Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[Lancs Lad]

as said elsewhere last night - was researching one of these, that I've tripped over reeeeeeeeeeally bloody cheap and local-ish ....
last iteration of these in the early '80s were £28,000 and change - £30k with taper turning, new ..
Kearney & Trekker/CVA toolroom machines - much sought after and impressively accurate, with some very nice features.
yes I know I have the Harrison, but these are at the DS&G / Holbrook level of good and are only going up in value.
and it was my birthday yesterday
might be a road trip on the cards
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on other things ..........
picked this up in Aldi earlier in the week ... thought I'd give it a try and have to say, 'tis very effective at getting the bird sh1t off the Kia, crud out o' the arches and moss off the patio slabs ('bout all I tried it on)
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got a 5" out earlier in the week too and gave the birdbath it's annual clean up, as it was nice and dry, followed by a good coat of yacht varnish (with a.n.other to follow tomorrow) ... came up nice as usual
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and this little fella is really becoming quite the house cat ..... unless the kids're about - then you won't see him for dust
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That's a belter
That Holbrook last weekend really drew my eye...something to behold the build quality and style of them...proper bits of kit from a different era

 

[V8Druid]

That's a belter
That Holbrook last weekend really drew my eye...something to behold the build quality and style of them...proper bits of kit from a different era

yeh the Holbrook is a superb piece of engineering - these little CVA,s were built on the same sorts of scale, massively over engineered for rigidity -- got to go have a look at this one it is sooooooooo cheap - don't think the seller knows what he has/the pedigree, TBH

 

[V8Druid]

this made my night, last night

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obviously a dealer and he is hoping ... but yer never know ... never seen a deep throat Startrite make less than a grand

gave 500 quid for the pair of 'em plus collection round trip of 80 miles .... think mine's in better nick and it has the fence still ... showed it to Pam this morning and got a " Wow!! .. you had a bargain then "

 

[V8Druid]

the cats love treatment morning ... I'm stationary for two hours -- and so are they

 

[V8Druid]

I hate working on things twice ... but I had to alter the wiring on the horizontal band saw ... the suds tray on the back end just isn't tall enough and was running the risk of what i'd put there getting a regular bath .. so
pulled off what I fitted and came up with an alternate scheme ..
needed some 7 core to relocate the original box to somewhere safer/drier ... happened to have a nice roll of 6+earth SY - ideal
got a new waterproof enclosure fitted and sealed to the body with plenty of sili and set about re-routing it all

noted it all down on the bench ... and confused myself - with the numbering on the choc block - had meself going for a minute or two when it came to re-connecting the front end - 'til I realised what I'd done (the 6+earth are numbered 1 to 6, plus the usual green/yellow) ...
so gave meself a good bollocking and re-numbered my choc block notes - then everything made a lot more sense

then ran the new cabling up to the front

and got it all connected up - eventually, after my cock up on the numbering

happy I had it right, I gave it some voltage and everything worked as it should
picked up some nice little brass in line taps off Fleabay last week, to get some control over the blades coolant nozzles, so stuck those in

and gave it a try....
front one getting plenty of coolant now that I could 'attenuate' the back nozzle, which was the first in the flow and taking 90% of what was available

couple of covers to make for the coolant tank apertures and might put a flexy extension onto the back of the tray, to try and keep as much in there as poss. -- then it's all sorted - new blade required and it's good to go to work - better get a couple ordered up with Selmach in Hereford

 

[V8Druid]

It's Sunday, it's 'treatment-o'clock' and Squeak assumes the position

he's a lump of a moggy -- little ginger one was outside on the bank enthusiastically mouse-ing - watched him, pouncing in the longer grass chasing summat

followed later by:- the usual grass massacring of the lawn, each side of the drive, both passing places on the side of the main drive, anything vaguely green in the turning area and everything green that shouldn't be there at the top of the drive and around the guys who own the fields round us' barn.
finished off with the little paddock at the end of our drive, for the 'horsey girls'
all flat as

put the Dane away and got the pressure washer out to give the Kia's wheel arches a good blast out and TFR-ed the rest of it, 'fore a good blow over ...
then did the P38 and the D1 .. the Great Wall got a cursory blow over to clear all the pollen/catkins/various tish that'd accumulated all over it, 'fore giving the Golf a turn.

and tea time!

