Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

Nope! Pictures still not showing :(

bloody Photobucket has crashed ---- again Friday night /yesterday .... couldn't even get into their website let alone log into me account


'Praps they've pissed the wrong bloke off!! seems to be performing this morning though


been bloody WET again here for the last three+ days and'll take ages to dry out again ....
bad again today, then apparently, dry all next week again


let's hope our last week's weather wasn't the only sun we get for this year


Been in touch with the guy who owns the company who has serviced the genny; Gener8genie in Bristol - very helpful chap called Gary.


Gonna check out what info he has on it, when he's back 'at it' next week.


Some lectrickery set up on this !





Gary is more than happy to help with any issues I may have, or that might arise.


Most of it looks to be associated with all its 'Auto-run' / trip in facilities ....





cabling and main switch on the right are from the genny ... everything else seems fed from there.
Serge, me genny mate,'ll be able to run me through it all Monday, when he comes over.


These supersilents are remarkable, but when you see the size of the silencing system for the engine, it's hardly surprising ... I'll get some pix of this one .... when it stops peeing down - it's huge


The enclosures are probably as dear as the contents ..... acoustically lined to suppress the mechanical noise of the engines, as well as the silencing system, they usually run around 65db max.


I'd been looking at open frame gennies, but decided to spend the extra and get a supersilenced unit ... self contained too, designed to live outside and be weather tight, which is also a plus


Been watching/eyeballing all sorts for months (as I do) ... there's a good outfit in Hull sell a lot too ..... who seem to get a lot of 'standbys' , but always top-ish dollar.


A similar pack to this one sold on fleabay two weeks ago for £4.5k with 5200 hrs on it, so when this one popped up at significantly less bucks, with the seeeeriously low hrs, it had to be had . The best one I'd seen in months of watching!! Contact made - deal done ..... and NO V A T !!


£250 quid for tranny was a bit 'sharp', but by the time you run the 130 miles each way, time and fuel, etc., 'twasn't so bad, really.
Plus this has all the auto cut in gear, built in too, if I wanted to lash it in to the electrical system here, but I won't bother with that, unless supplies become a lot more intermittent / erratic .... yer never know???


Hopefully this'll do me ad infinitum, should certainly see me out and'll run anything I'm ever likely to want to use !!!


the supersilenced package is worth the extra - no question - having worked with / around open frame welding gennies regularly ..... it's a no brainer

Some serious leccy storm here last night/this morning, but bugger all compared to darn saaarf http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44269304
pretty impressive!!

In the summer of 1982, or might have been '83, we had the most spectacular electric storm I've ever seen ....
sat on a sun lounger, in the garden, 'til 4 in the morning watching it

It went on for hours and seemed 'trapped' over the Usk valley. The sky was the weirdest colours I've ever seen ...
no rain, just strike after strike after strike of lightning ... damned near continuous .... was bloody amazing Doubt I'll ever see the like of it again ... least not in the UK

Jeez has it ever pee-ed down here this morning though .... absolutely BOUNCING

[AndrewMawson]

Amazing light show here last night. Went on for two hours with lightning cloud to cloud, only rarely to ground. The whole sky was lit up like Armageddon . I've never in my 68 years seen anything like it.

ps most pictures now showing, but two say 'photobucket image not found'

nice Genny!

[v8druid]

Amazing light show here last night. Went on for two hours with lightning cloud to cloud, only rarely to ground. The whole sky was lit up like Armageddon . I've never in my 68 years seen anything like it.

ps most pictures now showing, but two say 'photobucket image not found'

nice Genny!

much like the one in the 80s by the sound of it ..... that went on from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. and strangely there was very little cloud about that night ...... only really high, wispy stuff ..... was truly spectacular.

was told earlier that the strike count for the last 24 hrs, in the UK, was up over 60,000 , from the 15,000 in four hours, in that news link I put up earlier ....... bloody hell



