What Did You Do Today 2019

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 02/08/2019 22:16:07:

Does the dam have a flushing / drain-valve at its foot, as many do?

.

To be honest Nigel, I don't know … but I suspect not.

It was built to supply the canal, not for drinking water

**LINK**

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toddbrook_Reservoir

MichaelG.

.

P.S. … I my haste to post earlier, I mis-spelled the name as Todbrook

Edit: The really scary thing is the profile of the terrain:

See the Google Earth & Elevation composite on this BBC page:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-49189955

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 02/08/2019 23:31:52

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 02/08/2019 22:16:07:

Does the dam have a flushing / drain-valve at its foot, as many do?

.

I've just found this historic note from 2011 which might help explain what's there: **LINK**

Toddbrook Reservoir refilling to start in new year

MichaelG.

.

Edit: … and some interesting material here:

http://archive.bugsworthbasin.org/pages/174/1740511.htm

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 03/08/2019 00:42:59

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

So it all looks as if the appropriate valves etc are there – and were renewed / refurbished recently – but they don't look as if they'd have much effect on the flood itself as the explanations say they would take some days to drain the reservoir normally.

They aren't the problem though, and the spillway had been acting as it should.

Unfortunately no-one could have anticipated the spillway surface being ripped up, exposing the clay core. It could have taken just a couple of small holes to let water to flow under the first slab, to initiate the erosion.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Best wishes for a safe and satisfactory outcome for all concerned.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 03/08/2019 09:58:28:

Unfortunately no-one could have anticipated the spillway surface being ripped up, exposing the clay core.

Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight one can see on the remaining surface a number of small shrubs growing which indicate there is a hole in the concrete. Along with the Oroville dam problem it should have been a flag to look closely at this kind of structure. Probably no one person with specific responsibility for the maintenance.

[Bob McParticipant @bobmc91481]

Blimey… ! that Oroville dam problem makes our situation at Whalley look like a leak in a bathtub..!

Bob..

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 02/08/2019 18:14:25:

Such developer won't be stopped until the mortgage-lenders and home-insurers concertedly say, in public, " Build on that flood-plain if you like, but the houses are all cash sales only and no Acts of God insurance. "

Exactly.

Neil

[egaParticipant @ega]

I trust and pray the dam won't burst but, if it were to, would that be an "Act of God"?

When I saw the news I wondered whether the dam had been constructed correctly.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

No it would not be an Act of God because it would a failure of a man-made structure due to human failings since its construction.

Flooding on a flood-plain would be " an Act of God ", because a flood-plain is entirely natural, and like meanders which some land-owners used mistakenly to think better replaced by straight cuts, are parts of the river's natural self-control; and have not been altered significantly by human agency until built over. In many areas they were used to agricultural advantage as " water meadows " by controlling the flooding to help the river place new mineral-bearing sediments on the ground, and to keep the soil slightly warmer through the coldest parts of Winter.

That dam must have been constructed correctly. If not, it could not survived no doubt many floods since. The builders did now that man-made things wear out though, so built to last whilst assumed that like anything else – roads, railways, ships, buildings – would be maintained.

We know its drain-valves and pipes were overhauled several years ago, but has anyone been inspecting the structure regularly (probably annually) and ensuring any repairs were carried out; within the last few decades?

After all, think how many homes and churches – including gigantic Mediaeval cathedrals – many centuries old are still being used as intended, in Britain. How is that possible? Apart from obvious up-dating like sanitation and electricity, by being looked after throughout their lives.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 03/08/2019 14:47:20:

We know its drain-valves and pipes were overhauled several years ago, but has anyone been inspecting the structure regularly (probably annually) and ensuring any repairs were carried out; within the last few decades?

.

Neil has started a new thread about the dam … upon which I have posted a link to

Engineers battle through night to prevent catastrophic dam failure

I suggest it may be better to continue our discussion there.

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=143884&p=1

MichaelG

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 03/08/2019 14:57:26

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Meantime back at the ranch …………

I've done a bit more with the gearbox internals:

The reverse gear idler is missing from this shot. I need to find out how to insert a new offset axis in Alibre Atom. And the shaft ends aren't complete, yet, either. But it's progress.

