Hi All,

Daughter was loaned a little Performance Power Tools angle grinder and
she has been using it for finishing some of her chainsaw carvings up
in Scotland.

They have come down to go to an Arb show and she handed it to me with
the std "it stopped working .. can you fix it for me please Dadda?"

I went through the faultfinding steps with her b/f and we came to the
conclusion it was the switch and I'd look to see if spares were
available?

I leant her my spare (like you do) and once they were gone I looked
closer at the switch.

Luckily it seems like it was designed to be taken to bits and as I did
so a fair bit of sawdust fell out (even though it looked sealed). I
removed the actual contact rocker, de-dusted everything, gave the
contacts a light clean and reassembled. It looked ok on the DMM and
seems to work ok again in the grinder (for now anyway?). ;-)

Anyway, I know it's only a cheap grinder and we could buy the same
(or better) model as a replacement but it's much better to be able to
fix the one you have, especially for nothing (apart from a bit of my
time of course but I enjoy doing so, especially when it's successful).
;-)

If she starts doing more of this sort of thing I think she will look
to getting something 'better', assuming there is such a things these
days and if so what please?

I still have one of the Black and Decker 'Pro' (in black?) series and
I think it's probably better balanced than the Bosch I have that I
think is supposed to be pretty good.

Cheers, T i m

T i m wrote:

Anyway, I know it's only a cheap grinder and we could buy the same
(or better) model as a replacement but it's much better to be able to
fix the one you have, especially for nothing (apart from a bit of my
time of course but I enjoy doing so, especially when it's successful).
;-)

I've got one much the same (dunno what it's labelled but it was from B&Q
about 10 years ago) that I bought for a one-off use but it of course
came in useful for a bajillion other things so, having performed
faultless & stirling service and even though I keep thinking about
getting a "posh" one, I've stripped it down and given it a good clean
before the gunk inside caused it to eat itself and I hope it lasts many
a year!

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

On Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:41:52 +0100, Scott M
wrote:

T i m wrote:

Anyway, I know it's only a cheap grinder and we could buy the same
(or better) model as a replacement but it's much better to be able to
fix the one you have, especially for nothing (apart from a bit of my
time of course but I enjoy doing so, especially when it's successful).
;-)

I've got one much the same (dunno what it's labelled but it was from B&Q
about 10 years ago) that I bought for a one-off use but it of course
came in useful for a bajillion other things so, having performed
faultless & stirling service and even though I keep thinking about
getting a "posh" one, I've stripped it down and given it a good clean
before the gunk inside caused it to eat itself and I hope it lasts many
a year!

And that's probably the thing isn't it. Often these 'cheap' lines are
let down by either a small bit of poor design or a poor component. And
not always the cheap lines it seems?

Like, I bought one of the Charke steel cutting bandsaws and halfway
through the job (I bought it for) one of the blade bearings failed. So
I changed the lot for good / branded ones and it's been fine ever
since.

I'm doing similar with a couple of trailers, amongst other things I'm
replacing the unbranded wheel bearings with (in this case) NTN ones
(at 3 x the cost) in the hope it will allow them to last a bit better.
And it's not that these things fail per-se but the issues that be
caused when they fail and especially if un-noticed for a while (you
can't always hear a bearing start to fail as you generally can on a
car).

I bet your grinder gearbox had what looked like wax stuck around the
outside and no sign that it had ever been anywhere near the gears?

Daughter has just re-furbished an old sack barrow we were given
(because it was suited to carrying bits of tree trunk and had
inflatable tyres) and the bearings were originally shielded. It had
been left outside and water had got in the shields and the bearings
had rusted apart. Because the bearings were unlikely to be worked hard
but may get wet, I replaced them with the sealed type for 50p each.

The decent bearings I fitted to the 13month old failed washing machine
I was given via Freecycle seem to be doing better than the originals.
;-)

I really feel with some of these things the devil is in the detail.
The number of times I ask a 'specialist' for some technical support
and they typically say "nah, we just use any grease / paint / material
/ bolts / bearings and just do whatever every year or so".

IMHO, fewer people (present company accepted of course g) seem to
have the interest in doing it right first time these days and finding
someone that knows their subject is a breath of fresh air. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

In message , T i m
writes


The decent bearings I fitted to the 13month old failed washing machine
I was given via Freecycle seem to be doing better than the originals.

