What did you do today? (2014)

[Brian Baker 2Participant @brianbaker2]

Greetings, Its been my experience at the N & N that there is an excellent bus service right to the door, and with a "Twirly" pass, its free.

BB

[Involute CurveParticipant @involutecurve]

Fitted an EPDM roof membrane onto the new Garden room!, I will never use felt or the likes again, this stuff is an absolute doddle to fit, its clean looks neat, and is relatively cheap, ohh and its waterproof, which is nice!!

Shaun

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Brian

"Its been my experience at the N & N that there is an excellent bus service right to the door, and with a "Twirly" pass, its free."

That is true for our hospital too – however the problem is to get to the point where there IS a bus service. We are out in the sticks and get just one bus a week!

Norman

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

One bus a week? luxury. 8 miles to nearest bus stop. Disaster when new drink limits hit us next month never mind hospitals. I had a small operation last year, it was decided that I was fit enough to go home so foned wifey. 70 mile round trip and getting dark. No parking anywhere near hospital,had to walk about 2 miles with big stitches in my groin and full of painkillers.

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

I live in the North of Scotland, too, in a rural area although perhaps not quite as rural as Gordon. When will these public transport know-alls get it into their thick heads that, for people like us, cars are an absolute necessity unless they give us bus services that really work? Some much-advertised cars are getting to be a joke for people like us, too. Tried a small "city" car, and for this area it proved to be so under-powered as to be dangerous so soon swapped it. Electric cars? Bad joke – I could drive one to Inverness, but couldn't get home. Victor Meldrew moment over – for the time being!

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

All I can say is what's a Bus, our end of our village doesn't see a bus and neither my wife and I can get to it without using the car, we have a park and ride six miles away which I drive to and pay a small sum of £2.20 to park and get the bus into town or the hospital, currently I'm wearing an Aircast Boot on my right foot so I cant drive so rely on my best mate to run me to the hospital, he lives on the other side of town so to take me to the hospital is a round trip of 30 miles plus think of a number lottery on how much you pay for hospital parking.

Martin P

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Having first put the Christmas edition of MEW to bed (Issue 223), I went to the 'sheds' to get some 6mm ply to reinforce the top of my daughter's 9-mionth old divan bed. Why do they make beds out of cardboard?

It only took two requests to get someone to come along and cut to size, but the sheet i randomly pulled off the top of the pile was unlike any WPB birch ply I've seen before. One side is absolutely perfect and has a rich dark figured grain. I have the offcuts, and i rather fancy having a go at a nice tool cabinet. Shame to waste the rest on a bed…

Neil

P.S. also bought some SUGRU…

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

I'm in the middle of a partial dismantle of my ALBA 1A shaper. The operators handbook gives instructions for elevating or lowering the table by using the swape (a whata?) on the end of the shaft. I think they are referring to the square bit the handle fits on. Google and Wiki not much help either.

I bet the square hole in the handle has an equally obscure name – or perhaps it's just a simple "swapehole".

Rik

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

daveb,

Need another brilliant suggestion in preventing rain from being blown in under the door please.

It is South facing with the bottom level with the driveway, it being part of the Carport extension, and when South West winds blow, as now, it howls up the road driving rain water under the door.

If I put a step inside, someone, me no doubt, will be flat on their face PDQ tripping over it.

I have fitted one of those brush type wind-stops to the bottom of said door, and although it stops wind and leaves blowing in, no so with water.

May have to go for one of those low profile rubber/plastic humps for the door to either butt up against or slide over to make a seal.

Geoff – That bleep bleep door is really trying my patience now!

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

You need to google harder Rik,

**LINK**

1

dialectal, England : a pole or bar used as a lever or swivel

2

dialectal, England : a long steering oar used by keelmen on the Tyne

Origin of SWAPE

Middle English swaipe lever, swivel, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse sveipr fold, sveipa to sweep, swoop — more at swoop

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

You don't need google, just get born in the right part of the world.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Geoff

I think you know the answer to this one really.

In theory a rubber seal along the gap would be great, in practice very difficult to ensure a seal along the whole length with standard (built to a price) garage door construction.

Fastening a length of hardwood on the floor (say 25×60) for the door to close against will not be a serious trip hazard, I fitted one and with the top edges chamfered is soon became part of the floor and I don't even notice it now.

What would be good (and well within your skill range) would be semicircular recesses in the floor and the garage door with a length of flat rubber tube stuck in one half. A pump would inflate the tube after you closed the door giving a hermetic seal

Ian P

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Daveb,

Could I make a suggestion, as a service engineer of very large industrial walk in washing machines we use a large inflatable seal around the doors at each end of the machine which stops all water escaping from the wash chamber, if you fit an upside down U channel on the bottom of your door with an inflatable tube this could solve your problem, you may need a plate on the floor to help the seal.

