What did you do today? (2014)

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

Clive's motoring notes take me back to last w/e and a family house-warming in London. Motored down from N Norfolk and into the (expletive deleted) London traffic. House was on a typical street with limited on-street parking, ONE gap between cars, reasonably close, but marginal. Decided to make first trial of 'self-parking' system!!! Absolutely gob-smacked!! I'm no slouch at parallel parking but I most certainly could not have done it any better! One shot, car does steering, I do brakes and throttle – result, perfectly aligned 4" from the pavement. The secret appeared to be the steering rotation speed – I couldn't have turned it that fast. Took me two back-and-forths to get out so it hadn't wasted any space. Probably won't use it very often but a good confidence builder.

Rgds

Bill

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

With the Guildford show out of the way there was no excuse for not getting the Monitor oily so thought I'd have a go at starting it.

Needed a couple of different springs on the governor as they were too weak and latching out far too early, slight adjustment to exhaust valve rod to make sure it seated and then as is the case with most of these engines screw the needle valve right in, at 1/4 turn open it jumped into life rather than the single pops when trying at the suggested 1.5 turns!!

The outside one is a bit bouncy due to the table but shows the inlet valve well, the insid eone shows the governor latching well. The metalic clunk is th egovernor weight swinging out and hitting the latch as it should

J

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Smashing engine Jason – you must be well pleased with it.

Rik

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Great to see it working – not just a pretty face (the monitor I mean)

Rod

[Pete Gilbert 1Participant @petegilbert1]

Posted by Mike on 25/07/2014 15:59:41:

All this insect talk reminds me of my introduction to Zimbabwe, where I worked in the early 1960s. First evening there, I sat on my hotel veranda with a nice cool G&T. There was a sudden buzz and a splash, and a flying beetle, almost circular and nearly an inch and a half in diameter, plopped into my drink. A waiter took it away and brought me a fresh one, on the house. "Often happens, sir" was his only comment when I thanked him. As for our UK dragonflies, at the nymph stage they are vicious devils and can even eat tiny fish fry.

Wow Mike! I had heard that dragonfly larvae were the tough guys in any pond. But I didn't know they could fry fish!!!

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

The tales of wildilfe coming in for a drink, I lived in the Nairobi South C conurbation right up against the Nairobi game park and would often have Zebra foraging the dustbins early in the morning and think nothing of a Giraffe peering over the garden fence as you ate your brekkie.

The outside loo was of Asian style with 2 foot places and it was floor level and had a resident Toad which filled the base of the toilet, it would croak and the noise was amplified by the shape of the toilet, flushing only gave a few minutes respite as he came back up again.

Resident snakes that lived on the pelmet and worked the metal grille over the windows. Often leaving cast skins on the bars. Never did find out what type they were.

In Mombasa we were enjoying a drink and playing Tombola and I had won a line and then , 'Plop' as a gecko fell off the ceiling directly into my pint glass of beer. Hooked him out and put him on a tissue to dry out and off he went.

In Hong Kong I had to do 3 months in the New Territories with 2 RTR and we had mozzy nets at night, the spreader was an alu. tube and I had my own Gecko that lived in the tube during the day but roamed the net at night, quite comforting to know I had my own mozzy sentry.

We were right up close to the rice paddies and the paddies when flooded had lots of insects of all sorts including mud hoppers. The locals had flocks of ducks that followed the boy or girl with a bamboo stick with white feathers attached and they would work right through the paddies and you could see them darting about after the wildlife.

Clive,

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Just finished the Laptop/iPad stand to use in the Workshop when taking videos – hopefully that is, once I've sorted the HV20 settings and lighting. Any/all suggestions on lighting welcome.

Album added.

Geoff – Something actually came together without any grief!

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

So, today I went to Liverpool with my better half. I was really impressed with the "Giants", the whole show was very impressive. Watching the acrobats and theatre players operate the Marionettes was really very well done. Kudos too to the musicians playing on the float behind the cavalcade, they must have been melting in the heat. The crows were immense too, all very well behaved too.

graham.

