Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

Yep mine is getting harder and harder .. and it is a helluva drag to spin the Kawasaki V twin was wondering about converting it to a leccy start ?

I bet that takes some dragging over .... mine's got a leccy hoof ...and that takes some spinning over.
Got a Ransome Bobcat, the Dane replaced .... 560cc Kwaka lump on that and that's bad enough to haul over .. the twin must be a nightmare
check all yer terminal blocks Muz .... had to go through all mine with contact cleaner for it's last outing .... kept shutting down and took some finding .... not totally confident about which is the offending mutha f***er ... there're a lot on it .... but did manage to keep it running for the hour to cut the grass
trouble with 'em is, if they stop, they're a dead weight ..... 'Drema job to pick the damned thing up and recover it to the bench

[Muz]

The Dane can be a bitch to start, but went off pretty well for a change ....

Yep mine is getting harder and harder .. and it is a helluva drag to spin the Kawasaki V twin was wondering about converting it to a leccy start ?

[v8druid]

been a crap week in Druid central .... up in the roof space Sunday afternoon, wrestling the 10mm armoured into place in an isolator.......





got it tailed in and out and suddenly thought .... " get out o' here 'fore you pass out " shut the hatch and left it all .... would've taken some getting out of there unconscious ....
dunno WTF it is? Whether i picked up summat in't roof space, which is real tight and not been in there in maybe 5 years or some other bug, but've felt totally shit all week ... so sod all done .....


this happened Thursday morning .....





40mm in 90 minutes ..... then it pee-ed down





all gone by tea time .... here anyway .... hills have only cleared this morning - just about


these fell off the back of a truck on the patch earlier





.... Dylan's truck to be precise
Have had Diggerjones and his lovely wife and daughter land on a flying visit, 'en route' elsewhere, local-ish .... such a pity they didn't have more time for some Druid hospitality .... hopefully some other time soon, when they have more time ... lovely people and the great guy I thought Dylan'd be, from all our previous comm.s


Plus he really spoiled me with a .........




Yanky version










would still love to know where the hell mine went ??????


So a BIG thank you to Mr Jones, all round ..... see if I can't find t'others I have, for a photo-call some time ... they got to be in one of two boxes ... or I've lost 'em


sun has put in an appearance today, after two horrendously wet (and snowy) days, but with a nice drying wind, 'tis a bit on the cool side out there
Got a very sore eye, after it burst a blood vessel over night, Tuesday .. no idea how/why
.. but it did and showing it the wind makes it want to jump out of my head .... so those forks're gonna have to stay put, where they landed, for today
.... exertion and / or wind chill is a definite no no for a day or three

[v8druid]

anyone care to venture a theory as to WTF this is ....... or even know what and/or where it originates off ????


sure I have seen one before somewhere and guessing it's some sort of suspended jockey type wheel ... Sankey trailer perhaps or similar ???














will have a better look at it tomorrow ..... came from Pam's elderly farmer cuzs, who insisted I give it a new home!!

been out collecting a 'forum member's' ebay spoils this afters ...... had to cut a bit off to make it fit








naked plastic pig








was a tight fit ..... !!!!!


it's a small world ... got a msg from said member the other night .. did I know where such and such was ... when I looked I knew exactly .... came from a good friend's place, who I haven't seen in some time and they're moving house Sunday, so it had to go


was real nice to see them again....... an' his missus was well pleased to wave this goodbye






been a bit of a 'rusty tat' collecting day, one way and another !!!!!

[v8druid]

well Squeak gave the finished article his seal of approval ......





Boss happy to have 'em all stuck in place .... talking about a few more for the top right corner now !!!!!!!


Kids up from Plymouth for the weekend ... missed the road disruptions such as they were and they'd all gone out for the day
so time to drag the mowers out for a good clean off and service .... been dry and mild-ish for days and forecast to last another 10-ish days ATM


Countax deck off first ... in it's usual state ... gets done two or three times a season as it builds up rapidly and then doesn't cut properly, no matter how much I clear out after each cut .... it still accumulates



spotless going back on and well oiled ... try and stop it sticking ... never works though ...... damned sight lighter coming back off the bench
oil sorted .. and the few nipples on it filled ....





a good blast off with the air line and ready to rock ......





first cut sorted ..... not a lot off it ..... courtesy of the marauding sheep


on to the next one .....





can't stop the bloody grass getting into the belt guard under this lil' sod .... good scrape off, blast out, touch up the blade with the grinder and a coat of oil under the deck ..... oil change and back in the shed


refit the battery on the Dane .... have had 'em all off, all winter on trickle charger/conditioner regularly ..... paid dividends .... The Dane can be a bitch to start, but went off pretty well for a change .... another good blast off with the air, a scrape as necessary, where I could get at it, greased and oils done .... she's ready for action ........







