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Jul 13, 2017 16:36:59 GMT
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^ I think I might be on-track to get the use of a house near the Lakes (if I turn down a house I've been offered cheaply in Newcastle - a chap living near the Lakes can move there - and he's offering me his place as it will be empty and he's paid in advance for a few months) Sometimes it's the simple things that make me happy my ex was here earlier ( < errm ... reword later? maybe! ) A few weeks ago she asked me to work out what was needed to swap the rear doors around on her Iveco coach / camper. The righthand (RH) door opens first, then you can open the lefthand (LH) door. Normally this is ok but in her camper there's a built-in bed blocking the RH door, and the factory lock is acting up and won't alway open (or lock again afterwards) My plan was simple - unbolt the LH door - fit new hinges so LH door hangs off the RH door - the dodgy RH door then becomes a "spare" door. With me so far? I got the new hinges etc, painted them (posh as it's not for my car )... The coach turned up today, we went out and confirmed the doors are "handed" - then noticed they are built up from a flat panel with edges added 10 minutes later - remove the "center" trim from both doors, swap the "LH - inside" trim with the "RH - outside" trim, doors then work the way she wants - and RH door becomes the "spare" door no changes needed. Add a couple of decent locks in the inside of LH door and we're done ps. does anyone want / need a set of nicely painted hinges? I've got a spare set going cheaply No visible changes so need to repaint or touch-up. Smart
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Last Edit: Jul 13, 2017 16:57:33 GMT by nomad
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Jul 13, 2017 23:38:33 GMT
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At the risk of derailing the thread ( my thread = my rules, and I'm sure the thread went off the rails - if it was on track to start with - somewhere on page #1 ) ... I've been touring the estate agents in a few different areas to see what's on offer. I had a look around the place below but have decided it would be "a bit silly" to take it on as a project Listed here for info & amusement as a few folk have mentioned an interest in churches, old pews, etc. Benefits : just a couple of miles way from Hexham (very posh !), cheap (£75k !!!), a lovely old chapel with some original woodwork inside, dry with solid walls, overlooking the village green I love it ! Downsides : Not listed for residential use, no parking so "very little chance" of getting planning changed to use it as a home Lots of work but that's to be expected. Sales advert www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48971592.htmlInterior images.retro-rides.org/nomad/_chapeldscf0001.jpg
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Jul 24, 2017 23:24:27 GMT
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More fun, this time fixing an up-and-over garage door that was jammed at one side. Spot the difference between the snapped cables that got taken off, and the new cables that went on Difficulty rating : 4/10 (using the very helpful guide the supplier emailed with the order) Fear factor : 8/10 (knowing how much power there is in the big spring that is wound up so it can hold the weight of the door !) Top marks to the folk we got the parts from ( GDS - "garage door spares") , they sent the right parts and were happy to answer questions from folk (us ) who know very little about fixing garage doors Tips : read the instructions before starting ! Make sure someone is within shouting distance in case you need help, or to hold the door up while you look for the vital bit you've just dropped Have beers ready to celebrate when you're done ! A bonus was getting to play with a trike I knew was in the garage but which I'd never seen because of the jammed garage door. Once the door was fixed and could be opened safely, we got the trike out and went for a quick run along the coast. Happy times.
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Last Edit: Jul 25, 2017 0:21:13 GMT by nomad
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Jul 24, 2017 23:39:56 GMT
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Weeding the garden (or "how to catch a herd of escaped Triffids" ) I promised a mate I would help tidy his garden, my results below are from a couple of hours on Saturday and a couple more today. The bits in the red circle are triffids ( or possibly elder), what you can't see is a slightly smaller bundle of the same stuff not in the photo. For scale, the panels on the floor are 8 foot long. The branches in the photo have been cut to manageable size but some of the cut bits are still about 10 foot tall ! ( higher than the 1st floor windows in the farmhouse on the left) When I started on Saturday, you couldn't see the ground or the barn . We also found a fairly healthy plum tree about 10 foot inside the garden, complete with a good crop of plums Red circle shows some more captured triffids It's fairly simple work using big loppers ("gardeners bolt-croppers") but quite rewarding when you see the results. I'm disappointed that chainsaw my mate had left for me wouldn't start, expect a chainsaw & some nettles in the next episode !
