Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

Hahaha nice view tho
Pissing down here at the moment if it helps your mood

View from my back door Boyo ...... with a bit more light .... and no snow today ...... just bloody rain





....... glad to hear it's not just Wales getting pissed on this week then

[Nobody]

Beautiful! Looks like a day for proper work to be done

Didnt think it was so many hours between us
Just got up now, and the clock says 04.13 x)

[v8druid]

Pam's sister and her BIL were scheduled to arrive at noon yesterday !! .... 'nother day shot, after having the lil' 'un all weekend ...... so, get on with it quick...


offending pin out .......





deep vee-ed .....





nailed together .....





and back in ......





"ready to rock" for the morning ....







....ground's been drying nicely all weekend.....





..... and forecast is fair ..... let's hope they're right, but got a bit I can be doing in the meantime .... which needed the VA-r.


Can see why this has been cracking and a mod. is required, but it'll do for now .... taken a few months to crack again so it'll manage a few days use.
I can get the necessary bits made up in the meantime, but it's gonna have to come apart to fit it

Weather this morning is NOT what was forecast looks like it's gonna piss down any second ......'sposed to have been a blue-sky day ..... get to it and see, with one eye on a rapid retreat

[Muz]

deep vee-ed .....





nailed together .....





and back in ......

Proper weld .. although if I'm serious.. I vee out both sides and weld, then buff off about 75% of outer and inner or more on inner if it needs a flush mount ... your opinion squire ?

[v8druid]

Proper weld .. although if I'm serious.. I vee out both sides and weld, then buff off about 75% of outer and inner or more on inner if it needs a flush mount ... your opinion squire ?

Vee it deep enough Muz and it will give you 100% penetration ..... problem I had was, I didn't want to totally penetrate against the pin, as it would've been a PITA to get the square shoulder back without a lorra faff ..... took it down to about a mil and a haff, so it'd get 95% without burst through .... dare say if it was sectioned it'd be within half a mil of full pene. .... it'll do fer now Boyo

Could've been prettier, if I hadn't been in a rush

As said .... mods to come in the near future .... will be replacing the pin with a slightly longer one and attempting to juggle in a third bearing point, inboard of the lower pivot, from the upper, to give that end of her a lot more support and reduce the scissor action on the pin ..... gonna be tight, but I think it's do-able and will make a big difference to the longevity of it all

I wanna use it ATM though, so will have to wait for the next wet spell

[v8druid]

well ..... the weather has not been kind .. at least on the days I have available to make use of any !!


it's just about dried to a usable point ATM ... but forecast doesn't look exciting.


have managed odds and sods .... one being a few mods to Alex's HPX pick up head .....





for an alternate use.


He'd asked if he could borrow me beam, to try, for spreading the final topping on the parking areas and drives at the lake job .... no sweat ...


so a few extra / alternate fixings in that too ......





.... and all set for a trial on Matilda .......







He came and picked it up this morning.......





wasn't long 'fore I'd had a call to say he was in love .... with said beam ... followed by a few pix and quotes .....


" God I love this thing where has it been all my life "






and " Works well this way too "





He was back with me a short while later, with the day's planned efforts completed in a couple of hours and a.n.other 'project' for me to wrap my head around for him !!


Sounds like I may have to ransom his HPX and his new de-stoner ........ to get me beam back !!!!!



the VA-r has been fine with its repaired pin and I've been able to progress the 'crazy paving' hardcore-ing a bit more, to the point I can get on it, reach some more lumps ....





and gotten the other end of the drain channel dug out .... I've racked up another 50 odd hrs on the 'Drema recently, which for me is quite a bit in a short space of time ....





The grass has had a few massacre-ings ..... when it's dried enough, but I'm currently held up on moving any more crap, until I can get down the field and level out what's currently sat, with ol' JakieB





Have to admit to feeling a little less of a 'wimp' about the trepidation with which I venture down there with him, after Alex's comments today, about not wanting to try it either ... something along the lines of " a braver man then me ... I'd want a 4CX to go in there with ... or a 360 !! "


... It's a bit on the hairy side in places!! It's gonna have to have it though, once it's dry enough to venture down there .... which'll hopefully be soon!!


Went to see Dire Streets last Friday night ... yet another 'tribute' band ..... they were bloody awesome ... fantastic musicians ... such talent ... highly recommended if you get the chance ...... and of course like Dire Straits!!





