Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[V8Druid]

Serious wet night again ... this morning's level ................................................................................................... yesterday afternoon's level .. be interesting to see what it's like after four weeks - this is 15 days

got a better coat on this than I thought it might look like today .... was damned near dark, by the time I'd finished with the fabricator's friend

no chance of getting any more on today ... was 'sposed to have stopped raining by 12 ... still spitting and forecast to lash it down again this evening ............. but reckoned to be a blue sky day tomorrow ... and Mon./Tues. too

two spares in stock .. job sorted ..... God knows how the belts stick the tension they're under (or the motor bearings, for that matter) ..
quite a wrestling match, getting it back together under tension ...
probably been on there three years and lasted well considering .

just about got around the living room this morning before the new one let go ..... thought it was way too tight ... 's probably a couple of years old, but has been sat in its original packaging, in a cupboard, in the dark and didn't feel like it had any 'issues' .... got its twin currently sat getting a pre-stretching, round a suitable size tin, sat on a radiator (for when it comes on) ... see if it fares any better, but new ones bought this morning, in case it doesn't manage any better than its butty ..... when they arrive

 

[V8Druid]

stuck a.n.other belt on't DC01 this morning and a few other odds an' sods, then headed for the bench .... had an idea last night, waiting to drop off and wanted to add it, 'fore flipping it over .... purposes will eventually become apparent.

drop of paint on 'em and flipped it onto the floor, to coat t'other side

rained for 20 minutes, just before I could finish it all, so went and had a coffee, then wiped it down on my return ... then started on the rest of it

light was starting to let me down ..... again!!

one CKD stillage ..... just got to decide on a base covering ..... can't decide between 1" x 1" weldmesh or a sheet of 2mm plate ..... got to price the 2 mm tomorrow ... the mesh has its virtues - won't hold water and crud, but at a price ... see what the 2 mm's like, but need to have a 'base' of some description.
there's a reason for the extra height in the legs

 

[V8Druid]

couple of better daylight pix....

1"x 1" x 10swg mesh, self color (CCMS) -£118 ....
2mm sheet CR4 - £90 and a better base .....
2mil it is then ....
can always put a few perforations in for water retention issues and blow any leaves etc away, being a lot more open/accessible, than me trailer is
sheet (and a few other odds an' sods) 'll be here Thursday, apparently ..... Rog at Ex Stock says they're very quiet ATM
not a lot done today - treatment first thing and several can you justs, saw off the rest of the day
kids tomorrow's gonna make a mess of any dry hours .... the week off didn't last long, especially with moving house in the mix

 

[V8Druid]

Rog sent me a quote for me 2mm plate this morning plus a few odds 'n sods ... paid for and will arrive Thurs./Fri
prices put steel at circa a grand a tonne ATM .... lot better than it has been .... plus the bloody VAT of course, which is a PITFA
in 2010, 50 2 x 3 SHS was 18 quid a bar, nigh on.

got a project in mind for item 5 on the quote they didn't have any stock last time I tried to get some.

 

[Quattromike]

Rog sent me a quote for me 2mm plate this morning plus a few odds 'n sods ... paid for and will arrive Thurs./Fri
prices put steel at circa a grand a tonne ATM .... lot better than it has been .... plus the bloody VAT of course, which is a PITFA
in 2010, 50 2 x 3 SHS was 18 quid a bar, nigh on.

got a project in mind for item 5 on the quote they didn't have any stock last time I tried to get some.

View attachment 53065

£850 a ton for some items a few weeks back but it is fluctuating a bit atm

 

[V8Druid]

View attachment 53066
£850 a ton for some items a few weeks back but it is fluctuating a bit atm

cheers Mike ... I'm probably also getting a premium loaded, for small quantity, delivered to the sticks ......'s a lot better than I was expecting, based on recently exorbitant rates of the last couple of insane years ..... we may yet see a return to £600--£650 a tonne .... the days of £350/t are long gone

 

[Quattromike]

cheers Mike ... I'm probably also getting a premium loaded, for small quantity, delivered to the sticks ......'s a lot better than I was expecting, based on recently exorbitant rates of the last couple of insane years ..... we may yet see a return to £600--£650 a tonne .... the days of £350/t are long gone

I'm kinda hoping scrap value is still up which will help the value of my item on today's job thread

 

[V8Druid]

doing the kids' breakfasts at quarter past eight this morning .. knock on the door ... open it to find Nick, a long time driver for Ex stock stood there ....
" WTF you doin' here? - Roger said he'd call me, if you were coming today!! - gotta take Clara to school in half an hour " ...
" good old Roger LOL " said Nick
made him a coffee, whilst I finished sorting their brekky, put me boots on and we went and opened the gate -- find a drill to remove two temp. stays, from the trellis fence, which're stopping the wind demolishing it completely - snapped at G/L in a hooley, a while ago and not gotten around to extracting the 2 ft of concrete, holding the bottom bits, out of the shale, they're stood in -- augered them years ago, so nice neat circular blocks of conc. to remove - just there's a lot on top of 'em

Got Nick's truck in and his first words, when he got back out the cab were,
" the edge of that 2mm sheet has some damage " ......
gonna have to beat it back into shape ... wasn't gonna wait for God knows how long for a replacement.
replacing rejected deliveries was never their strong point

any way .. got it off and handballed the other sections off - 'least it wasn't raining - been a hell of a night again, here.
Bonus was the SHS & RHS bars were all nice an straight

Have Harper all day and Clara to collect at 3.00 pm, combined with the fact, it is now absolutely lashing it down again, there ain't gonna be a lot done with it today.