Bearing design is probably an exact science but tweaking the detail for
marketing purposes is rather different.

A long while ago now but, back in the '80's, the Japanese bearing
industry stole a march on the European competition by marketing a range
of *quiet* ball bearings for domestic equipment. Apparently, this had
been achieved by relaxing the groove tolerances and would have had
serious impacts on the thrust performance and overall life expectancy.
But quietness was a bigger marketing point.
;-)

I really feel with some of these things the devil is in the detail.
The number of times I ask a 'specialist' for some technical support
and they typically say "nah, we just use any grease / paint / material
/ bolts / bearings and just do whatever every year or so".

Ah! Detail. Along with my barn frame, I received a 10l drum of high
build primer paint. On opening it was found to be congealed to a stiff
paste! Vigorous stirring reduced it to a just about paintable cream but
I was determined to discover how to add thinners. The manufacturers web
site only offered a snail mail data sheet, the can only mentioned Xylene
as a risk factor. How is one supposed to know what to use?

Fortunately, Hammerite brush cleaner/thinners works!

IMHO, fewer people (present company accepted of course g) seem to
have the interest in doing it right first time these days and finding
someone that knows their subject is a breath of fresh air. ;-)

Everyone knows something about something:-)

regards

--
Tim Lamb

On Fri, 6 Aug 2010 11:05:01 +0100, Tim Lamb
wrote:

In message , T i m
writes


The decent bearings I fitted to the 13month old failed washing machine
I was given via Freecycle seem to be doing better than the originals.

Bearing design is probably an exact science but tweaking the detail for
marketing purposes is rather different.

After phoning around it seems like some of the big brands are also
having (some of?) their bearings made in the likes of China. Not that
that in itself /should/ be a problem but I fear it's more to do with
the 'if we don't join it we will be left out' philosophy than anything
else.

Most of the bearing suppliers confirmed there was indeed 3 levels to
these (trailer) bearings. Very cheap that should be considered as
consumables [1], 'good' unbranded (possibly made with the same stuff
as the good bearings just without the label) and the genuine good
stuff. I could get two sets of 4 wheel bearings delivered for less
than the cost of one Timkin.

A long while ago now but, back in the '80's, the Japanese bearing
industry stole a march on the European competition by marketing a range
of *quiet* ball bearings for domestic equipment. Apparently, this had
been achieved by relaxing the groove tolerances and would have had
serious impacts on the thrust performance and overall life expectancy.

Ah. ;-(

But quietness was a bigger marketing point.


And this is where the suppliers of this sort of thing should step in.
"These bearings are quieter and that's ok for your washing machine but
not a good idea for your trailer. I'd suggest getting the ABC bearings
for that role". And I guess when times were easier people could afford
to potentially miss out on some potentially bad business. Now the
gamble may pay off, especially if everything works ok?



I really feel with some of these things the devil is in the detail.
The number of times I ask a 'specialist' for some technical support
and they typically say "nah, we just use any grease / paint / material
/ bolts / bearings and just do whatever every year or so".

Ah! Detail. Along with my barn frame, I received a 10l drum of high
build primer paint.

I would have thought 10l would have been a tester size from my
memories of your new barn! ;-)

On opening it was found to be congealed to a stiff
paste! Vigorous stirring reduced it to a just about paintable cream

And probably hard work with a brush.

but
I was determined to discover how to add thinners. The manufacturers web
site only offered a snail mail data sheet, the can only mentioned Xylene
as a risk factor.

Our daughter supplies more information with her chainsaw carvings than
that! ;-)

How is one supposed to know what to use?

Well exactly, and using the wrong stuff (especially on such a large
project) could have serious implications.


Fortunately, Hammerite brush cleaner/thinners works!

I still have a can of Acetone that seems to be a good solvent for all
sorts of things. ;-)

IMHO, fewer people (present company accepted of course g) seem to
have the interest in doing it right first time these days and finding
someone that knows their subject is a breath of fresh air. ;-)

Everyone knows something about something:-)

Of course, however, I find few of them seem to be working in their
field of expertise anymore (tending to take 'a job' rather than one
they might be good / skilled at etc). Can't blame them of course.