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Last Edit: Jul 25, 2017 0:26:51 GMT by nomad
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Jul 29, 2017 21:09:20 GMT
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Gardening by installments Regular readers may remember that I flat-packed a good sized concrete garage in Wales late last year, and left the concrete base in the corner of the garden. I recently had a phone call to say a hot-tub was now in place on it, and "someone" (not me ) had built a tidy wood cabin alongside. Cue arrangements for me to have a trip to Wales for 10 days of dog / cat / house sitting duties, and to fit some decking "if I get a chance". The first couple of days were fun doing tourist stuff at the beach during the day, hunting triffids in the evening, and waiting for the local builders merchant to fix their truck so they could deliver the decking timber I'd ordered. I was very tempted to make use of the hot-tub but I resisted Link for some "Before" photos forum.retro-rides.org/thread/192268/sectional-concrete-mancave-garage-northThe timber arrived on Wednesday, nicely timed to land at the same time as the thunderstorms. No a good start 2 days dodging cloud-busts cutting battens to go on the concrete base, decking to go on top, and then to take it all apart and seal it before fitting with damp-proof membrane etc. A couple of great inventions that make this type of job so much easier, "hammer though" fixings (almost a rawlplug you fit using a hammer), and a hammer to match I may be slightly biased but I think it looked good once the decking went on It looked even better once the "skirting" trim went around the edge to finish it off (well worth the couple of extra hours today to make up for the time lost due to rain) My hosts were also happy when they went to inpect it, they knew the rain had caused problems and weren't sure if I'd be able to do anything at all ! The lower walkway on the right will get the same treatment, the wood is already cut but I need time (and a dry day) to paint it and fit it. Provisionally planned to happen on my way back from RRG (at the same time as re-roofing a barn at the "triffid farm", and doing a few small jobs for one of their neighbours).
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Last Edit: May 4, 2021 13:01:17 GMT by nomad
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Aug 29, 2017 21:38:54 GMT
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More decking in Wales (on the way back from RRG17 - which is *not* a short-cut to the North East ) 3x2 frame, fitted on the short side to keep the deck height low. Decking now runs all around the garage and up to the back gate around the corner The Den fully kitted out with pinball machine, sofabed, mini-fridge, and (optional) Bassett hound. Very chilled ! The lady of the house also gave me the good news that she had ordered a gate to keep the dogs out - followed by "is it the right size?" <insert bang-head-here type smiley> Just find another spare pallet and it looks like it was made to be there Lady is impressed, the Bassett hounds aren't ! I even had a few bits left over to make a step to get into the tub When I was working there last time, I jokingly said all they needed to complete the cabin was some solar fairly lights. They fitted them while I was away and love the effect (shame about my camera-work)
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Last Edit: Aug 29, 2017 21:42:08 GMT by nomad: Uploader. Grrr...
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Aug 29, 2017 22:07:14 GMT
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As I was in Wales, I called past the triffid farm to do a bit more tidying up. Shame the owners chainsaw refused to start, so I resorted to using my *big* cordless drill with a auger (big corkscrew) bit to drill the tree trunks Just perforate all around then snap the trunks at the dotted line The gardcen looks a lot more open with the trees trimmed and some more weeding done (compare to the photos higher up this page is you're not convinced) The tidy-up also showed that the place has a happy population of Natterjack toads ! Cute but tiny even when full grown They have been having problems with the power supply at the farm so they couldn't finish roofing the "T-shaped" barn. Part of the arrangement for my visit was that if I bought a cordless angle grinder to cut the roofing sheets, they would give me them money for it. A day later ... Job done, everyone is happy, and as the folk from both my Wales jobs play in the same band, I got driven to the local music festival as their roadie on Saturday nite - which qualfied for free food, drinks, and I had a couple of interesting chats with the bar staff at the show. It sounds like there might be some jobs at the pubs next time I'm passing
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Aug 29, 2017 22:34:01 GMT
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When I was working on the barn roof, a couple on pushbikes stopped and asked to borrow some tools to fix their bikes. Lots of fun was had "testing" their electric mountain bikes to check they were working ok. Nice toys! We had a quick chat and I got invited to call at their holiday home the next day to look at a few jobs. I explained I'm officially homeless and working away from home until the end of the month so it helps if I can get accomodation as part of the jobs I do. They were fine with that so I had a look around - it turns out they have a spare "granny flat" I can use to do work at theirs next time I'm in the area An interesting bit at one end of the main house Lounge Bedroom Lovely people, and I'm grateful to them for giving me a tour of their home - regardless if I end up doing any work there. I love this type of building, loads with character and sympathtically brought up to date. In other news, it looks lilke I will be settling back in the North East next month, so if anyone Tyneside/Northumberland needs a hand just let me know
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That's awesome.. If it were my house, i'd be trying to rig up that water wheel to provide power.