...... soon as the ground gets a bit harder, beside the drive ...... if I can drive my heel into it, the herring bone treads'll rip it up, so I'll give it a few more days yet
Not looking too bad ..... again, courtesy of said sheep
She could do with a wash off, but I'll leave that 'til it's a bit warmer .... and sunnier, so's it'll dry off a bit quicker than it would ATM ..... it may be dry, but warm it ain't and been overcast all day ...... 'sposed to be wall to wall blue sky tomorrow and a fair bit of the coming week too

[v8druid]

Otherwise known as a Bomag key common as muck, small Volvo as well

edit .. yes I see that in the link now also JCB ? ..... what doesn't it fit ?

aye for sure Muz .... might consider a new ignition lock for the old girl ..... a non plant related item .... will have a look-see what's on the back end of it

[Muz]

Otherwise known as a Bomag key common as muck, small Volvo as well

edit .. yes I see that in the link now also JCB ? ..... what doesn't it fit ?

[v8druid]

Well my Ford 4000, and Ford 4600, and the ignition of my JCB803, and my Thwaites 2 ton dumper all take the same key !

as in the same as each other Andrew? ....... or that very same key?

would appear that that key is a 'Lucas type' looky-likey universal sort of key ..... one of the guys on CEF, Alex (cyberprog) sent me a link this morning .... https://www.lsengineers.co.uk/14603-...-skytrack.html ...... for the very same, real cheap - like £1.50 each .... cost me 4 quid each in Timpsons to get cut



an interesting link and source for keys BTLs

[AndrewMawson]

Well my Ford 4000, and Ford 4600, and the ignition of my JCB803, and my Thwaites 2 ton dumper all take the same key !

[v8druid]

a different start to the day, this morning ...... "Gra, summat just went rattling up the hoover pipe !! .... might've been an ear ring "





so having turned the hoover bag inside out ......





it wasn't .... dunno WTF it was, but 'tain't attached to what it was supposed to be .... any more ... think it's one of Clara's 'trinkets'





Another dry morning, which meant another assault on a certain job for SWMBO





clamp forest ......











and some of yesterday's efforts too ..... gonna need a crow bar to shift them off of there .........





and 'fore anyone says bottom left is cock eyed .... 'swhere I was told it had to go


Boss - well happy ......... me - can't believe the time it took, to get today's batch cleaned and stuck in place


07:45 kick off with the little 'un tomorrow, so might get a few hours in the roof space, once she's been delivered to nursery at 09:00

Need to create some bum parking space first ...... just about killed my knees up there the other day on the 4 x 2,s ... and as said previously ... do not want to be repairing ceilings!!!!!




Message from the guy who bought the 1520 Hydrema yesterday ..... did I have any issues getting spare keys cut for mine ..... Hydrema want 50 odd quid for spares !!


so he sent me a pic of his to see if they were similar .....





this is mine .......





What are the chances, eh ????????

[v8druid]

was gonna be glad to get the other end of the cabling all routed and connected up .....
been waiting on me cable clips to arrive ... hopefully today, but had a funeral to attend at 1.30, yesterday so the day was shot


ex colleague of my father's, who I have/had known a long time A real nice bloke, but not been well for some time and we all have to go eventually


My dad would've been 92 at the beginning of this month, so Bob must've been in his late seventies






Bob on the left, who's funeral it was yesterday ... my dad on the right ..... BIG John Williams in the middle .... there were a few John Williams,s on traffic ..... '79 ... opening of the new forensic science laboratories unit in Chepstow ... which got shut several years ago
was nice to see a lot of familiar faces ..... even if they had all aged, even more than mine
Bob was an atheist so was a 'different' sort of service today ..... but I have to say ... it was a fine send off for him, with a moving eulogy from his youngest son and a packed crem. chapel / gathering hall

well Yodel's tracking said still in Nantgarew this morning ..... so got the Solvol out and a sili gun and set to SWMBO's swallows ..