I know which of the two pix you mean ...... I'll have to ask Muz to let me in to edit the links .... had to bin those two as the original links didn't work at all, for some reason, when bucket came back obviously corrupted somehow

and Yeh ..... I am well pleased with the genny ..... Serge, me mate, is coming round in the afternoon tomorrow, to run through it all with me

Some cleaning, scraping, grinding, fettling and paint should get the enclosure sorted for a few more years. Going to have to make a new bottom corner for one side door and 'graft' it in, replace a few panel locks and free off one hinge, which could prove one of the most awkward items to 'beat' !!
Oh and blow out the rad and all the air ways, etc., of many years of dust collecting

[AndrewMawson]

When I got my Agrecko 100 Kva Genny years ago, not only did it not generate, but the enclosure was heavily rusted. Not generating was merely that some plonker had turned the field coil excitation right down to zero!

I built a crane over it from stacked 45 gallon drums and scaffold tube and lifted the entire enclosure off, cut off and replaced the lower 18" and relined it with amazingly expensive sound deadening.

Like yours it had been a standby and had very low hours. Six pot Ford industrial engine with turbo. Flogged it when we moved here as I have three phase on tap :)

[v8druid]

much like the one in the 80s by the sound of it ..... that went on from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. and strangely there was very little cloud about that night ...... only really high, wispy stuff ..... was truly spectacular.

was told earlier that the strike count for the last 24 hrs, in the UK, was up over 60,000 , from the 15,000 in four hours, in that news link I put up earlier ....... bloody hell



I know which of the two pix you mean ...... I'll have to ask Muz to let me in to edit the links .... had to bin those two as the original links didn't work at all, for some reason, when bucket came back obviously corrupted somehow

and Yeh ..... I am well pleased with the genny ..... Serge, me mate, is coming round in the afternoon tomorrow, to run through it all with me

Some cleaning, scraping, grinding, fettling and paint should get the enclosure sorted for a few more years. Going to have to make a new bottom corner for one side door and 'graft' it in, replace a few panel locks and free off one hinge, which could prove one of the most awkward items to 'beat' !!
Oh and blow out the rad and all the air ways, etc., of many years of dust collecting

Amazing light show here last night. Went on for two hours with lightning cloud to cloud, only rarely to ground. The whole sky was lit up like Armageddon . I've never in my 68 years seen anything like it.

ps most pictures now showing, but two say 'photobucket image not found'

nice Genny!

Thanks to Muz's intervention and alteration of settings for me, I've sorted those two pix out now Andrew ...... bloody Photobucket

[v8druid]

5 p.m. Friday ......





6 p.m. Saturday ....





3pm sunday ...




4 pm today




Bloody weather !!


Rain stopped yesterday afternoon after a hell of a morning .... and the rest of the day was really 'muggy' out there ..... let's hope that's it for a week or more .... gonna take that long to dry out again here !!!! Forecast looks fair, but may have another dowsing Wednesday night


Think I might find plenty to do though, whilst it dries ..... AGAIN!!!!!!

Serge came round today, lunch time and after we'd adjourned to a 'local hostelry' for some scran, we've been busy with me new toy


Having given the genny the once over, once we got back, we ran her up for 35 minutes.





No leaks, knocks, squeaks, weird noises ... nada; perfect temp. and oil pressure and steady, once warmed up


RPM spot on and producing leccy nicely, according to my meter and the on board clocks.


he said the back end on them is a very flexible unit, that can have a lot done to it, to fine tune it for all sorts of out puts, up to 500V


Serge had a couple of dozen of these in a depot he used to manage in Grays, Essex, before returning to this neck of the woods for a less stressed life.


Cummins built units. Rates them highly for longevity and reliability.
Apparently this one even has a modem built into it for remote telemetry control


Should do about 3ltr/hr under load ... less with what I'm likely to use it for


It's been officially declared a bargain and a great buy, by the man who knows them inside out !!

[v8druid]

When I got my Agrecko 100 Kva Genny years ago, not only did it not generate, but the enclosure was heavily rusted. Not generating was merely that some plonker had turned the field coil excitation right down to zero!

