Wilk
Part of things
Posts: 528
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Jan 21, 2018 22:05:41 GMT
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Done exactly the same with our stairs. Spent forever cleaning it up and sanding Less than a month later SWMBO decided she didn't like it and painted the sodding thing whilst I was at work I was not amused to say the least...
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If it can be fixed with a hammer, then it must be an electrical fault
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I imagine even 750v DC is more than up to the job of letting your smoke out......
From your pics, Manila doesn't look well suited to live rails. Unless they are looking for stealth population control methods......
Sanding stairs...... makes me bones ache just thinking about it. Definitely not the kind of stripping for the missus I'm interested in!
Nick
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1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend) 1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing) 1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
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'God it's a slow miserable job. All the paint has to go ready for stain. Probably another couple of days sanding before we start filling and sanding some more...
This morning I woke with a stiff neck and sore head so decided to forget sanding and go get the MR2 back from Canterbury. That didn't work out either. Over on my other thread...
James'
At last - someone who knows how I feel after slogging away at the sanding of endless panels in the workshop for weeks on end
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Last Edit: Jan 22, 2018 9:37:28 GMT by Deleted
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Jan 22, 2018 21:56:46 GMT
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Done exactly the same with our stairs. Spent forever cleaning it up and sanding Less than a month later SWMBO decided she didn't like it and painted the sodding thing whilst I was at work I was not amused to say the least... I'd divorce her for that! A little inconsistant of me since on the MR2 thread I just said she was a keeper 'cos she helped me push the car around after I stalled it. Mr @grumpynorthener sir, I feel your pain. Literally. I wouldn't have thought any third rail voltage that would push a train along was safe in a publicly accessible area. What's the tube? 800V DC? But we don't have people wandering the rails too often. I did see a bloke walk into the tunnel at Camden Town for a wee once. British Transport Police weren't very impressed with him when they carted him off.
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Jan 23, 2018 10:46:52 GMT
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I imagine even 750v DC is more than up to the job of letting your smoke out...... From your pics, Manila doesn't look well suited to live rails. Unless they are looking for stealth population control methods...... Sanding stairs...... makes me bones ache just thinking about it. Definitely not the kind of stripping for the missus I'm interested in! Nick Done exactly the same with our stairs. Spent forever cleaning it up and sanding Less than a month later SWMBO decided she didn't like it and painted the sodding thing whilst I was at work I was not amused to say the least... I'd divorce her for that! A little inconsistant of me since on the MR2 thread I just said she was a keeper 'cos she helped me push the car around after I stalled it. Mr @grumpynorthener sir, I feel your pain. Literally. I wouldn't have thought any third rail voltage that would push a train along was safe in a publicly accessible area. What's the tube? 800V DC? But we don't have people wandering the rails too often. I did see a bloke walk into the tunnel at Camden Town for a wee once. British Transport Police weren't very impressed with him when they carted him off. 750, given the current behind it, will do you a whole lot of no good. It can safely be said that 1,500 is no kinder. The line we're doing now is all elevated so not too bad but the later planned extension will have at-grade sections and that's just asking for trouble. On stairs, when I bought my old cottage, the stone staircase needed stripping and my old feller volunteered. Put it this way, after 8 hours enclosed with Nitromores, he only needed a couple of scotches over the pub and it was bed time! Maybe it was the distilling industry that got the stuff watered down? It affected MrB senior's consumption too much! 😊 Edit to add not recommending a method used by a pal of mine. Sandblasting just really wasn't a good idea. 😂
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Last Edit: Jan 23, 2018 10:50:44 GMT by georgeb
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Not technically an excuse for not working on the MR2 because I charged the battery I'd let go flat. Essentially (and actually for that matter) I slapped it across my power pack and charged both for a week. Then, when it looked ok I stuck it on Mrs Sweetpea's car which started right up and went for a ride. Looks like I may not have killed it when I flattened it. However the 'how charged is the battery' button on the power pack wasn't working properly so I took it apart and ran some IPA into it. That was a couple of hours of non MR2 work. But it was bugging me and now it's not so that's good. Oddly the splat of what looks like bird poo doesn't annoy me so I've not cleaned it off. Strange boy. Back inside I've filled and sanded the many thousands of nail holes in the the stairs. Then set to with the danish oil. Got about halfway down and ran out of oil so I rushed into the living room, lit the fire and watched telly. Couldn't be bothered to get more oil. Next week maybe. The result is ok. A little blotchy from the paint stripping but it'll be ok when the stain goes on. I hope. It's quite nice to make steady progress on a project. The weather pretty much stops play on the MR2 (or anything outside) so plodding away at the stairs is good and knowing that there are no other little projects appearing to derail me is... Oh for God's sake!
