Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

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The photobucket ransome not paid maybe

they took their standing payment on 5th Nov., as usual ......
I can't get into 'Bucket at all ATM .. server must be down

[ianoz]

Pix no work herr Druid..........................................

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The photobucket ransome not paid maybe

[Stock]

Pix no work herr Druid..........................................

[v8druid]

new toys arrived this morning ...





got a bit of a job on over Crimbo ...





fitting this lot, which arrived this afternoon !! Will keep me out the house(ful) !!


MOT advisory last year ...
boots on front swivels perished ...
joints're fine, but to change the boots you have to split the swivels off the axle ...
so if I'm doing that I might as well change the whole joint ..
job done ... all four of 'em to be precise.
discs and hubs have to come off too, so new discs and pads while i'm at it ...
drag link and track rod arrive tomorrow hopefully ...
one advisory on a track rod end ... the crimped one !!
so might as well do 'em all .. they'm all over 20 years old


Startrite's been doing a bit this afternoon ...








Little idea I had the other evening







might be a bit of a clue .... Rory ... you're out of the game ... as we discussed it earlier today


got the big lump drilled out ready to tap tomorrow, when i can clamp it to the bench .. bit dark tonight .... and the smaller bits set up in the Ajax .. well one of 'em anyway


last job of the day ..... try and melt me burning drum .....





was some bit hot and glowing well !!

[v8druid]

'Twas a wild night here, last might .. God knows what the West coast of Paddyland was like .... had a horrendous forecast, according to the box.. bad enough here!!
Pam on a mission this morning .. headed for town .. in Crimbo mode ... 'least I wasn't involved, other than the list I got left for this morning's adventures.
Bloody twinkly lights !! Clara does love 'em though .. Four inches of water back in the fish pond .... as I said was some wild night and sort a few other bits an' bobs ........ and I was sorted ...


Time for some oil extraction ....





tha's one side of the cylinder closed up tight as ...
plumbing off to the port and drained, blown out and refitted ...
not a lot in it thankfully ... then on to t'other ...





not much in here either ... pipes blown through and the ports .... couldn't have been a lot left anywhere ...


sorted some FF males and got 'em screwed on to the pipe ends, then quietly fed it some Plantohyd .... this is 61.5" full open ..





surprised the ports're only 3/8" on it ... half would've been a better bet IMHDO ... but it gets there .


glad I added the extra inch to the one pair of legs on the adapter ... would've been too close for comfort without it ... if not too tight





hose lengths were fine, fully crowded and open, but closed and extended out was a different matter .... another 12" needed .... so found meself some 18", half inchers ... which annoyingly were BSP/metric, but luckily had some suitable 1/2"BSP/metric adapters and it all went together nicely ...





with plenty of tolerance to thread 'em through me 'carrier' rings ....





gonna have to watch they do not get snagged on those protruding pins though ... couple more rings might be on the cards to be sure
Will have to have a look another day .... Pam back and wanting to do me treatment, as we'd left it this morning, in deference to her 'mission'.


so left the SEC on and dropped the 'Drema out on her parking block, found another for the SEC ....











...... and scuttled off indoors, after a major square up, for some more plumbing ..... of a different kind .... in me arm !!


.......But not before doing this one for you lot ...

shuts with a hell of a 'CLACK' ... You'd deffo not want to have anything you value in there ... and that's on 180 bar, on me rotate line
need to acquire a check valve for the closure port .... from my experiences with me Cranab, these things tend to 'let go' quietly without a check in the circuit, at the port.


Interestingly when I ran her up this afternoon, everything on the dash worked perfectly ..
the odd temperamental switch (which're always annoying) performed faultlessly ....
but more annoyingly, the auto throttle settings seem to have got their head in a knot ...
will have to put the tacho on it and see what's what .....
idle is well low and the first 'S' throttle setting (1400rpm) is too ....
hence the low(er then usual) throttle setting in the vid ......
curiously the 'L' setting (1800rpm) sounded about right to my ear ...
Summat's either gone out of adjustment .. or summat stuck, isn't any more ??