Took the golf up the drive after tea - drop the food bin and glass box off and give it a run to dry the brakes off and give 'em a try since banging on the new back end's stoppers - all fine - see if I can MOT it next week ...
and discovered one of the inlet tract's fancy unions had let go ..... spent an hour trying to persuade the bloody thing to click into spot ..... what a bast**d pig's guts of an idea - almost zero access to get hold of it and force it to connect with its spring clip -- bet there's a fancy tool for doing it - which I did not have - got it eventually after much effort and cursing VW's designers.

Pam's strawbs are doing well this year .... 6th box in the last week or so ...... I love 'em, but they DO NOT like me, so have had to reluctantly not eat 'em ... we've given most of them away to friends and the kids
loads more coming on too

 

[V8Druid]

Got a bit more done to the horizontal yesterday, towards sealing off the suds/coolant tank and keeping the wet stuff where it belongs ...
uncovered the vertical and cut meself some bits .....

needed to create a waterproof sliding joint for the return pipe from the rear drive wheel housing ...
nice bit of 3mm flexi curtain with a 7/8" hole punched through

two existing 10mm captive bolts

and needed a couple more lower fixings
one tight as .. slider sleeve / gasket

the hole in the nylon is a perfect fit on the 1" MDPE (which was a perfect fit in the outflow from the wheel housing)
and from the inside looking out after i'd pumped the sump out as low as the pump'd allow - which was low enough to get two lower fixings installed without drowning the drill when it went through

and installed ... with plenty of sili ... sili-ed the MDPE into the wheel housing outlet, as although it was a good fit the sliding seal had a good grip on the MDPE .... so couple of teks in to keep it put worked well

there's never a huge flow from / through this return, but has to slide as the tube moves as the bow rises and falls
then it was seal off the gert circular access hole in the side of the tank/sump
nice bit of 8mm polycarb did the job a treat, with plenty of sili and 8 original tapped 6mm holes - also enable me to see the level in the sump

the two 6mils beside it previously had had a cable tie fed through to keep the filter housing for the pump secured in place, hanging on it 10mm mount bolt, so replaced that with a couple of small angle brackets to feed the cable tie through inside the tank, to keep the filter housing stationary and sealed up those two with yet more sili -- job did ...
ran the saw and pump up and all was performing fine at all bow angles - everything going where it should and flowing nicely ...
it did however create quite a droplet splash out the side of the tray, so today ......
bit more flexi curtain and was going to bolt it on but thought sod it - pop rivets're nice and quick and easy

with a backing strip to keep it all in place

should hopefully keep me trousers dry(er) and contain the splashes from the coolant nozzles as it hits the catch tray
I may well replace the pop rivets with some 6mil bolts - don't really like the look of those rivets

anyway ....
ran the 'Drema up and it's down off the bench tonight .... new blade and "we're cooking on gas" ..... might give the Meba a similar going over - could do with a little TLC (and a new coolant pump set up - what's on there is bollo-ed - easier to replace than re-con what's on there!! )

sent Josh shopping for me yesterday ---- the two large broaches are worth the asking on their own will be a handy addition - save lumping the big Magtron about for up to 38mils (probably squeeze bigger into it TBH)

Zhev had a lot of other stuff of interest - equally cheap - sadly Josh doesn't have the facility or capacity to handle some of it -- and talking to the guy tonight - what's left goes in the skip in the morning and he flies to Thailand on Saturday morning on a one way ticket - retired, premises sold - "Hasta la vista" UK

 