I was buying some bolts to use on a galvanised trailer and thought I
remembered something about stainless and galvanise 'reacting'. I like
to use ss fastness because they can be removed easily in the future
but not if they would react with the galvanized plating. He suggested
that it wouldn't be a problem as you couldn't generally put galv and
non galv fasteners together (different thread / size or summat) but
whilst that was good to know it wasn't really my question. I didn't
pursue it any further as I felt it might not be something they would
know in any case (even though it could be of use to their customers
and indirectly, them).

I'm also finding more "I don't know, I just sell it" type answers or
"I wouldn't do that" even though they can't offer a logical
explanation why you wouldn't. Big difference (IMHO) between something
someone wouldn't do because /they/ didn't like the idea or they didn't
think it looked nice and something that may be dangerous or be against
the regs (in which case they are logical answers).

Cheers, T i m

On Aug 5, 8:00*pm, T i m wrote:
Hi All,

Daughter was loaned a little Performance Power Tools angle grinder and
she has been using it for finishing some of her chainsaw carvings up
in Scotland.

Where does using a fairly dangerous tool for a useful purpose end and
larking around begin? Chainsaw carving isn't something I'd
contemplate. If a tree blows down or a feral elderberry is crying out
to be butchered I will rev up and have a go (DIY) to get the mess out
of the way.

On Fri, 6 Aug 2010 04:26:34 -0700 (PDT), Part timer
wrote:

On Aug 5, 8:00*pm, T i m wrote:
Hi All,

Daughter was loaned a little Performance Power Tools angle grinder and
she has been using it for finishing some of her chainsaw carvings up
in Scotland.

Where does using a fairly dangerous tool for a useful purpose end and
larking around begin?

Good question but you could ask the same for pretty well anything the
human race invent for one job (normally to make it faster, easier,
cheaper or use less people) then mutate into a sport (like bicycle /
motorcycle / car / boat / plane racing or jumping off a building with
a parachute).

Chainsaw carving isn't something I'd
contemplate.

It's not for everyone that's for sure. She can't contemplate sitting
in an office all day, people can die of boredom you know. ;-)

If a tree blows down or a feral elderberry is crying out
to be butchered I will rev up and have a go (DIY) to get the mess out
of the way.

Hmm, well she's a 'professional ' in that she's had the training,
achieved the tickets, has /some/ experience (groundy / trainee t/s for
6 months), climber, has and wears all the PPE, has insurance, is
generally 'sensible' and isn't 'reckless'. No guarantees in life
though (only death). ;-(

When she was regularly working in the tree surgery game I was more
concerned about her riding to work at 6am in the dark and rain on her
motorbike than I was her using all the (mostly 'dangerous') kit or
being 60' up a tree.

Cheers, T i m

p.s. I saw a similar point raised when we were discussing shooting
somewhere. Someone asked "who in there right minds would put a real
gun in the hands of a child?" Someone replied, "How else can you train
them properly?" g. I wonder how many kids accidentally shoot their
mates / family / selves because they /weren't/ trained in the safe
handling of weapons? A blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one
etc.

On Aug 6, 1:10*pm, T i m wrote:

Daughter was loaned a little Performance Power Tools angle grinder and
she has been using it for finishing some of her chainsaw carvings up
in Scotland.

Where does using a fairly dangerous tool for a useful purpose end and
larking around begin?

Good question but you could ask the same for pretty well anything the
human race invent for one job (normally to make it faster, easier,
cheaper or use less people) then mutate into a sport (like bicycle /
motorcycle / car / boat / plane racing or jumping off a building with
a parachute).

Point taken. Yes, I cycle without a lid!

Chainsaw carving isn't something I'd
contemplate.

It's not for everyone that's for sure. She can't contemplate sitting
in an office all day, people can die of boredom you know. ;-)

Me neither.

If a tree blows down or a feral elderberry is crying out
to be butchered I will rev up and have a go (DIY) to get the mess out
of the way.

Hmm, well she's a 'professional ' in that she's had the training,
achieved the tickets, has /some/ experience (groundy / trainee t/s for
6 months), climber, has and wears all the PPE, has insurance, is
generally 'sensible' and isn't 'reckless'. No guarantees in life
though (only death). ;-(

Full respect. The minimal amount I have done has lacked most of those
things so maybe that's where my fear (not a bad thing) originates.
That and the threat of kickback from a chain doing, what? 30m/s. When
I bought it (after a tree fell down last year), I searched uk.d-i-y
and many people considered them far too dangerous to touch and had
recommended limp-wristed alternatives to others in the past. Still
wouldn't like to climb a tree with one.

