

Mick

This year it is a selection of slot drills from Tracey to replace those that I broke in 2021! Actually I get a double whammy because my birthday is the week after Christmas so it will be an assortment of multitool blades.

Mick

At or about this time of year my daughter asks her Mum what her Dad would like her to buy him for Christmas. Mum passes the message to me and I reach out for the Arc Euro or Tracey Tools catalogues for a little browse to find something that I would not normally buy for myself. Last year I found in the Arc catalogue "Milling for Beginners" by Jason Ballamy. I asked myself, "Am I a beginner?" I have owned a small mill for over 12 years but whilst I get by I cannot say that I have truly mastered its use. I decide to ask for this book. The book duly arrived and I found it to be a good quality production, nice paper, well laid out text and loads of excellent photographs of tooling and procedures. The content is an easy read and can be read as a whole from beginning to end or just used as a reference for specific topics. Whilst I discovered that I have not been making too many major errors I did pick up loads of useful tips and ways to tackle tricky jobs. In all 16 Chapters packed with useful information. (No connection to author). Mick.

Thank you for the information gents. I am still ploughing through the recommendations and links. Strangely it seems that the cheapo varieties often have more functions than more expensive models. In particular a setting for DC current.

Mick

I have an anniversary coming up which my beloved always marks with a present and that thought has sparked off this thread. I need a new multimeter but there are dozens out there at all sorts of prices and specs. As I am less than proficient in electronics I would really appreciate some guidance on a good value for money piece of kit that will last me a few years. I sometimes mess about with simple circuitry to complete a model so I would like something with the usual diode/ transistor tester, DC current/voltage, continuity tester, resistance measurement. So nothing too sophisticated required, just reliability and ease of use. Any ideas?

Mick

A lot of the information that you require can be found on The Component Shop website catalogue.

Mick

Thanks for the help gents. My problem was really in misinterpreting the online images which made the glasses look as if they were flanged. Now that I know otherwise, no problem, just order 1mm larger than the aperture.

Mick

Trevor....H S Walsh very helpful. I think that i now have the information I require. Some accurate measurement now required.

Mick