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Sept 19, 2017 23:26:19 GMT
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A mate picked up a caravan a couple of days before I arrived at his farm for a weeks working holiday / MOT prep. A few tips for getting a caravan up & running : Take a caravan hook-up cable (with blue plugs on the end), and a normal household 4-way extension cable. Remove the blue plug from the hook-up cable - remove the 13amp plug from the 4 gang extension - fit the 13amp plug to the hook up cable and you can get 240 volts to the caravan when it's at home Fit the blue plug to the 4-gang an you have a 2-piece extension cable This van had 12 volt lighting which ran off the car electrics, find a convienient point and run a 2-core wire to a spare car battery inside the van to get lighing without connecting to a car Replace all the "Retro" lights (is it ok to suggest that on here? ) with LED to get more light with big reduction in power The offending article(s)
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Sept 21, 2017 10:39:36 GMT
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What a great thread and one I have only just found.
I work for the company with the broken down decking lorry but way down South so if you ever get any jobs down here, I can always help with free pallets or extra discount on materials.
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96 E320 W210 Wafter - on 18" split Mono's - Sold :-( 10 Kia Ceed Sportwagon - Our new daily 03 Import Forester STi - Sold 98 W140 CL500 AMG - Brutal weekend bruiser! Sold :-( 99 E240 S210 Barge - Now sold 02 Accord 2.0SE - wife's old daily - gone in PX 88 P100 2.9efi Custom - Sold
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Sept 22, 2017 1:48:23 GMT
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Thanks everyone for the positive feedback Special mention to SmokeEm for the offer of cheap materials but it's very unusual for me to go further South than Midlands / North Wales so I don't think I'll be in your area anytime soon.
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Last Edit: Sept 18, 2019 7:54:39 GMT by nomad
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Sept 26, 2017 18:09:27 GMT
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There have been a few threads recently from folk wanting to buy a welder, I managed without my own gear for many years but mig sets are so cheap now I'd say buy one if you need any welding done. Good advice is to search on here as there have been a few welding threads, or have a look on the very helpful forum www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/I'm not a professional welder but bought my own mig more than 15 years ago (after years borrowing oxy-acetylene welding kit) I was using the welder today and remembered to get a photo of my home/hobby/diy mig setup : Clarke Pro-90 (it was recommended as it has a very low minimum setting - but I find I never use the low setting. It's fine for welding cars but if I was buying again I'd look at 100amp - 150amp welders, or the new 3-in-1 multi purpose machines) - the orginal cheap-n-nasty earth cable & clamp was soon replaced with a proper heavy-duty (jumper cable) piece. A good quality co2 gas regulator (works with large pub bottles at home or fire extinguishers for a portable setup), note the decent metal push-fitting (hanging in front of the fire extinguisher). My preferred supplier is www.weldequip.com/co2-conversion-kit.htm Gas bottle (co2 fire extinguishers are often sold as scrap when they are out of date, or ask you local fire brigade, pub, etc.) Tips : Avoid pub co2 bottles which have a white stripe on them (the white strip shows they have weird "dip-tube" internals and don't work with mig). For anyone using co2 extinguishers, some good info here www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/fire-extinguishers-stand-for-welding.73314/Most folk say argon mixed gas is better than co2, your choice but be aware the co2 and argon bottles have different connections - you need to get a regulator to fit your bottle (co2 or argon)
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Last Edit: Sept 26, 2017 18:36:53 GMT by nomad
