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On the bench.

Yesterday a neighbor very kindly brought round her sewing machine, showed me how to use it, and then we put a new zip in my favorite old jacket.. IMG_20230324_125703452.jpg
The hardest bit seemed to be threading the cotton around the sewing machine.. but I did also nearly take off her finger, with a trigger happy foot oops..
IMG_20230324_152843172.jpg
The iron on patches have all subsequently fallen off, doh!

I've got the sewing machine on loan for a month, and the weather is crap today, so may have a play while I can still remember some of the instructions..
 
Picked up two of these yesterday from a house clearance. Free to the allotment group. Apparently he was in the process of making one good one from two bad, so one is complete and the other in bits.
mower1.jpg

I think this used to have 10 teeth on it.
mower2.jpg

Both Suffolk Punch petrol mowers. One a slightly later model.
Will use to keep the grass pathways neat. Not exactly saving the planet unless I can convert it to ethanol or am able to buy biobutanol.
Do you think I could run it off methane if I wore a gas bag rucksack? Would look like a snail mowing the grass then.
 
Today's pita - 'orrible insides of a toaster.
toaster.jpg


I hate working on these things as they are about the lowest form of consumer product (next to kettles) so are built down to a price. It also has anti-repair triangular screws to stop you taking it apart.
This one, the hold-down electromagnets were just getting weaker over time, and have now given up altogether.
Nothing seemed to be obviously wrong. No crumbs stuck in the way, switch contacts cleaned but still not working. So looked for a supply to the timer board, which proved difficult to work around as I would normally add my own low voltage supply to check that - but was drawing over 8 Amps!
After checking the circuit I found out that I was also powering part of one of the elements when I was adding my supply, so I found that the way this timer is powered was the cause of the problem:-
When the lever is pushed down this closes 2 contacts and supplies power across 3 of the elements. Each element is essentially a resistor with 230v at one end and 0v at the other, so to get the power for the timer they have added a rivet directly onto the element as tap to give about 20v to power the timer and electromagnets..... But this gets hot, and cycles, corrodes, and over time the resistance of the bad connection goes up leading to less and less voltage getting to the electromagnets and circuit. - So this thing is designed to fail.

Unfortunately, if I was to give it an alternative supply the equivalent dropper resistor would need to loose 130 watts, so is probably why they did it this way to make use of the wasted heat.
Gave the rivet a wobble and crimp and is back working again.
 
Richie_asg1 said:
Today's pita - 'orrible insides of a toaster.
View attachment 318135

I hate working on these things as they are about the lowest form of consumer product (next to kettles) so are built down to a price. It also has anti-repair triangular screws to stop you taking it apart.
This one, the hold-down electromagnets were just getting weaker over time, and have now given up altogether.
Nothing seemed to be obviously wrong. No crumbs stuck in the way, switch contacts cleaned but still not working. So looked for a supply to the timer board, which proved difficult to work around as I would normally add my own low voltage supply to check that - but was drawing over 8 Amps!
After checking the circuit I found out that I was also powering part of one of the elements when I was adding my supply, so I found that the way this timer is powered was the cause of the problem:-
When the lever is pushed down this closes 2 contacts and supplies power across 3 of the elements. Each element is essentially a resistor with 230v at one end and 0v at the other, so to get the power for the timer they have added a rivet directly onto the element as tap to give about 20v to power the timer and electromagnets..... But this gets hot, and cycles, corrodes, and over time the resistance of the bad connection goes up leading to less and less voltage getting to the electromagnets and circuit. - So this thing is designed to fail.

Unfortunately, if I was to give it an alternative supply the equivalent dropper resistor would need to loose 130 watts, so is probably why they did it this way to make use of the wasted heat.
Gave the rivet a wobble and crimp and is back working again.
Click to expand...
Sometimes the crumbs start moving on their own.
 
