Today I acquired...........

[Farside]

Still have 2 hi end Sony minidiscs tucked away along with a large stash of discs.
Shame they never took off. Prefer ed them to cd

They didn't offer enough, cheap enough, else they might have caught on more. If Sony had copied Philips example with the Compact Cassette and charged a trivial licence fee to produce Minidiscs and players / recorders, the price would have been low enough to tempt a lot of folk.

 

[Olderisbetter]

Both read and write if there any use to you. Mine BTW.
View attachment 138445

its a nice offer but i am holding out for my mates as it is a studio one in a rack mount a bit like this

 

[Blake's 7]

its a nice offer but i am holding out for my mates as it is a studio one in a rack mount a bit like this

That's a lovely piece of kit.

 

[dobbslc]

" So he is getting rid of a few bits to help with his wife's noise reduction"

^^^Is that some kind of modern Dolby type technology ?

 

[Kayos]

I used mini disc for years and years, used it to transfer vinyl to and had a player in the car before transferring to cd/mp3 with a pc was affordable

 

[Windy Miller]

This.

As a thank you from Howdens Kitchens for opening an account with them.

I don't need a trade account as I stopped fitting kitchens years ago, but when I went in for a few bits the other day, the offer of freebies made it sound like a very good idea!

Not used them yet, so I've yet to find out if they're any good or not.

 

[pcwizme]

View attachment 138477 View attachment 138478 This.

As a thank you from Howdens Kitchens for opening an account with them.

I don't need a trade account as I stopped fitting kitchens years ago, but when I went in for a few bits the other day, the offer of freebies made it sound like a very good idea!

Not used them yet, so I've yet to find out if they're any good or not.

I have that set and really rate it, works well for what i need, I added a Dewalt converter (I have an impact wrench not a driver) and a pozi 4 bit for landrover doors etc and it is fantastic

 

[Farside]

Yesterday, I acquired one of these...

Unfortunately, the CO2 / Argon reg I had acquired months ago has a 1/2" BSPP nut on it, and it don't fit. Aparently, various European countries still have CO2 bottles and FEs that use BSPP, instead of the DIN size. So much for standards, eh?
The DIN 477 thread on the bottle is enough of an oddball size that nobody (that I can find) has adapters.
The fire extinguisher guy left a suitable nut on the bottle, and if I could get the inlet tail out of the regulator body (it's just screwed in and loctited, I assume) I can use that. I'm reluctant to strain the body of the regulator doing that, as it's as tight as an Aberdonian on a night out.

 

[Windy Miller]

I have that set and really rate it, works well for what i need, I added a Dewalt converter (I have an impact wrench not a driver) and a pozi 4 bit for landrover doors etc and it is fantastic

What's the Dewalt converter do? Do they take different sized bits?

 

[pcwizme]

What's the Dewalt converter do? Do they take different sized bits?

It allows my 3/4 inch impact wrench to take impact driver bits

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

View attachment 138477 View attachment 138478 This.

As a thank you from Howdens Kitchens for opening an account with them.

I don't need a trade account as I stopped fitting kitchens years ago, but when I went in for a few bits the other day, the offer of freebies made it sound like a very good idea!

Not used them yet, so I've yet to find out if they're any good or not.

I got a 12v milwalkie driver when I signed up last year. They were also offering milwakie radios.
Can't have been a good year for them

 

[Wightsparks]

Electric trike, an unfinished project that "ran out of time". The executors were giving it away as they needed to clear stuff out, but I just could not do that with a clean conscience so I left a donation. Had to take it apart to get it on the trailer but it will make a good project for an off-road buggy as it would cost lots to get it IVA-able. Came with 4 Optima yellow tops too
"Minor" issue with storage until I finish present project but sure I can hide, errr.. store it somewhere...

 

[8ob]

Today a acquired courtesy of @slim_boy_fat this fantastic piston&conrod clock, Thank you John.

Bob

 

[mrdom]

***This ended up longer than i thought it would be so feel free to skip it***

I've just acquired something for nothing that i'm feeling a touch guilty about (minor guilt as its from Amazon and they can afford it, plus as i'll go into later it may not last long).

I had decided i needed some relief from the direct drive compressor I've been using, so for minor air requirements i decided i would give one of these a try...

Cheap Chinese 'silent' compressor, its a teeny 1hp motor and 24l tank... basically i bought it for £120 from an amazon seller, but when i got it i had concerns, namely there was some kind of grit inside the tank, weld spatter perhaps, not sure, but i wouldn't want to see what it would do to anything i connected to it. i managed to get it out but it didn't fill me with confidence of the quality (maybe forgivable for the price).

In addition to this the working pressure advertised was higher than the pressure it actually runs at (116psi vs 95 i think), on checking with the seller (because you can adjust it but i didn't want to screw the warranty considering concerns i already had) i was told it can be adjusted but its not recommended. This isn't critical as 95psi is enough for what i want, but i hate false advertising.

More concerning though, the manual states the air filter (fair enough) and piston rings (less fair i thought) should be replaced every 6 MONTHS...

All well and good in principle perhaps (although an irritation)... except again when i asked about this i was told spare parts are not available... neither does the manual include instructions for doing so. This also put me off upping the pressure.

Needless to say by this point i was not a happy customer. I requested to return it, they didn't argue but said i needed to contact Amazon and go through their return process.

OK fine, but the automated amazon return process says it will cover returns up to £4.50, not enough for a 23kg package so i had to talk to someone.