John

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Yesterday actually; went to my local B & Q store & bought two 6mm x 1 mtr bms rod & a meter length of 8mm square BMS as short on stock, then went around shops with Finance director.

George.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Continued in my inimitably slow way to set up my wagon's crankshaft for milling.

Spent yesterday aligning the tailstock borrowed from a dividing-head with the rotary-table bolted to an angle-plate.

Today was making clamps / driving-carriers to hold the shaft to the RT, a process giving a new lease of life to some very rusty steel that had been scrapped miniature-railway rail.

Rusty? As my Mum might have said, " It looks as if it's been dragged through a hedge backwards! " and not far wrong, certainly left lying under said hedge for ages. Still, it's not bad steel under the corrosion.

I'd had to make a centre for the RT too, which has a shallow 3/4 inch bored recess above a 1/2 inch BSW threaded hole, not a Morse Taper socket. Attempt One failed – the Harrison L5 lathe has a 3-speed gearbox on its feed-shaft and lead-screw, and if you forget and it's in the wrong setting, the thread is not what the change-wheels say.

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

Posted by John Hinkley on 03/08/2019 15:39:52:

Meantime back at the ranch …………

I've done a bit more with the gearbox internals:

The reverse gear idler is missing from this shot. I need to find out how to insert a new offset axis in Alibre Atom. And the shaft ends aren't complete, yet, either. But it's progress.

John

Interesting, what's the gearbox for?

John MC

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

John MC,

The gearbox started life as a bit of fun with Alibre Atom, to keep the old grey cells active. However, if or when I get around to making it, it'll just be a decorative or demonstration piece, probably using perspex panels to form the bearing supports in order to show its workings.

I'll be posting more pictures in the album as work progresses, should you wish to follow it. Don't expect rapid progress, though!

John

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I wasted most of today, faffing about with Apple power supplies

My old white MacBook 13" and the newer MacBook Pro 15" both use MagSafe connectors on the 60W power supply.

… MagSafe was a great idea, poorly executed.

I won't bore you with the details of my 'adventure' … Suffice it to say, I failed to to produce one working power supply from three suspect ones, and neither computer can presently be charged.

I will, however, share a moment of humour, courtesy of Apple:

We all presumably know what 'strain relief' is [or should be] on a cable … but

Apple has re-imagined the definition

[quote]

Strain relief is a condition where the DC cable (the thin cord that attaches the MagSafe connector to the power adapter) separates from the end of the MagSafe connector or from the other end of the thin cord, at the power adapter. Under continued use, the cable may discolor and the rubber molding may become deformed. Another indication of possible strain relief that is not always visible to the eye is intermittent electrical connectivity. You can often verify this condition by wiggling the cable back and forth near the MagSafe connector and observing whether the LED indicator (which turns amber or green) flashes on or off depending on the position of the cord.

[/quote]

NO … Apple : strain relief is what you fail to provide for your lousy leads !!

.

MichaelG.

.

Ref: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT203207

… and, for the curious:

http://www.righto.com/2013/06/teardown-and-exploration-of-magsafe.html

http://www.righto.com/2015/11/macbook-charger-teardown-surprising.html

 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/08/2019 19:03:16

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Not what I did today but yesterday. Earlier this week I received an email from my internet provider Sky, saying that their systems had been breached and I needed to change my password, well I took this to be another scam email, seem to be getting a lot recently, ignored the email and it wasn’t till yesterday that I realised I hadn’t received any emails on my Sky email address. So yesterday I spent quite a long time trying to reset the password on the email software, not achieving any success. In desperation I posted a query on the net “ How do I change the password on my Sky email account” , there were quite a lot of references to follow, I clicked on one which took me to Sky page, one that I hadn’t seen before, and was invited to click on an instruction whereby I could change my password, which I successfully did. That didn’t solve the problem though, I still couldn’t receive any emails on my Sky email address, I had to then go into the programmes on my IPhone, IPad and MAC computer to change the passwords on those. This morning when I went Clay Pigeon Shooting I asked if anyone there had suffered problems with Sky, one other person was experiencing problems so I said I will message you with the information to sort the problems. He succeeded in sorting his problem and texted me to say that when he clicked on his emails there were 450 which downloaded, I thought that I got a lot but he is in a different league. I think the moral of all this is take notice of emails from your provider, problem is how do you know if they are genuine.