I did get to the local steam rally for a few hours Monday and met up with one of the guys off the CEF, briefly, just as he was away .... sadly 'twere a bit of of a poor show this year, with crap weather forecast (as usual) and other competing shows elsewhere.


Didn't get to see much of what was there really, lugging Clara around, or hanging on to her reins and trying to keep up / not trip over her, with the sudden stops/change of direction!!
Although I like to support the local event, unless they change their date for next year, I can't see me bothering, as so many others don't seem to either.



Clara enjoyed herself though, anyway

[v8druid]

early start to the day, this morning. Pam is not overly 'well' ATM and is having balance problems .... actually went to the Quack's yesterday ..... which is unheard of.....hates going, so she must be feeling ropey. Has Labrynthitis apparently !!


Anyway .... wanted chauffeuring this morning .... hair day !! So a trip up the Heads (of the valleys road) to Brynmawr for 09.00.


major road widening going on there and can be a nightmare, but pretty quiet this morning .... see Nigel Carr and Lister Gerrick's ducks on the way up and totally confused Lister, on the way back, with a honking session from a motor he didn't recognise, by the look on his face, as we went by !!


called in to see a few mates to kill a couple of hours and found this .....





sat in Neil's workshop!


2T cap x 4.5m ...... 1500 quid !!! ... bunch of Poles in Worcester assembling them from components fabricated all over the Eu. ...... 3mm plate and very very nice .... total bargain!!


Looking at their website, they've quite a range available ...... Neil said he'd sold three for 'em in the two weeks he's had his.


Anyway, got back after lunch and stopped to have a shufty at the field on the way down the drive ...... dry enough.....Jake time!!


Bite to eat, changed and stuck his battery back on ... started first flick and turned him round to reach for the grader, sat on the bank.


had to pick it out on a sling and as I'm getting back to him see a drip on the floor !! Quick inspection and I've a wee spurter at the back of the motor





which on inspection turned out to be a pin hole in a core plug





Bloody annoying !!


Small self tapper and an even smaller O ring, seems to have cured the issue for now, at least





'til I can dig out me box of core plugs and persuade a new one in there ... not the greatest of locations to do it though .... gonna struggle swinging a knockometer in there !!


refilled the cooling system, fuel tank and headed off for the tip in the field.


Hell of a lot to sort !!!!

so ..... tump flattening .... lots of 'em !!


Attacked it with the front end, for expediency's sake and it went pretty well, so carried on all afternoon with the 4 in 1, pushing out and a bit of back blading with the bucket at various angles





It's difficult to see the sort of angles involved, but believe me, it's 'interesting' in places and have had to extract the seat foam a couple of times this afters.


Anyway .. three hours later and in need of food, I'd decided it'd have to do, for today and headed back for me tea .......








Looked reasonable and provided me with room to lose some more from me dig, so weather permitting tomorrow, the ramp gets it !!

[v8druid]

what a bloody day I've had!!!!!


All set to demolish the ramp this morning .... stuck the grab on for 10 minutes to shift some rocks off it, crushed a few lumps of blockwork to sit on and rolled on, beside the ramp.
Shifted 90% of 'em, came round for the last two and WTF is that? !!!


Plantohyd fountain ...... everywhere !!!!!


Dumped the grab on the ramp PDQ and shut her off ..... hose at the dipper/boom knee, which is now a good 15ft in the air and dripping bloody oil everywhere, that the spray hadn't already covered ..... only plus side was it was on the rough and spraying away from me cab .... had the front window wide open !!!!


Quick think ... it was spraying with everything stationary ..... could only be the QH line.
Nothing for it ... had to run her up again to lay her out ..... no way could I tackle it where it was!
What a bloody mess .... me dustbin full of sawdust for such events is now 1/2 a bin-full and the dipper was dripping plantohyd.


having sussed the exact location of said burst .... still 10+ feet in the air,





it was gonna have to come off, so's I could go get a new one made .... spent a bit of time considering whether I could blank off the QH valve, so i could run her up again and lay her out on the ramp beside me and be able to just walk along side the boom, instead of having to struggle off ladders, on some pretty uneven terrrain.