Needed to use the generator last week that had been stored since last Autumn. New fuel and... didn't run. :sad:
Cleaned fuel bowl, checked float and float valve and they are ok, Tried it again and it ran very rich so adjusted the needle valve - which did nothing. Taking the needle out completely there was no fuel at it, so stripped carb out to clean.
This requires removing the regulating arm which is kind of a bad design as it takes some setting up afterwards to find the right spot.
Found the top jet was blocked so cleaned that out of a dusty soil coloured deposit but can't find where the supply to the needle adjustment screw comes from. Re-assembled after a blowout and now it runs but still no fuel at the needle valve?
Will have to take a closer look again.
generator.jpg
 
Generator still not happy but not got to the bottom of it yet. Stripped exhaust as it is supposed to have a spark arrestor that gets blocked, but that has disappeared so it's not that. New plug but still struggling.

Today - -A rose by any other name....
Too much of a skinflint eco-worrier to buy a new rose for my 1940's watering can, and it wouldn't fit anyway, so repaired my old one using a couple of bits of old copper water pipe - which was surprisingly thick!
rose1.jpg
rose2.jpg


rose3.jpg

Bit awkward as the pipe unrolled still wasn't wide enough to make the back in one piece so had to use 2 bits soldered together to have enough material. This made it more awkward when dishing it and soldering as I had to watch the temperature very carefully. Used an old bearing race for the dishing with a nylon hammer. Just needs cleaning up now as photo taken just after soldering and needed to get the dinner on. Amazingly I made this in one go with no breaks.
I really liked working with the scrap copper, and it reminded me of making jewellery in school by using coloured glazes on copper then heating it to melt the glaze. I may have a go at making permanent plant labels with this method, perhaps using scrap coloured glass as a background for the other glazes.
 
Schrödinger's goldfish.......and wild geese.

I have two goldfish who's job it is to look after my water storage pond and prevent mosquito's breeding in it. But in the winter I move them into a pallet cube of about 200L that is insulated and has a small pond heater in it.
The last one I bought was 300W so I stepped down to a 200W one to make things cheaper, but during this recent freeze it froze over and appeared to have stopped working.
I bought the stainless steel one because I don't like looking at a 240v heating element in water with just a thin glass envelope preventing electrocution. So I brought it in and tested for resistance and - nothing. Fuse was ok. I plugged it into a wattmeter and it showed 0 Watts.
So I set to taking it apart and was surprisingly easy, only held in with a dab of silicone inside of a cast silicone plug.
Checked every component and all seemed good, apart from the Thyristor which I couldn't test. As I'd stretched the heating element a bit I had to rewind that, and put it back together again. Testing it in the sink - it worked !
I suspected that it was a bad connection with the heating element that I had disturbed, so put it back in the tank again.
Went inside and checked the wattmeter, and it showed 200W - which was correct.
Checked again in 5 minutes and - 0 Watts. :(

So I pull it out again, bring it in, pull it apart and try testing the element. I bridged the thyristor and it got hot as it should. So put it back together again and test it in the sink - and it gets hot.

At this point I thought, rather than risk dead goldfish by freezing, I could bridge the thyristor so the heating element is on all the time, so at least it would heat the water - but may get too hot - boiled goldfish. So to prevent that I could use a timeswitch to turn it on and off every hour or so.
- But that is a lot of programming on an electronic one............but it does have a random feature for security.

But what is random on a timeswitch?
is it on for an hour and off for an hour, or on for 3 hours or 7 then off for 4 ?

If I used that feature connected to the pond heater, I cannot see the fish, or know the temperature until I look, at which point the fish are either dead or alive - so I now have Schrödinger's goldfish !!

I decided against that, and put it out again - same thing - works, then doesn't.
In again - test again - works fine !!!!!
Out again, doesn't !! FFS ! :mad:

Tried plugging it directly into the wattmeter and ....... 0 Watts - but it is getting hot ???
Ok - faulty wattmeter. So I plugged an inspection light in and - it reads 150W no problem.