Dave W

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 11/08/2019 18:44:17:

I wasted most of today, faffing about with Apple power supplies

My old white MacBook 13" and the newer MacBook Pro 15" both use MagSafe connectors on the 60W power supply.

… MagSafe was a great idea, poorly executed.

I won't bore you with the details of my 'adventure' … Suffice it to say, I failed to to produce one working power supply from three suspect ones, and neither computer can presently be charged.

I will, however, share a moment of humour, courtesy of Apple:

We all presumably know what 'strain relief' is [or should be] on a cable … but

Apple has re-imagined the definition

[quote]

Strain relief is a condition where the DC cable (the thin cord that attaches the MagSafe connector to the power adapter) separates from the end of the MagSafe connector or from the other end of the thin cord, at the power adapter. Under continued use, the cable may discolor and the rubber molding may become deformed. Another indication of possible strain relief that is not always visible to the eye is intermittent electrical connectivity. You can often verify this condition by wiggling the cable back and forth near the MagSafe connector and observing whether the LED indicator (which turns amber or green) flashes on or off depending on the position of the cord.

[/quote]

NO … Apple : strain relief is what you fail to provide for your lousy leads !!

.

MichaelG.

.

Ref: **LINK**

… and, for the curious:

**LINK**

**LINK**

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/08/2019 19:03:16

I laugh because otherwise I would weep. I have seen exactly this a few times. How come I have laptop PSUs form 'inferior' brands like Toshiba that have lasted several years while Apple ones seem to barely last out of a year's warranty? Over and again. I fixed a Mac power supply twice by fitting replacement power leads.

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-settles-split-cord-magsafe-lawsuit/

It's possible to buy replacement leads/PSUs with Apple connectors as Apple are forced to make these availble for purchase to manufacturers of alternative PSUs.

It ended up being cheaper to get bluetooth earphones than keep buying my daughter the 'disposable' iphone to 3.5mm jack adaptors at about £17 a pop. Average lifetime 3 weeks.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Trieds casting some pewter 'Thor's Hammer' amulets in pewter using a 3D printed one as a pattern for a silicone mould. Will need a second try as it's clear a head of a few inches will be needed to get it into fine detail.

Neil

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Took the partly-chewed out 2-throw crankshaft from the milling-machine to the lathe.

What's there so far is the result of a lot of rather hefty milling, chain-drilling and sawing, and yesterday using a ripping-cutter to munch the worst of the vaguely-square mass of chain-drilling ridges down to something approaching an 18-sided polygon section, so the turning won't so intermittent.

The lathe for this is the Harrison L5 with 3-ph conversion, so large enough to cope with some intermittent cuts by HSS tool, at shallow cut, gentle self-acting feed, low back-gear and moderate motor-speed though with the controller pointer still well inside the green sector; and indeed by the time I finished this evening I'd brought the "tabs" that will be the cranks themselves, down to near their crown radii.

I'm crossing my fingers that a length of the old "stock" surface still on the outer edge of one of the "tabs" will duly disappear. It's a bit close. The material was an off-cut of a scrapped axle from a narrow-gauge railway truck, so its surface is quite heavily rusted (though I've seen worse).

This is my first attempt at making a crankshaft, let alone sculpting one from some 11" of 2.5-ish dia. solid steel.

[Matthew EllisParticipant @matthewellis85598]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 11/08/2019 20:10:31:

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 11/08/2019 18:44:17:

I wasted most of today, faffing about with Apple power supplies

My old white MacBook 13" and the newer MacBook Pro 15" both use MagSafe connectors on the 60W power supply.

… MagSafe was a great idea, poorly executed.