[v8druid]

Pam's dropped into Crimbo mode .... I just love searching the attic for all the accouterments :help: .... 'specially as it was dry and the yellow thing was out to play this morning .... so .. some time later .. I eventually escaped to me box.


had a bit of a head count on boss requirements for what was missing and what I have planned / on the cards and set up the Startrite ...





slight problem with having it plugged in to the genny ... t'other outlet's a 32 Amper, so had to spend a bit of time creating an adapter to run anything else on a 16A plug ... like the Ajax or the belt grinder ....





so a two into one got stuck together and was able to hover between the saw and the miller simultaneously speeded up the extra 15 boss's production no end, especially as they'll both quit at predetermined points with the stops set Genny ran faultlessly again, with no issues, first flick ... hopefully that terminal I gave some attention to WAS the issue all along


got 'em all bored, then gave 'em all a good fettling on the belt grinder .....










before having a major tidy up ... swarf everywhere ... not good for cat's paws or getting stuck in yer boots
everything away and tidied up just in time for tea at six


tomorrow's looking good on the forecast, so we might get the SEC de-oiled and plumbed for a trial, before dropping the adapter back off it for some of these bosses and some corner trimming/fettling .... 'fore Mogman gets on my case for sharp corners

[v8druid]

Lie in this morning .. just getting up at 7.15 and Vicki phones to say Clara'd been up most the night, not well, so .. day off.
Sadly it has absolutely pi**ed down here since the early hours, so not done a lot either
looked like it might clear later, so Ajax time after a bite of lunch !




well it did stop and I ran the genny up .... after setting up for a 'boring' afternoon ....
got 13 done, which I had cut previously ...
would've cut some more, but it was dark by the time I'd gotten through the pile I already had ...
job for tomorrow 'praps ..... left the Ajax set up in case
... then found a set of four I'd done ages ago, which i could've stuck on the adapter yesterday
(a).. if I'd known they were there
and
(b).. hadn't had to dash off to collect the little 'un at 15.00 ...
day shot after half an hour in the park next to the school











the CDS is not the 'roundest' of sections ... internally anyway ...... they'll do though

49 rpm and .016 feed rate, on the quill, but didn't have to take a great deal out so circa 15 thou cut to get to the desired 70.2mm and only 20mm depth ....
could probably get away with doubling the spindle speed, but the faster you spin it the more centrifugal influence you get, on the vertical tool (and possible chatter) so kept the tool as short as possible ..... not so a horizontally mounted cutter though and no flex in the cutter shaft


these machined out pretty well, on one pass, but slow at that speed .. they'll certainly do for what I want them for

[v8druid]

Well as you see above the SEC got a lift out of where it was sat in Ollie's old trailer, for a trip to me bench


Took Clara to nursery for 9 and got back for some brekky and drag me 'working rags' on .... Pam says "you're not seriously going out there again today?" was seriously brass monkeys again this morning with a small hooley howling, but it had to be done .. woolly hat today though ... my ears suffered yesterday


sat the SEC down by me bench and relocated the 80 mm pins, ready for action





picked this up off the bench first, to check it'd fit ... was pretty certain it'd go on ... but yer never know ... 'til you try when you're building on a tight tolerance





dropped it back on the bench .... and slung it for a trial fit .....




Alignment doesn't get any better than this ...





pins went in sweet as ......





gonna need a slight chamfer mod on the one 70 mm when I fit the bosses .. but only slight ...





then it was back on the bench for a full weld up consolidation ... once i'd got the brace in place and stitched into spot .. and got the G clamp out the way ..





'fore it got the hot stick ...... was way too breezy today for me MIG .... didn't bother with any pix of the weld up process ... you've all seen me welding before .. suffice to say it got well vee-ed out and burnt in

70 mili. pins secured and it got lifted back into the SEC ..... re-pinned with the 80s and got airborne ...








might put the adapter back on t'other way round (as originally planned) when it comes off again for bossing up and some shiny tish .... difficult to tell which is optimum with a 'floppy leg' ATM...


Parked it on't bench, in readiness for getting de-oiled, possibly tomorrow


gotsta get all (as much as poss.) of the mineral oil out of the ram and plumbing, ready to get 'converted to Plantohyd bio. and minimize polluting the 'Drema's tank full of bio. ......... before dashing off down for Clara .... Pam's not 'well' ATM ... barking like a dog, so is sensibly staying in the warm, indoors !








'Sposed to rain tomorrow, so may have t' wait ....


Little un'll be here again at 7.45, so after I've taken her to nursery, I may well set up the Ajax with Rob65 's chuck I had off him and have a session boring out a load of bosses ...
got a good dozen or more ready for opening up to 70.2 mil. for this and a few other att.s that've been awaiting their bosses for some time ....