When she was regularly working in the tree surgery game I was more
concerned about her riding to work at 6am in the dark and rain on her
motorbike than I was her using all the (mostly 'dangerous') kit or
being 60' up a tree.

Cheers, T i m

p.s. I saw a similar point raised when we were discussing shooting
somewhere. Someone asked "who in there right minds would put a real
gun in the hands of a child?" Someone replied, "How else can you train
them properly?" g. I wonder how many kids accidentally shoot their
mates / family / selves because they /weren't/ trained in the safe
handling of weapons? A blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one
etc.

If every child had proper training (ACF etc) guns wouldn't be
glamourised. Can't really pin down the knives problem but I was
watching Ch4 on Monday night about London hoodie gangs stabbing each
other under some false loyalty towards 'their' postcode. Makes me glad
to be a northerner!

On Fri, 6 Aug 2010 14:20:22 -0700 (PDT), Part timer
wrote:


Good question but you could ask the same for pretty well anything the
human race invent for one job (normally to make it faster, easier,
cheaper or use less people) then mutate into a sport (like bicycle /
motorcycle / car / boat / plane racing or jumping off a building with
a parachute).

Point taken. Yes, I cycle without a lid!

And I think the jury is out if that is a bad thing or not (neck
injuries etc).

Chainsaw carving isn't something I'd
contemplate.

It's not for everyone that's for sure. She can't contemplate sitting
in an office all day, people can die of boredom you know. ;-)

Me neither.

;-)

If a tree blows down or a feral elderberry is crying out
to be butchered I will rev up and have a go (DIY) to get the mess out
of the way.

Hmm, well she's a 'professional ' in that she's had the training,
achieved the tickets, has /some/ experience (groundy / trainee t/s for
6 months), climber, has and wears all the PPE, has insurance, is
generally 'sensible' and isn't 'reckless'. No guarantees in life
though (only death). ;-(

Full respect.

Thanks (for her). However, as a parent I would prefer she did
something /slightly/ less dangerous but as she doesn't do drugs or
walk round the wrong places at the wrong times or mix with the wrong
people I have to be grateful for small mercies. Also with her Mum and
I both motorcyclists to tell her not to follow in our footsteps would
be a bit hypocritical.

The minimal amount I have done has lacked most of those
things so maybe that's where my fear (not a bad thing) originates.

As you say, not a bad thing under the circumstances. Similar logic re
replacing the drivers airbag with a bayonet .. ;-)

That and the threat of kickback from a chain doing, what? 30m/s.

Especially when they come off. She was practicing some of her exam
stuff in a mates wood (she fells / tidies, they get firewood and I get
some quality time and exercise g) and they leant her their 'recently
serviced' Husky. She should have checked it over herself of course and
learned a huge lesson as the chain few over her right shoulder. The
lesson was to only use her own saws (her MS260 was her Xmyth pressy a
few years back as she services them herself). A bit like packing your
own parachute. ;-)

When
I bought it (after a tree fell down last year), I searched uk.d-i-y
and many people considered them far too dangerous to touch and had
recommended limp-wristed alternatives to others in the past.

They are one of those things where often any mistake ends up being a
nasty mistake (mainly because of how fast they cut and the way they
remove 'material' (shudder)).

Still
wouldn't like to climb a tree with one.

A little 'Top handle' isn't too bad but as you say it does seem
strange seeing a little running 2/ engine dangling off someone's belt.

It's funny. She's always been happy up on things (when she was a kid
and we were decorating she'd find her way to the top of the step
ladder) but I know she's not blase about it, using all her training
and ropes etc. On her course (12 lads and her) it wasn't unknown for
the other students to 'lose it' and have to be rescued by the tutor
(mainly because they hadn't listened, hadn't taken it in or were
trying too hard to be 'blokes' [1]. ;-)

She didn't take her 'aerial recovery' ticket because a) she was
unlikely to ever need it and 2) didn't want to be in a position that
it was expected of her to rescue someone as she wasn't confident she
could get there in time and didn't want to make matters worse. Big
difference between an ok climber and a strong / speed / competition
climber.