[V8Druid]

got a collection planned at the weekend, so thought i'd better give the lights a check on the little 8x4 trailer - usual story when it's been stood about - there's always one that doesn't want to co-operate - corroded terminals usually - must be pushing 12 months since I last used this one - (just looked and it was last September to pick up that 6ft fork carriage and a few other odds an' sods)

this board has been around a long time too - probably mid '80s - got two about the same sort of age - this 'un used to get strapped to my 320 SWM Gori trials bike when it was sat on a rack on the back of one of my SD1s and covering the tail lights on the motor. Was easier than dragging a trailer to some of the events I used to get to, round Bristol, on a Sunday morning - bad enough trying to turn just a car around at some of the locations we ended up at . Belonged to quite a few trials clubs over there.

think I've had my moneys-worth -they've done well - especially as they've also been attached to quite a few trailers in their long lives, too

anyway - sorted - couple of spares strapped down and both hub caps re-filled with grease, hitch spindle/slider greased and she's ready for a run out

been absolutely roasting here today - 28C, most of the day - nice but too hot for me .. especially for doing a great deal.

had a 4m x 2m x 320g/m2 tarp arrive earlier in the week which I'd had an idea in mind for -- 'fraid I didn't take many pix of the process - too hot at the bench in the sun, but got it together and worked well.
nice tarp, fair play, aside from one extremely nadgered eyelet, which fortunately didn't have too many consequences ...

the end product after some creative use of some additional batten -- was a decent cover for the vertical, which doesn't need bungee-ing down and should do an excellent job of keeping all of it dry

big 'envelope'/carrier bag (without handles) .... worked a treat and the 4 x 2 was an ideal size for a snug enough fit to stop it taking off, but still be reasonably easy to drop on

 

[V8Druid]

well the planned collection was this .....

bought and paid for months ago ... One of Stroppy monkey's mates who lives not far from him - in Devon - round trip planned - Holsworthy, then Plymouth and Pam's boy's place for the weekend ... added 44 miles to the overall round trip, so not
bad ...
Martin and his wife were lovely and had kindly sat on this for me 'til I could get down for it - originally planned for first weekend in May, - covid for us both ended that plan - then the end of May - still hadn't recovered enough for that, so was determined to make it this time ..
Martin popped it onto the trailer with his little frame steer loader - one of a kind apparently (can't recall the name), but the makers recalled them all at the time and he didn't send his back - then the makers went bust so he reckons his is the only one in existence ... looked a good tool to me

he was a bit surprised i didn't want to transport it stood up - er no - on its back please

and we were away - and Martin went back to his baling -- would not however, EVER recommend negotiating Launceston on a Friday afternoon - pretty little traffic jam. Can't recall ever having been there before and have been round most of Cornwall several times on the Kawi.
Sat nav kept telling me to dive off left down these tiny country lanes, 'fore we hit the place - next time I might just listen to it!

Tamar bridge ripped me off for having the trailer - same price as the car and we eventually arrived at Josh's place. Spent the weekend with them and the 4 kids How the hell they continue to function with the level of sleep deprivation they suffer I really DO NOT know ... if it wasn't one screaming it was another - all night - Friday and Saturday - I was wrecked by Sunday morning. Pam just sleeps through it all, snoring!!

Josh let the cat out the bag with his little shopping trip for me, to Zhev's place - would've snuck it into the boot and she'd have been none the wiser - doesn't seem to grasp the concept of an utter bargain

18 broaches, all sharp, several pins, one of which I am short of for me big broaches (most in the cases had pins in too) didn't pay for two of the bigger short broaches
will save me lumping the big boy about
haven't plugged it in yet

left Josh's in Plymouth Sunday evening at 20.15, fuelled up and hit the road, dialled 66 on the cruise and sat back, whilst Pam went to sleep -- absolutely lashed it down around Gordano, all the way back to Zooport - annoyingly, never saw a plod anywhere - could've 'dialled' it up a bit, but a non eventful trip.
going down the oncoming traffic had been dire - nice clear run all the way home

