grendel

is that so you can program it with the sound of hammer blows and sneak down the pub while apparently being busy in the workshop?

lathe discussion now moved into its own post.

way too much, I have a 13" south bend lathe, then a unimat 3 lathe, a watchmakers lathe, a small flexispeed lathe and a 5th smallish lathe (about a 5" ) then i have a small bench top mill, after that its the cnc router a bench drill press, a larger 4 foot drill press, a table saw, a planer thicknesser a band saw. also a 3 in one sheet metal bender/ cutter / roller, a small fly press several powered jigsaw, a smaall powered hacksaw (this gets sat on the lathe bed for use), and a whole bunch of hand tools, powered and unpowered, all in the space of my conservatories (2 - both second hand, joined together, I guess 8 foot x 20 foot), yes its rammed full of tools, but there is not a lot I cant make with a bit of patience and a lot of tidying. elsewhere in the house I have my 3d printer, this can be used to make things I dont otherwise have the facilities for, such as the handwheel for the draw bar that I have made for the MT3 collets I bought for the big 13" lathe. this reminds me I have a swarf removal to perform, around my two in use lathes and mill, I guess that may be todays task, along with some tidy up and testing the draw bar and collets. (once its light enough to see what i am doing.)

I believe it was a machine gun post set to cover ludham bridge during the war

sorry, I started it with my boxing day pursuits, and it is in the broadscot lounge.

original, I have had it from new and bought it way back in the 80's, I have since bought some of the accessories, but didnt get the mill head, mainly because for a similar price I could get a whole mill that was more capable

I too have a unimat 3, and to be perfectly honest, if I want a small accurately turned item, its still my go to lathe.

well my boxing day pursuits will probably be atypical to most, so far today I have designed a handwheel in CAD for a draw bar on my lathe, so that I can use the MT3 collet sets i bought myself as a christmas present, then once that has completed it will be down to the lathe to fit it, and then maybe an hour or so spent making chips and round pieces of metal into smaller round pieces of metal.

but can it do stalham and back on one 'tankfull'

good luck to you, I only have about 4 or 5 years left, but my boss has already said i am not allowed to retire, I have however finished work for this year, i have until the 4th to get stuff done, that includes a draw bar for the MT3 collets I got for the lathe, they are 12mm thread, so a section of allthread will do for a start, I think I will start out with a walk in the woods shortly, I need to get out of the hose for a bit, then it will be preparations for christmas day, I have a 3 bird roast, a ham joint and a beef joint all require cooking and eating over the next few weeks, so thats something to look forward to. Hve a productive retirement

Seasons greetings from myself and the rest of the moderation team.

ok, except your boat Doug

you can still get caught out when you go on a boat that you dont know, as I found steering Dougs new boat, came to a corner, put on half a turn, nothing put on a full turn, starting to come round, at this point we were headed for the bank, I hadnt known it was 7 full turns lock to lock - water rail is just 3 turns lock to lock.

every boat is a bit different, it can take me 20 minutes to get the feel of how the steering and throttle react every time I go on a new boat to me. with the boat I use regularly (Water Rail) I find its about 2" of movement then the next 1/4 " to do the work, then back 2" and a 1/4" to correct - this is for normal straight steering, for a sharp corner it could be a half turn, or a full turn of the wheel. for slow manouvering it could be a full 2 turns depending upon throttle position etc.

I think the first thing you will notice is how little steering lock is required when you are moving. and how much you might need when nearly stationary. As I mentioned previously a boat steers like a dumper truck, from the back, so it can depend where you are helming from as to how quickly the boat seems to react, if you are near the front nothing will seem to happen, then everything will happen way too fast, not so bad steering from the centre or rear. unlike a car there may be a dead spot in the centre position on the wheel, this can be anything up to 1/4 turn depending upon the boat (hire boats particularly)

I suppose I ought to say that most of the time i cruise solo so dont have that spare pair of hands (or bow thrusters), its also worth noting if you cruise solo, to prepare your ropes for the next mooring as you leave, as I use a centre cockpit boat I bring front and rear lines up the side decks to the cockpit, on both sides so I am prepared, I often have a 5th rope I can put on a centre cleat to be able to step off and secure the boat using that, it swaps sides as necessary, once you have one centre rope ashore, then you can take your time with bow and stern ropes.

I always find it easier to reverse out, no matter which way the tide is flowing, its difficult to steer the nose out with the bank stopping the stern swinging. moorings, a large number of them are free broads authority 24 hour moorings, its generally pub moorings where you are charged, but any signs will tell you if you need to pay. great yarmouth is a paid for mooring at the yacht station, as are oulton broad and beccles and norwich yacht station. yes we do know each other, that come about by helping people moor up and chatting with other boaters. stern mooring, thats a case of getting lined up and reversing in, it can be tricky as you need forward power to streer the back of the boat, (ie steering doesnt work very well when reversing- so just set the rudder and a quick burst of forwards to swing the back, that just takes practice, you can always make several attempts. even I mess a stern mooring occasionally, the trick is if youc can get close enough to pass a rope to any boats either side, they can walk you in

the best advice I can give is dont panic, dont be too afraid, and take things slowly. all of us had a first time, so thats nothing new. reverse is your brakes. when coming into a mooring note the tide direction and wind direction, you want to be heading into the tide, (and for preference the wind too)this way you can keep some revs on and approach as slowly as you like, if you go with the tide, it will carry you forward when you want to stop. accept help from others, and try and follow their advice, if you are mooring at great Yarmouth or Reedham during the season there are broads rangers there who will talk you in to a mooring. its always easier to reverse out, keep a bow rope ashore (I usually throw a loop round a post and back to the boat,) and a bit of forward steering towards the quay heading will kick the stern out, release the rope, and reverse into the middle of the river, you now have all the space you need to manouver. boats steer from the back, so when turning, keep an eye on what the back of the boat is doing, are you close to another boat, will it swing into them are things you should consider.

Still running tests to refine the way things work, this was two identical cutters, one with a 90 degree v tip, the other with a 60 degree v tip.

it is most refreshing to see that unlike the majority of other news services, Reuters has a fact checking department, personally I could wish every news service including the BBC could adopt this service before publishing.

I still have a key on my car, its a blob of plastic, but it goes in a hole on the dashboard, for the doors the metal part can actually be disengaged and used in the door lock.

I personally dont find it too onerous to press a button as i walk over to the car, i cannot conceive why the manufacturers would think that pressing a button is something that needs doing away with, when it leaves the security in a state where it can be bypassed when your keys are still in your house, sounds like a feature i would want disabled as soon as possible

I found my new car locked the doors 30 seconds after starting to move, now i dont like feeling that i might be locked in the car so quickly found and turned off that feature, but do understand that some might find that reassuring too.

dont be silly, we all know the boats floats at the same level, no matter what the tide is doing.