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Last Edit: Nov 10, 2018 21:09:11 GMT by Sweetpea
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Feb 18, 2018 10:42:55 GMT
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Last weekend was spent doing the rest of the sanding on the stairs. Followed by another go with the wood filler in the places I’d missed. Followed by more sanding. At which point my trusty Henry hoover threw its toys out of it’s pram and died with a bit of a burning smell. When I went to turn off the mains switch on the top it was welded in the on position. Well I suppose a melted switch is better than a melted motor. For some reason a lot of my gear seems to be blowing up and needing repairs this year. Anyway, Henry has a new mains switch and is back in action. The last photo in the last post are new gates for the drive. The existing metal gates are blowing apart with rust, they aren’t wide enough to get the cars in and the wall is falling down. The drive is half concrete and half gravel but the gravel bit is compacted and the drain in the concrete is blocked so rain water runs up against the house and then down a foul water sewer. Before the new gates go on we need new walls and drive for them to go into. This project has been running since the summer because I live in a conservation area and the local council want planning permission before you can dig your drive up. So I spent a fair bit of time during my holidays doing 3d drawings in Sketchup of the existing stuff and the new stuff. Anyhoo, If we are going to dig the drive up I’m wondering what state the services are in. Do they need replacing too? The gas was done recently anyway. Too many leaks in our street so they replaced the mains piping and ran new plastic down the inside of the existing steel pipes to each house. So it’s water and sewer that I need to worry about. Testing the water pipe is easy. Turn off the stop cock in the house and the water meter should stop turning. You can’t see it but in the middle of the meter is a white disk with black lines on it. It’s really sensitive and will turn if there is any water flow. So just turn the stop cock off and watch the meter for a while. If there's any leak in the outdoor piping the meter will keep turning. Our pipe comes in under the kitchen floor so I have a remote ‘SureStop’ as the emergency stop cock. You just turn a tap on in the kitchen and flip a switch in a cupboard and the water stops. Pressure differential across the valve (caused by turning the little switch off) closes the valve. Er, no it doesn’t. The Surestop is stuck on again. Poxy thing. It relies on water pressure through a small capillary. But we get tiny bits of rust from the main and if one gets in to the capillary the Surestop won’t turn off. So crawl down under the floor and swap it out for the spare Surestop I keep in the garage. That done I can spend a while cleaning the one I just removed and can test the incoming pipe which turns out to be solid. Great! At least that’s one thing that isn’t busted here at Sweetpea mansions. Drains now… When I got the MR2 I knew I may have problems with the sills. So I spent an entire 10 English Pounds on a tiny UBS camera that I could poke down the insides. It’s 10mm in diameter and even has lights on it. The pictures aren't that good but they are good enough. I now know that the near side sill is pristine and so I’ll fill it with cavity wax at some point. The drivers side is in poor condition and will have to be replaced sooner or later so it’s not getting waxed. (It’d be a pain to clean up and weld.) For the drains I made a little trolley and tie wrapped the camera, a torch for proper lighting and a drain rod on to it. The camera is the bit with the lights on. I did the drain in two sections. From the house towards the road the clay piping is in stunning condition. Clean, no root ingress, no standing water. It’s about as good as you could expect. I’ve got a video of it somewhere. Next I went form the bottom inspection chamber going up hill towards the house. Within a meter of the chamber I found this… The pipe is displaced, the collar between the sections has broken off and it’s backing up water. When the council put a parking restriction along our road we had to gravel part of the garden to put a car on it. This is right where the wheels go across so I guess it’s sunk a bit. It might also explain why the concrete part of the drive sounds hollow in places. So we’ll have to dig down and decide if we repair it or replace the section between the two inspection chambers. Are you worried that this will take me a while to do? Fear not. We are getting a man in… I just have to assist. James
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Last Edit: Nov 10, 2018 21:09:30 GMT by Sweetpea
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,835
Club RR Member Number: 40
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Feb 19, 2018 15:10:00 GMT
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I hate drains ! Getting a man in sounds like a plan - I hope he has a digger ! Once you have dug a 5' deep 10' long channel trying to find the joint and fix it never again !
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Feb 20, 2018 21:42:02 GMT
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The good news is that the drain is only about 24 inches down to the invert. The bad news is that I might be promoted to navvy at the weekend so I might get to dig it myself after all. If you see a news story about a power cut in the South East and that a Yorkshire bloke has gone into orbit next to that American chaps electric car you'll know I found the power cable rather than the drain. I think the whole lot (including the gas) runs together in the same hole. Not sure you'd get away with that now. Life was different in the 30s.
The chaps got the walls down. Footings tomorrow... No photos at the moment. It's dark when I go to work and dark when I get home. I'll get Mrs Sweetpea to take a few.
James
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,835
Club RR Member Number: 40
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Not a happy day.... Just hope it goes better for you !
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Feb 21, 2018 20:22:20 GMT
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Mate, if I dig a hole that deep I've gone way too far!
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Feb 21, 2018 20:26:51 GMT
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I got a double post!? no idea how I managed that... Stupidity I expect.