Martin P

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

Today was a bit slow work wise so I set too and made some microscope lens mounts these are threaded 24mm 0.75mm pitch so an exercise in threading first

brass bar 40mm turn to finished dia of 38mm then bore out to minor diameter

set up 60 degree cutter and cut about 40 mm of material enough for 5 mounts

Finished the end and parted off about 1mm overlength repeat 5 times

cut a threaded mandrel to reverse mount them to finish the other side

then transfer to mill to machine the dovetails

all work perfectly just need to decide what sort of handle to put on them

the chrome on in the pics is an original zeiss one to copy

fairly pricey if you can find them

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

Today, my birthday, Graham landed with a new item for me to try out and some plastic! I am delighted, he even brought a wonderful dog with him!

Many thanks Graham and I hope your journey back went well? It doesn''t always rain like this up here in Yorkshire, honest – we save it up to put visitors off!

Just waiting for the Guests to arrive now then it's cake overdose !

And , at long last the missing issues 221 and 222 both arrived – Joy and some catching up reading to do tonight.

Cheers everyone Ian

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

Geoff, I had the same problem with the rear door in my new house. The patio was level with the bottom of the door and the utility room often got flooded. I solved the problem by building a step and have been tripping over it ever since. I would now go with Martin P and Ian P's advice. If you have standing water, you will need a gully across the door.

[Nick HughesParticipant @nickhughes97026]

Various threshold sealing systems are available here:- **LINK**

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Very nice work, Ian Parkin

MichaelG.

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Had a couple of clear days at Coniston speed week the views are fantastic.

The speed record contestants broke National and World class records.

Wednesday a few of the outboards were dismantled for repairs they look beautiful bits of engineering.

One is a 2700cc V six two stroke with a melted piston hope it got repaired.

Competitors from many places like the Channel Isles etc.

Atmosphere was great.

Paul

[Colin HeseltineParticipant @colinheseltine48622]

Talking of Coniston speed week brings back a few memories. Back in 1968/70 I looked after an R3 class hydroplane with a Lotus twincam engine in it. I went with it to Windermere where the record attempts were held at the time. It held the speed record for the class at the time. Unfortunately its co-driver hit some driftwood and sank it in one of the deepest parts of the lake. The money spent by some of the owners of the big boats was amazing. Saw one guy with 4 big Mercury outboards, come back in with a problem and he went straight to the Mercury dealers there and bought four fresh engines on the spot. Even then there was a fantastic buzz at the event. Only down side to the week was seeing Bill Shakespeare from Shakespeare boats getting killed when his boat went airborne and nosed dived straight down into the lake.

Colin

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I've just got round to looking at the Linex SL15 steel rule that I bought, at Fred Aldous, in Manchester on Thursday.

… it's even better than I expected !

Very clearly etched, down to half mm, and sixty-fourths of an inch.

… Added bonus; on the back is a Conversion Table.

MichaelG.

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

.

Changed the chain and drive sprockets on my 600 Hornet.

Went for a 'test ride' to check all is OK (which is an excuse to nobody) – Having considerable fun so decided to keep on riding.

Get about 20 miles from home and the heavens open with rain. …………. I was caught not wearing / having waterproofs with me. So end up very wet and thus very, very cold.

What the hell was I thinking.? It's the UK and November and I ventured forth with gusto but without suitable attire. ……………… What a plonker I is, all my own fault.!

Nick

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Ian, you are quite welcome and it was my pleasure.

So, as some of you know I have been having a Saga with toothache. It has been six weeks now and to be honest it has been really debilitating. I have probably lost at least a fortnight out of the six weeks and at times the pain was beyond pain.

Today I went to the dentist and she had put aside forty five minutes for the appointment (I thought it was a bit much too) and with everything that went on I was in the surgery from 11.00am until 1.25 pm But now the tooth is out and in an envelope on the conservatory table. The other two teeth that had been misbehaving – one received a good dig-out and a new filling and the other a root canal, three roots, that took most of the time as she had to be extremely careful not to snap a broach in one of the canals as that root curved quite a lot.

I am presently ensconced on the couch in front of the telly and in no pain at all because I am so full of drugs I can hardly see straight! So that is, finally, the end of that. If the tooth is on the table it can't possibly cause any more pain – can it? As a point of interest, when she finally managed to get the tooth out a fracture was discovered and was probably the cause of all of the infection problems. I have stopped short of taking a picture and subjecting you all to that gross-ness. Be thankful of small mercies

graham.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

When I had the same problem with a tooth Graham I saved it and when fully compus mentus took it outside the workshop, put it on the anvil and smacked it with a 28 pound sledge. That one blow transferred all the suffering.

.

Michael,

One of my pet hates is the 1/2mm marks on rulers, they crowd the ruler up to make that end unusable. I can read to 1/2 a mm if I split a full mm mark by eye so the peepers are not that bad but having the clutter means I easily make mistakes.

I even went to the trouble of finding some rulers / rules that had full mm marls all along and the same scale top as bottom because some times you need to lay a rule on the top and sometimes along a bottom edge. Don't do Imperial but if I need to, I use an imperial rule.

100mm, 150mm, 200mm and a 150mm reversed.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Graham,

Nice to hear the problem has been sorted but may I suggest you put it up high and out of the way as if it falls on the floor and you tread on it will exact its final revenge on you

Martin P

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