Fair enough Mottie. I thought that perhaps working on a car for nothing other than the shear fun of doing so, might reignite the flame (rather than doing it for money or out of necessity). Deffo time to sell that workshop then
What have you been doing today?
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You’re sounding like Mrs Mottie!Deffo time to sell that workshop then
Can you come renovate my kitchen then please?
A red-faced moment....
A few years ago, I relamped the three living room wall lights, 2 + 1, with LED's, and found the dimmers didn't work with the new LED's, so I bought a couple of new +/- dimmers. Only the one with 2x LED's is used, and it proved troublesome from the beginning, flickering, sometimes failing to come on. My assumption was that the LED's and the dimmers were not compatible. I recently found, the dimmer worked just fine, if after pressing it to on, I gave the button a bit of a tug out. I've just swapped the two dimmer switches over, and the less used one, works fine. The fault one, just has a too sticking shaft, causing it to not make proper contact.
A few years ago, I relamped the three living room wall lights, 2 + 1, with LED's, and found the dimmers didn't work with the new LED's, so I bought a couple of new +/- dimmers. Only the one with 2x LED's is used, and it proved troublesome from the beginning, flickering, sometimes failing to come on. My assumption was that the LED's and the dimmers were not compatible. I recently found, the dimmer worked just fine, if after pressing it to on, I gave the button a bit of a tug out. I've just swapped the two dimmer switches over, and the less used one, works fine. The fault one, just has a too sticking shaft, causing it to not make proper contact.
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In the caravan, I'd already set up my plum-bob, with an accurate target, on the floor - Plum-bob,, as a backup to my fancier electronic level indicator, as despite it working great for years, it wasn't working quite so well on the last trip. So, this afternoon, I decided to take a proper look at my device...
It's simple enough idea, just 4 LED's, with a fifth one to show power on, in a little display console. A brass bob, weight suspended in 6" tall plastic tube, connected to the 12v negative. Bottom of tube (conduit) has a plastic bush end, drilled and tapped at 90 degrees apart around the base, to accept four brass grub screws, which in turn connect to the four LED's. The grub screws are screwed in, to the point where it is almost impossible for them not to make contact, on one side or the other, as the bob weight moves, causing LED's to light up.
The tube and bush, are then mounted on a triangular alloy plate, with a second similar plate below it, bolted together, with three springs pushing them apart. Adjust the nuts, and the level of the upper plate, plus tube etc., can be fine-tuned for a perfect, and very accurate level.
This afternoon, I pulled it apart, to see why it had suddenly become so problematic.... The bob_weight, and contacts had become covered in a sticky gunge. A quick clean with contact cleaner and it's back to full working order. The little display console, on the end of a multi-core flex, just hangs in the front window, when setting up. Outside, I just adjust side to side, so left and right LED's flash evenly, then likewise, for the front/rear LED's.
It's simple enough idea, just 4 LED's, with a fifth one to show power on, in a little display console. A brass bob, weight suspended in 6" tall plastic tube, connected to the 12v negative. Bottom of tube (conduit) has a plastic bush end, drilled and tapped at 90 degrees apart around the base, to accept four brass grub screws, which in turn connect to the four LED's. The grub screws are screwed in, to the point where it is almost impossible for them not to make contact, on one side or the other, as the bob weight moves, causing LED's to light up.
The tube and bush, are then mounted on a triangular alloy plate, with a second similar plate below it, bolted together, with three springs pushing them apart. Adjust the nuts, and the level of the upper plate, plus tube etc., can be fine-tuned for a perfect, and very accurate level.
This afternoon, I pulled it apart, to see why it had suddenly become so problematic.... The bob_weight, and contacts had become covered in a sticky gunge. A quick clean with contact cleaner and it's back to full working order. The little display console, on the end of a multi-core flex, just hangs in the front window, when setting up. Outside, I just adjust side to side, so left and right LED's flash evenly, then likewise, for the front/rear LED's.
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I had squirrels decimate my corn last year. This year it's caged, so far, so good.(I don't like corn on the cob)Bloke on the next plot does things with military precision. Everything is marked out with string, spirit levels are used too. Only plot I’ve ever seen that has balustrading. He had an old greenhouse that he removed the glass and made up individual wood framed netting panels to look smart. Well guess what? Yep, he got done last night.
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There’s only a few sweetcorn crops that haven’t been touched and bizarrely, they aren’t netted! Perhaps they are working their way towards them.
View attachment 352200
Edit: on second viewing, it looks like they have made a start on them - the ones on the right have been felled with the little buggers climbing up them. It might even be rats yet - nobody has actually seen them doing their night time raids. Now they’ve found them, they’ll be all gone on the next two days.
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Got a nice phone call.