I built a crane over it from stacked 45 gallon drums and scaffold tube and lifted the entire enclosure off, cut off and replaced the lower 18" and relined it with amazingly expensive sound deadening.

Like yours it had been a standby and had very low hours. Six pot Ford industrial engine with turbo. Flogged it when we moved here as I have three phase on tap :)

Oooh! You lucky fella

[v8druid]

Spent a large part of the day yesterday cleaning me new toy, removing the spilled fuel from its trip to Druid central and inspecting/addressing some of the panel problems ...
at least sussing them and getting them ready for further action.




new corner needs fabbing and splicing into the worst one



the rest of it is a stop the rot and treat to some fresh shiny stuff














had one door stuck shut with a seized hinge ..... managed to jack it up a tad to free it and off it came ..
good clean on the pins, plenty of lube and working a treat .. they've all got grease nipples, which is handy



Looking even better for a good swab out.....






and then it poxy rained on us !!!!


Alex brought me another one of these yesterday evening....



Squeak giving it the once over ......





Not been the greatest of days here today .. on/off wet stuff .... got collared by 'the boss' for a trip over to our local 'plant emporium' ...
only a little family run jobbie ...... found this lurking in a shed .....





Looked like fun!!!!!


Sat having me tea tonight .... phone beeps .... text from me wood man .... "you up for a load?"


Be rude to turn him down!!





It'll keep me occupied whilst the ground dries out again!!

[v8druid]

forgot to say ......
came back from the flower place lunchtime, coming down the drive past our neighbour's (at the top of the drive) field and...
their donkey was shaking summat white, which I thought was a placcy bag, 'til he lifted his head.


I could see he'd gotten hold of one of their big white ducks by the scruff and was shaking the hell out of this bird .... like a rag doll!!!!


Stopped and legged it across the field shouting at Henry to drop the bloody thing.
Wasn't until I got so close to him to give him a whack on the nose that he let go .... before he got a slap!!


The duck staggered off at a rate of knots, heading for sanctuary, t'other side of a gate, with me trying to restrain this lunatic donkey, from pursuing it.


he's normally a very placid fella ... reckon yon duck must've pissed him off.


No way could this duck have stuck much more treatment, without having its neck broken!!!!!


Never seen anything like it before ..... anyone else ??


I'm told a donkey will give a dog straying into its field/territory, a bloody good kicking and could even kill it !!!!!

[v8druid]

been back to see the 1.5t Ovlov this evening, having had a lot of thoughts about the issues it's displaying and discussions with a few folk.

Having reached the conclusion, in my mind that, the pump was just not able to dump to tank and was therefore stalling the motor, due to not being able to blow the MRV, I went back for a.n.other shufty.

MRV locknut was 'loose' ... running it was still producing 140bar max but stalling the motor if held against a dead end ....
so backed the MRV out gently, until it just started to dump and stopped stalling. Clock reading a gnats under the 140 bar.
locked the MRV off and gave it a try.

tracks great, operates great, will pick itself off the deck with no issues, with the blade, boom and/or both together. in a word, appears to perform as it should.

The 140 bar although lower than should be is obviously all the pump can muster .... probably a tad tired ..... but it can now dump to tank, instead of trying to force oil against a brick wall at end of strokes, etc.

Johns gonna give it some work over the weekend and see how it performs, ... but it's looking favorable ...... let's hope it's sorted

think someone's been trying to get more out of it than it's actually capable of



one to amuse you all ....

I tripped over this earlier today .......


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Red-Diese...4AAOSw945bDmb2


He must be pissed if he thinks anyone in their right mind is going to pay more than derv prices for red


" Red Diesel 20L - £34.00 - collection only "


Seen it all now

[Nobody]

Glad to see your still going strong druid! Sadly I'm too occupied to contribute to the forum, but I still lurk from time to time. Just wanted you to know that people keep tabs on you ;)

[v8druid]

Glad to see your still going strong druid! Sadly I'm too occupied to contribute to the forum, but I still lurk from time to time. Just wanted you to know that people keep tabs on you

LOL nice to hear from you Boyo .... was wondering if you'd been kidnapped by aliens

looks like I got some catching up to do in here too .... gonna have to be a dated set of posts again BTLs .... amazed it's two weeks since I was last here !!