Got Clara to school, just after nine .. all going on a school trip to Techniquest in Caerdiff bay today, so I would not have been popular if she'd missed the coach

 

[V8Druid]

well the monsoon last night woke me 3 times in the night hammering on the Velux ... bucket doesn't really testify to what we must've had ... must move it out from under the oaks

....... but was dry and blue sky this morning ... well I say dry - it'd stopped, but everything was dripping wet
this was the 'damage' Nick had mentioned ... ... muppet FLT drivers in Llanelli head office

needs must though and dragged it from where we'd dropped it - or i should say where the wind'd parked it overnight

onto me base frame and wound the 'Drema up

to pop it on the bench

must be nicely balanced as it picked up sweet as flat .... dropped it on the bench and parked her up

then decided HTF I was gonna cope with an undersized sheet .... 3m x 1.5m always arrived at 3010/3015mm x 1520mm to allow for a square trim down to size .... this'un was 1520 x 3002 .... so ...

some additional angle required to support the edge on the short fall ...
used angle to give me an extra base lip to contain what's going in there

one end stitched in and on to t'other one

'fore running right around the edges, spacing it parallel to the frame, 'fore consolidating it all and turning it over for alternating welds on the underside

haven't attached the various cross members underneath, in case I ever want to replace/remove the 2mm sheet ... 's attached well enough around the perimeter ..... then a coat of ali, where I could get it with the fabby's friend ... did think about breaking out the spray gun, but time was not with me for the light .. a.n.other time 'praps

then back on the floor for a good coat of ali, topside.....

need to make a couple more bits, having thought about it a bit more ...
want a couple of lower end cross bars and forgot to make up a couple of other load bearing ones too, for the tops of the uprights
'Sposed to be another blue sky day tomorrow, so'll hopefully get them all done and then maybe get it loaded, hopefully.

 

[6feetdown]

well the monsoon last night woke me 3 times in the night hammering on the Velux ... bucket doesn't really testify to what we must've had ... must move it out from under the oaks
View attachment 53159
....... but was dry and blue sky this morning ... well I say dry - it'd stopped, but everything was dripping wet
this was the 'damage' Nick had mentioned ... ... muppet FLT drivers in Llanelli head office
View attachment 53164
needs must though and dragged it from where we'd dropped it - or i should say where the wind'd parked it overnight View attachment 53163

onto me base frame and wound the 'Drema up
View attachment 53162 View attachment 53161
to pop it on the bench

View attachment 53160

must be nicely balanced as it picked up sweet as flat .... dropped it on the bench and parked her up View attachment 53168
then decided HTF I was gonna cope with an undersized sheet .... 3m x 1.5m always arrived at 3010/3015mm x 1520mm to allow for a square trim down to size .... this'un was 1520 x 3002 .... so ...
View attachment 53167 some additional angle required to support the edge on the short fall ...
used angle to give me an extra base lip to contain what's going in there
View attachment 53166 View attachment 53165
one end stitched in and on to t'other one

View attachment 53169

'fore running right around the edges, spacing it parallel to the frame, 'fore consolidating it all and turning it over for alternating welds on the underside View attachment 53172
haven't attached the various cross members underneath, in case I ever want to replace/remove the 2mm sheet ... 's attached well enough around the perimeter ..... then a coat of ali, where I could get it with the fabby's friend ... did think about breaking out the spray gun, but time was not with me for the light .. a.n.other time 'praps

View attachment 53171
then back on the floor for a good coat of ali, topside.....

View attachment 53170
need to make a couple more bits, having thought about it a bit more ...
want a couple of lower end cross bars and forgot to make up a couple of other load bearing ones too, for the tops of the uprights
'Sposed to be another blue sky day tomorrow, so'll hopefully get them all done and then maybe get it loaded, hopefully.

