grendel

This morning 2 more fairleads have been constructed, and the stainless steel plate has been cut for the first corner, I managed to drill 1 hole to mount the fairlead, but I really need the pcb carbide drills, while I now have a plentiful supply (90) of 0.8mm hss drill bits, It takes at least 2 of those to get through the stainless, I guess I will have to wait until wednesday when the carbide ones are due to drill those holes. still there are other jobs to get on with.

sounds a bit like diesel runaway, where the oil leaks into the engine and the engine runs on the lubricating oil, you can be lucky to manage to stop the engine when this happens.

So I suddenly realised that I was going to have to take the top rubbing strip around those corners at the back, otherwise how would I mount the fairleads etc, so these pieces gluing in place, and once dry trimming will be done

now I have had a think, and had another go at the fairleads, a much better result

the tyre is all done and looking at the fairlead, I am going to thin out the end pieces where it fixes down, so that it looks more like the real thing.

this morning I am waiting for the tyre shop to open, last night in the way home I was forced into a pothole by a van coming the other way on a narrow country road, I then had to drive 200 yards to get to a straight section of road to change the tyre safely, thus this morning waiting for the tyre shop. so while I am waiting I have had a look at a couple of different ways of doing fairleads, I finally came up with a way of cutting them out of a piece of 3mm square brass bar.

the most ridiculous check we ever had, was when we took the ferry to santander, even though we were booked for the round trip we had to disembark, and then re-embark. as my wife could not manage the steps to disembark we were sent to the lift, from where they took us off from the car deck on a minibus. when we came to re-board, we joined the queue for the disabled , and the woman at the head of the queue sent us all back to the back of the main queue - even the 90 year old with 2 walking sticks. we all sat down and waited until the queue was shorter, when we got through the minibus was waiting, there were about 30 of us and only 5 seats in the minibus, it was taking about 10 minutes to do a round trip. by now all of the remaining foot passangers had boarded, the boat was due to sail in 20 minutes, and the driver would only allow 5 people into the minibus at a time. we boarded on the last minibus, one half of the ramp was already up, and we must have cast off seconds after the minibus cleared the ramp. for the last 30 minutes the womans radio had been burning her ears as the captain yelled at her for delaying the sailing. talk about jobsworth, if she had let us through the disabled lane we could have been boarding while the rest of the foot passengers were, not all turned up in a bunch at the end. All of the people she turned away were disabled enough to not be able to stand in the queue for over an hour - whicjh was why they required the minibus.

now theres a good idea.

and steel wool- nasty stuff is that - one spark and its embers - how do I know, sharpening a chisel on the grinder when a lump of steel wool off to one side is suddenly glowing all over.

how about a pivoted flip top wheeled bench with one tool on top and the other underneath, pull a pin and flip the top tool under and the bottom one up?

well tonight it was soldering brass and a lesson learned, I now have my 5 cleats, and my glasses suffered. now when you leave a gas torch running, remember to check where it is pointing - even further away than you think - yes, my glasses were there - with the arm pointing skyward, when I looked up the plastic bit that goes behind your ear was merrily burning, a quick grab and blew the flames out, then quickly tried to reshape the molten lump into a semblance of its former shape. a quick filing down, and my glasses were a semblance of their former glory. just a bit more smoothing maybe

Tim, is what you are saying, that by branding the broads as a National Park, they have made it a less attractive place to visit?

I look forward to watching that tonight when I get home from work

looking at it it may be the top part of the crescent of a sun dog or sun halo, just below the horizon which is a much rarer event than a rainbow - so well done for spotting it.

looking that direction - ie towards sunrise probably not - rainbows are usually seen the opposite direction to that of the sun, it could just be the brightness of the sun causing a spectacular effect at the edges of the glow, either way its a spectacular sight.

I do have 30 more on order, and 40 standard 0.8mm drill bits. at this size when you are drilling stainless steel, if you manage to get more than a few holes done with one drill bit you are doing well, brass you may get double the holes, and wood about the same, these drill bits are just so fragile, the slightest pressure sideways and snap. also because of the tiny size they blunt quite quickly too. buying in bulk they only work out at a few pence each, about 10p for standard HSS and 20p for the carbide pcb ones (which are better as they are designed to drill the fibreglass pcb boards)

on a side note, the last of my first batch of decent 0.8mm drill bits broke making the cleat, I have more ordered at the same time, that I am still awaiting arrival of, the stupid bit is I broke 2 while drilling holes, the others broke just putting the drill bit down.

so the mounts for the fenders are all done, and a second cleat has been produced.

there is a mortiser buried here. nothing new, except the table saw and some power tools from lidl, all the rest accumulated at boot fairs.

OK Tim, if you are lacking in space, here are my 3 work areas. I may be getting rid of something from the conservatory, someone at work wants a stepper (exercise machine) and I have one that is in the way - so....

build a bigger shed

at primary school we had a drain running the length of the playground, this was half round and about 5" across, at the bottom was a drain hole, a square inverted pyramid with a drain cover in the bottom. down this drain we would race our cars- first to the bottom won (it was a good 100 foot) overtaking was achieved by swinging up the side of the drain around the opponents car. this was made more interesting when it rained by the volume of water rushing down the drain, the hopper at the end invariable filled to the brim, and I remember to this day the trouble I got into the day someone made me lose my temper and I sat him down in this full drain - soaked through.

are you referring to fingers and thumbs here:-)

Tim, I know what you are experiencing, at the moment I have in my conservatory, in a space just 3 foot deep and 4 foot wide (either side of the door) a table saw (with a table top bandsaw on top) and a pillar drill - these are in regular use (only 1 leaf of the door opens (the table saw is behind the other)) and the door has to be shut to use the pillar drill. also in this space (it would be under the table saw if it fit) is the shop vacuum (well its an ordinary heavy duty wet and dry one, but handles sawdust perfectly). Also on the table saw top is a belt sander, mounted sanding side up to the table saw top, this is used for fine trimming and smoothing. I too have a mortiser, I dont have a scroll saw but I do have a powered fretsaw, A ton of small (modellers- so twice the price) power tools, they are on and around my modelling work bench (kitchen table) on the floor next to the table is the 20hp air compressor purchased at the boot fair last week. At some stage I will get the rest of that half of the conservatory cleared out and convert it into a workshop properly, as at some stage i want to rebuild all the kitchen units (ie make them myself) - and not out of chipboard either. i will see if I can get some pictures to show you tonight.

would they have to be balls, or just cylinders (cheaper to turn), maybe you can get a quote from the man with lathe and oak.