If every child had proper training (ACF etc) guns wouldn't be
glamourised.

I had a too-close-for-comfort call round my mates the other day. He'd
bought a new air rifle and showed it to me. I asked him if it was
loaded and he said no. Because I know a bit about guns I didn't muzzle
sweep him nor touch the trigger and stood it down at the end of his
sofa (as it would be in a gun rack). He went to put it away and pulled
the trigger as he did and put a pellet through his own double glazing.
gulp.

Can't really pin down the knives problem but I was
watching Ch4 on Monday night about London hoodie gangs stabbing each
other under some false loyalty towards 'their' postcode. Makes me glad
to be a northerner!


Yup, all to do with 'territory' and 'respek' apparently. Isn't it sad
though when someone gets stabbed to death because someone else
'believes' they own the local playing fields etc. However, when you
have nothing even a (false) belief can be worth killing for?
(apparently) ;-(

Cheers, T i m


[1] She noticed this when she was dragging brush with 'blokes'. If
they were all dragging stuff and it got caught up she would give it an
extra tug then try to unhook it. 'Blokes' would tug harder and harder
till something broke / fell over / hurt too much. ;-)

"T i m" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 6 Aug 2010 14:20:22 -0700 (PDT), Part timer
wrote:


Good question but you could ask the same for pretty well anything the
human race invent for one job (normally to make it faster, easier,
cheaper or use less people) then mutate into a sport (like bicycle /
motorcycle / car / boat / plane racing or jumping off a building with
a parachute).

Point taken. Yes, I cycle without a lid!

And I think the jury is out if that is a bad thing or not (neck
injuries etc).

Its bad.
My daughter crashed into the corner of a wall and had a nice split down the
front of the lid and a graze on her chin, no real damage.
My neighbours son fell off his bike, broken palate, nearly drowned in blood,
hospital job, no lid.
None of us ride without a lid since.

On Sat, 7 Aug 2010 20:43:32 +0100, "dennis@home"
wrote:



"T i m" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 6 Aug 2010 14:20:22 -0700 (PDT), Part timer
wrote:


Good question but you could ask the same for pretty well anything the
human race invent for one job (normally to make it faster, easier,
cheaper or use less people) then mutate into a sport (like bicycle /
motorcycle / car / boat / plane racing or jumping off a building with
a parachute).

Point taken. Yes, I cycle without a lid!

And I think the jury is out if that is a bad thing or not (neck
injuries etc).

Its bad.
My daughter crashed into the corner of a wall and had a nice split down the
front of the lid and a graze on her chin, no real damage.
My neighbours son fell off his bike, broken palate, nearly drowned in blood,
hospital job, no lid.
None of us ride without a lid since.

Whilst I have no issues wearing a cycle helmet (and do more often than
not) I'm still not convinced (even with your sample g) that doing so
it statically 'better'.

Especially when you find plenty of 'material' like this.

"Individual cyclists may have benefited from wearing a helmet … but
the odds would seem to be against it.

When large population samples are examined, it is difficult to detect
any noticeable improvement in cyclist casualty trends. Worryingly,
what change is to be found would seem to suggest that injuries,
and sometimes injury severity, increase with helmet use."

http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/digest/2002glos.pdf

And

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet

"However, helmets are designed to crush without breaking; expanded
polystyrene absorbs little energy in brittle failure and once it fails
no further energy is absorbed."

This hints at an assumption that all the 'impact' is 'absorbed' by the
helmet but in the real world tests I saw demonstrated at TRRL a few
years back that the pulse shocks (the ones that damage the brain to a
point where death can occur, even if the scull is not visibly damaged)
are worsened by the use of polystyrene (in particular) as a liner or
the helmet itself.

Therefore, I would advocate the use of a 'good' helmet, not 'any'
helmet. Unfortunately I'm not aware of any such helmet as supplied for
use with cycling or motorcycling. These can be found via sports such
as snow boarding, skateboarding, ice hockey and canoeing but they may
not be suitable for cycling (heat / visibility / weight / cost [1])
and would be illegal for motorcycling.

Cheers, T i m


[1] Many people wouldn't buy a helmet (if it wasn't mandatory) if it
cost more than a certain amount. My cycle helmet was more than many of
my motorcycle helmets because I had to buy an 'up-market' one to get
one that fitted properly (another fact that might bypass many
cyclists).