What Did You Do Today (2017)

Hardly been in this house for long and I've only had a functioning workshop for about a year. The previous owner was a comic artiste (I bought it from Bobby Ball - rock on Tommy etc) who won't have been flushing iron filings down the drain. I can only imagine it was a problem with the raw material.

Murray

this happens a lot on cheap 300 series stainless sheet raw material from China. When I worked for a firm doing instrument washers for medical and dental markets we had a few wash chambers every year (out of several thousand built per year ) that developed pinholes or bad staining after a few years use. The occurrences did not seem to be related to water in different regions, or soap used , etc. The weldability of the stuff varied a lot too. Price was right but quality was not consistent.

Given the high cost of your sink I would definitely make a warranty claim. If genuine 300 series stainless of good quality, it should last essentially forever without corroding, even if you leave it in the woods outdoors.

As others have said though, keep iron filings out of it and isolate any non-ferrous pipe fittings from it to prevent any galvanic action.

The cat on the log I was thinking was indeed the Whiston cat o’ log advertisement. A bit corny by today’s sophisticated standards but I bet it stuck in many readers minds. I seem to remember that they sold off cuts of many various materials as well as tools.

Exeter DMES meeting promised mince pies. Turns out Ces the Secretary is a keen caterer and there were piles of sandwiches, quiche, pizza, pies and I'm stuffed to the gunnels. Nice welcome for the 3 new members who joined this evening.

Alan brought along the track bender he has made so we are just waiting with fingers crossed for permission to start digging for the base due just before Xmas.

That's interesting Jeff - thanks for the thoughts. It does sound like a problem with the raw material then.

Of course, these "50 year" guarantees may be like the classical "lifetime warranty" ie most people don't even know / remember they had one and of course once the house / car etc changes hands it becomes difficult to prove you bought it or it was formally sold on to you. In this case I doubt it's been in production for 50 years, so surely there can't be any question that a claim would have merit.

On the face of it, I also seem to have incurred additional loss ie the carcass of the cupboard has ended up getting trashed due to the resultant swimming pool environment that I have to say I was struggling to fix. Must admit I was gobsmacked to discover the thing looks like a sieve. Last thing I was expecting - and me an engineer, silly me.

Murray

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If they get any cheaper they'll soon be paying you to take them away.

MichaelG.

ken Whiston also used the phrase "seen my ill. cat.". Still have some small round bar, square, and flats from Whiston's in the bar stock cabinet.

I think that Proops who used to attend the shows bought up the metal stock on the demise of Whiston's.

Edited By Robbo on 09/12/2017 00:21:35

Totally the wrong colour, black is so passe

My only link to Whiston's was buying one of the last Whiston's Metal Packs from Proops - still a source of rolled (but bright) bar. The weight was made up with soft steel copper coated TIG rods - many used bent into U-shapes for releasing car rados!

Neil

Just spent a happy hour recovering the benches in the shed. Used cutting mats, hopefully they will last.....

Jim

With regard to the lead content of solder... Do you live in a hard or soft water area? If hard, there will be very little risk of acidic erosion of the lead, even if you had 100% lead pipes. Different mater if in a soft water area.

Regards

Richard.

IanP,

Brain wasn't with it yesterday when responding, sorry

Shock change was on the modern, those on the A7 where a doddle as body was off.

A7 shocks are friction type using wood and brass discs, compressed by spring, compared with modern type.

Geoff - Sometimes I need to think before posting.

I've lived in a few places over the years and I've never seen water as soft as this. There is absolutely no trace of chalk buildup in kettles, washing machines etc. I was suspecting this spectacular softness might have contributed to the (dissolved) holes in the sink.

In contrast, we had to scrap a washing machine when we lived in Cambridge. It was absolutely riddled with chalk (sic) deposits to the point that it packed up. I naively thought I'd be able to dismantle everything and simply clean out the chalk but it soon became obvious that this wasn't remotely achievable. Everything was packed almost solid, like one of those scary adverts for water softeners.

The risk of lead in water is also greater in hot water pipes, as lead salts are more soluble in warm water. But none of the pipes were insulated, the hot and cold pipes ran side by side and the hot water was continuously circulated by a pump to give instant hot water at the taps, so the cold pipes often ended up fairly warm much of the time. Overall it's a minimal hazard but having replaced almost all of the pipes with modern plastic, it seemed a shame not to finish the job by removing the final few metres of soldered pipe. Given the way our sink seems to have dissolved, that might have been a sensible move.

Murray

Just finished a 9hr 26m print!

Phew!

Not necessarily. Stainless steel is corrosion resistant, not corrosion proof.

There are many ways stainless can be damaged. Two different stainless steels in contact can react electrochemically - I have to be very careful not to mix two of my cutlery sets in a dishwasher! A more likely cause of the damage in Muzzer's sink is Chlorine. Table salt is a possibility, but I'd suspect Bleach and/or Bleaching powder. Some ladies like their kitchens really clean! Industry has trouble with organisms attacking the surface of stainless steel pipes and tanks. Unlikely in a kitchen but not impossible. If bacteria was responsible the sink may have been punctured from underneath. Whatever starts the initial entry, oxygen gets in the hole and bores the characteristic pin-hole.

Dave

Took son, DiL and grandkids on the Santa steam train. Lotsa fun, we all enjoyed it. The sherry tasted like it could etch glass, but the mince pie was decent, and the kids liked their presents from Santa.

The engine was a GW tank, tastelessly overpainted black. Not a single component I made in it, not even a pipe union - though there are odd bits of mine in some of the others.

Yes, it sounds as if they are typically made of 304 which is susceptible to pitting when exposed to chlorine (bleach, sodium hypochlorite). Worst situation would involve Brillo pads and warm bleach.

One paper suggests that sulphur inclusions result in local robbing of the chromium. Pretty good going to convert a sink into a sieve within 10 years, mind.

The pitting seems to have started from the inside of the sink, as there seem to be some that haven't made it right the way through yet.

Murray

No problem. You see, I wasn't thinking either. I saw you post and immediately thought, why would you need a 5 foot extension (to anything!) on a Seven.

So what's the modern car?

Ian P (Ex Nippy owner)

Geoff

As far as I remember (and it was 60 years ago) the shock absorber discs on the 1936 Ruby that I used as a basis for a "750" Special were of a fibre material, similar to brake linings, with metal discs in between.

Edited By Robbo on 09/12/2017 21:37:11

Just idly gazing out at the garden and contemplating the extra 4" or so of white "insulation" on the roof of the workshop - brrrrr!

Rik