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Thank you everyone for the kind words with regard to the tool chest. The drawer bottoms are all thin ply and I will be lining all of the drawers with a special green coloured backed felt which will also go partly up the sides so it dramatically reduces the effect of the tannic acid in the oak.

The little Ivory coloured knobs came with the chest but they were as black as the ace of spades so I cleaned them off with petrol (lighter fluid in this instance) and they came up really well.

Rik, I had considered some new brass corners but I burnished the old ones with a stiff wire brush, the screws are brass, and they came up really well. I used a proprietary mixture that I made up to seal the Oak and finished with a good hard wax polish – plenty of elbow grease. The one thing that I have stopped at though is the lock, as always, no key! Won't be a problem for me to make one as I have a box full of old keys but the springs are all broken in the lock too so I will have to make a couple of replacements.

graham.

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Brilliant day today! After a horrid day yesterday driving up to Cambridge from Farnham – 4 hours drive instead of 2 with gridlock on the M25, thunder and lightening and torrential rain -spent today at Duxford IWM. Full marks to the Memsahib and daughter for coming and enjoying it too. No planning, but it was a 'special events' day, in this case Merlin engines. They had two flying Spitfires and a ME109, which bizarrely had been re-engined with a Merlin engine. All took to the skies, one after the other, and gave displays, all excellent (including the ME109, much as it pains me to say so!), it was shivers down the back time when the Spit's were up.

They also had a Merlin engine with a single prop and a Griffin engine with a two contra-rotating props on static rigs that they fired up – the noise was beautiful!

Amongst all the wonderful aircraft on display it was super to get up close to a Lancaster bomber, and see my first B17 Flying Fortress in the flesh – I think the only airworthy one in the UK. As a it was a 'special day' we also got to walk through various passenger aircraft, from a Hermes to Concorde. Can't imagine how the pilots got into some of the cockpit seats, let alone fly them.

All in all, a brilliant Big Boys day out, all credit to my womenfolk who came along, endured the heat and humidity, and enjoyed the day out too. A really worthwhile place to visit, recommend it to all.

Heading up towards Scotland touring around in a CampingCar,as they are called in France, tomorrow; distilleries tours on the work list. Happy days!

Chris

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Awful day in the heat with the lad helping him weld patches on a campervan.

Serious advice, if drilling a hole for a pop rivet (to hold patch in place for welding) make sure there isn't a battery above… It was disconnected, but I forgot to check if it had been taken out. And lazy me relying on glasses not my goggles.

Luckily I was only six feet from an outside tap so i am still able to enjoy seeing Graham's cabinet and Jason's monitor.

Neil

[Flying FiferParticipant @flyingfifer]

Neil,

Are you trying to bump off our new editor?? NEVER EVER Assume , Check & if in doubt check again. Please dont try to weld patches on fuel tank either. IT`S B****Y dangerous!

Go & stand in the corner for 10 minutes Saying Who`s a silly boy then.

Alan

[D.A.GodleyParticipant @d-a-godley]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 26/07/2014 15:27:35:

The tales of wildilfe coming in for a drink, I lived in the Nairobi South C conurbation right up against the Nairobi game park and would often have Zebra foraging the dustbins early in the morning and think nothing of a Giraffe peering over the garden fence as you ate your brekkie

So when were you out ther Clive ?.

I had a couple of years there from mid 68 .

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Chris

I'm envious – not too many air shows down here in the SW. Some years ago I was very fortunate in getting a visit to see one of the last ( or maybe the last? ) Lancaster. I was shown around the inside and was amazed. The mainplane goes right through the fuselage and in order to get to the rear of the aircraft it is necessary to climb over this part of the wing. Hard enough in my casual kit but I can't imagine how the aircrew did so with all their kit. I went all the way back to the rear gun turret – a tiny claustrophobic space. Imagine being in there for hours, freezing cold, and in constant danger. They were some brave guys!