I won't bore you with the details of my 'adventure' … Suffice it to say, I failed to to produce one working power supply from three suspect ones, and neither computer can presently be charged.

I will, however, share a moment of humour, courtesy of Apple:

We all presumably know what 'strain relief' is [or should be] on a cable … but

Apple has re-imagined the definition

[quote]

Strain relief is a condition where the DC cable (the thin cord that attaches the MagSafe connector to the power adapter) separates from the end of the MagSafe connector or from the other end of the thin cord, at the power adapter. Under continued use, the cable may discolor and the rubber molding may become deformed. Another indication of possible strain relief that is not always visible to the eye is intermittent electrical connectivity. You can often verify this condition by wiggling the cable back and forth near the MagSafe connector and observing whether the LED indicator (which turns amber or green) flashes on or off depending on the position of the cord.

[/quote]

NO … Apple : strain relief is what you fail to provide for your lousy leads !!

.

MichaelG.

.

Ref: **LINK**

… and, for the curious:

**LINK**

**LINK**

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/08/2019 19:03:16

I laugh because otherwise I would weep. I have seen exactly this a few times. How come I have laptop PSUs form 'inferior' brands like Toshiba that have lasted several years while Apple ones seem to barely last out of a year's warranty? Over and again. I fixed a Mac power supply twice by fitting replacement power leads.

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-settles-split-cord-magsafe-lawsuit/

It's possible to buy replacement leads/PSUs with Apple connectors as Apple are forced to make these availble for purchase to manufacturers of alternative PSUs.

It ended up being cheaper to get bluetooth earphones than keep buying my daughter the 'disposable' iphone to 3.5mm jack adaptors at about £17 a pop. Average lifetime 3 weeks.

Neil

My daughter used to chew through apple charge leads on phones and tablets… until I trained her to pull the plug and not the cable.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Matthew Ellis on 12/08/2019 07:35:29:

My daughter used to chew through apple charge leads on phones and tablets… until I trained her to pull the plug and not the cable.

.

A significant problem with one PSU that I tried to repair was that the previous owner had evidently used Apple's "cable tidy" device … This is almost certain to damage the cable, and, in this instance, both the insulated wire and the outer shielding had failed !!

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 11/08/2019 20:10:31:

[ … ]

I laugh because otherwise I would weep. I have seen exactly this a few times. How come I have laptop PSUs form 'inferior' brands like Toshiba that have lasted several years while Apple ones seem to barely last out of a year's warranty?

.

Three good reasons I can think of, Neil

[but there may be more]

1. Designed by Apple
2. Built by Samsung
3. Uses 'environmentally friendly' cable sheathing.

MichaelG.

.

P.S. … How do you open the Apple PSU, tidily ?

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 11/08/2019 20:12:52:

Trieds casting some pewter 'Thor's Hammer' amulets in pewter using a 3D printed one as a pattern for a silicone mould. Will need a second try as it's clear a head of a few inches will be needed to get it into fine detail.

Neil

Many years ago I went to as demonstration of lost wax casting at the Nottingham SMEE's old workshop on Alexandra street.

Basic principle involved was take the lid of a small tin (pipe tobacco in those days) and put a couple of pieces of lint in it, soaking wet.

Melt your metal and put it in the mould, or in the case of lost wax make a plaster mould round your wax model and melt the metal into a puddle on top of a riser. Then clap the lint in tin lid on top and the steam forces the molten metal into the mould.

Like most people the concept of water and molten metal sounds appalling, but it was demonstrated here in perfect safety by a dental technician to make small fittings for model boats and as a sign of the times a set of cuff links in the form of the BR double arrow symbol.

I have seen it done, but at your own risk!!

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 12/08/2019 09:34:43

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Nick Clarke 3 on 12/08/2019 09:33:37:

.

I have seen it done, but at your own risk!!

.

Continuing that theme, Nick …

Another effective technique is centrifugal casting: achieved by swinging the mould around you head on a suitable length of string.

Darwinian selection has probably determined the ideal length and strength of string by now.

MichaelG.

[Author]

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