parked up on the drive at 23.15 and hauled all the luggage into the house, fed the ever hungry mogs and had a cuppa ... was about to go to bed and thought guts were feeling decidedly odd .....
OMG!! mega-runs - explosive - thank ferk it hadn't kicked in earlier - a stop at every services would not have been good ... continued right through the night - 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, noon, 2pm - two bloody hourly -- backed off eventually --- I blamed the sausage roll I had for lunch from a little G/F bakery in Plymouth centre - and I was now even further sleep deprived - did manage to get an hour though, whilst we did my 'Hamster juice', Monday afternoon

talking to Josh earlier today, he tells me that he only just made it back to the house in time, Sunday afternoon - he blames his G/f pasty but Pam had one and she's fine ... the three eldest kids were also bad Sunday night and yesterday - they'd had 'bits' of Josh's pasty - Josh's wife had a non G/f jobbie and she's been fine
I've spent a lot of the day asleep, trying to catch up - I am completely wrecked ....
the car and trailer are where I left 'em Sunday night ...

hopefully I will be in a better state to deal with it tomorrow.

Always come back from Plymouth with more than I bargain for

 

[6feetdown]

Not good the trots, came back from Poland a few years ago day before we flew it started in the evening I was visiting every ½ hr or so literally nothing left inside me . Wasn't ill or feeling funny managed to get some immodium type thing following morning. We flew that evening I was still going around every hr by that point with my arse on fire. Had eaten a few times as didn't feel ill. Was dreading the flight, queuing for the bus to transfer to the plane had to go again. That was Saturday evening thank feck it must have finally kicked in I didn't go again until Tuesday evening!

 

[V8Druid]

Not good the trots, came back from Poland a few years ago day before we flew it started in the evening I was visiting every ½ hr or so literally nothing left inside me . Wasn't ill or feeling funny managed to get some immodium type thing following morning. We flew that evening I was still going around every hr by that point with my arse on fire. Had eaten a few times as didn't feel ill. Was dreading the flight, queuing for the bus to transfer to the plane had to go again. That was Saturday evening thank feck it must have finally kicked in I didn't go again until Tuesday evening!

it's an horrendous affliction - was like peeing from me bum for several hours and as Billy Connolly once said " once you're past 50, never trust a fart "
I was amazed it was so regularly two hour slots - as you say usually a lot more frequent

 

[Stroppymonkey]

Just read that you went from Holsworthy to Plymouth via Launceston. Much better to go via Tavistock and save the Toll. Only one narrow lane to cut through and then you get a nice scenic drive without having to enter Cornwall!

 

[V8Druid]

Just read that you went from Holsworthy to Plymouth via Launceston. Much better to go via Tavistock and save the Toll. Only one narrow lane to cut through and then you get a nice scenic drive without having to enter Cornwall!

bugger!!!! ... should've asked your advice - just looked and see what you mean
have to say that a lot of the minor/small A roads were in way better condition than most of the major A roads here -- aside from the horrendous traffic in Launceston (roadworks everywhere) it was a decent run and plenty of opportunities to overtake the crawling grockles

 

[Stroppymonkey]

bugger!!!! ... should've asked your advice - just looked and see what you mean
have to say that a lot of the minor/small A roads were in way better condition than most of the major A roads here -- aside from the horrendous traffic in Launceston (roadworks everywhere) it was a decent run and plenty of opportunities to overtake the crawling grockles

I went to night school in Plymouth so fairly well versed in routed between there and home .

 

[bobthebuilder]

it's an horrendous affliction - was like peeing from me bum for several hours and as Billy Connolly once said " once you're past 50, never trust a fart "
I was amazed it was so regularly two hour slots - as you say usually a lot more frequent

My old man (god rest his soul)was on holiday in Spain and was struck down by the trots just before the flight ,so popped a couple of Imodium in

He said it got him home and didn't go for a fortnight !

 

[hiluxman]

My old man (god rest his soul)was on holiday in Spain and was struck down by the trots just before the flight ,so popped a couple of Imodium in

He said it got him home and didn't go for a fortnight !