Yep .... that was do-able, so set about it, only to find the fittings're bloody metrics .... Grrr!!
loads of BSP to hand but limited metrics and sod all to do the job with, so had to be a struggle on ladders job.


eventually managed to unravel the damned thing back to the valve's tail pipes .. only to find the tail joints were BSP FFS!!


Anyway .... 'twere off and I legged it to Raglan, with a very oily pipe wrapped in a couple of bin bags


Marty and I laid it out for a measure up ..... 9.2m !!
had it split in half and had four made at 4.6m ......





...... t'other one can't be long for this world looking at the state this one was in!!


Wallet suitably lightened, I headed back to get this pair on.
Improved on the routing, getting 'em back on and the centre joint was just where I'd reckoned it'd be ..... nicely accessible !


Got this one on and was gonna swing her round over the ramp to do t'other ...
ran her up and was quickly looking for leaks ....... when I found one ...... worse than the f***er I'd just taken off !!!!!


Right on the joint ..... and no .... I hadn't forgotten to tighten it all up ...wish that were the case .... wouldn't have been such a bloody mess #2 !!!


I could tell it was the joint, but what exactly ??
Installed Pam in the hot seat, to run it up for me, whilst I watched .... from a sensible distance!
pissing out under the joint, but from where exactly ... never known Marty cock up a swage and I'd seen him check 'em all with the go/no go gauge rods??


Dicky fitting 'praps????
Nothing for it .... crack it and blank the first half to see which pipe it was.


took the 1/4 M/M adapter out and bugger me ......





Not a happy Druid ... brand new Stauf adapter, from Marty ...... bet his ears were burning this evening!!!


Heavier duty one from stock and job was a good un ............ apart from the hour plus for the clean up .... plantohyd running down the top of the top half of the boom ... Grrrrrrr!! AGAIN!!


so .... leak fixed, I ran her up, no prob.s, swung her round over the ramp and stretched her out ready to swap t'other line in the morning





Gonna be a POP with it there ...... just walk alongside it to thread the second line up from the hitch to the QH valve tail pipe....... After I've cut all the damned cable ties off the original and gotten it out.


Might get summat done tomorrow ..... some time!!

[AndrewMawson]

Bad luck Druid, I feel your pain.

hydraulics don't half dump oil fast when a hose goes. Look on the bright side, the burst hose didn't at least endanger life and limb.

[v8druid]

Bad luck Druid, I feel your pain.

hydraulics don't half dump oil fast when a hose goes. Look on the bright side, the burst hose didn't at least endanger life and limb.

was bad enough having to clean up from the first bugger ....... the split adapter was the last straw at 5.30 and having to start the clear up again ....... from an even worse leak ..... the only saving grace was the split was against the face of the boom, so was at least confined to cascading down the boom, dipper-wards.

Doubt it was more than a few litres, but **** me, it was everywhere ...... thank **** it was on the dig area and not on me planings ..... least it's relatively sort-able without too much faff.

Stopped raining now, so time to do the other hitch hose ............... before that bar steward does the same thing .... and have a serious inspection of all the others ...... they're all 18 yr old.....least most of 'em are!!!

[maffume]

Always enjoy reading this, Its great to see the stuff you make and things you overcome.
Wish I knew and understood a little more mechanically myself, Great to see you make the mount, Terminology escapes me too at this time.

Its a shame this forums so quiet most of the time.

Keep working.

[v8druid]

Always enjoy reading this, Its great to see the stuff you make and things you overcome.
Wish I knew and understood a little more mechanically myself, Great to see you make the mount, Terminology escapes me too at this time.

Its a shame this forums so quiet most of the time.

Keep working.

Thank you Boyo ... always nice to hear that someone enjoys my witterings ..... I agree, it's a shame that the P&C is so quiet a lot of the time .... it's a great place and so well looked after

[v8druid]

managed to get the other QH line routed and fitted on Friday ... between the downpours .. been a lousy day, weatherwise and was an easier proposition with better access off the ramp .......
















.....aside from the fact I forgot to pick up two 7/16" JIC to 1/4" BSP adapters Thursday, when I was in Raglan .... 'nother trip out and also gave me a chance to show a very surprised Marty that split M/M adapter ... he'd never seen one quite like it and's gonna send it back to see what they have to say on it .... looked like a material flaw to me.