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Last Edit: Feb 21, 2018 20:28:25 GMT by Sweetpea
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Feb 22, 2018 20:47:38 GMT
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Mate, if I dig a hole that deep I've gone way too far! Man in the hole no look happy....... reminds me of a christmas eve spent digging up a split incoming water pipe in 2º drizzle so we would have water for christmas...... Plastic pipe laid in a bed of broken ceramic tiles - what could possibly go wrong..... Nick
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1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend) 1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing) 1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
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Do you recall I said that much of my stuff seems to be busted at the moment? Well the washing machine stopped going round. This turns out to be a problem with respect to cleaning your clothes. More over it turned out to be a problem with respect to getting your clothes out again. It seemed smart enough to realise that it wasn't working properly, but not smart enough to pump the water out and give your stuff back. Anyway, it looked strongly as if the brushes were were knackered. Although they still seemed to have some spring pressure. Still, new brushed fitted... ..And it's still working fine. On the drive front the walls are gone and the new footings are in. My job was to scrape the gravel off the drive. (It'll be reused.) I've got to tell that now I'm a manager and don't have to work for a living I've forgotten how to use a shovel. Well, I remember the theory of it. It's just that I don't seem to be fit enough to do it. Lardy old git... I think my life's work has been to move this gravel around. Out of the truck, round the back, on the drive, off the drive, etc, ad infinitum. Suffice to say that work on the drive has ground to a halt now. Some rotten sod has inconsiderately dumped a load of snow on it. On the subject of the drive, I really fancy the idea of rolling up the road to Sweetpea Towers in the luxury barge and pressing a button so that the butler can open the gate for me. Unfortunately, in this time of austerity, I've had to put the butler on reduced duties. I still like the idea of a self opening gate though - so this lot turned up... I call it the mechanical butler. James
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Last Edit: Nov 10, 2018 21:19:38 GMT by Sweetpea
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,835
Club RR Member Number: 40
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Shouldn’t that be footman ? Someone who had watched more Downton should be able to confirm. James
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Shouldn’t that be footman ? Someone who had watched more Downton should be able to confirm. James A footman and a butler!? How rich do you think I am? Anyway, another thing... One of our neighbours contacted us yesterday. He's away and his house had sent him a text to say the boiler had failed. Yes, his house sent a text. Now I'm a grumpy old sod and aren't keen on people calling and texting me. But to have an inanimate object contacting you... I ask you... His son had been trying to unfreeze a suspected frozen condensate drain for much of the afternoon but the boiler still refused to start. So I said I'd pop over. As it happened the white plastic drain joined to a bigger black pipe just outside the house. I wondered if I could split it there and see if it was frozen. So I unscrewed the joint and gave it a tug. The white plastic was so cold it just shattered. Oops! But on the plus side, loads of water and several small ice burgs ran out of the remains of the pipe, and the boiler fired right up. I'll take that as a win. Happy neighbours and James comes home to tea and medals.
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Interested in the mechanical butler. Always wanted the country pile, powerful rear wheel drive car and gravel drive up to my stately home. Not anywhere near getting there, mind!
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tristanh
Part of things
Routinely bewildered
Posts: 990
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Interested in the mechanical butler. Always wanted the country pile, powerful rear wheel drive car and gravel drive up to my stately home. Not anywhere near getting there, mind! I've a pile of curse word in the country, a powerful rwd car (M5), an "804" gravel drive, and my house is in a state. Is that close enough? 😀 On the plus side, I do have automatic gates, gift.
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Last Edit: Mar 3, 2018 1:18:21 GMT by tristanh
Whether you believe you can, or you cannot, you're probably right.
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Interested in the mechanical butler. Always wanted the country pile, powerful rear wheel drive car and gravel drive up to my stately home. Not anywhere near getting there, mind! I've a pile of curse word in the country, a powerful rwd car (M5), an "804" gravel drive, and my house is in a state. Is that close enough? 😀 On the plus side, I do have automatic gates, gift. tristanh I’ve a similar pile of curse word in i the country, with a very much not gravel (think tarmac with grass in the middle and potholes), a powerful front wheel drive car and no need for gates at all. The idea however!
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The idea, as you are interested, is roughly this...
The gates can't swing open because one car will be in the path of one of the gates. So the gate will have to slide back across behind of the front wall. I've bought the gates as two leaves (for aesthetic reasons) so they'll be bolted together and have the track wheels (in the photo above) sunk into the bottom. There is a track (currently buried under the snow) that screws down to the drive for the wheels to roll along. A big motor with a cog on the side engages in a rack (also in the photo above) on the gate. A few bits of electrikery to make sure the gate doesn't shut while the car is in the hole and Bob becomes a significant relative...
Now, because the Postie won't be able to open this gate we are also putting in a pedestrian gate for, well, er, pedestrians. One minor problem is that the drive gate passes behind the pedestrian gate so that must be closed before the drive gate opens. I could do this with a clever interlock system with James Bond style light beams and stuff. But I'm going to use sprung hinges 'cos it's probably more reliable.
The other niggle is that the motor will have to push the gate very slightly up hill. But the motor I've got is rated for a 1000Kg gate and the gates are closer to 100Kg so I shouldn't be short of grunt.
I'll post the sketch drawing later.
And of course the real reason for all this stupidity is that Mrs Sweetpeas parents in France have got a system like this and I feel left out!
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