Clara's only half day tomorrow though .. see how it goes


One thing for sure .... SEC's gonna be a beast you'd not want to upset .... and it might develop a taste for Ford Rangers .. would shake 'em like a terrier with a rat

[v8druid]

well she started first flick Wednesday morning ... and no grief all day


first up to bat was the Startrite .....








get a truer cut elevating it off the bed and kinder to the blade .. not running in a looong curf


Ajax was next up .... playing drilling machine this morning ...





I don't bother clamping anything under 16 mil. .... much quicker ...


Out with the M16 taps ...





pin retainers tapped in both plates and on to splitting me spreader tubes ... 88.9 CHS with a 5mm wall just ain't quite big enough inside ... 4mm wall would've been, but didn't have any/couldn't get any ..... so







and re-set the carrier, ready to set up the pins parallel with each other ... in every plane





and stitched the one on ... followed by some very careful measuring ... in every plane to get t'other one dead on













before adding a few tacks to that one too ....... then the light and the bloody cold beat me ....
been raw here today, for standing about, fiddling, with a N Easterly to take your ears off


All ready for the morning ..... hoik the SEC out the trailer and get it over to the bench for a trial ... this is gonna be a 'Drema to handle it jobbie ... the 80 mm pins on their own are a handful .. two o' them and two 70,s plus all the ironmongery is waaaaaay too much for one pair of hands ... plus I'll need 'em to align everything
if it fits it'll get braced up in position, then off for a weld up and get some bosses made up for the 70,s
the spreader tubes for the 80,s'll get crammed full of grease ... don't want them getting stuck ............... and I can see how it looks on't Miller


then it'll be a case of lose all the sharp edges and corners ............ after Clara has been delivered to nursery .. there all day tomorrow and it's 'sposed to be dry yet again

[v8druid]

Tuesday however was a different story .... least it was 'til I had to go 'grand-dad-ing' about half two ... to watch Clara's second swimming lesson ... after my presence was 'requested', as she left for nursery, in the morning!!


kicked off the day with some 70 mil.s .... genny ran up fine and we were in business ...





although I'd set this out already, it was nice to check me measurements with the DRO on the Ajax ..





Spot on would adequately describe it


the broach presented a lovely 70.1 mil hole ... which was perfect for the pins, as a nice slide fit










then it was time to give the 80 mil.s a try











these were a tad more 'interesting to hang on to ... didn't want to trust them to a machine vise ... can never guarantee parallel in the bar stock and DID NOT want anything hopping about with 150 quidsworth of new broach buried elbow deep .... miss my old off cut stocks from work when it comes to packing summat ... wish I'd kept more


.....Anyway, got it set up and .......


pressed the go button on't genny ....... and ****ing sod all ... done it to me again !! earths off re-cleaned, although they looked perfect ... nothing ... going through the motions, but still sod all


fannied about checking all sorts and was contemplating 'jumping' the low current solenoid, to kick the starter's solenoid in, when i noticed a diode straddling the live terminal and earth on it??? Curious?? ... had it off, crimped up the spade a tad .. pressed the go button and we were in biz .. again??


one 80.15 mil hole later ......



........and a sweet as fit on a well greased pin ... jeez they'm heavy lil' sods .. and on to the next ...










it's fast approaching half two and I had to give up for the day .... would've liked to have stuck this in the band saw and sized them up, before shutting the genny off, but .....
it'll start in the morning ... it better had anyway


just to give you an inkling ......








can you see where this is going???


hopefully ... a lot more to come, tomorrow ...... forecast is dry
Bit more machining and it'll be MIG time

[v8druid]

DPD have a new service ...... next ****ing month delivery ..... dunno WTF this has been ... been reimbursed by seller and assumed I'd never see it so got another from elsewhere ?? (phone battery)

[v8druid]

Friday evening ..... came down about 5pm ......





then just after midnight the temp. noticeably leapt up and it all vanished
.... must've risen by 10 deg.s in a matter of half an hour ?


got these set out Saturday, between barrowing piles of garden crap and burning it for Pam ....