Norman

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

and a ME109, which bizarrely had been re-engined with a Merlin engine

I think all the ME's in the "Battle of Britain" were Merlin versions

After 1945 spares were hard to come by and the Spanish Airforce eventually swapped out all the original German kit

Can't imagine how the pilots got into some of the cockpit seats, let alone fly them

I agree.

When I was at East Fortune it looked like only blokes under 5 foot 6 and built like a jockey would have a hope of fitting into most of the single seater cockpits. All the normal sized blokes must have been bomber pilots

Then you'd have to sit jammed in there for up to 2+ hours and some cockpits only had canvas covered steel tubes for bracing you against the huge G-forces of aerial combat

Edited By Ady1 on 27/07/2014 01:00:17

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

For DAG, i went out there in March 1960 and worked at Eastliegh RAF Station. I was attached to the 236 ComCan REME Workshops mainly doing Creed Printers and sundry maintenance on Receivers and the Transmitters.

I left just after they got their Independence as the station closed down very quickly. Ended up in Catterick doing technical Inspections as far up as Coldsatream and West to Cumbria and South to York. Visiting every military Unit in that area.

Clive

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

I am on my holidays at the moment, but managed to pick my mail up, this link was attached to show how far the northwales model engineers have got with the new track build. As soon as I am back home I have to finish the traverser!

Brian

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Neil!

BH man!

'Assume' is the same as 'Thought'!

Thought planted a feather and thought a chicken would grow

I love these old sayings.

Geoff – Never thought I would complain about heat, BUT I sure is!

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

I have put details of my waste oil burner on my Weebly website. I used this for the first time this week to make a casting for mounting a stepper motor on my rotary table.

Les.

[Dave DanielsParticipant @davedaniels93256]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 27/07/2014 07:30:26:

For DAG, i went out there in March 1960 and worked at Eastliegh RAF Station. I was attached to the 236 ComCan REME Workshops mainly doing Creed Printers and sundry maintenance on Receivers and the Transmitters.

I left just after they got their Independence as the station closed down very quickly. Ended up in Catterick doing technical Inspections as far up as Coldsatream and West to Cumbria and South to York. Visiting every military Unit in that area.

Clive

I was in the RAF Com-Cen at Eastleigh from Nov. 1963 until Apr. 1965 doing much the same thing ….

If I remember the KAF had some of the Com-Cen for their stuff and some of us moved over into what was your building.

Dave

[Four stroke FredParticipant @fourstrokefred]

Good Day Jason,

Just had a look at the video of your I.C. engine. It looks and runs beautifully – congratulations on a job well done. What I the capacity is it ? Did you have access to the original full size engine and what did you do in the way of castings.

George.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Les, very sophisticated burner compared to most bodge-ups. By the way the text is cut off for the last word for some reason and can you make the font black to make it redable in sunshine please.

[Pete Gilbert 1Participant @petegilbert1]

Today I have mostly been posting this post about and engineering blokey called Colin Furze.

(warning, turn your volume down a bit)

(warning, Colin's mad)

Biggest pulse jet he's ever made.

Fart at France!

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Bazyle,
Thanks for the comments. I have changed the font to the darkest black I can get. (I was lazy and just used the Weebly default font.) I have not yet got used to the strange way of building a website with Weebly. I could not see the problem with the ends of lines being cut off. I tried Firefox 30.0 and IE 11.0.10 on my W7 64 bit system and Firefox and Chrome on my Nexus7 (Android device.)

Les..

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Posted by Four stroke Fred on 27/07/2014 09:56:09:

Just had a look at the video of your I.C. engine. It looks and runs beautifully – congratulations on a job well done. What I the capacity is it ? Did you have access to the original full size engine and what did you do in the way of castings.

Thanks George. Its 1.625" bore x 2" stroke so 4.15cu.in or 68cc. I have used photos and old catalogues for details but it was from a casting set that is no longer available but the guy who made the patterns did have access to a real one. I'm writing up the build on MEM Forum if you want to follow along.

J

Edited By JasonB on 27/07/2014 12:48:46

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