I did some informal tutoring through a teacher friend, of a kid who was heading for failing her A levels dramatically. She's not like particularly like thick you know like, like but infuriating like. She's dislexic and dis-everything else and only scraped the minimum gcses, and was a nervous wreck under pressure. In last year's mocks she got about 18%. I was told she was a bit of a write-off, but up for, like, some help.
She couldn't handle percentages even. Silly giggles and pronouncements that she couldn't do maths.
I started by asking her opinion on stuff in the news she was interested in. Environment stuff mostly. She wasn't used to having what she thougt , mattering. But she had to think, and it was interesting to her and we'd covered a chapter on agricultural pollution. It was clear she wasn't thick. A year of 2 hours a week and she improved. It was all I left the house for. She was doing Biology, Env Science and Geog. She couldn't learn well from a page so I turned a lot of it into big diagrams with arrows on powerpoint to show relationships. I did Natural Sciences way back, so it was stuff I'd done, or sort of learned over the years.
SHe found the stats hard - Student's T tests, Mann-Whitney-U 's and that. Then any general maths like diffusion rates. The lists in bilge, for proton transfer in oxidative phosphorylation and on and on were a challenge until we'd made lists and she'd answered the same questions 20 times. Some of the geog stuff was boring as hell to me,, like 'aspects of globalisation', but none of it actually hard. With enough lIsts, pictures, diagrams to last me the rest of my life, I worked harder than she did I'm sure.
She got a B and two C's.
I'm glad it's over though, a bit of a slog really. But if I ever need to build a scrubber for fly-ash filtration, I'm sorted.
I did some informal tutoring through a teacher friend, of a kid who was heading for failing her A levels dramatically. She's not like particularly like thick you know like, like but infuriating like. She's dislexic and dis-everything else and only scraped the minimum gcses, and was a nervous wreck under pressure. In last year's mocks she got about 18%. I was told she was a bit of a write-off, but up for, like, some help.
She couldn't handle percentages even. Silly giggles and pronouncements that she couldn't do maths.
I started by asking her opinion on stuff in the news she was interested in. Environment stuff mostly. She wasn't used to having what she thougt , mattering. But she had to think, and it was interesting to her and we'd covered a chapter on agricultural pollution. It was clear she wasn't thick. A year of 2 hours a week and she improved. It was all I left the house for. She was doing Biology, Env Science and Geog. She couldn't learn well from a page so I turned a lot of it into big diagrams with arrows on powerpoint to show relationships. I did Natural Sciences way back, so it was stuff I'd done, or sort of learned over the years.
SHe found the stats hard - Student's T tests, Mann-Whitney-U 's and that. Then any general maths like diffusion rates. The lists in bilge, for proton transfer in oxidative phosphorylation and on and on were a challenge until we'd made lists and she'd answered the same questions 20 times. Some of the geog stuff was boring as hell to me,, like 'aspects of globalisation', but none of it actually hard. With enough lIsts, pictures, diagrams to last me the rest of my life, I worked harder than she did I'm sure.
She got a B and two C's.
I'm glad it's over though, a bit of a slog really. But if I ever need to build a scrubber for fly-ash filtration, I'm sorted.
Sounds like it was hugely rewarding for you, and indeed her. Top man.
Well done to you and her. Maybe the most valuable investment you will ever perform
I might have contributed, in a very small way, to a road rage incident. I feel sorry for the guy who could be in trouble. The other guy was acting like a total bell end. But there's no excuse for violence. It was like trying to talk to two Ronnie Pickerings.
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Who’s Ronnie Pickering?……
I had an incident about 6 weeks ago when I was sat at lights waiting to turn right, an approaching BMW flashed me so I pulled across in front of him assuming he was slowing down, he wasn't, resulting in him swerving and skidding to a halt, it was a near miss but as it was a busy junction, I carried on, no point stopping, and I guessed he'd be pretty angry.
Two weeks later, driving up country, I'm on an A road and I said to the wife the idiot in the Audi behind has flashed me about 4 times.
She studied him in the mirror and said he's not flashing but every time he goes over the slightest undulation in the road the lights appeared to flash. (by undulation I'm not talking speed ramps but maybe a seam in the tarmac.)
Both cars were newish with LED lights. I'm now quite wary of anyone flashing me.
A quick mini-harvest from the plot of Mott. Beetroot, leek, beans and chives. All going in the stir-fry tonight.
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Well done to you and her. Maybe the most valuable investment you will ever perform
Thanks, but -
I thought it might make me feel something, but no. It was as I said a bit of a slog - "serves me right for volunteering".. It was something to use up some life I suppose. I'm glad it worked, but I thought it would, like mowing a lawn works.
That sounds rather dark.
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