Mr Hermes arrived Saturday evening about 7.30 ...... with these








fifty quid each ... had to be had ... third of new price ... not a mark on the one and t'other's done maybe a couple of holes at best .... can never have enough tools


Set up the 70 mil.s yesterday ..... between yet more barrow fulls of prunings for burning ..








was gonna have a day on 'em all today .... bad night last night though ... didn't surface 'til mid morning - pissed ... and was reminded it's Monday ... so that was another two hours shot, when we got me 'plugged in' ...... was hoping to get to run the genny up after lunch 'praps but Pam had other plans !! .... tomorrow's another day


lovely sky last night ......








and was pretty crisp, 'bout half six, this morning ... -6C .... not long before I eventually got to sleep !!


last night was even 'whiter' than Friday ...





and still pretty white this morning





another stunningly different sky tonight








supposed to be a blue sky day tomorrow

[v8druid]

well the builders ain't getting very far next door, ATM ..... has pissed down here for days ... didn't turn up at all yesterday morning .... they should have heeded the forecast ... wasn't a bad day from 11-ish ..... managed to get a little bit done for me, after I delivered Clara to nursery .. for the day


thought i'd have a crack at getting the pins out o' the SEC .....








hard fought, this bugger was, even after a bit of a clean off ..... but got the lil' sod eventually ....







T'other one was a POP .... aside from being 'kin heavy ... would not want one of these on yer foot toe caps or not ... had to start with the right lil' b'stard ... but at least the easy one was a pleasant surprise


.... as suspected ... not through bosses .. face fixed and plates bored at pin sizes .....





got them all cleaned out and polished up a bit, before giving 'em a good coat o' grease, ... as the bloody rain kicked off again .... and the day light disappeared


regrettably these are at 18" ctrs ..... 'Drema's Miller is 400s, so can't just either, bush it down, or get the pins reduced in the middle 280mm ... but as said before, I have a few ideas ... just deciding on the easiest / most convenient / least effort way to get there .... the one quandry I really have is whether to adapt, so's it'll revert to original or simply alter it permanently ??? 'sahelluva weapon though .... build quality is real nice


Pins cleaned up well on the bench .. even the grease ports took lube and ejected what was in there ... went round this with the gun while it was in me mitts and all took very little TBF ... I'd be surprised if this has ever done any work .... now all I need is some dryness ...... absoluuuutely lashing it down here again last night ... bouncing off the Veluxes upstairs ... could hear it down here -- above Pam's TV volume

OK . decision made .... this came up last night in me ebay saved searches ......





much quicker than machining out a 70mm with a boring head ..... might have to give this a touch ..see once I've made a hole with it ... might be here in the morning ..hopefully .. 1st class tracked ..... but I'll be surprised if it is


been 'shopping' this afternoon to me mate's with the lil' fab shop, down the road .... .. he didn't quite have enough of what i wanted, in stock .... but I do have some, that will make up the shortfall, already


WP_20191128_16_10_33_Pro.jpg




let's hope it's dry tomorrow ... no Clara (had to cut my chat short with me mate, to rush back to collect her from nursery) ... and Pam is out at her dance class in the morning, so might just get something done ... especially if that 80mm broach turns up ..... but got a bit to do otherwise

[v8druid]

we've waited well over ten weeks for this ...... looooooong weeks .... but finally worth the wait ....... arrived Wednesday afternoon





the wound from the surgery has damned near completely healed and disappeared ... terrific job on the consultant surgeons part

[v8druid]

so ...... today's efforts ...


three coats of HBZP primer does a reasonable job ......



as does Holts underbody sealer ..... 'specially when it's like tar ....





should keep the weather at bay for a while. At least it's solid now and will stand the MOT man's hammer .... 'til everything around it gives up
this has already had some pretty extensive patching ... all on the nearside .. thanks mostly to running in the gutters, I'd guess, accumulating all manner of crud


Has completely burgered me up this afters, working overhead, arms above me head .... body just does not like it AT ALL ...
off me face on a Tramadol cocktail this evening ....... not quite Rioja .. but a similar effect .....
and zero pain which beat me about four o'clock .... that and the cold !!


Frost was down here last night before six .. car was white ... whiter still by ten ...




well frosted by 11 ......





and sugar coated by half midnight ......



coldest night we've had in a while ... -4.4 C, according to me thermometer .. but it's better than the rain

Was still frost on the ground first thing when Clara arrived ... but foggy as hell ...
lifted here by the time she went off to nursery at 8.45 ...
here at least ... was pretty dense down below us though ...













been a seriously cold little breeze most of the day and really chilled the old bones ..... has warmed up this evening ... can't see yer breff tonight