[v8druid]

so ........ a catch up ....

second of June was a bits and bobs day .... lots of lil' things needed catching up on .... it'd been relatively dry, despite the forecast of downpours .... it hadn't ... much !!


Yon genny was hard wired into the mains, with changeovers, etc. built into its system. One of these is telemetric control, via a modem, fitted into the LARGE box of lectrikery.
Anyway, said modem is live 24/7 and without being hard wired, it relies solely on its battery to run the modem and it's associated circuitry.
With it hard wired it has a battery charger built in to maintain the battery at peak condition ....





and thus run the modem.


so it's .... battery leads off, unless I want to run it ATM ... bit of a faff, so stuck an isolator on the neg side in the afternoon ..... would suffice for now and allowed quick, easy isolation of yon modem and battery .








would've preferred a bit of brass or copper for the link and sure I have some of each here .... somewhere .... Damned if I can recall where though


I'll have a look and see if said modem can't be removed from the circuitry ....
I'm never going to have need of it and maybe consider running a stand alone, flying lead to the charger, to keep the ol' battery topped up ...
it's on a std 3 way chassis plug / socket connection, so can be easily removed from the circuitry too, for an alternative power source to the previous hard wired supply.


Also would be trying to suss where/how to locate some outlets from it, ideally without using flying/trailing sockets ..... not easy!! May well end up having to go with flyers !!


was also going to weigh the beast and re-orientate it, but .......




..... then I got rained on ..... big time !!!!!!!!!!!
A job for tomorrow 'praps.

Well 'tomorrow' was a better day than forecast ..... positively glorious in fact


First job .... sort the bloody mower, 'fore I could use it on all the little bits, before a 'visitation' ....





belt guard flapping loose under the deck! ... had collected a serious quantity of grass and thrown the belt for the wheel drive!


took as long to get the bloody blade off, as it did to sort the rest and re-profile the bolt head ...





WTF put such a small head on the bolt is beyond me .... self tightening in use and takes some undoing the 14mm AF is now 13mm AF ... a nice tight 13mm ..
next time the mig is 'in play', it's getting a 20mm nut welded onto it for some 'proper' purchase !!!


had Alex here all afternoon with his bed he's building for his truck ...
and a nice job he was making of it too, but without a 'Druid style' bench to build on, the heat had got the better of the main runners and it was in need of a little 'magic' to normalise it and get the curves out of it .......





some judicious application of some large clamps, combined with strategically placed packers and an experienced eye had it looking a lot more like it ought to/was intended .





nice and flat ..... this is gonna look the bollox, once completed .....was gopnna be wheel arches tthe next day !!

some of you may have noticed the genny has spun through 90 deg.s and a bit more out the way of the bench ....
Picked it up with the dynamometer that afternoon ...... anyone care to hazard a guess on the weight?? .... with a full tank of fuel (circa 300 litres)??


Also allowed me to fully open the front door, so's it can get the cleaning treatment, like the rest of it ...





as promised ... a decent pic of one very large silencer ....





it's no wonder you can barely hear it running ..... tha's some box!!!!

guess who came out to play that day ......





mud guard sections .... as they arrived ....





and in process of becoming 'mudguards'





the apprentice serving his time ....... fettling




finished articles getting 'attached' with a few carefully placed stitches





flipped over and getting properly secured ....





and looking the business
















next job was a few infill / trimming panels to close the sides off and create some storage lockers

[v8druid]

this popped up in my inbox on the 13th ...... who wants to join the Drema owners club - ultra exclusive - especially this model







https://www.machinio.com/listings/30...achinio-alerts


£18,547 - 4,800 hrs - '99 ...... Not a dear m/c IMHDO and very probably negotiable - looks well cared for.
Same grab as I had with mine - Hydrema's own


And before anyone asks ....... the dash is even less legible than mine, for identifying the 'mystery switch'


Only down side is it's 900 miles away - in Germany !!!!

