What Did You Do Today (2017)

[IanTParticipant @iant]

I needed some 1/2" x 3/8" material – and only had 1" x 3/8" – no problem – "I'll slit the material in my Acorn shaper" (I thought)

I had a small 1.5mm x 5.5mm parting blade (from the EW) and decided a slit either side of the work (about 4mm deep) would give me a good start – finishing the cut with a hacksaw (didn't fancy going right through – with the work closing in on the blade). Thinned the blade a bit to give more upper side clearance (seemed a good idea at the time) and the first side/cut went well. Turned it over and probably put a bit more cut on than intended – or maybe the blade blunted or got hot. Anyway – a sharp "ping" and the blade end is firmly stuck in the work – the Acorn never noticed, never hesitated….which is why I never put my fingers near that ram or stand in front of it…

The blade will get re-formed/sharpened and the work will be hacksawed from both ends to get the HSS embedded in it out. So fortunately no real harm done – just a reminder to be careful around shapers…

Regards,

IanT

[Ian Skeldon 2Participant @ianskeldon2]

Ahhh their cute, what breed are they? Are they French Bulldogs as mentioned by Roderick?

[norman valentineParticipant @normanvalentine78682]

I have read the posts on dividing plates with interest.

I built a rotary table/dividing head (**LINK**) and found that making the dividing plates was easy. I wrapped a strip of paper around my chuck and cut it to the exact circumference. Using the skills that I learned in my technical drawing classes 55 years ago I divided the strip into the number of divisions that I required and used that to space the holes. It was a little tedious but also buttock clenching as I didn't want to have to do it twice. Here are a couple of pics to show what I did.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Very clever, Norman. Most times, the simplest solution is the best! I shall remember that this afternoon as I am cranking handles, counting holes and reading off thousandths of a degree on the micro attachment, I'm sure!

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Yes Frenchies

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Not today but a couple of days ago I tried out the 'salt and vinegar' weedkiller method. To my surprise it has worked extremely well and very quickly and all the weeds are dead or rapidly dying, so really pleased.

For those who haven't heard of it, buy 5 litres of whatever strength vinegar your local supermarket stock. Here in France a 5 litre bottle of 10% white vinegar was just 3€, cheap as chips. Dissolve a mug full of fine salt – about 350-400 gms depending on size of mug – in the vinegar and add a tablespoon of washing up liquid – this acts as a surfactant and helps it stick to the weed leaves better. Put into garden sprayer and away you go. Any strength vinegar will work, the stronger the faster. The vinegar kills the weeds, the salt doesn't do the weeds any good either but it also helps stops stuff regrowing on that ground, so the theory goes. I guess that will be a function of how quickly the rain washes the salt away, but resprays will be cheap.

For me the benefits are low cost, an effective weedkiller and a much safer (to me) weedkiller to spray, no need to get all dressed up in massive amounts of PPE, plus it's got to please all the tree hugging greens too presumably, rather than those nasty poisons you buy which I always felt iffy about using!

Chris

Edited By ChrisH on 22/08/2017 10:12:13

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

I imagine it would be safe with pets and wild creatures, too. Definitely a formula to remember!

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Is that not going to change the soil pH and salinity on a fairly perminant basis. So what are the implications for growing things in the future?

regards Martin

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Obviously a weed is simply a plant growing where it shouldn't – could be a flower in the lawn or grass in a border. So not something to apply to the lawn or carelessly in the borders.

Murray

[Gordon TarlingParticipant @gordontarling37126]

If you haven't added the washing up liquid, you can use any leftovers on your chips.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Got another circle of holes finished on the fabricated Versatile Dividing Head, that's the first plate done. 280-something holes. 500 or so to go.

And, sigh, 280 holes to deburr now, both sides.

 

Hopper Lathe etc

 

**LINK**

I ended up getting a very sore arm from winding the leadscrew handle to drill each hole (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome kicking in), and could not use the carriage hand wheel as the Drummond's is direct geared and so you don't get enough force on the job to push the job along. I need to fit Geoff Walker's gear reduction mod. In the meantime, I set up my Duplex-style fine feed reduction pulleys so I could push the job onto the drill bit with the power feed.

**LINK**

and then set up the Drummond's leadscrew dog clutch to automatically disengage when the carriage hits the stop on the bar, stopping the job from over running and hitting the chuck, always good!

**LINK**

Much easier now. I can sit on my stool and operate the dog clutch handle, carriage handwheel for the rewind and the dividing head all within easy comfortable reach.

But what's this??

I skipped a hole, the last hole in the first row I did. I was so excited bout winding on the last increment so see the drill drop perfectly into the first hole, proving I had the indexing right all the way round, that I totally forgot to actualy drill the hole in the middle of it all. No worries. The lathe was still set up so put the job back in, indexed off the adjacent hole and all good! Now on to the deburring and stamping the numbers on before I forget which disk is what.

PS, pls bear with me on the pics. I am trying to figure out how to use Imgur since Photobucket wants $400 to show my pics anymore, and the uploading to albumns on this site is excruciatingly slow from my computer for some reason. Any tips or hints appreciated.

PPS, I just can't work out which link from Imgur to paste into the photo URL box on here to make it work like I did with Photobucket. And uploading to the album here just keeps timing out. Sorry folks.