The only thing I can think of is this pond heater only had one diode in it filtering the supply to the op-amp, and as that controls the switching of the thyristor - is it only switching on for a half cycle, and the negative cycle of the AC? This may well confuse the watt meter enough to show 0 Watts.
So it looks like it was working after all, and the 200w heater is not up to keeping the top frost free. But at least it is preventing it freezing solid.
Back to the 300W one when I can find it.

Insides.....
200w heater.jpg

3 resistors top right step down from 230v and the diode under them provides supply limited by a zener I presume then into the bulk cap. The chip is an LM358 opamp using a zener as a reference and the variable pot at the end will be adjusting the trip point for a temperature sensor under the silicone bung. The big thyristor at the top does the switching straight to the element in the ceramic holder - which is rather nice. Black plug is a plug with two connectors that two prongs of the PCB fit into, with crimps onto the heater coils.
 
Richie_asg1 said:
Schrödinger's goldfish.......and wild geese.

I have two goldfish who's job it is to look after my water storage pond and prevent mosquito's breeding in it. But in the winter I move them into a pallet cube of about 200L that is insulated and has a small pond heater in it.
The last one I bought was 300W so I stepped down to a 200W one to make things cheaper, but during this recent freeze it froze over and appeared to have stopped working.
I bought the stainless steel one because I don't like looking at a 240v heating element in water with just a thin glass envelope preventing electrocution. So I brought it in and tested for resistance and - nothing. Fuse was ok. I plugged it into a wattmeter and it showed 0 Watts.
So I set to taking it apart and was surprisingly easy, only held in with a dab of silicone inside of a cast silicone plug.
Checked every component and all seemed good, apart from the Thyristor which I couldn't test. As I'd stretched the heating element a bit I had to rewind that, and put it back together again. Testing it in the sink - it worked !
I suspected that it was a bad connection with the heating element that I had disturbed, so put it back in the tank again.
Went inside and checked the wattmeter, and it showed 200W - which was correct.
Checked again in 5 minutes and - 0 Watts. :(

So I pull it out again, bring it in, pull it apart and try testing the element. I bridged the thyristor and it got hot as it should. So put it back together again and test it in the sink - and it gets hot.

At this point I thought, rather than risk dead goldfish by freezing, I could bridge the thyristor so the heating element is on all the time, so at least it would heat the water - but may get too hot - boiled goldfish. So to prevent that I could use a timeswitch to turn it on and off every hour or so.
- But that is a lot of programming on an electronic one............but it does have a random feature for security.

But what is random on a timeswitch?
is it on for an hour and off for an hour, or on for 3 hours or 7 then off for 4 ?

If I used that feature connected to the pond heater, I cannot see the fish, or know the temperature until I look, at which point the fish are either dead or alive - so I now have Schrödinger's goldfish !!

I decided against that, and put it out again - same thing - works, then doesn't.
In again - test again - works fine !!!!!
Out again, doesn't !! FFS ! :mad:

Tried plugging it directly into the wattmeter and ....... 0 Watts - but it is getting hot ???
Ok - faulty wattmeter. So I plugged an inspection light in and - it reads 150W no problem.

The only thing I can think of is this pond heater only had one diode in it filtering the supply to the op-amp, and as that controls the switching of the thyristor - is it only switching on for a half cycle, and the negative cycle of the AC? This may well confuse the watt meter enough to show 0 Watts.
So it looks like it was working after all, and the 200w heater is not up to keeping the top frost free. But at least it is preventing it freezing solid.
Back to the 300W one when I can find it.