Here's were the fun and games continued. They said they would cover whatever the cost was, fair enough. But I was trying to get them to arrange the courier as it seemed to me to be a lot of difficulties in finding one that would actually be usable, most have fine print specifying they wont transport pressure vessels (even un pressurised), or at the very least they wouldn't cover them in the event of a problem. Hence me not wanting to take responsibly for the shipping.

So i was asking for courier suggestions, but each one they suggested had similar wording (and also a huge list of other stuff they similarly are not keen on), or wouldn't transport packages of that weight etc, this went on for a while, then out of the blue the guy just said OK well we will just give you a FULL REFUND and you can dispose of it as you see fit.

I think i'll dispose of it by using it until it breaks.

I can only assume that normally this fine print is just overlooked by anyone shipping stuff or even the couriers themselves, but once I had pointed it out to Amazon i guess they were in a position where there was basically no way to get it back to them. The other stupid part here is presumably Amazon now eat the cost not the seller of the sub standard product.

I've also since found that the piston rings (PTFE) are actually available direct from china for not a lot of money, and it doesn't look to hard to change them, so who knows, it may last a while after all. I really wasn't trying for a freebie i just wanted them to arrange the damn courier.

So... overall for the price of free i would thoroughly recommend it, but if i was actually spending money on it? not so much.

 

[Farside]

You'll probably find the rings will last for years too, depending on the finish quality of the internals.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

as it's as tight as an Aberdonian on a night out.

Oi!! them's words.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Today a acquired courtesy of @slim_boy_fat this fantastic piston&conrod clock, Thank you John.

Bob

Glad 'Son of Ben' arrived safely and that you're pleased with it, Bob.

 

[mrdom]

You'll probably find the rings will last for years too, depending on the finish quality of the internals.

You're probably right, and its not going to get heavy usage, its just the principle really. Longer term i i'll get a better belt drive compressor as i do much prefer a decent long lasting tool, but sometimes cheapies are hard to resist. And sometimes they end up being much better than you have any right to expect, or they fail quickly enough that you can return them.

 

[Turbo]

Yesterday, I acquired one of these...

Unfortunately, the CO2 / Argon reg I had acquired months ago has a 1/2" BSPP nut on it, and it don't fit. Aparently, various European countries still have CO2 bottles and FEs that use BSPP, instead of the DIN size. So much for standards, eh?
The DIN 477 thread on the bottle is enough of an oddball size that nobody (that I can find) has adapters.
The fire extinguisher guy left a suitable nut on the bottle, and if I could get the inlet tail out of the regulator body (it's just screwed in and loctited, I assume) I can use that. I'm reluctant to strain the body of the regulator doing that, as it's as tight as an Aberdonian on a night out.

To change the stem on the regulator you will have to heat the stem gently to soften the loctite & the stem will screw out. Obviously be careful not to let the heat spread into the reg body or you could damage its internal bits. But keep this quiet or the H&S police will start shouting!

I would be worried that the nut the fire extinguisher guy supplied may not be rated for cylinder pressure, it might be for just holding on the outlet hose which is only at low pressure.

I'm not sure if that extinguisher will work on a welder, you may have to invert it. You are going to have to make something to hold the handle down as well.

I have an extinguisher bottle I got from a local supplier & it has a 1/2" male bspp thread that your reg screws onto & a hand wheel on the top that you turn to let the gas out, no faffing around with handles. Your fire extinguisher guy should be able to source something similar.

 

[Farside]

To change the stem on the regulator you will have to heat the stem gently to soften the loctite & the stem will screw out. Obviously be careful not to let the heat spread into the reg body or you could damage its internal bits. But keep this quiet or the H&S police will start shouting!

I would be worried that the nut the fire extinguisher guy supplied may not be rated for cylinder pressure, it might be for just holding on the outlet hose which is only at low pressure.

I'm not sure if that extinguisher will work on a welder, you may have to invert it. You are going to have to make something to hold the handle down as well.

I have an extinguisher bottle I got from a local supplier & it has a 1/2" male bspp thread that your reg screws onto & a hand wheel on the top that you turn to let the gas out, no faffing around with handles. Your fire extinguisher guy should be able to source something similar.

Yeah, I've spent the evening checking for the likelihood of it being a LH thread - because some are. The Rhona site lists replacement and alternative inlet pipes and quotes them as 1/4" NPT m, not a mention of LHandedness, so I'll have at it again tomorrow. The nut the fire guy gave me was for exactly this purpose, after I told him that I'd sourced the reg from a European provider, and he suggested I have a matching nut in case I needed it. If that inlet tube had come out easily, I'd have the new nut on and been using it today. The replacement nut seems beefy enough, and looking at the reg's own nut, while it's quite beefy, the retaining metal at the clamping shoulder doesn't really amount to much - much of the clamping shoulder has been removed by forming a hex on it, for the purpose of unscrewing the pipe. But by the time I fettle the new nut to closely fit the stem, there will be a better fit.
One good thing though; I found the body of the reg is solid forged brass, not cheap casting, so it should be man enough for a bit of heave-ho, but if it shows no sign of moving I'll just halt. No point in wrecking it, as it's definitely not a cheap piece of rubbish.
I think these ones were sold as the end of a run of ones fitted with 1/2 BSPP and probably punted out the factory door cheaply, just to get rid. Hence it found its way onto ebay and I bought it from a Hungarian chap on Ebay UK.
I wish I'd noticed before now, the difference in size.
I'll ask the fire guy if he can supply the next one with a simple handwheel and outlet thread, good idea, thanks.