 

 

Edited By Hopper on 22/08/2017 11:35:42

Edited By Hopper on 22/08/2017 11:37:29

Edited By Hopper on 22/08/2017 11:51:58

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

One of the joys of living out in the wilds of Mull is that when the plumbing fails, you have to fix it yourself. The main drainage from our holiday cottages was backed up – much bubbling in the shower when you flushed the loo, which doesn't bode well – so on with the grubby jeans & gather a few tools; a screwdriver to open the inspection hatches, a hose pipe, a set of drain rods (bought after the last time this happened), and a submersible pump. The inspection chamber next to the septic tank proved to be full – so the blockage was in the short (2 foot) pipe between the chamber and the tank. So in with the pump to empty out the inspection chamber (plus all the pipework and chambers backed up behind it). Then attack the problem with the drain rods with the 4" rubber disc on the end. Non-trivial to get the rod into the hole to start with – the exit pipe is about 3' down into the inspection chamber, so not the best angle to go at. Much pushing and shoving and eventually the drain rod/plunger goes round the bend and I managed to get a good pumping action going that seemed to improve matters. Retrieved the plunger and shoved it down the vertical breather pipe for the septic tank – the exit pipe from the inspection chamber joins this vertical pipe about 3' down – and met significant resistance. Gave it a bit of welly and cleared the blockage – turned out to be a large "fat berg" that had formed where the drain feeds into the tank. Very nasty. All flowing freely now…

…and I am much refreshed after a long sh- sh- shower.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

LOL had to go back to painfully uploading pics to an album, by the time I got done, I could no longer edit the previous post. So here are the pics to go with the above post. All too hard for me I'm afraid.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by Mike on 22/08/2017 10:22:16:

I imagine it would be safe with pets and wild creatures, too. Definitely a formula to remember!

Some council in the UK tried it, being all green and that. They had to desist when the town started to smell of fish and chips.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

If you are not on mains drainage it is worth putting in a fat trap in the kitchen outlet. Not knowing what the hole was as it had a multilayer netting cover to catch leaves I only investigated ours out of curiosity after we had been in the house about 30-40 years and found a 12 in dia x 2 in lump of tallow. I think the mice progressively eat it from the top. Haven't looked at it for about 20 years but always pre-clean fatty pans with newspaper. You won't get holiday renters caring what they put down the plughole.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

……..One of the joys of living out in the wilds of Mull is that when the plumbing fails, you have to fix it yourself.

Ahhghhhhh Tony !

That is certainly one job that I would be very pleased to pay someone to do!

I guess that once started, you had to finish as, I assume, until then you couldn't have a shower!

Norman

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Posted by Bazyle on 22/08/2017 12:42:26:

If you are not on mains drainage it is worth putting in a fat trap in the kitchen outlet.

That is a good plan – I will investigate.

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Posted by NJH on 22/08/2017 12:49:03:

……..One of the joys of living out in the wilds of Mull is that when the plumbing fails, you have to fix it yourself.

Ahhghhhhh Tony !

That is certainly one job that I would be very pleased to pay someone to do!

I guess that once started, you had to finish as, I assume, until then you couldn't have a shower!

Norman

I have to say I wouldn't choose to do it if there was a better option, but with guests appearing in the cottages later today, and our house dependent on the same septic tank, there wasn't a lot of option! At least now I have a pretty good idea where the problem is likely to occur!

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

When I was a kid I worked for a very old plumber while his helper had holidays. His advice to people was to run very hot water down the drains for 30 minutes every week. He claimed if everyone did that he'd be out of work – this would keep the fats moving out the drains and not let them build up into blockages. I've done it in our houses and never found any fat in the drains when servicing them.

Mind you when cooking we drain fats out of the pans into a paper lined tin can and toss the paper when full, so very little fat goes in the drains to begin with. Also, for years we have tried to cook with and eat as little fast as possible since we both tend to be chubby. (but I still love the occasional fry-up – maybe I'll get the forge going…..)

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I get a build up in the first U bend where the kitchen tap exits. Just put caustic soda down every now and again. Put in in last thing at night so it has several hours to do its thing.

A bigger problem is the tree root which has lifted the sewer across the front garden. That's a digging out job, but it's been on the to-do list for many years, not getting any worse and we don't have nappy liners going down and blocking everything anymore.

[John GardenerParticipant @johngardener91897]

Retired plumber here. Two good tips, don't let the washing up water go cold before you pour it down the sink and, about once a week, pour a kettle of boiling water down the hole. This slows up the inevitable build up of grease and fat on the inside of the pipes.

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

The Edwardian sewerage here in North-Eastern Scotland is grossly overloaded, so blockages are frequent. Me and my neighbours all seem to have our own preventative medicine. One neighbour flushes the system out with a bath-full of near boiling water every week. Mine is a little less wasteful of water and energy – a sink-full of boiling water and a dishwasher tablet.

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

"Is that not going to change the soil pH and salinity on a fairly perminant basis. So what are the implications for growing things in the future?"

Maybe Martin, but as I do not intend to grow anything on the gravel and slab patio or on the gravel drive which is where I don't want the weeds I don't give a rats. If I was using it on ground I was going to grow stuff in I would just leave out the salt. Best not to use the salt on concrete though I have been told.

And the salt'n'vinegar smell goes very quickly, so smell not a problem, here anyway.

Chris

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

Surely the five litres of vinegar proposed by Chris is going to be so diluted by rain so quickly that the danger of seriously altering the ph of the soil is unlikely to be a long-term problem. Ditto the salt, which local councils spread on the roads in such huge volumes. I often wonder what this does to the ground water. The amount proposed by Chris pales into insignificance when compared…………..

[charadamParticipant @charadam]

I like this recipe and will use it in my garden but will add pepper.

We will grow pickled onions on the patch.

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