Insides.....
View attachment 517991
3 resistors top right step down from 230v and the diode under them provides supply limited by a zener I presume then into the bulk cap. The chip is an LM358 opamp using a zener as a reference and the variable pot at the end will be adjusting the trip point for a temperature sensor under the silicone bung. The big thyristor at the top does the switching straight to the element in the ceramic holder - which is rather nice. Black plug is a plug with two connectors that two prongs of the PCB fit into, with crimps onto the heater coils.
Click to expand...
I do so wish i could understand watt you just wrote ...the mad ideas i have are very much limited in putting into action by the lack of under standing of electronics .....and soft ware ..programming
 
madmechanic 954 said:
I do so wish i could understand watt you just wrote ...the mad ideas i have are very much limited in putting into action by the lack of under standing of electronics .....and soft ware ..programming
Click to expand...
I'm an engineer by trade so have never had official teaching on that. It's all self taught mostly by taking stuff apart and buying a bunch of CB's to repair. I would encourage you to start and ask a lot of questions - as I did. So much stuff these days is modular, so is basically Lego, and I rely on the datasheets of parts as they usually suggest how to use the components. There are a few good simulation programs available free so you can play electronics and see what happens with no cost or smoke. I use LT Spice a lot when I design things but I think there are easier ones to learn on. That one is hard just to get started.
 
Richie_asg1 said:
I'm an engineer by trade so have never had official teaching on that. It's all self taught mostly by taking stuff apart and buying a bunch of CB's to repair. I would encourage you to start and ask a lot of questions - as I did. So much stuff these days is modular, so is basically Lego, and I rely on the datasheets of parts as they usually suggest how to use the components. There are a few good simulation programs available free so you can play electronics and see what happens with no cost or smoke. I use LT Spice a lot when I design things but I think there are easier ones to learn on. That one is hard just to get started.
Click to expand...
Well if you see a mushroom cloud over Cardiff .. you know i got it wrong ....:rofl:
 
20240126-160743.jpg


I've decided to do this one on the living room floor as it has the best light, a repair to the key to the X-Trail. When we bought the car the remote central locking didn't work, looking into it it was just the microswitches that fail and you can buy replacements cheaply enough. Bit of a pig to solder as it's so tight in there but I managed it and it worked. Around six months later she gave the key to the baby and he chewed it and it stopped working 🙄

I decided that I wasn't doing the job again so she'd just have to live without. Fast forward to last week when that baby is nearly four and the door lock has had so much use it's starting to fail, so the next key needs fixing. Another set of microswitches, another tricky but successful soldering job (eagle eyed viewers will see they're on squint), and fair play to the mighty X-Trail, it hadn't seen that key in years and it unlocked first press of the button.
 
20240213-175642.jpg


Working on the floor again, a cast iron radiator that probably weighs 100kg. I'm trying to remove the inlet from the top and the plug from the bottom so I can swap them, so the flow and return both enter at floor level. It seems that in the last 100 years a bit of a rust bond has formed and they're not budging. Don't let the scale fool you, the breaker bar and shifter are both 450mm.

For now I'm just gonna plusgas it for a week, but after that my options will be impact driver (on cast iron?!?), blowtorch, 1000mm breaker bar, die grinder the fittings out (can I even find replacements?). Not sure about this one.

Has anyone experience of radiators, or at least cast iron? Will a MAPP gas torch just fracture it, or gently release the bond?

Answers on a postcard please.
 
You can get fittings to fit old rads heat is probably your best bet
S3Steve said:
View attachment 521741

Working on the floor again, a cast iron radiator that probably weighs 100kg. I'm trying to remove the inlet from the top and the plug from the bottom so I can swap them, so the flow and return both enter at floor level. It seems that in the last 100 years a bit of a rust bond has formed and they're not budging. Don't let the scale fool you, the breaker bar and shifter are both 450mm.

For now I'm just gonna plusgas it for a week, but after that my options will be impact driver (on cast iron?!?), blowtorch, 1000mm breaker bar, die grinder the fittings out (can I even find replacements?). Not sure about this one.

Has anyone experience of radiators, or at least cast iron? Will a MAPP gas torch just fracture it, or gently release the bond?

Answers on a postcard please.
Click to expand...
 
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