I'd not had a great deal to report, 'til then, due to having seen a great deal of this lil' lady, recently .....





which leaves little time for much else!
Have managed to turn the most recent delivery into a large pile again,





...between everything else ....





and yes .... that's 'the boss' in overalls !!!!
think I'd rather be on the strimmer, than the clear up....





It all needs constant attention and no-one else seems up for it !!!!

also had a few hours, here and there to get started on some outlet installation ..











the cable glands on the tops are purely temporary, to keep the moisture out, 'til I can get to town for some blanking caps.
connections are all internal, into the backs .... when I'd got a few more spare minutes to get some 'lectrical spaghetti between them and the bus bars in the cabinet

14th June

I have been keeping an eye on these three and meaning to do this for a while ...... before we have another Plantohyd fountain to contend with.
So ripped off the three original hoses and headed for Raglan, ....
came back with these ..





the crowd hose on t'other side's decent and recent .... this side was on borrowed time





took some wrestling back on and into the exact alignment I wanted, together with the 'rotate/aux' line, which were a lot easier --- straighter and smaller!!





also took the opportunity whilst I was 'well oiled' to slack off a few others and tweak them all into a better alignment, instead of going sideways when she's stretched out, they now all sit a lot more neatly .....





will be nice not to worry about stressing these hoses, for fear of them spilling their guts everywhere. .... or dropping whatever is on me forks !!!!


Dropped Clara, mummy and granny at the garden centre, en route, before spending an hour with the lads in Raglan, sorting these out .... never seen them sooooo busy. Been like it for two months apparently.


Bit of a chat with Leigh the owner whilst I waited for someone to put these together ... tells me that Fuchs have stopped doing Plantohyd, by the barrel ... 25s only now ... he also gave me some spec sheets for a Morris's equivalent oil which very slightly exceeds the Fuchs' spec -- just.
Morris's tech director assures us that it is permissible to mix the two and I have it in writing, by email.
Leigh also said that it's no wonder it's such a dear oil .... it's the best spec. there is in Bio-oil...now't better. Known Leigh a long time and trust his info. - - it's his game !!

it's been a 'strange' sort of week so far .... My oldest and one of my closest friends was killed last Sunday morning, attempting/practicing an emergency landing, near to his gliding club, along with a friend of his, in the club's powered glider.
No one knows who was at the controls, and we may never know ??
News was a bit of a shock Sunday night and my heart just hasn't been in much this week. We've been friends since we started school together, 56 years ago and sort of instantly bonded !!


Never imagined having to go see his wife, in this sort of circumstance .... there are no words you can offer, of any real meaning He was such a nice bloke


I left it a couple of days, as she had enough to contend with, with plod, air crash investigators and all of her family, but was glad to see me, Wednesday afternoon.


so,as I say not done a great deal these last couple of days ... aside from the usual Clara care, me hoses, which needed doing and kept me 'occupied' and I spent a few hours this morning filling Alex's crates and a.n.other/the last of me vented bags, with yon pile.








enough left for another crate, which Alex has said he has for me .... then I think we have enough for a winter or three !! ....... plus there's a large oak yet to come down and be dealt with !!

Spent thursday evening, after Clara went, sat wiring the sockets on the genny and contemplating mortality, times gone by, etc. .... got beaten by the light - - just ... takes time to get 3 ph. wiring right .... and needed to keep the mind occupied

Clara'd be here again the next morning yelling GRAND DAD!! .... C'mon grand dad .... want to go in the JCB ...
she's learned to differentiate between the diggers now ....
s'not "other one digger" anymore ..... still struggling a bit with Hydrema though

[AndrewMawson]

Why are you strimming that verge? I thought that you had the flail head now mountable on the Drema ?