Is this not an appropriate time to say the old oxo joke....take some, it won't cure it but it'll thicken it. Lol

 

[V8Druid]

well I won't say I'm back to 100% AND I've now added a bloody cold to the things I've come back with too
Had to deal wit this today though .. Pam wanted taking/dropping off to her mates for their Wed.s walk and I also need the car to take Clara to school in the morning - so
moved Lil' Jakie from his sentry post, securing my boxes for the weekend ...

to a suitable position to get a hold of what was in the trailer .....

which he handled admirably ... and popped it on the floor, whilst I dealt with the rest of the stuff - two spare wheels, the mag drill and a tray full of tools, slings, ropes, straps, shackles, my wire security slings/locks, jack, etc., in the boot of the Kia and popped the trailer back in its parking slot

got a transformer out and plugged ' the acquisition' in - ran like a watch - no untoward noises or arcy/brush noises

the coolant ring was a 'tad floppy' on the arbor, so pulled that apart and fitted a couple of new O rings ... it's a bit worn, so may have to make it a new one - we'll see how it handle some suds when i come to use it

then had a bit of an inspection and count up after I'd reassembled the arbor with the new O rings

the two 32mil shorts're 34quid each, the long is 48 and 20 odd quids-worth of pins, without looking at the rest of 'em and none of 'em have been abused - all nice and sharp
Gave the box a good brush out and the drill a bit of clean (will both get a better one when I have the air line out next ) and stuck it away (made a note of the arbor's thread type/direction on it for future ref. )

then slotted all the cutters away after labelling 'em all up -- had to have a bit of a re-organise to fit 'em all in

could do with a few more tubes for some of 'em
Just managed to park the crane forks away for the night, 'fore tea time -- 'fraid I scratched the paint a bit, rushing -- 's gonna need a fresh coat anyway

Now then, question for the experts on here - I've never owned a rubber tracked machine before and am of the opinion that I may be wise to consider some new ones, 'fore these possibly let go - they're in decent nick/not worn, but IIRC from what Ollie said they're getting on for 12 yr old and may just be on their lifespan limit??
there are others like these

everyone's wisdom would be appreciated

 

[V8Druid]

Is this not an appropriate time to say the old oxo joke....take some, it won't cure it but it'll thicken it. Lol

swallowing the cube might bring a lump to your throat though

 

[6feetdown]

swallowing the cube might bring a lump to your throat though

You don't you crush it and snort it. It's the new way apparently

 

[V8Druid]

this arrived today ... bought last week, but deferred delivery 'til this week - didn't want it turning up on Friday when I wasn't here

gonna have to wait 'til tomorrow for pix of the contents .. started spitting rain as I was just unwrapping it after tea, to get it indoors and did not wanna get it all wet.
Been looking for one for some time and bought a couple of other items with it to get a good deal. They are not cheap and very hard to find on a D1-8 fitting - this was the best I've found, condition and price, in some time, so had to bite the bullet and cough up!! Got a couple of jobs I want to use it on.

and this arrived through the cat flap, presumably Friday, whilst we were heading South to Devon

S/steel ISO A QC coupling for another job urgently in need of sorting
have had this reel since IIRC 2011 and has been excellent -

was 40 quid back then and still available at three times the price ... holds a LOT of hose - this'll reach the bottom of the garden or the top of the house's drive - the hose I bought off one of these 'doing the rounds' vans many years ago and has also been superb. - the wheels have seen better days though and need replacing, but it never moves very far, from where it lives so still doing a job.
However ...... the rotary union on it has now seen better days - lots of them and is now on the verge of completely dying - has to be very carefully positioned in one location and shoved firmly back into place.

have searched for a replacement rotary in vain - failed to find an S/S version and water is not going to make a nickel plated fitting last very long, so thought I'd give an ISO A a try and wanted the S/S version. Generally the hose gets pulled out most of the way, 'fore getting turned on and with only 1.5bar I'm pretty sure the ISO is going to cope admirably well (and a nickel plated rotary union is 50+% dearer than this ISO QC was)
so at some point in the near future it's bench bound, for some attention and some careful thought/juggling of fittings