...... just getting the last one applied and clamped, when Yodel's driver turned up with me cable clamps


I'd used all me light clamps, so t'other gate was gonna have to wait anyway, 'til the first one was dry .. so cable time


Boss was happy with 'em not going behind the down pipe ... said it'd look odd ... so they went here .....





bit of a struggle, getting the clamps nicely spaced, due to the nature of the masonry and having sufficiently large enough lumps to fix to ..... the best possible from a difficult scenario ..


having gotten to the top, there was sod all in the way of solid enough masonry, to contain yon python in its preferred route, so it had to be attached to the soffit and purlins above





boss is happy with it and realised (for once), it was not an easy job ..... even managed to get it all through an opening in the wall and into the attic space ...... with a struggle





if I get sick of looking at it on the soffit, I can always box it with a suitably cut/rebated timber strip and give it some Sadolin to camouflage it


had to venture into the spider's lair, in the attic space, to make sure the cable ends I'd persuaded in there, weren't 'shaking hands' with anything they shouldn't be ... they weren't .....
next up is sorting all the various junctions and connections required ..... and coercing some 10mm tails down into the consumer, (which is a 'pig's guts - would like to meet whoever wired it ), to feed everything, once I've wrestled it all into place .....
I still have to maintain my current catenary supply to me boxes, 'til it's all ready to be disconnected, prior to a move and I don't have a lot of space, or juggle room, for all the tails, where they all appear in there


A couple of boards required for a bit of comfort .... trying to balance on 4 x 2,s, with limited headroom, is a recipe for disaster ...... I do not need to be repairing a ceiling as well .....
so first job in the morning is find some suitable bits of ply ..... that'll fit through what is not the greatest of loft access holes, into what is not the biggest of attic spaces .....
good progress though .. on the home straight....... for this bit anyway




The time all these fiddly, pissy about bits take is unbelievable though


been a lovely day here .... and we had one of our sunsets tonight





followed by a BIG moon rising .....





..... from the east


hopefully another nice day in the morning ..... not as I'll see a lot of it ... stuck in an attic space for a while

[v8druid]

Forums are famous for wrong interpretations ... nout a few words wont sort out usually ! .. Ive made a good few posts meself Ive looked at the next day and thought .. aye.. you could read that a few ways ? .. and others , I've thought .. WTF was I on about there ?

aye, ditto Muz ...... 'swhy I like to have the edit facility .... can read it through as much as you like before posting .. come back and think ........ nooooo that's not what I meant to convey

[Muz]

'xactly what I thought Boyo .... and thanks again for the kind words ....

Forums are famous for wrong interpretations ... nout a few words wont sort out usually ! .. Ive made a good few posts meself Ive looked at the next day and thought .. aye.. you could read that a few ways ? .. and others , I've thought .. WTF was I on about there ?

[v8druid]

replaced the flexy conduit, the control cable was routed through today ...
piece I'd used wasn't really long enough to get it all the way to where i wanted it without a joint and wasn't happy trying to create a waterproof joint in this stuff
so having acquired a new 25m length, I cut the necessary amount, pulled the other one out and stuck the new in, once i'd persuaded the cable through it


then got it all back in and sanded up, marked and topped off with some more sand then some reasonably matching gravel to fill the top up











May well replace the gravel when it gets warmer, with some of that cold lay tarmac ....
the stuff I've used in some potholes in the drive is still down three years on, so this lil' strip should be no problem


might try and route them behind a down pipe, which'll camouflage them a tad

[v8druid]

so much for the forecast dry, 10C day here ..... 4C is closer to the mark and wet, on/off ......
put me meter over me tails at the house end of the python this morning, looking for earth leaks .. none found, so 'hot wired' the tails with the Safe Bloc and gave it some juice from a 13A socket source ....
No blown fuses .... went and turned the consumer unit's main isolator on ..... all good ..... then the interior light MCB .... still good .... and hey presto ..... we had light, at the flick of a switch





awaiting the arrival of some cable clips for yon python and another 20mm cable duct, so's I can fix 'em to the wall and up into their final destination under the eaves, for a dive through the wall into the attic space above the house's consumer unit, for a couple up.
Local leccy place didn't have any clips ......





unbelievable !!!!
so usual source for odds and sods
just looked at the tracking on 'em and despaired to find they're in Yodel's (in)capable hands
they're absolutely bloody hopeless .... can't understand how, or why anyone uses them


the 'boss' has conceded that the cables, clipped to the wall, is probably going to look fine ... better than trunked up the wall
..... yon armoured python isn't shiny and new, having spent decades in the roof of my workshop, before it got removed and relocated to my cable stock pile, when I cleared it out .... barely noticeable in fact


..... she's not noticed the shiny, new, 20mm duct that's going to have to run alongside the cable yet
hopefully Yodel will turn up tomorrow and I can spend a couple of hours grovelling in the attic space