Anyway .. all back together, plumbing re-routed with some better runs and all ready to go again .... just have to remember to have a look for leaks, when I run her up next. ..... there'd better not be any !!!!!


Josh and his wife KM home Friday evening for my 'birthday weekend' (Pam has to make a fuss) !! so not a lot did post tea-time.


Big farm sale here Saturday ... Pam's brother's BIL, packing up ... couple of fields away, so had to go have a shufty .... even though I knew it was gonna be mayhem and 95% crap ..... it was and it was ..... however .....did find this ........

















20 KVA 3ph x 4 wire ... Markon back end and a sweet, on the button P3 providing the donkeys ...... perfect!!..... least it'd do for now.


lots of interest from the 'cast of thousands' , but none of 'em were gonna have it cheap !!


had to wait 'til gone 3 for 'em the get to it and I started it off at 250 quid, as no one seemed to wanna kick it off .... climbed to 400 quickly and slowed to the point I could see who else was on it ...... bugger!!
me, a stranger ...... and me neighbour .... who's fields I'm tipping in BUGGER!! .


edged across and said to him I'd not take him any further, but if the stranger ended with top bid and he was out, I'd jump back in.


Damn me, he ended top bid at £510 .... no VAT either .... I was GUTTED!!


I'd have given a grand and more for it without even thinking about it.
I have first refusal on it if he doesn't use it !! Could not pee him off, as he really wanted it too and he's got all the nice holes that need filling !!


Bloody good turn-out .......









and could've bought several items, but all so spread out through the day, I couldn't be arsed, to come back for just one buy .... genny excepted of course.


Got back late afternoon to find Pam, the kids and Clara awaiting my return, with a 'surprise' for me ....








Wondered why she was so enthusiastic about me going .....


afternoon got finished off with a nice meat feast barbie, large slice of cake ..... and a bit of a snooze after all that !!!! My feet were dropping off after the day's trekking about !!

[v8druid]

well turning 60 did not have the greatest of starts this week

Bloody 'hardware' malfunction in the body department meant I DID NOT get to Plantworx AGAIN and no it wasn't partying too hard that caused it ...
I dunno WTF it was ... been waiting on some blood results to maybe shed some light on that one.

thought I might have been having a different trip ..... to bloody hospital ... again
Seems to have settled though

Rang Alex 06.30 Tuesday morning, after watching the clock go round all night, only to find he'd been up most o' the night too, with a swollen face and an infected nasher .... so he was off to the dentists, soon as they opened.

Seems like our day out was cursed ...... to say now't of the bloody weather !!

Felt so rough Tuesday afternoon, I actually went to the GPs, (first time in a looooong time) only to find mine had retired, so had to go with anyone available, but struck lucky ..... I think .. she seemed pretty thorough .....
and enthusiastic to have a once in a career involvement with my ailment .... it's 'kin rare!!

Seems that Plantworx had the same sort of weather as we had here ... ****ing atrocious ...
June be bolloxed
not quite as bad as the forecast 80mm in an afternoon, Tuesday .... but pretty diabolical all the same ....
still peeing down yesterday .... but at least it's kept me subdued and not cursing being laid up while the sun shines ......
might hopefully have dried out a bit soon, as I was feeling more human yesterday!!

Results today ... the body's been behaving and me blood results were all OK ...
aside from a few weird results, that I knew they'd find...
took me LSDU consultant's notes files with me to the quack's, so's she could see that weird was normal for me .. LOL
So hopefully 'blip' over, for now.

Got her to stick me on her list, as my guy's retired ... she seems pretty 'on the ball' and thorough .... pretty easy on the eye too !!

Did get some time this morning, dry enough to run the 'Drema up and check everything out for leaks, after swapping the second QH line the other day, last week ... all oil tight I'm pleased to report.

Shifted a few bits and pieces about, crushed up a few more lumps of blockwork and generally flatted it all out a bit.
Gonna need the drain channel to dry out .... a lot, so's I can get the bottom of it leveled out at the right height!

Then make some space for a load of clean 40mm and a load of planings, to get that area squared up a bit .... while everything else drys out enough to get onto again.

'Sposed to be dry from Sunday on ........ for a week ..... or more !!

[ianoz]

Good to hear your on the mend , Bit of a buggeR yOU MISSED OUT ON THE SHOW < BUT THERE IS ALWAYS NEXT YEAR