Same unbelievable last night then 7.30 am lovely day

 

[Quattromike]

Seen a load of your frames going in a truck off somewhere

 

[V8Druid]

View attachment 53194
Seen a load of your frames going in a truck off somewhere

pigeons perhaps? ..... someone been busy making them .... fancy joinery/cabinetry if it is flying rats

 

[V8Druid]

'nother blue sky morning ... Pam off into town to Vicki's, so no 'can you justs' ... set to on me extras
ran some 3ph leads out for the saw and belt grinder .. chucked some steel on the saw rollers and wound up the genny and lopped some bits

good job I had a couple more lengths of 502 delivered -- thought I had one more in the pile .. but no - had to lop a bit off a new one.
110v, 5" Mak with the twisted stiff wire brush on it dealt with all the crud on the rusty bits ... 's a great weapon for rusty stuff, but just a bit dusty -- felt like a Homepride flour grader afterwards

got it all clean .. belt grinder dealt with the little bits and got it all together ...

cleaned the bench off and got the Firwood Ali pot out, for a coat on these bits ...... went and had a late lunch whilst they dried ... Amazon driver timed it just right, as I came back out the door - wouldn't have heard him or noticed him from me bench otherwise ... then slotted everything together

two extra end rails and a couple of top racks ......
wound up the P38, which actually behaved itself on the air suspendies -- (been playing up last couple of times I've started it and STILL not done the axle height sensors
still psyching myself up for the task - the originals've been on there 26 years and the fixings're gonna be a bitch) and pulled me 3 x 1.5m (10' x 5') out from where it's been sat, for quite some time, stuffed full of tower scaff.s ... and ......
started the task of re-locating said towers ....

starting to run out of light though so sadly the full stillage pix are not the best .. will get some better ones in the light

all went back in as it came out the trailer ... was a right packing job in there .... thought this lot was three towers - forgot the fourth one I bought off Russ a while back - couldn't say no at the price he had it on FB MP for

so job sorted ....
and got me trailer back.....

did not want to have to unload and reload this lot any more often than necessary ... so difficult to keep tidy, unless it's 'captive'
horrendous quantity of leaves, bits of tree and general crud in the bottom of the trailer .. damned near dark by the time I'd swept it up and shovelled it into a bin ...
was hoping that this morning's forecast for a dry night/morning would hold, for it to dry and get a coat of paint on the inside ... no such luck, looking at it now .. wet, wet and more wet, 'til tomorrow afternoon ... should've put a tarp over it

 

[William127]

View attachment 53225
starting to run out of light though so sadly the full stillage pix are not the best .. will get some better ones in the light
View attachment 53223View attachment 53231
all went back in as it came out the trailer ... was a right packing job in there .... thought this lot was three towers - forgot the fourth one I bought off Russ a while back - couldn't say no at the price he had it on FB MP for

so job sorted ....
and got me trailer back.....
View attachment 53224

did not want to have to unload and reload this lot any more often than necessary ... so difficult to keep tidy, unless it's 'captive'

Very tidy

 

[V8Druid]

Very tidy

cheers boyo ... keeping that lot confined is not an easy proposition ... and it is now completely mobile - park it where you want, in one hit

 

[hiluxman]

Not sure if you've mentioned and I've missed it...but what's the great wall seed doing sat there.

 

[V8Druid]

Not sure if you've mentioned and I've missed it...but what's the great wall seed doing sat there.

has been mentioned some time ago and on the odd occasion since ...
belonged to Pam's cousin, who she's executor of his estate for ...
it's on hold ATM/with our solicitor, as her brother/co-executor has 'gone rogue' - pr*ck - and is refusing to co-operate in moving estate matters forward.
's a long story, which I might relate, once sorted - couldn't script it

Steed has 10k on the clock - ex demo, when bought - is like new ... I was running it up once a month, but got bored with ****ing about with it, when the battery died.
it's here for safe keeping as the deceased brother was going to 'give' it to one of his mates - not his to do anything with mind

 

[hiluxman]

has been mentioned some time ago and on the odd occasion since ...
belonged to Pam's cousin, who she's executor of his estate for ...
it's on hold ATM/with our solicitor, as her brother/co-executor has 'gone rogue' - pr*ck - and is refusing to co-operate in moving estate matters forward.
's a long story, which I might relate, once sorted - couldn't script it

Steed has 10k on the clock - ex demo, when bought - is like new ... I was running it up once a month, but got bored with ****ing about with it, when the battery died.
it's here for safe keeping as the deceased brother was going to 'give' it to one of his mates - not his to do anything with mind

The joys of family/relations.

I know I've all this to come soon. Not looking forward to it when the time comes

 

[V8Druid]

The joys of family/relations.

I know I've all this to come soon. Not looking forward to it when the time comes

real misty out there ... has gotten on the lens BTLs Alex

 

[V8Druid]

........ pix are not the best .. will get some better ones in the light

some slightly better ones, but as said really misty / foggy .... been yet another soggy night and not a lot done today ... very happy with how that's turned out .. there's a reason I didn't put any upstands on the sockets of the ladder rack, like the trailer's ladder racks have ..... think I might put a small ratchet strap round those boards, 'fore trying to pick this up and put it anywhere else ... everything else is pretty well packed and unlikely to move much

should be relatively easy to keep leaves, etc. from standing -- if the wind doesn't do the job, the leaf blower will