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We are heading towards Autumn, time to think about harvesting some fruit Credit to a couple of folk on here who have homebrew threads : grizz - forum.retro-rides.org/thread/199599/seasonal-hedgerow-plum-grizz-stylefad - forum.retro-rides.org/thread/200070/cider-brewingOne of next doors Elder bush / trees, loaded with Elderberry 6 heads of berries give about 1 pint of fruit Tease the berries off the stalks using a fork to avoid crushing them Recipie : 1 litre of Vodka empty 1 litre bottle + empty 70 cl bottle. sugar (3 teaspoons in the litre bottle, 2 in the 70cl bottle) lemon rind (4 slices in each bottle) 3 pints of fruit, shared between the 2 bottles. Fill the bottles with Vodka to the neck, cap the bottles and shake well. Drink the remining Vodka Repeat the above using Gin, drink any remaining Gin 6 pints of berries being washed & bottled The plan is to shake the bottles occasionally, filter after about 6 weeks (using coffee filters), and it should be ready to drink. Roll on Christmas
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Let's begin with a sightly unusual request : if you recognise the place below I'd prefer it if you didn't share the info I got a call a few weeks ago to help tidy a house up, one of the main priorities was the kitchen. Great fun was had finding flat-pack pieces that had been removed from their boxes and "tidied up" a couple of years earlier This was another of those houses that appeal to me a lot, plenty of space and loads of potential inside - and outside was even more special Built near the town center with a good sized patio area and riverbank footage, and a huge extension done many years ago giving a great view of the river. I love this type of job
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Celebrations were in order today*, so it seemed a good time to filter the gin & vodka that was set away last month. Decant (& taste test ) 1.7 litres each of Vodka & Gin, remove the elderberries, and crack open a rather delicious bottle of "Decadence" ale I got from Wales a few months ago. Life is good Tip : if anyone is passing or near Porthmadog in North Wales, call into the Purple Moose brewery shop on the main street img.retro-rides.org/i/v/nomad/fae7462d334c.jpgimg.retro-rides.org/i/v/nomad/1df2749443b1.jpgThe end result is a litre bottle of Gin, same of Vodka, and a good measure of Gin left over Questions : The Gin is fine as it is, the Vodka is still a bit sharp - I guess it needs another dose of sugar? I'm not surprised the strained Vodka didn't fill the litre bottle it started in, but why did the Gin give more than it started with? Any suggestions about what to do with 3lbs of well pickled elderberries? * The reason for the celebrations? I've just managed to fix a notoriously expensive ABS fault on a modern'ish daily ("they all do that Sir - you need a £2k ABS pump" ) using a 2lb lump hammer
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* The reason for the celebrations? I've just managed to fix a notoriously expensive ABS fault on a modern'ish daily ("they all do that Sir - you need a £2k ABS pump" ) using a 2lb lump hammer Where do they get these bloody prices from? A new ABS pump on the '38 is an arm and a leg, but two o-rings at less than a quid each sorted that!
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j4mes
Part of things
Posts: 168
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I think I've got a good idea where you are or I could be completely wrong!🤣
Anyway love the thread, keep up the good work!
James.
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Last Edit: Nov 10, 2017 9:43:05 GMT by j4mes
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What to do with the elderberries? Ice cream is the first thing that springs to mind, either as a ripple or mixed properly as a flavour and colouring. You could also try making jam with a kick?
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1968 Cal Look Beetle - 2007cc motor - 14.45@93mph in full street trim 1970-ish Karmann Beetle cabriolet - project soon to be re-started. 1986 Scirocco - big plans, one day!
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Nov 18, 2017 21:19:03 GMT
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Dude, thats some interesting life you have going on..... Thanks for sharing.
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